Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is Finally Open — Now What?
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the eagerly awaited and most detailed and immersive land that Disney has ever created, is finally open at Disneyland.
Opening hours, access, and Fastpass/MaxPass procedures for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are likely to change over the coming months. Check back regularly as we will update all our information as it becomes available.
How to Enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (current information)
As of June 24, 2019, advance reservations are no longer offered or needed to enter Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. Star Wars fans are die-hard and will arrive early for Galaxy’s Edge’s low-capacity experiences.
The first wave of guests to enter the park each morning are walked straight into Galaxy’s Edge to queue up for the Millennium Falcon simulator ride. However, if they want to experience the headliner Rise of the Rise, guests must use their smartphone’s Disneyland app (or designated FastPass kiosks located around the park) to secure a free “virtual boarding pass.”
This system works similarly to a Fastpass, but there’s no set time at which you schedule your return; rather, you’ll receive a push notification on your phone when your time has arrived, and you will then have between 1 and 2 hours to use your boarding pass and enter the Rise of the Resistance queue near the land’s Critter Country exit.
Like Fastpasses, you must have scanned your admission at a park entrance before retrieving a Galaxy’s Edge boarding pass. Boarding passes are released at the official park opening time and may all be claimed within minutes. (See the ride description below for further details.)
Until further notice, there is NO Fastpass or MaxPass service and the land is NOT open for Magic Mornings or Extra Magic Hours.
Even if Disney eventually enters the rides into the Fastpass and Maxpass systems, there will be so much competition for them that your odds will be like winning the Powerball. Be prepared that, at times, the land could reach capacity and simply stop admitting guests. However, once you have entered Galaxy’s Edge, there is no time limit on how long you are allowed to stay inside the land (other than the park’s closing time).
Down the road we expect that Disney will offer Disney Early Morning Magic and Disney After Hours opportunities to get into Galaxy’s Edge before the park opens or after it closes. This will come with a price, but paying extra might be the only way to experience Galaxy’s Edge without huge crowds.
From May 31 through June 23, 2019, free access to Disneyland’s Star Wars expansion was restricted to guests with a reservation. Guests staying at the Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier each got ONE designated reservation to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during their visit. This system is no longer in use, and advance reservations are no longer needed to enter Galaxy’s Edge.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Touring Tips
Though the grand opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland saw surprising light crowds, you can expect it to be mobbed during peak seasons. The good news is that there is no extra cost to enter the land beyond your park admission. The bad news is that accesses to its headliner attraction may fill to capacity shortly after park opening, and other top attractions are reservation-only.
If you are in the market for a custom-built lightsaber, reserve your spot via the Disneyland App or online at disneyland.com/SavisWorkshop, up to 60 days prior to your visit. Savi’s workshop can only handle 14 paying guests every twenty minutes so reservations will go fast. Likewise, if you’d like to drink at Oga’s Cantina, reserve via the Disneyland App or make a reservation online at disneyland.com/Cantina up to 60 days prior to your visit. Some same-day reservations may be available in the early morning, but all spots for both experiences usually fill up for the day within an hour. Reservations for Droid Depot are also available via the Disneyland App or website, but are walk-ups are always welcome there.
Be warned that a credit card is required to make a reservation, and you’ll face a hefty cancellation fee ($10 per person for the cantina, $200 for Savi’s) if you are a no-show.
Be aware that Rise of the Resistance is a complicated ride that’s susceptible to breakdowns, and that only a limited number of guests are guaranteed a ride each day through the boarding pass system. The Millennium Falcon ride, on the other hand, has redundant systems capable of running at reduced capacity rather than shutting down entirely, and has a time-saving single rider option; wait times are highest in the morning, and may become very brief in the later hours.
Once more, opening hours, access, and Fastpass/MaxPass procedures for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are likely to change over the coming months. Check back regularly as we will update all our information as it becomes available.
Dress Code: Before you go through the works of gearing up in your favorite Star Wars costumes be advised that costumes may not be worn by guests 14 years of age or older. Disney’s current Costume Policy is in effect at all times. Disney bounding however is permitted. The boundary can be blurry, but basically full-body robes and armor are banned, while shorter tunics and jacket are allowed.
Batuu — The Backstory
Batuu, the Star Wars-inspired land, is a collection of squat, sand-colored buildings set amid rock outcroppings and surrounded by a green forest. In addition to the two main rides, of which right now only one is open, the land has several shops and eateries. But what would a land be without a backstory? So here we go.
