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Read about Day 2 here. We actually did a lot on this day, but the bulk of our time was spent in the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge section of the Magic Kingdom. In Florida, this new land is in Hollywood Studios, and that makes more sense than having it in the Magic Kingdom. In California, it makes more sense to put it in their California Adventure park, but they have serious real estate issues. So into the Magic Kingdom it went. Our plan was to rope drop the park (get there before it opened) and position ourselves to sprint to Star Wars land. It wasn't a magic morning, so we were in place at 7:30am and in the park waiting for the 8am park opening. Our objective was to ride Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run.  In the queue for Smuggler's Run.  Every detail is AMAZING.  There she is! The Millennium Falcon! Galaxy's Edge (aka Star Wars Land) is set on the fictional planet of Batuu. The details are over the top amazing. You really and truly do leave the park behind and enter another place. For example, the cast members will say "bright suns!" instead of "hello" because that's what they do. I've heard they say "rising moons" at night, but we were only there during the day. Another thing I read before I went and was curious about was the lack of music. Each land in Disneyland has its own soundtrack that sets the tone for that land. On Batuu, there is no music, just ambient noise. Some people say it sounds "sterile" and that something is missing. Not for this family! We thought the sounds of various space craft buzzing overhead, or the rumbling from the Millennium Falcon etc really made us feel like we were on the planet and not just in another land at Disney. When we joined the queue for Smuggler's Run, the quoted time was 45 minutes. Not bad!    These photos were all from the queue. You wind your way through a docking bay? Cargo bay? I forget. Anyway, there is so much to look at, you hardly feel like you are waiting at all. And the whole time they are paging people to various places, and making announcements like you would expect to hear in a space port. We loved it.  Then you make it to the pre-show. This guy, forgot his name, needs you to go on a smuggling run for the resistance. Once you know what you are doing, you board the Millennium Falcon and are assigned a job for the mission. There are 6 jobs, which means a family of 4 will be assigned 2 other crew members. This is an issue, in my opinion, because the 4 jobs are NOT equal. There are 2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers. Rob and Ryan were assigned pilot, Anne and I were the gunners, and then 2 very nice gentleman were assigned to be our engineers. I felt really bad for these guys, who appeared to be a father and son. They had stood in line for 45 minutes, just like us, then they were stuck being a job that essentially pushes 1 button towards the end. Had I known this when we were assigned the jobs, I would have made Ryan give up his pilot slot and I would have given the other guy my gunner job. Also, I love my son, but a 7 year old cannot fly the Millennium Falcon. One pilot controls up and down, the other controls left and right. It's a tough way to fly, and Ryan wasn't up to the task (but he had a fabulous time). Anne and I were pretty good gunners, if I do say so myself. Those complaints aside, the ride is FANTASTIC. Rob usually gets sick on motion simulators, but since he was a pilot and in control of the movement, he was fine. Our adrenaline was pumping from the minute the ship took off. So much fun! Then we exited the ride, and it was hilarious. In true Disney fashion, the theming continues into the exit, and the hallway lights reflect how you did. Since our co-pilot wasn't that great, the lights were flashing and some of them were out. A cast member warned us that we might not be allowed to take the Falcon out again if we can't take better care of her (wink, wink).  Just like being on the real thing!  You stand on these things on the floor once your job is assigned.  That's no moon!  Our pilot can barely see over the controls! Back in October when we visited, Smuggler's Run was the only ride open. Now Rise of the Resistance is also open. Guess we need to plan for another trip! Ride accomplished, we wandered around the land a bit. Don't worry, this wasn't our only visit to Batuu.  Isn't this bathroom an amazing feat of theming?  Static display of space craft.  Chewbacca was just finishing up a photo op and we missed him. But, he grabbed Anne's hand and walked along with us for a minute!  Chewbacca was so cool. No photo can capture the impact of this interaction, but I think Anne's dimples are a clue. We headed back to Earth from Batuu at 9am and the park was already really crowded. So much for low crowds in October! I think part of what makes the California parks feel so crowded is that they occupy less acreage than the Florida parks. It might have been the same amount of people, but there was less land for them to spread out on. Here's what we rode that morning:
Another thing that makes California seem more crowded is the lines. Wait, what? Since the weather is better in Southern California, most of the queues are outdoors, while the Florida queues are inside, air conditioned, and hidden. I think psychologically speaking, seeing all the lines makes it feel more crowded.  The Haunted Mansion.  Our faces. Priceless.  If you know, you know. It was now time for lunch. We decided on the French Market and it was just ok. I had a shrimp po' boy and that is all I remember. Wait, I do remember they had this fantastic looking cake that we passed on and I wish we had tried it. Life is short, eat the cake. After lunch we rode a few more rides.
