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These ARE the Droids you are looking for!

9/25/2019

The hustle and bustle of the droid depot is apparent the second you step in. Located down the steps from Ronto's Roasters, between Savi's Workshop (Sabers) and the Milk Stand, you can find the Droid Depot. Like many of the speciality experiences in Star Wars Galaxy's Edge it's better to make a reservation, but they were taking walk-in clients all throughout the day.

Come, step inside the depot and decide what kind of droid you'd like to build. Your options are the class "R Unit" or the more modern "BB unit." We had most of this decided beforehand. My wife, Angie, had called the BB unit, so to be different I chose to build an R.

Once you've made your way through the line and paid your galactic credits at the register. You are handed the corresponding tray for your droid. It does simplify things a bit to see what pieces you need to pick up. They eliminate a lot of the confusion, but even if you do feel lost their are assistants walking the depot to answer your questions.
You are assigned a spot near the conveyor belt of pieces. The droid parts do go by at a decent speed, but are easy enough to snag as they pass. Each droid has their base options of colors. R units are black, white, red, and blue with the accent colors of purple and orange on some parts. While the BB units cam in the same colors but had purple as a base color.

While the BB Unit does get a bit more color from the beginning, plus he's really cute. That's all he has going for him. BB Units get no accessories. :(
The R units have plenty of accessories to purchase. There are sticker packs for customizing colors as well as packs with additional colored panels. The R unit can also be equipped with blasters or rocket boosters that light up and make sounds. Additionally there are decorative drink serving attachments and a set of claw hands, though these are all just decorative and cannot actually grab anything or poor you a drink.

Once you've got all your parts you are ushered over to the assembly station. Hanging over head you have a handy power screwdriver to help with the couple of bolts that need tightening. Overall assembling goes pretty smoothly as you snap some pieces in and screw down others. And Voila! You have a droid assembled and ready to be activated. The assistants will pop your droid into the activation chamber, you press the big red button and HE'S ALIVE!!!

Though Angie had chosen the BB unit, she was very displeased with him. The BB units head would fall off really easily while he was rolling around our hotel room.
She was so displeased that the next day we went back and after a small amount of complaints were able to exchange our faulty BB unit for another R unit.

Each droid comes with their own preset sounds. R units sound like R2D2 and BB units sound like BB8. You can however purchase personality chips that will change the sounds and demanor of your robot in the park. Yes the droid react as you take them around the park. You can even purchase a special backpack to carry them around, or carry around the box that comes with the purchase.

If you buy the personality chips your droid will react and make different sounds in certain areas. The personalities come in Resistance, Smuggler, and First Order. Droids will perk up in their appropriate area and make sad nervous sounds in opposing areas. It's really cute, but the we didn't want the added hassle of carrying our droids the whole day.
Each droid comes with his own controller that manages his movements and sounds. If you've ever handled a remote controlled anything the R units are pretty easy to handle while the BB units take a fair amount of practice to figure out how this ball is going to move around.

Here are our droids with custom panels and stickers. Angie's R8R8, because he alright alright alright. And my droid RUOK, the medic droid. Each droid will cost you 100 credits, while accessories will range from 12 to 25. Sticker packs, panels, and personality chips were all about 12 credits.

Through the other door of the depot there was a neat shop full of droid themed accessories and of course the most expensive toy you can purchase. A FULL SIZED R2D2 unit! just $25,000 credits for that one. Sure you can customize him, but I could also get a pretty good car at that price point. It was fun to interact with the classic R2! We had a blast building our droids and our kids have loved playing with them around the house!

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Keepin' it Savi (Custom Sabers)

9/12/2019

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I can honestly say I am not a die hard Star Was fan, but all my childhood love for Star Was lit up like a Christmas tree from the moment we walked into Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. My first priority of this venture was the "big ticket item;" the custom built lightsabers from Savi's Workshop. I had to have one, HAD TO!

