July 11, 2019

My Second and Third Trips to Galaxy’s Edge

Falon Disneyland, Star Wars 1 Comment

Galaxy’s Edge has been open for more than a month now, and I am kind of still figuring out how I feel about it. I’ve been back for a second and third visit, and while the awe at the detail and the immersion of the land is still there, some of the brand new shiny toyness of it all has worn off. On our third visit we brought Squirt along, and that really changed how I look at everything in Galaxy’s Edge. So read on for musings from visits two and three!

Alright, so the biggest news from visit two is we were able to get into Oga’s Cantina. I detailed our experience there in its own blog post so I won’t say too much here, but my overall impression is that it’s overpriced and because they’re trying to get you in and out to accommodate as many people as possible, the experience itself is lacking.

One thing GE nails is the character walk arounds. Stormtroopers can be found roaming the First Order section consistently throughout the day. You also get to see Kylo Ren and some other new characters (generals and things or whatever). As we were leaving visit two, Matt was trying to cram a child’s sized fighter pilot helmet on his very adult sized head and Rey came up to him and told him those helmets weren’t made for him. The character interactions I’ve witnessed and experienced are on point and definitely a highlight of GE.

Another highlight is the details of the land. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of exploring new nooks and crannies as everything is so well done and immersive. The details remain the shining light of Galaxy’s Edge.

On our second visit, we ate dinner at Docking Bay 7, which is the main eatery on Batuu (counter service). Matt and I split the Fried Endorian Tip-Yip (aka chicken) and the Batuu-bon (aka chocolate mousse). I really liked both items, however, our overall experience was somewhat dampened by the fact that we received our text to return to the Oga’s wait line right as we were waiting for our food, which meant we had fifteen minutes to eat or risk losing our spot in line. The text came about forty-five minutes earlier than we were told to expect it, which would have been great had we not been in the middle of eating. But the food itself was tasty and I would be interested in trying it again when I could actually sit and eat.

On visit two, we rode Smuggler’s Run two times. I still have only been gunner and pilot, but I think those are the two best spots so I’m good with that. It’s interesting to see how people react to being the pilot. A lot of people really want to do it the first time, but then when they see how tricky it is, shy away from it in the future. On our second ride of the day, I asked if anyone wanted to switch with me and no one wanted to be pilot. So I guess it depends on your crew. I’m still loving the ride, but am also looking forward to Rise of the Resistance.

During our cast member preview visit, we didn’t try the blue or green milks because the line was super long, but we got both on our second visit and I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked both, though blue is definitely better than green.

So the main addition during visit three was Squirt! We originally weren’t going to bring him to our reservation because his pass is blocked for the summer and Matt’s CM tickets were blocked too, but then the crowds were so low, they unblocked cast tickets so we decided to bring him. Now, Squirt is five and is pretty well-versed in the Star Wars universe. We’ve read all of the Little Golden book versions of each movie, he’s watched Force Awakens, and will mostly pay attention any time any of the other movies are on. But he’s definitely more Marvel than Star Wars (#momoftheyear) so I was interested to see how he liked GE.First and foremost, he had no interest in riding Smuggler’s Run. So you take away that and Oga’s (kids are allowed but I wouldn’t attempt to bring squirelly ones as there are no seats) and you’re left with not much to do. Squirt was pretty underwhelmed. That being said, he freaking loved the Droid Depot and was pretty excited to meet R2D2. They had a nice “conversation” and it was by far the highlight of his day.

We tried a new food item on visit three, the Outpost Mix from Kat Saka’s Kettle. It’s a spicy/sweet kettlecorn kind of a deal, and it was good. I wanted it to be a little more spicy, but it was a tasty snack and I would eat it again. I think the marketplace is my favorite area of GE.

One final thought from visits two and three, and it may seem like a silly one, but I think it’s important. Every water fountain on Batuu has a water bottle filling station and we need these all over the park. In fact, Disneyland needs to be doing more to cut down on their use of single use plastic, and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. I refilled my water bottle three times in our couple hours on Batuu and it makes a huge difference have cold, filtered water readily available. And guess what Disney, instead of selling a Dasani for $4 and having people refill that throughout the day, you could sell cute refillable bottles near each station for $20 and people will refill those instead. I am seriously hoping we start seeing these bad boys all over the parks ASAP.

Hard to believe I’ve already traveled off world three times! I haven’t been back to Batuu since the reservation period ended, but it does seem like things are running smoothly over there. I definitely plan to try to check it out during fireworks one night, so stay tuned to my Insta for some sneak peeks! Have you been to Galaxy’s Edge yet? Let me know your thoughts!