Reservations NOW AVAILABLE for Star Wars Land Experiences at Disney World
Walt Disney World has opened Advance Dining Reservations and other booking opportunities for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios. At present, guests can book Oga’s Cantina, Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers, and Droid Depot. In this post, we’ll cover what you need to know and offer some recommendations. (Last updated August 8, 2019.)
August 8, 2019 Update: Many dates sold out quickly for all three experiences when reservations went live yesterday. However, we’ve noticed that a new wave of available times has been released today, and we’d expect this to continue to occur. If you can’t find what you want, check back each morning. Failing that, look for cancelled reservations the day before you wish to visit, as many people will cancel just before the deadline.
Finally, many of you reported issues getting DisneyWorld.com or My Disney Experience to work. This always happens on high-traffic days (e.g. promotion releases, ride FastPass+ debut, etc.) and our #1 solution is always to use private browsing or incognito mode on your desktop to access DisneyWorld.com. This won’t always resolve your problem, but often it will–it’s at least worth a shot…
The release of reservations for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge experiences should come as a huge relief for anyone who is a Walt Disney World planner. There have been a lot of complaints about Walt Disney World’s lack of reservation slots for on-site hotels guests, or even a priority boarding pass system like Disneyland introduced (but to my knowledge has only used a couple of times).
While these Advance Dining & Experience Reservations (so…ADXRs?) are not akin to a boarding pass system, their availability should make it significantly easier to devise a Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge touring plan. Moreover, they ensure that you will not have to rope drop Disney’s Hollywood Studios during multiple mornings of Extra, Extra Magic Hours to get everything done. In fact, thanks to these reservations, most guests will now be able to “complete” Star Wars Land in 4 hours or so…
Before booking ADXRs for these Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge experiences, we’d suggest reading our reviews of each–as we’ve done all three already. None of these things are inexpensive, and even though you might be tempted to do them all if there’s availability, we’d encourage you to pick two (at most).
Here are our reviews:
- Read our full Oga’s Cantina Review to see drink and interior photos, and more!
- Read our full Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers Review to find out whether this is worth the money
- Read our full Droid Depot Build-A-Droid Review to determine whether it’s worth the money
Without question, you want to make an ADR for Oga’s Cantina. Even if you don’t or won’t drink, it’s worth it to see the inside, and this could be the only way to do that. Nothing says you can’t make an ADR, check-in, walk inside and wander around, and then leave without ordering.
Our second ADXR recommendation would be Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers. As you can read in our review above (stop before the spoilers), we absolutely loved this experience. The price is very steep, but it’s incredible. If you’re on the fence right now, we’d recommend making the reservation and deciding later. So long as you cancel at least one day in advance, there’s no penalty. If you don’t make a reservation ASAP, you’re unlikely to get one.
A lot of other people loved Droid Depot, but it’s our lowest priority ADXR of the three. Personally, I’d put the money towards Savi’s Workshop instead (or the awesome DJ R3X for sale in the same shop). You can still peak inside Droid Depot from the other half of the gift shop if you want to see what it’s like. (This is also the experience that’s least likely to run out of reservations.)
Here are the links for making Advance Dining & Experience Reservations in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge:
- Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers Reservations via DisneyWorld.com
- Oga’s Cantina Reservations via DisneyWorld.com
- Droid Depot Reservations via DisneyWorld.com
Reservations are now available for dates beginning August 29, 2019 and are highly recommended (but not required). Walk-ups for all three experiences will be accepted if there’s availability. Walt Disney World indicates that reservations are available 180 days in advance. (In other words, exactly like ADRs–hence our ADXR moniker.)
For Oga’s Cantina, ADRs are available from opening day through February 3, 2020. (To start with–obviously the latter date will continue to expand.) You are limited to 2 drinks per person, the experience is mostly standing room only with no guarantees as to seating, and you’re limited to 45 minutes inside Oga’s Cantina.
For all three experiences, your credit card is used to guarantee the reservation. It will only be charged in the event that your party does not arrive as scheduled. To keep from being charged, cancel one day prior to your reservation. In the event that you no-show or fail to cancel at Oga’s Cantina, you’re charged $10 per person.
