Share your story from visiting DHS’ SWGE!

[Haley R]

Haha yes it did! Thank you! I'm new around here and MAN you guys are quick! I'm soaking in all the Disney talk!

To the DIS!

 

[Roocatty]

I was too tired yesterday but here is ours today:

My daughter and I had the 9 am slot. We were in the land by 8:30 or 8:40.

When we got back to Grand Avenue they asked for our printed email and ID so have those ready. After that line, it got a bit confusing. There was a second line to scan you magic band on pads but you could just walk around if you didn't notice. In the right hand side on the sidewalk were lines for people with Savi and Oga reservations. We had nether as my daughter was afraid we would miss out on building a droid.

They corralled everyone straight to the back of the land to ride MFSR first thing. I saw some people peeling off to ask cast members if they could go to the shops and the cast member told them yes. We decided we should go as well and went to droid depot. We were the first ones in and built a r unit. We were disappointed that had no backpacks as that box becomes a real menace really quickly and the droid flops around in it a lot. We shopped and got our accessories after we built. You can't add the accessories in the store per the cast members. No AP discount on the droid. I can't remember if we got one got the acessories.

We then went and took a lot of pictures since the majority were in the line or riding MFSR. After that we got in line and rode as engineers. That was the best for being able to experience the ride as it has minimal interruptions. Being the gunner on a subsequent ride was more distracting. The pilot was the best but the controls were so touchy I did horribly.

We then went and got so.e blue and green milk from the milk stand. Green was okay not good. Blue was good not great. I think they are one and done for me.

We then went to the market place and got a mouse droid popcorn bucket and checked out the creature stall. My daughter wanted a porg but appeared to be only puppet porgs. We checked out the rest of the market place.

We got back in line for MFSR. While in line I texted my TA who we had planned to meet. She had an 11 an slot. It was 10:30 and they has been let in. They had went straight to standby for Savi's. We then went over to Oga's to see if we could just go in for a tour. The cast member with a pad told us to ask at the cast member at the podium. They told us to stand aside a few. Another cast member took us in and we got to stand in one spot and take photos. We have reservations for or next trip, so we're will try it then.

We then rode MFSR once more time. The line was moving slower now since both groups were in. After this we met our TA then headed to Docking bay for lunch. We had the fried tip yip. It was okay, but I don't think I'd get it again.

We then headed over to den of antiquities. From the sounds from the droid I assume he liked it as well. We took more photos here then walked through the market place again. We were about to leave and it started raining. We waited until it eased up a little and headed out about 1:45. I guess if we had gone to Oga's or Savi's we could have stayed longer, but had done everything we had hoped so it was a great day!

 

[pmaurer74]

we have a 9am slot on Tuesday. Do you think it is better to get there before 8am or maybe after they let everyone in?

 

[Roocatty]

We got there about 7:30 and were near the front.
Maybe someone else here arrived closer to 8 or after 8 that can compare how smoothly it went for them.

 

[ksromack]

For those of you who have actually been in the land in Orlando, is there adequate stock for purchase? I know the droid backpack isn’t available but what about kyber crystals, holocrons, legacy light sabers, Porgs (not the puppets)? Are there rules in place regarding how many crystals you can purchase and do you have to purchase a holocron to get one?

 

[Haley R]

For those of you who have actually been in the land in Orlando, is there adequate stock for purchase? I know the droid backpack isn’t available but what about kyber crystals, holocrons, legacy light sabers, Porgs (not the puppets)? Are there rules in place regarding how many crystals you can purchase and do you have to purchase a holocron to get one?

I actually did see a sign about the crystals (if I’m thinking of the right thing). I thought it said each person was limited to 2, but I could be wrong. Idk about the other things.

 

[Roocatty]

For those of you who have actually been in the land in Orlando, is there adequate stock for purchase? I know the droid backpack isn’t available but what about kyber crystals, holocrons, legacy light sabers, Porgs (not the puppets)? Are there rules in place regarding how many crystals you can purchase and do you have to purchase a holocron to get one?

I saw the holocrons but didn't purchase one. The sign said limit one. The crystals I saw someone buy two so I'm not sure what the limit is. We couldn't find any non puppet porgs in SWGE except for the rag doll looking things, so we dropped by Launch Bay on the way out of the park to get one. They may be in the land but I didn't see it.

 

[JayLeeJay]

While I’m really happy for this person, this detail doesn’t make me happy at all. We took the last time of the day. Knowing everyone else from all the other time slots could potentially stay means it could get very, very crowded. Not cool at all!

