Everything You Should Know About Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge was officially announced in 2015.  Disney opened the doors for its California location on May 31, 2019 and August 29, 2019 for its Florida location. The company reportedly spent $2 billion for the attractions to open at both parks.

Disney CEO Bob Iger blew the minds of fans everywhere when he announced park guests can take Han Solo's ship on a customized run through the galaxy. The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run is designed in such away that you actually experience it similarly to how Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi did for the first time in the original film. Even the line is a part of the ride as visitors tour the ship, which has been notably bruised. The Falcon's crew - yes, even some familiar members - can be spotted trying to assess the damage as you board the ride. 

The backstory of Smuggler's Run begins with Chewbacca bringing the Millennium Falcon to the Black Spire Outpost following the events of 2018's Star Wars movie, "The Last Jedi." The legendary Wookiee needs to get the ship fixed, so he makes a deal with Hondo Ohnaka, a smuggler from "The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" animated series. Hondo's plan is to use the Millennium Falcon to steal coaxium, but first he needs a flight crew. That's where the players come in. The ride holds six guests at a time, two in each of three roles: Pilot, Gunner, and Engineer. With roughly 200 buttons and switches to mind plus two joysticks at the front, guests are kept busy flying on their journey, along with a cockpit that moves and shakes. Be on the lookout for a treasure-filled trip and try to spot Porg nests or Luke Skywalker's helmet from the scene in "A New Hope."

The designers of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge probably realized early on that a theme park taking place solely on a desert planet like Tatooine or the ice planet of Hoth would probably be a drag. So they designed “a whole new planet” that we’ve never seen before in Star Wars movies. Batuu is "a gateway planet" and "a remote frontier town, one of the last stops before wild space." It is also located at the "galaxy's edge" and filled with lush forests and mountain regions, known only to those who venture this far into the Outer Rim. "One of the things that we decided very early on (was) to build a new place, a place that was not a memory of somebody else's 'Star Wars' story," said Walt Disney Imagineering studio leader Scott Trowbridge. "(Batuu) was not a place that we visited in the early films. We know those places — we know the stories that happened there, we know the characters' experiences there. And we know that we're not part of those stories." 

Nothing at the park is cheap, but Galaxy's Edge souvenirs are especially going to break the bank. If building your own custom lightsaber at Savi's Workshop sounds like a dream come true, it's going to cost $200. Yes, $200. Tee shirts at the Droid Depot cost between $30 and $40, and a kid-sized Jedi robe is $100. Porgs, the fluffy penguin-like animals that inhabited Luke's island of Ahch-To, are also available to adopt for $45 as a porg puppet at the Creature Stall in Galaxy's Edge. Unless you have Jedi mind tricks up your sleeve, make sure your wallet is loaded.

Taking up 14 acres, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is currently the largest single land expansion in Disneyland history. "We want the place to feel deep, so that your relationship with it can also have that kind of depth," said Scott Trowbridge, a Disney Imagineer.