All the things - a WDW / Starcruiser / UOR trip report

[cbalusek]

My husband I decided long ago to do a big trip for our 5 year increment anniversaries. We did NYC for 5 and Singapore for 10 (coinciding with a business school trip I had to take). When the Starcruiser was announced around our 15th anniversary, we decided that would be our next anniversary adventure! With COVID and the resulting delays, we were at almost 17 years of marriage by the timing booking came around. I gave my trusty travel agent a list of all the possible dates we could go in 2022 and during the Visa booking window, she booked us for March 13! I couldn’t believe how soon we would get to go after opening! And also, we have never traveled during spring break.

As I went to make additional plans for our time, I quickly realized why we had never traveled for spring break - it is expensive! Our plane tickets were more than 2 times what our previous summer tickets had cost. I booked the cheapest arrival for the day before the Starcruiser (Saturday, arriving at 11 pm) and the cheapest return time, which was Thursday at 5 pm. I booked the Hyatt at the airport for arrival day for the convenience of it. With Disney prices being crazy for spring break, we decided to try UOR for the first time. My TA booked us into the Royal Pacific for easy walking to the parks and express passes.

After having everything all settled and feeling great about our trip, at the end of the year, United cancelled our original flight to Orlando, which gave us the option to rebook to almost any other time that Saturday with no additional fee. We decided to take this gift and book a 7:45 am flight, arriving in Orlando at 1 pm and used Disney Math to add on a Disney day. We originally booked at the Swan but had such issues with the tickets that we booked at BC instead.

We sat down with the kids and planned out our additional two half-days at Disney. We decided after landing, we would get a Lyft to the BC, drop our bags, and then go to Animal Kingdom only to ride Flights of Passage and have lunch. Then, we go to Epcot and finish out the night, trying to ride Ratatouille and Test Track. Since we couldn’t check into the Starcruiser until 1, we would spend the next morning at Hollywood, so my daughter (15) and husband could ride RnRR and TOT. My son (11) and I (not roller coaster fans) would go off and do what he wanted - more Star Wars stuff.

Two weeks before our trip, Disney changed MK hours to close at 11 pm, so we decided that our first day would be AK → EPCOT → MK. All the parks in 24 hours? Why not!

A week before our trip, I had a panic attack about getting Lyfts that could hold all four of us, plus our luggage, plus the additional luggage piece we were bringing for our Starcruiser costumes. We had been in NYC in February, and we had had an awful time trying to find a Lyft XL that could carry everything. I decided to book a towncar service instead, only to find the two most recommended here completely sold out! Panicking even further, I broke down and rented a car. This also reduced the stress about how to get to and from the Starcruiser, as Disney had been super uncommunicative overall about the trip and the Starcruiser website basically just said to take a taxi or drive.

With all my plans finally coming together, another unexpected twist occurred - THE WEATHER.

• Saturday - 46 - 79 and 85% chance of rain.
• Sunday: 38 - 66
• Monday: 47 - 74 and 44% chance of rain
• Tuesday: 57 - 80 and 96% chance of rain
• Wednesday: 55 - 79 and 85% chance of rain

On the plus side, sweating to death in my Monday Starcruiser Batuu excursion costume was no longer a concern. On the other hand, constant rain and now I have to pack a coat? We purchased 20 disposable ponchos, and packed our coats as well as shorts, and we were ready for our adventure!

[SenoraG]

Excited to follow along with you! Hope it all goes well and that the rain clears the parks for you!

[cbalusek]

Day 1 - Saturday (WDW), pt 1

We decided to wake the kids up at 5, leave our house at 5:30, to arrive at the parking facility at 6. It’s a 10 min bus ride from parking to the airport, leaving us plenty of time to go through precheck and board our 7:45 am flight.

I woke up at 4 am, my mind ready to go. We woke up the kids at 5, left the house at 5:30, and pulled over in front of the parking facility right before 6 to make Genie reservations. With me on FOP, my husband on Ratatouille, my daughter on TT, and my son doing the atomic clock countdown, we got what we wanted: 3 pm FOP, 6 pm Rataouille, and TT at 6:20 (we were hoping for a bit later, but no worries, we can make it work!)

