Hadn't read that neither Disneyland or WDW will have fastpasses for Smuggler's Run, at least not at opening.

I guess I should be ready to stand in line for 3+ hours.

At least the entire queue is supposed to be pretty awesome. At one point, you'll take a number and then be able to freely walk around the Falcon. Absolutely genius move. It makes the wait seem not nearly as bad.

CJS4715 said:

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OnlyForNow said:

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so what's the deal with the food and drink in the world area?

Is it free or reduced cost

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LOL...

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Wait, how much?

Is that in pesos or yen?

From WDW News Today

Quote:

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Disney FastPass service, including access via Disney MaxPass at Disneyland Park and Disney FastPass+ service at Disney's Hollywood Studios will not initially be offered at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for an undisclosed period.

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Nobody really knows yet, but my best guess up to now has been they'll open at or around Thanksgiving.

But on the other hand, Thanksgiving weekend is packed either way, so they don't need the extra crowds and maybe they wait till after.

It's kind of a tossup at this point, but I can tell you there's been some really fast progress in the past few months.

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Well there you go Cinco. No worries.

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Now just other worries ... like being able to actually get into the land and see / ride the attractions.

First world problems.

OnlyForNow said:

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Can y'all give me your run-downs of Epcot in 1 day?

What to see what to skip?

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I go to Disney World about 2 times per year.... my wife goes 5-6 times per year. We have no kids - we participate in a large number of the RunDisney races.

- Check to see the timeframe you are going - is there a festival going on? (Food and Wine is awesome, flower and garden is pretty good - these add booths to the "tour of the countries" which includes more food and drink)

Tour of the countries is the number one recommendation. This is what I would do for food/ drink all day (they open at 11am). There is beer in Germany, fish and chips in England, margaritas in Mexico, sake in Japan, etc. FYI - if you do the entire circle, it's probably just short of a mile long walk.

Rides : (no particular order)

• Soarin - number one recommendation from me. (long wait)
• Spaceship Earth - a classic. (medium wait)
• Mission Space - most "exciting" ride - but be careful if you suffer from motion sickness. (short wait)
• Frozen - really cool if you have kids that love the movie. (long wait)
• Test Track - overrated (to me), especially for the wait times. (long wait)
• Journey into Imagination - not great, but one I always have to do for nostalgia's sake. (short wait)
• Fiesta tour (Mexico) - little boat ride the 3 caballeros. Meh (short wait)
• Seas w/ Nemo and Friends - the ride is pretty bad, but it's in an aquarium, so if you like Aquariums, it may be worth checking out. (short wait)
• Living with the Land - slow boatride through a greenhouse. Nice on a hot day as most of it is in the A/C. (short wait)

You can only fastpass 1 of the big 3 (Frozen, Soarin, Test Track).


Top sit-down restaurants (most are pretty pricey)

• Le Cellier Steakhouse (Canada) - try the poutine if it sounds good to you. Also the Cheddar Cheese soup.
• Monsieur Paul (France) - stupid expensive. It's good, but if I'm dropping $100/ person, I'd probably go somewhere else.
• San Angel Inn (Mexico) - haven't been, but hear that it's good. It's hard for me to get Mexican food at Disney when I live in Houston.
• Via Napoli - hands down, my favorite pizza at Disney. It's Neapolitan style, FYI - they get their ingredients from Italy
• Biergarten (Germany) - all you can eat German food, and they serve beer by the liter and there is a polka show that invites you to come dance.
• Rose and Crown (England) - British pub style - it's good, but they also offer fish and chips at a stand outside the restaurant which is a good lunch option.
• Coral Reef - next to the Seas ride, it's often forgotten about. Serves mainly fish dishes inside of an aquarium.
• Restaurant Marakesh (Morocco) - Mediterranean food and a belly-dancer. (could be a good lunch option if you want to sit down)

Top counter food options

• Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie (France) - Bakery w/ pastries, sandwiches, etc.
• Yorkshire County Fish Shop (England) - above-mentioned fish and chip shop next to Rose and Crown
• Tangerine Caf (Morocco) - counter service schwarma, etc.
• Too many more to mention - there are tacos in Mexico, sushi in Japan, etc.

Punching yourself in the face is about as fun as the 3 Caballeros Ride.

I'm reading Dark Force Rising by Zahn (2nd book in the Thrawn trilogy). It's a little slow. Hope it picks up.

I'm generally curious so please don't take this as ridicule. Is this your first time reading those books? If so, why are you reading them, now...since they are no longer canon?

I would recommend those books to anyone who is a fan of Star Wars. They're fun stories, even if they're no longer canon.

Sine poena nulla lex.

C@LAg said:

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Philo B 93 said:

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I'm reading Dark Force Rising by Zahn (2nd book in the Thrawn trilogy). It's a little slow. Hope it picks up.

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That series is good, but it receives a bit too much praise,

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I really need you to produce an infographic on how much praise it has earned compared to how much it deserves.

C@LAg said:

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Philo B 93 said:

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I WWNNII'm reading Dark Force Rising by Zahn (2nd book in the Thrawn trilogy). It's a little slow. Hope it picks up.

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Welcome to 1992. You should look into that band Nirvana as well.

That series is good, but it receives a bit too much praise, but you have to understand. that series literally revived Star Wars from virtual death, and kicked off an incredible era of books, comics and whatnot.

