Droid Depot - How was it?!

[Momager]

My youngest (4.5) recently started getting into the Star Wars movies. She LOVES that little white round droid (sorry, I'm not educated in Star Wars!!) so I made her a reservation at Droid Depot for our trip in October.

If you've done it, what was your experience? Was it fun? Was it worth the price tag? Especially for a 4 year old?



TIA!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

My youngest (4.5) recently started getting into the Star Wars movies. She LOVES that little white round droid (sorry, I'm not educated in Star Wars!!) so I made her a reservation at Droid Depot for our trip in October.

If you've done it, what was your experience? Was it fun? Was it worth the price tag? Especially for a 4 year old?



TIA!

My 9 year old (who knows very little about Star Wars) loved it - probably the highlight of our visit.

He has a bit of ‘engineer’ in him - likes building things, parts and pieces and such, how things work - so this was right up his alley.

Picking the parts, making it his own, naming it, playing with it later - lots of fun to be had. It kept rattling around in the box as we walked through the land afterwards too - I need others to chime in on how exactly it ‘interacts’ with the land and why, but there’s that part of it too.

I caught DS up at 5am a few mornings ago playing with it / talking to it, which is either really cool or really concerning, can’t tell yet.

Anyway, big difference between a 9 year old and a 4.5 year old, but it was a big hit for us.

 

[only hope]

For a four year old I’m not sure it’s worth it, unless one or more of the parents are a huge SW fan There is a smaller build a droid activity thats around $20. Same kind of thing but much smaller and its not a functioning robot. It’s not in Black Spire- forget whether its at the Star Tours gift shop or Cargo Bay. I’m not sure a four year old could operate a real droid without supervision.

 

[Momager]

For a four year old I’m not sure it’s worth it, unless one or more of the parents are a huge SW fan There is a smaller build a droid activity thats around $20. Same kind of thing but much smaller and its not a functioning robot. It’s not in Black Spire- forget whether its at the Star Tours gift shop or Cargo Bay. I’m not sure a four year old could operate a real droid without supervision.

Where is the $20 one located?

 

[only hope]

I think its in the Launch Bay store, past Little Mermaid and the dance party. There may be one at Disney Springs too.

 

[tlmadden73]

My wife did this with my 2 year old .. she knows who "BB-8" is and was excited to help build her own. She picked the colors and "helped" build it and pushed the button to activate it.
She loves it! She can even control it (somewhat). But in reality the droid is the "family's".. but she still enjoyed the experience.

Very fun ... and very cool inside the shop.

The $20 build a droids are just building action figures. Fun (my son has a few he built and still plays with to this day). But nothing beats a walking, talking, beeping actual robot!

For $100 .. I think it is a quality toy. You can spend near that much on a few stuffed animals or t-shirts.

 

[kimj88]

What types of things can the $100 droid do/say/etc?

 

[JJ2017]

Both my kids are on our reservation. Can they decide to build one droid between the two of them?

 

[Ivy Lexi]

My 4 year old loved it, and still plays with the droids (we made 2 - one for the 2 year old and one for the 4 year old). I overheard her telling one of the princesses at MK how she built a robot lol. She was pretty short to reach the conveyor belt, so I had to pick her up to see all the parts. The building area she could somewhat reach but I still had to lift her a few times, though my husband was somehow able to prop up the 2 year old against his body (I think he squatted, can't remember).

EDIT: My daughter is short for her age, but definitely her arms can reach the building area fine.

She can't decide between the R2 or the BB which one she likes best, even thought the BB unit is more difficult to control and its head pops off a lot when it hits something, but she's gotten good at finding the magnet and putting the head back on. It's difficult to control because the "forward" control changes for whichever way the unit's "eyes" are facing, and being that the head spins around, you have to keep an eye on where the eyes are facing to remember which way is forward or backward. I think she just doesn't care and just mashes buttons (not so with the R2 - she controls that pretty well). Also, it's super fast on hardwood floors and more likely to hit stuff, so it's better on carpet. She carries around the BB unit and has dropped it more than once (!), but thankfully it seems pretty sturdy.

 

[Ivy Lexi]

Both my kids are on our reservation. Can they decide to build one droid between the two of them?

Only 2 people allowed in per droid, unfortunately. You can have parents and 2 kids building together if you pay for 2 droids - which is what we did. We were together at the conveyor belt picking parts and we were side by side building our droids and helping each other.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

What types of things can the $100 droid do/say/etc?

Basically be remote controlled and make noise. However they are bluetooth interactive and with personality chips (additional cost of course) they'll react to different environments in the park and other droids.

 

[monkyby87]

Where is the $20 one located?

As @tlmadden73 mentioned, the $20 is really just you building a small action figure that's 3 3/4" tall. There's nothing very exciting about it and I don't think it's worth $20. They also aren't unique to your kid.

 

[tlmadden73]

As @tlmadden73 mentioned, the $20 is really just you building a small action figure that's 3 3/4" tall. There's nothing very exciting about it and I don't think it's worth $20. They also aren't unique to your kid.

If I recall .. they are like $24 for two .. so they are only about $10-12 each (still expensive for an action figure, but it is a custom-built action figure).

It is FUN as the kids get to pick out the body, arms, legs, head of either an R2 droid or a C3-PO droid, but it isn't an experience like the droid depot and I would only recommend it if your kids like playing with action figures.

My sons (he built when he we 3,4 and 5) are still played with to this day (they even made the last trip down with us in the car).

