REVIEW! We Went to Star Wars Nite at Disneyland—Characters, FOOD, & Short Ride Waits!

Star Wars Nites have officially kicked off this year during Season of the Force at Disneyland, and this separately ticketed after-hours offering brings rare characters, specialty foods, and fun entertainment to the park for guests to enjoy.

We were present on the first Star Wars Nite of 2024 and we could definitely feel the love for Star Wars all around us with countless guests donning impressive costumes and Disney bounding outfits!

We will take you through what you can expect from the offerings, highlights of the event, and our take on whether or not the party is worth it.

If you're planning on attending the event this year, see our Disneyland Star Wars Nite food guide for details on all of the foods that will be offered.

First Star Wars Nite at Disneyland Entertainment

While there were no fireworks at this year's Star Wars Nite, there is a variety of entertainment offered like a Lightsaber Meet-Up with Rey at Galaxy's Edge, a Lightsaber Instructional in Fantasyland, a Fans of the Force Costume Cavalcade down Main Street U.S.A., a Galactic DJ Party Zone throughout the night, March of the First Order in Tomorrowland, and Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes on the Rivers of America.

Most of the entertainment had multiple showtimes throughout the night, so you can plan your time around seeing multiple if you want to. We ended up encountering March of the First Order twice, which was a short intimidating sweep of the Tomorrowland area featuring Captain Phasma and Stormtroopers. With the presence of entertainment like this spread across multiple areas of the park, you really feel the theme of the night around every turn.

The Fans of the Force Costume Cavalcade was a particular highlight that took place twice during the night, with a huge procession of fans in their best Star Wars costumes parading down Main Street. This was super cool to see everyone's amazing costumes and had a really sweet energy to it. Mickey and Minnie led the costume cavalcade, which culminated in a great group photo in front of the castle which you can see below!

We felt that overall, you could easily fill the four hours with plenty to do and see between participating in some of these gatherings, meeting rare characters, trying the specialty foods, and riding the attractions. I personally prefer this experience to the Halloween party Oogie Boogie Bash, which was fun but feels like there isn't quite enough to do after initially exploring all of the offerings.

We recommend sitting down at the beginning of the night and making a plan of attack for the entertainment you're planning on experiencing during the party so that you'll get to do as much as possible. You can see more tips for making the most of our time during this event in our full Star War Nite guide!

Star Wars Nite Rare Characters

One of the best parts of Star Wars Nite, and arguably a major reason why Star Wars fans are eager to attend the party, is the presence of rare characters throughout the park. In addition to some Star Wars characters you can greet on a regular basis in Galaxy's Edge like Chewie, Ahsoka, and the Mandalorian and Grogu, you can also meet characters that you will not otherwise see at Disneyland.

From greeting Luke, Leia, and R2-D2 to witnessing Darth Maul show off his skills, you can see several characters from the Star Wars universe. Some rare character highlights include Queen Amidala, Ewoks, Jawas, C-3PO, and more! We were pleasantly surprised at how short the line to meet Luke and Leia was, and they did a great job moving along the line to meet the Sith Lords (Maul and Vader) so that it progressed very rapidly in our experience.

Disneyland has added more Star Wars Nites this year than in the past, which has helped to spread out demand and looks like it has had an impact on generally reducing waits for character lines. Characters (especially the rarer ones) are always a highlight of the event, so it was nice to see that the lines we waited in moved along quite quickly and smoothly.

The line to meet the Ewoks was consistently longer throughout the night, as this was a popular rare character experience! A Cast Member mentioned that the line for the Ewoks was about 30-40 minutes, though it looked slightly longer.

Star Wars Nite Ride Lines

One of the biggest perks of the Disneyland After Dark parties is that you can get on several rides with often dramatically shorter wait times. Across the board, wait times were much shorter than what you would see during a normal park day. Hyperspace Mountain, for example, was consistently around a 20-minute wait throughout the night (which was accurate when we went on it) and briefly jumped to 30 minutes during the course of the party.

We heard from some guests that certain wait times were actually a bit longer than what was marked—Indiana Jones Adventure was consistently marked around a 15-minute wait but may have been more around 30 minutes in reality. Near the end of the night when it was getting quite late, Star Tours – the Adventures Continue was a walk-on. See our review of the new additions that recently came to this attraction!

Overall, wait times were dramatically shorter than what we saw before the party began. In addition to the fun entertainment they offer throughout the night, these parties also provide a great opportunity to experience several attractions without long lines.

Star Wars Nite Specialty Foods

On the first Star Wars Nite of the season, we also tried some of the specialty foods offered for the event. One particularly popular item we enjoyed was the Degobah-bite Beignets from the Mint Julep Bar! These were super cute, and they had a light and fluffy texture. They came with a mild green matcha dipping sauce that complemented them perfectly.

There are also some really fun-looking items offered at the event like the Degobah Sunset Slush with Glow Cube from Hungry Bear Restaurant! This is a very sweet drink with some interesting flavors and is really fun to carry around with the glow cube, which you can keep as a souvenir.

While most of the items on the menu are sweets or snacks, there are a few heavier items like The Bracca Sub at Stage Door Cafe. We were feeling like something a little more substantial during the night and really enjoyed this option! The Bracca Sub is pastrami, coleslaw, and Thousand Island topped with gravy fries and mozzarella on a Garlic Roll. It doesn't photograph too well but is a delicious offering!

Some other fun highlights of the menu include items like the Galaxy Macaron from Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, the Galactic Princess Sundae from Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor, and the Wookie Whoopie Pie from Alien Pizza Planet. There is a wide variety of specialty food offerings for guests to enjoy during Star Wars Nite!

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