I really don’t think you need to worry about it being crowded. The last two hours of the day, and especially the last hour of the day, was the least crowded. It felt less crowded than even the beginning of the day. There was practically no wait for anything, including food, the ride, and the shops. Savi’s cast members were actually inviting people to come in because there was no one there. In my opinion, for those who only want to spend 4-5 hours in the land the last time slot is the way to go! It was really the middle of the day, when the 9-1 people, 11-3, people, and 1-5 people were all there together since people were let in early and could stay late.

 

[JayLeeJay]

we have a 9am slot on Tuesday. Do you think it is better to get there before 8am or maybe after they let everyone in?

I think both could work depending on what you prefer. We planned to get to the park at 8am so we’d have time to enter, walk to the back, and get checked in but limit our pre-open wait time and not have to deal with the crowd walking in initially since we wanted to see everything along the way and didn’t want to get in the way of others. It worked perfectly for us. We had just finished getting our Oga’s return time a few minutes before they let everyone in so we really had no true wait time as all of our time was spent walking to the land and checking in. We stopped for photos along the way as we entered and never really had anybody around us. Unless you want to be first on MFSR, you’ll be fine to hang back a bit. That being said, although there were a lot of people going in at once, it didn’t seem too bad for those who were mixed into the crowd. I was guessing they would let us in around 8:30 and that’s what happened for our day. We’ll have to see reports from today to see if that continues.

 

[Dis4Life10]

I really don’t think you need to worry about it being crowded. The last two hours of the day, and especially the last hour of the day, was the least crowded. It felt less crowded than even the beginning of the day. There was practically no wait for anything, including food, the ride, and the shops. Savi’s cast members were actually inviting people to come in because there was no one there. In my opinion, for those who only want to spend 4-5 hours in the land the last time slot is the way to go! It was really the middle of the day, when the 9-1 people, 11-3, people, and 1-5 people were all there together since people were let in early and could stay late.

Yeah, but you see the point right? Everyone was supposed to only get 4 hours, so people signed up for times that worked for their schedule, believing that everyone would stick to their own time frame. So saying that if people only "wanted 4-5hrs in the land" did good by picking the last time slot is incorrect, because those people didn't do so because they didn't want anymore time in the land, they did it because everyone was supposed to only have 4-5 hours. We had the 1-5 time slot and actually appreciated that a number of people did appear to stick to their time slot and I think most people were honest, but it actually isn't cool to take advantage just because you happened to be able to do an earlier time slot and just because you could take advantage.

 

[thmcdonald1]

Kyber crystals are only limited to one of each. I was just able to buy one of each color and only one holocron

 

[JayLeeJay]

Yeah, but you see the point right? Everyone was supposed to only get 4 hours, so people signed up for times that worked for their schedule, believing that everyone would stick to their own time frame. So saying that if people only "wanted 4-5hrs in the land" did good by picking the last time slot is incorrect, because those people didn't do so because they didn't want anymore time in the land, they did it because everyone was supposed to only have 4-5 hours. We had the 1-5 time slot and actually appreciated that a number of people did appear to stick to their time slot and I think most people were honest, but it actually isn't cool to take advantage just because you happened to be able to do an earlier time slot and just because you could take advantage.

Okay, I was just trying to give the person who was worried about crowds some optimism that the crowds won’t keep them from enjoying their time. People come early, people stay late, the crowds were amazing even at the most crowded (and not even sure crowded is a good word to use), everyone had and will continue to have fun, everyone will be pleased with their experience.

 

[MarkinNM]

Kyber crystals are only limited to one of each. I was just able to buy one of each color and only one holocron

Even tho there are 2 different Holocron's?

 

[focusondisney]

Yeah, but you see the point right? Everyone was supposed to only get 4 hours, so people signed up for times that worked for their schedule, believing that everyone would stick to their own time frame. So saying that if people only "wanted 4-5hrs in the land" did good by picking the last time slot is incorrect, because those people didn't do so because they didn't want anymore time in the land, they did it because everyone was supposed to only have 4-5 hours. We had the 1-5 time slot and actually appreciated that a number of people did appear to stick to their time slot and I think most people were honest, but it actually isn't cool to take advantage just because you happened to be able to do an earlier time slot and just because you could take advantage.

