My Star Wars Favorites at Walt Disney World
Happy May the Fourth Eve! In case you’re not familiar, May 4th is Star Wars Day (say the date out loud if you haven’t connected the dots as to why 🙂). To kick off tomorrow’s celebration, I’m sharing a few of my Star Wars favorites that you can find at Walt Disney World (WDW).
Where is Star Wars at Walt Disney World?
Star Wars fans will want to make sure they have plans to visit Hollywood Studios theme park, the home of Galaxy’s Edge, or “Star Wars land” as it’s unofficially called, where you’ll visit the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu. Since its opening in 2019, Galaxy’s Edge is where you can immerse yourself in the Star Wars story through dining, rides, and character interactions.
Using the Disney Play app, you can also turn your cell phone into a Star Wars Datapad allowing you to interact with signs in different languages around the land and going on secret missions for either the Rebellion or the First Order. Though there are many other attractions at Hollywood Studios, Star Wars fans could easily spend the whole day just exploring all there is to see and do at Galaxy’s Edge.
Characters
One of my favorite aspects of Galaxy’s Edge are the character interactions. While there are places you can wait in line to take a photo with a character, you’ll also find Rey, Chewie and others walking through the land and interacting with people, pulling them into the storyline as they’re living it in the park. It’s so fun to see kids’ faces light up when Rey taps them to be her ally or how someone reacts when they’re confronted by a Stormtrooper!
Dining
Like everything else, the food is also completely themed in Galaxy’s Edge. Kids are looking for chicken nuggets? You won’t find one here, but you will find Fried Chicken Tip Yips for Younglings at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. You can also watch a droid cooking at Ronto Roasters or make reservations to have a drink at Oga’s Cantina. But my favorite experience is trying the blue and green milk that Luke Skywalker drinks at his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen’s house at the Milk Stand. It’s hard to describe and a must-do experience for any Star Wars fan on their first visit to Batuu looking to stand in Luke Skywalker’s shoes.
Rides
There are two incredible rides in Galaxy’s Edge: Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. While getting to go inside and fly the Millennium Falcon is an amazing experience, Rise of the Resistance is one of my personal favorites in all of Walt Disney World.
As a new member of the Resistance, you find yourself trapped by the First Order. How will you escape? Will anyone come to help? If you are even a little bit of a Star Wars fan, you will be blown away by the scope of this ride. It’s hard to do it justice in photos, and I’d recommend avoiding spoilers online if you want to be surprised by all the twists and turns.
This is one of the most popular rides in all of Disney World right now, so in order to avoid hour(s) long lines, you can either be one of the first in line by heading straight here when the park first opens or make this the last line you get in before closing. Tip: As long as you are standing in a ride line when the park officially closes you will still be able to ride. But make sure you get there in time because the lines close to new people the minute the park closes. Your other option is to purchase a special ticket just for this ride, called an Individual Lightening Lane. This gives you express access to the ride at a specific time, and can be purchased online the morning you plan to visit Hollywood Studios.
There’s so, so much for a Star Wars fan to do at Disney World that it’s impossible to touch on everything in one newsletter. I haven’t even talked about building your own droid! Or customized lightsaber! Or the Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser Resort!
When you hear about Disney World being fun for all ages, that sentiment rings so true here. Seeing my dad who saw the original Star Wars in the movie theater in 1977 experience this land and be just as into Rise of the Resistance as my daughters who love the new trilogy was an incredible moment. You will not regret visiting this amazing place with the Star Wars fan in your life!