As we pulled into the parking facility, they told us there would be a 10 min wait for the bus. Okay, no problem. As we pulled into the parking row we were assigned, we saw at least 40 other people in huge lines waiting for buses. My husband took one look at it and called a Lyft XL to pick us up. We then dashed across the parking facility to the entrance and met the Lyft, where yes, fitting us and all of our luggage was a big issue. I mentally high fived myself for renting a car in Orlando. We managed to all squeeze in for the 5 min ride, thanking the Lyft driver profusely for saving our vacation before it even began!

Precheck and security were a breeze. Feeling a lot more chill now that things were on track, we relaxed before our flights and picked up a JC G+ for 9 pm. Thanks the weather in Orlando, our flights ended up being an hour delayed. We landed around 2 pm, with our FOP G+ being 3:05 - 4:05. We headed to luggage claim, grabbed our bags, picked our rental car (thank goodness for my Hertz status, got to go right to the car!), packed the car and we were on our way!

We drove straight to AK and parked the car right at 3:30 pm. We walked with great purpose, making it to the tree at 3:41,

and in the Avatar preshow by 3:56!

Stopping for a quick lunch at Satu’li

We made our way to the front of the park and back out to the car, to check into the hotel

[SenoraG]

So far you are doing this trip right! And I LOVE your spirit jersey. Still kicking myself for passing that one up!

[cbalusek]

Day 1 - Saturday (WDW), pt 2

After checking into BC, we laid down for 30 min, but couldn’t rest too long as we had 6:05 Ratatouille and 6:20 TT G+ reservations! We did Ratatouille and headed over to TT.

TT was down, so we got a G+ for any other ride except Rat and maybe Frozen (?). The kids and I went on Mission:Space while my husband stood in line for coffee (he gets motion sickness, and Ratatouille did him in). After MS, TT was back up, so we got in line for it!

At this point, my memory of what G+ we picked up when is fuzzy, but I do know that we ended up with Soarin, Frozen, and BTMRR as well. We headed to Soarin and on the way over, I hit the wall. I get airsick, so I don’t eat much on flights and combined with the poor sleep, the idea of back tracking all the way back to Frozen was too much. My husband and I sat in Sunshine Seasons eating a flatbread and sharing a diet coke while the kids went over to Frozen. Frozen was down when they got there, so they rode Three Caballeros while waiting to see if it went back up. It didn’t, so they headed back to meet us at the Land to monorail over to MK. The Frozen G+ turned into anytime any park any attraction (except ILL+ ones) including the next day! Except - it didn’t generate one for my son, just everyone else.

I’m not sure the kids have been on the monorail since they were little so it was an adventure for all of us. We had decided to focus on outdoor attractions to take advantage of being there at night for the first time as a family!

After quick castle pictures, we headed straight to our JC g+. At check in, everyone got through just fine - except me. I had booked a G+ for everyone and the CM stopped me, gave me quite a hard time while I tried to pull up my reservation on my phone (the G+ interface is AWFUL) and eventually decided to waive me through.

I don’t know why he gave me such a hard time, as even though there was a 45 min posted wait, there was LITERALLY NO ONE in the queue!!! We had a private boat with another couple.

We then headed to BTMRR. TERRIFYING IN THE DARK! The kids and I missed the second tap points somehow, the ride went down right after we rode it, and we got an anytime G+ for MK. We then hit the kids’ requested ride - Tomorrowland Speedway - and booked a G+ for Buzz. After a quick spin on Buzz, we were down to the last 15 min of park time. My son and I were beat, so we headed back to the hotel, while my daughter and husband hit Space Mountain.

Thoughts about G+
This was our first time using ILL+/G+. By all accounts it was a pretty big success with our late touring - we had G+ for: FOP, Ratatouille, TT, Soarin, Frozen, JC, BTMRR, and Buzz. It was a 5 or 6 CL day, so I imagine it would not be as successful in a higher crowd day.

That being said, it was VERY glitchy. We had G+ missing for my son or I at various points. In the future, I’ll take a screenshot of EVERY confirmation page in the future to help deal with that. I found the app very hard to use, and I’m very tech savvy, so I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be for someone less technical. It was hard to see when our next G+ was and I ended up taking screenshots anytime there was a screen that showed it and texting it to my family.

[cbalusek]

Day 2 - Sunday (WDW, Starcruiser), pt 1

After hitting the bed late, and losing an hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings time , my husband and I woke up at 6:45 am to book G+. We were only going to be in the parks until 12:45 or so, as Starcruiser check in was at 1 pm. I had previously booked Oga’s per my son’s request for 11:20 am (my husband and daughter did not want to do it and we had done it last summer, so I opted not to book it while we were on the Starcruiser). I was super lucky to get a 10 am RoTR and a 10:45 MFSR. Husband got a ToT G+.