My thoughts exactly. We did not think we’d actually get in for this & only planned the trip after I was able to grab the reservation. So I had no real idea of flight times, costs & what my family could do re: work schedules. I picked the last time slot for Saturday thinking we might have to fly in that morning, not because I only wanted 4 hours in the land. I did worry that if enough people stayed past their time it would be very crowded. It almost seems like if they aren’t clearing people out, they should just do away with the time slots & let people come in whenever.

Because we knew there was a private event after 5 so we wouldn’t be able to hang around past that & that people would be staying past their time slot, we checked in early for ours. We got in at 12 for the 1:00 slot. We left just after 4. I can’t feel bad about checking in early knowing moat other people from earlier in the day are staying more than 4 hours.

 

[Dis4Life10]

We have a bit of a drive so I'll do our trip report now. I'm not really good at these and I'll likely miss stuff because I'll get bored typing it out.

Our time slot was 1-5 Saturday. We got to the parks at around 10:30 and rode star tours to get pumped up! We thought we needed to check in and would be told to come back at a specific time, but they let us in a little after 12, so we may have crowded the earlier crowd in their last hour a little bit but we didn't really do anything that would have increased wait times. The check in area is obvious as it is right in the middle of grand Ave by the entrance. There was no wait at all when we checked in. The first cast member checked our email and the adults' IDs, then sent us to the right before the entrance to check in with a second cast member for Savi's, who reconfirmed only one guest and one builder would be allowed in, and they also checked ID and email.

Our time for Savi's, was 12:45 so we went to try the milk. We got both without alcohol and agreed it probably would taste better with alcohol ha ha! The blue in our opinion was better than green, but it's mainly because they are very sweet and we really aren't sweets people, and they are really thick and heavy. Then we walked through Doc Ondar's but had to come immediately out to get to the Savi appt. My husband was in a little corralling area with our daughter for about 15 minutes before they took the group inside to build. At that point it started pouring so I just stood under cover at Ronto's until they were done. That was about 20 minutes and they came out. DH liked the immersion and production involved. He said the story was fun and it is a high quality "toy". If you are a star wars "nerd" he says, it's worth the $212 price tag, but if not, it might not be worth the price for you.

After Savi's we walked over to build a droid at the Droid Depot at about 1:30? We actually had a bit of a wait for droids, we waited about 20-30 minutes in the line before paying. Not a big deal but the crowds were definitely heaviest at this point and I can definitely see why they put a reservation system in place for it. My daughter picked a BB unit with a mostly white and purple body and mostly purple head. She was in love immediately. The building process took maybe 10 mins. And the cast members went out of their way to help my daughter and the girl next to her get the color head they were looking for. It's cute and really interacts at different points in the land. It says it is supposed to interact with other droids but we didn't see it interact with many of them. We didn't get a personality chip because DD couldn't decide which one she wanted and wanted to get to know the droid first, and we actually liked the "voice" of the original BB unit best. Even now I think there is a lot of value to be had with the droid as it is fun and our DD is kind of obsessed with it.

After droid building we went to smuggler's run. (About 2:30?) The wait was posted as 55 min and we waited about 40 from start of the line until getting on the ride. The queue was entertaining and very detailed. The ride was fun but we were the gunner and engineers. DD learned quickly that all she had to do as the gunner was hold the button down and it fired constantly so she just held the button and watched, which she actually enjoyed, but DH and I agreed both those positions were kind of boring. The ride was just ok in my opinion. But we liked that you could get different positions at different times so we were going to try again after we walked around a bit.

We walked around looking at stuff and took photopass with the MF then just got back on. At this point it was after 3:00, about 3:30 and the wait had drastically slowed down. The posted time was 25 mins but it felt like only 15. This second time people started requesting pilot before going into the little holding area. This is where we got kind of irritated because there were 6 people in front of us, enough for a single ride but because all 6 wanted to do pilot, they just kept having to get people further and further back and we would have been pilots by default if they would have just gave people the positions without taking requests. Not wanting to add to this lengthy process our family just said we would go on, so we got gunner and engineers again. This actually put a sour note on it just because, obviously everyone wants to pilot the millennium falcon, but it should be you get assigned it when you come up, not that you can wait forever until you get the exact position you want because then many people would be doing that, especially since that's obviously the best role on the ride. So hopefully they don't do that when it opens full tilt. Honestly it made us enjoy the ride a lot less because we were hoping there was at least a chance we could get different positions but that's just how it worked this time. Our DD really enjoyed being gunner though so that worked!

