This morning we were able to get out to the Skyliner by 7:15am, securing a better spot in the line closer to the front for when the gondolas opened up.
I had ventured off into the bushes, closer to the waterfront, to get the previous picture, and in doing so walked through a bunch of these stick, plant thingies that cemented themselves into my leg hair. That was a ton of fun ripping off.
Looking for more turtles in the weeds.
Boarding the Skyliner for Hollywood Studios.
We got to the security gate in record time, but for whatever reason both Erik and I had our backpacks flagged this morning (not sue how) and we had to wait while they meticulously went through each pocket and compartment. So that was fun.
One of the girls got this pick of a couple crows sitting ominously atop Mickey Mouse.
Another selfie for social media.
A quick pic of the girls before we began our powerwalk back towards Galaxy's Edge for our 'Rope Drop' ride.
Heading down the main drag at the front of the park (not sure what it's called here, but at Magic Kingdom it's Main Street U.S.A.)
We veered left and cut around this random dinosaur as we waled towards the back, left area of the park.
Indiana Jones' Stunt Spectacular, which we didn't do this year (if you've seen it once, there's no real need to see it again, as much as I do love me some Indiana Jones.)
Heading into the tunnel that leads to Galaxy's Edge, the Star Wars section of Hollywood Studios.
If Coca-Cola machines existed in Star Wars, they'd look like this.
Our Rope Drop ride this morning was Rise of the Resistance, one of the biggest rides in all of Disney World, with wait times that usually hovers around two hours.
We would have been able to walk right on to the ride, which would've been sweet, but Courtney fell behind and we had to stand at the front of the line for five minutes or so as crowds streamed into the ride ahead of us. Erik was pissed, but she caught up to us eventually and we finally made our way into the queue.
Like any of the newer rides here at Disney, this one is beyond impressive and totally immersive. I didn't mind waiting in line at all.
The whole 'vibe' of this ride is you're a Rebel operating out of a secret, Rebel base, so lining the cave walls of this base were several lockers containing military gear and what-not.
Blaster rifles.
Non-stop picture-taking and video-recording whenever in Star Wars land, folks - that's a rule.
Flight suits for Rebel pilots.
At intervals throughout the line there were animatronicStar Wars characters adding to the ride's backstory, such as BB-8 from the god-awful Sequel movies.
Me and my old-school Star Wars buddy (Abby went through a phase in elementary school where she was obsessed with Star Wars - I miss it.)
In the end, we only waited in line about 20 minutes, which is crazy considering how popular this ride is (staying on Disney property and getting into the parks an hour early is a god-send.)
The queue ends in this 'hangar bay' with a bunch of ships sitting around awaiting evacuation orders.
The ride starts in this ship, a troop transport, and you file in and stand in a compartment the size of a monorail car.
This guy then 'flies you out' - not sure how you leave this ship, I didn't see a track or anything.
So after you 'take off' from Orlando, Florida and fly into space, you're attacked by First Order warships and eventually caught into one of their tractor beams.
When the doors to the ship open up, you'd expect to be right where you left off, but you're somehow in a completely different location, facing dozens of stormtroopers. It's a jaw-dropping moment to walk into something like this, totally immersive and a must-see moment for any Star Wars fan.
Abby and I had to grab a quick selfie before we were led off by Imperial soldiers into the second part of the ride.
Rise of the Resistance
After the ride, which was incredible, we exited out into a destroyed hangar bay.
(The Cannoball's 'theme' today was Spider-Man.)
The girls in front of what, I assume, is a non-operational X-Wing fighter.
Erik and I had to get one, too. Obviously.
Smuggler's Run - the Millennium Falcon ride that's easily in my top-three rides at Disney World - only had a twenty-minute wait time, so we opted to knock that one out before the line got too long later in the day (and we were right there in Galaxy's Edge anyway.) To get there, we had to cut through the 'market,' which is filled with various souvenir stores (that we skipped for the time being, we were on a mission.
