We just got back from our first visit to SWGE! We overall really liked the land, but there was room for improvement for sure in my opinion.
Overall atmosphere: I thought the land was beautiful, but we were definitely there on a high crowd day (11/16) and I wish we could have been there when it was quieter, since the high crowds of people in non-themed clothing made it a little less "real". Also, the "this is for adults, not kids" attitude among the guests was definitely in full force. At one point our kids found a little speeder over by Savi's and all three piled on to play on it (lots of "vroom-vrooming" and "pew-pew-ing") and were probably only there two minutes before some adults came and yelled at me to move my kids because they were in the way of their photo op with the speeder. Not super magical. It would be nice if they had a little themed play area for the kids to climb around in.
Characters: We saw Kylo and Chewy/Vi, and the storm troopers go by several times and it was very cool, but I do wish Rey wasn't quite so stealthy. My kids saw her and ran up to say hi and she turned around and ran away. I get she is hiding from the first order, but it came off as a little harsh for them (similar to the person who commented that the stormtroopers waved off their kids). I really wish some characters had scheduled meet and greets at least part of the day in addition to the spontaneous appearances.
Savi's
Our twins built sabers and my husband I took turns each going in as guests of one of the twins. The experience of Savi's was great (I got chills). Not sure it was
really worth $424 after tax. I'd be interested to see if they sustain that price in the long term given it is not likely to be a repeat experience for most people. The check in was super chaotic too. You have to first check in with a person with an ipad, and then wait around until they call your appointment time, and then go wait in line to pay at the counter, and then go wait some more in a special area. This was not explained anywhere and took a lot of trial and error to figure out the correct sequence (first we went to the cashier, then were sent to ipad guy, then went back to the cashier only to be told we needed to wait for our time to be called before paying). Also, it kept getting gummed up by people with no appointment getting a standby time--would be nice if they had separate lines for making reservations and checking in.
Oga's: I was was most disappointed in Oga's. Our party of 5 was shown at first to a standing spot that at most could fit two people, so we asked to wait for a seat at the table and thankfully our request was honored. The wait was not too bad (15 mins) and was so worth it to be able to sit down, especially since it took so long to get our drinks (around 30 mins), which would have been miserable for the kids if we were standing. The adult drinks were just plain bad. We tried the Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jet Juice, and Jedi Mind Trick for the adults, and all were the worst cocktails I've had on Disney property (Fuzzy Tauntaun was basically orange juice with pop rocks, jet juice was cough syrup, and mind trick was dishwater). For a place that pretty much only servers drinks you'd think they'd make decent ones--wish they had gone the Nomad lounge route and served high-end drinks instead. The kids loved their sugary drinks (carbon freeze, blue milk and hyperdrive punch it) so at least that worked out.
Docking Bay 7: This place is great! We went right at peak time at 5:30 and had no wait. I got the tip yip and LOVED the spicy sauce--it is like a nice green thai curry. The gold squadron lager was nice too--made me wish I had opted for the beer at Oga's. My husband got the Felucian Kefta and let me try it and it was delicious--they must be using one of the better plant-based meat options because it really tasted meaty. Our picky-eater kids ate VERY well (shrimp/noodles for one and tip yip with mac and cheese for the others) so I don't get all the complaints about how the food is
supposedly
not kid-friendly.
Smugglers Run: We were a family of 5 with three younglings (7, 7, and 4). I was nervous after all the reports of it not being kid-friendly, but it went fine. One of my twins was right pilot, I was left pilot, and I have to say we didn't do half bad, and there was no problem reaching the controls for my 7 year olds. The other two kids were gunners which was good because my husband as engineer could reach forward and press the buttons for my 4 year old, who had a blast even though he had no way of reaching those buttons. I will say, I was very grateful for all the tips on this board to ride in the evening. I kept an eye on the wait time and it went from 90 mins when we arrived to just 40 minutes when we rode around 6:30pm.