Disneyland’s Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: A Visit to Batuu
As a Star Wars fan, I was super excited for a trip to Batuu, but don’t worry- even if you aren’t a Star Wars fanatic, you will be amazed at being immersed into Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. Read on for a full review.
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Our first time walking through Batuu was on Saturday. We used the Magic Morning entry, getting into the park an hour before it opens (a full description of Magic Hour and Magic Mornings will be in my post about the rides, since that’s what we mainly used it for). We had time to go on a couple of rides in Fantasy Land before lining up by the Fantasy Land entrance to Start Wars Galaxy’s Edge. There was already a mob of people, and most of them made a beeline straight for the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride just like we did.
Well, with the height requirement being 38 inches minimum, we couldn’t take our munchkins on with us. Thank goodness for Rider Switch, one of our favorite Disneyland tips! Rider Switch is where the supervising adult has his/her ticket scanned by a cast member at the entrance to the attraction’s line. Once the adult who went on the ride comes off, the supervising adult passes off the munchkin(s), scans their ticket again, and goes to the front of the line similar to how a Fast Pass line would work (*there is not currently an actual Fast Pass available for this ride). Read *here* for more on Rider Switch from the Disneyland website.
Half of our party went on the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run while my sister had her ticket scanned and waited with the rest of the group for us to get off the ride. Once the first group got off the ride, we switched. They scanned my sister’s ticket again, and the other half of our party got to go to the front of the line.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is amazing! It’s like Star Tours but way more interactive. You actually assume the role of a pilot, gunner, or engineer. The video changes depending on how well or (in our case) poorly your crew does with the tasks assigned to their role. Only 6 people go on the attraction at a time, so since we had 8 of us in the first round, we split 4 and 4. My brother-in-law was the left pilot, with me being the left gunner behind him. One of my sister’s and her boyfriend were pilot and gunner on the right side, respectively. There were two people added to our group from the single rider line as engineers in the back.
As a gunner, you can choose automatic or manual. As this was my first time on the ride, I chose automatic. Next time I would like to try manual where I would actually have to use the extra buttons to aim before shooting. I can’t wait to go on the ride again to try out the other roles as well! I love how every time you go on it, things can have a different result.
While we waited for our second group to go on the Millenium Falcon, my brother, his girlfriend, and I went to see about getting some Blue Milk. I bought the Blue Milk and they bought the Green Milk so we could all try a bit of each. They were both delicious although I have heard mixed reviews online. Most in our group seemed to either like them or not be able to make up their mind based on the hard-to-pin flavors. The blue milk was sweeter and is listed on the Disneyland app as a “plant-based blend of Coconut and Rice Milk with alluring fruity characteristics.” The green milk tasted more citrusy and is noted to have “zippy citrus and tropical characteristics.”
A common complaint I have read on various blogs seems to think they taste too much like “plants” and are not creamy. I was expecting more of a slushie (not smoothie) texture, so the lack of dairy creaminess didn’t bother me. Also, my Dad is lactose intolerant, so he could actually drink it. As for the plant taste- I do NOT like tasting plants in my drinks. Rose hips or hibiscus in my smoothies? No thanks! The Blue and Green Milk; however, did not have that plant-y taste in my opinion.
Check out the Disney Food Blog for a more detailed flavor breakdown.
Blue Milk or Green Milk? Cast your vote in the comments, Instagram, or Facebook!
My munchkin stole my Blue Milk…needless to say, she was a fan!
Anyway, we ran into a hidden Mickey after sharing the Blue and Green Milk. There is only one hidden Mickey in Batuu…do you know where it is?
What is any visit to a foreign world without shopping? I have been wanting to buy an Ewok stuffed animal for a while now. Having a daughter was the perfect excuse. To my surprise, she actually picked out the Ewok herself and asked if I could buy it for her. *Happy dance*
She also got a puzzle from my mother-in-law where you turn the 3 segments to match up the top, bottom, and middle of the characters. She chose the one with the “good guys.”
We bought our thermal detonator Coke Bottles. The names of the sodas are in Aurebesh, a Star Wars alphabet. It was great fun to see munchkin pretend to be “cooking” with the Coke Detonator in an area of Batuu that turned into her “kitchen.” Click here to see the video. She loved playing make-believe in Disneyland- this made me so happy! I love her imagination.