An old Jedi fighter from the Clone Wars.
Crowds were super thin this morning, seeing how the general public wasn't allowed into the park just yet.
Frickin' love the aesthetic of this place.
Checking in on wait times.
Behold: the Millennium Falcon. I made it a point this year to pick a MagicBand that featured this iconic ship.
The line starts directly behind the ship. And, as always, I took a bunch of pictures and video of the stuff around the queue (and Kris made fun of me, 'cause she's a wife.)
Line was moving pretty fast, though - I doubt we spent 20 minutes in that line, probably closer to 10.
I forget the backstory to this ride - something about you smuggling parts and what-not for the Resistance.
Random ship hardware, lying around either side of the line.
Top view of the Falcon as we continued on through the queue.
Towards the end of the line, this guy gives you your orders for the Mission - stealing coaxium fule from the Resistance.
Entering the Falcon. This part of the line gives you CHILLS.
There weren't as many people in the line as last time, so we were able to get better pictures of the interior of the Falcon this time around.
Finally got a picture of myself at this gaming table from the movies. Cross that one of the ol' Bucket List.
Moving on towards the cockpit.
Watching the last pre-flight video (you know, total 'immersion' and all that.)
The cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
Erik and I insisted on flying the Falcon as pilots, being the oldest Star Wars fans on hand, and everyone relented and let us live out our childhood dreams.
Kris took pics - and video - of me the entire ride, as she knows this is one of my absolute favorite things in the world.
Erik was responsible for the left-to-right flying, and I was responsible for the up-and-down flying (and jumping to lightspeed.)
This is the closest one can get to Heaven on earth. Not getting married, not having kids. This.
Comin' in hot
Jumping to lightspeed.
Not the greatest score, but at least we were confirmed to be the pirates we are.
The rest of the crew (gunners and engineers.)
Mission Accomplished
Abby and a Sarlac that we spotted on our way off the Falcon.
Back in Galaxy's Edge after our adventure into space (but not really.)
The crowds weren't too bad in this area of the park yet, so we decided to get our family-in-front-of-the Falcon pics out of the way.
The Houghs and the Millennium Falcon
The Johnsons
Think this is a vending machine?
The girls wanted to continue knocking out big rides since wait times were still pretty reasonable this early in the morning, so we set off to leave Galaxy's Edge (for the time being.)
Abby and I in front of Kylo Ren's personal ship.
We had to pass through neighboring Toy Story Land on our way to the north side of the park.
We didn't end up doing any rides here in Toy Story land this year. They're only so-so anyway, and geared towards younger kids. Even with halfway reasonable wait times, we deemed it not worth it.
By this point in time it was 9:30am, and the park was open to the general public - we could expect longer wait times from now.
The girls really wanted to do this ride (it's one of Alayna's favorite rides at Disney World), so Kris and I offered to go on it with them (Erik and Courtney had zero interest in doing it - they're not much for thrill rides.)
This one isn't going to be around for very much longer - they're refurbishing it to be the new, big Muppets ride (which is a hell of a lot cooler than frickin' Aerosmith.)
Had to wait like 20 minutes in line for this one, which wasn't horrible (but more than I'd prefer for a mid-tier ride - in my opinion - that's over in 30 seconds.)
Alayna took a video of the start of the ride.
This is apparently the 'studio' where Aerosmith writes all their shitty music.
Aerosmith's (*blegh*) Rock n' Roller Coaster
They got a solid shot of us accelerating to top speed at the beginning of the ride.
Kris sat next to some kid who willing to replicate the same pose we were doing.
Exit through the gift shop
Record-esque manhole covers outside of the ride.
These five wanted to do Tower of Terror, which was right next door. A 40-minute wait time, but it was only going to get worse throughout the day, so Erik and I parted ways with them and headed back into the central area of the park.
Walking back to Hollywood Studios' main strip.
