Share your story from visiting DHS’ SWGE!

Just back from visiting SGE solo. I roped dropped Smugglers Run and was at the front of the group as I was fairly agile by myself. Waited for about 10 minutes I would say, and was chosen as gunner. Immediately did SRL after that 2 more times with <5 minute wait. Obviously this won't work as well with a group but if anyone is visiting solo you can get several rides in this way. By 9:45 or so the SRL line was getting long(bottom of the stairs) so I moved on. This was rated as a "6" day on touring plans. I checked SRL before I left the area around 11am and the SRL was temporarily closed off due to capacity.
 
I landed on Batuu on a regular EMH Sunday on 11/10. My wife and I absolutely loved the land. Not sure I understand the criticisms of not having enough to do in the land though, or lack of "energy" (for lack of better term).

We took the bus from POP and were at the park by 7AM. Had no bags, so we were through security fairly quick, and were maybe only 50 people in front of us. Of course, on the walk towards SWGE, you have people trying to find ways around everyone, so by time we got to the ride, we were about 100 people back from the front. Still, our "wait" time was essentially just walking through the queue. We were off of the ride by 8:15. We decided to hit some other rides before the regular 9AM open, but were back in SWGE by 9:30 and spent about 4 hours playing with the datapad (more on this below) and doing Savi's and Oga's. I felt there is so much life in the marketplace area. Everything is amazingly detailed, music playing, spaceships "zooming" by, CMs interacting. Oga's was a blast, the bartenders and servers were singing along and leading guests to sing along with music. We were celebrating our 10 year anniversary, so we were wearing pins. A CM starting talking to us, and said we must have good luck since we are celebrating. She then asked us if we wanted to play a game of Sabacc. We returned at night and seeing it at night was such a different experience with everything lit up.

I wonder if some of the "lack of energy" comes from the resistance side of the land. However, to me, that makes sense as it is supposed to be hidden base that the First Order is looking for. I would also like to see more alien characters walking around or at the Cantina. Still, there is a lot to see and do there with the datapad.

That said, I had some major issues using the datapad, that seemed to get worst when we returned at night. Essentially, when I would start the datapad game, it would say it could only be used while in Batuu. It was frustrating because half the time when I wanted to use it, I couldn't. I tried with both Disney's wifi and my cell data (thinking the wifi AP i was attached to was just outside the land) and that didn't help. I tried turning off location services and back on, restarting my device, clearing data and cache. Pretty much everything in the rule book about getting an app to work correctly. That said, when we could use it, it was a blast to hack into things around you and try to find crates to scan. Hoping the next time we go the experience is a bit better.
 
Additionally, the not breaking of character was good for the adults but really bad for children. I saw a small girl 5 or 6 run up to a storm trooper and try to hug him. The troopers put out there hand and told the girl to stop and step back. She was cunfused and almost crying looking back to her parents. Not exactly a disney moment. Unfortunately, they market cartoons to kids , market the parks for the kids but didn't have the wherewithall to include reactions from kids in the land. It is cool, and probably more so for the die hards but its not kid freindly and i expected more from the ride.

I saw a similar event when I was there on Sunday. I felt bad for the girl, but the stormtroopers reaction to her reaction was gold. He kind of looked around in a "who me?" then walked off in quick pace with his head down. The other trooper gave him a sympathetic pat on the back like he did nothing wrong.
 
We just got back from our first visit to SWGE! We overall really liked the land, but there was room for improvement for sure in my opinion.

Overall atmosphere: I thought the land was beautiful, but we were definitely there on a high crowd day (11/16) and I wish we could have been there when it was quieter, since the high crowds of people in non-themed clothing made it a little less "real". Also, the "this is for adults, not kids" attitude among the guests was definitely in full force. At one point our kids found a little speeder over by Savi's and all three piled on to play on it (lots of "vroom-vrooming" and "pew-pew-ing") and were probably only there two minutes before some adults came and yelled at me to move my kids because they were in the way of their photo op with the speeder. Not super magical. It would be nice if they had a little themed play area for the kids to climb around in.

Characters: We saw Kylo and Chewy/Vi, and the storm troopers go by several times and it was very cool, but I do wish Rey wasn't quite so stealthy. My kids saw her and ran up to say hi and she turned around and ran away. I get she is hiding from the first order, but it came off as a little harsh for them (similar to the person who commented that the stormtroopers waved off their kids). I really wish some characters had scheduled meet and greets at least part of the day in addition to the spontaneous appearances.

Savi's
Our twins built sabers and my husband I took turns each going in as guests of one of the twins. The experience of Savi's was great (I got chills). Not sure it was really worth $424 after tax. I'd be interested to see if they sustain that price in the long term given it is not likely to be a repeat experience for most people. The check in was super chaotic too. You have to first check in with a person with an ipad, and then wait around until they call your appointment time, and then go wait in line to pay at the counter, and then go wait some more in a special area. This was not explained anywhere and took a lot of trial and error to figure out the correct sequence (first we went to the cashier, then were sent to ipad guy, then went back to the cashier only to be told we needed to wait for our time to be called before paying). Also, it kept getting gummed up by people with no appointment getting a standby time--would be nice if they had separate lines for making reservations and checking in.

Oga's: I was was most disappointed in Oga's. Our party of 5 was shown at first to a standing spot that at most could fit two people, so we asked to wait for a seat at the table and thankfully our request was honored. The wait was not too bad (15 mins) and was so worth it to be able to sit down, especially since it took so long to get our drinks (around 30 mins), which would have been miserable for the kids if we were standing. The adult drinks were just plain bad. We tried the Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jet Juice, and Jedi Mind Trick for the adults, and all were the worst cocktails I've had on Disney property (Fuzzy Tauntaun was basically orange juice with pop rocks, jet juice was cough syrup, and mind trick was dishwater). For a place that pretty much only servers drinks you'd think they'd make decent ones--wish they had gone the Nomad lounge route and served high-end drinks instead. The kids loved their sugary drinks (carbon freeze, blue milk and hyperdrive punch it) so at least that worked out.

Docking Bay 7: This place is great! We went right at peak time at 5:30 and had no wait. I got the tip yip and LOVED the spicy sauce--it is like a nice green thai curry. The gold squadron lager was nice too--made me wish I had opted for the beer at Oga's. My husband got the Felucian Kefta and let me try it and it was delicious--they must be using one of the better plant-based meat options because it really tasted meaty. Our picky-eater kids ate VERY well (shrimp/noodles for one and tip yip with mac and cheese for the others) so I don't get all the complaints about how the food is
supposedly
not kid-friendly.

Smugglers Run
: We were a family of 5 with three younglings (7, 7, and 4). I was nervous after all the reports of it not being kid-friendly, but it went fine. One of my twins was right pilot, I was left pilot, and I have to say we didn't do half bad, and there was no problem reaching the controls for my 7 year olds. The other two kids were gunners which was good because my husband as engineer could reach forward and press the buttons for my 4 year old, who had a blast even though he had no way of reaching those buttons. I will say, I was very grateful for all the tips on this board to ride in the evening. I kept an eye on the wait time and it went from 90 mins when we arrived to just 40 minutes when we rode around 6:30pm.
 


Went the week of Halloween with my husband. One evening the line for Smuggler's Run was maybe 20 minutes long, maybe a little less. The rest of the trip it was 45+ minutes long (especially over race weekend). Me being an idiot (and the ride being new), we didn't go back over there because we completely forgot about the single rider line. The land is so beautiful! I also visited during AP previews and loved it.
 
Went the week of Halloween with my husband. One evening the line for Smuggler's Run was maybe 20 minutes long, maybe a little less. The rest of the trip it was 45+ minutes long (especially over race weekend). Me being an idiot (and the ride being new), we didn't go back over there because we completely forgot about the single rider line. The land is so beautiful! I also visited during AP previews and loved it.
I entered the line when it was 45 minutes that weekend and actually didn't end up waiting that long. Maybe only 30?
 
