I know it will be busy. I know it will be crowded. I know there will be lines. I know that if I don’t go, I won’t feel quite right. The FOMO is strong with this one on May the 4th. As a local to Walt Disney World and a Star Wars fan, I feel I have an obligation to touch the hallowed ground of Batuu in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on such a sacred day. As I witness the crowds grow year after year since the opening of this area in 2019, I can’t help but hold out hope for an announcement on a ‘Season of the Force’ celebration at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to help fill the void that ‘Star Wars Weekends’ has left many of us with.
We may not have an official official celebration at the east coast mouse house, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find plenty of Star Wars novelty items at Walt Disney World. There were clothing items, pins, popcorn buckets, sippers, and more. Plenty of stuff to drain your bank accounts with. And here’s the thing about all of it: you might not NEED it, but if it puts a smile on your face when you look over at it on some random day in some random time in some galaxy, far, far away, then I say it’s worth it. We all need a little spark of hope to ignite our fire in these times.
I am guilty of buying a couple of the souvenir sippers, specifically that Jawa one with the lights and sounds, as well as the light-up Coaxium sipper. And yeah, I might have also gotten the Clone Trooper popcorn bucket helmet in the name of needing to plus up the shelves that sit behind me when I record shows for the DIS Unlimited You Tube channel. (Shameless plug.) To quote Dorothy Zbornak, “who are you to judge me?!” I maintain that this reference works as a result of Bea Arthur playing Ackmena, proprietress of the Mos Eisley cantina in the Star Wars Christmas special.
I don’t regret any of my May the 4th purchases…yet, but there’s still plenty of time for buyer’s remorse in my future. I especially don’t regret buying the Darth Vader “Daddy” shirt designed by Ashley Eckstein. It was the crown jewel of my May the 4th ensemble. Like I said, I don’t regret any of these purchases, but there was one purchase that stood out above the rest and I was surprised by it…or I should say them.
At Backlot Express in the Echo Lake area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, two Star Wars-themed drinks were being sold for May the 4th.
Chosen One Cooler – non-alcoholic $14.79, served with Patrón Silver Tequila – $27.00
Sweet-and-Sour Citrus Limeade served with a Skywalker Lightsaber Swizzle Stick.
Sith Lord Libation – non-alcoholic $14.79, served with Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon – $27.00
Cherry Limeade and Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon served with a Darth Vader Lightsaber Swizzle Stick.
It’s not the ingredients of these drinks that drew me to them, because let’s face it, they sound a little basic on paper. The things that stood out, besides the insane pricing, were the Lightsaber swizzle sticks. These things are so COOL! They light up just like one of the fancy sabers do, with the light traveling up the blade when you turn it on and then down the blade when you turn it off. As someone who purchased quite a few lightsabers in his childhood – and I am not talking about the nice ones kids can get in the parks now, or the fancy Galaxy’s Edge ones, we’re talking C battery, flick out blade lightsabers – the fact that these teeny tiny sabers light up the way they do brings me so much joy. It truly is the little things in life. They seem to turn off after a couple of minutes, too, so don’t worry about killing the battery on them.
The drinks, I will say, were not terrible. I mean they’re not re-inventing the wheel and it does feel INSANE that the 1oz shot of alcohol costs you $12 more dollars on the price, but I chalk that up as being the price of the swizzle stick in my book. I did ask if you could buy the swizzle sticks by themselves, because I would have rather done that than pay this much for drinks, but alas, they can not be purchased separately, or at least they couldn’t be on that day and that time. A person next to me ordering said she didn’t want the drink and asked if she could just have the saber and go and the incredibly flustered (for good reason) Cast Member very dramatically responded with a, “I will get fired for that.” So apparently you have to take your sabers away from the counter in their drink vessel.
Which drink did I like? Both, actually. The Chosen One Cooler would have been way too sweet without the alcohol, I think. It says it was a Sweet-and-Sour Citrus Limeade, but I couldn’t help wonder if they were adding sweet-and-sour mix to the limeade which without the Patrón Silver Tequila would have been way too tart. Patrón drinks like a very neutral flavored tequila to me. It’s very smooth and not overpowering which I think helped bring the sweetness of the drink down a little. It was a fairly decent make-shift margarita.
I enjoy bourbon quite a bit, so I figured the Sith Lord Libation would be more to my liking and I was correct. I didn’t find the cherry limeade as over-the-top tart or as sweet as the sweet-and-sour Citrus limeade in the Chosen One Cooler. I could actually taste the Woodford Reserve in the drink and thought it was the right liquor to pair with the cherry limeade. I’ll sometimes make an old-fashioned and use spiced cherry bitters, and the drink was very reminiscent of that. It was my favorite of the two.
Are either of these drinks worth the ridiculous price tag? No. Do I absolutely love the lightsaber swizzle sticks and look forward to making a smokey Mustafar margaritas or a Tattoine Sunset and using them as stirrers? Yes, absolutely.
If you are reading this and kicking yourself for either not knowing these little swizzle sticks existed or for not going on May the 4th, fear not. Fear is the path to the dark side and it is my understanding that drinks should be around through May 31st. The lightsaber swizzle sticks, however, are while supplies last, so I would act on them sooner rather than later if they interest you.
