Star Wars fans are eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which hits theaters in just over a week. In order to ramp the hype train up to full speed, Disney has brought one of the franchise’s most popular landmarks to life, transforming the iconic Epcot center attraction Spaceship Earth into the Death Star.
Don’t worry, this particular battle station isn’t fully armed or operational. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even actually exist in physical form. Instead, the illusion was created via projectors, and it does a good job at re-creating the look of the Death Star. If you look closely, the golf ball exterior of the attraction does show through, but it’s still more than enough to wow visitors, especially those on the younger side.
The transformed attraction was revealed at an event at Epcot on Tuesday. In addition to the Death Star itself, Rogue One star Mads Mikkelsen was in attendance, as were several black-clad Stormtroopers officially known as Advanced Weapons Research Troopers. Several more Star Wars-related events and attractions are planned across the entire swath of Disney-owned parks and locations.
Whether the Death Star will continue its residency at Epcot permanently remains to be seen, but it will be there throughout the premiere of the film. With the new Star Wars Land at Disney Hollywood in the works, it would make sense if the Death Star were to stick around for a while at Epcot.
Though it’s not in theaters yet, the movie has already built up a reputation on presales alone — it brought ticket sales sites down when they started. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in theaters starting December 16.
