There are a couple of curious closures that just started in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. Although these projects appear to coincide with the recent announcement of the original trilogy timeline shift on Batuu, this is mostly coincidental. This covers the latest about the multi-week refurbishments, along with what to expect and (more importantly) not expect.
Let’s start with basic background, which is that Disneyland will “unlock” and expand the timeline of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on April 29, 2026. Here’s a rundown of the key changes coming:
- Rolling back the timeline and bring new storylines to life on Batuu, spanning multiple eras of the planet’s rich history. These updates will make the Galactic Civil War and New Republic, as well as the Age of the Resistance and First Order, part of the story in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
- Introducing Darth Vader, Han Solo, Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker as permanent inhabitants of Batuu, in addition to existing characters (albeit in their own ‘regions’ of the land to preserve thematic integrity to the greatest extent possible).
- The addition of beloved scores from legendary composer John Williams, pulling themes from the first six films.
- Updates to buildings and shops throughout the land, including the installation of new props and graphics to better reflect a broader history of Batuu with the new storylines.
Even prior to this announcement, there have been a few refurbishments calendared for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for a while. The main projects with which we’re concerned involve Oga’s Cantina and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, as there’s some confusion about these.
First up is that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance refurbishment started today, January 20, 2026.
We’ve confirmed with Disneyland that there will NOT be any story changes to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance during the refurbishment. This is purely regular, routine maintenance that’s unrelated to the original trilogy timeline changes. The refurbishment’s timing is completely coincidental.
As previously noted by Disneyland, the forested area on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost will continue to represent a time inspired by the Age of the Resistance. Meaning you’ll still find Rey around this Resistance camp, and everything else you could see today. It’s the other edge of Galaxy’s Edge that’s seeing the original trilogy changes starting on April 29, 2026.
Another thing to note here is that, although we still don’t have an end date for this, we do not expect this refurbishment to last as long as is currently reflected on the calendar. If you look at that, you’ll notice that Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is listed as closed for refurbishment through March 3, 2026, which is as far out as the official calendar goes.
It’s our understanding that the end date for the Rise of the Resistance refurbishment has not yet been finalized, but that this project should only last a few weeks. For whatever reason, Disney often inputs boilerplate hours in the calendar, which can result in end dates (or the lack thereof) reflected in the official calendar being inaccurate.
We saw this recently on a few occasions with the lengthy Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment, and there have been countless other examples over the last year or so of the official calendar being wrong. The bottom line is that you can’t always rely on this calendar, especially for end dates that appear to extend beyond hours that are currently posted. It’s about 50/50 with such projects. (If you see a closure of a few days listed, that’s much more likely to be accurate–but even those are subject to change, as evidenced by the next entry…)
In all likelihood, the target is to reopen Rise of the Resistance before Presidents’ Day weekend. We’ve listed February 13-23, 2026 as one of the 10 Worst Weeks at Disneyland in 2026, which is due to Presidents’ Day/Mid-Winter Break/Ski Week/Mardi Gras.
Between this normal winter break for many California school districts and the aggressive ticket deal, that could be one of the worst 5 weeks of the year. Disneyland will do everything possible to have Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance reopen on or before February 13, 2026 as a result.
We’re pleased to see Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance getting some TLC. The ride has a rocky record since its opening in early 2020, but uptime has generally improved over the last few years. Part of the reason for that is ordinary–just generally getting the attraction firing on all cylinders.
Although Disneyland restored the moving cannon effect that had been broken for ~3 years, it still breaks a lot–as do other effects. Rise of the Resistance will definitely benefit from the refurbishment.
The other big Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge refurbishment that started on January 20, 2026 is Oga’s Cantina, the Star Wars Bar.
We originally reported that Oga’s Cantina would be closed January 20-24, 2026. Less notable, but Jat Kaa’s Coolers: J1-KC at Resistance Clearing (it’s a snack stand) was also scheduled to be closed those same dates. Jat Kaa’s Coolers has since been extended to February 12, 2026, at least according to the official calendar.
Meanwhile, Oga’s Cantina has had its closure extended to as far out as the calendar goes, meaning March 3, 2026.
However, as noted above, the calendar is often wrong with refurbishments that extend out to the end of the calendar, so we reached out to Disneyland for clarification or confirmation of the dates.
As with the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance closure, there is no official reopening date for Oga’s Cantina. And again, it’s our understanding that this project probably won’t last through the end of the current calendar, but rather, that a reopening date will be set later once there’s more certainty about when the work will be completed.
In other words, it could last a couple of weeks, a month, or somewhere in between. It could also end up lasting even longer than 6 weeks if all doesn’t go according to plan and the project needs to be extended for whatever reason.
With Oga’s Cantina, it’s once again also our understanding that this is largely a routine refurbishment involving standard maintenance. If I recall correctly, there were permits last year involving this area that suggested fairly mundane construction.
Disneyland has also confirmed that Imagineering and Lucasfilm teams will make updates related to the upcoming expansion of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge timeline during the closure of Oga’s Cantina.
What this could entail is completely unclear to us. When it comes to other retail and restaurants in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Imagineering and Lucasfilm indicated that most of the updates would concern graphics, new props and artifacts, and other updates to reinforce the timeline shift.
When it comes to Oga’s Cantina, Disney already confirmed that the story would shift and that guests will be able to hear the iconic “Cantina Band” track from the original Star Wars. In the era of the Galactic Civil War, proprietor Oga Garra only recently opened this watering hole, which is already becoming a popular spot for intergalactic travelers as she looks to expand her empire.
This is a significant departure from the existing backstory, which framed Oga as a grizzled crime boss who had run the cantina for decades and controlled most of Black Spire Outpost from the shadows.
The Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Traveler’s Guide to Batuu states the cantina was remodeled about 20 before the current timeline, with blaster marks on the walls and other signs of its rough past. Interestingly, it’s also established lore that Darth Vader, who will soon be roaming this area in search of Luke Skywalker, has visited the cantina.
This timeline shift coupled with the closure ostensibly offers the opportunity for physical changes inside the Star Wars bar. Maybe the décor is less damaged; perhaps new details are added. Per the lore, those blaster marks predate Oga and somehow weren’t fixed during the remodel, so don’t expect them to go anywhere. There’s also the practical reality that removing them would be a lot of work!
The remodel 20 years earlier provides a lot of latitude for Imagineering and Lucasfilm to make whatever changes to Oga’s Cantina that they might desire. Honestly, I would not expect a whole lot. My strong belief is that both the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Oga’s Cantina refurbishments are completely coincidental to the timeline shift.
The team working on the latter will take advantage of the downtime to make some subtle changes to the Star Wars bar, but anyone hoping or expecting Oga’s Cantina to be reimagined into Mos Eisley Cantina during the downtime is destined for disappointment. Hopefully I’m wrong about this, and big changes are planned for Oga’s Cantina, as it could use them!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Oga’s Cantina or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance refurbishments? Hope these projects are over long before March 2026, or would you like to see lengthier projects that result in bigger changes to both? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!