Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: My Batuu Experience

As many of you know who follow me on Instagram, I have been basically living at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge for the past three weeks. I was lucky enough to be included on 3 reservations for Disneyland’s latest land and learned a lot in the process. I wanted to share a bit of my experience with the land and what my final takeaway is!

The Land

Let’s start off with Star Wars Land as a whole overall. The land was intended to feel completely off worldly with a feeling of complete isolation. Let me tell you that Disney nailed it on this aspect. When you walk from Disneyland into Batuu things slowly change and you are almost transported into an entirely different world. From landscape changes to music changes to just atmospheric changes you definitely FEEL like you are in a new place. Now some people were not as fond of this aspect of the land and felt as if it was somewhat cold and desolate. For me, that’s exactly what I would expect from a true Star Wars themed land (not talking Tomorrowland people). The architecture, cast members, and subtle hints throughout the park really make you feel as if you are a part of this world. Now, for some, this might be to intense, but with theme parks nowadays people want to experience things almost from a role playing perspective so while many were disappointed in how REAL it seemed to be I think everyone needs to pick and choose what they want theme parks to really encompass.

The Ride

As of now there is only one ride in Batuu and that is Smugglers Run. The ride consists of a really cool queue where you walk past the Millenium Falcon, talk to your boss about grabbing some coaxium (a super realistic animatronic), and finally get to walk into the Falcon and get the coveted photo in the table and booth inside. The ride itself is slightly complicated but honestly once you do it you’re fine.

There are 6 positions, 2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers. Pilots probably have the most work to do as you are actually moving the ship around. Gunners can choose automatic or manual shooting and basically have to spastically press a button to shoot at absolutely anything that comes into sight. Engineers are probably the most lax position and you are responsible for pushing any buttons that light up so the ship can stay up in the air. A lot of people stressed over the ride (myself included) especially since if you have a smaller party (say 2 or 3) you will be grouped with strangers. A few people have noted that strangers have yelled at kids and fellow adults when they weren’t “doing their job” properly and while YES you have control in this ride it really isn’t the end all be all. You don’t fail after crashing the first few times, the ride is still lengthy and you still get to accomplish something regardless if you didn’t push any buttons.

Overall the ride is really cool and unique and while it might not be the “easy” ride you just get on to zone out it’s definitely a cool experience I’ve never had before on a ride! As for perfectionists who want to get 100% I’d highly suggest that you get a squad of 6 together so you can yell at people you know at least. There’s no room for negativity and no room for the expectation that a bunch of strangers can actually do everything on this ride perfectly.

The Food

I was very excited to try out the food at Galaxy’s Edge seeing as Disney has really stepped up their cuisine in the recent years. I actually am straying away from eating meat right now (aside from chicken and fish) so I was pretty nervous as to what would be available. Also when you have a reservation if you decide to leave the land you are done. Ie. if your reservation was from 5-9 and you want to go out at 6 you can’t come back for the remainder of your reservation. The docking bay has a ton of good food options though and with the inclusion of mobile ordering it just makes the process a LOT faster. The Garden Loaf was my favorite and you get a hefty serving of 2 little loafs and some vegetable mashed potatoes. This is their only vegetarian option from what I understand so I’m glad it was good! Aside from that the wrap at Ronto Roasters I hear is delicious and they have 3 different non alcoholic beverages that are also really yummy and refreshing.

The Things/Experiences

There are so many cool “things” to purchase at Star Wars Land and every single one creates an experience. I will say that yes, this land is based on purchasing but once the reservation system is over it’s a great walk through to check out stores etc. I think because you were basically “trapped” in the land for 4 hours you were basically set up to ride the ride, walk into stores and spend money on food. I mean, but that’s basically what Disneyland is as a whole isn’t it? Anyway, my husband and I created our own droid in the Droid Depot. Let me tell you, this was such a cool experience. Our droid is functional so we can maneuver it around and not only that, you have to actually pay prior to building so the section of this shop is not too packed with people (big plus for making it a memorable experience). We got to pick out the color of our droid mixing white, black and red, and also picked up a personality chip (which were sold out by the following week, crazy!). Not only that, if you bring your droid back to the land it interacts with it’s surroundings. Now you can’t drive them around on the ground but if you have a backpack or something to carry them in, they make noises in certain areas and interact with other droids. So cool!

The second amazing thing we experienced was the Cantina. Yes the Cantina that EVERYONE wants to visit. Let me tell you that we were so lucky to experience this on the first day we got to Batuu. DJ Rex (who is the pilot from the original Star Tours Ride) has a pretty sick playlist and the drinks of course have some fun names alongside a couple of souvenir mugs. I will say that the Cantina is just that, a cool place to hangout and look at but doesn’t really have much else. Other than grabbing a drink and experiencing it once it’s more of just a cool hangout area. Unfortunately we know it’s going to be packed for a LONG time. To get in you had to rush over to their reservation line and TRY and get your party down on a waitlist. If you weren’t early enough you were NOT getting in. Mind you, our second trip we walked into the park maybe 10 minutes after our reservation time and it was too little too late.

Lastly, creating your own lightsaber. Now I WISH I could have at least witnessed someone make one but these babies cost $215. Ya girl doesn’t have that kind of money to spend, plus you can’t even bring the sabers back into the park so once you leave you can only enjoy at home. What’s really cool about this experience is that it’s basically hidden in plain sight. Since you are in the resistance you have to use discretion when creating your weapons so they have you stop into a small section within Batuu where you can build your lightsaber and even step into a cave to choose your crystals.

Overall Takeaway

I think what I love the most about this land is that it’s somewhat similar to Harry Potter world. There were no shortcuts to making the experience really feel like you stepped into these films. Now while Disneyland is somewhat of an odd place to house this park it was seemingly the only option since Marvel Land is being placed in California Adventure. To me, everything was incredible and the more days I got to spend there the more I loved and appreciated being there.