The ability to toggle it on or off would be the best option by far. It should be an option in the appearance settings: 1. display favorites in sidebar, 2. display favorites as drop-down from search, 3... etc., etc.
But IF it turns out that the only two options are to have it permanently enabled or permanently disabled, then I strongly favor disabling it permanently. It looks like something Microsoft would think of, and I hope Orion isn't going down that road.
--A little later: Actually, blanking out the Orion start page gets rid of the drop-down: Bookmarks > Show Start page > click “tuner bars” at lower right > uncheck all options. But this should not be a hidden option that few will find. Absence of unrequested clutter should be default behavior, changeable by a clearly labelled opt-IN option in Setting > Appearance.
