The first thing to know is that this is not designed as an amusement park. It's designed as a new planet (one that has never been on any Star Wars movie, TV show, or animated series), and you are a visitor to that planet. I encourage you to watch Neil Patrick Harris's "documentary" Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Adventure Awaits to get a better understanding of the concept, and preview some of the features and activities. You can watch this on Hulu or Freeform, if you have an account.
I did watch that ahead of time, but didn't realize that there are two places that you have to make a reservation to visit. The first is the Cantina. The day that I went (a Monday in October, 2019), we walked by the line around 10 or 11am, and there were no more reservations open for the rest of the day. Or the next day, I believe. So, if you want to go to the Cantina, make reservations way ahead of time.
You also need reservation to make a lightsaber, but we were able to make reservations that day. We looked about 1pm, and made reservations for about 3pm.
What else to know? There are really only a couple of rides, and then a couple of activities that you must pay for, plus lots of places for shopping, including a whole themed open market. The big ride is the Millennium Falcon. I rode that like 3 times, and finally forced a kid out so that I could be the pilot. All of the positions are fun, but I kept riding it so that I could be the pilot at least once. You also have to rush to get a picture at the table, and it took me several tries to get to that, too.
Building a personalized heavy-duty lightsaber (that glows and makes the swooshing sound!) costs $200 if you do the one with the reservation, or $65 if you make a plastic one in the gift shop. You can also make your own droid, which costs $100 (or less if you make a plastic one in the gift shop, but I didn't catch the price on those).
The other cool thing is the food. It's all themed to the idea of a planet in the Star Wars universe. Of course you can get Aunt Beru's blue milk (which is fruity, surprisingly), and now Luke's green milk (also fruity, and cold, which means it's not fresh!), but all restaurants have dishes on theme.
I went on my birthday. You know how in Disneyland, most of the workers wish you a Happy Birthday? Well, in Galaxy's Edge, they wish you a Happy Origin Day! It took me most of the day to figure that out!
There are also a few characters, and Kylo Ren stalks around a lot. I'm not sure what they'll do after the events in Rise of Skywalker...
There's a lot more to learn and do at Black Rock Outpost, but those the important points, in my opinion!
*I did wait in line for over 24 hours for tickets to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Maybe the disappointment of that film is the reason why I won't do something like that again?
