Is Star Wars Land’s $250+ Lightsaber Worth It?

Savi’s Workshop – Handbuilt Lightsabers is one of the most popular things in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This review offers photos & video from this build-your-own lightsaber shop, reservation details, spoiler-free info, and whether it’s worth the high price.
Savi’s Workshop is an unassuming storefront located in the middle of Black Spire Outpost next to Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities and Droid Depot. Under the guidance of the Gatherers, guests are ushered into a covert workshop where they are using unusual parts to build lightsabers amidst the First Order.
Originally, we planned on skipping Savi’s Workshop. To be honest, I laughed at the idea of a $250+ lightsaber, and might have used the word “sucker” to describe our friend who wanted to do it. This is no knock at Star Wars fans (well, I guess it is), but I spend money on plenty of things others would consider silly or frivolous, so to each their own. Since you’re seeing this review, we did end up doing Savi’s Workshop, so there’s also that.
The latest update is that Disney has raised prices for Savi’s Workshop on both coasts as of the start of the new fiscal year in October 2025. Please note that there’s a pricing difference at Savi’s Workshop between the two coasts, with the Walt Disney World version costing $274.99 (that’s up from $249.99) and the Disneyland version costing $249.99 (that’s up from $219.99). Neither version of Savi’s Workshop offers Annual Pass or other discounts.
This is not the first time that Savi’s Workshop at Disneyland has increased to cost $250. Prices were raised for a brief bit a couple years ago, but then fell from that price back down to $219.99. Note that when Savi’s Workshop first debuted in 2019, it cost $200 on both coasts. But pretty much everything at Disney is more expensive than it was ~6 years ago.
Whether Savi’s Workshop is “worth it” at $275 or $250 is a tough question to answer.
Honestly, we could barely justify it at $200 back when we did it, but again, that was 6 years ago. Prices for everything have exploded since then, and we’re still somewhat shocked by what guests are willing to pay for certain souvenirs and experiences.
If a Loungefly bag or Spirit Jersey is “worth it” at $100, then I’d say Savi’s Workshop is likewise worth it at double to triple the cost. On the other hand, if you’re struggling to justify an on-site hotel stay or can barely afford to visit in the first place, Savi’s Workshop is definitely not worth the splurge.
As for the reason for the price disparity, demand is lower for the Disneyland version of Savi’s Workshop, and this was the way of fixing that. Honestly, this is not a huge surprise. Savi’s Workshop is still a relatively popular reservation at Walt Disney World thanks to a steady stream of new tourists.
By contrast, Disneyland is more dependent upon a local fanbase. It’s thus likely that the California park has largely exhausted demand for lightsaber building among locals, and is now reliant on the smaller slice of tourists that visit Disneyland.
In another update, the “Reclaimed and Reforged” story theme has now returned as of October 2025. Guests will be able to build their own Lightsabers from scraps that have been scavenged by different pirates throughout the galaxy and made their way to Batuu.
Over the centuries, countless lightsabers fell into the hands of smugglers and bounty hunters. Remnants of ancient battles and abandoned scrap have been scavenged from the distant reaches of the galaxy’s outer rim. Now, Guests can build them into elegant tools that symbolize balance in The Force.
The “Reclaimed and Reforged” story theme at Savi’s Workshop was previously available during Season of the Force at Disneyland, and at Walt Disney World earlier this spring. It was unavailable during the summer, but is now back “for a limited time.” Our best guess is that the elements sold out previously, but have since been restocked–or a delayed shipment arrived. Either way, we’d expect this to be done by early 2026.
With the October 2025 price increase and the latest updates at Savi’s Workshop addressed, let’s turn to the normal one and start with the titular question. Despite that title, this really isn’t expressly about whether the lightsaber itself is worth $250 (Disneyland price) or $275 (Walt Disney World price).
I cannot envision a single scenario in which I’d view a lightsaber as holding that amount of value. Perhaps once the technology gets to the point that it’s an actual tool I can use to carve a Thanksgiving turkey or defend myself against the First Order, but even then, it’d be a tough sell.
To someone, I’m sure a lightsaber could be worth more than $250. I am not that person, though. For me, the question is whether the bigger picture experience is worth the cost, not the product that results from said experience. What this review aims to do is walk you through that experience so you can decide for yourself.
With that said, the lightsaber itself has heft to it, is substantial, and feels really good in the hand. Then again, I’ve never wielded a high-end lightsaber, and am comparing this (no joke) to the industrial design of my DSLR camera lenses. For all I know, this could be on the low end of replica-caliber lightsabers. I do know that it’s significantly nicer than anything I’ve ever seen in Walt Disney World or Disneyland.
