https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/27/how-disney-built-star-wars-in-real-life/

From the moment that Disney announced its acquisition of LucasFilm, the question on every fan’s mind was “when will they build Star Wars in real life?”

While most assumed that they would do it eventually, they probably weren’t aware that in 2013 even as work began on the first movie of the ‘final’ trilogy, work also commenced on the early planning of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That initial team fo a handful of people would eventually grow to over 4,000.