Lightsabers?

[3DisMunchkins]

My son wanted to build a lightsaber while we were at WDW but he couldn’t get in. Can someone help me with the process at DL? Are there appointments, walkup, online?? Where do I find the information? Thinking about getting him a really cheap one for Christmas with an upgrade “token” but don’t want to if we can’t get in.
thanks so much!!!

 

[3DisMunchkins]

Forgone me….I just found it! And made a reservation on the app!
woohoo!!

 

[Pluto468]

We made reservations for our December trip, my son is SO excited.

 

[ClaudiaKincaid]

Savi's is so fun! My son loved it -- special gift for his 10th bday. Be warned, though -- those things are HUGE, and one end of the carrying case doesn't have a secure fastener (it just ... folds over), so you're going to want to get it back to your hotel right away; I don't think there's a ride in the park you could comfortably take it on!

Also, it was pretty funny at SNA on our way home -- security was like "Another lightsaber comin!" and had clearly worked out long ago how to handle them.

 

[Pluto468]

That's great! I'm glad your son had fun. I didn't know that had a carrying case. How did you pack yours to go home? I've heard you can ship it but I don't think my son will want to part with it for that long

 

[pharmama]

I think the general advice is to take them home as a carry on. Especially at SNA there are usually quite a few people walking around the airport with them (in the bag/carrying case) past security so carry on is quite common..

Others on here have also mentioned that Droid Depot may be able to hold your lightsaber for you until the end of the day if you aren't going back to the hotel immediately or don't want to carry it around. I have seen some very cool photos at dusk and at night in the park with lightsabers so if your reservation is earlier in the day you might want to consider having Droid Depot hold it until the evening for photos too.

 

[Dug720]

One thing to be aware of with carry-on though is where in the boarding process you'll be getting on the plane as overhead space does fill up - and that can be an issue.

On my flight home from my trip in July I thought we were about to have a viral incident where someone - who I believe had an earlier group but was either pushing it to get to the airport on time or decided to be somewhere other than the gate when boarding started so he came on at almost the end of boarding decided it was his right to remove other people's bags from the overhead for his lightsaber to have room. Obviously the flight attendants were all over that and told him that he could not remove other bags and made him put them back. He proceeded to go through opening all the bins as the male flight attendant kept reiterating if the bins were closed that meant they were full. The co-pilot finally got involved as the guy started yelling about how it was fragile and could not go under the plane and he should have had bin space (which is why I think he was probably supposed to be in an earlier group). Finally someone on the plane volunteered to gate check their bags so that "his precious could have a place" (their literal words, which made me spit my diet Coke all over my book) . Honestly I'm surprised that didn't elicit a punch from the guy he was so worked up. But it worked out for him because someone decided to be nice - in a snarky (I felt totally appropriate) way, perhaps, but nice.

SO either ensure that your seats are such that you have an earlier boarding group (or if you're on the "we don't assign seats because we've tricked you into thinking you're saving money" airline(s) pay for the early check-in) OR pay for priority boarding if you have a later group so that you will have decent access to the overhead bins.

 

[2tinkerbell]

Couple of ideas. Yes, you do get a carrying case. What it did when we flew home with ours was I separated the blade from the hilt. I had the hilt wrapped in bubble wrap in a carryon. I kept the blade in the carrying case which fit perfectly in a mailing tube. I actually flew down with the mailing tube. I have flown with prints in a mailing tube before so I knew to board early and just put it in the bin first. I always make sure our carryons go in the bin to give the tube space. The carrying case is nice, however they also sale a canvas case for about $50 that we have. It protects everything a little better. Had we had that carrying case, I wouldn’t think the mailing tube would be necessary.

I do worry about things in the overhead. I had my daughter’s prom dress nicely placed in the overhead once and a gentleman came and shoved his suitcase on top of it and crushed it to the end of the bin. A gentleman across the aisle made a comment to him. He kind of looked at me and took his suitcase down, handed me the dress, put his suitcase in and put the dress nicely on top.

TSA in SNA is great! We flew with a light saber and 2 droids with no problem.

 

[Pluto468]

Thanks for the tips! We fly through SNA. We flew with droids the week Galaxy's edge opened and TSA had no idea what they were. Once we explained they wanted us to put them together so they could look at them

I think I'll planning on buying the case, it sounds like it's worth it.

We take Alaska and I get the preferred seating which I think boards first. I'll double check on that to be sure we get bin space.

 

[geminimagk]

Stupid question: How are these lightsabers different from the ones you build at the shop next to Space Mountain?

 

[ClaudiaKincaid]

Stupid question: How are these lightsabers different from the ones you build at the shop next to Space Mountain?

Not a stupid question at all!

First, Savi's is an experience in and of itself -- 20 minutes long, wherein a fully-in-character CM leads you through it in like a mystical Jedi kind of thing where you select your elements and the kyber crystal color you want (a little bit like "the wand chooses the wizard," iykwim), assemble it, feel the Force, light them up for the first time in a dimmed room with other would-be Jedi, all that stuff -- really really neat if you are into Star Wars (and probably even if you're not, but who's spending $210 on a thing like this if they're not Really Into It, lol).

Second, according to my SW-fiend son, "The ones from Savi's have metal hilts that are way better, their batteries are better and last longer, the blade is better quality [it's plastic but looks like glass and my GOSH does the light look awesome!], it's balanced and has the right heft for like swinging around, and it's cool that which color crystal you pick also changes the sounds it makes. But the ones from the StarTours gift shop are cool too and way less expensive if you just want a decent lightsaber."

(He has watched a LOT of youtube videos about lightsabers -- heft, lol)

 

[luvsvacation]

My husband does not like to spend money on anything. Even he was totally impressed and said if was a religious experience He and DD made them last week. DS and I aren’t into Star Wars but we got to go on and watch. It was very cool how they set it all up and everything. I was very surprised at how heavy they are. And they make noises as you swing them.