 My sunglasses broke right before this ride, hence the squinting.   Check out Ryan giving Anne the side eye. Now it was time to return to Batuu for a visit to Oga's Cantina. If you've ever wished you could have a drink at the Mos Eisley, you need to book a trip to the world and visit Oga's Cantina. It isn't an exact replica of the movie, because you are on Batuu and not Tatooine. But the vibe is the same. Plus, this is the only place in the Magic Kingdom you can have an adult beverage. At the time of our visit, you could only get in with a reservation and I booked ours 2 weeks out. Oga's offers some local beers, fantastic fantasy cocktails, and blue milk. Yup, just like Luke drinks.  Storm troopers patrol Galaxy's Edge looking for rebels. They asked to see our identification, but once we were deemed safe, they obliged us with a photo.  All of the signs in Galaxy's Edge are written in the language of Batuu. If you don't know what things are, they aren't really helpful.  This is DJ R3X, the droid who keeps the tunes spinning.  Lots of cool details behind the bar.  Blue Milk, Rob's beer, and my drink, the Yub Nub. Now for our drink reviews. Rob got a beer because he wanted to check in a beer on UnTapped. You get cool points or something for every beer you check in, and this is the only place in the Magic Kingdom you can drink, so this was a unique check in. The blue milk was... interesting. You can also get it at a stand outside of Oga's Cantina. It tasted like tropical, fruity milk, which is just an odd combination. My kids drank it all and our waiter said they were the only ones he had ever seen finish it. The cookie thing sitting on top was good. My Yub Nub was really good. It is a mix of rums, citrus juices, and passion fruit seeds. I wasn't going to order it, because it is quite pricy, but you get to keep this awesome Endor themed tiki glass. I'm glad Rob talked me into it, because I enjoyed the drink and I have no regrets about my awesome souvenir glass. Overall we loved our visit to Oga's, but beware. They do not want you to stay long. As in, you have 45 minutes to order, drink and get out. They make this easier by not providing most people with seats. There are some banquet style seats around the room, but they only seat larger parties there, I think. That means the four of us were in standing room only. When kids have tired legs, this isn't fun. Understandably, they got a tad whiney.  Poor kids. Still smiling though! When our 45 minutes were up, we headed out to see more of the cool details. If this were an adults only trip, we would have spent hours just looking at things. Kids are slightly less patient. One cool thing we saw was the Droid Depot, where you can build a custom droid that is controlled by bluetooth. Next time we will budget for that, two of them would have cost as much as our cabana. Yikes!!   6 going on 16.  Hey kids! Pose with the $25,000 R2-D2 mech! Our Star Wars thirst slaked, we left Batuu and rode the Mark Twain Riverboat and Anne got to meet Princess Tiana.  Our next stop was Tomorrowland where we stood in line for an hour to ride the Nemo Subs. Then we saw that everything had an hour wait and decided to head back to the hotel. It was 4pm and we had been in the park since a little before 8am. That is a record for us! On the way out, I bought our Schneider family traditional Mickey head rice crispy treats.  This picture doesn't adequately portray the smell inside this submarine.  I never thought I would see the day my kids could go for more than 8 hours in a theme park with no stroller. Dinner that night was poolside, while the kids swam off their pent up energy. I'm not sure where the energy came from, I was exhausted! Continue reading about our adventure here.
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