Galaxy's Edge

We slept pretty well after our long first day, and then I was up a little before 7 to be ready to reserve our first ride of the day at Hollywood Studios. This is the park that has Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, which was one of our top big must-sees of the trip. The hot, new ride is Rise of the Resistance (RoR), which immerses you in a mission, and it's not available for reservations unless you pay an additional $15 per person! Ugh, but since this was probably our only trip to WDW, I was up to pay to make sure we could do that one. I was also told that Slinky Dog Dash (SDD) was a not-to-miss rollercoaster that we should reserve, which I could do along with the paid reservation for RoR. Amazingly, I clicked on SDD to reserve it right at 7AM for an early evening time (already!), then went to RoR reservations, but by the time the wheel stopped spinning, it showed up as completely booked out all day! And this was at 7:02AM! Not a great start to our day...again.

But now we knew we had to rope drop (get to the ride right as it opened early for resort guests) RoR, because its wait times can get up to 3-4 hours as the day progresses! Up and at 'em kids! The park opened at 8AM, so we got dressed, grabbed breakfast on the go, and headed to the bus stop, hoping they had fixed the bus issues from yesterday. Success! We got to the park in time to line up for rope drop, and once through, we ran all the way to the back of the park where the RoR line was already queuing up. It was nice and humid from the overnight rain. I think we waited probably 30-45 minutes, but it wasn't too bad because they had some interesting things to look at in the line and atmosphere to take in. And best of all, we were here! We made it!!

Finally, it was our turn. We entered a room where BB-8 showed us some information and a hologram of Rey explained our mission and the secret location of the rebel base (don't tell anyone!!)

Unfortunately, our transport got caught in a tractor beam, and we became prisoners of the First Order. We were brought aboard a star destroyer, escorted by storm troopers, put in a holding cell where Kylo Ren tried to read our minds, busted out by resistance fighters, and attempted to escape under the guise of prisoners being transported. Let's just say we were discovered, chased by Kylo Ren, shot at by AT-ATs, made a narrow escape, and crash landed on a safe planet. Whew! It was an awesome ride!

After our escape, we decided to try our luck on Smuggler's run on the fabulous Millennium Falcon. 

We waited less than 30 minutes before we were on board and headed to the cockpit. 

We were with 3 college-age bros who were assigned as two pilots and one gunner, which left a gunner for us (Owen) and two engineers (H and me). This ride is like a giant video game with scenery flying by the window and the cockpit shaking and jolting with each collision. Each position has to push flashing buttons in time to secure a payload and smuggle it successfully for a payday. Our pilots were decent, but Owen was a superior gunner, and Hadley and I were excellent engineers, if I do say so.

Next up was exploring Batuu and having some blue milk, a la Luke Skywalker. There was a ton of people milling around, but it was still a neat set up with ships and characters and themed shops. These two stormtroopers were questioning a toddler about her known associates.

We squeezed in a quick Star Tours (which was the original Star Wars ride), piloted by C3PO and slightly nauseating, and then headed back for Hadley's droid assembly reservation. Our planner recommended this and reserved it for us 60 days prior to our trip. Hadley got to pick out a droid design and then physically pick out the pieces to assemble from the conveyor belt. Her original choice was a blue BB-8 design, but we discovered that style didn't come in that color, so she ended up with a First Order-esque all-black BB-8, which she dubbed BB-9.

She got to assemble it and "activate" it, and now she can control BB-9 with the touch of a button.

After some more walking around, it was starting to warm up, so we headed inside for Muppets 3D and came across a cool Star Wars exhibit with some replicas of original concept art and models. 

I checked our reservations, but some of the rides were already out to 8:30pm or 9, so I booked a Toy Story Mania for 6pm near our SDD time. Soon, it was time for our lunch reservation, so we checked in and waited for our table. It was at a 50's style diner, but really it was set up like a house from the 1950's. They served stuff like chicken noodle soup and meatloaf, and we couldn't pass up the peanut butter chocolate cake.

After lunch, we walked over to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which was about to start. Unbelievably, it was Standing Room Only, so the kids and I ended up standing on the very back row. My feet were already so tired. It was an entertaining show re-creating some of the movie's famous scenes and showing how the sets came together and stunt actors practiced and used mats for safety.

After that, we had a big gap in our day (until a few things at 5:45-6:45pm), and it was hot, so we decided to try out the 'go back to the hotel in the afternoon' trick for a nap/swim/relax time. We actually all crashed back at the hotel for an hour or so, and then headed back for Owen's lightsaber reservation. This was another reservation that our planner made for us 60 days out, as it's a hot ticket. Owen is showing off his hot ticket.

Our guide told us several SW Dad jokes while we waited. (The only one I can remember was the worst one - Why does Leia wear her hair in two big buns? So it doesn't Hang Solo.) Once inside, Owen took his place and we heard a very moving speech by a master saber craftsman about the history and symbolism of the lightsaber. Owen got to pick from among four styles of saber (Peace and Justice, Elemental Nature, etc.), and he chose Power and Control and a RED crystal. Yikes! 

He assembled the hilt, and under low lighting, the lightsaber was forged, and the group withdrew their rainbow assortment of newly crafted lightsabers.

Directly afterward, we had a change of scenery in Toy Storyland for our 7AM-reserved Slinky Dog Dash coaster (fun!), followed by Toy Story Mania (a shoot 'em up game - also fun!).  We didn't have much luck with reservations for the other 3 big rides at the park (Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, Rock'n'rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror), and they had >hour waits all day long, which we weren't very interested in doing. So we walked through a Walt Disney history exhibit and called it a day.

Back in our room with our new droid and saber! We finally managed to get a swim in at the hotel that night, too. But, just a short one because we needed our rest.