Three weeks ago, after the two-day media preview of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, I wrote a glowing review of the immersive 14-acre new area for this website. Now, after having visited the planet Batuu on five additional occasions (via separate four-hour-long slots during the land’s reservation-only period), I’d like to take another, closer look at Black Spire Outpost with a bit more of a critical eye.
With said reservation period coming to a close this weekend, I have a lot of expectations and hopes for this grand theme park experiment going into its standard operating days ahead, and while many of them are built upon the unforgettable experiences and sure-to-be-lasting impressions made during the past month, I do think there is room for improvement in certain areas. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is a tremendously impressive achievement on just about every front, but it isn’t perfect– not yet, anyway. Thankfully, the aspect of the land that leaves the most to be desired is one that comes with a built-in intent to evolve over time: its interactive entertainment.
I can’t say enough about how jaw-droppingly remarkable the physical design work is in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Every nook and cranny is crafted with loving detail, and each corner contains a new surprise to be discovered. Even after seven total visits, I’m confident I have not seen all there is to see in the breathtaking architecture, labyrinthine city streets, and intricate rockwork around Black Spire Outpost. But once I have fully absorbed those details, I’m going to want to find more to do.
My absolute favorite moments in Galaxy’s Edge so far have undeniably been the more interactive ones: chatting and plotting with Resistance spy Vi Moradi, watching Kylo Ren and his Stormtroopers confront guests about their suspected allegiances, and (perhaps especially) cheering and chanting along with the crowd as the bartender in Oga’s Cantina reboots DJ R-3X after the droid melts down causing a catastrophic power failure. I’ve watched Chewbacca attempt to repair a grounded X-Wing Starfighter, nodded hello to Rey as she passed me on a path in the wilderness outside of town, and witnessed a First Order officer berate a crowd of onlookers. All of this streetmosphere and character presence is wonderful and unquestionably adds to the illusion of being transported to A Galaxy Far, Far Away, but is it enough?
Those half-dozen meetable characters seem like a lot when you list them all together, but in a new land as massive as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is, it’s possible to go through an entire reservation shift without encountering any of them. Some only appear during certain times of day, and others’ presences have been so limited you have to be in the right place at the right time to even catch a glimpse of them. In my mind’s eye before my first time entering the area (and as depicted on a lot of the concept art and other promotional materials), I had pictured Black Spire as being a living, breathing community populated by aliens, droids, and various ne’er-do-wells, as you would see in any similar settlement in a Star Wars movie, all of whom you could approach and make conversation with, should you so choose. Presently it feels a little empty of that kind of concurrence.
There’s one particular character– a bounty hunter named Harkos– who was created by Lucasfilm explicitly for Galaxy’s Edge and is depicted on one of the official promo trading cards distributed at Walt Disney World’s Star Wars: Galactic Nights events (and at the land’s opening night celebration), though he has yet to show up to interact with guests. Whether this character is being saved to debut later on or has been scrapped entirely is not clear, but having him around would certainly go one welcome step further to fleshing out the general ambience of Batuu.
What I would love to see is more show moments like Kylo Ren’s arrival on the TIE Echelon– a scene that only takes up a few minutes of time every once in a while, but goes a long way in adding a tremendous amount of flavor to the surroundings if you happen to be in the First Order Cargo area when it occurs. Another action sequence, specifically a battle between Vi, Chewie, and the Stormtroopers that took place on the catwalk above Salju’s Landspeeder garage, appears as though it has only happened once so far, for media and invited VIPs prior to the grand opening ceremony. Is this another feature scheduled to launch at a later date?
In my head, this type of moment should be taking place much more frequently, all around us as we wander through Batuu. There could be one every half hour or so in a different spot in the land, perhaps sequentially telling a larger overarching narrative that plays out over the course of a day in-between character interactions, taking a cue from the invariably excellent “Ghost Town Alive!” immersive theater event at Disneyland’s theme-park forefather Knott’s Berry Farm just a few miles away. The bottom line is Black Spire Outpost needs a story, and not just the one being told in ancillary novels and comic books. It needs one that visitors feel they are a part of, and can partake in, in addition to watching play out.
One could argue that the Play Disney Parks app serves that function at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. After all, guests do have the ability to use their mobile devices as datapads to interface with a good number of electronic panels, droids, and other devices scattered around the land. You can accept jobs, help the Resistance fight the First Order via a game called Outpost Control, and collect schematics, costumes, and props from the Star Wars universe. But beyond being plagued with technical issues at the outset, the Play Disney Parks datapad still feels very removed from the tactile nature of the land to me. It’s a virtual time-killer in a place that demands tangible interplay. I can see the app advancing to become an integral part of Galaxy’s Edge in the future, but at the moment it feels a little lacking.
Of course, there’s also the two ride-through attractions: the fun flight simulator Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and the highly anticipated upcoming state-of-the-art dark ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, but in its essence Galaxy’s Edge feels as though it should be a step beyond the reliance on rides to deliver a transformative theme park experience. I enjoy Smugglers Run well enough and I can’t wait to board the transport vehicle on Rise of the Resistance later this year, but as I wrote in my initial review, the land itself is the E-Ticket attraction here. Why not go the extra mile and make the outright most of it?
My hope right now is that the current slate of interactive entertainment at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is tailored and limited precisely to the four-hour window of reservation time that guests have been restricted to during these first three-and-a-half weeks. I’m crossing my fingers that when I step through those gates onto Batuu again on this coming Monday (the first day to not require a pre-booked reservation) I will find Black Spire Outpost a bit more dynamic in its approach to local inhabitants, happenings, and atmosphere. As it stands, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is an “A”, but it wouldn’t take much to push it into an “A+”.