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We just got back from a trip to Orlando and visited Disney World for a couple of days. I also rented a campground so we could get the extra magic hours so that we'd get an extra three hours (from 6AM to 9AM) at Hollywood Studios so we could check out Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge.
We got to Hollywood Studios at 5:45 AM and went straight to Toy Story Land (this was a GREAT strategy as 90% of the people head to Galaxy's Edge). We rode Slinky Dog Dash, Midway Mania, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (ahem Alien Swirling Saucers) to our hearts content, and headed to Galaxy's Edge. There's no question, it's impressive walking in and my inner geek was loving it.
We have young kids that didn't meet the height requirement for smuggler's run and so I stayed with the younglings and let the rest of the crew go on the ride. When I waited for the crew I went to Oga's Cantina. It's fun walking in, but I really didn't have much of a desire to stick around. The family next to me ordered some appetizer, tried a couple of bites and left the remainder. I ordered an apple juice and a Mustafarian Lava Roll (basically a cinnamon roll). The apple juice came out in a normal plastic cup (like a clear solo cup), so it was completely underwhelming (I'm guessing all non-alcoholic drinks have crappy containers -- which is too bad because my kids would have loved anything that looked neat). The cinnamon roll had ground up oreo's on it (I'm not sure why that makes it Star Wars like, but whatever)...it was just OK.
After Oga's, the rest of my crew was done with the ride, and it was my turn to ride Smugger's Run. I read a lot of good things about it, so I was excited. I did the rider switch and was really impressed by the theming. However, the animatronic guy that gives the mission looks horrible. Also, why did they choose a guy that no one has ever heard of to give instructions?
We got into the main bay of the falcon and everything looked great. There are some cool little details, so I'm starting to get really excited. When we got to the ride, it was not what I was expecting and was a huge let down. There are 2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers. One pilot controls up / down, the other pilot controls left / right, and the gunners and engineers basically have the same job of pushing buttons as they light up. Seriously? This was the best they could come up with? Honestly, I didn't find it any better than Star Tours. The graphics in the game looked awful and weren't immersive at all. It looked like a mid 2000's crappy Star Wars Video game...at least the controls are more immersive on those crappy Star Wars video games.
My 5 year old daughter was one of the pilots...and a cast member asked our group how the ride was as we were getting out...the others on the ride basically said they thought it was "OK", and he said "Well you didn't have good pilots, it helps if you have good pilots". Gee thanks for making my 5 year old (dressed as Rey) feel bad, so then she's asking me why she wasn't a good pilot.
We toured the rest of the land and outside of the theming (which was great), there wasn't a whole lot of fun to be had. They like to have the characters walk around to make it seem like you are on Batuu, but a good chunk of the people are just confused about why Kylo Ren won't stop to take pictures with their kid.
It seemed like every cast member was trained to say the same dumb stuff "Rising suns, Younglings" -- which we heard about 18 times. Outside of those forced greetings, we didn't have a lot of interaction with "residents of Batuu".
I know this review may come across as a little harsh, but Disney has REALLY hyped this place and it really isn't very fun.
It's neat seeing the Millennium Falcon, but they have like three cast members assigned to making sure that it looks like it's empty in front of it for people to take pictures. It's like the whole land is designed to look great on Instagram, but it just feels hollow.
About 3 years ago we had annual passes to Disneyland and were thinking of doing it again for a year (to either World or Land)...we had been turned off by the price increases, but really expected to get hooked back in...and truly we wanted to....we didn't at all. We had a fine time, and we don't regret going, but we have absolutely no desire to return in the next couple of years.
Anyways, that's my take -- let me know if you have questions.
We got to Hollywood Studios at 5:45 AM and went straight to Toy Story Land (this was a GREAT strategy as 90% of the people head to Galaxy's Edge). We rode Slinky Dog Dash, Midway Mania, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (ahem Alien Swirling Saucers) to our hearts content, and headed to Galaxy's Edge. There's no question, it's impressive walking in and my inner geek was loving it.
We have young kids that didn't meet the height requirement for smuggler's run and so I stayed with the younglings and let the rest of the crew go on the ride. When I waited for the crew I went to Oga's Cantina. It's fun walking in, but I really didn't have much of a desire to stick around. The family next to me ordered some appetizer, tried a couple of bites and left the remainder. I ordered an apple juice and a Mustafarian Lava Roll (basically a cinnamon roll). The apple juice came out in a normal plastic cup (like a clear solo cup), so it was completely underwhelming (I'm guessing all non-alcoholic drinks have crappy containers -- which is too bad because my kids would have loved anything that looked neat). The cinnamon roll had ground up oreo's on it (I'm not sure why that makes it Star Wars like, but whatever)...it was just OK.
After Oga's, the rest of my crew was done with the ride, and it was my turn to ride Smugger's Run. I read a lot of good things about it, so I was excited. I did the rider switch and was really impressed by the theming. However, the animatronic guy that gives the mission looks horrible. Also, why did they choose a guy that no one has ever heard of to give instructions?
We got into the main bay of the falcon and everything looked great. There are some cool little details, so I'm starting to get really excited. When we got to the ride, it was not what I was expecting and was a huge let down. There are 2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers. One pilot controls up / down, the other pilot controls left / right, and the gunners and engineers basically have the same job of pushing buttons as they light up. Seriously? This was the best they could come up with? Honestly, I didn't find it any better than Star Tours. The graphics in the game looked awful and weren't immersive at all. It looked like a mid 2000's crappy Star Wars Video game...at least the controls are more immersive on those crappy Star Wars video games.
My 5 year old daughter was one of the pilots...and a cast member asked our group how the ride was as we were getting out...the others on the ride basically said they thought it was "OK", and he said "Well you didn't have good pilots, it helps if you have good pilots". Gee thanks for making my 5 year old (dressed as Rey) feel bad, so then she's asking me why she wasn't a good pilot.
We toured the rest of the land and outside of the theming (which was great), there wasn't a whole lot of fun to be had. They like to have the characters walk around to make it seem like you are on Batuu, but a good chunk of the people are just confused about why Kylo Ren won't stop to take pictures with their kid.
It seemed like every cast member was trained to say the same dumb stuff "Rising suns, Younglings" -- which we heard about 18 times. Outside of those forced greetings, we didn't have a lot of interaction with "residents of Batuu".
I know this review may come across as a little harsh, but Disney has REALLY hyped this place and it really isn't very fun.
It's neat seeing the Millennium Falcon, but they have like three cast members assigned to making sure that it looks like it's empty in front of it for people to take pictures. It's like the whole land is designed to look great on Instagram, but it just feels hollow.
About 3 years ago we had annual passes to Disneyland and were thinking of doing it again for a year (to either World or Land)...we had been turned off by the price increases, but really expected to get hooked back in...and truly we wanted to....we didn't at all. We had a fine time, and we don't regret going, but we have absolutely no desire to return in the next couple of years.
Anyways, that's my take -- let me know if you have questions.
