REVIEW:  Disney’s Hollywood Studios Galaxy’s Edge At Walt Disney World Orlando

I came, I saw, I still have some money left. Last Thursday I took the Dre clan to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and we visited the brand new Galaxy’s Edge. It still has that new Theme Park smell. Right as we walked in, Rey was coming out and gathered some new recruits to help her. My daughter went right along.


We must have walked more than halfway across the area before it was all over. Rey stealthily avoided some wandering Storm Troopers, and my daughter took point keeping an eye out for more. To me, that set the tone of the entire area. Immersive is a term I hear being thrown around, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. The cast members are all in full Star Wars character. When they see you they say “Bright Suns!” which doubles as good morning there. “Travel safe” or “Travel well” was heard a lot too in place of goodbye. At that time of the day the wait for Smugglers Run was around 35 minutes, so my two boy and myself jumped in line.


The queue is a lot of fun, and there is plenty to look at. We were stuck behind an ECV that seemed to have a low battery. It’s a lot of ramps in the queue, so it seemed like the person was having a hard time getting going again once they stopped. We still made it. This ride is similar (in spirit only) to the Star Tours ride, but is much more interactive.


When you walk in the first staging area you’re met by Hondo Ohnaka. It seems like the years haven’t been so nice to Hondo, as he’s put on a few pounds since the Clone Wars. From there you walk down a passage, and at a doorway you’re handed a card. You get one of three jobs. Pilot, gunner, or engineer. My boys were gunners and I was an engineer.


From there you walk down the corridor to the Dejarik area where you wait to be called for your turn. Sure being an engineer isn’t as exciting as being a pilot, but it’s still a great ride. You have to work as a team in order to help stea…er…gather some coaxium for Hondo. When you’re done you get paid…minus damage to the Falcon of course.


We wandered around a bit and bought some of the blue and green milk. My wife liked the green, but I preferred the blue. The green tasted like laundry soap.


The shops are really nice, if not a bit pricey. Some of the “handmade” items were cute, but nothing I’m too interested in owning.


It was at this point that my sons turned in to Bart and Lisa asking Homer for a pool. “Can we build a droid, dad? Can we build a droid, dad? Can we build a droid, dad? Can we build a droid, dad? Can we build a droid, dad?” I held strong and said no…for now. We headed to the other side of the park (Hollywood Studios, not SWGE) so we could meet Chewie, BB-8, and Darth Vader. I got a solo pic with Vader, and in the picture before I’m shooing my kids out of frame. We took another stroll around Batuu after and I took in some more of the details. Details. That too is an understatement. You’d have to spend a great amount of time in every little nook and cranny to be able to take it all in and see it all.


One of the more fun parts to me was having characters just wandering around. There were First Order Stormtroopers all over the place, and they would interact with you. Kylo Ren would be around too. He was pretty menacing (more than in the movie really). One child who had built a lightsaber had him walk up to him demanding to know what was in the carrying case. The kid took it out and challenged him. Kylo stared him down for a moment or two, then finally dismissed him with a “You aren’t worth my energy on this planet.” And stormed off.


We came back to Earth for some well needed lunch. We did some other park things, then headed back to Batuu. This is where, like Homer, I gave in to the constant “Can we build a droid, Dad? Can we build a droid, Dad? Can we build a droid, Dad?” My kids screamed in joy…my wallet groaned in pain. $212 later we were picking out droid parts. My older boy wanted to do an R2 unit, so he grabbed those parts, while my younger wanted a BB droid. For the R2s you pick a dome, body, legs, and middle leg. For the BBs you pick the sphere, and head. You also pick the interior body (that makes it move) and the part that attaches the head to the body, but those are just as is (no color choices). I helped my younger son with his, as it takes some finagling to get the sphere together at first. He was able to screw the head to the connection plate himself. My older boy had his completed in no time. There are people around to help as well in case you get stuck or confused. After that, it was time to activate them. “Activating!” was yelled out when the droid was placed in the box. The R2 unit went off without a hitch. The BB, however, took a couple of times before it went through. Those fickle BB units, I’m telling you. Outside the Droid Depot there is a little area where you can test them out. We let the boys play with them for a while. My older son bought a personality chip for his (the BBs don’t have this option). He got one that was loyal to the Resistance, so whenever we would go near anything that was First Order related, his would chirp and beep like it was nervous. A very cool addition to the entire scenario.


It was getting late, and we had a 7:30 reservation for Oga’s Cantina. I wanted to try a Fuzzy Taun Taun. When we got there the line was longer than a Dewback’s….tail. I asked if the line was for people who had reservations as well, and was told yes. My dreams of having the drink were dashed, as we kept on walking. We could have waited in line, but for me, it wasn’t worth having my family wait that long for something that they may not have enjoyed as much as I would. No big deal, as I know we will be back in the future. We decided it was time for us to head back to our hotel for the night then. I took a few pictures of the area at night. It really transforms then and becomes even more beautiful.


“So Dre, was it worth it?” Well, I’m glad you asked. For me, as a recovering Star Wars fan, yes it was. The entire land it a lot of fun and very well done. For someone who’s still a hardcore fan, it would be more than worth it. There are so many little easter eggs hidden all around the land that you could go crazy finding them all. All the characters that are around, and the props they have make the land itself an experience, and not just a place to go to get on a ride.

Oh, I’m happy to say that our thermal detonator Coke bottle was not confiscated when we put it in our checked luggage on the way home. Best $7 I spent there.

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