Disney Parks has reportedly created a 'real' working retractable lightsaber

With the Avengers Campus set to open on June 4, and a Star Wars Hotel currently in development at Walt Disney World — along with other exciting future attractions — it might seem like there's already a super long list of things for fans to fit in when it comes to planning their post-pandemic theme park-set vacations. 

Well, thanks to a demonstration from Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D'Amaro, another item might need to be added: trying out a full-working retractable lightsaber. 

The demonstration took place during the 'Special Look Iniside Disney Parks' press conference, which saw D'Amaro reportedly take out the lightsaber emitter from a small box, activate it much like in the movies, causing a "blade" to rise up from it, not unlike in the actual Star Wars movies. He also then stated, "It's real." Though obviously, we assume it wouldn't slice through unsuspecting park-goers like a real saber. Hopefully.

Disney has not released any photos or videos of this new lightsaber model yet, or announced whether it will be available for purchase to the wider public, but fans can currently build their own lightsabers at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, with four different kinds of models available, depending on their preference. 

Of course, it's not too much of a surprise that Disney is making headway when it comes to this kind of cutting edge lightsaber technology as not only have fans come pretty close to making their own retractable models, but the company themselves actually filed a patent back in 2017 for a "sword device with retractable, internally illuminated blade." 

It's not clear if this is indeed a working prototype of the same device, which according to its description was meant to also provide the "energy sword effect" that D'Amaro's device is said to have featured, but we'll hopefully find out soon enough with May the 4th only weeks away.