The Walt Disney Company has been on a roll this year. With its acquisition of 21st Century Fox and its record-breaking finale to phase 3 of the MCU, it seems like Disney has clenched the Iron Throne of entertainment. And now, to kick off the summer, the Disneyland Resort has opened its most anticipated land ever, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.
Disney has hailed that Galaxy's Edge is its most ambitious project yet. It is supposedly the most interactive experience in the resort. So does it live up to expectations when it comes to interactivity?
Theme parks are unique as they can immerse a guest in a world far from reality. Disney has been the king of total guest immersion especially with its newer expansions like Pandora in Animal Kingdom or Carsland in California Adventure (although, I'd also rank Universal Studio's Wizarding World of Harry Potter quite high in the Immersion Olympics). Galaxy's Edge is supposedly the ultimate immersive experience, and for a while, it was. During my time there, I felt like I wasn't in Disneyland anymore. Part of it was probably due to the Cast Members' commitment to the story they were trying to tell about the land. Characters run around and interact with the guests as if they live on this land as opposed to just standing around posing for pictures. Props and vehicles are enormous. You're seeing the Millennium Falcon pretty much to scale.
But now for the interactivity. Let me start with what I was expecting. I had played the Agent P's World Showcase Adventure game at Epcot when I last visited. It involved running around the World Showcase and using a handheld device to interact with the environment. There were times where moving props of Dr. Doofenshmirtz would appear in the different pavilions if I did something on my device in that area. So my play-through of the game actually affected the environment. You can experience something similar if you buy the RFID wand at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Performing spells in front of windows and displays can activate the props in those displays. When I heard about the "interactive" element at Galaxy's Edge, I was expecting an experience that was at least similar to the World Showcase game and Wizarding World, if not, better.
First, there is the ride, Smuggler's Run. It is a six-player simulator game taking place in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Two players are engineers (who just hit buttons as they light up), two are gunners (who choose to either manually or automatically shoot at enemies), and two are pilots (one controls side to side movement, the other controls vertical movement). It is a "team" game that relies heavily on the abilities of the pilots (who again are limited to moving on one axis). At the end of your mission, you are given points depending on how well your team did. I hope that people are not disappointed if they receive low scores because someone on their team didn't do so well in their roles. If I had to wait longer than an hour for this ride only to get a crappy score, I would feel pretty disappointed. I guess this would be an interactive experience, but I didn't feel like I had much control since I was limited to my individual role as an engineer, gunner, or pilot.
The bigger "interactive" element is available if you have the Disney Play App. Through the app, you turn your phone into a datapad that you can use to go on exciting missions where you get to …. scan stuff. Seriously, most of my playtime on this app involved me scanning the QR codes on random crates throughout the land. Other missions had me "hacking" different panels to claim for the First Order (down with the Resistance!). These hacking games just asked me to draw lines from one colored dot to another colored dot. And the best thing was that I didn't have to go to the actual panels to do this. I could just "confirm location" from 100 ft away and hack the panel. So basically, you could cheat. After each mission, you collect credits that you can use for absolutely nothing. I think we would be allowed to buy stuff with these credits eventually, but that feature isn't available yet.
The whole thing was pointless. I performed trivial tasks to collect useless credits all while standing in the same spot, occasionally traveling to different sections of the land to scan something. I distinctly remembered the interactivity of the park marketed as "building a reputation" that would follow me throughout the park. What I had imagined were leader boards at the stores showing which players had the most credits for the day. Or maybe add some wanted posters in the Cantina that displayed the names of the Resistance players with the most credits. Or being able to use these credits to buy stuff in the land (I didn't expect to buy a lightsaber or anything with these, but maybe just a button or small snack). But there was nothing. The World Showcase game was a better interactive experience than this.
Aside from my disappointment in the mediocre "interactivity" portion, there are many pluses for the land. I do appreciate the effort to manage crowds. Because of the current reservation system in place, the area was not as crowded as expected. We were able to spend much time exploring since we didn't have to waste time waiting in long lines. Our wait for the ride was only about 20 minutes. I also liked the virtual queue system set up for Oga's Cantina. I spent about 5 minutes once I got into the land waiting to make a reservation for the Cantina. After about 90 minutes of wandering around the land and trying some food, I got a text to return to the queue for the Cantina. I only waited in the line for about 15 minutes before being allowed to enter. The whole experience was seamless and saved so much time. I do hope that Disney implements this system for new attractions and experiences moving forward.
With all that extra time, I was able to stop by Ronto Roasters to try Ronto's Wrap, the only food item that I thought was worth the effort. It is a savory pork sausage with slices of roasted pork and coleslaw in warm pita bread. It was delicious. It is my only recommendation for food in this land so far. I had tried the TipYip from Dockbay 7 (which is chicken by the way, NOT tri-tip). It was just okay for the price you pay. The popcorn is also good but pretty pricy for the amount that you get.
Now for the drinks. Your blue and green milk from the stand is not milk. They are more like mild fruit slushies with the green one being the fruitier one of the two. My preference is the blue milk.
Oga's Cantina is a bit overrated, in my opinion. There are both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. I ordered the Bespin Fiz, which looks cool cause it fizzes the whole time. But the fiz got annoying after a while because it would get in my nose as I drank it. It was quite cumbersome to drink. For the non-alcoholic drink, I tried the Blue Bantha, which is just a melted version of the blue slushie from the milk stand with the addition of a shortbread cookie. That cookie was the main reason to get the drink since this place does not serve any good food. They only have two food options, which are both just munchie snacks. I had the Batuu Bits which were just small crackers and wasabi peas. Not much for what you pay.
Overall, I'd give my experience in Galaxy's Edge a 7/10. It's beautiful in aesthetic but did not quite meet my expectations when it came to interactivity. I am hoping that the Rise of the Resistance ride, and any other enhancements Disney decides to add to Galaxy's Edge until then, will improve the interactivity.
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