Welcome to day 2 of our Disneyland Galaxy’s Edge opening trip report. This post covers a morning (8AM to Noon) at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and an easygoing afternoon at Disneyland.
ABOUT THIS TRIP REPORT
This trip report covers our June 2019 visit to Disneyland Resort. This visit was for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which we visited on day 2 (this day) and day 5.
This trip report is intended to supplement our existing Disneyland content (which is almost all linked to at the bottom of this post) with a focus on visits occurring in Summer 2019. Here is what this report will look like in full (links will go up as posts go up):
Day 2 — Galaxy’s Edge 8AM Reservation, Afternoon at Disneyland (this post)
Day 4 — Disney California Adventure Day Without Extra Magic Hour
If you’re looking for a strategy for visiting Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge, we have that as well. We additionally have a more general Guide to Galaxy’s Edge (Star Wars Land).
The remainder of the Disneyland Park content should be somewhat valuable at least into holiday season, as Disneyland has not seen the expect crowd bump from Galaxy’s Edge opening.
The Disney California Adventure content should also remain helpful until the holiday season, with the next significant change at the park occurring on September 17 with the start of Oogie Boogie Bash.
This post is in two parts. The first covers a morning at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (8AM to 12PM reservation). The second covers an afternoon (mostly) at Disneyland.
Morning at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
This is the report of how we spent our 8AM to Noon reservation at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Before we get to the narrative, we’ll give you the straight itinerary:
4:50AM — First guests let into Disneyland for Galaxy’s Edge reservations and merchandise purchases
5:35AM — We arrive at Disneyland, are held in a group outside Tomorrowland
5:45AM — Let into Tomorrowland, queue begins forming at Launch Bay
6:19AM — Checked In; held at Galactic Grill prior to land opening
7:40AM — Begin moving toward Galaxy’s Edge
7:50AM — Arrive at Galaxy’s Edge and queue for Oga’s Cantina
7:57AM — Inside Oga’s Cantina
8:15AM — Early reports indicate Oga’s Cantina line was cut off at this time
8:23AM — Left Oga’s Cantina
Explore Land / Shop
9:09AM — Cast Member reports line for Savi’s Workshop (building lightsabers) is about an hour
9:10AM — Cast Member reports line for Droid Depot (building droids) is about 20 minutes
9:29AM — 25 minute wait for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, but 0 minute for Single Rider
9:58AM — Oga’s Cantina line cut off still (or again)
10:37AM — 5 minute wait for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
10:45AM — Repeat riders no longer allowed on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
11AM — Wave 2 Enters, Cantina line almost immediately cut off, Savi’s at hour+, Dok-Ondar’s also at capacity
11:14AM — Lunch at Docking Bay 7 (about 10 minute from entrance to receiving food)
We arrived at the front gates at about 5:35AM. We knew via twitter that guests had already been let into the park at 4:50AM. By the time we arrived there was no line outside.
There was a special, commemorative Galaxy’s Edge map. People assumed it was only for opening day, but they had some available the following days as well.
Galaxy’s Edge guests went to the right after entering and through the backstage passage.
We were held up inside the passage and then outside Tomorrowland until 5:45AM.
From there we were queued at the Launch Bay, and at 6AM the check-in line started moving.
Check-in was smooth. Our QR code was scanned and our IDs checked, and we were given a wristband.
Nal Hutta is a criminal planet in the Outer Rim—no idea why it was on all the 8AM bands. Later bands had different planets on them.
We were given the option of joining the merchandise queue or heading over to a group next to Galactic Grill before entering the land. I’ve seen at least one other process used for 8AM arrivals, so your experience may vary.
At about 7:40AM, we began moving toward Galaxy’s Edge. This was the public opening of the land, so there was lots of energy, hype, high-level Cast Members, and filming around. Rope drop video forthcoming.
