Ok! Time for our 2nd day at Galaxy’s Edge!

If you remember, we were unsuccessful on our first day securing a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance. This is even after Quincy’s advice for the 1 pm queue of switching to military time, getting off the Disney wi-fi, and finding an unpopulated area of the park. That last part is almost impossible, btw.

After watching some YouTube videos and reading some articles, we had a new strategy. I really wanted to get in with that morning queue. For the 7 am queue, you can be anywhere to join. But for the 1 pm one, you have to be in Hollywood Studios which you would think would be good. But, like I said, finding a good signal AND an unpopulated area of the park is difficult.

Plus, I read that they consistently don’t load the last 10 or so groups of the day because they run out of time. And I just didn’t want to stress about it!

Now, buckle up, buttercup because this is was a PROCESS!

Tim and I headed outside our hotel building at 6:45am. I got off the Disney wi-fi and got 4 bars worth of signal pretty much right outside the door. I had the Disney app pulled up on my phone, and Tim’s phone next to me, and I was watching the second hand like a hawk! We realized the night before that his clock changed to the next minute at the 59 second mark. So at 6:59:59, I hit the join button for the virtual queue. For the next 2 screens, I didn’t look at anything and just hit the buttons I needed to as fast as I could. If you stop to read anything, you lose valuable milliseconds! And I got it!! We were in group 75! A high number, but we didn’t care! We were going to ride Rise of the Resistance! Notice the time on that screenshot? Wooo!

With that stress behind us, we hopped on the Skyliner and headed to Hollywood Studios!

We got to the park before it opened, but they still let us in. We headed straight for Smuggler’s Run, and there was already a line forming.

We realized while in line that we were in a part of the park we hadn’t seen on Monday!

Once they opened, the line moved quickly. We might have been in line 20-30 minutes before we were able to ride. We had the same roles as the first time, Tim and I were pilots, and Tabitha was a gunner. But, Tim and I switched spots, so he got to make the jump to lightspeed. (Tabitha still yelled ‘punch it, Chewie!’)

After Smuggler’s Run, we headed to the blue milk station. I don’t know what’s in it, but it’s some kind of frozen concoction. It’s a cool novelty thing to do. But in all honesty, it upset our stomachs, so we. probably wouldn’t ever get it again. We headed to Star Tours and rode that twice.

The character encounters were phenomenal that day! Tabitha had so much fun antagonizing the Stormtroopers, and she was recruited to be a Rebel spy!

We headed back to Smuggler’s Run to ride it again, but this time we had no intention of waiting in the 70 minute line! So, here’s a trick to skip it. If you don’t care about your party being split up or what role you play in the mission, then go to the single rider line. You will be on the ride in about 5-10 minutes! We rode it twice in like 30 minutes this way! The first time, Tim and Tabitha got to ride together too! I got to be an engineer both times, and the second time, my team got 2 containers of coaxium AND over 10,000 credits! Woo-hoo! Hondo would’ve been proud!

Tabitha and I walked around the little shops for a bit. The details of everything are really amazing. And yes, I took a picture of the sink in the bathroom. Because look at it! Don’t judge me!

It was getting close to our lunch reservation AND our boarding time for Rise of the Resistance. So, we headed toward lunch, and, on the way, we saw Chewie and Rey! We also found out that once our boarding group was called, we had an hour to board. It was gonna be a close one!

Lunch was at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe. Tabitha got chicken tenders and more fruit which meant more pictures of tiny grapes. I got a chicken Caesar salad, and Tim got the sampling of Mama’s favorites (fried chicken, pot roast, and meatloaf). No photos of these meals because we were in a rush! Plus, they just weren’t that exciting (except for the tiny grape, obviously).

So, here’s a fun fact about our weird little family. I watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 almost every day on Pluto TV. And there are a lot of repeats, but I don’t care. They will sometimes play a short before the main movie, and one of them is called, “What to Do on a Date.” We’ve seen it a lot.

It’s a typical corny 1950’s how-to video where Nick wants to ask Kay out but doesn’t know what she likes to do. At one point, he asks her if she likes a few things, and one of them is a weenie roast. Literally every time it comes on, I say to Tabitha, “Say Kay, do you like weenie roasts?” in my best Nick voice. She pretends to be annoyed, but laughs anyway.

So, as we’re sitting there eating lunch, who pops up on the televisions but Nick and Kay in the exact scene where he asks her if she likes weenie roasts!! Hahahaaahaaa!! Poor Tabitha! Photos were necessary to preserve this momentous occasion! (They’re the last two-haha!)

Our boarding group got called while we were eating, so after lunch we hauled ass back to Rise of the Resistance! Luckily, it’s in the front part of Galaxy’s Edge! They scanned our magic bands, and we were in! We still had a bit of a wait, but like many other rides, there was a lot to look at and take pictures of.

Our journey started with a mission from Rey and BB-8. Then we were loaded onto a transport ship where Lieutenant Bek would take us to our mission. Poe Dameron and Nien Nunb flew alongside the ship. We could also watch as we “took off” from Batuu. And then…oh no. Oh crap! It was the First Order!

We were captured and taken onto a Star Destroyer! We were taken through the hangar bay and into the ship. Ok, this hangar bay? Unreal! It was like we were in the movie and actually on a Star Destroyer! And they gave us plenty of time to take it all in and take videos and photos which was definitely needed because talk about sensory overload!

Once we were in the ship, we were lined up and instructed to remember the color we were standing on. Ours was red. Easy to remember. The people playing the First Order officers were amazing! They were so in character! We were taken into an interrogation cell where General Hux and Kylo Ren made an appearance. We were then rescued (kind of) by the resistance, and this is where the ride part of the ride began. We had to remember the color we were standing on because it told us where to sit for the ride portion. Finn showed up to let us know he had our backs, basically.

The rest of it was a fast moving, amazing, thrilling ride! Below are some pictures I managed to get. These are the least blurry ones!

I can’t even call this a ride. It was an entire experience! And it was phenomenal! It was the last thing we rode in the park, and it’s a good thing because nothing else would’ve seemed worthy after this!

We picked up a couple more souvenirs, then relaxed at the hotel. Tabitha got a Bad Batch shirt, a Clone Wars Jedi set with holoprojector, comlink, and macrobinoculars, and a Porg. And I got a cool hat!

Yeah, Chewie had the right idea about roasting and eating these things.

Total steps: 13,601 (My feet were like, ok that’s enough now!)

Come back tomorrow for our last day! (sad face)