As you’ll read in the review that follows, we were absolutely blown away by the show component of Savi’s Workshop and have zero regrets that we did it. The workshop itself along with having a nighttime lightsaber battle below the Millennium Falcon rank highly among the things we did in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
However, value is in the eye of the beholder and it’s very much a your mileage may vary type of thing. Ultimately, you’re looking at a 25 minute experience plus a lightsaber for $250, plus the effort of snagging a reservation or waiting in line to do Savi’s Workshop.
This brings us to the capacity of Savi’s Workshop, which is abysmal. There’s a lot to be said for the intimate environment of the workshop, which definitely enhances the show. Nevertheless, the decision to make this a single room (rather than modeling it after multi-room meet & greets) is a puzzling one. The result is a shop with an hourly capacity of under 50 lightsabers.
Scarcity is the other reason why the question of value is nearly irrelevant. With such a low number of daily time slots for Savi’s and such a high number of Star Wars fans with surplus disposable income (or willing to save and splurge for something special), Savi’s could charge double its current prices and never have a problem filling up. (Not to give Disney any ideas…)
When we did Savi’s Workshop, it did not offer reservations. This mean that a line formed each morning and you had to wait to sign up, then return and have your group called to enter Savi’s Workshop took a lot of time. (Sort of like how Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance works now.) Consequently, we had nearly 2 hours of “lost time” as a result of the system.
The good news is that Savi’s Workshop now offers advance reservations online and via both the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. At both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, reservations are available 60 days in advance. For both, we highly recommend making reservations ASAP before your travel dates.
This system streamlines the whole process, but the downside to that is it means you can get shut out entirely if you don’t think to make reservations well in advance of your vacation. Typically, reservations typically fill up faster at Walt Disney World than at Disneyland. If you aren’t able to score your desired slot early, keep checking the system–especially the day before, as cancellations do occur.
If you’ve already decided you want to do Savi’s Workshop and are only not going to do it in the event that something discourages you, stop reading now. This is not going to be that “something.” We loved the experience, would do it again if money were no issue, and would highly recommend going in without having anything about it spoiled for you…
Again, to avoid spoilers, stop reading/scrolling now.
Seriously. Don’t ruin this for yourself if you plan or want to do it.
For now, Savi’s Workshop truly is a ‘covert’ location: there’s no discernible signage, and save for the long line, crowds, and cash registers outside, it doesn’t even appear to be a storefront in keeping with the design-style of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Prior to paying, you’ll select one of the four themes. These are Peace and Justice (with salvaged scraps from fallen Jedi temples and starships in Republic-era designs), Power and Control (forged by dark side warriors, using remnants from the Sith homeworld), Elemental Nature (embodying the Force and comprised of living things, like Brylark trees, Cartusion whale bones, Rancor teeth, etc.) and Protection & Defense (mysterious materials that reconnect users with the ancient wellspring of the Force).
These are a starting point, with the exact pieces chosen and assembled within the workshop. Pictured below is a full set from Elemental Nature:
After paying, you will be given your pin and a credential that will serve as your group number. The pin is your key to enter the secretive workshop and it also identifies which of the 4 lightsaber designs you’ve chosen.
Naturally, we chose Elemental Nature because one of the options for that is a Rancor tooth. We felt that’d give us the most street cred in intimidating the neighbor’s dog. (As we know from firsthand exposure, dachshunds are ferocious.)
Once your group is among the next to enter the shop, you’ll be allowed to enter a courtyard where you’ll wait to be allowed entrance by one of the Gatherers.
Here’s a brief video offering a snippet of the opening act inside Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers:
As you can see, inside Savi’s Workshop, introductions are made and a solemn tone is established for the ceremony of crafting a lightsaber.
The Gatherers go over Jedi history, lightsaber lore, and the power of the Force. It’s a good preface, and effectively sets the mood.
Following that, you choose a kyber crystal, which will give your lightsaber its color. The options are red, blue, green, or (for the Samuel L. Jackson fans out there) purple.
At “only” $13 each, kyber crystals are probably one of the best pieces of merchandise in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge; each one changes the color of your lightsaber blade.
You’ll also receive a hilt kit with the necessary parts to choose from to assemble your hilt. Each box of parts includes 1 hilt, 4 sleeves (pick 2), 2 emitters (pick 1), 2 pommel caps (pick 1), 2 sets of activation plates, and switches (pick 1 set).
Gatherers circulate to assist in this process, which takes several minutes.
