I can’t believe Galaxy’s Edge is finally open! It’s been so, so long since the family and I dreamed of visiting a galaxy far, far away. And look! We can board the nearest transport and be there in a flash, it’s so exciting! Ok, let me not get too carried away so soon. I have some things to say. So much, in fact, coupled with so many pictures, that I’m splitting up this post in two! Heck, might even make it an unofficial category. There’s a lot to do here, and it’s worth diving in, so let’s get started.
First off, it’s been open for about a week now as of this writing. And since it’s been open I’ve been there twice – first, on opening day with the wife, and second, the weekend with the kids. I’m going to go over that opening day insanity first. Keep in mind, whatever pictures you see on this post are pics from my phone. While many plan out months in advance their trip to Disney for opening day of a much anticipated land, it was very spur of the moment for the wife and I, so I did not have my DSLR.
Secondly, for future reference, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is what the land is called as far as Disney and maps go. The fiction of the land, as in the story you’re stepping into when entering the themed land, has a few different names. The village you’re visiting is named Back Spire Outpost, while the planet you’re on when in Galaxy’s Edge is named Batuu.
As far as Star Wars canon goes, it’s an old trading port in the Outer Rim. It’s mentioned in a few places if you’d like to get more acquainted with the planet. You’ll find it in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge comic (trade is available for preorder via that link or digitally now via Comixology). It’s a miniseries which consists of 5 issues. I’ve yet to jump in on this but I have picked up the Disney Parks exclusive variant cover of the first issue. Batuu is also the main setting of the novels Galaxy’s Edge A Crash of Fate, by Zoraida Cordova (released August 2019), and Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, by Delilah S. Dawson (released August 2019). Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn (July 2018) also features the planet. (These are all affiliate links, clicking and purchasing will give me a percentage, thanks!)
I’m mentioning these details, not because I’m secretly hoping you’ll click on them and buy something so I can get a kickback, but because I think it’s awesome that Disney is utilizing numerous types of media to build upon the fiction of Galaxy’s Edge. They’re making it a rich, and detailed world without even having you step foot into the theme park. Seriously, how easy would it have been for them to make this some outpost on Hoth… wait, this is Florida, not a good example. Seriously, how easy would it have been for them to make this some outpost on Jakku, tied it into the recent movies, and called it a day. Nope, they didn’t want it to be familiar. They wanted to make new stories, bring us to new destinations. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate the sith out of that.
Ok, enough prefacing. Let’s get on with the good stuff.
Day one of anything in Disney is going to be an absolute mess. Throw in Star Wars with all the armies of nerds that follow and you’re looking at a recipe for chaos. And that’s exactly what we got! The day started with me getting ridiculously jealous while scrolling through WDWNT’s Twitter account. Go follow if you haven’t, they always keep me up to date. Opening day at Galaxy’s Edge started at around 3 a.m. for most, as that was when they started making lines to get into the park. Personally, I never would have that early. But I know that’s just me lying to myself because it is totally in me to do such a crazy thing. Heck, the wife and I both swore we wouldn’t go anywhere near Disney’s side of the highway come the opening day of GE. Yet, here we were.
To continue my honesty, we had no intentions of going. The stars aligned and we took advantage of it. I was texting the wife all the tweets of opening morning and seeing all the cool day one merch, and with it. There might have been sad face emojis, gifs of grown men crying, etc. But I can’t be sure as the morning was a blur. Anyway, it was a late shift day for the wife which meant her and I usually go to breakfast while the kids are at school. So while at breakfast, I was talking about GE again, casually, not hinting anything at all, and she says “you know, I don’t go in to work till 1:30…”. She said something else but I stopped paying attention. I had already called for the check, and was out the door waiting for her.
Oh yeah, I remember now! The Opening Day commemorative map. That’s what got the gears turning. I said I at least would’ve wanted to go to get the map (she knows I have a thing for maps), so that’s what got her to cave and go. What map? This map!
It’s reeeeeeally nice. Printed on thicker paper than the regular maps. And it’s reflective? I guess that’s the word. Holographic? It shines when you tilt it around in the light. Wife was making fun of me, but she was there drawn to its reflective qualities like a cat to a laser pointer. Here’s my Instagram post showing it off.
We get there and we were expecting huge crowds. To our surprise, there were none! We made it into the park and came across no resistance (pun intended). As soon as we got to the park, we were able to check into the Disney Park App and join a group to enter Galaxy’s Edge. We were group 128, and they were currently letting groups 76-101(ish) into the land. We took advantage of the wait and went to the shop they set up where you can buy all the day one merchandise. It was on the other side of the park which was genius. The line to get in was about 15 minutes but we had time to waste.
They were giving this out. Hey, did you know people are crazy? I mean, something tells me you already knew, but just in case you didn’t, they had this paper that you see above with all the prices of stuff… on ebay… for like $20. Just this paper! Don’t get me started on the other stuff. Let’s just say with the stuff we bought for ourselves, we probably could’ve paid half the mortgage for a month. What did we get? Check out the Instagram post to see the spoils. Most of the regular priced pins, a shirt, the POP figure, lanyards. It was a good day for merch. It’s crazy that we could’ve bought more. I kinda regret getting the POP figure instead of the magic band, but that’s generally the case with all POP figures, isn’t it?
After going through the store and spending money we didn’t need to spend but were too weak to refrain, we waited for our turn to enter Batuu. Upon arriving at the entrance, you are given this cool travel guide.
I love stuff like this. It’s right up there with maps. Nice little souvenirs that don’t cost anything.
Anyway, I was cursing breakfast at this point because we were cutting it close. We had to leave there by 12:30 in order to get home in time for work. At about 12:20, they were up to group 126 and we knew it was either going to be the quickest walkthrough of Galaxy’s Edge that day, or we weren’t going to make it in at all. I dug deep to find my inner Puerto Rican and asked a few nearby managers to see if they can let us in ahead of our group because we had to leave soon. I must have made a convincing case, either that or they were tired of all the BS they were getting since 2 a.m. because they let us in! Lucky they did because we seriously spent about 4 minutes in the land, and all 4 of those minutes were speed walking through it.
We saw some cool stuff, but mostly everything had lines. Loooooong, crazy lines. Everything from the stores to the freakin’ Coke stand had crazy lines. Here’s another Instagram post showing video of walking around in the madness. Seriously though, at that point, I was happy to just be there. Elbow to elbow with sweaty nerds, wife muttering curses to herself, silently judging people walking around with lightsabers because my jealousy was too much to handle.
As excited as I was to see this land with my own eyes, I didn’t think I was going to see it soon, let alone opening day. So take it in and say, yeah, I was there day one. That is what I was wanting mostly. Oh, along with that commemorative map. Don’t judge me.
Be sure to check out the next post! We went back to Batuu on Saturday. I took a bunch of pictures and saw a lot more.
