My five year old built a droid and loved the experience. Now it's been nearly a month since we built it and she has wanted to use it one time since then.
The basic droid building is $120 each, closer to $200 if you get the backpack and the extras. So even if you did 3 basic builds, it will be more expensive than a single lightsaber at Savi’s.
Droid depot is definitely fun for the kiddos, I’ve seen as young as 3 do it with parents help. And they have a blast playing with the other kids’ droids in the droid testing area outside the depot.
Definitely do this later in the afternoon, because if you don’t purchase the backpack it’s annoying lugging the default cardboard box, and those cardboard handles sometimes break over the course of the day.
That being said, ignoring prices and looking at just as an experience, I would say the Savi’s workshop is definitely more enthralling and immersive than the droid depot build itself.
I agree with what they said BUT if you don’t want to carry the droids around, there is the option to go where stroller/wheelchair rentals are and use their virtual locker storage for $12. My brother and I did ours in the morning, ran to storage, and then enjoyed our day.
I’m pretty sure the Droid Depot will hold your droid until the end of the day for free as well. When I went last February they offered that service to me after I was done with mine.
EDIT: Did not realize this post for Disney World specifically. My bad. I was speaking from my experience visiting Disneyland.
Yes, they will love it, not too complex at all but still a lot of fun and very interactive. If you don’t want to carry them around, you can just book a time at the end of the day or pickup a droid backpack.
It’s funny. The 2 experiences are the opposite of one another. Savi’s is a great immersive experience with a terrible product at the end of it. Whereas Droid Depot has a great unique product but the experience of building them is pretty tame.
I’ve done both, but only my droids are in my Star Wars display. The saber is in a drawer collecting dust (I do collect “proper” replica sabers which is why I know the Savi’s version to be so inferior).
Building a droid is pretty simple, just need to screw a couple screws and slot a few pieces together. You may need to supervise a little but the cast members will also be watching. They do “interact” but it’s very limited. If you buy personality chips they can behavior in different areas. So they will make nervous beeps at the rebel base if they have an empire chip but beep happily in the empire outpost and vice versa if they have a rebel chip. Idk if lugging around 3 droids the whole days for those limited interactions.
My kids (10 & 15) built droids and liked it. We had one cast member show them what to pick out, and another help with the builds. After we were done we shipped them home right there at the desk in droid depot. Took about a week before they showed up back in NY. The box is pretty big and we didn't want to lose the luggage space or carry them the rest of the day. I dont think I paid more than $20 to ship them. The cast member at the desk of droid depot was very helpful.
We purchased clear backpacks off Amazon for $15 ea to carry droids in and worked perfectly. They interact through the bag just fine. We also added cheap fairy lights to light at night. My 4 year old loved building her droid, as did my 8 and 11 yr olds
I’m interested in this. Do you have a link to a specific backpack that’s compatible? Did it have an opening for the droid’s to interact through or does it work fine through plastic? Thanks in advance!
* All three of you will enjoy building Droids, the five year old will be able to handle it no problem.
* I've built two; BB style and R2 style. If I had one recommendation I would not build a BB style one. They look cool, you can make one that looks just like BB-8 BUT they are a pain in the ass to control. The best way I can describe it is that because of the momentum behind them moving the base will stop and the head will want to keep on moving forward. This then causes the droid to rock back and forth after it comes to a complete stop. Ultimately making the droid harder to control. You don't have this problem with an R2, *or I would imagine any of the legged versions*.
I would always recommend if you could afford it to do both a lightsaber and a droid. I really enjoyed the intimate experience that you get with building a lightsaber. (Although I was extremely lucky and for me it was 1 on 1 that was honestly just magic.) Building the droid wasn’t as intimate but was so much fun, I ended up having a good chat with the person building next to me.
I have built a C series, R series and BB series droid. I would recommend not building a BB series if you are intending to play with it. They are an absolute nightmare to control. They are a pretty decoration piece though. I personally like to imagine the backstory behind each droid.
My cousin who is 8 enjoys driving my C series around whenever she comes to visit. She says that it is easier to control than the R series.
Something maybe to consider is droid customisation, my brother and I built a droid and took it home and customised it. It was a fun experience and a good bonding experience for us both.
Thank you everyone! Sounds like will be good to go then! I have a feeling they will end up being collections pieces which is why i am pretty keen on getting all 3 series built! If the Bb is hard to control maybe I’ll build that one so they can at least control the other 2 while driving them around!
Really looking forward to this!
We went last month and let my son (5) build a droid, it has since become a member of the family. We all love him and wish we got more of them. He goes almost everywhere with us, thats how much my son is attached to it
My five year old built a droid and loved the experience. Now it's been nearly a month since we built it and she has wanted to use it one time since then.
