Going to Disney World? Don’t miss this free, immersive Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge experience

• Disney has created a fun, free, interactive game within Galaxy’s Edge.
• With a MagicBand+ and smartphone, you can join the Bounty Hunters’ Guild.
• Thanks to technology in the band and around the land, you can explore and find bounty.

One of the best things about a Disney Parks visit is that you get immersed into the storyline of whichever park you’re in, and the company is known for going the extra mile. One of the best examples is Galaxy’s Edge, found at Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida.

The Imagineering arm spared no detail; I mean, you can walk right up to the Millennium Falcon – and pilot it or part of it with Smuggler’s Run – go on a mission in Rise of the Resistance, or simply walk around Batuu spending credits and drinking blue or green milk. You may even spot a Wookie, a resistance hero, or a Stormtrooper.

However, one of the more hidden-in-plain-sight, immersive aspects is the ability to become a bounty hunter, much like Mando in The Mandalorian. You can use your MagicBand+ with an iPhone or Android app (or just the latter) to join Bounty Hunters’ Guild and scour around Batuu searching for bounty.

It’s one of the many perks of a MagicBand+, which there’s a good chance you already have to gain entry in the park and can use to interact with other aspects around parks, including other attractions and even performing a mini light show during fireworks and parades.

How does this work in Batuu, though? Well, when you enter Batuu at either Disney World or Disneyland, your MagicBand+ will glow, and you’ll need to find a terminal to enroll in the Bounty Hunters’ Guild. You’ll tap your band to the terminal and get a Bounty assigned. From there it’s sort of a treasure hunt – rather, bounty hunt – around the Black Spire Outpost area of Galaxy’s Edge at either park. As you get near where a bounty could be hiding, your MagicBand+ will light up and vibrate – either faster or slower – to basically tell you if you’re hot or cold.

Once you identify an area, you’ll take out your iPhone or Android phone and open up the ‘Play Disney’ app, which in turn transforms your phone into a Data Pad Scanner that the epic tech lets you scan and see behind doors or walls. You might just encounter the bounty you’re after and can capture it. This is all possible thanks to AR (augmented reality) overlaying on your phone’s camera, but when you’re in the park, it pulls you further into your own Star Wars story.

It’s also an example of when technology isn’t front and center but creating some sense of wonder or magic behind the scenes, like Disney Imagineer’s lovely road to success. Through the power of the tech in wearable sensors that can interact with sensors throughout the land – while also simultaneously being your ticket into the park, payment, reservation unlocker, and more – it can also be used to deliver an interactive game.

If you’re at Galaxy’s Edge with a MagicBand+, I’d encourage you to give the Bounty Hunters’ Guild a go, and while it might not be as thrilling as a true ride, of which there are two to go on, it’s a bit more adventurous in that you never know what you might encounter.

After you’ve caught some bounty, you can go back to the terminal and see how many credits you might score. And the best thing? You can get another bounty and explore more of Batuu, and it’s very repeatable, with many different bounties to potentially score. And considering Star Wars: Batuu Bounty Hunters first hit the scene in 2022, it’s sort of a sleeper hit and leads me to wonder what experience might be cooked up next.

@jakekrol

♬ Duel of the Fates (From “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”) – Robert Ziegler

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