Today was our Star Wars day! I had not yet been to Star Wars Galaxy Edge’s and we had planned the day to experience as much of it as possible.
The first thing to accomplish was arriving early to get into Hollywood Studios at park open so we could get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.
We did not want to rely on Disney buses so our plan was to get an Uber. We wanted to get to the park at 7 am for an 8 am park opening. We were in the lobby of the hotel at around 6:40 and Chris started to look for an Uber. He found one and it said he wasn’t far away but as time went on, the time to arrive kept getting longer. He did finally arrive and we were behind schedule but we made it to the park at around 7:35 and got past the touchpoints without a problem.
We went over towards Toy Story land to wait as we had hoped we could get on Slinky Dog right after the park opened.
To get a boarding pass, you need to get on the app as soon as it hits 8 am. I had done a lot of reading about how to best do it and different people had tips and tricks. We had three of us trying separately. It was stressful!! It hit 8 am and you would start to hear little groups of people cheer as they secured their boarding group. Meanwhile Chris and I were both having problems with the app. Finally my sister got us boarding group #73.
Nothing more to do about that but wait and see what happens. Everyone seemed to have the same idea about riding Slinky Dog so we abandoned that idea and went to get some breakfast at Woody’s Lunchbox. It was busy there too so we got a table and I did a mobile order. So much easier. I got the notification that our order was ready and I walked up to the counter and picked it up.
Have I mentioned enough that I love tater tots?! Woody’s Lunchbox has a breakfast item with tater tots and scrambled eggs and sausage gravy. It was good!
After we ate we decided to walk over to Galaxy’s Edge and get a first look at it. We also wanted to see where everything was located for later. We actually spend most of the day going back and forth between Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land.
Oh, but first… a Toy Story Land selfie:
I admit that I am not the biggest Star Wars fan. I have seen all the movies and I do enjoy it. Just don’t ask me specifics… I am not THAT into it. That said, the area is really cool. I spent time when we were in different sections to look around and see if I could see anything that would take me out of the story / land. To me, the only thing that takes you out of the experience is the other guests… and you can’t do anything about that. I think it is as immersive as you can get.
We bounced back to Toy Story land and did our Fastpass for Toy Story Mania and then decided to wait in the stand by line for Slinky Dog since my sisters had never ridden it.
We kept watching what number boarding groups were getting called for Rise of the Resistance. We had a reservation at Oga’s Cantina and a reservation to make a lightsaber. At the rate the groups were being called, we thought we may get called in the middle of those and have to make a decision about what to do. We had to just keep watching and see what happens.
Our next stop was our reservation at Oga’s Cantina. There is a line outside to check in and they tell you that you have a 45 minutes time limit once inside and that most of the tables are standing only and you will be at a table with other guests. You are also not allowed to walk around inside until you have finished your drinks and paid. Ok, not ideal but we were in it for the experience.
It wasn’t long before we were inside and taken to a standing table. We actually had a great spot right by the DJ.
The menu is mostly drinks with a few snack options. We each ordered a drink. Chris and I went for the Fuzzy Tauntaun mainly because it had a foam that was supposed to make your mouth tingle.
Yes, the mouth, mostly tongue, tingling does happen. It did take a few sips before it kicked in.
The whole place is cool and it’s definitely worth it for the experience. It will be more fun I think, if it ever gets to the point that it isn’t as crowded and you don’t have as many restrictions. We did get to see the DJ do his thing and even experience a drinking song. Actually, except for the DJ, the whole experience reminded me of something you might see on Firefly.
And of course we needed a Cantina selfie:
While we were in the Cantina, we had noticed that the boarding groups had stalled out which was actually good for us. The next stop for Chris and I was a reservation to make a lightsaber. My sisters weren’t doing that so they went to see the Beauty and the Beast stage show.
We had a few minutes to wait so we tried some blue milk. It was sweet and okay. I wouldn’t get it again but if you are in Galaxy’s Edge, you have to try it.
I am going to write another full post about the lightsaber experience. You are allowed to have one builder and one guest at a time. It was $200 which I know is a lot but it is a full experience, not just putting together a lightsaber. And the lightsaber itself is of good quality. One tip I would give is to do it later in your day. We did ours midday and then had to carry it for the rest of the day. They give you a case so you can wear it over your shoulder but its still a bit annoying.
We were about half way thorough the lightsaber experience when our boarding group was called! Yay! My sisters met us there when we were done.
I don’t want to spoil the ride for anyone and I don’t really want to give a full ride description anyway. It was definitely a great ride. I feel like it is a lot to take in and I need to ride it many more times to get even more out of it. I loved the room with all the stormtroopers. I wanted to just experience the ride but I did take a few pictures.
After we finished there, we had two more Fastpasses to do. We went back to Toy Story land to ride Alien Saucers and then we were back in Galaxy’s Edge to finish up by riding Smugglers Run.
Chris and I were both the pilots. Walking into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon was super cool!
This is another ride that I need to do again. It is obviously interactive so it is hard to look at everything because you are paying attention to what you are doing. Towards the end the entire screen went blank and Hondo came on our little video screen and told us that this is what he calls a Massive Failure. So the ride had broken. The door opened and the cast member directed us out. Chris asked if we could ride again because the ride broke. The cast member said no because we got almost to the end. We could have pushed it, but we let it go. We know we did most of it.
That completed our day at Hollywood Studios.. which was basically Star Wars and Toy Story but that’s fine.
We took the Skyliner to Epcot. That did involve transferring at the hub at Caribbean Beach but still it is such an easy way to get places. I really liked it.
The Skyliner drops you at the International Gateway entrance. When we went in, we saw that Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were out. They are usually in the Character Spot but that is currently closed for renovations. I can never resist and opportunity to see Mickey plus the line was short.
We were mainly at Epcot to do a dining package followed by the new Epcot Forever fireworks show. We had some time so we did Soarin’ which didn’t have a bad standby wait at all and also rode Living with the Land.
It was a chilly night and the dinner package was supposed to have us eating outside on a terrace by the water so we could stay in our seats for the fireworks. However, because it was chilly, they had us sit by heat lamps under an awning. When the fireworks started, they rolled up the awning so we could see.
The package we did was at Rose and Crown. It is a set menu. You get an appetizer, entree and dessert. You get your appetizer and entree before the fireworks and the dessert is a sampler platter that you get after the fireworks.
I had the cheese platter and the fish and chips. Wine and beer are also included so I had a beer as well.
I had not seen Epcot Forever yet and I enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure the view would be great from our seats but it was fine. We did have the option to go outside on the terrace if we wanted to but it was too chilly for me.
This was the dessert sampler… all good 🙂
The park was closed after the fireworks so by the time we finished dessert it was pretty empty walking out. I hadn’t been to the front of Epcot yet on this trip so I got to see all the walls due to construction. There is always some kind of construction going on at Walt Disney World but I have to say this is a lot of walls!
We took the monorail to the TCC and then back to our hotel.
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