If you’re like me and watched the Star Wars movies & thought “yeah sure the lightsabers are cool, but how much easier would my life be with a droid” then Disney have come up trumps for you!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you will know all about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge; offering die hard fans amazing experiences you won’t find anywhere else. For this one we are focusing on the Droid Depot at Galaxy’s Edge in Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. A place that allows you to hand build your very own remote controlled droid. So lets get straight into it..
Booking
This experience – much like many others at Disney – can be booked on the My Disney Experience app up to 180 days in advance. Walk ins are available but not guaranteed and you may have a very long wait. So its always advised to book as early as possible to avoid any disappointment. When you book you must use a valid credit card, however this will not be charged until you attend your appointment. Should you need to cancel your appointment you must do this at least 24 hours before your slot. Failure to do this will incur a cancellation fee of $99.99 and nobody wants that!
Price
Building your own droid is going to set you back $99.99 + tax (no annual pass discount available). I think this is actually a really reasonable price for what you get. Yes, the overall experience is not that of Savi’s Workshop, but this is reflected in the overall cost. For the $99.99 you get the finished droid and a box to carry your new friend in.
There are optional added extras you can buy such as personality chips, different coloured decals and even drinks holders. You can also buy a backpack for the droid for an additional $49.99. This is a cool extra but not required; the box is just fine to get it back to your hotel room. All in all I think this experience is well worth the price, especially if you’re an avid fan of the movies.
When you arrive at the Droid Depot you will be checked in by a cast member and then head up to the till to pay. Once you have paid you will be asked the big question: BB unit or R unit? This experience allows you to craft either a BB unit (similar to that of BB-8) or an R unit (similar to the one and only R2-D2).
Personally, I chose the R2 unit, for a number of reasons. The first being… well R2-D2 is awesome. And secondly, as the BB units roll on their entire body they have a tendency to scratch and scuff the paint work. Whereas the R unit has wheels so this removes that issue. But whatever you decide, once that decision has been made you will be given a basket. This has a guide to all the pieces you will need to collect from the conveyor of droid parts. As a side note, use this time to not only select your pieces carefully, but look around. As with everything in Galaxy’s Edge, the detail in here is amazing
So you’ve chosen your unit, picked up your parts and you cant wait to put them together. Well that time has come, head over to the work benches situated in the middle of the room and a cast member will get you all set up. At your bench you will find a little electronic screwdriver, and various bits and pieces to add to your build. At your bench you’ll find the instructions needed to make your new friend. But should you get stuck a cast member will be more than happy to help you out. I, for instance, screwed one of the legs on the wrong way and did so that tight it couldn’t be removed – I had to start again. So there is no shame in screwing up! Well maybe a little bit of shame…
Moving on, once your droid is built, it’s time to activate it. A cast member will place your droid in an activation pod and you’ll press the big ‘activation’ button (who doesn’t love one of those, right?). You will then see it go through the several stages of activation and it will slowly begin moving and making its chirpy noises. Then that’s it! Your new friend will be boxed up and you can take him (or her) away.
There is a place situated just outside Droid Depot that allows you to play with your droid. This is the only place you can use him, as for health and safety reasons they cannot have droids running AWOL! When carrying your droid around Batuu you will notice your droid being very vocal in his box/backpack. This is because all the droids are Bluetooth enabled, as are so are many parts on the land! So you’ll find your droid interacting will all of it’s friends but also sounding a little scared should you come across a droid serving the empire!
Summary
All in all I think this experience is well worth the money, the end product is fantastic. It’s not as personal or as immersive as the lightsaber build, but the two shouldn’t really be compared. They both offer something totally different and something you wont find anywhere outside of Disney.
If you can’t get a booking and there are no walk-ins available, you can buy pre-made droids around the shops for the exact same price of $99.99 + tax. But if you can, I think as you’re paying the same price, you might as well have the experience of building it yourself and making the finished product – much more personal to you. On the whole, if you’re a Star Wars fan this is a must do. I think anyone would be thrilled with the finished product. And come on, how many people can say they have build their very own droid?!
For more details about Droid Depot at Hollywood Studios visit
https://www.disneyworld.co.uk/shops/hollywood-studios/droid-depot/ As always, thanks for reading,
See you real soon,
Josh & Becky.
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