4th Time Lucky Day 3 Wow, Wow, Wow, What A Fabulous First Day

[karalma]

9.12.21

This morning I had decided to stay at the villa and unpack and settle in while Darren and Alix went to explore Galaxy’s Edge. I am not a Star Wars fan as they are and I knew there would be lots more times we were visiting so I was happy to let them explore everything this morning. We had debated buying Genie Plus but decided to see how today went before deciding.

I had a lovely relaxing morning after I unpacked and it was lovely rocking in the rocking chairs, curled up on the sofa and listening to the water flowing in the pool and spa and hearing the summer sounds of grass cutting. I almost fell asleep but forced myself up and made some lunch. Alix rang to ask if I wanted to go to Target or whether they should call on the way back and I said they should call as there wasn’t anything I wanted. I was relaxing by the pool when Darren and Alix returned.

They had had a mixed morning. They were disappointed they missed out on buying an Individual Lightening Lane for Rise. They walked onto RnRC



And they loved Galaxy's Edge but then had to wait 60 minutes for Smugglers Run. They really enjoyed the ride but not the wait. They said the ride's special effects were amazing but they had been engineers and are hoping to be pilots in future. Of course I had no idea what they were talking about.

Darren and I enjoyed an afternoon in the pool and spa, despite the water being cooler than usual. Also in the past we had been in March and the sun would come round to the pool mid morning but in December it wasn’t arriving until mid afternoon. Darren has emailed the owner to say there is no pool cover, which he was surprised about.

Once ready we left for HS. As the trams aren’t running we considered preferred parking until we realised it was $50, so decided to stick with the $25 standard and walk. I really miss the trams as I always loved riding on them but we weren’t far from the entrance. For $25 we don’t mind a bit of a walk. And when we got to the park I was amazed by the new bag check scanners - so much quicker and easier than the bag search which caused huge lines.

As soon as we walked in I was so excited to see all of the Xmas decorations - and then the snow on Sunset Boulevard - and then the amazing Xmas tree.



As well as all this the weather was beautiful. I felt like a kid at Xmas and didn’t know whether to jump or cry with joy. We headed to ToT first where the show was playing on the Tower. We watched as we walked but didn’t stand around as we wanted to beat the crowds heading to ToT afterwards.





There was a 40 minute wait and we never usually wait more than 20 minutes and since the release of FP+ we have usually only ever done our 3 FPs in each park. I didn’t mind the wait and was happy to just be there and feel relaxed. I was disappointed by the lack of social distancing, particularly as Disney actively discouraged it at times, encouraging everybody to fill all the available space. We ignored this and kept a distance around us at all times. We are also wearing our masks wherever it is crowded, even if it is outside and not required. We were also disappointed by the empty anti bac stations but Alix and I are carrying anti bac everywhere. Mine is attached to my bag so it is easy to access every time I touch anything. As always, we loved ToT. We then strolled the park, popping in shops and admiring the park as we headed towards Smugglers Run.



This was a 25 minute wait so not bad. Alix was a gunner and Darren and I engineers. It wasn’t my kind of ride and I just felt it was noisy and bumpy. I also thought the engineer part a bit daft as the buttons to press were at the side so you missed what was happening at the front if you were watching the buttons. I said I preferred Star Tours which disgusted Darren and Alix. We had some photo pass pics taken before Alix and I bought some blue milk to share, which tasted nothing like it looked as it was very fruity and refreshing.











Darren bought a coke bomb. We then had a stroll through the market.

By now it was 8.40 and the line for Rise had dropped to 55 minutes so we decided to join. We were pleasantly surprised that it only took 15 minutes to reach the first stage of the ride and 30 minutes to reach the actual ride. We had not read or watched any of the spoilers or videos of the ride as we usually do - Darren because he’s not bothered unless we show him something, me because I’m not a Star Wars fan and Alix because she wanted to be surprised. Each stage was so well presented that I kept asking if this was the ride. At one stage we were stood at the doors as we usually head straight for the doors on a ride, ready to be first off and onto the ride. But they didn’t open and we realised the doors were on the other side. We turned around and there were rows and rows of Storm Troopers staring at us. It was truly a Wow moment. We were mesmerised and stood taking it all in and taking photos instead of rushing to the ride. We were the last to leave this area and only left because the guard shouted at us to get moving. The CMs were really good at staying in character. The actual ride had amazing special effects but I did feel it wasn’t long enough and a couple of things could have been improved. Overall, even I thought it was a fabulous ride and of course Darren and Alix loved it.













We were off the ride by 9.15 and as we walked past the entrance, chatting away about the ride, we realised they were encouraging people to enter the standby line. They didn’t have to ask us twice and we quickly jumped in before they changed their minds. This time it was a walk on with just a short delay before the ride where we were lined up and interrogated by the guard who was really good. He picked on a guy in our row and me. We enjoyed it just as much the second time, being able to take more in on the second ride.

We were a very happy family as we left a very quiet park, which was also great for taking more pics. We couldn’t have asked for a better first day. Sunshine, Xmas decorations, snow and we got to ride Rise - TWICE.

[mick]

That was a good day relaxing and a park glad you enjoyed the rides

Joan

[Goldia]

After a slightly disappointing morning for your DH and DD it seems the evening came up trumps! Wow, not once but twice on Rise. A fab first day. I hope it made the stressful lead up to the holiday feel like a distant memory.

[karalma]

Originally Posted by Goldia

After a slightly disappointing morning for your DH and DD it seems the evening came up trumps! Wow, not once but twice on Rise. A fab first day. I hope it made the stressful lead up to the holiday feel like a distant memory.

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It did we were fully in holiday mode at this point

[Twinkle-Dolphin]

Wow, what a fabulous first day

[katebush95]

Amazing that you got to ride Rise twice 👍 It seems like evenings are the way to go.

[karalma]

Originally Posted by katebush95

Amazing that you got to ride Rise twice 👍 It seems like evenings are the way to go.

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Definitely- we were very lucky, particularly as it was our first day.