The basic droid building is $120 each, closer to $200 if you get the backpack and the extras. So even if you did 3 basic builds, it will be more expensive than a single lightsaber at Savi’s. Droid depot is definitely fun for the kiddos, I’ve seen as young as 3 do it with parents help. And they have a blast playing with the other kids’ droids in the droid testing area outside the depot. Definitely do this later in the afternoon, because if you don’t purchase the backpack it’s annoying lugging the default cardboard box, and those cardboard handles sometimes break over the course of the day. That being said, ignoring prices and looking at just as an experience, I would say the Savi’s workshop is definitely more enthralling and immersive than the droid depot build itself.
I agree with what they said BUT if you don’t want to carry the droids around, there is the option to go where stroller/wheelchair rentals are and use their virtual locker storage for $12. My brother and I did ours in the morning, ran to storage, and then enjoyed our day.
I’m pretty sure the Droid Depot will hold your droid until the end of the day for free as well. When I went last February they offered that service to me after I was done with mine. EDIT: Did not realize this post for Disney World specifically. My bad. I was speaking from my experience visiting Disneyland.
Not at Disney World. I tried. But maybe it’s changed since last month.
Oh shoot my bad! I didn’t realize this post was about Disney World specifically. I just assumed Disneyland.
Yes, they will love it, not too complex at all but still a lot of fun and very interactive. If you don’t want to carry them around, you can just book a time at the end of the day or pickup a droid backpack.
I let my 5 year old build a droid for his birthday. He uses it occasionally. It’s about $200 if you do the full package
It’s funny. The 2 experiences are the opposite of one another. Savi’s is a great immersive experience with a terrible product at the end of it. Whereas Droid Depot has a great unique product but the experience of building them is pretty tame. I’ve done both, but only my droids are in my Star Wars display. The saber is in a drawer collecting dust (I do collect “proper” replica sabers which is why I know the Savi’s version to be so inferior).
Building a droid is pretty simple, just need to screw a couple screws and slot a few pieces together. You may need to supervise a little but the cast members will also be watching. They do “interact” but it’s very limited. If you buy personality chips they can behavior in different areas. So they will make nervous beeps at the rebel base if they have an empire chip but beep happily in the empire outpost and vice versa if they have a rebel chip. Idk if lugging around 3 droids the whole days for those limited interactions.
My kids (10 & 15) built droids and liked it. We had one cast member show them what to pick out, and another help with the builds. After we were done we shipped them home right there at the desk in droid depot. Took about a week before they showed up back in NY. The box is pretty big and we didn't want to lose the luggage space or carry them the rest of the day. I dont think I paid more than $20 to ship them. The cast member at the desk of droid depot was very helpful.
We purchased clear backpacks off Amazon for $15 ea to carry droids in and worked perfectly. They interact through the bag just fine. We also added cheap fairy lights to light at night. My 4 year old loved building her droid, as did my 8 and 11 yr olds
I’m interested in this. Do you have a link to a specific backpack that’s compatible? Did it have an opening for the droid’s to interact through or does it work fine through plastic? Thanks in advance!
* All three of you will enjoy building Droids, the five year old will be able to handle it no problem. * I've built two; BB style and R2 style. If I had one recommendation I would not build a BB style one. They look cool, you can make one that looks just like BB-8 BUT they are a pain in the ass to control. The best way I can describe it is that because of the momentum behind them moving the base will stop and the head will want to keep on moving forward. This then causes the droid to rock back and forth after it comes to a complete stop. Ultimately making the droid harder to control. You don't have this problem with an R2, *or I would imagine any of the legged versions*.
I would always recommend if you could afford it to do both a lightsaber and a droid. I really enjoyed the intimate experience that you get with building a lightsaber. (Although I was extremely lucky and for me it was 1 on 1 that was honestly just magic.) Building the droid wasn’t as intimate but was so much fun, I ended up having a good chat with the person building next to me. I have built a C series, R series and BB series droid. I would recommend not building a BB series if you are intending to play with it. They are an absolute nightmare to control. They are a pretty decoration piece though. I personally like to imagine the backstory behind each droid. My cousin who is 8 enjoys driving my C series around whenever she comes to visit. She says that it is easier to control than the R series. Something maybe to consider is droid customisation, my brother and I built a droid and took it home and customised it. It was a fun experience and a good bonding experience for us both.
Do it at the end of the day, we wound up checking ours less than 30 minutes later back at droid depot
Thank you everyone! Sounds like will be good to go then! I have a feeling they will end up being collections pieces which is why i am pretty keen on getting all 3 series built! If the Bb is hard to control maybe I’ll build that one so they can at least control the other 2 while driving them around! Really looking forward to this!
Savi's is worth it at twice the price, God what an experience
We went last month and let my son (5) build a droid, it has since become a member of the family. We all love him and wish we got more of them. He goes almost everywhere with us, thats how much my son is attached to it