After the falcon ride we got pictures and food at docking bay. We got the fried Endorian tip-yip and the Yobshrimp noodle salad. DH wasn't a fan of the noodle salad, but he doesn't like cold noodles. The chicken was pretty good and actually seemed a bit higher quality. DD got mac and cheese with broccoli and chicken. She ate the whole thing which never happens, so that is a win!

Took a few pictures and left at 5:05.

Overall thoughts:
It's a fun land and for Star wars fans it's great! The lightsaber build and Droid build are awesome! The characters are interactive and wonderful.

The downsides I see are that almost everything in the land is one and done. Like once you have done it, there isn't a huge reason to go back. Maybe when ROTR opens it might be different but the millennium falcon was a bit of a disappointment overall not just because of our unfortunate experience, and we don't see many people becoming obsessed with blue and green milk and needing to get one whenever they go there. We didn't get a chance to do Oga's so maybe that is different. We really enjoy the land for the immersion and the architecture, thought and the activities are very fun. Again as a huge star wars fan my husband loves it overall, it just doesn't have anything yet, from a more unbiased perspective, that's going to bring people back again and again.

 

[thmcdonald1]

Even tho there are 2 different Holocron's?

sorry; I phrased that poorly. I bought all colors even though I only bought 1 holocron. I could’ve bought the other if I wanted.

 

[yulilin3]

Yeah, but you see the point right? Everyone was supposed to only get 4 hours, so people signed up for times that worked for their schedule, believing that everyone would stick to their own time frame. So saying that if people only "wanted 4-5hrs in the land" did good by picking the last time slot is incorrect, because those people didn't do so because they didn't want anymore time in the land, they did it because everyone was supposed to only have 4-5 hours. We had the 1-5 time slot and actually appreciated that a number of people did appear to stick to their time slot and I think most people were honest, but it actually isn't cool to take advantage just because you happened to be able to do an earlier time slot and just because you could take advantage.

I don't believe staying in the land past the slot is being dishonest or taking advantage when it's Disney that is not enforcing this. This also occurred with the Pandora preview, everyone had a time slot and Disney didn't police that, a lot of people stayed.
Now for people trying to stay over on a MK party night I totally agree with the dishonest/advantage scenario.
I don't remember being mentioned that Disney said in their emails or in the registration page or in the info page that the time slot would be enforced. We also had reports from DL where most people were allowed to stay.
Most people will be there for 4 hours or less, not because they have to leave but because they might be done with the land at that point, while some will stay. As an AP doing a preview you are getting the best experience available before the land opens to the public.
Just my opinion

 

[yulilin3]

We have a bit of a drive so I'll do our trip report now. I'm not really good at these and I'll likely miss stuff because I'll get bored typing it out.

Our time slot was 1-5 Saturday. We got to the parks at around 10:30 and rode star tours to get pumped up! We thought we needed to check in and would be told to come back at a specific time, but they let us in a little after 12, so we may have crowded the earlier crowd in their last hour a little bit but we didn't really do anything that would have increased wait times. The check in area is obvious as it is right in the middle of grand Ave by the entrance. There was no wait at all when we checked in. The first cast member checked our email and the adults' IDs, then sent us to the right before the entrance to check in with a second cast member for Savi's, who reconfirmed only one guest and one builder would be allowed in, and they also checked ID and email.

Our time for Savi's, was 12:45 so we went to try the milk. We got both without alcohol and agreed it probably would taste better with alcohol ha ha! The blue in our opinion was better than green, but it's mainly because they are very sweet and we really aren't sweets people, and they are really thick and heavy. Then we walked through Doc Ondar's but had to come immediately out to get to the Savi appt. My husband was in a little corralling area with our daughter for about 15 minutes before they took the group inside to build. At that point it started pouring so I just stood under cover at Ronto's until they were done. That was about 20 minutes and they came out. DH liked the immersion and production involved. He said the story was fun and it is a high quality "toy". If you are a star wars "nerd" he says, it's worth the $212 price tag, but if not, it might not be worth the price for you.

After Savi's we walked over to build a droid at the Droid Depot at about 1:30? We actually had a bit of a wait for droids, we waited about 20-30 minutes in the line before paying. Not a big deal but the crowds were definitely heaviest at this point and I can definitely see why they put a reservation system in place for it. My daughter picked a BB unit with a mostly white and purple body and mostly purple head. She was in love immediately. The building process took maybe 10 mins. And the cast members went out of their way to help my daughter and the girl next to her get the color head they were looking for. It's cute and really interacts at different points in the land. It says it is supposed to interact with other droids but we didn't see it interact with many of them. We didn't get a personality chip because DD couldn't decide which one she wanted and wanted to get to know the droid first, and we actually liked the "voice" of the original BB unit best. Even now I think there is a lot of value to be had with the droid as it is fun and our DD is kind of obsessed with it.

