If you’re even a little bit familiar with this blog, you must have know this was coming. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a theme park expertly created by Disney’s best imagineers? That is obviously the kind of thing this humble blogger would be interested in.

I finally got the chance to go to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney World in September. I only had one day to do it and had to fly through the night to pull it off, but it was so, so worth it. I took some time to really think about my experience and organize some of my thoughts, and have now been working on and off on this review ever since. Strap in, dear readers, this is going to be a long one. Galaxy’s Edge is an incredible adventure that should captivate any Star Wars fan.

Entering the Galaxy Far, Far Away

When the day finally arrived, my brother and I dragged our sleep-loving selves out of bed to get to the park right when it opened. The weather was blessedly cool, a nice change from our last visit to Hollywood Studios. I don’t know about this definitively, but Hollywood Studios seems to me like the least shaded of the Disney World parks. Brett and I had an extra spring in our step this time around since we weren’t drowning in our own sweat.

When we visited back in June, the street that led to Grand Avenue in the corner of the park had a big inconspicuous wall that kept park-goers out of the under construction Galaxy’s Edge. It looked a little something like this:

This time, as we speed walked down the avenue, we were greeted with a much more open, welcoming sight:

Entering into the gate, we passed through a cave. Light trickled in just enough to illuminate our way, and John William’s thematic music played at the perfect volume to build atmosphere but not feel distracting. As our anticipation built, we finally entered Batuu.

Credit Matt for the video, I didn’t get a good shot on my trip.

Once we got out of the cave, it really felt like we’d been transported to another planet. The Disney Imagineers have done an incredible job of forcing your perspective. You can’t tell that Batuu neighbors Grand Avenue or Toy Story Land. While you’re there, all you can see is the fauna, the buildings, and the towering spires of petrified wood that give the main settlement (Black Spire Outpost) it’s name.

We could see the outpost off in the distance, but immediately surrounding us was a Resistance base. We could see several Resistance starships, spawning this beautiful family moment:

The family that resists together…persists together?

Organic Character Experiences

One of the coolest parts of being at Galaxy’s Edge is interacting with the characters in a fun, meaningful way. Character experiences are an important part of any Disney park. I still remember my first trip to Disneyland as a kid, frantically running around the park and waiting in lines to get autographs from Mickey and the gang. All these years later, not much has changed in that regard. You still see long lines for character experiences, and still see little tykes (and unfortunately, lecherous old Florida men) having the time of their lives.

There’s nothing really wrong about that model of doing things, but Galaxy’s Edge blows it out of the water. Rey, Chewbacca, Resistance spy Vi Moradi, Kylo Ren, and groups of First Order stormtroopers periodically roam the park. They don’t stand in one location while a line forms, but move about with purpose. I found Vi in a corner of the park, sneaking around and avoiding the First Order. When I asked her about things that happened to her in the book Phasma, she played along without skipping a beat. Luckily she had time for a quick photo op:

While waiting outside Savi’s Workshop, where custom lightsabers are made, the First Order marched in for an impromptu inspection. Savi’s employees quickly hid all Jedi related paraphernalia, and played dumb while an imperious officer bullied the manager. We watched Chewbacca stop passing visitors with beards, line them up, and have an impromptu wookie roar contest. Best of all, a certain gorgeous force prodigy flagged me down when she saw that I was carrying around one of Savi’s lightsabers:

The fun interactions with characters was one of the best parts of spending a day in Batuu. It was a common sight to see both kids and adults alike with big grins on their faces. This was as close to being in a Star Wars movie as most of us will ever get.

Flying the Falcon

Until Rise of the Resistance opens in December (January in CA), the only ride at Galaxy’s Edge is Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Since opening, it’s had phases of really long wait lines, but lucky for us it never rose over about 70 minutes while we were there. You really can’t miss the ride itself; just look for the life-size replica of the Millennium Falcon parked in the center of the outpost.

The photographer told us to look serious. I’m not entirely sure we pulled it off.