I headed straight to the line for Oga’s Cantina, and I was in line at 7:51AM. A bunch of guests were let in right away, and then after that we were allowed in one group every couple of minutes until occupancy was reached. I was in at 7:58AM.
There was a special morning menu for the 8AM guests, including a bloody Mary drink (“Bloody Rancor”) and a coffee-based drink. Other cocktails were available, but I didn’t see any beer.
There’s a lot of small details to see in the cantina, and the music is fun. Overall I’m surprised at the hype it’s getting…well, maybe not totally surprised. Some of the hype is certainly engrained in Disneyland culture.
The lady next to me at the bar just asked for “the tiki mug drink” and then ordered both when told there were alcoholic and non-alcoholic mugs. She didn’t know the names of the beverages, or even what the mugs were, but she knew there was a collectible mug, and she wanted it. When new things come out, Disneylanders line up. Not judging, it’s just the way of life out here.
They were closing out checks after every order. Tables have servers but everyone else just has to make their way up to the bar to order. I left my card inside (I’m completely absent lately), but a Cast Member was able to retrieve it with only 10 minutes lost in my day.
After leaving Oga’s, I just explored a little. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was still at 60 minutes, so I was fine waiting until later.
Ronto Roasters, which specializes in small meat items is a cool space for such a small menu. There’s a droid operating an imposing roaster.
Even the credit card kiosks are themed in Galaxy’s Edge.
I had the breakfast oats. These are the same oats available inside Docking Bay 7.
There is lots of standing room around Ronto Roasters and a few small tables nearby. I headed out toward Resistance Supply. This end of the land is pretty empty right now, but it’s the future home of Rise of the Resistance.
It’s also a good place to find resistance characters. I ran into Rey a couple times walking over here, and Chewbacca can be found nearby as well. There’s also some Resistance vehicles.
Here’s a look at some of the merchandise at Resistance Supply. Note that the merchandise in Resistance Supply and First Order Cargo was slightly different on our second visit, so they might be onto a different set when you visit. (Use arrows to navigate the below gallery.)
This is the sort of stuff that is mostly only available in the land. It will also mark you as a Resistance sympathizer, so you might get hassled more by the First Order.
The Stormtroopers were out. They’re cool, and I’m sure they’ve expanded a bit from their old Tomorrowland / Hollywood Studios content, but overall their schtick is very similar to those days. Now they just have more to interact with since people are wearing Resistance / First Order gear.
Side note, here’s an interesting twitter thread about costumes at Galaxy’s Edge. Robes are identified as the offending item that adults aren’t supposed to wear. We had no trouble with our Resistance jacket or First Order hoodie, and we’ve heard tales on virtually every angle of this issue. This is a difficult policy to parse out.
Across from Ronto Roasters you’ll see some vehicles undergoing maintenance. Above them is a small platform you’ll occasionally see Stormtroopers hanging out on.
I continued to explore the stores. Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities specializes in “unique” and “mysterious.” The store is getting lots of rave reviews, but I was honestly a tiny bit disappointed.
There’s a stark symmetry to the store, with light side stuff on one side and dark side stuff on the other. It’s awkward how much the items mirror each other because it feels so artificial. I’m not sure I believe that Dok-Ondar would position his miniature Jedi busts directly opposite his miniature Sith busts.
And there’s just something Disney-esque about having tongs of mass-produced items lining shelves—not something that could be avoided in the opening months of the land, though. Regardless of that, the shop has a ton of appeal to hardcore Star Wars fans, and the items themselves are beautiful. And the store has a ton of “easter egg” items around.
You can also purchase lightsaber parts at Dok-Ondar’s (this is different from the building experience at Savi’s), but we didn’t get a good look at those due to the crowds.
Dok-Ondar’s is one of two stores that actually gets a line (the other is Droid Depot). In our two-visit experience, if there is a line when you stop by Dok-Ondar’s, just come back later and it will be gone. Particularly, you’ll just want to avoid the first and last hours that overlap with another reservation.
