Trip Report MILESTONE TRIP! First Orlando Visit, Final Disney Park!

THE TIME HAS COME!

In just about a week, I will be starting my very first ever trip to Orlando…and all therein that may be explored.

As the title suggests, among other milestones, this trip will see me visiting my 12th and final Disney Park – Magic Kingdom itself! I have traveled extensively, with all the other Disney Destinations worldwide under my belt, yet somehow I have so far resisted the allures of the Vacation Kingdom. In this week days leading up to my departure, I’ll be going over “why not yet,” “why now,” my itinerary, maybe even soliciting some travel advice.

But for now…Who’s going?

Me after a hike at Bryce Canyon (the real Big Thunder). My beard is much calmer now.​

Just me. Doug. Typically I’m a regular of the Imagineering forums, but I'm just a dilettante on these Trip Report boards. Traveling solo, as is my wont.

Where? Universal’s Endless Summer Resort for three nights, then the Walt Disney World Swan for like a week.

When? September 21st – October 1st.

The broadest plan is to see as much of Orlando as I can (both Disney and beyond) in the week+ prior to Magic Kingdom’s 50th. That means plans to see Walt Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, even the Fun Spots.

Over ambitious, perhaps? Sure it is, but I’ve done my research, and I know my travel style and what I'm capable of! Let’s do this!

 

[D Hulk]

Continuing on with the Galaxy’s Edge photo adventure…

 

[D Hulk]

All of this Galaxy's Edge imagery which has dominated the last few posts didn't take long to accumulate. I toured the land for maybe around half an hour. Galaxy's Edge rewards such exploration. Besides, I was waiting for my next couple of mobile order windows to arrive.

That exploration, meanwhile, revealed the breadth of this land's design. Galaxy's Edge is naturalistically broken up into distinctive districts, all at the base of Batuu's titanic petrified forest. (Disney always has the best rockwork.) The central Batuu Outpost Market is the center of activity, and the highlight of previous pictures. This region reflects the North African influences which inspired Star Wars' original 1977 production design, and when filtered through Imagineering's lens it feels like a scaled-up fantasy version of the Morocco Pavilion.

The level of detailing here and throughout Galaxy's Edge is staggering, on par with that seen at Hogsmeade, or DisneySea, or Pandora (or Animal Kingdom as a whole, minus the photo-realistic authentic cultural artifacts). I can imagine Disney's prop shop developing all sorts of objects in isolation - these weathered trash cans, lamps, railing, water fountains, random bric-a-brac to scatter about - and then going in to populate the built-out land. We might critique the land's underlying creative germ - it's in thrall to the sequel trilogy to a fault, and sacrifices fun/function for immersive authenticity - but clearly this was a labor of love & budget.

That lack of kineticism - perhaps the main issue with Galaxy's Edge - had been rectified slightly since my last visit to Disneyland's incarnation. There were a few more walkaround characters, mostly Stormtroopers, and a few more performances taking place on those obvious stunt show facades built along the Galaxy's Edge edge. Mostly, these "performances" were simply Chewbacca waving at guests from a great distance (unpictured) but, hey, it's a start. I still want a whole lot more droids and aliens and familiar characters casually roaming all about!

Back to those districts...Beyond the Market, there's the overgrown Rebel area to the left, and the urbanized Imperial area to the right. (Oh, wait, no, I mean "Resistance" and "First Order" areas. Stupid sequels!) There are small shops everyplace, all of them teeming with overwhelming art design in the style of Wizarding World. Details to discover include semi-animatronic critters in these little alcoves, most strikingly a dianoga living in the pipes near a drinking fountain. Ewww!

My next mobile order arrived, and I told the app "I am here" or whatever. I returned to Ronto Roasters and, after a little confusion about the pickup window, I collected my Ronto Wrap. It's one of the Galaxy's Edge signature snacks, and I'd never been compelled to try it or the others while in Disneyland (a lot of us local passholders, in the Before Times, were notoriously cheap ). It was time to do Galaxy's Edge like a tourist, and splurge just a little!​

The Ronto Wrap is a vaguely Middle Eastern-inspired dish, sent through a fictionalized Star Wars filter and sanitized for average tourists. It amounts to slaw, sausage and pork inside of a pita. To my taste, it's overhyped. Surprisingly light on flavor or spice, probably to make it more palatable to the pickiest guests.

I took my Wrap out to a themed stone wall, where I ate under the shade of a pepper tree while people-watching. I drank from a hotel room water bottle which I brought with me, in lieu of the famous Nalgene bottle which remained at the Swan. The dry, unseasoned grilled pork really required that water to choke it down.

With a little more time remaining before the next mobile order window, I quickly ducked into the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Single Rider line.

