Am I the only one that is unimpressed with SWGE - where is the juice?

Butterbeer- (frozen) was better than the blue milk- I did have higher expectations for it but- I did enjoy it and will buy it again.

At least when I purchase the wands- I bought 3 of them and the stands- for the same price as the one light saber I built at Savi's- so in terms of value the wands were cheaper and 3 people were able to enjoy using them. Savi's was just one person.

You then need to give the Gold Squadron Lager a try then, that was the BOMB!!!

The main difference between buying a plastic stick from a cart, erm, "wand"(zzzzz) and a Savi's lightsaber is THE EXPERIENCE and the emotional excitement that Savi's gives you! That alone is a HUGE difference, it is a show all to its self! From the time you pick which version you want, to the speech before entering the workshop to the lighting and that music inside of the workshop, wow......That was the single best 28 mins I have spent in a theme park, very, very well done Disney, it "IS" that special!!
 
You then need to give the Gold Squadron Lager a try then, that was the BOMB!!!

The main difference between buying a plastic stick from a cart, erm, "wand"(zzzzz) and a Savi's lightsaber is THE EXPERIENCE and the emotional excitement that Savi's gives you! That alone is a HUGE difference, it is a show all to its self! From the time you pick which version you want, to the speech before entering the workshop to the lighting and that music inside of the workshop, wow......That was the single best 28 mins I have spent in a theme park, very, very well done Disney, it "IS" that special!!
Maybe I missed a mention of this but the wands involve a show too and many have enjoyed the experience. The wands are available from carts too but not only carts.
 
Maybe I missed a mention of this but the wands involve a show too and many have enjoyed the experience. The wands are available from carts too but not only carts.
The moral of all of these stories is that each experience means different things to different people. Some get more value out of the HP wands. Some get more value out of the lightsabers. There isn't one right answer or proper experience, and nobody is going to change their mind just from these discussions.
 
Love me some butterbeer

Just don't go riding the Hulk after finishing it though 🤢
Not sure if I can handle the hulk anymore, even with a real beer :)

You then need to give the Gold Squadron Lager a try then, that was the BOMB!!!

The main difference between buying a plastic stick from a cart, erm, "wand"(zzzzz) and a Savi's lightsaber is THE EXPERIENCE and the emotional excitement that Savi's gives you! That alone is a HUGE difference, it is a show all to its self! From the time you pick which version you want, to the speech before entering the workshop to the lighting and that music inside of the workshop, wow......That was the single best 28 mins I have spent in a theme park, very, very well done Disney, it "IS" that special!!

The experience of Savi's was pretty awesome, when Yoda speaks to the group is probably better than the build itself.

Dont get me wrong- SWGE is impressive and my statement that it's a billion dollar mall that has a HUGE paywall attached to everything other than a ride- is because I think it's missing all the things I've seen in the videos announcing the land- I only seen 2 storm troopers walking around and that was it. Those kinetics' I was looking for were absent. I realize that there is more to come BUT- with the severe price increases across the board on everything- there should have been MORE.
 


i dont have an official opinion of swge just yet as my first time going to swge will be xmas of this year but i will say i am very excited to see it. Im not a huge sw fan and i dont really care about how many rides there are, i mainly just enjoy seeing the detail and being immersed into the land itself. Just like pandora, yes fop is hands down best ride ever, its walking through the land itself that draws me in. But i will say this, swge in wdw does seem to be under preforming. They dont even need to do group rsvp as the wait time is actually less than other rides so im not sure if its under performing or if this is what disney expected. I know there is a massive fan base for star wars but i dont think the fan base is the younger generation, the majority of sw fans are from the original sw movies and sw itself new and old seems to have an older fan base, from teens on up, i dont really see a lot of 4 -7yr old kids into star wars so maybe thats what is going on, alot of disney guest are real little ones that dont care to see swge and so the parents go see it and dont go back. I dont think swge has anything to do with promoting future movies, i believe this was disney best way to try and compete and create its own version of a "harry potter world". Im hoping to experience swge during day and night to see the difference, i love the night lights in the parks. I will see it first hand real soon.
 
Not sure if I can handle the hulk anymore, even with a real beer :)

The experience of Savi's was pretty awesome, when Yoda speaks to the group is probably better than the build itself.

Dont get me wrong- SWGE is impressive and my statement that it's a billion dollar mall that has a HUGE paywall attached to everything other than a ride- is because I think it's missing all the things I've seen in the videos announcing the land- I only seen 2 storm troopers walking around and that was it. Those kinetics' I was looking for were absent. I realize that there is more to come BUT- with the severe price increases across the board on everything- there should have been MORE.

