Tuesday 4/27
Woke the crew up at 6ish…5 central time (oi!) to eat Pop Tarts, yogurt, and spinach smashes…DW feelin the veggie love on the first morning! I really didn’t know how it would go waking everyone up so early for three consecutive mornings…morning one, success!
Since we’re heading to HS today, I prepped DW over the last few weeks on the ROTR boarding process…I’m in the tap/tap/tap gang, thanks to @bebe80 (which by the way…I couldn’t believe he wasn’t a paid staff person with all his posts & handy ROTR pdf’s…what a guy!). I’ve practiced probably 40 times with a 90% success rate so knew I’d probably get it but had DW ready (not super pumped and confident in me) with an extra few phones…so we had DD13 as the countdown-er from time.gov…and it hit me from someone else’s trip report to queue up another device with my log in for DS14 to try too…these youth and their technology. Sure enough, DW and I clicked too early, and DS14 snagged BG21. He was quite proud…I think there’s a chance I would’ve been able to get it with the back button…but glad we didn’t need to worry about it! As mentioned earlier, the cell signal was non-existent in our room and the wifi tested great…no issues.
We walked to the SkyLiner around 7:30 and it was a monster line wrapped back through part of Pop’s building…really tho, it moved quickly, and even with the build up at Caribbean, it got us to HS by 8ish. We lined up in a fairly big line on the right tent (definitely the shorter line), and they let us all through around 8:12am. We weren’t close to the front, but we weren’t stressed. Enjoyed the views of Hollywood Blvd, and went right to RNRC…it makes sense to me to do this first since it’s such a fast ride! We were on the first set of limos on the ride…been forcing the whole fam to listen to Aerosmith’s greatest hits for weeks…forgot the ride is over in like 90 seconds! Guess we didn’t need to get to the deep cuts about making love in elevators…sorry kids!
DS8 was a bit freaked by such a wild ride at the beginning and said he was done with coasters for Disney. Good start! But remember, part of how we Disney is being willing to try things. Next to TOT which I really wanted to do right away since the lines have been all sorts of long over the last few months if they only run one side. Simple wait, and we’d knocked both out before 9am…kids were now realizing the fun in store. Quick stop at Starbucks (Trolley Car) for coffee and the first snack. Carrot Cake Cookie! First, it shouldn’t be called a cookie (DW thinks it should be called a Carrot Cake Topper). Second, not easy to eat with hands only. Third, kids weren’t crazy about it, but DW and I both liked it! Mad props to the Liners who focused on snacks and food to give some great tips (and maps) for all the snacks!!! It came in handy all week.
Next up, Star Tours…wanted to sneak this in before the boarding group got called. I didn’t want them to experience Rise first and then go to an older Star Wars ride. Turns out though, we all LOVED Star Tours. I don’t remember it hardly at all from the 90’s, and we loved the updating of the new Trilogy. Exceeded expectations. DS14 naturally left his new Disney hat on the ride but didn’t realize it until we asked where his hat was right before we boarded ROTR.
No spoilers about ROTR, but I was so excited to do this with the kids. The ride blew my mind back in 2020. Today, when we walked out to the first Imperial reveal, everyone’s mouth’s dropped, and DD13 said, “wow, what a cool ride! now what?” She thought that was the end!!! Needless to say, we all loved it.
DS14 and I went back for the hat. CM’s are so great. Helped get it back, and we caught up with the crew as they took in Galaxy’s Edge. We had done our Docking Bay lunch order on the skyliner over…really wouldn’t have ended up at Docking Bay without all the Liner encouragement, and it was great. Five of us shared the ribs, pot roast, and chicken tip yip…mind you, we brought a lot of snacks and already had carrot cake and a Mickey pretzel. The Docking Bay theming is awesome, our first mobile order experience (fine to say prepare my food if you’re a minute or two away), and well spaced in the restaurant. Finishing lunch at 11:45am and having a 1:40 Savi’s reservation had the TP a bit puzzled. It didn’t give us a ride in between, so we dinked in Galaxy’s Edge, saw Chewy and Kylo, and tried blue milk (so good!).
