Everybody loves Baby Yoda. This isn’t exactly news, as the little green alien has stolen hearts since his first appearance in The Mandalorian. As such, it’s perfectly understandable that when you’re visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you might find yourself with an overwhelming desire to touch Baby Yoda. While this urge is completely understandable, I cannot stress enough that you should NOT TOUCH BABY YODA.
A TikTok video is going viral showing just what happens if you decade to pet Grogu on his little green head. You’ll get a Cast Member telling you to cut that crap out, and you’ll get a very stern hand gesture from The Mandalorian making it clear that this is not the way. Please don’t touch the animatronics.
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♬ original sound – IDreamOfDisney21
Disneyland and Disney World are places where it feels like anything can happen, but there are still some rules that are not only unbreakable, but can be pretty serious. Not touching the Cast Members who are performing is one of those rules. We’ve seen meet-and-greets cut short when people decide that messing with Chewbacca is a good idea. If this person had actually touched Mando, and not Grogu, we likely would have seen a very different reaction. Still, Grogu is a pretty expensive piece of tech, and Disney Parks doesn’t want people messing with him either.
The Mandalorian and Grogu have become some of the most popular residents of Batuu ever since Disney Parks made the decision to largely drop the Star Wars land’s stated setting as part of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. We’re now seeing characters appear at Galaxy’s Edge with almost the same frequency that we see them enter Avengers Campus. Whenever a new show debuts on Disney+, a new character arrives at Batuu. Although it should be said that Disneyland seems to be getting the characters before Walt Disney World by a few months. Ahsoka recently appeared in California, but has yet to appear in Florida.
There are times when it’s ok to touch a Cast Member, such as when they’re available for pictures and you want to give Mickey a hug, but Mando and others are not handled the same way. Their job is to wander through the park, and while they might stop for a picture, that’s not their main focus.
Grogu is part of a new breed of audio-animatronic from Disney Parks. They are essentially character accessories, or in the case of the Groot animatronic, almost entirely free-roaming characters of their own. They are incredible creations, but they are clearly fragile, so please, don’t touch Grogu. Just give him a wave and get a picture. As Mando says, he likes you, so there’s no need to invade his personal space.