(I should mention - after we returned to our hotel room, we had a message that we were granted a noon checkout because of our Starcruiser journey and that bell services would arrange a taxi to get us to the Starcruiser. Since I had rented a car in the panic in the week before, this didn’t matter to me, but would have been super helpful to know ahead of time.)

We convinced the kids to sleep in a bit more (my daughter was planning on rope dropping) and after some Mickey waffles, we packed the car and drove over to Hollywood.

We split up and my husband and daughter did ToT and RnRR single rider. They booked a G+ for TSMM.

My son and I did RoTR,

MFSR,

had a drink at Oga’s,

and got another G+ for ST.

I should also mention, before our Starcruiser trip, I crocheted a set of porgs to give to cast members and to leave around the ship. (I guess people do this with ducks on Disney cruises? I have not been on one).

I used my Cricut to make tiny tags which I sewed to their tiny feet so their new owners could connect with us later

We gave our first porg to our bartender at Oga’s, who was amazing! She was so thrilled to get our tiny gift!

Then it was time to head to the Starcruiser!

[magical_jo]

Those Porgs are adorable What a nice thing to do!! Following for the rest of your trip–sounds jam-packed but great so far!

[Julianne_fki]

Those porgs are adorable! I can’t believe how much you’re packing in your schedule this trip. Amazing!

[SenoraG]

Wow, I’m so impressed with how much you’ve packed into 2 half days! This is so fun to follow!

[cbalusek]

Day 2 - Sunday (Starcruiser), pt 2

Around 12:45, we headed to the HS parking lot and drove to the Starcruiser!

The Starcruiser entrance is next to the cast member parking lot. And the building from the outside is . . . not impressive.

After we waited in a line for security (where I was told to leave my blunt scissors in the car), and then another line for the valet (which was free), we gave the valet our luggage and was met by a cast member. The cast member immediately disappeared. There was a bit of congestion as more people came in, but no cast members were available to help. Eventually, our CM returned with four “datapads” (old iPhones.) They had called us the day before to tell us that everyone had logged in to Disney Play except my daughter, so I had assumed that we could use our phones. They really pressed us to use their phones (which I am sure is easier for them).

We then sat through a safety video where we were told if there was an actual emergency an alarm would sound that would clearly state it was an actual emergency and not part of the show. And also that our room would have an emergency door with a panic room for us to go into in the event we could not exit our room. Awesome.

We were then transported into space.

Once in the ship’s atrium, we were shown to our rooms, where our luggage was waiting for us. (The room picture was during our checkout, the bed was actually made when we checked in.) I changed into my Holdo-inspired outfit.

Starving, we headed to get food. A buffet was available. I am allergic to shellfish, mushrooms, and avocados, so they brought the chef out to chat with me and show me what was available for me to eat. He also offered to make food without mushrooms for me, but there was plenty to try.

After lunch, we explored the ship a bit, took the one picture with the one photopass photographer we ever saw on the ship,

and at 4 pm, we had ship muster.

During all of this, we started getting updates from characters on our datapad. The kids and my husband all ran off on missions. I ended up with a big group talking to a character, but wandered off when it ended up being a huge crowd.

My husband and I enjoyed a cocktail at the bar.

I was surprised that alcohol was an additional fee, but then grateful that it wasn’t all you could drink as a belligerent man appeared next to me and started shouting at a bartender! From what I could gather from his yelling, one of his traveling companions was refused a drink when she could not produce an ID. He was arguing with the bartender about how old everyone looked. The bartender remained calm throughout, made the gentleman another cocktail (I guess he had walked away in a huff without his drink?), and refunded his original cocktail price. I was so impressed how calm the bartender remained, that he received my second porg!

After half a cocktail, it was time for light saber training!

Afterwards, my kids ran off to do some more missions. My son was decidedly on the First Order, my husband was a scoundrel, myself on the side of the Resistance, and my daughter decided to just tell everyone that she was loyal to them to have more to do. She and I had a similar mission, and while heading to it, ran into a group of people trying to hide a stowaway.

I quickly changed for dinner and we headed off to the dining room,

Because of my allergies, I was brought separate items to eat for the first and second courses. The second course was steak which looked like . . . steak.