We popped into a couple souvenir stores along the way, but didn't find anything worth picking up (per the usual.)
Soooo is this like a restaurant or something?
Waiting in line for this gut-churning ride (which I will never, ever go on.)
Erik and I decided to do Star Tours (which we would end up doing like three times throughout the day, since there's usually no line to speak of, rarely over 5 minutes, since it's over-shadowed by the other, more impressive Star Wars rides in Galaxy's Edge.)
Passing underneath a giant AT-AT.
I've never had to move through this queue that passes back and forth underneath this Ewok Village before - like I aid earlier, we always just walk straight on.
We waited for like 25-30 minutes this time around, which was fine seeing how the womenfolks' wait time was even worse and we were just killing time anyway.
Meanwhile, back in line at the Tower of Terror, the queue was snaking around the (I assume) haunted lobby of the Hollywood Hotel.
This ride has something to do with the Twilight Zone, but having never been on the ride personally, I'm not sure how exactly.
Erik and I were now indoors, and moving in the line past these two, familiar faces.
Backside view of the lobby.
Can you tell they're scared?
I'm all about the animatronic Star Wars characters, folks.
. . . though, considering how Anthony Daniels hasn't really had that much of a career outside being C-3PO, that could very well be him inside a droid suit. Each day, every day, for decades.
Getting ready to be hurled up and down on this 'elevator' ride.
The Tower of Terror
(They're in the back, right corner.)
Every time you do this ride, you travel through two, randomized planets from the Star Wars movies and shows. We struck out this first time, flying through two planets from the horrible Sequels. Oh well.
Star Tours
Once again, exiting through the Gift Shop. . .
This shop is fun to poke around in, but neither of us bought anything here (the things that were kinda cool could be picked up on Amazon for half the price.)
Exiting Tattooine Traders, Erik and I went to go meet up with our families, who were by now getting off their ride and wanting some lunch.
We stopped into this quick-service joint for lunch, which was themed after the studio commissary at ABC.
Never seen someone prop their phone up like that before. . .
Went with healthy food today - didn't want my gut acting up on vacation (I'm that old.)
The Cannonball enjoys taking pictures of every, fancy drink she orders on this vacation (as I'm sure you've noticed by now.)
Now that lunch - and all the big rides - were done, it was time to mop up all the smaller, less-exciting rides.
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (formerly The Great Movie Ride) was next on the agenda.
With a 40-minute wait time, it wasn't ideal by any means. . . especially because a lot of the queue was outside in the sun (and the sun was at its apex for the day.)
Our group barely spoke to one another while standing out in the sun, it was probably the worst part of our day - the heat was unbearable. And I used to live in Africa.
Inside the air-conditioned section of the queue (FINALLY.)
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
That ride was NOT worth the horrendous line we had just waited in, but there was nothing we could do about it now. We decided to do some shorter lines - in air-conditioning - to get back into the swing of things.
Hitting up Star Tours again (now a much-more-reasonable 5-minute wait.)
I could take pictures of Star Wars stuff at this park all damn day, I swear to God.
Ewok spears.
Say hi to Anthony Daniels, kids.
Whoever voiced this robot needs to be hunted down and murdered.
Didn't get a pic of the sign to the gift shop when Erik and I went on the ride before. So there you go.
At this point in the early afternoon, we had an hour or so to kill before our drink reservations at Olga's Cantina (more to come on that in a bit.) Erik and I - and the girls - were all about staying in Galaxy's Edge, checking out shops and cool shit, but the wives didn't wanna do that.
So Erik and I did the whole My Two Dads thing, taking on all three kids, while Kris and Courtney walked off to get some frozen, iced coffees from a Starbucks or some shit.
Putzed around in the droid shop for awhile. Nobody wanted to buy anything in there, but it's cool to check out.
Inside the shop.
Medical droid from The Emprie Strikes Back and K-2S0 (from Andor).
We left the droid shop and ventured through the marketplace. . .
