7. Wandering characters and hidden stories

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)

We mentioned before that every worker at a Renaissance festival has a backstory. Most faire workers are employees with specific tasks, but no faire is complete without atmospheric performers—wandering characters and showmen who engage guests with fantastical acts and gimmicks. One wanderer might be playing an eccentric tinker trying to sell bizarre toys. Another might be a fairy, playfully engaging with guests and especially children. The royal family may pass through the faire from time to time, entreating commoners under the watchful eye of guards and their entourage.

With Galaxy’s Edge, Disney finally brought back the long lost tradition of wandering characters. On opening day, we saw Rey go by four or five times before we realized she was a character. Chewbacca regularly joins her to repair ships and gather materials from the outpost. Stormtroopers do regular patrols harassing guests. In the afternoon, Kylo Ren usually lands on Batuu and searches the streets for Resistance spies along with a vocal lieutenant. He mercilessly interrogated one of my teenage students for information on our last visit. It was pure magic.

Just like at a Renaissance festival, if you slow down and pay attention, you’ll quickly realize the Black Spire Outpost is home to an entire hidden story that takes place throughout the day. You might see Rey and Chewie barely avoid detection by Kylo Ren and the First Order patrols. Vi Moradi, Leia’s top spy, engages in secret ops throughout the day, including planting devices in the landspeeder garage and even recruiting guests into missions for the Resistance. You might even see her get arrested only to escape later. Every day at the Black Spire Outpost replays a canon-day in the Star Wars timeline. If you stop to watch, you get more and more details about the hidden story at work right under guest noses.

8. Hands-on experiences

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)

Renaissance festivals aren’t spectator activities. Instead, guests are encouraged to participate hands-on in the historical world through activities like archery, hatchet-throwing, craft exhibitions, and games. It’s not enough to just show you the Medieval or Renaissance world—the goal is for you to touch, smell, taste, and revel in it.

A visit to Galaxy’s Edge is all about experiencing the Star Wars universe hands-on. For example, on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, you aren’t just invited to be a passenger on the famous ship. Through the tricky machinations of swindler-extraordinaire, Hondo Ohnaka, you’re recruited to fly the ship. There are no passive crew positions on this ride—everyone has a job, and every button in the Falcon cockpit has a function, whether you’re a pilot, gunner, or engineer (for those looking for a more passive experience, I recommend gunner in automatic mode).

Other hands-on activities at the Black Spire Outpost include the in-depth lightsaber building experience at Savi’s Workshop, where a secret society of scavengers have been collecting lightsaber parts in the hopes that someone sensitive to the Force will be able to put them together someday. Even if you don’t want to spend any money, Galaxy’s Edge includes an entire series of hidden activities in the Play Disney Parks app, which turns your phone into a working Star Wars Datapad. Through the Datapad app, you can pick up jobs and missions from Batuu locals and famous Star Wars characters to earn credits and faction points within the outpost. Be careful who you work for—you might end up running errands for General Hux! These missions include opportunities to hack terminals throughout the outpost (which respond with lights and sounds), scan crates for hidden contents, translate Aurebesh, and even tune into secret frequencies. The game is seriously addictive and can turn into hours of hands-on fun.

Oh, and on top of this, there are also secret quests within the outposts if you happen to get recruited on a Resistance mission. This isn’t easy, but if you catch the eye of Vi Moradi or a Resistance spy, you might get swept up in a whole world of hidden missions!

9. You get out of it what you put in

Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)

There is one last thing that both Renaissance festivals and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge have in common: attitude is everything.

At a Renaissance festival, if you go in refusing to engage, trying to check off a list of activities, you’ll miss the point. The faire itself is a key part of the experience. You’ll have a much better experience taking your time than just jumping from show to show. You have to let go, somewhat, to get the most out of it.

If you go to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with a narrow agenda or a chip on your shoulder about the franchise, you will likely not have a good time. This land is an experience that defies traditional theme park expectations. It’s not a museum of Star Wars props or a recreation of famous movie scenarios like Star Tours. Don’t plan to just blast in and out in one hour checking off a list. You need to allow ample time to explore this place and just linger. Disney designed an amazing hub to bring together the worlds of the prequel, classic, and new film trilogies, with tons of references to the canon expanded universe and even The Old Republic.

Like a Renaissance faire, a visit to Galaxy’s Edge is more about getting to experience Star Wars than it is about a hodge-podge of tributes to the films. Go in with cautiously optimistic expectations, take your time, and you will likely be pleasantly surprised.

Have you ever been to a Renaissance festival? Are there any similarities between faires and Galaxy’s Edge that we missed?