The location, which hasn’t yet been seen on the big screen, is referenced in Solo: A Star Wars Story, at the Star Tours attraction, and in various tie-in novels. It incorporates design elements similar to iconic Star Wars locales such as Naboo, Yavin 4, Mos Eisley, and Maz Kanata’s hideaway, without re-creating any single familiar setting. Massive attraction buildings reaching as high as 150 feet are camouflaged by towering petrified trees, lush landscaping, and alien architecture, creating a bustling bazaar teeming with extraterrestrial life.
The new Star Wars land is carefully concealed from the rest of the park by a mountainous berm built along the north edge of Frontierland’s rerouted Rivers of America.
The Imagineers, who collaborated closely with Lucasfilm’s story group on integrating the land’s backstory into official Star Wars lore, created this new locale so that guests could feel like the heroes of their own journey, rather than simply retracing Anakin and Luke’s footsteps, and also so that older fans and newcomers alike would be on equal footing. The righteous Resistance, still reeling from their close shave on Crait in Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, has established a temporary hideout on Batuu, but the First Order’s 709th Stormtrooper battalion (a.ka. the Red Fury) recently arrived to root out the rebel scum.
Chronologically speaking, Galaxy’s Edge is set during the most recent Star Wars sequel trilogy, in the gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, so you won’t see Darth Vader or Obi-Wan Kenobi, but you might bump into Kylo Ren or Chewbacca.
Black Spire is Batuu’s exotic Outer Rim spaceport on the fringe of the Galactic Empire frontier. Once a hub of commerce before being bypassed by the hyperspace highways, the outpost became a haven for outcasts.
Depending on which path you take into Galaxy’s Edge, you’ll experience a different cinematic reveal of the land. The Frontierland entrance, which is used by most guests, opens straight onto the center of the bustling Black Spire Outpost, which is built around a mysterious onyx monolith embedded in the town square. The path from Critter Country, which is where early arrivals enter, leads to ancient ruins concealing the Resistance’s secret encampment, which doubles as the entrance of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, one of the land’s two rides. The tunnel closest to Fantasyland leads to the iconic Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the expansion’s other attraction.
No matter which route you travel to Batuu, you’ll be completely isolated from the rest of Disneyland—and utterly immersed in the authentic detail lavished on every inch of the land. Disney’s designers did a deep dive into the Star Wars archives, going so far as to model the original R2-D2’s treads for droid tracks imprinted in the cement. Disney’s dedication to maintaining the Star Wars theme extends from the audible (John Williams composed new music for the land, and Frank Oz recorded new dialogue as Yoda) to the ineffable (appropriate scents are piped into the air) to the downright prosaic: restrooms are called “refreshers,” and you may detect a Dianoga swimming in the drinking fountain.
Make sure to download the Play Disney Parks app before you get to the park. The app allows you to interact with the land’s many control panels and droids. It will be up to you to pledge your alliance to the Resistance or the First Order.
The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
This advanced flight simulator is a solid D-Ticket ride with the queue and preshow of a super-duper headliner. Boarding this ride and sitting in the cockpit of the fabled Millennium Falcon fulfills a dream for many Star Wars fans. The ride itself lasts about 4 minutes; a 38″ height requirement is enforced.
Guests approaching the attraction will see all 110 feet of the Falcon parked outside the spaceport, periodically venting gas as technicians tinker with the temperamental craft. (You can look at the full-size Falcon but not walk under it or touch it.)
Hondo Ohnaka, a well-known businessman (smuggler), is looking to recruit a flight crew to help him deliver hard-to-find items to his clientele. This is where you come in.
A pirate familiar to viewers of the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, Hondo Ohnaka has cut a deal with Chewbacca for use of the Falcon in his Ohnaka Transport Solutions company. After ascending to a second-story catwalk with wraparound views of the ship, visitors enter Ohnaka’s command center, where Hondo and his astromech assistant R5-P8 explain the setup. Meanwhile, the Falcon can be seen through the windows, preparing for launch.
