Okay, I’m going to try and complete my trip report during my lunch break.
First, before I go back into details, I would like to give my overall impression of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Black Spire Outpost, Batuu, etc, etc, etc.
It is an extremely well-done area, and it does not feel like you are at a WDW park. It is very similar to the Pandora section of Animal Kingdom, where the look and feel very much creates another world atmosphere. It does not look cheap, there is a lot of attention to detail. There is a lot of space in the walkways and they are not crowded.
The shops, however, are small and very segmented. That makes them get crowded very easily. The shops are specialized and only carry specific merchandise. You will not see the same item over and over.
Back to our visit. After looking at and photographing the Millennium Falcon, we completed our circuit of the Black Spire Outpost, passing by Oga’s Cantina, which continuously had a line of people waiting to get in, and the Milk Stand, finally ending at the Tie Echelon ship sitting in the corner of the area. Next to the TIE ship is a store selling First Order merchandise.
It was getting close to our time to build our lightsaber at Savi’s, so we got blue milk and green milk at the Milk Stand before we went in. There was a bit of line but it moved quickly. Later in the day, when we passed by there was little to no wait. We got the non-alcohol versions; they were $8 each. The drinks are fruit-flavored smoothies. The blue one was sweeter and had a smoother taste. The green one was more tropical fruit-flavored. We all tried the two and agreed that the blue had a better taste but it was a one and done experience. Not anything we’ll have again.
We got to Savi’s and there is a courtyard waiting area that had 20-30 people waiting, and a register area where you check-in, order and pay for the lightsaber. At this point you choose from four different styles:
Peace and Justice
Power and Control
Elemental Nature
Protection and Defense
After you pay and select, you are given a pin to wear that show what style you selected and a card for your group. The group that went in consisted of those who had that timeslot reserved along with several walk-up guests who waited for the next available open timeslot. We went past a gate into a second waiting area. One CM saw DD drinking blue milk and came up to her to tell her she couldn’t have it here but it quickly became obvious he was just teasing her, He was the lead Junker who later instructed in constructing our lightsaber. He did an incredible job leading us and it was extremely entertaining. CM was great all around.
WDWNT posted a youtube video of a lightsaber build and it is almost identical to our experience. It features the CM who I mentioned earlier.
After finishing up, it was just about 1 PM, we headed back to the Millennium Falcon. When we passed by earlier the standby wait time was 35 minutes and now it was 45 minutes. The line now was extending past the entrance and into the docking bay courtyard area. In addition, the skies were clouding up and rain looked imminent We figured let’s get in line and wait out the rain under the cover of the ride queue.
Just before we got undercover, the skies opened up and the rain started. Fortunately, we had umbrellas ready. Once you get past the entrance sign almost all of the waiting area is undercover except for one small part as you pass the backside of the Falcon. Half of the extending queue winds back and forth at the edge of the docking bay. You get a decent opportunity to look at and take pictures of the Falcon. It looks great, just like it is in the most recent movies. (Rectangular Radar Dish).
Once the queue winds inside, you get to see the inside of Hondo Ohnaka’s transport company. There are dozens and dozens of Star Wars items on display and you hear him and his employees discussing operations. As you walk up the ramps, you pass a spaceship engine that is being repaired, every few minutes they try to start up and it sounds like it’s going to explode. Eventually, you come to the top level of the queue and you then are looking down onto the Falcon. Again, every few minutes, they try to start the engines on the Falcon, the exhaust vents glow blue, engines roar and the building shakes a little before the engines fail and shut down. Just past this point, you are reaching the “start” of the attraction, where guests are split into two groups and we meet Hondo, who explains why we are there and what he needs us to do.
Except the Audio-Animatronic Hondo wasn’t working when we there, it was covered by a large crate and a tarp. We got to see him on two video screens. After his brief speech, doors in front of us opened and we proceeded onto the Falcon. Guests are given one of six color-coded cards, two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers. The crews of each ride are differentiated by the colors.
Walking in it looks a lot like you are in the movies, boarding the Falcon, you walk the corridors of the ship till you reach the main crew area of the ship complete with the chessboard table. It here that you wait the last few minutes for your turn. This almost goes too quickly; I would like to just hang out here for a while and soak it all in.
You are brought down a corridor to the cockpit, but first Hondo gives you last-minute instructions on exactly what you will need to do to complete your mission. Your mission is to steal supplies from a First Order train (like the scene from Solo). Pilots sit up front, gunners in the middle and engineers in the back. The ride is not too jerky or rough. It looks just like you are looking out the windows of the Falcon at the video screens. The video quality is quite good but it is not a very large image.
I got to ride it three times, twice as a pilot, once as the gunner. The cockpit is fairly realistic and there are a lot of flashing lights and buttons to push. Most don’t do anything except at certain points. The left pilot controls left and right movements while the right one controls up and down. The left pilot has to press a boost button and a brake button once while the right pilot gets to make the jump to hyperspace twice.
Gunners shoot down tie fighters while the engineers have to press buttons to activate harpoons to grab the cargo off the train. You make two runs at the train to get two different loads. There are different experiences based on your performance. Once we were only able to steal one of the two loads off the train. The other two times we grabbed both loads, there are displays on your screens at the end of the ride to let you know your score.
As you leave the attraction, you walk through hallways that feel very similar to the final hallways at Flights of Passage.
Okay, that was Smugglers Run and Savi’s. I got to get back to work but I’ll post one more trip report about shopping and eating lunch at Docking Bay Seven.