We’d recommend finishing quickly to give yourself a few minutes to appreciate the themed design of the workshop.
As with everything in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the design of Savi’s Workshop is brilliant and moody. Savor it, because you’ll probably only ever be in here once.
Once everyone is finished assembling their hilts, Gatherers help attach the hilts into assembly pods at each building bay. This is when the bonding ceremony begins, which is the highlight and wow moment of the whole experience at Savi’s Workshop.
At the conclusion of this, the blade of the lightsaber is ‘magically’ attached and everyone raises and activates their lightsabers in unison as the voice of Yoda enters the chamber.
I had the Yoda portion of this spoiled for me prior to this (as I never thought I’d do it), and my initial reaction was disappointment that it wasn’t a hologram of Yoda making an appearance.
While that would’ve undoubtedly been cooler, it’s impossible to put into words just how cool the culmination of this ceremony is.
Savi’s Workshop hits all of the right emotional notes; there’s a sense of urgency, solemnity, and pride upon completion. Yeah, you’re just assembling a glorified toy lightsaber, but it feels like so much more.
We both agreed that this was a really powerful experience, and we say this as people who are not heavily invested in Star Wars. I can only imagine how moving it would be for someone who grew up on Star Wars, and has a strong nostalgic bond.
Ultimately, we have zero regrets dropping $200+ to do Savi’s Workshop. I’m actually glad we didn’t go with the original plan of only me entering (for free) to watch our friend build his lightsaber, because my reaction to Sarah upon exiting would’ve been, “you have to see that.” In fact, Sarah’s reaction upon exiting Savi’s Workshop was, “we have to do that again and get another lightsaber so we each have one.”
To be clear, we definitely are not going to do that–it was simply Sarah’s reaction in the heat of the moment. The point here is that our first impressions–even as frugal people who aren’t hardcore Star Wars fans–were so satisfying and the end result so cool that we were fine having dropped a ton of money on it.
However, Savi’s Workshop now costs $50 to $75 more than when we did it. While I’m glad we got the chance to do it once and found the experience to be incredibly memorable, it’s tough to say the already-high price we paid would be worth $250 or $275 to us. Again, value is in the eye of the beholder–and what you’re getting here is not just a fancy lightsaber.
Even at the higher price-points, Savi’s Workshop is truly something special–an experience to be savored and remembered long after the lightsaber breaks or dies. This is one of the most popular Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge offerings at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and for good reason. It’s not going to be something that everyone can afford to do in terms of time or money, but it’s something we recommend as a splurge for those who can do it. You won’t regret it.
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Your Thoughts
Have you stepped inside Savi’s Workshop for Handbuilt Lightsabers? Is it something you’d like to do, or is the $250 to $275 price tag a non-starter for you? If you’ve done it, do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Think it was (or will be) worth the money and time commitment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!




















I have three boys who saved birthday money, Christmas money, and did extra chores for the months leading up to our trip to do this. That means we dropped an eyewatering $750 for 3. I think the boys would all agree it was fun….but if they had to pick again, they would have gotten the $50 lightsabers in Tomorrowland that you can actually play with, and spent the balance at the LEGO store for a treat when they got home.
As a huge fan of the original Star Wars Trilogy, I will not be forking over 250+ dollars for this experience. This is another classic example of the Walt Disney Company’s excessive greed. I have decided that because of this and other ridiculous things Disney World charges for now, my family and I will not be returning to WDW ever again. I calculated the cost for 3 days for a family of 5 and it’s almost 3k just for tickets into WDW. I looked up a trip to Legoland in Florida and for the same price we get a hotel room, free breakfast, and mini golf for 3 DAYS. Thanks but no thanks Disney. I’m officially done with them. While this looks like a great experience, to me it doesn’t justify a 50 dollar price increase. I can buy online a better quality lightsaber for 100 dollars less. While I won’t get the experience, I frankly don’t care at this point. Time for new leadership at Disney!
Setting the actual costs aside, the rate of inflation on “build your own lightsaber experiences” has been much higher on Batuu East than with traders of Tatooine, which must be closer to the Galaxy’s Middle.
There is no Batuu East. Florida is generally regarded as being in the South (Deep South, actually) but that’s not even accurate. Florida is quite different than anywhere else and is rightfully its own region!
To me stuff like this is perfect for Disney credit card points. Sometimes I’ll put them towards staples like park tickets, but if possible it’s sooo fun to treat it as several hundred dollars (I put everything on my Disney card) of “free money” to throw around. Excuse me while I throw that Loungefly bag in my basket for my niece while feeling like a Disney Rockefeller, lol.
