I'm hoping to stay a little past our reservation tonight so we can watch the fireworks over the Falcon...I'll let you know of we experience any Imperial entanglements.

Hah, this is great.

Made it back to Texas late last night. I will post my thoughts and some pictures (if I can figure that out) later today. But, Galaxy's Edge was everything I wanted it to be and I was able to do everything I wanted while we were on Batuu, including piloting the Falcon twice! It was incredible and I can't wait to go back.

Thursday was my trip to Batuu with my mother-in-law (the other Disney expert of the family). We had 2 reservations for the day: 8am-noon (through the hotel) and 5-9pm. We joined the line into GE about 7:40 on Thursday morning; we were basically in the middle of the pack.
When they let us in to GE, we headed straight back to the Falcon where we found Chewie. I took a selfie with him and gave him a hug and tried not to cry. After that, we decided to get in line for Smuggler's Run because it was a 5 minute wait. I got to be the right-side pilot on our first ride. It was amazing! My MIL and I were with a family with two young sons and the dad was the copilot. We were all first-timers, so we didn't do too well, especially with two boys under 7 as gunners.
After that, we ate breakfast at Ronto's Roasters. The Meiloorun Juice was so yummy! We spent time in the Marketplace, hacking panels for the Resistance on our datapads (phone) using the Disney Play app. Then we explored the Resistance Forest and spied Chewie working on the X-wing. We headed back to the Falcon to ride again. This time I was the left-side pilot with my MIL as the other pilot. We were with a group of adults and did much better this time based on the amount of credits Hondo sent us.
Next we headed to Droid Depot for our longest wait of the morning (about 25 min). I built an R-series droid that is adorable! After that, our time was running out, so we went back to the marketplace and Resistance Forest to pick up souvenirs for my husband and kids (MRE, Porg, pilot helmet). We did a quick photo shoot of the souvenirs before heading out the Critter Country entrance, knowing we'd be returning in the evening.

I'll post more later about our evening reservation, where we were able to visit Oga's Cantina and watched the fireworks over Batuu.

Got a little story for ya, Ags...

Went to Galaxy's Edge Thursday night.

Pics:

Poe's X-wing from TFA


I think Trump has this hanging up in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House



I made this for you to remember me by. It will bring you good fortune ... until I murder you.


Walked around the corner and saw this beauty. Right behind the guy in the Bantha hat is a cast member dressed up as a Resistance spy, looking rather Jedi-ish. About 30 seconds after this the cast member was pursued by FO stormtroopers and escaped through a cast member door while the FO questioned people in the crowd and one of them did the literal line from ANH "The door is locked, move on."



Even after having seen it in so many videos and pictures, I was blown away by seeing the Falcon. It's huge.


Top view of the Falcon from the line for Smuggler's Run.


A few stories to share.

Our time slot was at night and the moon was nearly full so it really added some ambiance, plus they pipe in nighttime sounds (animals and such).
Chewie was outside posing for photos right when we got there. It was great, but he's surrounded by idiots with go pros and smartphones.

The main merchandise store - it would take me probably 3 hours all alone with no one else in the store to really take it all in. It's overwhelming with a crowd and my family there. I was like Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions - I could die in that room.

The line for blue milk was more than 100 people long. My wife used the mobile dining app and we got ours in less than 30 seconds.

The speakers broadcast the sound of a TIE fighter flying over. About 80% of the people including me looked up in the sky, expecting to see one.

The realness and thrill of Smuggler's Run cannot be quantified. I knew full well that is not really a spaceship in space, but it's a marvelous simulation, and when the pilot throws the lever for hyperspace, even my wife was whooping.

8 pm - midnight.

I was the guy in the star wars shirt.

So awesome.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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You hit up the cantina?

Looks like a great time.

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Cantina wait time was 45 minutes and I don't drink so that was a pass. Blue milk was OK - nothing special. I chugged mine because i had been carrying our backpack full of crap all day.

Best part of the whole thing was the ride, but not for the reasons you think. Some people will get in line as a single rider so they can get to the front faster and be able to slink into line and be a pilot every time (there are 6 seats - 2 pilots, 2 gunners, 2 engineers). Everyone gets a score and an accuracy rating for how well they do their job, and clearly there are already people obsessed with getting the highest pilot score possible to the point of riding it multiple times with strangers as a single rider so they can get to that first spot in line in a group of 6 and get one of the pilot cards.