The girls wanted to poke around in some of the shps, so Erik and I swung by this drink station to pick up a couple of hte famous 'colored milk' drinks from the movies.
I went with blue (as always), which is made with rum, while Erik went with the tequila-based green.
Setting off to find the girls. . .
Alayna was looking for something to pick up for her Star Wars-loving boyfriend, Sebastian, and eventually settled on a little AT-AT statue.
Time for another Snapchat selfie. . .
Mini-bikes (I assume.)
This is a super-cool gift shop, but it's primarily outfits and dress-up shit for mega-nerds. I love me some Star Wars a lot, but not enough to dress up like it (outside Halloween, of course.)
Some sweet mounts up on the wall in here.
A Hammerhead runs this joint. Just in case you were curious.
Heading back to a meeting a point in order to rendezvous with the wives, we passed through a cool-looking snack/seating area.
Waiting for the wives.
We had a reservation for Olga's Cantina, which is a bad-ass, Star Wars-themed bar that only sells drinks and small snacks. It's so awesome that you have to have a reservation for your group, since otherwise the place would be packed all day.
We had another twenty minutes to kill, so spotted a professional photographer in front of the Millennium Falcon and decided to have him shoot our groups for a bit.
Houghs and Johnsons
(He asked us to pretend like we were using the Force - we're not grabbing for boobs or whatever.)
Couple pics in front of the 'Falcon
Kris, shitting her pants.
Erik and Courtney
(Courtney doesn't seem as impressed as Kris was.)
Next it was the girls' turn to get their pic taken in front of Han Solo's ride. . .
(Ella looks like she's about to beat someone's ass here. . . )
Using the Force.
With some more professional PhotoPass pics under our belt, we checked back in to the entrance to Olga's to see if our table was ready yet.
It's not pictured in this post, but I ordered a custom-made wooden sign of this design off Etsy for my home bar after seeing the cantina's logo (and to commemorate our time in the bar, which was definitely one of the highlights of our day at Hollywood Studios.)
The Cannonball takes some more 0.5x pics of the people standing around her.
We had to stand around for like 10 minutes outside the entrance before our party was called. It was hot as holy hell out still, and there was zero shade to speak of. So that was fun.
The Johnsons (feat. Abby.)
Entering Olga's Cantina, at long last.
Jaw-dropping interior in this place - reminds one of the cantina on Tattooine (I'm sure that was the point.)
We got a table and had a few minutes to peruse the drink menus (the kids occupied themselves with their phones the entire time, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.)
Erik and I were like kids in a candy store at this place. Tons of Star Wars-themed cocktails (and beers) to choose from here.
Adult drinks.
Kid drinks.
We ended up having to share our table with three, random strangers (the tables were huge and availability inside was scarce.) We ignored each other for the most part, but they obliged to take a pic of our group at one point.
Wives
The story behind this dude is he's the droid that used to pilot the Star Tours ride (before they made C-3PO the 'pilot' of Star Tours) before he was fired for incompetence. Now he's a DJ working at Olga's.
Jet Juice (made from Maker's Mark Bourbon Whiskey - which we checked out on Brocation '23.)
The kids got some CRAZY drinks - stuff with dry-ice at the bottom that bubbled and fizzed, or that had boba balls in it that temporarily number the inside of your mouth.
Kris was nice enough to take multiple pics of Erik and I in here, knowing that we're both big fans of Star Wars. . . and booze.
At the bar itself.
Alayna, Kris and that washed-up, former pilot.
After two rounds at Olga's, we stepped out back into the furnace that is Central Florida in late June.
Stormtroopers harassing local tourists. Abby tried in vain to get a pic with them, but they wouldn't stand still long enough for her to go up and ask them.
As we were leaving Galaxy's Edge, the skies opened up and a monsoon broke. . .
The heavy rain soon turned this walkway into a (very) shallow lake.
People crowded under any shelter they could, like these people hiding under this archway (we were hiding under something similar.)
