Hello everyone!! Happy Star Wars Day! Well, I was looking at some pictures on my camera and it dawned on me that I haven’t shared my experience going to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge back in March, which I mentioned here.

It seems like a lifetime ago when we were still in LBC (Life Before Corona). It’s crazy really, my hubby and I were in Disney World Florida in the first few days of March, and at the time there was only a few ‘known’ cases in California and life was pretty much normal everywhere, as Disney’s Hollywood Studios was still packed! In fact, we arrived at the park gate by 7:00am and there was already at least a thousand of people in line waiting to get in! And this was supposed to be a low-crowd day according to several blogs dedicated to Disney World.

They actually allowed us in about 30 minutes before the Park was supposed to open at 8am. By 7:35, we were waiting by the main entrance to Galaxy’s Edge, the most popular area of the Hollywood Studios Park, along with a throng of people. Right at 8AM, we used the My Disney Experience App to get into a virtual queue to get on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It’s truly the pièce de résistance of Galaxy’s Edge, and that’s the only way to get in instead of using the regular FastPass and/or standby lines.

Well, we thought initially we weren’t going to be able to get on the ride at all… more on that later. But first, let me tell you about our experience riding…

The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

One thing we wish we had done weeks prior was to get a FastPass for the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride. Somehow I mistakenly thought there wouldn’t be a huge line to get in as everyone was going to the Ride of the Resistance. Oh well, we had to wait about 90 minutes or so, which wasn’t too bad considering we waited for twice as long to get into Avatar’s Flight of Passage the day before!

Waiting to get inside Han Solo’s plane!

The view from the queueing spot

Sometimes the plane would make some noises

So many fun props to keep us entertained while waiting in line

More fun props!

Finally!! We’re about to get on the ride!

Millennium Falcon’s detailed interior

I was giddy like a school girl even just waiting in line to get into the ride! Disney did a good job entertaining us even as we’re queueing up, as there’s plenty of fun props to gawk at. It’s also quite fun seeing the excitement of people’s faces, especially kids, as they’re about to get on the ride. We loved this ride so much we ended up going twice in one day!

Once we’re done with our first ride on the Millennium Falcon, we took a stroll around the area which is set in the planet Batuu. The park isn’t really that big, but what it lacks in size, it made up in the production design and attention to detail which really immerses you in the experience! The marketplace, which is designed like a Middle Eastern bazaar, which consist not just a myriad of merchandise (like Baby Yoda stuffed toys), but also a ‘pet’ shop filled with some really strange creatures!

One of the most fun parts of Galaxy’s Edge of course is just being at the park and watching/interacting with Star Wars characters who’d show up at random, most notably Kylo with the Storm Troopers, Rey & BB8 and Chewie. They don’t allow people to dress up as SW characters except for young kids.

I didn’t really spend much time in the areas where you can build your own droid or lightsaber (those places are packed w/ kids and adults alike), but I’m glad we got into this popular bar at Planet Batuu…

Oga’s Cantina

We were pretty thirsty by then, thankfully, there were only a dozen people in line in front of us. The cantina’s attendant told us it’s standing-room only since we didn’t make a reservation beforehand, then a few minutes later he escorted us inside. I love the atmosphere of the cantina, inspired by the one in 1977 Star Wars movie.

Oga’s is inspired by the 1977 Star Wars cantina scene. There’s a wisecracking droid DJ right above where we were standing, apparently voiced by Paul Reubens aka Pee-Wee Herman. But of course, the main feature of the place is the cocktails!

The menu, as you can expect, is quite pricey! If you’re into collecting souvenirs, one drink called Yub Nub comes with a souvenir Endor mug, but that’ll set you back $48!

My hubby settled for the most popular drink, the Fuzzy Tauntaun – peach vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice with tangerine, pure cane sugar, and “buzzz” foam (that makes your tongue numb for a while) which cost $16.00 Since I don’t like alcohol, I went with Jabba Juice, a non-alcoholic drink with Orange juice, Pineapple, Kiwi, Cantaloupe, and Blueberry Popping Pearls. It’s only $8.50 and it’s quite yummy!