So one of my daughters and I are standing in the front of our family of 4 to get the pilot seats and this 20-something d-bag comes out of that single rider line to join our group and cuts in front of my daughter (who is 7) and gets the pilot card. I get the other one. And my girl is just heartbroken because she wanted to sit in front and fly. So I traded her my pilot card for her gunner card.

If you don't know, one pilot controls left right, and the other up down. So you're only going to do as well as the other pilot lets you. We all line up to get on and the d-bag says to my wife "Oh, are you the other pilot?" when he sees me standing in the second position. My wife gives the d-bag a big grin and says, "Nope, she is." and points to our daughter proudly rocking her ticket and Star Wars t-shirt.

He looks at her, looks back at me and you can just see his "pissed-off meter" reaching maximum as he realized I swapped cards with my daughter and his co-pilot is suddenly someone who can't quite reach all the controls.

And she did great for the most part - bumped into a few rocks and sides of buildings, but I"m not sure any normal person would have been much better. I was super proud of her, and didn't regret my decision to not fly the Falcon for even one second.

Next morning before we left Anaheim, I bought her a Yoda plush snap bracelet and got this one for myself.

Our evening reservation on Thursday began with me heading straight to the cantina line to get on the wait list. It took about 15 minutes to get added to the list and I was told I'd get a text in about an hour and a half.

Next we got in line to have our picture made in front of the Falcon. Then we went to Docking Bay 7 to try the two desserts-Batuu-Bon (yum) and Oi-oi Puff (not so yum). I bought kyber crystals for the family and a Jedi holocron at Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities and enjoyed looking at all the easter eggs in that store.

We spent more time completing jobs for the Resistance and earning credits by hacking areas around the land. By 7:00 we still hadn't gotten a text about the cantina so we got in line for the Falcon that had a 25 minute wait. This was the longest wait we'd had so far, but even 25 minutes was not bad at all.

While in line, we soon realized that we would be in a group with some ladies and a 3 year old girl, who of course ended up with a pilot card. Her mom got the gunner card, but I commented, "oh, you'll be in charge of keeping the ship from crashing!" and the mom decided to switch places with her daughter. I was an engineer this time with the 3 year old in front of me as gunner. Poor thing couldn't reach all the buttons, so I ended up helping her while also doing the engineer job.

This ride was definitely our worst flight and as we exited the cockpit, there were sparks flying and someone over the intercom saying they needed to being in a Corellian freighter for repairs. But, still fun.
Right before we boarded the Falcon, I had gotten the text that we could return to the cantina. We checked in and still had to wait about 15 minutes before we were able to enter.

Once inside, we stood at one of the bar-top tables across from a young couple who had been waiting in line with us. My MIL and I ordered the Outer Rim (margarita), Jedi Mind Trick, and Carbon Freeze (non-alcoholic). The couple got the Fuzzy Tauntaun (which makes your lips numb, apparently), Jet Juice (the strongest drink at the cantina) and the Bespin Fizz.

Both the Carbon Freeze and the Bespin Fizz were "show drinks" with dry ice and popping pearls. I thought the Carbon Freeze was pretty good. We also got a snack called Oga's Obsession, which was a lemonade/cotton candy Jello with boba Pearl's inside and Pop Rocks on top. Definitely an other-worldly kind of snack. Rex, the DJ in the cantina was fun to listen to. It was interesting to hear him play familiar songs that had been changed to sound like they came from another galaxy.

After we were finished in the cantina, our reservation time had just about ended. But, I really wanted to watch the fireworks over Batuu. My MIL was worried we'd get kicked out, but we found a spot on the ground next to the Falcon and waited until 9:30 for the fireworks to start. Seeing them over the land was amazing! It was like being at the end of ROTJ. I probably took 200 pictures during the 15 minute show. After it was over, it was time to leave Batuu and head back to our own galaxy. It was an incredibly memorable experience and I can't wait to visit again, next time with my husband and kids.

Quote:

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So one of my daughters and I are standing in the front of our family of 4 to get the pilot seats and this 20-something d-bag comes out of that single rider line to join our group and cuts in front of my daughter (who is 7) and gets the pilot card

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So there was no cast members standing there directing line flow? That guy sounds like he's a real jackass. I am not sure I would have been as restrained as you were.