BDX ‘Duckling’ Droids Land in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disney World

Disney has announced that the fan-favorite BDX “Duckling Droids” are coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, as well as Tomorrowland in Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland. This shares the official news, my reaction to seeing them in person, and other commentary about the evolution of Star Wars land. (Updated July 16, 2025.)

In case you missed it, the Disney Research Team has been working on ‘Duckling Droid’ robots for a few years now, and doing playtesting with them in the parks for over a year. Following that, Imagineering introduced the BDX Droids during daily operations in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland during last year’s Season of the Force, where they appeared from April 5 through June 2. After that, the droids were shown again during last year’s D23 Expo, but to my knowledge, they haven’t done any major appearances since.

The BDX robots are capable of an enormous amount of expression in its child-size body, with a highly-expressive head, two wiggly antennae, and little legs. What sets this bipedal robot apart from others that simple look like it is how it walks. The BDX Droids is full of personality, emoting as it moves in a way that makes it look alive and teeming with personality.

July 16, 2025 Update: The BDX Droids are appearing at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World starting today for a limited time, through August 30, 2025! The ‘duckling droids’ will waddle their way around several areas of Batuu and make appearances Tuesdays through Saturdays at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m.

Our suspicion is that there’s only one ‘set’ of duckling droid technicians, which explains why they don’t appear two days of the week. Interesting choice to make Monday one of those days, but it’s easy enough to plan around. Note that the offering is weather permitting, and you should check the My Disney Experience app for showtimes on the day of your visit for times and locations. (You currently can’t find them via search–they’re listed under characters, though.)

To prepare the BDX Droids for the climate of Florida (where “weather” is a thing), the robotics team switched their 3D printed parts with milled ones that can better withstand the heat. It’s unclear how they’ll handle rain; that has never been a thing with which they’ve had to contend in California. Additionally, in conjunction with Disney Live Entertainment, new content has been added to the BDX Droids repertoire.

These bipedal robotic characters have impeccable balance combined with procedural animation, modular hardware, and reinforcement learning. That makes the droids capable of unique gaits and traits–and they can learn these traits within months. What follows is the original announcement of the BDX Droids landing at Walt Disney World and other outposts around the globe…

During the SXSW conference, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman revealed that the BDX Droids are going global–to Walt Disney World and the international parks!

These BDX Droids are coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, as well as Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland sometime “later in 2025.”

The BDX Droids will appear at various locations around Black Spire Outpost throughout the day. Like other roaming atmospheric characters, we’d expect to see them from around 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but there’s not a published set schedule yet.

Jon Favreau also confirmed that the BDX Droids will appear in “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” coming to theaters on May 22, 2026.

I’ve had the opportunity to see the BDX Droids on multiple occasions thanks to Season of the Force and other events. When Disney calls these “highly-expressive” robots, they really aren’t kidding. I was surprised at just how emotive and adorable the droids are, and capable of conveying so much personality via hops, head wiggles, little light beams, and other movements.

Having seen droid playtesting in the past that, uh, didn’t go so well thanks to ‘overly-aggressive’ guests, I was curious just how durable these droids are. To my surprise, not only are the BDX Droids capable of self-correcting via their footwork, but they’re also fairly resilient when they encounter an obstacle. Or better yet, when an obstacle encounters them.

Also to my surprise, guests behaved pretty well around the BDX Droids during Season of the Force. Maybe I just got lucky and there’s a viral video of these little fellas taking abuse, but I found guests to be shockingly respectful. Perhaps that’s because these truly are emotive and expressive, so guests actually view them as akin to ducklings and are more gentle as a result? I don’t know. But this surprised me and I thought it was noteworthy. Our own daughter was in awe of the duckling droids just as she is with actual ducklings, for whatever that’s worth.

Here’s our video of the ‘Duckling Droids’ meeting actual Ducks of Disneyland. Isn’t that adorable?! Suffice to say, these are going to be a massive hit with Walt Disney World guests given their aforementioned emotions.

These will be like Baby Yoda, but in droid form (and minus the television show). The cuteness factor is off the charts, and the advantage that they have over the in-park Grogu is that they’ll actually be able to interact with and make connections with guests.

It might sound odd, but these will draw a huge crowd. I’m really pleased that the Season of the Force test went well and these are now making their way to Walt Disney World and beyond. This is exactly the kind of thing that will breathe new life into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!

Adding free-roaming Duckling Droids is another step that helps bring Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge closer to its original vision.