Now we finally got to the main event…

The Rise of the Resistance

As I mentioned before, we thought initially we wouldn’t be able to get into the ride at all. The boarding group number we got was 85, which was considered the ‘backup’ group. I read in some articles that because there might be some technical issues with the ride, the last boarding group that could get in within a single day would likely be those below #75. I remember feeling really deflated, I said to my hubby, ‘there’s no way we’d get on the ride!’ and we had only bought a one-day admission.

My hubby was more optimistic, and we decided to just find other rides to enjoy while we’re in the park. So we did… and guess what! While waiting on the Star Tours ride, our boarding group was called at around 3pm or so. Basically we got a notification on the My Disney Experience App and we had two hours after our group’s called to get on the ride! Ohhh happy day!!

We had time to get on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride in that two-hour window, which was pretty fun. So we finally got to the Rise of the Resistance ride at around 5pm, and still had to queue for about a half hour or so. By that point I was already so ecstatic that I’d actually get on the ride that I didn’t care. Funny how Disney really made you feel like a kid again and at that point, I was over the moon I could finally get on a ride that’s unlike anything built by Disney before!

The entire ‘ride’ is about 18 minutes long, and billed as a four-ride system that work pretty seamlessly. So there are tons of action going on before we actually get on the ride vehicle itself in a group of eight. As we entered the attraction complex, we’re led to a winding queue through rock formations and trees outside until we reach inside the base. That’s when the real fun begins! A series of animatronics of BB-8 droid and a hologram of Rey tells us about the mission we’re about to embark on. Then we got on a transport ship, which is a standing-room only, piloted by the fish-like creature Nien Nunb and Poe Dameron (woo wee!). But the ship had a run in with the First Order which we could see in the video screens all around us. Before it can make the jump to hyperspace, there’s a battle going on and soon we’re ‘captured’ by the First Order. There’s so much movement inside the ship it was tough to take a photo, but below is a pic of what the transport ship looks like (courtesy of gamespot.com)

It’s truly brilliant how immersive this whole attraction is, no wonder it’s extremely popular. According to this site, this attraction combines 5 million lines of computer code with animatronic figures, physical sets, digital projections and special effects. Not to mention all the props that you can gawk at as you’re waiting in line, like Poe’s uniform, etc. It’s quite a spectacular technical feat, and you can see why the chance of it breaking down is huge even if just one component isn’t working properly!

I think my favorite part is after we’re ‘captured’ by the First Order. Once we disembarked from the Resistance transport ship, we’re led to ‘detention cells’ within the Star Destroyer. Disney’s employees (here they’re appropriately called cast members) bark orders and do their best to stay in character and try to be as intimidating as possible. It’s all comical to us, but some kids are terrified, as the girl in front of me were crying constantly! The poor parents had to convince her that these are all employees in costumes. I overheard one of them say, ‘they have a house and dogs and everything’ Mwahahaha!!

So the dramatic ‘jailbreak’ finally gets us to the ride vehicle itself! It’s a trackless vehicle that seats 8 people. I LOVE this part and the only ‘downside’ is I wish it were longer! It’s the kind of ride you just want to keep going and going… it’s SO. MUCH. FUN. I was in awe of how much details are put into everything… definitely unlike anything I’ve ever riden before at any amusement park. My hubby was able to take a video once we got on the ride vehicle, so you can see for yourself!

Kudos to the Walt Disney Imagineering creative team! That OCR article also stated that the Imagineering team collaborated w/ Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic to create screen-based intergalactic battles that take place in the space windows of the Star Destroyer. It definitely made us feel like we’re part of the Resistance vs First Order story, and not simply a spectator!

I have to say I had a much better experience riding this than watching The Rise of Skywalker, ahah. When things would actually be back to normal again in a year or so, I’d certainly love to go back to Galaxy’s Edge. Perhaps we’ll try the one in Disneyland, CA next time around, but for sure I can’t wait to get on the Rise of the Resistance ride again!

Hope you enjoyed reading my experience to Galaxy’s Edge, it certainly was fun writing it and reminiscing on the fantastic time we had there!

May the Fourth Be With You!