Nestled between the Droid Depot and Dok Ondar's Den of Antiquities, it is easy to overlook Savi's workshop. Savi's Workshop, like many magical experiences at the Disney Parks, can require reservations booked in advance. You can book your time slot at 180 days prior to your trip. I had my time slot booked for Sunday of our trip, but was SHOCKED to find that they were not very busy on Saturday. So, I took the opportunity and built it a day ahead of schedule. When I asked how long the wait would be to purchase some "scrap metal" I was told 10-15 minutes.

I had been waiting to build my saber since I first learned of Savi's, so I had most of my design ideas finalized before I even set foot on the property. First you must choose which of four styles of lightsabers you want to build. I had determined that Elemental Nature was my flavor of saber. They give you a lovely pin to signal the "gatherers" what pieces to bring you. Groups of up to 14 builders, each with one guest, are then lead into a secret chamber hidden away from the prying eyes of the First Order (lightsabers are outlawed).

There our lead Gatherer talked about the history and significance of the lightsaber and we were then asked to pick our kyber crystals. The kyber crystal is the heart of a lightsaber and determines it's color. You can choose from green, blue, purple and red. I had to have my baby be green! Yellow and white crystals can be purchased at Dok Ondar's as well as other the initial colors.

I thought assembling the saber would take me no time at all, but I learned the pieces did not slide together as easily as I had anticipated. At first I was impressed with the weight of each piece. These aren't flimsy plastic pieces, each piece of "scrap metal" is actually made of metal. There are 5 pieces to choose from, with at least 2 variations to pick for each piece. Essentially, 2 tops, 2 bottoms, 2 switches, and 4 different shaft pieces to choose from for each style of saber.

The core is plastic housing for all the electronics in your saber. Once you slide that kyber crystal into it's slot, the saber begins to sing and light up. Ooh, I tingle with anticipation. First, the activation plates must be put together around your crystal. Then either shaft can be placed on top or bottom, screwed into place, followed up by the tops and bottoms to finish off your hilt. Fully assembled the hilt has a nice heft to it. Then the magic really begins.

Once assembled, the gatherers are invited to plug our lightsabers in. We get some mystical dialogue from our favorite little green man Yoda, contacting us through the force. And our sabers are activated. I was grinning like a complete idiot. I couldn't contain myself or stop myself from waving my new green pretty all over the place. Each motion was accompanied with the crackle and sounds of a lightsaber.

As we walked out we were each given a bag to safely carry our saber home in. The bag has a foam tube inside to protect the light-up blade. And boy does it light up! You can see it glow even from within the bag.

If you've been to Hogwarts to get wand, it is magical, but only one person gets to be the center of attention. At Savi's you feel like a jedi of old, because we all get to have the same AWESOME experience, but this is not a cheap thrill! Custom sabers at Savi's run 200 credits plus tax. So, expect to pay roughly $225 for a very awesome new toy. It was worth the experience for me! I would probably build another saber on my next visit. I couldn't think of spending that kind of money for each of my children, though I saw plenty of families building sabers together.

If your child really wants to be able to take home a custom saber, there are alternatives. There are three locations where a fully plastic custom saber can be built while visiting Walt Disney World. In Disney Springs you can find the Build-a-Saber at the Star Wars Trading Post. While visiting Disney's Hollywood Studios you can also build sabers at the shop at the end of Star Tours or alternatively at the Star Wars Launch Bay. These sabers run from $25 to $50 depending on whether you build a single or double saber. It can't compare to what you get from Savi's, but its a saber on a budget for the kids.

Spoiler alert... here's the video of my lightsaber experience!!

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Angie & Gabe Garcia-Lavin make up the Mouse O'Clock Travel team. Married for more than a decade, they share a love of each other and a love of Disney that runs deep.

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These ARE the Droids you are looking for!

Keepin' it Savi (Custom Sabers)

Spoiler alert... here's the video of my lightsaber experience!!

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