My husband chose this aptly named Dagobah cocktail

During dinner, we were treated to a performance by “intergalactic pop sensation Gaya”.

After a quick photo shoot in the “climate simulator”

And a quick chat with our in room droid

We headed off to bed to prepare for our 8:40 departure to Batuu!

[cbalusek]

@magical_jo

Those Porgs are adorable

@Julianne_fki

Those porgs are adorable!

Thank you! The pattern is by Lucy Collins who also makes the Star Wars crochet kits. They take about 4-5 hours each to make so it was a lot of effort!!!

[cbalusek]

Day 3 Monday (Starcruiser, Batuu)

After a great sleep, we bounded out of bed to get breakfast before our trip to Batuu. Breakfast was a lot more earth-looking.

We got in line for our scheduled transport at 8:40. We were given a large Starcruiser pin to wear on Batuu. As my track record for actually getting to complete RotR without it breaking down is pretty terrible, we decided to do that first.

We were put on a VERY empty transport - I wasn’t sure if this was a perk for being on the Starcruiser or just a really weird situation we found ourselves in. Here’s a picture from the back of the transporter and you can see that it’s just my party and a few others.

We next did the Falcon (where I took no pictures - I had been hoping to get on the side with the kissing spot, but we weren’t ). And then it was time for my son’s droid appointment:

Our droid helper was super nice, so we gifted him with a porg! He sent me a nice note on Instagram too!

After enjoying a diet coke,

my family largely split up to do our separate missions. I quickly realized that something had gone horribly wrong. I was supposed to have a mission in the droid depot, and it never showed up. My family seemed really busy and I was honestly kind of bored and without anything to do. And then, all of a sudden, LIEUTENANT CROY FROM THE FIRST ORDER NOW THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! I had somehow joined the First Order and had missions to help the First Order!!! Here’s a reaction shot of me coming to that realization on Batuu.

Before heading to Docking Bay 7 for lunch, I wanted us to stop for Photopass photos. We had the most wonderful photographer. She immediately chastised the men in our party for not dressing up and after she took group photos, took photos with my daughter and myself and me alone! I never get photos by myself!!! We gifted her with a porg too, which she asked if it was a snack. This was a common reaction from the Batuu residents, so I started handing out porgs with the caveat that they were NOT snacks after that.

After lunch at Docking Bay 7 (I had not actually ever eaten there!) and this not particularly great, but cool looking dessert,

We did a few more missions

And then took our transport back to the Starcruiser!

[kjsprouse_577366]

Woah! This is all amazing!! From your outfits to the porgs, you did such an incredible job planning this whole trip!!!
When you went to droid depot and ate at Docking Bay 7, did you pay or were they included in your Star cruise? Did you have automatic iLL for ROTR? What about MFSR?

[gingerSnaps543222]

Yes to the ILL and LL for Rise and MFSR and lunch at DB7 being included but she paid for droid depot still extra cost. But if you book it thru the hotel apparently it does something to your story as I was told by the nice Disney woman who helped me book my room

The things that are included are the two Batuu rides LLs and one quick service meal for select DHS locations (can be outside of Batuu). Ogas, droids and lightsabers still cost extra. Another extra you can add is a photo shoot. All food on the ship is included as well as nonalcoholic drinks. Alcohol is another extra charge. There is also a captains table with extra courses and some alcohol included for a $30 up charge on the ship.

[gingerSnaps543222]

I was wondering about what your daughter was doing. About playing all sides but I’d really like to see the lightsaber extra show and am worried if I play all sides what happened with you becoming First Order all the sudden might happen. Like they might decide for you?

[LTinNC82]

Wow I love this trip report! The pics are adorable. You tell you’re a fun family who really loves each other. The castle pic in MK is ! Those porgs are absolutely adorable too. I know everyone who got one was elated. That’s such a cute idea!

[LTinNC82]

Your outfits are amazing! You look radiant at dinner!

[cbalusek]

Day 3 Monday (Starcruiser, Batuu) pt 2

We got back to the ship around 2 or so and with nothing scheduled until 3:30 (Bridge Training), my husband decided to enter the Sabaac tournament. Which, I forgot to mention, we had a Sabaac lesson the night before!

