By Charly SHELTON

Aufgeregt is the perfect word to describe the feeling of the summer at the local theme parks. It is a German word that means both excited and terrified. The new land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, is opening at Disneyland on May 31 and with it comes the crowds. From the guest’s point of view, it is exciting to have a new land but terrifying to think what the lines will be and, for those who live in Anaheim or have Disneyland annual passes and will be down there often, it will be massively crowded all year.

From Disneyland’s POV, it is exciting to have so many people pay to get into the park but also terrifying to have to manage it and avoid the fiasco like the last few big events and openings. And for the other theme parks in So Cal, it’s exciting to have the planefuls of tourists coming to LA from around the world to see Star Wars land, probably visiting the other parks while they’re in town, while catering as well to all the locals who want to avoid Disney’s crowds. But it’s terrifying to think that maybe Disney will handle the crowds well and take the lion’s share of the tourists for years to come. Whatever happens, guests will get several new attractions to choose from at the local theme parks and CV Weekly will be there to cover them.

Well, that is all except Star Wars land. The crowds are going to jam-pack the park, and the media admittance list is equally tight, so we won’t be heading out at opening, opting instead to wait for the fall when Disney can get us in. But we do have a bit of info – as mentioned Disneyland will open Star Wars land on May 31. Of the two rides initially planned for opening, only one will open in May – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. The other ride, Rise of the Resistance, will open sometime later this year. Neither ride will have Fastpass or Maxpass when they open, but that feature will most likely be added at some point down the road.

Now onto the attendance – if you don’t already have a reservation to visit Galaxy’s Edge before June 23, you won’t be going. Throughout the summer, reservations will be needed just to enter the land. From May 31 to June 23, guests need reservations that require pre-paid park admission and will require a government issued ID to check in. Starting June 24, Disney will roll out its “Boarding Pass” system that is basically already in place but it will run through the Disneyland app.

The reservations and Boarding Pass will give guests a certain amount of time allowed in the land to experience whatever they choose and, when the time is up, they will have to leave. It’s going to be nuts, but the land and new rides look really cool. Aufgeregt.

Elsewhere, Knott’s Berry Farm will open its revamped water ride, Calico River Rapids. What was Bigfoot Rapids has been overhauled with a new story, new animatronics and, oddly enough, Bigfoot to become an all-new attraction. It opens next weekend and CV Weekly will have full coverage in the May 23 paper.

Jurassic Park the Ride closed last September at Universal Studios Hollywood and we all knew where it was going. Just like the film franchise, the ride from the ’90s will have new life breathed into it by awesome new effects and exciting storytelling from “Jurassic World.” The new ride is set to open sometime this summer, probably early to capitalize on the “school’s out” crowds, but no date has been announced. The ride will use the same system of boats on a river expedition but set within the Jurassic World park and with an all-new storyline and effects. The final drop will be something to see for sure, with the Tyrannosaurus rex battling a would-be usurper to the title of king as the boats spill off the ledge. Universal also has its new nighttime light show, Dark Arts at Hogwarts, which opened last month and will run through the summer.

SeaWorld will open its new roller coaster Tidal Twister on May 24. It is a relatively small dueling coaster in a figure eight shape with a zero-G roll. With last year’s opening of Electric Eel, SeaWorld is beefing up its thrills while also being conservative in footprint by adding these self-contained connected loop coasters that provide heart-pounding experiences very quickly on a small coaster. Tidal Twister is no different. Full coverage coming later this month or in early June.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has been promoting its upcoming ride for almost a year and it looks to be shaping up to be a really cool experience. West Coast Racers will open sometime in the summer with no official date announced, and will be a new top thrill at the park based on thrills. The world’s first launch-style dueling coaster, this ride features two tracks that dodge and bank with each other as the two simultaneous race vehicles jockey for position. When the ride on one track is done, it feeds right into the other track to give riders the experience of both tracks within one ride. It’s sure to be super-intense.

The theme park war this summer will be raging full steam: Star Wars versus dinosaurs versus Bigfoot versus intense roller coasters. This will be like the massive battles we see fought on TV in “Game of Thrones” and in cinemas with “Avengers: Endgame,” all of which also come to an end this summer. We’ve seen this battle coming for years, we know it’s going to be big, and nobody really knows who will win, but we do know that lots of regular people trapped in the middle will have to pay for it all.

  Charly Shelton