Disney Reveals Its Crazy Cool "Real" Working Retractible STAR WARS Lightsaber

Disney has been teasing a new Star Wars lightsaber that is described as a “Sword Device with Retractable, Internally Illuminated Blade.” It was created by the Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development team, and it’s supposed to be the closest thing Star Wars fans will get to a real working lightsaber and today, on Star Wars Day, Disney has shared the first footage of it, and it’s pretty freakin rad! Check it out!

I want one of these and want to see what it looks like in real life! It’s like magic! Unfortunately, fans won’t be able to buy one any time soon, if ever.

The video above was released as part of an announcement on the Disney Parks blog about the opening of Walt Disney World’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser resort being delayed until 2022. They promise that “Guests who experience Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will be the first to see it in action...”

So, as of right now, the new lightsaber technology is only being limited to Disney’s new Star Wars resort. I’m sure they will roll it out and make it available to other Star Wars attractions over time. It will be made available to cast members portraying characters like Rey and Kylo Ren first.

So how does it work? It’s previously been explained that the hilt of the lightsaber will include mechanics that work like a motorized tape measure. It’s explained that with the press of a button, “the tapes will extend to a total length several times that of the hilt itself. The tapes will also have some kind of LED lighting inside, such that the lightsaber can light up similar to the way they appear in the films.”

It’s explained that the same mechanics that are used to eject the blade will also be used in reverse to retract the blade. “The LEDs will be affixed to a tape that retracts onto a spool as the lightsaber blade retracts.”