After my kids built their droids, my wife and I headed over to Savi’s Workshop for my lightsaber build. We had already spent almost 2 hours in Slinky Dog’s line (Genie+ issues on our part), so we were a bit tired of standing. We sat down for about 30 minutes to rest right outside of Savi’s and waited until my reservation time.
It was nice to just sit and relax. While the majority of us had eaten lunch at Woody’s Lunchbox, my daughter hadn’t eaten anything. Not a fan of grilled cheese, she was holding out for a pizza from Pizza Rizzo. While she and our niece, Claire made the pizza run, the boys wandered around outside of the Droid Depot. Some Storm Troopers came outside and were interacting with the crowd. They looked at my youngest son and said “He looks like trouble, keep an eye on that one”. Again, both my youngest and my oldest son’s loved that interaction.
We made it back to just outside Savi’s and relaxed while my daughter ate. It was getting close to my reservation time, so we went ahead and checked in. Once you check in, you get into the general “waiting” area. This is where you actually check out and pay for your lightsaber. You can also look at the different options you have available to choose from in individual drawers.
Once you make your selection you go to check out and that’s when you receive a card and a pin. The card will be turned in; you don’t get to keep it. Mine was blue with some writing on it, I’m sure that there’s a translator out there that can decipher what was on it, but I just let it be. The pin is awesome. It’s going to be saved to my collection and I won’t trade it.
After paying and getting the card and your pin, you move into the real waiting area. A gatherer will explain some things to you. For instance, our guide explained to us that we were not to refer to the product as a “lightsaber”, we were to refer to it as “scrap metal”. The reason for this is that if you’re stopped by a First Order officer or Storm Trooper, your answer wont’ lead them back to Savi’s. (Unfortunately, in February of 2022, with Covid restrictions there are not many Star Wars CM’s walking around out in the open. There are a few, but the interactions are limited. I think once Covid restrictions are fully lifted things may return to normal).
The gatherer will also tell you some things to do and not to do once you’re actually in the workshop. Essentially, you’re waiting for the group ahead of you to finish their builds. It’s not a long wait at all and the gatherer will most likely choose a youngling (child) to help them guard against anyone that tries to get into the waiting area.
To be honest, after seeing the droid build, I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but I know that I was not expecting what I experienced. The lightsaber build is, to put it in the simplest terms, a unique experience. While most of Galaxies Edge is geared towards the First Order and the Resistance, the lightsaber build brings the original trilogy front and center. There are characters from the prequels (1,2 & 3) and characters from other cannon (Clone Wars, etc.) and characters from the sequels (7, 8 & 9) that are mentioned during the build, but ultimately, it put me in the original films, building an “elegant weapon, for a more civilized age”.
First, you select your Kyber Crystal. You’re asked to close your eyes and envision the crystal you want. Once you open your eyes, the gatherers bring the crystals around and you select them. I selected Blue. From there, they setup the introduction of the gatherers and as soon as they give the go ahead, the gatherers who help you build the sabers fly into a mad dash pulling up trays of parts for whichever lightsaber you selected. In the tray, you have 2 actuators, 4 sheath pieces (upper and lower hilt), 4 activators (On/Off switch) and 2 hilt pieces. You can mix and match all pieces to make your lightsaber individually unique to you.
The build process is really rather quick. You put the Kyber Crystal in place and then assemble your lightsaber with the pieces you select. Once you do that, you put the fully built lightsaber hilt in the cradle in front of you and as everyone finishes, the head gatherer makes a speech. This is where the little 6-year-old kid playing with the plastic lightsaber in 1980, who dreamed of having a real lightsaber came out. The gatherers came around and put our newly built lightsaber hilts into a cylinder compartment just to the right of the build station.
Once the hilts are locked in place in the cylinder, the entire room gets to activate their lightsabers. You then get to raise your lightsaber. The entire production and experience is worth every penny I paid for it. Looking back on the videos, and I know I’m a little of a month out from experiencing it, but I still have those emotions stir in me and I am brought back to my childhood.
I was concerned about not having the carrying case for the built lightsaber, but the group ahead of us came out with them so I was relieved. It’s easier to have that case slung across your back especially if your build was mid-day like mine was. All in all, though, I was able to hand it off to my wife when I rode Tower of Terror and then later when I rode Smugglers Run. Luckily, I had someone to hand it off to, but I am pretty sure a CM will take care of your items or give you a place to put them if it doesn’t fit on a ride.
At the end of the evening, after we’d done everything we wanted to do and my niece and daughter were re-riding Rockin Roller Coaster, I made my way to Dok Ondars to pick up a green Kyber Crystal since I originally selected a Blue crystal. I had an ILL for Smugglers Run and I wanted to make sure I got a crystal before the shops closed. I wish I’d gotten a couple of more. That’ll just have to wait for next time!
I think next trip I’m going to build a Power & Control saber with a red blade and will stop by Dok’s to pick up a Purple and Yellow Kyber Crystal. I really can’t say enough about the experience of building a lightsaber, and I may have to come back and edit this once I’ve fully let the experience soak in. I think I’m still riding a high. Bravo, Disney, you brought me back to my childhood in more ways than one and I applaud you for that!
I wanted to add to this post. I realized that I never truly showed the hilt of my lightsaber! When we got home, I spent a few days figuring out what I wanted to do with it. I mean, I spent $240 almost on this thing and I 100% thought, momentarily, of acting like I was a real Jedi and battling my kids with it, but then I came to my senses and decided that it would be cool to display the lightsaber and any other lightsaber I built. So I looked for display ideas. The one I found was from Galactic Vault on Etsy.
They’re made to order, so it took a while to make and ship, but it came in last night (4/4) and it is beautiful! See below:
