Pre-Trip May The Force Be With Us...

Tuvalu · Jul 14, 2019

First one here!

(Do I get a prize?)

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

Tuvalu said:
First one here!

(Do I get a prize?)

Yep - here you go!

Swissmiss · Jul 14, 2019

I get second place on the podium (a spot I will never see in races

)

disneypearl · Jul 14, 2019

I’m here too! I’ll proudly accept my third place on the podium!

RememberWhen · Jul 14, 2019

So excited! The girls were so tiny! I can’t believe Julia is 17!

DisneyGigi · Jul 14, 2019

Here too! Always a day late and a dollar short of the prize.

Brwneyedgirl72 · Jul 14, 2019

Yay! Can’t wait to hear about the adventures!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 14, 2019

Fantastic, I love your trip reports!

krisri18 · Jul 14, 2019

I'm in! Too late for prizes, I'll accept a trip report as my reward!

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

Swissmiss said:
I get second place on the podium (a spot I will never see in races )

Couldn't find a podium, but welcome aboard!

eb64cfa5-892a-4aa5-ad19-1aa68e56b266_1.f583e012c2aaca333e8190be2fdeb571.jpeg

disneypearl said:
I’m here too! I’ll proudly accept my third place on the podium!

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

RememberWhen said:
So excited! The girls were so tiny! I can’t believe Julia is 17!

I know - it doesn't seem real to me sometimes!

DisneyGigi said:
Here too! Always a day late and a dollar short of the prize.

Thanks so much for reading along!

Brwneyedgirl72 said:
Yay! Can’t wait to hear about the adventures!

Welcome aboard!

ajrwdwgirl said:
Fantastic, I love your trip reports!

Thanks so much!!

krisri18 said:
I'm in! Too late for prizes, I'll accept a trip report as my reward!

haha - you got it! Thanks for reading!

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

Issue #1

At this point, with 53 days to go. I should be relaxing and getting ready to start packing things up, but it feels that SWGE has just thrown a HUGE monkey wrench (or should I say, a lightsaber) into our plans!

For those who don’t know me, let me just say that I am usually a laid back, go with the flow kind of person. At home or on “normal” vacations, I am NOT an uber planner, and I don’t like scheduling ever minute of every day. As a matter of fact, I am a procrastinator – EXCEPT when Disney is concerned. Disney vacations are completely different.

For Disney, I have my park hours and charts and post it notes ready to go. I usually start planning ADR’s as soon as we are on the plane ride home. I usually always get a nice new composition notebook, college ruled, which I let Hope decorate with her stickers and newly sharpened Ticonderoga pencils and even a ruler to make straight columns, and of course, different colored post-it notes for things I do not want to forget – and I am ready to go. (Yes – I do NOT use a computer to plan. I need paper and pencils.)

But this past year, I didn’t feel the need. My “go with the flow” attitude took over and I really didn’t go out of my way to start planning. Much of our trip seemed to mirror last year’s journey, minus the Crocs, so I figured I could just give last year’s schedule a glance, and I just penciled a few lines in my notebook from last year.

Ross thought it was strange that he didn’t see me glancing every now and then at my notebook and I just kept telling him that it was no big deal. We really didn’t need to “strategize” so much anymore. Even with Hope and her special needs – she has come so far, that things that were of a great concern in the past, and took of lot of planning, don’t really apply anymore. So even there, I am more relaxed.

I knew our 180 day point was up and coming, but even that – I didn’t mark the calendar or put a post it note up. I wasn’t a bit concerned that we wouldn’t get all the restaurants we wanted. There was no need for me to be up at the crack of dawn, hovering over my computer at 6AM to make those coveted ADR’s. I had no sense of urgency. I hadn’t even updated my countdown calander.

Then came Friday March 8th.

It was 9:00AM and we were at our morning 4-H meeting. (We are homeschoolers.) I was setting up and waiting for all my kids and families to arrive. Julia, Hope and I were sitting at the front table and Hope had taken my phone and was reading while we waited. All of a sudden, she started to jump up and down out of her seat exclaiming, “STAR WARS LAND IS OPENING AUGUST 29th!!” I looked at her and saw she was on the WDW Magic Boards. I told her to calm down that it was opening at DisneyLAND – not Disney World. But her excitement would not mellow. Finally, I took the phone to see what she was talking about, and of course, that’s when I realized she was 100% correct. I joined her in the celebration & I sent a quick text to Ross with the info before I had to collect myself and run the meeting. Obviously, my focus was kaput, and slowly, I realized that I was going to get to see Stars Wars Land this year – the second week of operation!

As it began to sink in, I realized I was torn in my feelings. I LOVE Star Wars – it was my childhood. Yep, I was there in the theatres in 1977 and saw it for the first time with my older brother and parents. My mom & dad hated it, but my brother and I loved it. I would go on to see it over 100 times (over the course of three years) in the theaters. Of course, this when a child’s ticket was about $1.00. Come 1980, I waited outside a theatre about three hours in line to see The Empire Strikes Back on opening day and I would do the same for Return of The Jedi in 1983.

For Christmas, I did not want Barbie dolls, I wanted a Han Solo blaster. My folks found me one – it wasn’t actually Han’s, but it looked cool and made the most awesome sound – well at least for cira 1978. I loved it and took it everywhere with me. This was back in the day when a kid could take a gun aka blaster to our local Pathmark supermarket and pretend to blast the entire produce section.

For Halloween, in the third grade, I was Princess Leia – and got to take my blaster to school with me. Sister Roseanna told me I could keep it with me at my desk as long as I promise to have it set for “stun”. lol

In fourth grade, my dad was feeling adventurous and made me an R2D2 costume. I wish I had a picture of it. It didn’t quite look like R2, it was made out of chicken wire fencing and A LOT of duck tape. It looked more like a cylinder of aluminum foil. He glued on buttons and gadgets and even attached a red, flashing and spinning light on top that I got to control from inside my costume. I even had a little hatch to get my trick or treating candy through. It was the most awesome costume ever, but a little cumbersome. I remember leaving a neighbor’s house after getting a stash of candy and walking down their walkway and tripping over their coffin. (The Olsen’s were very elaborate in their house decorating.) I knocked into Mr. Olsen’s son who was dressed as a vampire and came crashing down to the ground. I was like a turtle that got knocked over on its shell. I couldn’t move. It took two of my friends and Mr. Olsen to help me back on my feet.

By fifth grade, the marketing for Star Wars finally kicked in and I was able to get a Darth Vader mask from the party store. My dad was a little sad, he was hoping to make me a C3PO costume, but hey, my costume was professional!

I remember swinging on my swing set in the back yard at night looking up to the starry sky and imagining I was next to Han Solo flying the Falcon and getting ready for hyperspace. Yep I was true Star Wars nerd and I still am!

On our first wedding anniversary, Ross did not give me flowers or jewelry, he gave me the greatest gift ever – a light saber!

I also proudly display my old lunchboxes in my kitchen!

So now you that you all know what a geek I am, you can understand how bittersweet the news of an August 29th opening is for me. Half of me is beyond excited and the other half is terrified, I don’t want to deal with the insanity.

I was so completely convinced that SWGE would not open until November or December. Don’t get me wrong, I was hoping for the skyway or M&MRR to open, but never did I think that SWGE would be the one to open first. I realized I had to change my attitude and game plan. I had to switch high gear into planning.

As I tried regaining my Disney neurotic planning mode, I scraped my original “reusable” plans and initiated an entire new schedule. Ross was happy to see me back in action. With only days to go to making ADR’s, I scrambled to organize the park hours and everyone’s ADR choices.

But that doesn’t quite explain why I dropped out of sight for so long...

Rista1313 · Jul 14, 2019

Figment Forever said:
Issue #1

At this point, with 53 days to go. I should be relaxing and getting ready to start packing things up, but it feels that SWGE has just thrown a HUGE monkey wrench (or should I say, a lightsaber) into our plans!

For those who don’t know me, let me just say that I am usually a laid back, go with the flow kind of person. At home or on “normal” vacations, I am NOT an uber planner, and I don’t like scheduling ever minute of every day. As a matter of fact, I am a procrastinator – EXCEPT when Disney is concerned. Disney vacations are completely different.

For Disney, I have my park hours and charts and post it notes ready to go. I usually start planning ADR’s as soon as we are on the plane ride home. I usually always get a nice new composition notebook, college ruled, which I let Hope decorate with her stickers and newly sharpened Ticonderoga pencils and even a ruler to make straight columns, and of course, different colored post-it notes for things I do not want to forget – and I am ready to go. (Yes – I do NOT use a computer to plan. I need paper and pencils.)

View attachment 390072

View attachment 390071

But this past year, I didn’t feel the need. My “go with the flow” attitude took over and I really didn’t go out of my way to start planning. Much of our trip seemed to mirror last year’s journey, minus the Crocs, so I figured I could just give last year’s schedule a glance, and I just penciled a few lines in my notebook from last year.

Ross thought it was strange that he didn’t see me glancing every now and then at my notebook and I just kept telling him that it was no big deal. We really didn’t need to “strategize” so much anymore. Even with Hope and her special needs – she has come so far, that things that were of a great concern in the past, and took of lot of planning, don’t really apply anymore. So even there, I am more relaxed.

I knew our 180 day point was up and coming, but even that – I didn’t mark the calendar or put a post it note up. I wasn’t a bit concerned that we wouldn’t get all the restaurants we wanted. There was no need for me to be up at the crack of dawn, hovering over my computer at 6AM to make those coveted ADR’s. I had no sense of urgency. I hadn’t even updated my countdown calander.

View attachment 390077

Then came Friday March 8th.

It was 9:00AM and we were at our morning 4-H meeting. (We are homeschoolers.) I was setting up and waiting for all my kids and families to arrive. Julia, Hope and I were sitting at the front table and Hope had taken my phone and was reading while we waited. All of a sudden, she started to jump up and down out of her seat exclaiming, “STAR WARS LAND IS OPENING AUGUST 29th!!” I looked at her and saw she was on the WDW Magic Boards. I told her to calm down that it was opening at DisneyLAND – not Disney World. But her excitement would not mellow. Finally, I took the phone to see what she was talking about, and of course, that’s when I realized she was 100% correct. I joined her in the celebration & I sent a quick text to Ross with the info before I had to collect myself and run the meeting. Obviously, my focus was kaput, and slowly, I realized that I was going to get to see Stars Wars Land this year – the second week of operation!

As it began to sink in, I realized I was torn in my feelings. I LOVE Star Wars – it was my childhood. Yep, I was there in the theatres in 1977 and saw it for the first time with my older brother and parents. My mom & dad hated it, but my brother and I loved it. I would go on to see it over 100 times (over the course of three years) in the theaters. Of course, this when a child’s ticket was about $1.00. Come 1980, I waited outside a theatre about three hours in line to see The Empire Strikes Back on opening day and I would do the same for Return of The Jedi in 1983.

For Christmas, I did not want Barbie dolls, I wanted a Han Solo blaster. My folks found me one – it wasn’t actually Han’s, but it looked cool and made the most awesome sound – well at least for cira 1978. I loved it and took it everywhere with me. This was back in the day when a kid could take a gun aka blaster to our local Pathmark supermarket and pretend to blast the entire produce section.

For Halloween, in the third grade, I was Princess Leia – and got to take my blaster to school with me. Sister Roseanna told me I could keep it with me at my desk as long as I promise to have it set for “stun”. lol

View attachment 390074

In fourth grade, my dad was feeling adventurous and made me an R2D2 costume. I wish I had a picture of it. It didn’t quite look like R2, it was made out of chicken wire fencing and A LOT of duck tape. It looked more like a cylinder of aluminum foil. He glued on buttons and gadgets and even attached a red, flashing and spinning light on top that I got to control from inside my costume. I even had a little hatch to get my trick or treating candy through. It was the most awesome costume ever, but a little cumbersome. I remember leaving a neighbor’s house after getting a stash of candy and walking down their walkway and tripping over their coffin. (The Olsen’s were very elaborate in their house decorating.) I knocked into Mr. Olsen’s son who was dressed as a vampire and came crashing down to the ground. I was like a turtle that got knocked over on its shell. I couldn’t move. It took two of my friends and Mr. Olsen to help me back on my feet.