Definitely push through the full series, even if there is a bit too much Deus Ex Thrawn for mr

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Read the first one in '92. I realized years later that I didn't enjoy it because I wasn't ready to move beyond the movies. But I've heard over the years about the trilogy reviving Star Wars so I got curious again and restarted. As far as Canon vs Legends, from what I understand none of it is based on true stories, so I don't really care if I'm reading one set of fiction or the other about these characters. And at least Zahn doesn't have Space Leia.

I would say if the characters of Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Talon Karrde (along with your returning favorite heroes) aren't intriguing you this far, it probably won't pick up.

Just a bit into Queen's Shadow, the new novel about Padme, and it's strong 5 or 6 chapters in. Much of it has centered around her handmaidens, which is very well thought out and justified.

And it made me reflect on something from Episode I that Lucas needs credit for. The whole Amidala body double thing is pretty great. It's not incredibly original or anything, and I doubt any if us were fooled on screen, but it makes complete sense for the political world of Star Wars and all its cutthroat politicking.

We don't see a LOT of that in the classic trilogy, but ANH gives a hint of it... Vader attacking the Tantive IV and claiming it was destroyed in an accident. The Emperor suspending the Senate due to the threat from the Rebellion. And it was always present in Star Wars history of the EU.

A queen (and later a senator) using a body double for conspicuous occasions or to allow the queen/senator to travel incognito would be a very real and useful tool in that political environment. It's a good bit of world building and lore.

This reminds me...how different is Disney from Lucas when it comes to writing books? He'd let anyone write about whatever they wanted. Disney only seems interested in filling in stuff from old characters. Leia as a pre rebellion senator, Padme going from queen to senator, Phasma before Force Awakens, aftermath books, Asohka, etc.

Another thought: I wonder how popular the new books are relative to stories about force users.

redline248 said:

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This reminds me...how different is Disney from Lucas when it comes to writing books? He'd let anyone write about whatever they wanted. Disney only seems interested in filling in stuff from old characters. Leia as a pre rebellion senator, Padme going from queen to senator, Phasma before Force Awakens, aftermath books, Asohka, etc.

Another thought: I wonder how popular the new books are relative to stories about force users.

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Disney keeps tight control over what is written, at least in the sense that canon is preserved. The details of the story are pretty free for the author, it seems. Sometimes they go out and solicit certain books to be written. Other times, authors pitch the book to Disney. They're very keen to keep the thing on the rails, unlike the EU.

Books about Force users are kinda dicey. In the new canon, the books about Luke have been among the worst, and the whole Jedi thing is definitely part of the reason why, imo. Jedi and the Force are obviously a huge part, even the biggest part, of Star Wars, but in my experience they don't make great subjects for books. The Dark Side makes for great book material, as do things like the criminal underworld, smugglers, and bounty hunters. They're just more exciting and dramatic as characters than straight up Jedi. Maybe the new Master and Apprentice book will turn that trend around, because Claudia Gray is great at writing Star Wars.

Jedi do better in other mediums, though, like video games and comic books.

I think it will eventually be a great experiment to tell a Star Wars story in a book or film with ZERO connection to any known place or character. Or at least very little. Tell a small story about some new character struggling on some new world trying to get his freedom from some unknown warlord (or whatever). A new story with the Star Wars aesthetic. It's the thing I look forward to most about the D&D and Rian Johnson projects, the lesser connection to what we already know.

So, what makes Jedi books such bad subject matter?


Also, how many Luke books are there? Am I right to assume they take place during or right after the OT?

redline248 said:

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So, what makes Jedi books such bad subject matter?


Also, how many Luke books are there? Am I right to assume they take place during or right after the OT?

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In the new canon, I think Disney and/or the writers hesitate to take any chances with Jedi characters. In the old EU the problem was mostly just the incredible lack of consistency and the need to keep one upping everything.

Luke books are Heir to the Jedi, the Legends of Luke Skywalker, and a junior novel called Weapon of a Jedi. Legends takes place across his career, as told by others. The others are between ANH and Empire.

Weapon of a Jedi is one I didn't remember. Legends never seemed like a good idea. I have the other one on audio, but haven't listened, yet.

Like you mentioned earlier, maybe the writers just suck. Plus, Luke is a white male. Disney only cares about the female characters

redline248 said:

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Weapon of a Jedi is one I didn't remember. Legends never seemed like a good idea. I have the other one on audio, but haven't listened, yet.

Like you mentioned earlier, maybe the writers just suck. Plus, Luke is a white male. Disney only cares about the female characters

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Weapon of a Jedi is pretty bad, even for one of the junior novels. Not even really a full novel, as it's pretty short.

Honestly the best Luke writing in the new canon may be his appearance in Battlefront II.

If I were to pitch a novel about Luke, I think I'd focus on him acquiring an artifact, with interludes telling the backstory of that artifact. In his search (post-RotJ) he would learn some of the Jedi dirty laundry and cause him to question his own rose colored glasses. A story about Jedi, and Luke in particular, needs some doubt and shades of grey to be compelling. Mara Jade representing the dissenting opinion about the Jedi would be a compelling piece of that story, now that I think about it.

Imagine going to a star wars thread and not being interested in talking about the books/video games.

So awesome.

These two are hilarious.

Pedro Pascal speaks with an American accent in real life? How did I not know this? I was convinced he spoke with a Chilean Spanish accent all the time.

I didn't realize Triple Frontier had come out...is it any good?

Literally hit Netflix today. Haven't watched it yet, but it's currently sitting at 72% on RT...