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The Complete Nerf Herder’s Guide To Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

The Complete Nerf Herder’s Guide To Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Galaxy's Edge

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the biggest expansion to date in any Disney theme park. That means that 1) there’s a hell of a lot to see and do here, and 2) sometimes it can be hard to see and do everything in a single visit.

To Star Wars fans, Galaxy’s Edge is more than just a theme park. It’s the closest we’ll ever come to living in a galaxy far, far away alongside the Jedi Order and Kylo Ren’s wide shoulders. Immersion is the name of the game here, and Disney has perfected every detail.

From making a lightsaber to running with a smuggling crew and joining the Resistance, guests can live out their Star Wars fantasy here, whatever that may be.

Stock up on blue milk and grab your companion droid, because here’s your guide to a life-changing trip to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The Story So Far

 

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Galaxy’s Edge is all about creating your own Star Wars story, and the park has its own backstory to help you roleplay. Guests are transported to the Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, a small planet on the fringes of space where people go to disappear. It’s a thriving port for smugglers, rogue traders, bold adventurers and Jedi in hiding.

It’s set during the current movies, so the First Order rules over Batuu and stormtroopers patrol the outpost. This influences the experiences you can have and the characters you’ll meet in the park. Savi’s Workshop is hidden from the First Order, and you’ll have to ask around to find the front door. Even the merch plays into it — the store that sells Resistance-themed replicas and clothing is disguised as a shipping container.

Building your own lightsaber is as cool as you think

 

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Until now, the dream of building your own lightsaber has been just that — a dream. Galaxy’s Edge is the first time fans have been able to experience what it must be like to be a Jedi in training.

You’re greeted inside Savi’s Workshop by a team of Gatherers, who search the galaxy for lost lightsaber parts that can be repurposed by new Jedi like yourself. There are four styles to choose from: Peace and Justice, Power and Control, Elemental Nature and Protection and Defence.

Each style has a collection of parts you can mix and match so that every lightsaber looks unique. The parts are also surprisingly heavy, and I mean that entirely as a compliment. Lightsabers at Galaxy’s Edge feel like more than just toys or replicas.

Building them feels like a religious experience, and the whole time, the Gatherers talk you through the history of the Jedi Order, classic Star Wars music swells around you, and legendary Jedis speak to you as force spirits.

*cantina music plays on repeat*

 

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Galaxy’s Edge is full of iconic Star Wars moments, but one of my favourite moments from my visit was sitting down for a drink in Oga’s Cantina.

The bartender spoke fast, a droid spun the tunes, and the cocktail (the Fuzzy Tauntaun) made my lips tingle. It’s the kind of place Han Solo would settle into for a night of mischief.

Outside of the cantina, the rest of the food and drink is equally on point. You can pick up a snack from Ronto Roasters, where an old podracing engine cooks the food (though your meals will be cooked in a proper kitchen), or sit down for a meal at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo.

The Endorian Fried Tip-Yip is a rectangle (yes, rectangle, because space food) of crispy chicken on roasted vegetable potato mash and served with green gravy. There are space-themed takes on spicy rubs and pot roast, as well as a vegan option with plant-based meatballs, hummus, relish and pita bread.

Docking Bay 7 also serves up two delicious desserts: the Oi-oi puff is a raspberry cream puff with passion fruit mousse and green macha cake, and the Batuu-bon is a rich chocolate cake base topped with white chocolate mousse and coffee custard.

The fastest hunk of junk in Galaxy’s Edge

Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Image: Matt Stroshane / supplied

There are two interactive rides inside Galaxy’s Edge. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run lets you board Han Solo’s iconic ship in one of three roles: pilot, gunner and engineer. Together with the rest of your crew, you take off from Black Spire and pull off a train heist. Here’s a hint: if you want to be the one to jump to hyperspace, play as the right-side pilot.

But it’s the brand-new ride, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, that’s the real wonder — a 10-minute-plus epic that’s more interactive adventure than amusement park ride.

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Rey and BB-8 brief you on your mission: the First Order has located the Resistance base, and you’re being evacuated. Minutes after your shuttle blasts off, you’re ambushed by First Order ships and captured by Kylo Ren’s Star Destroyer.

You’re marched into a massive hangar, face-to-face with 50 animatronic stormtroopers. A huge screen behind them shows ships floating past in space, and costumed actors march you through to an interrogation cell.

Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Image: Matt Stroshane / supplied

A group of Resistance fighters break you out of your cell, and you jump into a shuttle to make your escape. This is the main part of Rise of the Resistance, a spinning thrill ride that takes you through the Star Destroyer, past towering AT-ATs and Kylo Ren himself.

When you finally make it to the escape pods, it turns into a drop ride as you hurtle through space and crash land on the planet below. The drop is real, but the high-res screens in front of you make it look like you’re flying through a massive space battle.

Rise of the Resistance combines physical thrill rides, high-quality simulations and a narrative to create a Star Wars experience unlike anything fans have had before. It’s open in Walt Disney World in Florida, Orlando and will open in Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California soon.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is more than just a theme park. It’s a totally immersive way to experience the franchise, from meeting the characters to eating the food and living new adventures. Even casual fans will be blown away by the sheer scale of the land, but it’s the superfans whose lives will be changed by visiting.

(Lead image: Matt Stroshane / supplied)

Our writer was a guest of Walt Disney World and flew with Delta.

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