Ohnaka is one of Disney’s most advanced A-1000 animatronics, with electric motors capable of 50 functions, and his movements are eerily fluid. As you wait in the ride’s queue, you are handed boarding cards that break riders into groups of six: two pilots, two engineers, and two gunners. Before getting into the cockpit, riders are led into the sanctuary of the ship, the lounge of Millennium Falcon, complete with the famous Dejarik table (holo-chess table) and other memorable props from the films. Once the boarding call comes, riders are led into the exceptionally detailed cockpit of the ship. With their jobs assigned, it is time to jump into hyperspace.
The motion simulator ride is similar to Star Tours, except that you and the rest of the crew are given partial control of the Millennium Falcon, and what happens next depends on the actions of the six people controlling the ship. What separates this ride from other simulators (like Star Tours) is that its graphics are generated in real time by an array of bleeding-edge Nvidia processors, creating cinema-quality images that react instantly to the guests’ actions. There are 200 buttons, switches, and levers in the cockpit, and each one does something when activated; watch for indicator rings to illuminate around certain controls, clueing you into the correct moment to punch them. Currently, Hondo’s scheme sends you to Corellia to hijack a train carrying Coaxium; in the future, your randomly selected mission may see you running guns to the resistance or escaping the maw of an interstellar leviathan.
Furthermore, your actions in the cockpit have consequences and will follow you throughout your stay at Galaxy’s Edge. Be prepared to do your best! Who wants to be known throughout the galaxy as the one who wrecked the Millennium Falcon?
The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is stand-by only for the near future, but we think that it will eventually become a Fastpass attraction. A single-rider option is also available, but the full queue and preshow are well worth experiencing your first time through.
Now, with all that in mind, are you ready to take over the “fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy?”
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
This next-generation dark ride makes its West Coast debut on January 17, 2020, following the wildly popular grand opening in Orlando in 2019.
A mobile Resistance gun turret tucked into a scrubland forest marks the entrance to the most epic indoor dark ride in Disney theme park history. Rise of the Resistance is an innovative attempt to integrate at least four different ride experiences—including trackless vehicles, a motion simulator, walk-through environments, and even an elevator drop—into Disney’s longest attraction ever.
The adventure begins as you are exploring the Resistance military outpost that has been laser-carved out of ancient stone. An animatronic BB-8 rolls in, accompanied by a hologram of Rey (Daisy Ridley), who recruits you to strike a blow against the First Order. Several dozen guests at a time exit the briefing room to board a standing-room-only shuttlecraft piloted by Nien Nunb from Return of the Jedi; you can feel the rumble as the ship breaks orbit and see Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac) accompanying you in his X-Wing, until a Star Destroyer snags you in its tractor beam and sucks you into its belly.
When the doors to your shuttlecraft reopen, you’ve been convincingly transported into an enormous hangar, complete with 50 Stormtroopers, TIE Fighters, and a 100-foot-wide bay window looking into outer space. Cast members clad as First Order officers brusquely herd captive guests into holding rooms to await their interrogation by helmet-headed baddie Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
Before long, you’re making a break for it in an eight-passenger (two [four-seat] rows) troop transport with an animatronic astromech droid as your driver; the car is capable of traveling without a fixed track, like Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. The ride blends dozens of robotic characters and enormous sets with video projections to create some of the most overwhelming environments ever seen in an indoor ride. One sequence sends you in between the legs of two towering AT-ATs while dodging laser fire from legions of Stormtroopers, while another puts you face-to-face with the Solo-slaying Ren. In the epic finale (spoiler alert), you’ll survive an escape pod’s dramatic crash back to Batuu, a brief but thrilling multistory plunge enhanced by digital projections.
Rise of the Resistance will reign as the most popular ride in Disneyland, necessitating an early arrival and use of the virtual boarding pass system as follows:
- Make sure to download the Disneyland app if you don’t already have it and arrive at the park at least one hour prior to opening.
- You (and your entire party) must be inside Disneyland to access the virtual queue.
- Once official park opening arrives, open the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge section and go to “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – Access by Boarding Group.”
- Click on “Find Out More.” The next screen will share the current boarding status of the ride. If a boarding group is available, tap “Join Boarding Group.”
- Select the members of your party, and you will receive a boarding group number and estimated return time.
- When your return window arrives, you’ll receive a push notification from the app. Return to the Rise of the Resistance withing two hours in order to ride.