We saw Chewy on the way in, but I didn’t get a picture as we were trying to get on the Millenium Falcon as fast as possible. So many Storm Troopers were patrolling the area and Kylo Ren popped in and out. Munchkin loved the storm troopers, and immediately asked where Darth Vader was…after a conversation to clear that up, she came to terms that Kylo Ren is the new bad guy in town. She was afraid of him- probably a good thing, haha!
As I mentioned in my post on Meeting Characters, the character meetings you have in Batuu are more encounters. It is meant to be an immersive experience as opposed to lining up for autographs and pictures. Here are some accounts of our experiences (thanks to my brother and dad for re-telling the stories).
My brother told some Storm Troopers that they looked like they were just back from a rousing game of paintball. One replied, “Aren’t you the clever one,” and kept walking.
He then overheard Kylo Ren shouting orders for them to find Chewy, so my brother pointed and said, “He went that way.” Kylo Ren got right into his face and said, “I. Know.” The Storm Trooper then told my brother to go about his business and get back to “touristing.”
My mother-in-law asked a Storm Trooper if it was hot inside his suit and he responded, “That is none of your concern.”
Yet another reason to go back- to have more fun with these interactions!
We went off to our Character Brunch reservations at this point and came back to Batuu on Sunday.
A huge highlight was Oga’s Cantina. I had to make a reservation 14 days in advance for 17 people (babies and toddlers count even if they are in arms or on laps). You really have to make reservations ahead of time if you want to get in. They won’t even let you wait in line if you don’t have a reservation. There is no charge to go in, but there is a $10 fee for everyone in your reservation who doesn’t show up (the same as all reservations for Disneyland restaurants). Of course, any drinks you want are charged.
Our party was split into 2 groups: 8 could sit in a booth that had opened up while the rest could stand by a tall table on the other side. As we really just wanted to go in for the experience, we were fine splitting it up into 2 sections. We were easily able to switch people back and forth to rotate who was on each side. We had noise-cancellation headphones for the babies (4 months and 9 months). They were not happy even with the headphones and my mom, aunt, and dad quickly left with the babies and my 2-year-old nephew after taking a look around and perusing the menu.
Those of us that were interested in trying some drinks stayed on the standing side. There is a limit of 45 minutes and 2 drinks per person.
We ordered a variety of drinks as you can imagine with 10 adults and a toddler. My munchkin got the Jabba Juice (a fruity, non-alcoholic drink with popping pearls) and we shared Oga’s Obsession (a fruity gelatin snack in a petri dish with popping pearls layered on the bottom and pop rocks & dried fruit on top).
My husband and I got the Fuzzy Tauntaun and the T-16 Skyhopper. The Fuzzy Tauntaun was my favorite, and the “Buzz” foam on top really does make your tongue and lips tingle. Children can not have the foam- I guess they are more sensitive to the tingling. The effects are stronger and more long-lasting. My brother had to tell me how to drink it without getting the foam up my nose- shows you how much I actually frequent “cantinas.”
The only drinks I didn’t like (after taking some sample sips from my family’s choices) were the ones where I don’t like the alcohol base. I am not a fan of tequila so the Dagobah Slug Slinger & the Outer Rim were not on my like list. Apparently, I don’t like Bourbon, so Jet Juice is also a no in my book. The Jedi Mind Trick (Vodka, Falernum, & Blue Curacao) was good…or was it not the drink I was looking for? *Sorry, bad Star Wars pun* 😝
In our wanderings before our reservations at Oga’s Cantina, we stumbled across the Droid Depot. Munchkin really wanted a robot, and she really had been so good over the past few days, so we went back to make a droid before leaving (yay, Christmas gift cards!). She wanted purple, so we made sure we got a purple head for our R2 unit. She had fun picking options off the conveyer belt so we definitely had to edit her choices by putting most things back on the belt.
She “helped” her daddy put it together, and pressed the button to activate our new droid.
The pictures show a very serious face as she was so tired by this point, but once the droid started moving around she cracked her smile! See the video here.
We had a “droid play date” with a friend’s droid the weekend after we got back home- lots of fun! There are different personality chips you can buy, but we opted to not spend more money…this trip.
There you have it: my account of Batuu, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. So much fun, I can’t wait to go back and explore more! Whether or not you are a fan of Star Wars and whether or not you have seen the movies or read any books, it is still a very fun experience. I think Star Wars fans can “geek out” over the little details, but those little details are not necessary to temporarily immerse yourself in a new world and have a little fun.
Side note: my daughter loves Star Wars and was very excited about Star Wars land solely based on kids books. She has not seen the movies (yet!).
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