We just got back from our first visit to SWGE! We overall really liked the land, but there was room for improvement for sure in my opinion.

Overall atmosphere: I thought the land was beautiful, but we were definitely there on a high crowd day (11/16) and I wish we could have been there when it was quieter, since the high crowds of people in non-themed clothing made it a little less "real". Also, the "this is for adults, not kids" attitude among the guests was definitely in full force. At one point our kids found a little speeder over by Savi's and all three piled on to play on it (lots of "vroom-vrooming" and "pew-pew-ing") and were probably only there two minutes before some adults came and yelled at me to move my kids because they were in the way of their photo op with the speeder. Not super magical. It would be nice if they had a little themed play area for the kids to climb around in.

Characters: We saw Kylo and Chewy/Vi, and the storm troopers go by several times and it was very cool, but I do wish Rey wasn't quite so stealthy. My kids saw her and ran up to say hi and she turned around and ran away. I get she is hiding from the first order, but it came off as a little harsh for them (similar to the person who commented that the stormtroopers waved off their kids). I really wish some characters had scheduled meet and greets at least part of the day in addition to the spontaneous appearances.

Savi's
Our twins built sabers and my husband I took turns each going in as guests of one of the twins. The experience of Savi's was great (I got chills). Not sure it was really worth $424 after tax. I'd be interested to see if they sustain that price in the long term given it is not likely to be a repeat experience for most people. The check in was super chaotic too. You have to first check in with a person with an ipad, and then wait around until they call your appointment time, and then go wait in line to pay at the counter, and then go wait some more in a special area. This was not explained anywhere and took a lot of trial and error to figure out the correct sequence (first we went to the cashier, then were sent to ipad guy, then went back to the cashier only to be told we needed to wait for our time to be called before paying). Also, it kept getting gummed up by people with no appointment getting a standby time--would be nice if they had separate lines for making reservations and checking in.

Oga's: I was was most disappointed in Oga's. Our party of 5 was shown at first to a standing spot that at most could fit two people, so we asked to wait for a seat at the table and thankfully our request was honored. The wait was not too bad (15 mins) and was so worth it to be able to sit down, especially since it took so long to get our drinks (around 30 mins), which would have been miserable for the kids if we were standing. The adult drinks were just plain bad. We tried the Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jet Juice, and Jedi Mind Trick for the adults, and all were the worst cocktails I've had on Disney property (Fuzzy Tauntaun was basically orange juice with pop rocks, jet juice was cough syrup, and mind trick was dishwater). For a place that pretty much only servers drinks you'd think they'd make decent ones--wish they had gone the Nomad lounge route and served high-end drinks instead. The kids loved their sugary drinks (carbon freeze, blue milk and hyperdrive punch it) so at least that worked out.

Docking Bay 7: This place is great! We went right at peak time at 5:30 and had no wait. I got the tip yip and LOVED the spicy sauce--it is like a nice green thai curry. The gold squadron lager was nice too--made me wish I had opted for the beer at Oga's. My husband got the Felucian Kefta and let me try it and it was delicious--they must be using one of the better plant-based meat options because it really tasted meaty. Our picky-eater kids ate VERY well (shrimp/noodles for one and tip yip with mac and cheese for the others) so I don't get all the complaints about how the food is
supposedly
not kid-friendly.

Smugglers Run
: We were a family of 5 with three younglings (7, 7, and 4). I was nervous after all the reports of it not being kid-friendly, but it went fine. One of my twins was right pilot, I was left pilot, and I have to say we didn't do half bad, and there was no problem reaching the controls for my 7 year olds. The other two kids were gunners which was good because my husband as engineer could reach forward and press the buttons for my 4 year old, who had a blast even though he had no way of reaching those buttons. I will say, I was very grateful for all the tips on this board to ride in the evening. I kept an eye on the wait time and it went from 90 mins when we arrived to just 40 minutes when we rode around 6:30pm.

