I finally went to the land, here's my probably too long review. I'll try to answer some confusions in it too. Each paragraph is labeled on what I talk about in case you want to read only some of it.
Entry into Land and Oga's Cantina:
I technically went twice (sue me), yesterday at 8 am, and today at 8 am. I went as a guest on my parent's reservation yesterday, and today went as the primary guest. We entered the land yesterday at 8:00 am, near the front, and immediately got in line for Oga's. I wouldn't recommend doing that, instead get on the waitlist within the first hour in the land. We were part of the first group of people to go in, but we were towards the end of the capacity, and they let people in slowly, so it ate up about 35 minutes just to get inside. They probably didn't want to overwhelm the barstaff, so they filled it a group at a time. When we got in, we shared a standing table with a group of four. It's pretty random if you get a seat at a booth, standing table, or bar, and you'll most likely be seated with other groups. The atmosphere was really neat. There were lights built into the tables, and they would kind of dance with the music, fading on and off in different patterns. DJ Rex was really cool too, and the contraption they had behind the bar with different creatures and fluids totally fit in. I didn't like the drink, the Bloody Rancor, but that's probably because I don't like Bloody Marys. I also kind of a picky eater/drinker. We got out of the Cantina about an hour in to our reservation.
Journey for Food:
At this point we had only seen a tiny stretch of the land, so finally seeing the Millennium Falcon was incredible. Everything was highly detailed and meticulous, and it really felt like you were on a planet from Star Wars. We decided not to do Smugglers Run, the line was long, and we knew it would die down later. I recommend doing this as well, but don't wait until the last hour, because the other group joins. We were all hungry, so we checked out Ronto Roasters and then Docking Bay Food and Cargo 7. Nothing looked appetizing to me, as it was all very exotic, and I'm a picky eater as I mentioned earlier. I needed something to eat, so I checked the popcorn, but they only have the special popcorn which is sweet and spicy, and I can't take spicy so I didn't get it. They told me I couldn't re-enter the land, so I had to eat in Galaxy's Edge. I eventually found Nuna Turkey Jerky at Ronto Roasters, and it tasted fine, but was much harder than most jerky, so it wasn't an enjoyable eating experience. They do have kids meals I believe, so it may be easier to find something for children to eat, but if your palette isn't diverse, you may want to eat before you go into the land.
Shopping:
We looked around the shops for a bit, which were all excellently themed. There are so many little things to observe. There are multiple creatures with features at the creature stall, a tiny animatronic Sarlacc pit and two other creatures in Dok-Ondar's plus the really neat Dok-Ondar animatronic, an animated BB and R2 unit in the Droid Depot, and so much more. One tip I would give is always look up, and always look down. There's incredible theming in the ceilings and up on high shelves, and intricate hangings everywhere. We didn't have to wait to get in any shop, although there was a wait to build a droid and build a lightsaber. I've seen Dok-Ondar have a long line. My one complaint is how small all the shops are. They didn't have a ton of space, but looking at how tiny they are and the lines that are already forming, I can't imagine how bad it will be on opening day. Someone said that Diagon Alley is better than Galaxy's Edge, and when it comes to size of retail space, I'll agree. It baffles me why they wouldn't at least expand the shops for Florida, where they have space, although my bias for Disneyland makes me happy that they won't. They really should've designed two planets, Batuu for Disneyland, and something with a different vibe for Disney World. Tangent aside, everything visual is breathtaking. We were about two hours in and the line for Millennium Falcon dipped to 25.
Smuggler's Run Queue:
We got in line, and the queue is incredible. Not counting Rise of the Resistance, it's easily the second best queue in the park. People we lined up about halfway through the workshop area. The extended queue is incredibly themed even though we didn't go in it. You'll get to be even closer to the backside of the Falcon when all queue is utilized. After going by the backside of the falcon, which was stunning, we entered the workshop, and it smelled of oil. It felt like you were walking in on a workday, they were working some giant engine lifted to the second level in the middle of the room. There's an unfinished card game with betting tokens, and tons of droid related stuff. It almost feels like the boiler room in Guardians in a weird way, but much better. We went over the Falcon, which was jaw-dropping, and then went into the preshow room. The Hondo animatronic is so fluid, and it does show the Falcon departing from the pad and into the building on a little map that looks like the map in the Datapad app. One of my favorite touches was when the Falcon is seen behind Hondo on a screen, the blue light from the engines actually lit up the area next to Hondo blue. It felt very natural, but it was something they totally didn't need to do. The rest of the queue was great too.
