Today marks seven years since Galaxy’s Edge first opened at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
I was not present that day at Disneyland…
However… I was present at Walt Disney World for their opening day a few months later in August 2019! While I would love to do a deep dive into Batuu and what makes it special – I also want to do it justice – so we’re going to do things a little backward (and expect a Galaxy’s Edge deep dive post in August).
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I was incredibly lucky that my family already had a vacation booked over the opening date, August 29th, and I knew when it was announced that I would get to be one of the first people to experience Black Spire Outpost (in Florida at least). Running on about 4 hours of sleep, my brother and I got up at 4:30am to catch a bus at 5:00am and ended up entering Hollywood Studios around 5:30am. We first stepped foot into the land just before 6:00am, when they started restricting who could enter due to overcrowding.
…which was a good choice because the land was absolutely packed. There were lines snaking every which direction just to get into the market place and take a look at the merchandise; and another line easily 20-30 people deep at each location to actually buy the merchandise. Vloggers were everywhere, filming content, taking photos and live streaming (if I looked hard enough I’m sure I could find myself walking in the background of no less than 10 videos).
It’s also important to remember, that Rise of the Resistance was not operating opening day and would open the following December at Walt Disney World, so the only attraction available was Smuggler’s Run. One of the first things my brother and I did was jump in the single-rider line because the wait time was easily over 100 minutes.
After doing a quick mission to Corellia with Hondo, we then grabbed breakfast at Docking Bay 7 and ate outside and watched the sunrise – which is still one of my favorite memories at Walt Disney World even after years of vacations with my family throughout my childhood.
We also managed to meet up with a few characters including one of my favorite Jedi, Rey, who taught a group of us about the importance of mindfulness & quick reflexes when it comes to being a Jedi (aka we played a memory game). I still remember the word I was given to recall was lightsaber because I bought a lightsaber keychain later that day to memorialize the special moment.
Eventually, we got tired and went back to the resort to take a nap, but we made sure to head back later in the afternoon with our parents to show them around, ride Smugglers Run as a family (we got to pilot this time!), and made a stop at Oga’s Cantina for some drinks and music!
Overall, the day is somewhat a blur, especially considering the number of times I’ve been back over the years. One thing, though, stays the same – the absolute love that I could feel around me for Star Wars. Everyone was wearing their Star Wars shirts or ‘Batuu Bounds’ (a light cosplay that makes you look like a citizen of Batuu). Everyone was saying “Bright Suns” to one another, and discovering all the details that were put into the land. It was a completely unique experience that cannot be replicated – though I do feel quite a bit of that same love towards Star Wars in the crowd every time I find myself back on Batuu.
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Jakku Journal 