TY so much for all these details. My DD5 will be dressed as Rey, but now I know to not get her (or me) too hyped for actually getting to meet and take photos with her like all the promo videos and ads show. Can I ask the height of your 7yo twins? My DD is tall for her age, so I'm hoping she can reach things on MFSR. We're a family of six, so we fill our own ship and get put each other wherever we want. Also thanks for letting us know that you can try to ask for a booth at Oga's. DD is about the height of the standing tables, and I can see her demanding Daddy hold her the entire time so she can see the table and people. Again, your post was helpful in its details for families like mine.
 


We visited opening day, at night, without riding and were impressed with the land. We returned for a one day visit on Veteran's Day morning and found it less impressive. Perhaps it was the long weekend crowd making just strolling around difficult, or the bright sun changing the feeling.

We also got in a ride via SRL this time and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I'm not sure if I don't understand the ride (are we actually controlling anything? I couldn't tell). I could barely hear/understand the character directions, nor could I really see the screen. Maybe I put too much on this ride, high expectations and all. Honestly, I like Star Tours much better.

We're going again in February with a reservation at Oga's at 5PM. Hopefully we'll be impressed again.
 
We visited opening day, at night, without riding and were impressed with the land. We returned for a one day visit on Veteran's Day morning and found it less impressive. Perhaps it was the long weekend crowd making just strolling around difficult, or the bright sun changing the feeling.

We also got in a ride via SRL this time and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I'm not sure if I don't understand the ride (are we actually controlling anything? I couldn't tell). I could barely hear/understand the character directions, nor could I really see the screen. Maybe I put too much on this ride, high expectations and all. Honestly, I like Star Tours much better.

We're going again in February with a reservation at Oga's at 5PM. Hopefully we'll be impressed again.
yes each person controls what they are assigned to do. So pilots control the direction, gunners control the guns and how and when to shoot and engineers control fixing the ship and when to grab the coaxium
 
We visited opening day, at night, without riding and were impressed with the land. We returned for a one day visit on Veteran's Day morning and found it less impressive. Perhaps it was the long weekend crowd making just strolling around difficult, or the bright sun changing the feeling.

We also got in a ride via SRL this time and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I'm not sure if I don't understand the ride (are we actually controlling anything? I couldn't tell). I could barely hear/understand the character directions, nor could I really see the screen. Maybe I put too much on this ride, high expectations and all. Honestly, I like Star Tours much better.

We're going again in February with a reservation at Oga's at 5PM. Hopefully we'll be impressed again.
Single rider line for your first time is the problem. I rode my first time going through that way and I also had NO IDEA what was happening. Without the pre-show you don't know who the person giving you instructions is (I also was so confused I could hardly tell what they wanted me to do), you probably miss the short bit where they say to line up behind the train, you probably don't even know that you're trying to collect the coaxium (I sure didn't). When I went through standby the second time it actually made sense and then I had a ton of fun. I've been telling everyone to not to single rider the first time because you don't just miss the story, you miss what you're supposed to do too. I've ridden it 6 or 7 times now and I'd say half the time we didn't even wait in the little loading area where they explain to line up behind the train, we were just walked right into the ride. I understand that they're trying to get people on quickly but daaaaaaaaaang if that isn't very important info! Definitely ride it again, because the more you ride it the more you pick up on what's happening. My husband, on his first ride, didn't even hear/notice when they were like "Right Pilot, hit the big red flashing button" or "Pull the lever to jump to lightspeed", haha.
 
