During our quick trip to Disney last November, one of the things we were most excited to see was Star War’s Galaxy’s Edge. My husband and I are (Donald Trump voice) HUUUUGE theme park nerds. We love Universal Studios in particular, largely because of the immersive-ness of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Once we found out about Star War’s Galaxy’s Edge, we were looking forward to experiencing that “immersive” type of theme-parking in a whole new way.

Let me get something out of the way: I’m not a Star Wars fan-girl by any means. If I’m being honest with you, I don’t really get it. 🤭 I know a lot of people live and die by the light saber, but I’ve tried to watch the movies and it’s just not for me. That being said, I do love a good gimmick and I’m a sucker for theming. So even as a non-Star Wars fan, I was pretty stoked to exploring Galaxy’s Edge.

First Impressions

You walk into Galaxy’s Edge through a long tunnel, which feels like a transportive experience to somewhere totally new. It’s a great way to enter the land, and the first impression is pretty stellar. You really do feel like you’ve transported to another world! The area still feels very “new” with all the premature trees and landscaping, but that, of course, will go away once those plants have a chance to grow in.

We walked past “Rise of The Resistance” which wasn’t open at the time our our visit and instantly began to snap photos of all the props. The props and scenes are pretty rad – but the whole land is very “look, don’t touch”. If you’re looking for an interactive experience like you’d find at the Wizarding World, you’re not going to find it here, unfortunately. You’ll find lots of cool things to look at, but they’re all walled off and are unable to be interacted with.

That being said, the various droids, ships, and doodads (aaaand Star Wars fans are cringing in their seat right now as I totally butcher what these things actually are) make for nice photo-ops. Even though it’s more of a “museum-y” experience, it’s still fun to marvel at all the intricacies of the props.

Galaxy’s Edge, as a whole, looks super cool. But there isn’t much to actually do. Aside from Kylo Ren walking around, there aren’t very many interactive experiences like you’d have at the Wizarding World. Unless, of course, you want to fork over the 200$ to build a light saber…which we did not do.

Additionally, the area is smaller than you think it’s going to be. It feels really crowded as a result, especially when you’re waiting in line to get a good look at the Millennium Falcon. Also, Disney labels this thing as “life size” but is it really? It was smaller than I expected…maybe its just one of those “looks bigger on TV” type things. 🤷🏻

All in all, Galaxy’s Edge is cool to take pictures in, but outside of that it kind of just feels like a museum. It felt very 2-D and didn’t come to life n the way that I had hoped.

Dining & Snacks

In true Disney fashion, there are plenty of dining options in Galaxy’s Edge. The main quick service location, Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have a few different “meaty” options like pot roast and ribs as well as some plant based items. We didn’t grab anything here, but I did snap this picture by this little robot dude:

You know me though, I am a sucker for a good food gimmick and boy did Star War’s Galaxy’s Edge have plenty of those. At the “Milk Stand” you can get green or blue “milk” which, from what I understand, is a dairy-free drink (I believe it’s rice-milk based) that has a fruity, tropical taste. Even though I love me a gimmick, the idea of green “milk” was too much. It grossed me out and I skipped it. I offer you another picture instead, this time of the “Milk Stand”:

Even though I missed my chance to slurp colored milk, I had to get something weird to snack on while we were here! We wandered over to “Kat Saka’s Kettle” and I found just the snack: The Outpost Mix. This reminded me of a play on the “Chicago Mix” popcorn that I love from home, which is a blend of cheese and caramel corn. This “Outpost” variety was a mix of spicy (red) and sweet (purple) popcorn. Sounded weird and tasty, so I was in!

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype. The sweet popcorn tasted kind of like a stale fruit loop and the spicy didn’t have any heat at all. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t super tasty. At least it made for a cool photo op!

We also popped in to “Oga’s Cantina” after seeing videos of it online. I hear this place usually gets pretty popping, but we were able to get right in. The space is super small and different parties are seated together at the same table. It’s full-service with some food options and a cocktail waitress who comes to take your order. We split a non-alcholic “Black Spire Brew” made with cold-brew coffee, honey, passionfruit and citrus. It was 7 bucks, so I choked it down. But it was sick-nasty not good. 0 out of 10. Do not recommend.

Oga’s Cantina is a cool little spot though. Even though it’s tiny, the theming is pretty rad – especially the robot DJ animatronic. My husband and I were both expecting this place to be super awe-inducing after seeing pictures and videos online. It was cool, but it was also a little underwhelming. The small, cramped, “pack-it-in” type of seating takes away from the magic.