As with any summer day down here in Florida, the rain was intense, but short-lived - within 15 minutes the rain was done and we headed back up towards the front of the park.
Kris and Abby in front of the iconic Great Movie Ride whatever it is now.
And one with Alayna and Courtney
Damn, Kris really likes taking pictures in front of this thing. I shouldn't talk shit, though - I'm the same way with the Millennium Falcon.
The group consensus was we would head back to the resort for a few hours - let the kids rest, let the wives get in the pool and cool off, etc. - before returning to Hollywood Studios for the nightly light show.
The Johnsons wanted to recreate this picture of Ella leaning on this dragon head (which I guess she does every time they've come here over the last decade.)
Abby snapped a few pics of this little pond-thingy while we were standing around contemplating our next move.
Hey, look. A duck.
Erik resurfaced randomly with a couple beers, just as the wives and kids were setting off for the Skyliner. Beer - any drinks, really - isn't allowed on these, so Erik and I had to stand around like a couple of weirdos, finishing our beers outside the security gate.
Our view while we were people-watching and drinking by ourselves.
We eventually boarded a gondola and set off on the return journey to Pop Century.
Spotted the Epcot ball on our slow crawl over the parking lots and other resorts.
Back in the room, the girls had clearly been influenced by day spent in Galaxy's Edge.
By the time Erik and I got back to the room, the wives were already suited up and down in the '50s pool. We grabbed a couple drinks and headed down that way to soak our feet in the pool and plan out the rest of our evening.
About an hour later, we got ready, changed back into our park outfits, and headed back down to the Skyliner.
No line to speak of at this time of the day.
At least it wasn't so frickin' hot out now that the rain had cooled things off.
When we got back to the park, the girls ventured off to hit more of the big rides (for some reason cutting through Galaxy's Edge to get to Tower of Terror - don't ask.) When I pulled up our Life360 app, I saw that the image that Google Maps had for this part of the park was years old (you can see the Millennium Falcon is still under construction at this point.
Us adults were ride'd out, and didn't want to spend any more time sitting in line. Kris and I headed farther into the park to get a beer and snack at this Baseline Taproom (Adam's favorite bar at Disney World, since it's based on printing and whatever.)
The Johnsons had been notified earlier that their flight home had been cancelled by American Airlines (remember all the difficulty they had getting down here in the first place?) They spent the first half-hour back in the park on a random bench, straightening everything out with the airlines. Eventually they were put on a flight home at a reasonable time (they were flying out tomorrow in the late afternoon, a day before we were set to depart.)
Back in Galaxy's Edge, the girls passed by just in time to see a some of those small, mini-shows where a handful of Imperial soldiers interrogate passersby about Rebel locations, etc.
The big dude (from the Sequels) rolls in, being all pissed and not-as-cool-as-Vader.
Waiting in line for Tower of Terror (which only had a half-hour wait time.)
Kris requested a picture of herself holding all these gay balloons.
The adults started heading towards the nightly Fantasmic show, a nightly spectacle featuring music and lights and a bunch of Disney characters in some giant amphitheater.
The main strip.
Kris and I in front of the same ride our kids were waiting in line for.
A little while later, the girls finally were able to go on their elevator ride (they're at the bottom right this time.)
Once the girls were off the ride, they met us over at the amphitheater, which was filling up quickly in anticipation of the show (which was set to start in 20 minutes.)
This is the only picture we took this evening (courtesy of the Cannonball.)
Fantasmic
I take it back, Abby got one, too.
After the show, we hung back to let the bulk of the crowd file out first.
A quick pic of the girls in front of a bunch of palm trees.
Following the crowds out of the park.
A look back at that building again.
The entrance in sight.
We knew there'd be a long line for the Skyliner by the time we got there, but these lines move fast and we were only waiting for like 15 minutes. Thank God we had rested for a bit back at the resort earlier, otherwise this part would have been excruciating.
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