This crummy photo is the only memory I made of Smuggler's Run. I've done it a few times at Disneyland, and I've always exited underwhelmed. It was a shame to skip the standby line on this "reride," since that's by far the best part of the experience. That line is detailed, fast-moving, immersive, and it ends with an interesting animatronic pre-show. And I'd done it all before.

Single Rider took at most 5 minutes from entry to cockpit. I was grouped alongside another Single Rider with a family of four. They had squeamish younger children, so against the usual odds, us two Single Riders got the pilot seats. Controlling left & right: A competitive Orlando local keen on chasing that high score. Controlling up & down: Me, who wanted to crash it . In the gunner and button-masher positions: A family who didn't grasp the gameplay fundamentals.

Needless to say, we didn't do so hot in our mission. Heck, we got the "sparking cockpit interior" ending, which I consider a rousing success! (I also try to crash the Autopia whenever I do it.) The Orlando local got hopping mad, like Yosemite Sam when he does his little dance. He rage quit out through the ride's exit.

It was time to locate the Milk Stand and collect my Blue Milk, a terrible drink which I do not recommend. Of course, you'll still want to satisfy your curiosity, and drain your bank account of $8, so you'll still get one of these someday anyway. That's what I did, despite the milk's sour reputation.

How to describe it? No one seems to agree on a flavor. I'll go with "crushed up liquefied Tums, crossed with cereal milk." These are not flavors found in nature. I choked down the entire wretched concoction, looking the fool as I roamed Galaxy's Edge with this "cup of shame" in my hand.​

 

[MickeyWaffleCo.]

Surprisingly light on flavor or spice

I think I might have a slightly more sensitive palate than you. That Peppercorn sauce is

I'll go with "crushed up liquefied Tums, crossed with cereal milk."

Is it weird that this really makes me want to try some?

 

[spacemt354]

View attachment 598820

All of this Galaxy's Edge imagery which has dominated the last few posts didn't take long to accumulate. I toured the land for maybe around half an hour. Galaxy's Edge rewards such exploration. Besides, I was waiting for my next couple of mobile order windows to arrive.

View attachment 598822

That exploration, meanwhile, revealed the breadth of this land's design. Galaxy's Edge is naturalistically broken up into distinctive districts, all at the base of Batuu's titanic petrified forest. (Disney always has the best rockwork.) The central Batuu Outpost Market is the center of activity, and the highlight of previous pictures. This region reflects the North African influences which inspired Star Wars' original 1977 production design, and when filtered through Imagineering's lens it feels like a scaled-up fantasy version of the Morocco Pavilion.

View attachment 598823

The level of detailing here and throughout Galaxy's Edge is staggering, on par with that seen at Hogsmeade, or DisneySea, or Pandora (or Animal Kingdom as a whole, minus the photo-realistic authentic cultural artifacts). I can imagine Disney's prop shop developing all sorts of objects in isolation - these weathered trash cans, lamps, railing, water fountains, random bric-a-brac to scatter about - and then going in to populate the built-out land. We might critique the land's underlying creative germ - it's in thrall to the sequel trilogy to a fault, and sacrifices fun/function for immersive authenticity - but clearly this was a labor of love & budget.

View attachment 598824

That lack of kineticism - perhaps the main issue with Galaxy's Edge - had been rectified slightly since my last visit to Disneyland's incarnation. There were a few more walkaround characters, mostly Stormtroopers, and a few more performances taking place on those obvious stunt show facades built along the Galaxy's Edge edge. Mostly, these "performances" were simply Chewbacca waving at guests from a great distance (unpictured) but, hey, it's a start. I still want a whole lot more droids and aliens and familiar characters casually roaming all about!

View attachment 598825

Back to those districts...Beyond the Market, there's the overgrown Rebel area to the left, and the urbanized Imperial area to the right. (Oh, wait, no, I mean "Resistance" and "First Order" areas. Stupid sequels!) There are small shops everyplace, all of them teeming with overwhelming art design in the style of Wizarding World. Details to discover include semi-animatronic critters in these little alcoves, most strikingly a dianoga living in the pipes near a drinking fountain. Ewww!

View attachment 598826

My next mobile order arrived, and I told the app "I am here" or whatever. I returned to Ronto Roasters and, after a little confusion about the pickup window, I collected my Ronto Wrap. It's one of the Galaxy's Edge signature snacks, and I'd never been compelled to try it or the others while in Disneyland (a lot of us local passholders, in the Before Times, were notoriously cheap ). It was time to do Galaxy's Edge like a tourist, and splurge just a little!​

View attachment 598829

The Ronto Wrap is a vaguely Middle Eastern-inspired dish, sent through a fictionalized Star Wars filter and sanitized for average tourists. It amounts to slaw, sausage and pork inside of a pita. To my taste, it's overhyped. Surprisingly light on flavor or spice, probably to make it more palatable to the pickiest guests.

