Good morning from Disney’s Hollywood Studios! We’re t-minus one week from the Grand Opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: East Coast Edition. Let’s see what’s going on in the rest of the park while we wait patiently for our tickets to Batuu.

Welcome to Hollywood

Chip and Dale have been meeting outside Sid Cahuenga’s at the front of the park, instead of their normal area on Grand Avenue. Due to a combination of construction and the Galaxy’s Edge preview days, they had to be moved here.

This friendly Cast Member near the Chinese Theater found an interesting new use for Hollywood Studios’ plethora of hula hoops: Mickey ears!

He even let me get a picture with them.

Construction and Maintenance

The former Oasis Canteen (now “Epic Eats”) is in the process of getting a new sibling right next door.

This one is taking the old moniker and will be known as the “Oasis Canteen”, as it will specialize in drinks. They were installing the sign on the new booth today.

Just down the path a bit, across from Star Tours, the new (probably restrooms) building is coming along nicely.

Hopefully it will be finished soon.

They’re doing what looks like landscaping work nearby, across from the Sci-Fi Dine-In Restaurant. All this work is why Chip and Dale are at the front of the park now.

Walls are down near the Chinese Theater, revealing a new queue set up for the upcoming “Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway” attraction. You can see more about that right here.

Merchandise

The Beverly Sunset, home of all things Pixar, has a few fun new Lightning McQueen items!

There’s a matching hat as well!

They have a hat for the “Racing Sports Network” brand from Cars. You can wear this to show your fandom at Lightning Mcqueen’s Racing Academy.

Not sure what the zipper is for on the back, though. Someone more familiar with NASCAR, please inform me.

Across the street in Once Upon a Time, I found more items from this great new Mickey homewares line. You can see our previous coverage of it here.

All over the park, you’ll find this “grand opening” Galaxy’s Edge stuff.

Some new limited edition pins were released today. This is the latest “countdown” pin for Galaxy’s Edge.

Here’s another release in the Kingdom Consoles line, this time from Goof Troop.

This was the big surprise today– an anniversary pin for the Tower of Terror. After the actual anniversary passed us by, and we got Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster anniversary merchandise, we were worried they had forgotten the big two-five!

Star Wars

I popped into Star Wars Launch Bay to see what was going on… not much, to be honest. This place will probably be a ghost town here in a couple weeks.

I did find out that on August 25th they plan on having some visiting artists who specialize in Star Wars art. They’ll be at Stage 1 Studio Store from 5-8PM.

This little girl was waiting outside Launch Bay for Rey. She had a present for her!

That’s how you make friends throughout the Galaxy!

Over near the entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, not a whole lot is happening right now. The Annual Pass preview days have ceased, and now we wait for the big opening. They still have Cast Members stationed at the entrance to direct traffic. Today they were having fun with the parade tape.

The glorious return of the Applause Box! Anyone who stepped in the box got a full round of applause from the Cast!

All the major projects are finally wrapping up at Hollywood Studios! Galaxy’s Edge opens next week, and the Disney Skyliner will be up and running by the end of September.

I hate to say it folks: Hollywood Studios is almost a fully functioning theme park again!

But that’s it from me for today. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on everything happening in the parks.

Henry Taylor