The only thing going on on the ship were the sabaac tournament and things for the “loth-cat crew” which were for under 7 year olds. My kids and I had some time to kill, so we went to the shop, where I wanted to buy the Starcruiser earrings I saw the day before. Unfortunately, they were sold out, as was the logo necklace. Our cast member who taught us sabaac told us we coud get a deck from guest services whenever we wanted (and also that a staff member would play with us if we wanted!), so we decided to get a deck, but they were all in use during the tournament. We bought a deck from the store and raided our wallets for change to use as chips.

My husband quickly returned from the tournament, getting out in the first round and joined us at the bar.

Then it was time for Bridge Operations training, just in case, you know, you need to operate the ship.

From what I’ve gathered, each Bridge Operations training has a special story moment, and we did as well!

We ran into our sabaac tutor, who I gave a porg. Later, she ran into my husband and asked about his sabaac tournament performance. She felt badly for him, and gave him a Halcyon coin (which I think the early cruises were given!)

We had a bit of a break and I had a bit of a scheduling issue. Now solidly on the side of the First Order, as was my son (always committed) and my daughter (who was loyal to everyone), we had 8 pm dinner, as well as a special meeting with Lt. Croy at 6:30 and a special meeting with him at 7:15. I had bought a replica Padme lake dress which I was planning to wear to dinner and not a lot of time to change between meeting with Lt Croy twice and dinner, so I went ahead and put it on. In retrospect, this was a huge mistake as the dress was very annoying and I needed to be pretty mobile. If you are going to wear what will turn out to be an annoying dress, I highly suggest you do it on the first night.

Dressed for dinner, I hung out with my husband and kids in the atrium until our secret meeting with Lt Croy in the Bridge (my husband had secret resistance meetings during this time.) My son purchased a First Order jacket on Batuu and the storm troopers were very happy to speak with him.

It was then time for our special meeting with Lt. Croy. Thank goodness we had that Bridge training! In my son’s new outfit, Lt Croy told him he was unaware that such a high ranking official was on board and he hoped it wasn’t due to his performance.

While I was originally super sad to be part of the First Order, I have to say . . . . they were way more fun. Lt. Croy was AMAZING. Super hilarious. The First Order team was clearly very bonded and had been having a blast. My daughter had been on both sides and agreed that the First Order was more fun. She also said that the First Order story was easier to follow and if you were not a Star Wars fan, that was the side to be on.

We then had our second secret meeting with Lt Croy in the engineering room. With my tiara, he referred to me as “Princess Cynthia” throughout the meeting.

As we left our meeting, Lt Croy ran into some resistance scum!

And then it was time for dinner! I was able to share most of the food this night.

Except for this one, obviously.

I was given some vegan meatballs, which were terrible. Dessert was beautiful. Our desserts had a special note about our anniversary as well.

We had the same waiter both nights and she was amazing. We gave her a porg!

Dessert was interrupted due to an emergency! Did the children and I have anything to do with the emergency? Possibly. We headed to the atrium as we had been instructed to do in a story emergency.

There was some drama!

And the Resistance regained control of the ship. Curses!

I did a photo shoot with my daughter in the climate simulator.

We went back to the dining room for second dessert, which was okay

And we went back up to the bar. (I had two cocktails the entire trip, we just had a lot of downtime.) One of the more frustrating aspects of the Starcruiser, was that there was only one holo sabaac table, which was featured prominently in the marketing materials. There were generally children playing it and they stayed on for a really long time. I vowed not to leave the ship until I got to try it. Luckily, there was a cast member in the bar, encouraging people to rotate out and let others get a turn, so my kids and I got to try it.

After playing sabaac, and a final look out into our space window, we were ready for bed!

[cbalusek]

@gingerSnaps543222

I was wondering about what your daughter was doing. About playing all sides but I’d really like to see the lightsaber extra show and am worried if I play all sides what happened with you becoming First Order all the sudden might happen. Like they might decide for you?

She was eventually put into the First Order, which she was delighted about because she found the First Order to be more fun. She’s not a huge Star Wars fan, and found the First Order story to be easier to follow too. (As a huge Star Wars fan, I can tell you the resistance story was super convoluted, I’m assuming to give more opportunities for people to do stuff.)

From my daughter’s perspective, being loyal to everyone was the way to go because she had more to do, and she said she would do it again.

[cbalusek]

@SenoraG

So far you are doing this trip right! And I LOVE your spirit jersey. Still kicking myself for passing that one up!

Thank you! I was very surprised to be wearing it AT Disney as I never thought we would be there with such cold weather! It was 40 degrees that night! I ended up wearing my coat to Hollywood the next morning!!!