Star Wars-themed Coke bottles banned from flights
Drinks accused of resembling grenades
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Your support makes all the difference.Special edition Star Wars-themed fizzy drink bottles have been banned from flights in the US because they resemble weapons.
The Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and water bottles, sold at Disneyland’s new $1bn Star Wars attraction, are designed to look like “thermal detonators”.
In practice, it means they look an awful lot like colourful grenades.
The $5 souvenirs have become a popular keepsake from the park, with their spherical design and labels written in the sci-fi language of Aurebesh.
However, when a fan shared a picture of the bottles on Twitter along with the question, “I know these look dodgy, but can they be packed in a suitcase?”, America’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) responded: “Thanks for asking! Replica and inert explosives aren’t allowed in either carry-on or checked bags.”
A TSA spokesperson told the Daily Mail the bottles were prohibited on US airlines because ”packing inert, replicas or toy explosives in luggage has the potential to impact travellers.”
Scott Trowbridge, lead “Imagineer” on the Galaxy’s Edge park, said the design of the bottle looked “cool, kind of thermal detonator-ish” during a panel earlier this year.
The 14-acre Galaxy’s Edge attraction, the first of two, opened on Friday 31 May in Anaheim, California.
The second site is being unveiled at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, today (29 August).
There are two major new rides at both locations: Smugglers Run will transform park guests into the crew of the Millennium Falcon, allowing them to control the iconic ship, while in Rise of the Resistance, trackless vehicles guide visitors through an adventure where they become captives on a Star Destroyer and attempt to make a daring escape, crossing paths with the likes of Kylo Ren, Rey, Poe and BB-8.
Aside from the star attractions, guests can sip on blue milk, build a custom lightsaber, design their own droid and grab a drink at Oga’s Cantina, “where bounty hunters, smugglers, rogue traders, and weary travellers of all ages come together to refuel, enjoy music, and conduct meetings – no questions asked”.
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