By fifth grade, the marketing for Star Wars finally kicked in and I was able to get a Darth Vader mask from the party store. My dad was a little sad, he was hoping to make me a C3PO costume, but hey, my costume was professional!

I remember swinging on my swing set in the back yard at night looking up to the starry sky and imagining I was next to Han Solo flying the Falcon and getting ready for hyperspace. Yep I was true Star Wars nerd and I still am!

On our first wedding anniversary, Ross did not give me flowers or jewelry, he gave me the greatest gift ever – a light saber!

View attachment 390073

I also proudly display my old lunchboxes in my kitchen!

View attachment 390085

So now you that you all know what a geek I am, you can understand how bittersweet the news of an August 29th opening is for me. Half of me is beyond excited and the other half is terrified, I don’t want to deal with the insanity.

I was so completely convinced that SWGE would not open until November or December. Don’t get me wrong, I was hoping for the skyway or M&MRR to open, but never did I think that SWGE would be the one to open first. I realized I had to change my attitude and game plan. I had to switch high gear into planning.

As I tried regaining my Disney neurotic planning mode, I scraped my original “reusable” plans and initiated an entire new schedule. Ross was happy to see me back in action. With only days to go to making ADR’s, I scrambled to organize the park hours and everyone’s ADR choices.

But that doesn’t quite explain why I dropped out of sight for so long...

Thanks for the giggle of envisioning an R2D2 turtling! I am the polar opposite... I saw 1 star wars movie in the theatres... Empire Strikes back.... Much to everyones chagrin I haven't seen the other ones except for bits and pieces here and there.

Like you, I was SURE the land wasn't opening until Nov/Dec, so September sounded good... and I got free dining... but... when I heard that STL was opening August 29th, I cringed and pouted... and debated on changing... but we would lose free dining, and Scott does want to go to STL if we can. So here's hoping to a quiet September where we don't have to beat off crowds!

We will be at Movies the 14th and 15th, and we will move to POP on the 16th - 24th I'll send you my phone in a private message!

riverside · Jul 14, 2019

Looking forward to more!! I am so happy that you will get to see Star Wars on this trip. Your love for it really shows. I hope you have a blast!!

Janir · Jul 14, 2019

OK I'm DFL here but newbie on board. No prizes for me, but I can deal with that!

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

Rista1313 said:
Thanks for the giggle of envisioning an R2D2 turtling! I am the polar opposite... I saw 1 star wars movie in the theatres... Empire Strikes back.... Much to everyones chagrin I haven't seen the other ones except for bits and pieces here and there.

Like you, I was SURE the land wasn't opening until Nov/Dec, so September sounded good... and I got free dining... but... when I heard that STL was opening August 29th, I cringed and pouted... and debated on changing... but we would lose free dining, and Scott does want to go to STL if we can. So here's hoping to a quiet September where we don't have to beat off crowds!

We will be at Movies the 14th and 15th, and we will move to POP on the 16th - 24th I'll send you my phone in a private message!

Are you guys thinking of going to SWGE really early one day? Like the insanity of 6AM??

Figment Forever · Jul 14, 2019

riverside said:
Looking forward to more!! I am so happy that you will get to see Star Wars on this trip. Your love for it really shows. I hope you have a blast!!

Thank you!! Yes - I am really excited, I just hope it's not wall to wall people. I think I would deal with the fact of not seeing it rather than deal with crazy crowds.

Janir said:
OK I'm DFL here but newbie on board. No prizes for me, but I can deal with that!

Thanks for following along!

NessNewt · Jul 14, 2019

I'm in! Looking forward to your Star Wars adventures!

Swissmiss · Jul 15, 2019

Thanks for my morning coffee read

Pre-Trip May The Force Be With Us...

Tuvalu

Figment Forever

Swissmiss

disneypearl

Well-Known Member

RememberWhen

Well-Known Member

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member

Brwneyedgirl72

Active Member

ajrwdwgirl

krisri18

Well-Known Member

Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Figment Forever

Rista1313

Well-Known Member

riverside

Well-Known Member

Janir

Well-Known Member

Figment Forever

Figment Forever

NessNewt

Well-Known Member

Swissmiss