Then, we wanted to shop in the Galaxy Edge market…and let me say, the only stupid COVID line at Disney was right here…why on Earth will they allow an infinite number of people shop in any end of ride shop (like Star Tours) but only let one family at a time into each open aired shop in Galaxy’s Edge? We waited over 30 minutes to get into the shopping area and gave up…not worth it, so dumb. (rant over). We didn’t follow the touring plan b/c we wanted to sneak in a ride before Savi’s so did Slinky Dog…TP time underestimated here, but it was okay. With all the adventure we’ve done, SDD doesn’t quite thrill the teens…but Toy Story Land is so cute and well designed.
DS8 and I went to Savi’s while the other three went back to the Star Wars shopping market (guess how that went?). Let’s say I’m glad I was at Savi’s…heard it was good (and it better be for $240 or whatever after taxes!) and oh man, it delivers. These are the cast members I love the most. Actors and actresses at heart who really care about how they deliver the message. DS8 loved it, and I was nearly in tears. The lightsaber is basically as tall as him, but he was a proud kid the rest of the day.
Waited too long to make the 2:30 Frozen show (whoops!), so did TS Mania…then came back for Elsa and company. Felt hard to time when to get in line for a show…touring plan didn’t seem to account for that. On that show, I think you should buffer at least 20 minutes. The pre-show for Frozen seemed like the only one that should be about 10 minutes longer…it played like 8 times in 30 minutes. But the real show is great, and the ending brings me to tears (is this just exhaustion or what?).
We walk through the pre-show of Walt Disney Presents since DW and I watched the Imagineers (so good!) and then did spinning Aliens (not me…I like my churros and frozen lemonade inside me) before heading to our 5:10 SciFi reservation…I was pumped for this since we didn’t get the ADR until the Friday before our trip. Mousedining came thru multiple times in the last 8 days before our trip. SciFi, so random! We try to be a no tech at meals family, so why not just all sit facing a B&W screen watching random old timey clips? DW and I enjoyed our private-ish dinner while we all scarfed great burgers/fried pickles/salad. All five got entrees here, and we needed it. Really enjoyed it!
Then did MMRR…that is such a great ride. The technology is so cool, and it’s so Disney. We loved it. Getting off that at 6:30pm, we had a 7:10 Oga’s reservation (thanks TP Res. Finder and people who suggested finding times late when the park hours were being adjusted!!!) with the park closing at 8pm…and we hadn’t ridden MFSR! The touring plan thought we’d be able to squeeze them both in but the lines were longer than expected…but wouldn’t Han try too? TP said we could likely be done with MFSR by 7:16 but it was more like 7:35. Honestly, I think the best part of the ride is seeing the Falcon out front and walking through the inside of the Falcon. Everyone in our party didn’t even really understand the ride…all preferred Star Tours.
So our Oga’s reservation had been cancelled.
But we want up there, and they said they could take us if we were okay standing. Yes, please! It was a win. DD13 loved it (how do I parent her not to love bars quite yet?), and the tab was about the same price as dinner…geesh! Good thing we’re not worried about food and drink costs on this trip (keep saying it, self).
So fun to exit as the park winds down…it wasn’t dark but dusk, so DS8 couldn’t wait to bust out the lightsaber around the park…even survived a drop!
The SkyLiner line was super long…we wondered if we should’ve taken a bus instead (answer is probably yes), but it moves pretty quick, and we were on a Disney high. A great first full day.
DS8 lobbied hard for night swimming but we used the force to convince him otherwise…we’d be getting up early to rope drop Universal for a two-park day…good idea? Stay tuned!
Not sure how they communicated that, really. The wand picked her, and his characteristics for her really were spot on. She asked if we gave them info ahead of time…LOL!
