On the run from the Empire? Looking for a nimble pilot to smuggle you and your goods to a far away moon or system? The perfect hideaway for you weary travelers is at Galaxy’s Edge. It’s a utopia for Star Wars lovers and non-fans alike. It’s an impressive and immersive glimpse into a galaxy far, far away that you don’t want to miss.
My husband and I were lucky enough to be hosted by Disney this past month to promote the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. During out stay, we were given access to all of the parks to experience the Disney magic for ourselves. Each park certainly had it’s own bits of magic and wonder, but my favorite of them all was Star War Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
As an avid and longtime lover of all things Star Wars, I have been dreaming of the day I would finally be able to visit this place. My first impression when reaching the park was the level of detail in each and every corner. I truly felt immersed in my all-time favorite world. For the first time all weekend, I truly felt like a kid again experiencing the Disney magic. So, I thought I’d give my small review and some tips for how to experience the park with minimal lines and wait times.
Attractions
There are five main attractions to enjoy when visiting Galaxy’s Edge. Each one is better than the last, but they all require careful planning to experience. Due to the volume of interest, you will have to carefully plan to avoid long lines or sold out reservations.
Personally, there’s not one attraction that I’d recommend cutting out of your visit. However, if you must, make sure that Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run are your must see rides. The rest are still awesome, but not quite as awesome as those two.
You will need reservations for Rise of the Resistance, Oga’s Cantina, and Savi’s Workshop. You can make your reservations for Oga’s Cantina and Savi’s Workshop in advance, before you actually get to the park. Since the reservations go fast, if you don’t make them well in advance, there will be no reservations left when you do actually arrive. However, the Rise of the Resistance ride only allows reservations to be made the day of. I’ll tell you how to do that in the paragraphs below.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
First up, let’s discuss the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction. Normally the line to ride the Millennium Falcon ride is 80-110 minutes. And once it reaches that wait time, it tends to stay that long allllllll day. Crazy right? Well, lucky for you, I found a way to get around that hefty wait time.
My first piece of advice when visiting the park, would be to get on the first bus arriving to the park. This is usually around 8:00am and will have you arrive there before it opens. You will have to stand in line for entry, which may seem silly. But arriving with the first group of people entering the park, allowed me to ride the attraction and be done by 9:15am.
I was so glad to experience the ride without having to melt in the heat for hours. Plus, you’ll be able to walk through Galaxy’s Edge and take everything in before the masses arrive later in the morning. An early arrival is worth the quiet time to walk around the park.
If you’re able to have any say in what seat you’re going to get on the ride, try for one of the pilot positions. It’s much more fun that way. I was able to be the main pilot in our group and it was a blast! There are two pilots, one to control left to right and the other to control up and down. I steered right and left and it made up the bulk of the work, and made it much more engaging and entertaining. If you’re not a pilot, you’ll be assigned to an engineer or gunner position. I have no doubt you’ll enjoy whatever position you get though!
Rise of the Resistance
Before you’re on the bus to get to the park, you need to be awake and ready to reserve a spot on Rise of the Resistance. This is the only attraction in the park that allows a virtual queue instead of a physical one and it fills up within seconds. There are two opportunities each day to attempt to secure a spot, one at 7:00am and one at 1:00pm. Still no matter how quick you are when trying to snag a spot, you may miss out in the all too limited and coveted reservations.
When we were visiting, we were unable to snag a spot at the 7:00am reservation opening, and were on pins and needles waiting for the 1:00pm opening to try again. Despite being on time and quick to click through, I was devastated when we were only able to snag a spot on a backup boarding group. Thankfully, the ride was running efficiently and we were able to ride around 5:30pm.
Let me tell you, it was worth the wait and all the headaches leading up to it. It was the most impressive, immersive, fantastical, and magical attraction I have ever seen. I won’t spill the beans on the specifics of the ride, but I will say do whatever you can to snag one of those reservations. It’s worth all the lines, walking and sweating, and stress of the entire trip! I’m still not over it.
Oga’s Cantina
For this experience, you will need to make a reservation in advance. When planning for our trip, we were able to make a reservation about a week and a half in advance. A reservation is needed because only so much space is available in the Cantina and everyone, I mean everyone, wants to experience the Cantina during their visit.
The Cantina is primarily a bar, with an option for two bar snacks. We did not get anything to eat, but opted for three of the nonalcoholic beverage choices. Normally I love a good cocktail, but after spending the entire day in the heat I was not feeling up to anything alcoholic. I was grateful and pleased to discover that there were plenty of nonalcoholic choices. Not only were the drinks cool to look at, but they were tasty and refreshing.
It was the perfect spot to pop in, cool off, and enjoy some drinks before heading back out to the relentless heat of the park. If you’re not all that hype about the Cantina as a fan, I would recommend snagging a midday reservation, if only to give yourself a break from the sweltering heat. There are no places to really cool off in the entire park, except for the Cantina and in the attraction lines, once you actually make it that far in line after standing outside for hours before getting to that point.
Check out our full list of what we thought was the best food at Disney.
Savi’s Workshop
When I saw the opportunity to make a lightsaber, I jumped at the chance. And I didn’t care if it would be some small, plastic thing either. I’ve always wanted my own lightsaber and was thrilled for the opportunity to craft my own. Let me just say, Savi’s Workshop surpassed all of my expectations. I would recommend this excursion to anyone visiting Galaxy’s Edge!
After playing through the Star Wars video game Jedi Fallen Order, I was pleased at the level of detail that was present in the workshop. From the spiel of the cast in the room, down to the atmosphere and small details spread throughout the workshop, we were made to feel immersed in the magical space. The pieces we were given to craft our lightsabers were substantial and well made. I was surprised and pleased at the quality of each piece.
Without giving too much away, I will say that there are plenty of options to choose from to make a lightsaber that is truly unique to you. I chose to make the lightsaber from the style “Power and Control.” There are four options: Peace and Justice, Power and Control, Elemental Nature, and finally Protection and Defense. Each saber style as several options to choose from in each section. And finally, you get to pick the color of your kyber crystal, as well.
I chose purple, but plan to order more colors in the future to switch things up every now and again. You can purchase additional crystals while you’re at Disney, but I also found them available on Amazon. We were also given a case to carry the lightsaber in before leaving the workshop.
One small tip, instead of flying home with your lightsaber as a carry-on, you can ship it home at the gift shop. It was only $18 and worth every penny! I was so glad not to be lugging around such an awkward and fragile item with me while going through the airport and flight. Many people do this and say its fine, but it’s worth the money to not have to deal with it in my opinion. It took less than a week to arrive via mail.
Star Tours
While I don’t have any photographic evidence for this attraction, I must say it deserves a spot on the list. It’s an older ride than the the others, but still plenty of fun if you ask me! It also has one of the quickest moving lines out of all of the Star Wars rides, which is a big bonus.
It is certainly not as life altering as some of the other Star Wars rides, but it is still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my husband did not have a great reaction to the 3D screen and overall style of movement from the motion simulator ride, but he found that to be an issue with all of the rides designed that way at the Disney parks. If you’re not prone to sickness from motion simulator rides, be sure to add this to your list of activities.
And there you have it! From one Star Wars lover to another, it’s worth the lines and all the people to experience the magic of Galaxy’s Edge. I was prepared to like it, but not love it. However, even I in all my cynicism truly loved it! To my shock, I would like to plan another visit to the park so I can experience it all over again.
Have you been to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? If so, let me know what you thought down in the comments below. Feel free to share your tips and tricks for experiencing the park for your fellow readers. Even better, share this post wherever it is that you hangout online.