No shows at Savi’s Workshop or Droid Depot will incur the full charge of the experience: $200 charge for Savi’s Workshop and $100 for Droid Depot. Note that for Savi’s Workshop you need to arrive 15 minutes in advance, whereas for Droid Depot you will need to arrive 60 minutes in advance per DisneyWorld.com. (That arrival time for Droid Depot can’t be right!)
One interesting thing we noted in the Droid Depot terms and conditions is that “you may use or play with your droid only in the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge land.” (Obviously, you’re also allowed to use or play with it at home…or so we think!) This is a change from the official Disneyland rules, which did not allow playing with droids in Star Wars Land.
That rule along with the prohibitions on costumes and playing with lightsabers in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge have not been enforced at Disneyland (at least, from what we’ve observed), and the Star Wars Land experience is all the better for it.
Droid melees in the courtyard outside Droid Depot are fun and hilarious to watch, and lightsaber battles in the PhotoPass area in front of Millennium Falcon are likewise really amusing. It’s nice to see Walt Disney World allowing this, as we felt guests getting into the fun of the Star Wars experience really added a lot to the land.
In terms of strategy for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, these reservations make things easier. The only things that will now require waiting in line are Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and, depending upon crowds, the various shops.
We’d recommend making your Advance Dining & Experience Reservations for the middle of the day, if at all possible. As of right now, our tentative touring plan for Disney’s Hollywood Studios is either rope dropping Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and doing Smugglers Run then exploring the land and shops followed by using FastPass+ at other attractions, or saving Star Wars Land until the end of the day.
Right now, we’re on the fence about whether to recommend Galaxy’s Edge right away or zigging while others zag, and enjoying what should be a virtually empty (rest of) Disney’s Hollywood Studios for that first hour or so. At Disneyland, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run wait times are peaking in the morning, so we’re inclined to go with the counter-intuitive strategy, but haven’t decided on that for sure. Either way, we will have an actual, complete 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary posted here before August 29, 2019.
If you’re planning on visiting the new land, you’ll also want to read our Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Guide. This covers a range of topics from basics about the land and its location, to strategically choosing a hotel for your stay, recommended strategy for the land, and how to beat the crowds. It’s a good primer for this huge addition. As for planning the rest of your trip, we have a thorough Walt Disney World Planning Guide.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Were you able to book ADXRs for anything in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World? Which one of these experiences is your top priority for Star Wars Land? If you have any questions, please read the stories of others and try to troubleshoot on your own before asking! 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!
Any idea on how many guests in a party will be allowed to enter the park? I have a reservation for Savi’s and found that I can bring one guest with me to it, but how many people in my party can enter the GE with us. FYI We are a party of 5
Well unfortunately for a number of us no one seems to be monitoring this feed as Tom especially seems busy staying at fun hotels! All I can say in response to Jay is that at Disneyland, a reservation at Savi’s included entrance for up to six guests into GE. Maybe we simply aren’t getting answers because no one knows exactly what the plan is for WDW’s GE opening “rules”. I really appreciate that Disneyland was a lot more organized about this and gave us some notice! Oh well, hopefully information will be coming out soon!
Hey Tom we’re confused about why we need a reservation for Ogas? We just wanted to go in have a drink, take lots of pictures and leave. We don’t want to eat we already have dinner reservations. Can you clarify this? I know we can always count on your info
Hi Elizabeth-
Read Tom’s information on Oga’s or check out the menu on the WDW website. It is really just a bar with snacks. You are not the only one confused. At Disneyland ‘s Oga’s, we were seated next to other guests on two occasions that were planning to eat a meal. You need a reservation to even enter Oga’s to take photos. Most importantly, the reservation will get you and your guests into the land!
So a reservation to Oga’s Cantina will get us in to GE. But how long will we be allowed to stay there after our reservation time is over?
Doesn’t the lightsaber and droid experience also guarantee you get in as well?
Now I’m confused…my Oga’s at WDW reservation says, “each person in your party must be present at check in and for admission to the land and the cantina”. Having already done this at Disneyland, I thought this meant automatic entrance into GE WDW with either a minimum four hour window allowed in the land (per wristband color as was done in the beginning) or just automatic access to the land with a reservation. Does anyone else know for certain?!?!?
DL had reservations to get into the land. Disney World does not have a reservation system in place to get into SWGE. The ADRs are specifically for that venue (e.g., Oga’s). From my understanding, you will be allowed into SWGE as long as the park isn’t at capacity. But like at other DW parks, people with ADRs will be given priority to enter a park that is at capacity (there are levels of capacity too).
