Build a droid at Disneyland!

How many astromech toys does a girl need? A lot.

Disneyland has offered guests the fun of building their own lightsabers for a while. Kids and adults are constantly crowded around the displays in Star Trader to create elegant weapons that they will hit their siblings and friends with while making the necessary sound effects. It's a fun idea and very appropriate since Jedis have to construct their lightsabers. Now guests can build something else: droids!

Since Star Wars weekends happens at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, they got the build your own droid stations first - last summer, actually. But one finally snuck into Disneyland and opened quietly. On a fairly busy Sunday afternoon at the park, I figured the stations would be overrun with people and that there would be droid parts scattered everywhere but it's a very organized affair.

The column has four sides and each side has the same parts. One station may have a particular part in a color you don't have though. The area is cordoned off and manned by a cast member. It means people don't just wait in an expanding horde around the display, and the cast member also is there to grab pieces that accidentally hit the floor (which seems to happen frequently).

You pick a dome (there are round tops and cones), a body, right and left legs, a middle leg, and a hat. The hat options include Mickey Mouse ears, Jack Sparrow pirate hats, Indiana Jones style fedoras, Goofy hats, and green caps with Yoda ears. I didn't ask what the possible number of combinations is but with so many different colors and styles, it has to be a lot.

I tried out way more combinations than I probably should have (but there weren't people waiting  in line behind me) until I got my droid just right. I have a feeling I'll be making return visits to build more.

When your droid is all done, they have plastic cases all ready for it. You'll receive a a sheet of letter and number stickers when you check out so you can name your new friends.

Droids are one for $11.95 or two for $18.95.

Check out detailed images of all the parts over at Rebel Scum.