Even with an hour wait, the line moved quickly thanks to plenty to look at and constant motion. At one point, the line snakes through a viewing area where you get an incredible view of the top of the Falcon. The real highlight though is getting to board the iconic ship, walk through the hallways, and hang out in an incredibly detailed replica of the rec room while you wait to head out on your mission.

No wookies to let win.

The ride itself has been met with somewhat mixed reviews, with some claiming it’s just a glorified video game. I think that’s a little bit of a hot take, but I can certainly see why it isn’t everyone’s cup of yarba tea. Smuggler’s Run puts you in an incredible recreation of the Falcon’s cockpit and tasks you and your crew with a dangerous mission for notorious “galactic entrepreneur” Hando Ohnaka. The cockpit has room for six riders. Before entering, a cast member gives everyone their role. There are two pilots; one that moves the ship side to side and one that moves it up and down. Two gunners zap every TIE fighter they can. Lastly two engineers make repairs, control grappling cables, and do other…engineer stuff I guess.

On our first run through, my brother and I were the gunners. It was breathtaking as we took off from Batuu, and I definitely got chills when our pilots punched us into lightspeed. They managed to get the Falcon through with minimal crashing while Brett and I semi-competently kept the First Order at bay. Our team ended the ride with a good score and congratulations from Hando. On our next ride, Brett and I took the helm. How hard could it be right?

Another great pic from Matt.

Turns out, kind of hard. Brett and I awkwardly but confidently maneuvered the Falcon into nearly every obstacle we possibly could. Only controlling one movement axis was more challenging than we anticipated, and our brotherly telepathy was simply not getting the job done. As we returned to Batuu, Hando listed the damage we’d done to the ship and left us with this zinger: “Well you did manage to return the ship mostly in one piece, which is something. Not much. But it is something!” As we exited the cockpit, electric wiring sparked in the hallway and Chewie roared his displeasure. Not our finest hour, to be sure, but nevertheless a hilarious disaster that I’m glad we got to experience.

I really loved the interactivity and immersive nature of Smuggler’s Run. After each run, your team gets a ranking (similar to Toy Story Mania, if you’re familiar with that ride) that syncs up with your My Disney Experience account so you can review them and brag to all your friends. If you want your rides to just be rides, try Smuggler’s Run out as an engineer or just skip it. If you’ve always dreamed of flying the Millennium Falcon and are ready to test your true smuggler mettle, you’re going to love this ride.

“This is the Weapon of a Jedi Knight”

Nothing symbolizes Star Wars quite like the lightsaber. Everything about it is almost instantly recognizable even to people with little knowledge of the franchise. The glowing lights, the contrasting colors, the epic duels, and the impatient humming sound all make the “more elegant weapon for a more civilized age” the most iconic weapon in all of fiction (come at me nerds).

When I first found out that Galaxy’s Edge would offer a custom lightsaber building experience, I knew I was instantly in. Even when the steep price tag was announced ($200 for the experience), I knew that I couldn’t back out. One, because I’m a dumb, single kid in my twenties without many better things to spend leisure money on, and two, because it looked like Disney was taking major inspiration from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s fantastic wand experience. I could tell that this would be special.

As soon as our trip was set, I booked my appointment to Savi’s Workshop. In universe, Savi is a kind junk collector with a secret interest in advancing the will of the Force and collecting and preserving sacred Jedi relics. When the time came for my appointment, I gathered outside the workshop, where one of the “gatherers” helped me choose the type of lightsaber I would create. Of course I’d done my research, looking in advance at the four styles that were available. When the time came to choose, I started to sweat. I was the last of our party to choose, ultimately staying classic and going with the “Peace and Justice” theme modeled after the lightsabers of the prequel era Jedi.

Once we’d all chosen a style, we entered into the workshop itself. We were greeted by more of Savi’s gatherers, and took our places around a large circular table. The head gatherer began by explaining the history of the Jedi and the significance of the lightsaber. He explained that the heart of any lightsaber is it’s power source, the kyber crystal. Right on cue the other gatherers produced glowing containers filled with glowing crystals: green, blue, purple, and red.