I had never done this because of the price really. Which is an odd line in the sand for me as an OG Starwars fan and considering I’ll readily hand over money for any other upcharge. Well… that was until reading your post and I folded like a cheap suit and booked this for an upcoming trip. (Btw, there were still sufficient open slots four weeks out for my group) Anyway, now I’m excited to experience this after all and hope it lives up to expectations!
We built on in WDW and we were not disappointed by the experience. Granted, eye watering price, but we travelled from Australia and were not missing out on the opportunity. Each flight we took after WDW the security were always impressed with it. Would I do it again? in a heart beat! we’re going to Disneyland this year, considering doing it again so we both have one ♀️
I did this back in 2022 and it was one of the highlights of our holiday. I am however a huge Star Wars fan so I fall firmly into the target demographic.
The thing is, it’s not really about the lightsaber itself but around the experience as a whole which was amazing and worth every penny. The lightsaber is simply a piece of memorabilia that acts as a conduit to remembering what an amazing time you had building it. Mine is mounted on the wall above my monitor in our home office (I even got a little plaque off Etsy). I will often stare up at it and remember not just the experience of building it, but all the mazing memories of that entire holiday.
I will say though that the cast member delivering the experience when I was there was what really sold it. Their story telling and investment into the whole mythos around the experience was hands down the best thing about it. They genuinely made you feel like you were part of something.
I must admit I didn’t go in totally blind. I had already looked at photos of the cards showing the different factions that the sabers align to and was already pretty certain on which faction I was going with, but I certainly didn’t have a saber design in mind. That all came from being in the experience and to this day I’m still very proud of my design and wouldn’t change a thing about it. I also have a small collection of compatible Kyber crystals that I bought from Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities to change the colour and sound.
Would I do it again? No, and the reason for that is it was perfect the first time round and I simply want to remember that perfect memory.
If you’re contemplating doing this based on whether you feel the lightsaber itself is worth $200 You are looking at it from the wrong angle. You could go to Don-Ondars and buy a replica legacy saber of the same quality for slightly less. This is about the experience which for me at least was fantastic.
How did you travel with it? Going in October and my son wants to do this and he is a teen and would appreciate the experience but I am worried about flights home.
It’s not a big deal at all. The TSA folks are used to seeing them and nobody says anything. The carrying bag they ‘give’ you with them is pretty flimsy though, so you do want to be careful putting them in the overhead compartment but even then, the blades are pretty durable.
I have seen this lightsaber on a shelf, in an office for a few months. I finally asked about it, I thought it was a plastic model. As it was handed to me and I grasped it, I thought oh sh*t, this thing is the real McCoy, and it wasn’t even fired up yet. The person then connected the tube and showed me how to turn it on, and it came to life. OMG, visually and audibly I was like “I have to have one, where did you get this? I was told and now I’m planning a trip, with my son, to experience Savi’s. $250 ea will be well worth for me and my son.
I’ve done ti twice and it’s pretty cool experience. Not sturdy enough to actually fight with but they are very cool. If you want some to actually duel with, Sabremasters and others make some that are very impact resistant and cool but the hilts are much more plain. On these for storage use lithium batteries only, or remove them when not in use. And since that is a PITA and causes extra wear and tear on the innards, many folks just remove the blade and leave hilt switched on, as the batteries last longer that way. Otherwise, the kyber crystal flashes continuously, draining batteries.
I think the fun of building your own is a good one, it would be nice if it were better product though. Still…you’re paying for the experience as always with Disney, if you only go once it’s worth it. If you want a really quality lightsaber though they actually use for duals there’s a French company and it’s half the price.
It is absolutely wild to me that this costs close to 2x what it costs to get into the park.
I told my wife I was expecting price to be $60-$80. Not even close to $250?!? From comments I hear this isn’t even high quality. For that price, it might as well be gold plated.
When I was a kid, they had a build your own plastic saber at Disneyland. Not sure what it cost, but I’m sure it was far more affordable. Like why not go to the park for a full day more and not get the saber? Idk how you can justify the cost.
Really surprised by how many negative comments there are here. I built my lightsabre at Disneyland at the end of November. They let both my husband and teenage daughter in to watch. and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
I also have not had any issues with the sabre itself – it works well, and has been much admired by friends and family. Don’t know whether we are just lucky, or if it’s a case of people who have a bad experience being more likely to leave a comment. At any rate, for us the answer is Yes – Totally worth every cent.
Also, in case anyone is interested, we flew Singapore Airways back to Australia, and had no issues taking the sabre onboard as carry-on. No-one commented.