DROID DEPOT

During my family's sci fi adventure to the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu at Star Wars' Galaxy's Edge both my kids wanted a memorable souvenir to bring home with them. My son was infatuated with crafting a handbuilt lightsaber at Savi's Workshop. His twin sister on the other hand was more interested in customizing a creation at the Droid Depot. Both building a droid combined with the Baby Yoda backpack my daughter begged us to buy for her came out to about the same price as my son building a lightsaber so they each had an individualized experience while we were at Walt Disney World's Star Wars Land. 

It was so much fun to see life-size droids displayed around Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios theme park. Droids are such a huge part of the Star Wars! Who wouldn't want their very own droid?! The Droid Depot allows you to construct a quarter scale remote control astromech unit that you can bring home with you. Fun to play with and a great memento from a Walt Disney World vacation.

Step inside the Droid Depot and you'll find yourself surrounded by realistic looking BB and R-series droids and shelves full of parts for building and repairing them. A conveyor belt also carries an assortment of quarter scale parts that people can customize in creating their very own droid. There are a variety of body colors and dome head styles to choose from in putting together you droid.

For the BB-series droids like the Resistance's heroic BB-8 (The Force Awakens) or First Order's villainous BB-9E, Droid Depot lets you pick from a selection of items off the conveyor belt that include a dome, dome connection plate, body sphere and motivator. Make a replica of your favorite BB droid from the Star Wars movies or build your own original design. When done these droids move about like a spinning beach ball with a personality.

You can also choose to build a droid in the R-series style of astromechs like the Rebellion's R2-D2 or Empire's R2-Q5. Droid Depot's available parts to select from include a dome, body, center leg and set of side legs. My daughter decided to build an R2-D2 inspired droid with a purple dome head and black/silver legs. 

Unfortunately, while customization is really touted in the Droid Depot promotions she found that color combinations were somewhat limited for the parts. While she loved the purple and silver head, a matching body wasn't available so she included a white and blue R2-D2 body which left her somewhat disappointed. Overall though she loves her creation and really enjoyed the activity of putting it together at the Droid Depot.

Once your parts have been selected from the Droid Depot conveyor belt, you move to a build station. Placing everything on a placemat that highlights directions for builders to assemble a droid. Screw together your parts just like a mechanic working in a droid factory.

Once complete, your droid is placed within an activation station which pairs it with a remote control and adds some theater to your experience in showing the droid come to life. I really like that these Star Wars droids come with their own remote controls because it annoys me when you spend a bunch of money on a toy then it is linked to your phone or tablet in order to use it. I don't want to have to be badgered about handing over my phone so one of my kids can play with a toy through an app.

Building an astromech at the Droid Depot not only provides an exciting toy but it also is an entertaining Star Wars immersive experience that provides a memorable moment during your time at the Black Spire Outpost. Additionally, these build your own droids are equipped with bluetooth technology that lets them communicate with other astromechs created at the Droid Depot as well as as interact and react with other elements and objects both on Batuu and around Disney parks and resorts.

Just note you aren't allowed to drive your droid around the theme park with its remote control. Carrying your droid in your hands or in an add-on extra purchase backpack designed specifically for use at Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is required for transporting it around the theme park. If you just want to take the droid home with you there is a nice cardboard container great for storing it that is included in the purchase price.

We visited Droid Depot near the end of our last night at Walt Disney World so didn't have time to play around with it at the theme parks. My daughter was geeked about the experience of building it at the Droid Depot and has been having a lot of fun playing with it since we arrived home. She really loves her custom astromech unit so I'm glad we let her build one during our Disney World vacation.

For those of you who don't mind interconnecting your phone with toys, there is also a free app that you can download to control the droid via a mobile device.  Because I use my smart phone both for work and family matters I tend not to want to do that but admit there are features like augmented reality and artificial intelligence that can make this option very worthwhile. So it is really cool that you have both options with these droids from Star Wars Galaxy's Edge.

The Droid Depot App is available on Apple and Android devices. It lets you pilot a droid without using the remote control provided with the toy. The app also lets you program maneuvers so you can make your droid dance. My daughter has been have a great time with that feature. Plus through the app you can also play a strategy game against your droid like tic tac toe. For those who can't make the trek to Batuu there is also a virtual mode where app users can create a digital droid to play with on their mobile device's screen.

For those who want to enhance their Droid Depot toy there are also personality chips that can be purchased for an additional fee that expand upon how your droid interacts with you and its surroundings. You can pick those up at the Droid Depot or if you decide later on that it would be a nice addition to your droid personality chips are available from Amazon.com as well. 

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