Got to visit Galaxy's Edge yesterday.
I experienced every single offering except for the Cantina (it was a 3 hour wait)
Below is my in depth review and OPINIONS of the land. Keep in mind that I have seen some Star Wars films but am not a not a Star Wars fanatic.. but a huge theme park/imagineering fan.. So take that for what it's worth.
SPOILERS BELOW
THE LAND: 10/10
-The transitions from frontier/fantasy are seamless, buildings are tall, the trees are beautiful. There's a ton of shaded areas, places to sit down, and just areas to relax and kick back. Lots of exploring to do! Each store location has Star Wars-y doors.. big sets of double doors that aggressively slide open and close (I don't have a better way to describe them but it was a cool sight to see). Little nooks to venture off into and a ton of things to see. Resistance area was nice but not a lot to do without Rise open.. If you walk up to the Rise entrance you can hear/see a large waterfall straight ahead in the queue.. It was beautiful..
THE BATHROOMS: 10/10
-There are two sets of bathrooms in the land, both have identical interiors and have themed insides similar to the wizarding world. Inside the restrooms, they play a recorded loop of "Black Spire Radio" music with a host even greeting listeners and introducing the next song.
-The drinking fountain outside of one of the bathrooms is INCREDIBLE. There is a large clear pipe connected to the fountain with an animatronic sea creature that emerges out of the water. This happens when you press the button on the fountain. There are also new fountains for refilling water bottles I've never seen before in a Disney park.
THE SHOPS: 7/10
-You guys, when I tell you these shops are small... I mean they're SMALL... I'm not knocking them for their size, but for their efficiency in crowds.
-The market stalls were a MESS. Each stall is so shallow, the guest flow/operation just doesn't work. (mind you this was a cast preview with very little people walking around in the land.. good luck on opening day/any day after June 24). It was actual hell trying to buy anything from these stores. There wasn't enough room for people trying to pay out at the registers, let alone have anyone walk in and try to look at the products. People were cutting each other and there was just hoards of people swarming registers to purchase things.
-Only Kat Saka's has an actual queue and is somewhat organized, the toy/pet shop and the other trinket shop were... not fun. (Although beautifully themed)
-Droid Depot/Dok-Ondar's are a bit larger than the others and have neat things to look at.
-Dok-Ondar animatronic literally does not interact with guests whatsoever... He is just in a cage above the check out registers and just does his own thing.. We were in the store for 10-15 min and he didn't even say one word.. Looking at the figure, it didn't even seem like his mouth could fully open.. He just blinks and rotates around in his cage.. He is still cool, but with imagineering hyping everyone up saying we could bargain with him.. I was just left a little disappointed..
-First Order Cargo is just way too small... It is in such a prime location and is no bigger than that little shop inside Fantasy Faire.. Didn't even need to enter to see all the merchandise..
-Resistance supply is cute! It looks just like the concept art!
THE FOOD: 9/10
-Blue/Green milk stand is COOL!! Lots of glass spheres filled with liquid while you wait in organized switchbacks.. The main glass sphere filled with blue milk in the front bubbles and is animated. The drinks themselves are small, expensive, and tasteless. $7.99 for a small cup before tax.. I bought 1 blue, 1 green and my total was $17+... Cool to get your pic with one but this won't be a reoccurring drink purchase for me, unlike Butterbeer at Universal.
-Docking Bay 7: Didn't eat here but the restaurant is very large! It was super neat inside and there was a indoor and outdoor seating.. Loved it.
-Ronto Roasters made me so happy.. It is so friggin cool... The idea and execution is PERFECTION. You can smell it from far away and the engine is animated and shakes while spewing smoke and red flaring lights.. There is a droid churning a crank which is rotating the meat. The food is BOMB.. expensive but really good. The Ronto Wrap is absolutely delish and super different from anything Disney has offered in the past. Its $13+ and its roughly the size of a chalupa from Taco Bell.. The drinks are delish but need help with presentation.. Its literally just juice in a cup with ice.. No garnish, no popping boba, no cool colors.. seems a little basic for a galactic land.
-Kat Saka's Kettle is so good.. and I really wasn't excited for this offering.. The popcorn machine looks really cool and the stall is themed nicely. The popcorn is really different and I loved it. I would best describe the taste as a spicy/salty trix cereal flavored popcorn.
SAVI'S WORKSHOP: 5/10
It's a no from me... Joined a friend who built a lightsaber and got to experience the show with him.. There is no way in hell I would pay $200+ for this experience.. There were nice lighting effects and the show presentation was cute.. but no physical show elements.. Ollivanders is completely free and has more physical effect offerings. Sure its cool if you're a die hard fan.. but when I sat and calculated how much money this venue makes ($2,800+ every 30 min, $89,600+ in one 8am-Midnight operating day), I couldn't ignore the fact that this was just an empty room with color changing LEDs and fake candles... Yoda makes an appearance.. and he's not a really cool hologram effect.. Just a cheap voice over.. They just could have done way more with this area for the money they make on the hour.
FALCON: 9/10
We all know so much about this ride so I'll only explain the new things I noticed.
-Queue is so cool and very large
-Multi leveled queue with windows looking out at the falcon were genius.
-Boarding the falcon was not believable at all for me. Execution was poor.. a toddler could figure out that we didn't board the actual falcon.. Where they went wrong? The Hondo preshow. The preshow fails to properly show the falcon leave its position outside, park inside the building, and allign with the gangway hallway we enter next.. Hondo doesn't even explain the falcon being moved.. Instead, Hondo explains the story of the attraction while you see the falcon randomly show up behind him on what is clear to be a screen, not a window. What I would've done? Shown surveillance footage of the attractions facade with guests walking around.. clearly see the falcon move from that position, then appear on the screen behind him and park and align itself with the gangway.. Star Tours does a great job with this in its pre boarding queue video.
-Falcon ride has Day/Night mode in the attraction!! THANK GOD! This happens in the beginning when you leave Black Spire Outpost and see the land.
-The Hondo that appears on the screen is an actor with prosthetics! He looks so cool!! Looks just like the animatronic!
-Gunner has Autopilot/Manual options you can choose. The difference? Manual has a series of 3 buttons that must be pressed simultaneously to shoot while auto just has one.
-Everyone has to activate their consoles as soon as they sit down. This is how the ride knows what positions are filled.
-I was gunner and pilot and had a blast. Such a good ride.
CHARACTERS: 10/10
-You are immediately greeted by tons of troopers coming in from the Fantasy/Frontier entrances and they have a lot more to say in Batuu! Kylo also walks with them and orders guests to interact with him.. The troopers are also found on top of structures/buildings which I thought was super neat.
-Rey and Chewie walk around the resistance forest happy to shake hands and meet with guests. I was shopping at Resistance Supply and Rey actually approached me. She asked for my name and thanked me for visiting Batuu. She has a specific spiel rehearsed that has her storytelling and thanking guests for coming. It was truly magical.
SOUNDS: 10/10
-The surround sound is crazy.. you can feel the vibration of ships taking off and landing.. and they're LOUD. The sound travels throughout the land and was super immersive.
-Only certain areas have musical scores playing.. Mostly when you first enter.
-The forest has nice forest-y sounds with birds and trees and such.
This land is truly magical. I'm very excited for everyone to experience it. I'm not a huge Star Wars fanatic and was genuinely impressed.. I can only imagine how much the die hards will love it.
Let me know if anybody has any questions. I'm happy to help!