The line for Savi’s Workshop, where you can build your own $200 lightsaber and participate in a 20-minute ceremony was about an hour at this point (around 9AM). They’ve tinkered with the system since our visit, so you’ll need to read our Disneyland Galaxy’s Edge touring guide for the latest.
Droid Depot is a hybrid experience. It’s both a shop selling droid-themed merchandise and home to the droid-building activity. We opted against the droid-building. The wait was about 20 minutes midway through the time slot. But don’t skip the store just because you’re not building the droids. The store sometimes gets a line, but most of the time you can just walk right in.
Outside Droid Depot are some pretty cool full-size droids.
The majority of the shops are stalls contained in a single market. So if you were wondering why there were so many stores, it’s because some of them are pretty small.
Aesthetically, the marketplace looks somewhat like a market you’d encounter in the Middle East or North Africa (experientially it’s quite different, but that’s another story). Here’s Galaxy’s Edge:
And here’s Cairo:
Different stalls line the two sides of the marketplace. These are all very small, and they can be more or less “filled” throughout the reservation period, so you may be bumping into people a bit. Lines will also often spill out into the walkway.
Starting from Ronto Roasters, at the east end of things, you’ll first pass by Kat Saka’s Kettle (not pictured) on the right. This is where you’ll find the popcorn snack.
Next you’ll come to Black Spire Outfitters on the right. This shop mostly sells robes and related outfits.
Opposite Black Spire Outfitters is Jewels of Bith. Despite the name, it actually doesn’t specialize in jewelry. There are pins and some “Black Spire Outpost” branded gear here.
The last two shops are Creature Stall and Toydarian Toymaker. Creature Stall, as you’d expect, specializes in small plush / toy creatures.
Toydarian Toymaker is a really cool shop, our favorite of the ones in the marketplace. While the specialty is obviously “toys,” you’ll find cool items like a music box, sabacc, and a puzzle cube.
I actually made my way over to First Order Cargo a bit later, but I’ll just cover it here. First Order Cargo is the First Order’s counterpart to Resistance Supply, on the opposite side of the land. You’ll find all sorts of First Order gear.
After shopping I took my first ride on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The standby wait was at 25 minutes at 9:30AM, but single ride was a walk-on so I just went with that. The single rider queue is really boring…
Guests are grouped into groups of six—two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers—with each group getting a color. You get to wait in the room with the dejarik board (the round game board from the original film).
When your color is called, you’re sent into the cockpit.
My group had too many people (someone had miscounted), so I wound up having to pilot on my own. Or…”solo.” This was not at all ideal. Here is a video of our day 5 ride.
The ride is what you expect—your team is piloting the Millennium Falcon. It’s sort of a Star Tours meets Mission: SPACE experience.
After that I met up with Emily and we explored a bit. The First Order has laid claim to their side of the land.
In this area (by First Order Cargo), you’ll find the Milk Stand. This is another one that generally has short lines in the middle of the reservation period.
The milks are definitely more novelty item than quality beverage. If I understand correctly, they’re just lightly flavored coconut milk slushies. It’s hard to imagine I’ll ever get one again, but I don’t regret trying them.
Kylo Ren has parked his TIE Echelon outside First Order Cargo. This is a photopass opportunity, as is the Millennium Falcon and the Resistance vehicles near Resistance Supply.
At 9:58AM, the line for Oga’s Cantina was cut off. This is another thing they’ve changed since we first visited, so don’t consider this touring advice at all.
Continuing to wander, here’s the Stormtroopers, monitoring from the small platform I mentioned before.
We encountered Rey over in the Resistance area just after 10AM.
We headed back to Smugglers Run, which at 10:37AM had just a five minute wait. We were told that repeat riders would be allowed until 10:45AM.
This time I got to fully experience the queue, which has both this great view of Frontierland…
…and Hondo.
Altogether the pre-ride experience for Smugglers Run is significantly better than Avatar Flight of Passage, another ride that famously (infamously?) goes beyond a simple queuing experience.
