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I didn’t expect buying a custom lightsaber at, Disneyland’s new “Star Wars land,” to feel so much like a drug deal. Then again, at the current cost ($199.99 plus tax), there’s something inherently illicit about this purchase.Long before the park opened, I’d read about, a pricey interactive performance in which a small group of guests choose the parts of their own lightsaber, assemble them, insert a kyber crystal, and light the torch in a triumphant, almost religious moment. But as I wandered the park during a press day shortly before the official opening, I couldn’t actually spot a big custom lightsaber store, let alone any signs.With buried in my backpack, I asked cast members — playing — for the fastest route to Savi’s. They gave me odd looks. Why would I want to go there? Eventually I found myself outside of a discrete scrap shop, marked by little more than a dirty blue banner. RelatedOne of its employees walked not to me, but beside me and asked if I knew what sort of business they operated.
While racial, size and gender diversity all went up at New York Fashion Week. Model castings were spread across some of its hottest-ticket shows. And non-binary models continue to land such high-exposure runway work. Annosault -ms-Lo-sy, railway ticket; hun-e, usua -o-o-o/. Railway carriage. Amphibious, that lives on land and in water. Ad, two, double, binary. Of too long Or extraordinary a size, tall. Bakoshu,4ke a long-haired.
“Lightsabers!” I yelped, like a real rube. She glared at me. We deal in scrap. Perhaps we have the sort of scrap you’re looking for.”I nodded. And then tried to wink, but instead I just closed both eyes. “Yes,” I said, “I would like the scrap”She guided me over to what looked like a large tool box, and pulled out fours chambers, one by one.
She hovered over the kit, as if to conceal the product. The lead Gatherer held services from the center of the workshop, explaining the Gatherers, the history of the lightsaber and some of its most famous wielders, and why we have been brought here to assemble our own sword. At one point, an iconic character made an experience, but I won’t spoil that. (If you want to know, watch the video.)Though the presentation skewed towards the spiritual, the claustrophobic windowless room suggested something more nefarious, like a band of co-conspirators adjoining to hatch a plan. Or you know, a drug deal.
Trust me when I say that metaphor works pretty consistently throughout this journey.After the short monologue, it was time to build. Insert your Kyber Crystal into the handle of your LightsaberThis was the most precarious moment in the experience.
The lead Gatherer asked used to close our eyes and picture a kyber crystal. The crystal would choose us. From a cynical perspective, this is a deeply silly, if not deliriously serious way to guzzy up an expensive retail exchange. So when one of the guests laughed, I got where they were coming from. At the same time, as a kid, I fantasized about this sort of experience for dozens, maybe hundreds of hours. So when I heard the person alongside me fight back a joyful sniffle, I could relate to that, too.I closed my eyes, mostly out of courtesy. I’d already pre-decided on a purple crystal out of love for Samuel L.
Jackson’s performance of Mace Windu. But as the Gatherer walked our group through this surreal guided meditation, an image filled from my childhood filled my brain.My best friend Alex and I in his family basement, bludgeoning each other with cheap green toy lightsabers we’d gotten for Christmas. Alex hitting me in the neck so hard I promised I’d break his legs. Me hitting Alex so hard, he promised to end my life forever. I was sitting in a dark room with thirteen strangers thinking about how I really wanted to call my childhood friend, and that I had to go with the green crystal.I’d say that this was a coincidence.
That something in my brain snapped after a long day without much food or water. But I also wouldn’t put it past Disney’s imagineers to devise a script for Savi’s workshop that speaks to the code to unleash the nostalgia bubbling in thirty-something nerds who are bad at budgets. Select your Lightsaber componentsAfter the selection of kyber crystals, the Gatherers walked from station to station, placing in front of each builder a tray of parts based on the style they’d selected. Each tray included:.
One hilt. Four sleeves. Two emitters. Two pommel caps. Two sets of activation plates and switchesI chose a hilt, two sleeves, an emitter, a set of activation plates, and a pommel cap. It took a bit for our group to construct the lightsabers, which are heavier and a bit more complicated than I assumed they’d be (which is a compliment). The process felt like the construction of a weapon rather than the screwing together of a toy.
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Finished Lightsaber assemblyOnce we finished the assembly process, the lights dimmed. The Gatherers took another lap around the work tables, this time screwing the completed hilts into chambers separating each guest’s construction station. After a breath, the lead Gatherer invited us to ignite the lightsabers. The chambers opened, revealing the completed saber, a lit 31-inch blade protruding from our constructions. The glow filled the room with color.In unison, we lifted the blades, like the knights of the roundtable. Everybody was very cautious — these things cost a small fortune — so the lead Gatherer encouraged us to have fun and wiggle the weapons around.To gird our investments, a Gatherer distributed carrying bags filled with protective foam.
She reminded us to be careful not to drop them. The Force can do many things, but repair a $200 lightsaber isn’t one of them.As I walked through the park, I kept getting ask the same questions from guest after guest.“Can I hold the lightsaber?”Sure!“Can you fight with it?”For sure. I’ve read they’re battle-ready. But I don’t think we should fight in the park.“Was it worth it?”At this question, I sort of smiled and sheepishly shrugged. I’m hesitant to encourage anybody to spend this much money on, well, anything.The experience at Savi’s Workshop costs significantly more than a peak-time ticket to Disneyland, and nearly double the price of some great (but not custom) lightsabers at the park’s other fancy shop,. In general, I don’t buy much merch, let alone merch of this price.
When I buy merch, I often realize in the moment right after I make the purchase, that what I really wanted to buy was the memory the merch symbolizes. I don’t want a Star Tours t-shirt. I want to be 10 years old again, riding Star Tours for the first time.But Savi’s felt a little different. The show, for all it’s retail weirdness, took an extra step at unpacking why I’d spend a couple hundred on a lightsaber. When I left the park, I texted a photo to Alex.
I never did break his legs, and he never did kill me, though he was in my wedding party.What started out like a drug deal, ended as retail therapy.
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