Back when the land was first announced, concept art featured a variety of alien life forms (not that ALF), droids, and original characters. Over time, new concept art was released reducing the number of droids (etc.), but anyone who has seen The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge book knows what could have been.

Many excuses have been offered over the years for why cuts were made to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. One is that the land had already gone over budget, and cuts are an ordinary part of the development and refinement of any project. Imagineering coffee table books are a veritable graveyard of abandoned ideas.

Another is that Disney feared that the land would be too crowded upon opening, and that droids would simply get in the way, be trampled, or otherwise cause issues. Obviously, this did not turn out to be the case. The first few months were really slow on both coasts. But hindsight is 20/20.

Yet another is that a lot of entertainment planned for Galaxy’s Edge was pulled and put behind the paywall of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. That the dearly-departed Bob Chapek didn’t feel droids and other entertainment were “necessary” for the success of the land, and they wanted to monetize that to help recoup the massive sunk costs of SWGE and Galactic Starcruiser.

Well, with Galactic Starcruiser now long-dead and Galaxy’s Edge needing a shot in the arm because it’s not nearly as popular as anticipated, none of those excuses hold water anymore. The land needs more entertainment and droids in order to feel lived-in and alive. Mandalorian & Baby Yoda, along with other added characters, have been a good start.

But the BDX Droids are a totally different type of offering, and it’ll be great to see them out on a daily basis. They are really going to wow guests–I cannot wait for all the Walt Disney World fans to finally see them firsthand. (And more selfishly, for our daughter to see them again now that she’s a bit older and loves animals even more.)

The land is at its best with characters; without them it can feel soulless, impersonal, and lifeless at times and in spots. Characters are a great addition to Galaxy’s Edge, whether in human or droid form, and have already improved the guest response to the land.

As I’ve been saying for a while now, I strongly suspect that these droids are part of a bigger picture plan to do a soft reboot and relaunch of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in the next couple of years. There are a number of reasons for this, from Galactic Starcruiser closing to the strengths of Avengers Campus being evident to Disney not having much in the near-term and needing stop-gap ways to keep guests coming to the parks.

In various interviews, Josh D’Amaro has hinted in recent interviews that he wants to bring back atmospheric entertainment Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but hasn’t committed to anything. Performers from Starcruiser are one way to accomplish this; droids are another. Those two relatively simple things would both breathe new life into the land and bring it more closely in-line with its original vision, before elements were cut due to concerns about crowds and/or a desire to put them behind the Starcruiser paywall.

It’s not difficult to envision a scenario where an announcement is made at the 2025 Destination D23 about a soft reboot of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to launch the land to exciting new time periods and places–breaking the sacred timeline (but tastefully!) and using the setting of the land as a jumping off point for new adventures. (I know this is controversial with fans and I’m not looking to relitigate that argument. See Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Needs to Break the Rules for my take on all of that. Spoiler: my opinion is right there in the title!)

It may seem like an eternity ago at this point, but there were credible rumors of this back in late 2019. At the time, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was underperforming expectations and there was already a desire to “fix” it to better comport with guest expectations and generate interest. Obviously, it’s been a few years for then and other events “intervened” back in 2020 to prevent any changes from happening.

Fast-forward four years, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is no longer new. Not only that, but there’s nothing major in the pipeline until Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom in 2027…and probably late 2027. As we’ve previously pointed out, Disney construction timelines being what they are, the company will necessarily have to rely on entertainment, overlays or reimaginings as the tentpoles for their big marketing pushes in the next two years.

A reboot of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge could offer exactly that. In addition to droids and performers, there’s also tangible technology that was produced for Starcruiser via Imagineering R&D that Walt Disney World and Disneyland might want to reuse in the land. New entertainment could be created for the catwalks in the land, Savi’s Workshop, Oga’s Cantina, and elsewhere.

It shouldn’t be too difficult for Imagineering to take the lessons learned and convince company leadership to invest more into Star Wars Land. It’d be worth the investment as a marketable addition that generates new interest, and would fill the gap until Tropical Americas and the other blockbuster additions to DHS, DAK, and Magic Kingdom are ready to launch. It’s also simply the smart move–Imagineering had Galaxy’s Edge mostly right from the beginning, and guests would love that version of the land even more.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of the BDX Droids? Excited to meet the Huey, Dewey and Louie robotic ducklings at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland? Think that Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro will sign off on a soft reboot of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Should more be added to the land, or is it time to move on to other projects? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!