I chose a green crystal and put it in the chassis of what would soon be my lightsaber. Soon after, the gatherers put containers with different choices of metal to put on the hilt. A few careful selections later and my hilt was complete. We put our hilts in an indentation on the table, which through the magic of Disney imagineering attached them to the blades. We reached out to the force, the music swelled, and he held our new sabers for the first time.

Building a lightsaber at Savi’s was an incredible experience. Disney has really pulled out the stops to make a it a memorable and personal adventure. I’d recommend it to anyone who loves Star Wars and wants one heck of a souvenir. Now here’s the unfortunate, yet important caveat. I took my saber back to the hotel, and the batteries were dead within a day. I replaced it with new ones, thinking that I must have accidentally left it on or something, but they were also dead within a day. When I got the saber home, I sprung for the best AAA batteries available at Wal-Mart. This time it was dead within two days, and I knew I officially had a problem. Apparently my lightsaber drains batteries whenever connected to the blade, even if powered off. Checking in with a few communities online showed that I’m not the only one. Some people were okay with just keeping them disconnected, but having a $200 souvenir that has a defect didn’t sit well with me. I went back and forth with the Disney World merchandise team via email for about a month before they finally sent me a shipping label to send the chassis back to Orlando. I’m currently waiting for a replacement.

Now, it sounds like the vast majority of Savi’s sabers don’t have any problems. If I haven’t scared you away and you still want to go for it, my advice would be to keep the blade attached make sure it powers on without a problem at least two days later. From all accounts, Savi’s is incredibly easy to work with if you bring a defective saber straight to them, but going through customer service back home is frustrating.

So Much More

This has already ballooned into the longest post on this blog, but there are so many things that I haven’t discussed. That’s probably the best compliment I can give Galaxy’s Edge. It’s teeming with so much detail and little things to do that one lengthy blog post can’t even begin to cover it. Here’s a few quick points on things I wasn’t able to discuss.

The blue and green milk are both very tasty treats. I preferred the blue flavor over the more citrusy green one. They start very frozen like a slushy, but get more milky as they quickly melt. A little on the pricey side, but very enjoyable.

I ate a Ronto Wrap at Ronto Roasters. The food shop is very fun because a massive pod racing engine is dangled from the ceiling. The fire from the engine heats the grill that cooks the titular rontos. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really care for the wrap. It was a pork sausage wrapped in some grilled pork, with peppercorn sauce and coleslaw, wrapped up in a pita. Don’t take my word for it though if it sounds good to you, some other reviewers with better palates than I really dig it.

We didn’t have the time or reservation to experience Oga’s Cantina or Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. Definitely on the list for next time.

There’s tons to do with the Play Disney app while you’re in the park. You can join up with the Resistance, First Order, or neutral scoundrels to do missions throughout Batuu. Due to having come on an overnight flight, my phone wasn’t exactly in great shape battery wise. As such, I didn’t get into this much. When Matt went last weekend he reviewed it as such: “I’m addicted to crate scanning.”

Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities is a blast. Full of souvenirs ranging from affordable to yikes, and also full of easter eggs. My favorite was a display containing a baby sarlacc, on display like some kind of demented ant farm.

Droid Depot looked amazing, with busy conveyor belts busing droid components around for people to use to create their own mechanical friends. It was a blast to see kids wheeling their droids around or carting them in adorable little backpacks.

I can’t wait for the Rise of the Resistance ride. That is all.

I picked up a set of Sabaac cards for my friend Josh. We’ve played a lot since, and it’s an incredibly addictive mix of poker and blackjack.

A Living Galaxy

If I’ve somehow been unclear in this review, I adored every second I spent at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. It would have been easy for Disney to just shoehorn Star Wars properties into their parks. Easy, and honestly, pretty fun. Instead, however, they’ve created something truly special. They’ve created a world that lives and breathes Star Wars. Batuu is full of opportunities for all guests to truly participate in the galaxy far, far away. For the first week back, I spent way too much time daydreaming about going back. Best of all is that Galaxy’s Edge is designed to be able to change and grow with the franchise itself. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for Batuu, and hope I’m able to go back and see it as much as I can.

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