Single rider line for your first time is the problem. I rode my first time going through that way and I also had NO IDEA what was happening. Without the pre-show you don't know who the person giving you instructions is (I also was so confused I could hardly tell what they wanted me to do), you probably miss the short bit where they say to line up behind the train, you probably don't even know that you're trying to collect the coaxium (I sure didn't). When I went through standby the second time it actually made sense and then I had a ton of fun. I've been telling everyone to not to single rider the first time because you don't just miss the story, you miss what you're supposed to do too. I've ridden it 6 or 7 times now and I'd say half the time we didn't even wait in the little loading area where they explain to line up behind the train, we were just walked right into the ride. I understand that they're trying to get people on quickly but daaaaaaaaaang if that isn't very important info! Definitely ride it again, because the more you ride it the more you pick up on what's happening. My husband, on his first ride, didn't even hear/notice when they were like "Right Pilot, hit the big red flashing button" or "Pull the lever to jump to lightspeed", haha.
I may or may not have yelled at a 6 or 7 year old..."pull the lever. Pull the lever" when they missed the direction. I got glared at by his mom but I was trying to help from my engineer spot! 😉
 
Single rider line for your first time is the problem. I rode my first time going through that way and I also had NO IDEA what was happening. Without the pre-show you don't know who the person giving you instructions is (I also was so confused I could hardly tell what they wanted me to do), you probably miss the short bit where they say to line up behind the train, you probably don't even know that you're trying to collect the coaxium (I sure didn't). When I went through standby the second time it actually made sense and then I had a ton of fun. I've been telling everyone to not to single rider the first time because you don't just miss the story, you miss what you're supposed to do too. I've ridden it 6 or 7 times now and I'd say half the time we didn't even wait in the little loading area where they explain to line up behind the train, we were just walked right into the ride. I understand that they're trying to get people on quickly but daaaaaaaaaang if that isn't very important info! Definitely ride it again, because the more you ride it the more you pick up on what's happening. My husband, on his first ride, didn't even hear/notice when they were like "Right Pilot, hit the big red flashing button" or "Pull the lever to jump to lightspeed", haha.


That is all good to know!! and What Train? train? We sort of ambled around the room with the chess board and waited to here someone yell our color, and then we were sent to the ride. I 100% had no idea we were supposed to be doing anything, assuming that the buttons were "for show" and that we were just pretending to have an affect. It probably didn't help that we were placed with a mom with three kids who could not reach anything and couldn't understand the directions.
 
That is all good to know!! and What Train? train? We sort of ambled around the room with the chess board and waited to here someone yell our color, and then we were sent to the ride. I 100% had no idea we were supposed to be doing anything, assuming that the buttons were "for show" and that we were just pretending to have an affect. It probably didn't help that we were placed with a mom with three kids who could not reach anything and couldn't understand the directions.
To be fair, I once rode it with just one other person and the engineer/gunner things still happened, so I know there is some stuff that'll happen with or without people actively participating. They don't want the ride to be less fun because someone can't reach the buttons or understand what's going on. And yep haha, there's a train! You're supposed to get right behind it, and then the gunner or engineer (can't remember who) uses cables to grab it. You're pulling a train heist basically lol.
 
I think it can be set on automatic by the cm. Or maybe there’s a sensor in the seat and if the ride knows no one is in the seat it’ll be automatic? Every time I’ve been on every seat was filled. Whatever station I was at was definitely 100% controlled by me.
 
Finally got to ride with the whole family of 5 Wed night. Posted wait at 845 was 50 minutes, we waited 50. Our kids are 11, 7, and 5. DW and DS 7 were the pilots while myself and DD 5 were the gunners and DD 11 was an engineer. We had a single rider join us as the other engineer. I’ve ridden it before solo as a pilot and thought it was pretty good. But as a gunner, I felt this ride was really lacking, and DD 11 as the engineer thought it was down right boring. She said “I thought it was supposed to be a ride”. I think if you are not the pilot you really notice the lack of movement (especially since we were hitting everything as DD 7 was unsure of the left and right movement while piloting.)
I still give this ride a 7/10. I wish it was a bit better, but hopefully RoTR blows it out of the water and they eventually get a third ride in there...
It still feels like something they would have put in DQ if they updated it....