Despite all the big purchases made in SWGE, my son had the most fun playing with a pack of four R2 droids (pre-packaged, not custom built) that we got at the Cast Connections store for only $5 (probably retails for $25) .. until we found those .. he STILL wanted to go build another action figure at the Launch Bay or Tatooine Traders!

 

[tlmadden73]

Only 2 people allowed in per droid, unfortunately. You can have parents and 2 kids building together if you pay for 2 droids - which is what we did. We were together at the conveyor belt picking parts and we were side by side building our droids and helping each other.

They were pretty lax on that when I was there for previews. (but the droid depot was just a walk-on, not reservations).

We all walked up to pay for the droid (you pay first, then build). They said one builder and one guest and sent us on our way. My wife and daughter went to the conveyor belt to pick out parts. Seeing how it really wasn't crowded (and my daughter was 2 and takes up no space, I sent my son to join them while I took the stroller and went outside the barrier (where you can still watch). The cast members didn't care .. they just mainly don't want people NOT building hanging out in the area taking pictures and clogging up the walkways. It is just a crowd control issue, so just see how crowded and busy it is and you can probably get away with having a parent and two children build ONE droid. (2 adults and 2 kids to build one droid is probably pushing it).

This is a lot more informal than say Savi's workshop where it is a more intimate experience (and smaller space), so there is room at the build tables.

 

[Ivy Lexi]

They were pretty lax on that when I was there for previews. (but the droid depot was just a walk-on, not reservations).

We all walked up to pay for the droid (you pay first, then build). They said one builder and one guest and sent us on our way. My wife and daughter went to the conveyor belt to pick out parts. Seeing how it really wasn't crowded (and my daughter was 2 and takes up no space, I sent my son to join them while I took the stroller and went outside the barrier (where you can still watch). The cast members didn't care .. they just mainly don't want people NOT building hanging out in the area taking pictures and clogging up the walkways. It is just a crowd control issue, so just see how crowded and busy it is and you can probably get away with having a parent and two children build ONE droid. (2 adults and 2 kids to build one droid is probably pushing it).

This is a lot more informal than say Savi's workshop where it is a more intimate experience (and smaller space), so there is room at the build tables.

That's a good point about having one parent and 2 kids - I wasn't thinking of that situation.

For us we actually wanted to do it Rider Switch-style at first - my husband with the 4 year old (and I stay back with the 2 year old), then go back later in the day for me and the 4 year old, since we figured the 2 year old wouldn't know what was going on anyway. But when we got to the register, we didn't even have a chance to explain our plan when the cast member immediately apologized and said only 2 builders are allowed per droid, assuming that we all wanted to go in to build one droid at the same time. So me and my husband both looked at each other and said, well, why don't we build both now instead?

So if both parents aren't interested in building, sending in the 2nd child later would probably work better than asking at the register because, at least from the vibe I get, the register is more likely to deny that request, though regarding being crowded/busy, I imagine it wouldn't be like the AP previews.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Both my kids are on our reservation. Can they decide to build one droid between the two of them?

Having two kids and one adult build one droid sounds like it will be fine. My concern is that if you have a reservation for both kids, then you would need to cancel one of them at least 24 hours in advance to avoid a no-show fee.
My impression was that the names I put in were for a person who would build a droid. So, I put two of my kids' names down because *each* of them wants to build their own droid. I had intended to do what you want, bring two kids to build one droid, but one wants an R2-unit and one wants a BB-unit (and each has a longstanding love affair with their preferred model), so I'm going to make one of each.
Maybe someone with experience can speak to the possible need to cancel one of the kids if you're only making one droid.

 

[cakebaker]

Both my kids are on our reservation. Can they decide to build one droid between the two of them?

I booked this early on and didn't pay attention thinking I needed to put the guest down on the reservation and then realized later I had actually signed two up to build. I called and was told both would have to build or pay the no show fee. This was for 1 adult, 1 child. I could not modify the reservation and there were no times left to book. We aren't building two, so I had one person with the website up, I cancelled and they refreshed and picked it back up and re-booked for 1 person. Bottom line, whoever is on the reservation has to build and you can't modify a reservation. At least this is what I was told a few days ago.

 

[DavidNYC]

I sent my son to join them while I took the stroller and went outside the barrier (where you can still watch).

Just want to confirm based on your experience that the 1 guest policy is to enter inside the barrier to build but that others can enter the building itself and watch from behind the barrier (I’m assuming the layout is similar to what I saw at DL). We’ll have two kids building and 2 parents and 2 grandparents. I’m fine letting the grandparents build with them but would like to be able to watch. If I remember from DL, you can still see most from outside the building area by the barrier.

 

[chimoe]

Only 2 people allowed in per droid, unfortunately. You can have parents and 2 kids building together if you pay for 2 droids - which is what we did. We were together at the conveyor belt picking parts and we were side by side building our droids and helping each other.

Are the CMs aggressively enforcing this rule? let’s say it’s me, my 4yr old son and 2yr old daughter. I can’t just leave my daughter outside. And she doesn't qualify as a builder as they need to be 3+ yrs old.

 

[Ivy Lexi]

Are the CMs aggressively enforcing this rule? let’s say it’s me, my 4yr old son and 2yr old daughter. I can’t just leave my daughter outside. And she doesn't qualify as a builder as they need to be 3+ yrs old.

Sorry about my previous answer, I was only thinking of a situation with 2 parents and 2 kids. A few posts above, someone mentioned that he was able to send a 2nd child to build with mom and sibling. I strongly believe that you don't need to worry about a 2 year old being counted. And since you have 1 adult and 2 very young kids, I am sure also that they would let both your kids build along with you.