After droid building we went to smuggler's run. (About 2:30?) The wait was posted as 55 min and we waited about 40 from start of the line until getting on the ride. The queue was entertaining and very detailed. The ride was fun but we were the gunner and engineers. DD learned quickly that all she had to do as the gunner was hold the button down and it fired constantly so she just held the button and watched, which she actually enjoyed, but DH and I agreed both those positions were kind of boring. The ride was just ok in my opinion. But we liked that you could get different positions at different times so we were going to try again after we walked around a bit.

We walked around looking at stuff and took photopass with the MF then just got back on. At this point it was after 3:00, about 3:30 and the wait had drastically slowed down. The posted time was 25 mins but it felt like only 15. This second time people started requesting pilot before going into the little holding area. This is where we got kind of irritated because there were 6 people in front of us, enough for a single ride but because all 6 wanted to do pilot, they just kept having to get people further and further back and we would have been pilots by default if they would have just gave people the positions without taking requests. Not wanting to add to this lengthy process our family just said we would go on, so we got gunner and engineers again. This actually put a sour note on it just because, obviously everyone wants to pilot the millennium falcon, but it should be you get assigned it when you come up, not that you can wait forever until you get the exact position you want because then many people would be doing that, especially since that's obviously the best role on the ride. So hopefully they don't do that when it opens full tilt. Honestly it made us enjoy the ride a lot less because we were hoping there was at least a chance we could get different positions but that's just how it worked this time. Our DD really enjoyed being gunner though so that worked!

After the falcon ride we got pictures and food at docking bay. We got the fried Endorian tip-yip and the Yobshrimp noodle salad. DH wasn't a fan of the noodle salad, but he doesn't like cold noodles. The chicken was pretty good and actually seemed a bit higher quality. DD got mac and cheese with broccoli and chicken. She ate the whole thing which never happens, so that is a win!

Took a few pictures and left at 5:05.

Overall thoughts:
It's a fun land and for Star wars fans it's great! The lightsaber build and Droid build are awesome! The characters are interactive and wonderful.

The downsides I see are that almost everything in the land is one and done. Like once you have done it, there isn't a huge reason to go back. Maybe when ROTR opens it might be different but the millennium falcon was a bit of a disappointment overall not just because of our unfortunate experience, and we don't see many people becoming obsessed with blue and green milk and needing to get one whenever they go there. We didn't get a chance to do Oga's so maybe that is different. We really enjoy the land for the immersion and the architecture, thought and the activities are very fun. Again as a huge star wars fan my husband loves it overall, it just doesn't have anything yet, from a more unbiased perspective, that's going to bring people back again and again.

thanks for the review. Just wanted to let you know that once the land opens the requesting for a specific position on MFSR will be a hard no. CM have been told they can only do this doing previews and both CM and now AP have been using that to experience being pilot.

 

[tarak]

While I’m really happy for this person, this detail doesn’t make me happy at all. We took the last time of the day. Knowing everyone else from all the other time slots could potentially stay means it could get very, very crowded. Not cool at all!

We’re there from 5-9 on the 19th, and that post bothered me as well. Every person who stays past their reservation makes it incrementally more crowded for the rest of us. Not cool.

Yeah, but you see the point right? Everyone was supposed to only get 4 hours, so people signed up for times that worked for their schedule, believing that everyone would stick to their own time frame. So saying that if people only "wanted 4-5hrs in the land" did good by picking the last time slot is incorrect, because those people didn't do so because they didn't want anymore time in the land, they did it because everyone was supposed to only have 4-5 hours. We had the 1-5 time slot and actually appreciated that a number of people did appear to stick to their time slot and I think most people were honest, but it actually isn't cool to take advantage just because you happened to be able to do an earlier time slot and just because you could take advantage.

I completely agree. I’m sure it will still be a great experience.

 

[yulilin3]

We’re there from 5-9 on the 19th, and that post bothered me as well. Every person who stays past their reservation makes it incrementally more crowded for the rest of us. Not cool.


I completely agree. I’m sure it will still be a great experience.

Remember you can go in an hour earlier