Thanks, Jess, that makes sense. So then we shouldn’t arrive at GE much before our ADR at Oga’s so the CMs will let us in if it is (ha,ha) at capacity? It is confusing because at DL we only had reservations for the land for three weeks with total chaos of people running to get to Savi’s and Oga’s. Then they went to the ADR system and those reservations allowed access to the land when it was at capacity!
I honestly don’t know how things will work once the land actually opens in a couple weeks. If you’re not going to be there in the first couple of weeks of operation, I would keep following Tom’s blog for more info.
I don’t think it would hurt to arrive in GE earlier than your ADR, if anything, just to meander and not feel rushed (unless of course your ADR is at park opening).
Wow – I found a post on another blog where a comment mentioned that there is a glitch that if you have a hotel reservation you may need to create a new account to book Savi and Droid experiences. I have been trying to book both since they opened but keep getting the useless ‘Something went wrong’ message. got the Cantini no problem. Been trying today same problem (and now savi is fully booked for ALL the days I am there in December). I created a new disney account and used it to try booking the Droid experience and guess what – it went through the very first time I tried it. I went back to my other account and tried again – no luck.
Their new reservation page which is specific to these experiences is obviously not ready for production at all.
What a mess on the part of Disney!
L.
This isn’t exactly what happened to me! But instead of creating the new account I ended up calling Disney. They weren’t able to solve the problem of the ‘something’s gone wrong, please try again’, but they kindly helped me make the booing via telephone (having tried unsuccessfully and getting the same error code these last 3 day. Glad it’s finally sorted.
Unfortunately when I phoned yesterday (when slots were available) they told me they couldn’t help me get a reservation and it had to be done online. And now there are no slots available for Savi from Dec 2 – Dec 13.
I just got off the phone with them from registering my complaint about this new website and the problems it is having. No luck on getting a Savi reservation that way she just sees they are all gone those days too. 🙁
L
Today I was able to snag an ADR at Oga’s Cantina for 12:25 on November 12. Unbelievable! When I first tried yesterday, nothing was available. So keep trying if you want to get an ADR for Oga’s (this applies to all ADR, by the way).
Thanks, Tom, for all your great advice!
Smart move Disney…except would have been nice to have at the 180 day mark….I can’t get the cantina for a late Sept trip with 2 separate HWS days. I am blown away at the concessions I (and others) are making for the Star Wars land (and yes I am a fan). They messed with the tiers and now they are admitting they don’t have the capacity. IAlso need to wake up a the crack of dawn to ride one ride. I’m pretty fed up with this. Thinking about just adding another MK day. Love how there are no tiers, no BS.
Keep trying! I just got the cantina for the first week of September. I refreshed a lot and something finally came up.
Even before trying out incognito mode, I would try switching browsers to Chrome and to make sure your country/language is set to US – English — until I’d made both those changes I couldn’t get check any available times on the Oga’s page.
Day 3 and I’m still having problems reserving Savi’s. It always say something went wrong and try again when I press reserve.
I’ve tried different cards, changing my phone number (adding area code), chrome and safari…. nothing is working! Has anyone got a solution?
My preauthorisation fees are wracking up with every try yet being unsuccessful with reserving… nothing seems to work. T_T
I emailed Disney over 24hrs ago but no response yet…. anyone else got any ideas what I can do?
I suggest calling and seeing if the dining group can make an ADR for you. It’s not technically dining, but I assume the same people handle all the ADR’s like this. I’ve been able to make/modify reservations over the phone when the site is glitchy.
Thank you so much. I tried calling the UK team and although they couldn’t solve the ‘something’s gone wrong’ error message, they let me make a booking over the phone. (Spoke to their website team who then put me through to their escalation team when they couldn’t solve the error message. Just glad it’s done now after all the frustration. Thank you again
If you have a hotel reservation on your profile try creating a new account and reserve with that. I got a Droid booking first attempt after trying since reservations opened. Can’t get Savi because there are no openings for the entire first two weeks of December now. not happy.
L.
Ahh. That could have been it. Thank you so much for the tip. I ended up calling them to discuss the problem and they couldn’t solve the error message either, but they let me make a booking over the phone which was really helpful.