Dining at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo (Mobile Ordering available via Disneyland App)
This is the main eatery of the land. A quick-service restaurant you won’t have a hard time finding, as it has Cookie’s Sienar-Chall Utilipede-Transport ship parked on the roof. According to Disney lore, it is the home of Chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs, the former chef at Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana from The Force Awakens. The restaurant, housed in a working hangar bay, serves beef pot roast, roasted chicken, oven-roasted fish, and vegetarian dishes.
Our favorites are Smoked Kaadu Ribs (the creature Jar Jar rode in Episode I) served with homey corn muffins. Tip-Yip (actually chicken) is served roasted on a quinoa-curry salad or compressed into cubes and deep-fried with herbaceous gravy. Vegans will rejoice at meatless menu items featuring Impossible Foods, while gluten-free pescatarians can pick the chilled Yobshrimp and arrowroot noodles (request the sweet dressing).
All of the food here is named after unpronounceable otherworldly species, but rest assured that they’re really made of earthbound ingredients, many of which are sustainably sourced. No alcohol is served here, but you can sip a Phattro (iced tea and lemonade) or Moof Juice (fruit punch).
Oga’s Cantina
This is the galaxy’s most infamous watering hole, join smugglers, rogue traders, and bounty hunters for drinks. This cantina, overseen by alien proprietor Oga Garra, will instantly remind fans of the Mos Eisley watering hole seen in Star Wars: A New Hope. DJ R-3X (better known as Captain Rex, the former Star Tours droid pilot voiced by Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Rubens), spins an original 80s-style synth-pop soundtrack.
Bartenders dispense drinks from a tangle of tubes and bubbling tubs behind the bar; all beverages here are premixed and Star Wars-themed, so you can’t order a gin and tonic or other terrestrial tipple.
Ten signature alcoholic cocktails are on the menu, including Bespin Fizz (a bubbly Cosmopolitan), Blood Rancor (Bloody Mary with “bone” garnish), Fuzzy Tauntaun (foam-topped citrus), Jedi Mind Trick (botanicals and bitter grapefruit), and Yub Nub (passion fruit rum punch). Custom-brewed beers and private-label wines—like Toniray, a sparkling cuvée from Princess Leia’s doomed home planet Alderaan—are also served, as are nonalcoholic drinks (like the frozen cookie-crowned Blue Bantha) and a Battu Bits bar snack mix with seaweed crackers and veggie chips.
As the first (and so far only) place to drink alcohol inside Disneyland Park, Oga’s requires reservations. There are only a handful of booths for sitting, with most of the patrons required to stand along the bar. You’re limited to two libations, and if you linger longer than 45 minutes or two drinks, you may eventually be asked to exit and make room for more guests.
Oga Garra keeps a tight ship, a reservation-only experience. Reservations are available via the Disneyland App or online 60 days prior to your visit, however Disney may accommodate some walk-up in the early morning hours.
Ronto Roasters (Mobile Ordering available via Disneyland App)
At Ronto Roasters you can order wraps filled with spiced grilled sausage and roasted pork. A disgruntled droid named 8D-J8 does the cooking here, turning alien meats on a rotating spit as they roast underneath a recycled podracing engine. The sandwiches are dressed with spicy szechuan “clutch sauce,” and the hand-cut jerky comes in sweet teriyaki or spicy herb flavors. Wash it down with a tart Sour Sarlacc raspberry lemonade. In case you are not into the Sour Sarlacc, Coca-Cola sodas come in unique spherical bottles emblazoned in Aurebesh, the Star Wars alphabet. Cheers!
The Milk Stand (Mobile Ordering available via Disneyland App)
Here you can enjoy the famous Blue and Green Milk. Direct from the Bubo Wamba Family Farms comes Disney’s attempt at a Butterbeer-style must-try beverage inspired by Luke Skywalker’s love of lactation. Luckily, guests don’t have to suckle this plant-based smoothie straight from a sea cow’s nipple. Green, as seen in The Last Jedi, has tropical flavors like orange blossom and tangerine; the blue beverage from A New Hope tastes of berry and melon.
Blue and Green Milk is an acquired taste, to say the least. We strongly recommend that a family purchases one drink for all to taste before going ahead and ordering one for each member of your party.
Kat Saka’s Kettle
This popcorn stand sells a sweet-and-salty popcorn snack with a hint of spice. And, of course, it comes with a story, so listen up! A local grain farmer runs this small stand, serving colorful kernels coated in exotic spices collected from across the galaxy. This Outpost mix combines three different flavors; you can’t order them individually.