Hmmmm, I went in expecting NOTHING and got everything I wanted out of GE, including me melting, wow it was super hot........

Funny as I could not stop running into the storm troopers and Kylo Ren, had 2 different interactions with them alone and was super cool, got pushed around as I was "standing in the way" and had my data pad inspected, also ran into Chewbacca, R2D2 in the Droid shop, beeping, moving about in that corner, litterally bumped into Rey when taking pictures of Vi Moradi, even saw Darth Vader walking in TS land with some storm troopers, think they were on the way to the stage show in HS. Not sure how much more one needs but I am sure there is some on the drawing board.....
 
Maybe I missed a mention of this but the wands involve a show too and many have enjoyed the experience. The wands are available from carts too but not only carts.

Actually, with Ollivander's, only one is selected to be part of the show while others watch on. Now you can go to Diagon Alley and have a cast member at that Ollivander's give you a personality quiz or look at the chart to see what wand matches you as you are or your aspirations. But I don't really consider that to be a show or part of the action in the same way as that one guest gets to participate.

It's a different experience from getting to actually be part of the show as you select and build your lightsabers while the gatherers present the history.
 


Actually, with Ollivander's, only one is selected to be part of the show while others watch on. Now you can go to Diagon Alley and have a cast member at that Ollivander's give you a personality quiz or look at the chart to see what wand matches you as you are or your aspirations. But I don't really consider that to be a show or part of the action in the same way as that one guest gets to participate.

It's a different experience from getting to actually be part of the show as you select and build your lightsabers while the gatherers present the history.
I'm more of an observer type but I get what you're saying.
 
I'm more of an observer type but I get what you're saying.

So no Hoop De Doo is what you're saying 😜. Joking aside, I get that. But I was jealous of that audience member. I'd still be jealous if I couldn't get my Savi's reservation for my trip 😅
 
i dont have an official opinion of swge just yet as my first time going to swge will be xmas of this year but i will say i am very excited to see it. Im not a huge sw fan and i dont really care about how many rides there are, i mainly just enjoy seeing the detail and being immersed into the land itself. Just like pandora, yes fop is hands down best ride ever, its walking through the land itself that draws me in. But i will say this, swge in wdw does seem to be under preforming. They dont even need to do group rsvp as the wait time is actually less than other rides so im not sure if its under performing or if this is what disney expected. I know there is a massive fan base for star wars but i dont think the fan base is the younger generation, the majority of sw fans are from the original sw movies and sw itself new and old seems to have an older fan base, from teens on up, i dont really see a lot of 4 -7yr old kids into star wars so maybe thats what is going on, alot of disney guest are real little ones that dont care to see swge and so the parents go see it and dont go back. I dont think swge has anything to do with promoting future movies, i believe this was disney best way to try and compete and create its own version of a "harry potter world". Im hoping to experience swge during day and night to see the difference, i love the night lights in the parks. I will see it first hand real soon.
You might be surprised how popular Star Wars is among the preschool set 🙂 All those OT fans are parents now, and passing on their love. My four year old is OBSESSED, as are his friends. We own a billion Star Wars picture books and read them every night. He’s seen five of the films (but is now banished from Episode II after he started talking about Jango Fett’s “head popping off” 😳; trick PG rating-1, Mom-0). He knows all the characters, who they are aligned with, who they are related to, who they become, what each planet is like... I’m guessing he could give most 40 year olds a run for their money in the trivia department!

Anyway, it is for him that I’ll be dropping some big Batuu bucks on a red R2 unit, some blue milk, and a porg mug. He will just absolutely die when he enters the Millennium Falcon. Though, the one place I really think SWGE is lacking in the kid department is food. Children are notoriously picky about how their food *looks*, even if you tell them it’s really just fried chicken. This is one place some regular chicken nuggets, a bowl of plain mac and cheese, and a “sausage only” Ronto wrap would not go amiss!
 
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I'm one of the ones who has been trying to withhold judgment until I actually experienced the land. We did yesterday.

I actually have to say that all the negativity from this thread helped temper my expectations. I admit I got chills and even a little choked up as we entered the land, rounded the corner and saw Chewie working on the X-wing. Much of the emotion came from watching my 11-year-old walk through the land, observing his reactions and wonder. I introduced him to Star Wars at 6 years old, the same age I started watching them, and we've watched all of them together.

Overall, I think the land itself in terms of landscape, theming, set dressing is very well done. We interacted with several cast members, who had funny and interesting back stories. Got a snack at Ronto Roasters. Perused the shops. Translated some symbols. Rode MF.