Sorry to hear about your December dates. I would suggest keep checking though. The last three days I’ve seen times come and go every day. I feel that maybe disney are gradually releasing the slots rather than all in one go. Also some people may cancel their slot closer to the time so it’s worth to keep checking. Good luck and I hope you manage to get a reservation.
Thank you so much for the heads up. That’s twice now you have made our trip such much better. From free dining heads up to stars wars reservations This trip rocks. You ROCK
Do these reservations start at 7am at the 180 day mark like dining or at midnight? Anyone know? Thanks! I’m almost at my 180 so I’m game planning!
Thanks for the heads up Tom!
I was able to book Savi’s at 6PM and Olga’s at 8:30 on September 10th after trying all day yesterday. You are a life saver!
Thanks for the tip about new spots being opened– I tried yesterday and couldn’t get anything, but after seeing your update I tried again and got lunch at Oga’s for December 5! The perfect timing to be there the day Rise of the Resistance opens. My December trip is planned with a specific agenda to follow your Self-guided Christmas decorations tour and I hadn’t fully decided whether to attempt Galaxy’s Edge at all or wait for a later visit– but now I will! (I’ve never been on any attraction the day it opened, it’ll be a nice bucket list item to cross off if I manage to rope-drop early enough to be practicable.)
Just booked Savi’s and the Droid Depot. I’m going in December and I was planning on going to Hollywood Studios December 9, but funny enough that is the only day that is unavailable in December for Savi’s workshop. But I was able to change my dinning reservations to the next day so it all worked out. Thanks for the heads up on the reservations.
Looks like the second week in September is going to be one heck of a busy week. No reservations for Ogas that I could find…
THANK YOU! Had I not received your e-mail alert it was perhaps unlikely a would have secured a reservation. Can’t wait as I was a tween when the first Star Wars movie opened. Will never forget the music, the outstanding costumes, make-up, and scenery. Can’t wait. That first movie sold me on Star Wars, as I never thought I would have been a fan at that age. I became one. Not a fanatic mind you, just a fan…lol…
Thank you for the heads up. Yesterday, I was able to reserve Savi, Oga and Droid experiences. Out of pure curiosity, I tried again early this morning. The Oga Cantina reservation much more responsive and I was able to book a time for a second trip. I saw a lot of availability and would recommend people just trying over the next few days as the hype wears down. Both Savi and the Droid experience have been down all day today for booking.
My question is I booked a Savi at 9:30 AM and Oga at 10:30 AM for the same day. Am I going to be able to make that Oga? How long should Savi take?
When we did Savi’s in Disneyland we were not allowed to check in earlier than 15 minutes prior to our reservation time. At this time builders choose the theme for their light saber and receive a corresponding pin. Then we waited for a few minutes for the previous group to finish. The actual building experience inside a special room was about 30 minutes. So you should be fine but I would check out the location of Oga’s before going to Savi’s. If it is anything like Disneyland, just look for a LONG check in line! And don’t even bother showing up there early either or you will be asked to return later. It was all very well organized when everything went to the reservation system. Enjoy!!!
Keep trying, everybody! After not being able to find any availability yesterday for the cantina, I was able to book a party of 14 for Dec 17. Just keep checking back!
Its 11 am west coast time and I was able to get a dinner range time spot for mid November! I actually searched all days of my trip and there were openings for each day! Albeit, some openings were breakfast time but you take what you can get! Good luck everyone!
Tried to reserve any time the day of Monday, September 23. All slots were booked already.
Any idea how often I should check back for openings due to cancellations?
Keep checking. I’ve been looking at a date later that week, and even though it sometimes says it full, other times new slots appear. Usually it’s late afternoon / evening, but occasionally early mornings too. It might be people cancelling but I like to think that Disney are gradually releasing the available slots rather than all in one go.
i know its early, we will be in disneyworld march 1st to 7th. we plan on visiting hollywood studios monday the 2nd. big star wars fans do you have any idea how & if they will add the two new attractions in star wars land to the teired fastpasses? ps. the current teirs fastpaas system seems terrible,all the good rides are teir 1. thank you!
I tried to get reservations last night for Oga’s and could not find a reservation at all for the last week in January, checked back this AM and there were multiple openings, very happy!
Thank you so much for the email alert! I was able to secure a reservation for Oga’s opening weekend and cannot wait 🙂 Now if only the lightsaber reservations would stop freezing on me…