After Smugglers Run we headed to Docking Bay 7 for lunch. As vegetarians we’re happy to see a “fake meat” option, and found the Felucian Garden Spread to be quite good.
The desserts were also good.
I’m given to understand they have either stopped using these awesome sporks or at least become very limited in handing them out because people were stealing them.
Just after 12PM (!! we weren’t snatched by Stormtroopers and dragged out), we saw the Kylo Ren / First Order “show” outside his TIE Echelon.
Given the timing and the theme of the show (“search everyone until you find the Resistance!”), I sort of thought Stormtroopers would start inquiring about people’s wristbands, but this didn’t happen and nothing much seemed to change at all.
We walked back through the land, taking some pictures along the way, and exited at about 12:15PM.
Afternoon at Disneyland (with some California Adventure)
We were a bit worn from the early morning and had acquired some merchandise at Galaxy's Edge, so we headed back to the hotel and then came back to Disneyland around 1:45PM. We grabbed a 4:55PM FASTPASS for Hyperspace Mountain.
Here's a look at some 2:18PM waits. 35 for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 10 for Pirates of the Caribbean, 20 for Indiana Jones Adventure. [Updated] These are representative of the low crowds we were seeing at this time, a trend that continued through the June 24 opening of Galaxy’s Edge.
Haunted Mansion was a walk-on at 2:30PM, as was Snow White's Scary Adventures.
We sat through a breakdown on Pinocchio's Daring Journey (we didn't have much else to do), and then road Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at 3:30PM.
We had an awesome time on the King Arthur Carrousel, riding with the Pearly Band at 3:40PM.
Emily's Resistance jacket wasn't enough to make her worthy of the Sword in the Stone, apparently.
Dumbo, which you can usually count on to sit at 20 to 40 minutes all day, was another walk on at 3:56PM.
And we of course got a good ride on Casey Jr. just after 4PM. We followed that up with a 20-minute wait for Peter Pan's Flight.
We had just enough time to fit in our FASTPASS for Hyperspace Mountain before catching the 5:20PM showing of Mickey and the Magical Map. We got a baked potato from the stand outside the theater.
Astro Orbitor had about a 15-minute wait. This was one that was closed during our last visit, and I love that even though it isn't perched up high like the one in Magic Kingdom, it still offers good views (that my photography cannot capture).
From there we took about a 15-minute wait to get on Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I don't know why I make myself suffer through the ride every visit...but I do, so I must not hate it!
There's a preview from Toy Story 4 being played in the theater next to Hyperspace Mountain. This was enjoyable, but not really a good use of 20 minutes wait and then 20 minutes in the theater.
Earlier we’d acquired two FASTPASS times for Star Tours (7:15PM) and Indiana Jones Adventure (7:50PM). We probably could have gotten at least two more if we’d tried.
We finished up the day with a FASTPASS we'd grabbed earlier for Radiator Springs Racers (8:10PM), which we love at night. We grabbed dinner and a drink at Flo's V8 Cafe. The view from Flo's is just spectacular, and it's one of our favorite drinking spots in any Disney park worldwide.
We were able to catch Mickey's Mix Magic, which is ending this week. This was one of our favorite nighttime shows. Using multiple viewing points keeps crowds fairly dispersed, and having it as a "dance party" is a lot more fun than just watching projections.
A leisurely afternoon was the perfect counterpart to feeling so overwhelmed trying to explore Galaxy’s Edge. Like I said, we don’t expect this to continue once June 24 rolls around, but really wait times and FASTPASS weren’t challenges in the afternoon.
All Your Other Disneyland Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disneyland planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Planning Guide. If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disneyland crowd calendars.
When it comes to hotels, we’ve got reviews of all three Disney hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. As for tickets, check out where to find discount Disneyland tickets.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS and MaxPass Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Extra Magic Hour at Disney California Adventure or Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.