Aside from all the paid dining, I really appreciated their use of installing an automatic water-bottle filling station at this area in the park. These are, for whatever reason, non-existent at theme parks. I think this is the only one I’ve seen at any of the Disney Parks, so I was actually quite excited to find it! I know that’s a silly detail to be excited about…but it’s the little things, right?

Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

And now for our main attraction: the *literal* main attraction at Galaxy’s Edge – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. This ride debuted with the opening of Galaxy’s Edge on May 31, 2019. We visited in November and fully expected this ride to be totally slammed, and it was. We waited just about an hour and a half to get on this ride, which wasn’t too bad considering we had waited almost two hours the previous day to get on Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom.

Even though the wait was pretty long, the time went by pretty quick due to the fantastic theming throughout the line. Waiting outside was a little boring, although you’ll inch your way around the Millennium Falcon and enjoy some different perspectives of the land’s main structure. Once you get inside, you pass through a really dope machine shop and encounter some of Disney’s stellar animatronics.

Once you get further into the queue, you’ll be handed your “boarding passes” and granted access to board the Millennium Falcon. The passes have your assigned job – Pilot, Gunner, or Engineer – which will tell you what your “role” will be on the ride. Like Mission: Space at Epcot, this ride features an interactive element that assigns the rider a “job” to do aboard the ship.

At this point, you’ll have a few moments to explore the inside of the Millennium Falcon before you ride. This is the best part of the queue, and actually I think the best part of the entire experience. There’s ample room for photo ops and plenty of things to “Ooh” and “Ahh” at. This part of the ride was my favorite, and I wished we’d had even more time to explore.

However, the ride itself is quite forgettable. It’s your run-of-the-mill motion simulator and I didn’t find it to be that thrilling. We were given the “Engineer” task which put us in the back row of the cockpit. Our responsibility was to “repair” the ship, which basically amounted to just pressing a button when it lit up. The cockpit design is really immersive, especially with the shape of the screen. I’m sure the ride is best viewed from the “Pilot” role, which puts your right up front. While it does have some fun elements, the ride itself isn’t worth the almost 2 hour wait. The queue, however, is – especially for die-hard Star Wars fans.

Final Thoughts

While “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” is one of the better parts of Hollywood Studios, I found it to be tremendously underwhelming when comparing it to the hype. Like the rest of our Disney trip, my husband and I had a good time. But with all the hype this place gets, and with the amount of money you pay to go here, you want the experience to be, “WOW”-inducing. You get the initial “Woah!” when you walk into the area, but that quickly fades when you realize how small it is and how little there is to actually do there.

I was hoping for an immersive, Wizarding-World, type experience with Galaxy’s Edge and I never quite reached that level of wonder. I can’t help but feel that this area of the park was a half-baked attempt at cashing in on the immersive style of theme parking that Universal had hit it big on with their Wizarding World. It all boils down to there is nothing to DO here. Once you snap your pictures, go on the Smuggler’s Run, and chug some blue milk, you’ve done it all.

You can take this final review with a grain of salt because, like I said, I’m not the biggest Star Wars fanatic. I missed out on one of the major attractions – Savi’s Workshop – because I was not willing fork over the 200 buck-a-roonies to build my own light saber. The experience at Savi’s is essentially Disney’s answer to the Harry Potter wands, and actually looks pretty fun in YouTube videos. Unfortunately, YouTube the only place I can afford to experience it. I’m not willing to shell out 200 bucks for a lightsaber that, once I’m done with it, doesn’t do anything special at the park.

If you’re a Star Wars fanatic and it’s your dream to build your own light saber, then maybe that experience will be worth it to you. Who am I to crap on your dream?! Go build that saber, little Skywalker. And enjoy every minute of it! But I can’t help but find these kind of price-points somewhat insulting to regular middle-class, park-goers who are already straining their budgets to be at the park.

Again, if you’re a die-hard fan, the experience might be worth it to you and would be something you choose to budget for. I would have really liked to have the experience of building my own light saber, but the price point makes the experience too exclusive us with “limited-budget” folk. If you’re not a die-hard Star Wars fan who justifies the cost or someone who enough money to not care about 200 bucks, then you may very well leave this area feeling underwhelmed due to the lack of interactivity.

That being said, anyone will undoubtedly find Galaxy’s Edge really cool to look at and take pictures of – especially at night. If you are visiting Hollywood Studios – do yourself a favor and do not miss Galaxy’s Edge at night – it comes alive in a whole new way!

Overall, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is a really cool area to explore and photograph. Die-hard Star Wars fans will undoubtedly find more value here than your average park-goer, especially if they find it worth it to spring for all the extras like light sabers or droids. Average park-goers, like myself, will likely find it cool to look at and not much else.

🌻 Have you been to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Did you buy a light saber? Was it worth it?! Let me know in the comments below! <3