If All Else Fails — How Not to be Left Hungry
If for any reason you are left hungry in this forgotten outpost, then we suggest you try more terrestrial eateries outside of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Overall, the park’s restaurants might be stretched to outer rim limits to feed Stormtroopers and Resistance members alike, and you might be better off eating outside of Disneyland Park after you are done visiting the new land.
Shopping on Batuu
Batuu boasts a Marrakech-esque marketplace of shops selling unique in-universe merchandise, some of which are practically attractions in and of themselves. Note how none of the packaging bears the standard Star Wars of Disney Parks logos, in order to maintain the illusion that all the souvenirs for sale were actually crafted by and for the Black Spire villagers themselves.
Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities
This is home to a surly hammerheaded Ithorian, the godfather of blackmarket goods; he sells ancient artifacts, a.k.a. memorabilia from the movies and pre-built legacy lightsabers. If you are in for a Sith holocron, you may have to barter with the animatronic big-mouthed bigwig. Haggling is Dok-Ondar’s life, so get used to it. Sharp-eyed fans will spot Easter eggs from practically every Star Wars film and television show, including a 12-foot-tall taxidermy Wampa from The Empire Strikes Back.
Savi’s Workshop
At Savi’s Workshop up to 14 guests at a time are led by “Gatherers” through the 20-minute process of building their own lightsabers, from picking a colorful kyber crystal, to selecting customizable handles from a range of eras and alignments. Lightsabers come with a price tag of $199, with upgrades available for an additional price. The initial price includes a carrying sling.
Savi’s Workshop) is a reservation-only experience. Reservations are available via the Disneyland App or online at disneyland.com/SavisWorkshop 60 days prior to your visit.
Black Spire Outfitters
You can proudly pair your lightsaber with a screen-accurate Jedi tunic ensemble from Black Spire Outfitters, but only wear it outside the park (costumes are unfortunately still forbidden for guests 14 and older).
Toydarian Toymaker
For kids young and old, the Toydarian Toymaker has plush dolls of legendary characters that look handcrafted from up-cycled scraps of fabric, metal AT-ATs assembled from spare parts, and other unconventional playthings.
First Order Cargo and the Resistance Supply Stalls
For more typical T-shirts, hats, pins, and the like, you can either report to First Order Cargo, a spaceport hangar selling Dark Side propaganda, or sign up at the makeshift Resistance Supply stall and show your support for the freedom fighters. The choice is yours!
Jewels of Bith
This stall has pins, patches, and trinkets from across the Outer Rim. In case you are wondering why the stall is called Jewels of Bith, search no longer. Remember the musical group seen in Los Eisley’s Cantina in Episode IV: A New Hope? Well, there you have it, the store is run by aliens, what did you think?
Bina’s Creature Stall
Here you can find unique companions such as cackling Kowakian monkey-lizards for you to take home. Adopt a plush Porg puppet, a disgustingly adorable writhing baby Rathtar, or a shoulder-sitting monkey-lizard like Salacious Crumb. All the animals react to your touch with sound and movement, and the stall is stuffed with additional animatronic aliens that, unfortunately, can’t be taken home.
Mubo’s Droid Depo
This store is one of the biggest hits. Here you can build your own droid. Pick robot parts off of conveyor belts to build your own pint-size R-series or BB-series droid, which will then communicate with its full-scale counterparts around the land. Pre-assembled droids, like a chatty C-3PO and a Rex bluetooth speaker, are also available. Also check out the robots outside, one of whom is enjoying a relaxing grease bath. Custom built droids start at $99, with upgrades available for an additional price. The initial price includes a carry box.
Shopping on Batuu is an experience. While not everything will break the bank, it helps to bring a considerable amount of space currency along.
Shopping Tip
Disneyland also sells select Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge merchandise outside of Galaxy’s Edge, including Star Wars Launch Bay and Star Trader in Tomorrowland. Whatever you do, DON’T pay exorbitant prices from eBay sellers as you can purchase merchandise even if you do not go into the land itself.
For all there is to see and do at Disneyland, check out The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland by Seth Kubersky with Bob Sehlinger, Len Testa, and Guy Selga Jr. All Disneyland fans should also check out The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream by Sam Gennawey.
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