Also, I wished they would put a little on ride video for memory maker in there, kind of like ToT. That would be a nice touch.
 
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So we visited Galaxy's Edge 12/1. DHS had EMH from 7-8am and we entered the land around 10:15. Entered line for MFSR which said 70 min but was closer to an hour. Got engineer, which I think is underrated as you don't really have to watch the console constantly. You will know when something needs pressing. After our flight we wandered a bit & played on the datapad, even hacked a few items and installed some surveillance. We then went to Savi's where I put together an elemental nature hilt. Afterward we went to Oga's. I had the Fuzzy Tauntaun & Jedi Mind Trick. The numbing from the former was noticeable. We then went in MFSR again and got engineer again (we foolishly raised our hands for the party of two both times).

I had a ton of fun. I could spend all day just messing around on the datapad. My biggest criticisms:

There are certain chokepoints that really do make it hard to do certain tasks on the datapad. I feel like I can't just stand around or I'd be making people walk around.

I really feel with the technology available, they could have had a better system to dole out roles in a way that was a little more fair.

Kids don't understand that characters there aren't really there to meet everyone. I too saw a kid run up to a stormtrooper but the attendant had to keep the kid away & he looked a little confused. I also wish there was more interaction. I got a "we'll be watching you" but that's it
 
M kids built droid on our most recent trip. They loved the little mat outside to play around with them. Everyone would get excited when the droids reacted to the land though it was hard to hear them at times.

I used the data pad a bit but did not have time to do a ton with it. Also did not realize we were supposed to hit the button about not seeing any more crates while in line for the Falcon until way too late. Next time!
 
We were there on Dec 5 but not for opening of RotR, we had made our plans long before that was announced. We got a bit concerned as all the hype grew about the new ride: would we even be able to get near Galaxy's Edge?
No problem, the land was not too crowded and plenty of guest and cast members were dressed for the occasion. Kylo Ren told DW to "step aside", didn't even say please (no manners on Batuu).
Anyway, the land is amazingly well-themed and I was able to almost walk onto Smuggler's Run at 9:30 pm.

458148

Til the spires...
 
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I was there during the opening days and the only way to get on the new ride was to be part of a virtual cue and watch tote boards all day to let you know when to enter. One needed to get to HS between 4-6 AM to line up for park entry to get in the cue since by 8 AM all passes were handed out. No ride is worth doing that IMHO. Millenium Falcon had a standby line only with no FPs. Since there were no FPs, the standby was only 45 minutes. IMO Star Tours is more enjoyable than Millenium.

Hopefully, FPs will be available in the future, and this virtual cue is only a temporary thing. Guests shouldn't have to get up in the middle the night.
 
I was there during the opening days and the only way to get on the new ride was to be part of a virtual cue and watch tote boards all day to let you know when to enter. One needed to get to HS between 4-6 AM to line up for park entry to get in the cue since by 8 AM all passes were handed out. No ride is worth doing that IMHO. Millenium Falcon had a standby line only with no FPs. Since there were no FPs, the standby was only 45 minutes. IMO Star Tours is more enjoyable than Millenium.

Hopefully, FPs will be available in the future, and this virtual cue is only a temporary thing. Guests shouldn't have to get up in the middle the night.

You would have also been able to check MDE what group was boarding. FP's will be available in the future. However, while it does suck that we both missed out (I couldn't get up that early at that point in my vacation), I think the VQ is a superior alternative to standing in line for 6+hours on top of getting up as early as everyone did. At least with VQ, you can do other things instead of being stuck in line wasting your whole day for one attractoin.

I seriously think they should sustain the boarding pass for an extended amount of time because once the FP queue opens all bets are off for that standby line (I still see FoP reach 3 hour wait times on average and saw it rise as high as high as 6 back in February). God only knows what FP is going to do to that standby.
 

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