I do get the comparisons to Diagon Alley, but to me having experienced both, I understand why Disney made the creative choices they did in SWGE. Harry Potter as a franchise has ended, giving them permission to dive deep into the nostalgia. Star Wars is an ongoing franchise, besides do I really think the experience would have felt fundamentally different if they said it was Tatooine instead? I really don't. We got to walk through the MF and we both got chills when that cockpit door opened and we walked in and sat at the flight controls. That was just unreal.

I do have to say that, from the adult perspective, the droid workshop was pretty underwhelming. Disney, IMO, needs to do a better job getting the cast members (at least when I went) to lean way more into the experience in creative ways. As opposed to when you do Ollivanders at Universal and you really feel like you're at Ollivanders because of how the staff are trained and the scripts they have, at Savi's, I felt like very much like I was at Hollywood Studios shelling out a hundred bucks for a toy. I never really felt like I was in Batuu creating my own droid, based on my interaction with the cast members. There were a couple of bright spots, we were encountered randomly a couple of times by Vi Moradi, who interacted really well with the kids and got them excited.

So, in terms of visuals, I'd give the land an A-minus. In terms of ride experience, a solid B+ until RotR opens (which, based on the early reports of what that ride is going to be I think will elevate that to an A+). In terms of cast member interaction, I'd have to give it a C-. That part overall I would say was disappointing.
 
I'm one of the ones who has been trying to withhold judgment until I actually experienced the land. We did yesterday.

I actually have to say that all the negativity from this thread helped temper my expectations. I admit I got chills and even a little choked up as we entered the land, rounded the corner and saw Chewie working on the X-wing. Much of the emotion came from watching my 11-year-old walk through the land, observing his reactions and wonder. I introduced him to Star Wars at 6 years old, the same age I started watching them, and we've watched all of them together.

Overall, I think the land itself in terms of landscape, theming, set dressing is very well done. We interacted with several cast members, who had funny and interesting back stories. Got a snack at Ronto Roasters. Perused the shops. Translated some symbols. Rode MF.

I do get the comparisons to Diagon Alley, but to me having experienced both, I understand why Disney made the creative choices they did in SWGE. Harry Potter as a franchise has ended, giving them permission to dive deep into the nostalgia. Star Wars is an ongoing franchise, besides do I really think the experience would have felt fundamentally different if they said it was Tatooine instead? I really don't. We got to walk through the MF and we both got chills when that cockpit door opened and we walked in and sat at the flight controls. That was just unreal.

I do have to say that, from the adult perspective, the droid workshop was pretty underwhelming. Disney, IMO, needs to do a better job getting the cast members (at least when I went) to lean way more into the experience in creative ways. As opposed to when you do Ollivanders at Universal and you really feel like you're at Ollivanders because of how the staff are trained and the scripts they have, at Savi's, I felt like very much like I was at Hollywood Studios shelling out a hundred bucks for a toy. I never really felt like I was in Batuu creating my own droid, based on my interaction with the cast members. There were a couple of bright spots, we were encountered randomly a couple of times by Vi Moradi, who interacted really well with the kids and got them excited.

So, in terms of visuals, I'd give the land an A-minus. In terms of ride experience, a solid B+ until RotR opens (which, based on the early reports of what that ride is going to be I think will elevate that to an A+). In terms of cast member interaction, I'd have to give it a C-. That part overall I would say was disappointing.

Did you go to Savi' (which is the lightsaber build) or just the droid depot? People seem to think Savi's is a much more meaningful/immersive experience than the droid build.
 
Did you go to Savi' (which is the lightsaber build) or just the droid depot? People seem to think Savi's is a much more meaningful/immersive experience than the droid build.

Yeah sorry don't know why I said Savi's. We were at the droid depot.
 
People seem to think Savi's is a much more meaningful/immersive experience than the droid build.
It is more immersive based on the huge difference between an Equity Actor at Savi’s overseeing the experience versus a Merchandise CM overseeing the build at Droid Depot.

I didn’t feel the DL SWGE CMs were into being in character as Batuuans. I never heard Bright Suns or ‘Til the Spires during our reservation.

On my 2nd visit, my DD was with me. She’s a WDW Entertainment CM who has been flown all over the country and to Europe by Disney to perform for media and special events. She knows what ‘good show’ is because it is her job as an event-level Entertainment CM.

When a Merchandise CM finished our Spira transaction, I said “Bright Suns” somewhat jokingly because the CM wasn’t trying to portray a Batuuan, and he replied, “Yeah, Bright Suns, Rising Moons, Ignite the Spark, and all that” with a smile. It was kinda funny and I remarked to DD that merch CMs didn’t care about being Batuuans and she said they didn’t need to be because that isn’t their role. She didn’t fault any of the Merch CMs for not being ‘Batuuan’ because they all were very efficient in handling our transactions which at times included a CM discount.

