To commemorate your visit to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, you can bring
home a $200 lightsaber, a Chewbacca backpack, or a puppet Porg. But
you'll have to leave your intergalactic soda far, far away.
In response to a question, the TSA indicated on Twitter that Star Wars-themed Coke bottles are banned from checked and carry-on luggage, saying, "Replica and inert explosives aren't allowed in either carry-on or checked bags."
A TSA representative further clarified that "these items could reasonably be seen by some as replica hand grenades...While we continue to review this issue, TSA officers will maintain the discretion to prohibit any item through the screening checkpoint if they believe it poses a security threat."
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| © Coca-Cola Disney and Coca Cola partnered to make these specialty soda cans for the new Star Wars land. |
The bottles, which are for sale exclusively inside Star Wars lands in
Anaheim and Orlando, are shaped like small orbs that resemble either a
droid or a thermal detonator, depending on your point of view.
According
to one Disney executive, it looks more like the fictional explosive
device featured in "Return of the Jedi." Scott Trowbridge, the lead
Imagineer on the Galaxy's Edge project, said the design of the bottle
looked "cool, kind of thermal detonator-ish" on a panel earlier this year.
At
$5.49, the bottles are one of the cheapest souvenirs available at
Galaxy's Edge -- and popular: Disney has limited guests to three bottles
per transaction to prevent hoarding. But with the TSA's new policy,
that may no longer be a problem. Disney PR declined to comment on the
TSA decision; Coca-Cola could not be reached for comment.
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| © Coca-Cola |
The timing couldn't be worse for Disney.
The second Star Wars land opens August 29 at Walt Disney World Resort's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, a theme park that receives a greater proportion of visitors arriving and departing via airplane than Anaheim's Disneyland.
In April, CNN Business broke the exclusive news that Coca-Cola and Disney were partnering to create the bottles, which are designed with logos of Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Dasani water in Aurebesh, the fictional Star Wars language.
At the time, Coke was betting on souvenir sales. Susan Propp, Coke's vice president of strategic partnership marketing, told CNN "I think guests will probably drink one to stay hydrated or enjoy it in the land and then probably throw one in their backpack and take it home."
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