Disneyland cast celebrates their opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

May 20, 2019, 7:51 PM · Cast member previews started today for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland. To celebrate the opening of Disney's largest and most expensive theme park land ever, Disneyland Resort President Josh D'Amaro today shared the official cast member opening team photo for Galaxy's Edge.

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So proud to introduce you to the inhabitants of Batuu! I want to thank this amazing team for their incredible dedication and passion. Yesterday’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cast rally was unforgettable. This photo is one for the ages! #magichasaname #starwarsgalaxysedge #planetofbatuu #maytheforcebewithyou

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Disney is trying to enforce a strict "no media" blackout on the cast member previews, but word always leaks out on social media during these things, if not photos and video, too. (Please don't get yourselves fired over this, Disneyland CMs.) As for the official media preview, that happens in nine days and we will be there at Disneyland for full coverage on May 29-30, in advance of the land's opening to timed reservation holders and Disneyland Resort hotel guests on May 31. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens to all Disneyland ticket holders on June 24.

Even if you did not get one of those timed reservations, you still will be able to buy opening day merchandise from Galaxy's Edge. Disneyland announced today that it will be selling Galaxy's Edge opening day souvenirs elsewhere in the park: at Emporium, the upper level of Star Wars Launch Bay, Star Trader, and Pooh Corner.

In other words, you don't have to turn to eBay flippers for Galaxy's Edge collectibles. Disneyland will sell them to you, even if you could not get into the land itself.

For discounts on multi-day tickets to Disneyland and combo packages with other area theme parks, please visit our Disneyland tickets pages.

Replies (7)

May 20, 2019 at 9:55 PM

Coincidentally, that’s what every square foot of that section of the park will look like for the next five years only add strollers and ECV’s

May 21, 2019 at 12:56 PM

FWIW, Disney has released important details regarding the lightsaber and droid building experiences, most notably the prices...

$199.99 for the lightsabers
$99.99 for the droids

The other important details are that the experiences will be limited to 2 people per order with one person in each party 14+. That means if you have a family of 3, 4, or more, you may need to build multiple units to allow everyone in your family to go through the experience (can't just send the 2 kids under 14 through by themselves to share 1 lightsaber). They have not posted reservation information (remember, guests wanting to visit Savi's Workshop will need to find it first), but have indicated that reservations may be needed for these experiences. Also, if the base prices are not budget-busting enough, Disney notes that guests will be able to purchase additional accessories for droids and lightsabers at other Galaxy's Edge retailers - presumably if you liked multiple options during the build experience, you could buy the pieces you didn't chose.

Less important details go through the actual building process, but don't specifically state what the lightsaber blades will be made of. Another curious detail is that the droids will interact inside of Galaxy's Edge, but they are prohibiting remote control droid use within the parks - you must carry the droid around to allow it to interact in the land. This makes sense, because it's likely going to be far too crowded to allow little droids to roll around the land, but I wonder if the crowds will ever thin out enough to allow guests to run their droids at least in controlled spaces within Galaxy's Edge. It's also unclear who Disney is using to source these pricey souvenirs, but it certainly sounds like the lightsabers will be of similar quality to Master Replicas, while the droids sound like they may be much like those produced by Sphero.

Droid Depot
Savi's Workshop

Start cashing in your 401ks now, Lord Iger demands your tribute!

May 21, 2019 at 11:19 AM

They really should have a Blaster Pistol workshop for us Han Solo fans.

May 21, 2019 at 11:34 AM

And I thought the $150 total for 3 interactive wands for my kids was expensive, $200 for 1 saber is ridiculous! Also, why no pass-holder discount?

May 21, 2019 at 11:38 AM

Oh man, if that's the cast, just imagine the real crowds....

This is going to make those old "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Four Hour Line" cracks sound quaint.

May 21, 2019 at 12:38 PM

@MrTorrance - That is why I'm surmising the lightsabers will be similar in quality to Master Replicas. There's no way they will be able to charge $200 for a cheap plastic Hasbro-style lightsaber. They are going to have to be made of high quality materials (steel, aluminum, custom-shaped acrylic, etc..), and include features that make them more than a toy (authentic sounds, lights, and realistic heft). Disney probably has some sales data for the Master Replica quality items being sold in the parks right now, and have looked at the capacity of Savi's Workshop to determine that the only way to ensure they could meet demand was to price them at the Master Replica/Authentic Prop level. Even with the seemingly exorbitant price, I wouldn't be surprised to see long lines for the experience, especially if the lightsabers are as high quality as expected (hence the need for the extra layer of fandom needed to enter the Workshop). Think about it, a standard Master Replica lightsaber will set you back somewhere in the $100-400 range (depending upon model and features, some are even more expensive). So if you're spending $200 for something of similar quality with the ability to customize it and the personalized experience to go along with it (for you AND a guest), the price seems more than reasonable. Obviously, there's no way to know if it's worth it until someone actually lays hands on one of these and reports on the experience.

Similarly, I am pretty confident that the droids are going to be either directly from Sphero, or something very similar. Sphero droid prices are all over the map, but generally settle in the $100 range, making the price quite reasonable given the customization aspect and interactivity within the land (not sure if older Sphero models will interact inside Galaxy's Edge - we have a BB-8 that runs through an iPhone app that is probably easily upgraded to do what newer droids could do).

As for discounts, Disney doesn't need to discount the price, because anyone who is a serious fan will be falling over themselves to get these. It's very much like some of Disney's limited edition merchandise that similarly is exempt to passholder discounts.

For the time being, I've already set aside $300 to buy these souvenirs in a couple of months, but could probably find something else to spend that money on if reports come back that these experiences aren't worth it and the souvenirs are junk.

May 21, 2019 at 12:19 PM

While I think they should have opened the land with both attractions running, this looks fantastic. I'm curious if the fan default mode for Disney Parks is to complain, though. I mean, for two decades, we all complained that Disney wasn't adding enough to their parks and the stuff that they added was subpar, was not worth the brand. Now that they're adding top-drawer attractions, we're complaining about the prices and the crowds. I'll take the latter over the former 'Outlet Mall' Disney investments any day. Can't wait to see this open.

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