Why Oga's Cantina is the happiest place at Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

Argue all you want about whether Han Solo shot bounty hunter Greedo first, but here’s a “Star Wars” statement not up for debate: Oga’s Cantina is the happiest place on Batuu.

The hangout, a part of the Disney Parks' new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge now open in Disneyland (and opening Aug. 29 at Disney World), is the first place inside the park that serves alcohol. And it’s the first bar ever to serve interplanetary cocktails Jabba Juice (which includes boba that employees refer to as “frog eggs”) and Yub Nub (like the lyrics of that Ewok song).

It’s also my favorite spot in Galaxy’s Edge.

Yes, piloting the Millennium Falcon on the Smugglers Run ride is exciting, and building your own robot in Droid Depot is a fine activity. But I’d rather form alliances with smugglers and dance to music spun by droid DJ R3X (Captain "Rex," the pilot from Disney Parks' 1980s motion-simulator ride Star Tours) in Oga’s Cantina, all while sipping an exotic beverage. (Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are available.)

The cantina works because it marries classic “Star Wars” geekdom with modern-day interactive touches to make for a magical party, albeit with a two-alcoholic-drink-per-person maximum.

In terms of design, Oga’s clearly draws inspiration from Mos Eisley’s Cantina in “New Hope” with its low lighting, booth-only seating, hemispheric entryway and blaster-bolt scorched walls.

But it has plenty that’s new: captured swamp frogs producing eggs for the aforementioned Jabba Juice, toxic slugs hanging upside down oozing the main ingredient for the strong Dagobah Slug Slinger beverage (really tequila and Curacao), and a mechanical bar that is “run on hyperdrive,” as employees tells me. When the power goes out, the music stops and lights go off. The only way to get them back: cheering as one bartender with a mallet, hits the drink-making machine. Once the power is back on, everyone sings.

And then, it’s time to connect with someone about a job, like Obi-Wan and Luke did at the cantina with Han.

“I can tell you are a good citizen,” one Oga’s employee, a self-described freelance mechanic named Maxx, tells me. He pulls out a notepad with “First Order” written on the front. I’m new in town, I say. “She’s a bounty hunter,” my colleague adds. The mechanic finds this intriguing. We might be able to work together. We discuss possible collaborations that I cannot detail here.

At Oga’s, silly conversation is free but alcoholic beverages run from $12 for a beer on tap to $42 for a cocktail with an Endor mug and $75 for a beer flight on a souvenir board with Rancor teeth. Nonalcoholic juices and coffee drinks cost from $6 for Hyperdrive punch to $32 for a drink with a Porg mug. The cocktails and mocktails mix various syrups, purees and fruit juices to make for colorful and tropical sips with names like Blurrgfire ($7 for a spicy, lemonade-based juice) and Bespin Fizz ($17 for a tart and foamy rum, yuzu and pomegranate beverage). There are also snacks, wine and plenty of cheeky interjection from DJ R3X, a droid whose expressive animatronic movements look nearly natural.

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“We are about to hit some turbulence,” R3X announces, his metal eyebrow and hand raised. Then, he plays the perfect party starter in a dark tavern: A remixed version of classic cantina song “Mad About Me.”