Smuggler's Run Ride Experience:
Now, my thoughts on the ride. I rode it seven times between the two days. Wait times were consistently short, which was a blessing we'll never see again once Fastpass is implemented and it becomes public. I wouldn't wait two hours to go on it again (unless they had new missions), but it was absolutely worth more than the 15 or less minutes I waited each time. I was pilot four times, twice on the left and twice on the right, gunner twice, and engineer once. I'd say pilot is by far the best position. Not only are your controls in front of you and not to the side, you actually get to control how the ride moves, which I think is incredible. You're also closest to the front. It's hilarious to me that the only ride scenario is based on Solo, since it bombed and no one cares about it. If Disney is smart, they'll work in new scenarios like Star Tours based on planets from the trilogies. I remember concept art of the Falcon going through the Kessel Run, which was also in Solo, so I wouldn't be surprised if the two other missions are from Solo. I overheard one Smuggler's Run CM saying something about Mustafar, but I didn't get context, so maybe it's one of the destinations, or maybe it's nothing. Your ride experience will vary greatly depending on who's in your cockpit. I only got all adults the last time I rode it, and we all were experienced, so that was the only time we did decent. We barely hit anything, up until the very end, and we got a pretty high score too. If you have a good rapport with the people in your cockpit, you'll have a fun time. Sometimes you go through an asteroid field, I think it has to do with how long it takes for CMs to load people. I went through it a few times, and it was a little different each time. The first time we went through a hole in one of the asteroids, but I never saw that asteroid again. You can kinda tell where the video clips if it decides to skip the asteroid field. All of the positions were fun, and you definitely improve the more you go on it. There's a certain finesse to piloting it, you move the levers softly and controlled to do well, not all the way in any direction. The reaction time was incredibly impressive when it came to controls, especially with real-time graphics and real time motion. The ride is really fun, and incredibly satisfying once you get the hang of it, but it can also be really annoying if you have terrible pilots, or tiny children in the positions, especially when you want to do well. Try to get into a party without small children if you can. The exit varied depending on which cockpit turntable you went on. Sometimes the walk to the exit is really long, sometimes it's really short, kind of like Tower of Terror. There is a variety of theming in the exits, one of them you pass by an imprint of a Rathtar, but they eventually all join together. Very very impressed with the theming in this ride.
Datapad:
We got some blue milk, which I did not like, and walked around a bit more before we left. It got considerably busier when they let the second group in. I didn't really use the app, but the app also didn't reward me with my score from Millennium Falcon any of the times I rode it, while most of my cockpit-mates got it. The app is kinda fun, but is probably more worth it when lines are longer. I didn't do the turf capture game. One thing that as really disappointing on the app was the translate feature. I was under the impression that you could scan things, but you have to enter them manually from a keyboard with a lot of similar symbols. It took me five minutes to translate "Warning: Rendering Fat," which was not worth the effort. I can only see this being sort of fun when if you're stuck in a long line. I'm still not sold on the whole datapad experience. We left the land around 3:45 into our reservation.
Notes on Lighting and Sound:
Two of my favorite elements of the land were the lighting design and the sound design. The sound design was absolutely miles ahead of anything else in the two parks. Many things make noise throughout the land, giants fans near the exit of Millennium Falcon make a whirring noise, generators have sound coming within them, there was ambience everywhere with sounds of droids and music and other noises. The ships on the ground made noises, and sound would pan around the land sounding like a spaceship taking off or flying overhead. I caught myself looking up into the sky multiple times expecting to see something. The lighting design was impeccable. Not only was it well hidden, and every fixture beautiful, but everything felt perfectly lit. Light is used in Ronto's Roasters to simulate heat, and from what I've seen online, the land looks gorgeous at night (although I'm not sold on the blue rocks yet.)
Note on Rockwork:
Lastly, to end this lengthy review, the rockwork was incredible. It was meticulously created to match awesome petrified trees centuries old. The larger overhead rocks have a clear siltline, and you can see where roots used to be. A desert rose is formed on another. The colors are gorgeous, yet believable, and there is a cut open petrified root in the land that looks like you're staring down the center of a petrified trunk. The aging of the land and the rockwork was done incredibly.
To quantify it it from 0-10: Theming: 10, Food and Drink: 4, Merchandise: 9, Smugglers Run: 9, Lighting: 10, Sound: 10, Layout: 7.5