Any scripted role in SWGE would need an Equity performer and there’s no feasible way for Disney to fill Batuu with Equity Actors and Entertainment CMs. What’s disappointing is that Disney presented full immmersion in SWGE with all cast in character when not all SWGE roles fall within the Entertainment division. All divisions at Disney have union representation so their roles and responsibilities are well-defined.

Interaction can be suggested but there aren’t any scripts for non-Equity roles/jobs. From DD’s description of Batuu East and what’s been reported on the boards, CMs are enjoying using their back stories and Batuuan greetings but when it comes to efficiency in their jobs, being in character isn’t the priority especially in the Droid Depot or Food and Beverage when it’s busy.
 
Did you go to Savi' (which is the lightsaber build) or just the droid depot? People seem to think Savi's is a much more meaningful/immersive experience than the droid build.

It is and personal and in a much much more level then anything I have experienced in a theme park before! It is drop dead quit at times in there and add in the music, colors, the story, yoda's voice.....wow....impactful to the point where even my wife who does not know much about SW other then Luke, the robots and that "bigfoot guy", mentioned how very well done the Savi's experience was. Droid depot was a chaotic, loud, sort of unorganized event.......IMHO
 
We went to SW:GE last Friday. Got there around 2 pm in the afternoon. Not very crowded in the land at all, thanks is large part to Hurricane Dorian leading to a lot of trip cancellations/interruptions. I haven't read through all 25 pages of this thread. But, I imagine that some will be disappointed that the land doesn't attempt to replicate any of the locations portrayed in any of the movies, and because neither John Williams' original Star Wars score . . . nor his new Galaxy's Edge score for that matter . . . are blasting continuously from loud speakers. While that would have been nostalgic, I ended up liking the fact that Disney chose to go another direction and headed for a more subtle, immersive experience. Instead of being tourists at a theme park in Florida, you are treated like travelers on a stop over at an outpost.

No, there weren't, from what we saw, your typical meet-n-greet to get a picture and an autograph from a popular Star Wars character. Instead, Kylo Ren was roaming the land with stormtroopers and interacting with guests "in character." Also roaming around while we were there were Chewbacca, R2D2 and (according to my wife while I was doing smuggler's run for a second time) Rey. No, its not Tatooine. But, Baatu clearly has a Tatooine-like vibe in terms of terrain and theme. No, its not the famed cantina from episode IV. But, Oga's Cantina was still Star Wars-esque in its own right and very well done.

On that note, we really loved Oga's. I thought the White Wampa Ale was a good draft beer. The blue milk with the cookie was a good enough, one time thing to try. The hostess placed us at the bar, where we could interact with the bartender a bit. It was pretty fun once you realized the bartender was "in character." He made some amusing comments about Oga and the First Order. He told the patron next to me that the bar wasn't responsible if the eggs in his drink hatched while they were in the patron's stomach. The bartenders and the servers had that patrons shouting along to a "traditional gungan drinking song" at one point. And, when I commented that I didn't want to go back outside and return to the immense heat, the bartender told me, "We've got 3 suns. What are you gonna do?"

The merchandise area is also laid out well and gives you the feel of being in a third-world (other world?) straw market. All in all, we were impressed with the look and feel of the land.
 
"We've got 3 suns. What are you gonna do?"
I am happy to see your first-hand report. I think the immersion and character interaction sounds so fun, but I had heard that a lot of that disappeared after the initial media events and opening days.
 
We’ve found most of the cm to be in character. They don't walk around spouting out SW language but if you ask them a question and they’re not busy they will engage with you. So far I’ve asked about the suns and why the first order is there. Oga’s was very immersive- just lots of comments to really draw you in.
 
I still can't help but be unimpressed. I thought this article brought up some salient points. Galaxy's Edge Underperforming

I just don't get that special feeling like when I walk into Pandora. Can't exactly explain it.
That's a very one-sided and cynical opinion article, not to mention short with pretty much nothing to back it up. All of this talk of Galaxies Edge being a flop is extremely ridiculous. Under what criteria do you use to say it's underperforming? Because lines aren't out of the park with people trampling each other to get in? I'll take the controlled environment of GE over the madness that Hagrid's Ride brought any day of the week. It's been discussed back and forth the differences between the HP stuff and GE. It's not going to be for everyone. For me, Avatar is cool, but I don't find myself spending much time in it once I've ridden FOP. With GE, I want to spend time there without even riding Smugglers Run (the second ride isn't even open yet). Personal preference, and no need to explain why Pandora is more special to you than GE, it just will be for some people :)
 

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