View attachment 598828

I took my Wrap out to a themed stone wall, where I ate under the shade of a pepper tree while people-watching. I drank from a hotel room water bottle which I brought with me, in lieu of the famous Nalgene bottle which remained at the Swan. The dry, unseasoned grilled pork really required that water to choke it down.

With a little more time remaining before the next mobile order window, I quickly ducked into the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run Single Rider line.

View attachment 598830

This crummy photo is the only memory I made of Smuggler's Run. I've done it a few times at Disneyland, and I've always exited underwhelmed. It was a shame to skip the standby line on this "reride," since that's by far the best part of the experience. That line is detailed, fast-moving, immersive, and it ends with an interesting animatronic pre-show. And I'd done it all before.

Single Rider took at most 5 minutes from entry to cockpit. I was grouped alongside another Single Rider with a family of four. They had squeamish younger children, so against the usual odds, us two Single Riders got the pilot seats. Controlling left & right: A competitive Orlando local keen on chasing that high score. Controlling up & down: Me, who wanted to crash it . In the gunner and button-masher positions: A family who didn't grasp the gameplay fundamentals.

Needless to say, we didn't do so hot in our mission. Heck, we got the "sparking cockpit interior" ending, which I consider a rousing success! (I also try to crash the Autopia whenever I do it.) The Orlando local got hopping mad, like Yosemite Sam when he does his little dance. He rage quit out through the ride's exit.

View attachment 598832

It was time to locate the Milk Stand and collect my Blue Milk, a terrible drink which I do not recommend. Of course, you'll still want to satisfy your curiosity, and drain your bank account of $8, so you'll still get one of these someday anyway. That's what I did, despite the milk's sour reputation.

How to describe it? No one seems to agree on a flavor. I'll go with "crushed up liquefied Tums, crossed with cereal milk." These are not flavors found in nature. I choked down the entire wretched concoction, looking the fool as I roamed Galaxy's Edge with this "cup of shame" in my hand.​

I actually like the blue milk

It does taste like cereal milk. Specifically tastes as if you took only Lucky Charms marshmellows and milk and threw it in a blender

 

[D Hulk]

I think I might have a slightly more sensitive palate than you. That Peppercorn sauce is

Is it weird that this really makes me want to try some?

I actually like the blue milk

It does taste like cereal milk. Specifically tastes as if you took only Lucky Charms marshmellows and milk and threw it in a blender

Food tastes are crazy, aren't they?! We all have such different (totally valid) opinions! I probably spent way too much time eating my way through the street markets of Malaysia. Been chasing that high ever since.

---

It was noontime now. Time to take stock of the day's accomplishments. Of Hollywood Studios' essential experiences, only Rise of the Resistance remained, and its 2.5 hour line was destined to shrink later in the day. Beyond that, I had a dinner reservation, and little else to bide my time until then...not inside the park, at least. Guys, Hollywood Studios needs more attractions!

A 2:30 reservation at Oga's Cantina was starting to look eons away. Especially with wait times swelling throughout the park. None of the rides which I'd so casually enjoyed earlier on were convenient now. Hourlong waits across the board! And Hollywood Studios totally lacks high-capacity filler material for those long, hot afternoons.

It was time to escape Hollywood Studios for several hours, and collapse at the Swan for a bit. It was time to put to test the old adage that crowds genuinely do vanish in the evenings at Walt Disney World. I'm most accustomed to the parks in Anaheim and Tokyo, where this is decidedly not the case; if anything, their crowds get worse at night. But tourists do things differently than locals, in confusing counterintuitive patterns which I do not understand, so why knock it?

I went into the app to modify my Cantina reservation, to push it back. Ultimately I settled on an...interesting time: A quarter hour after the park's closing. 9:15. Cool, now there was nothing keeping me here for the time being.

Heading for the exit from Galaxy's Edge, the vintage studios area is strikingly under-themed in contrast. Hollywood Studios is a bipolar park at the moment, with half of it a newly-built "enter the movies" immersive wonderland more akin to Islands of Adventure, and the original half following in the storied old school Universal Studios model. All the individual components of Hollywood Studios work like gangbusters - it has the highest average ride quality in all of Disney World, A.S.S. aside - but as an overall theme park there's a significant lack of cohesion here.

I lingered ever so briefly outside of the Sci-Fi Dine-In. I've always been infatuated with this place. It's the one that got away, a dinner reservation which I was never able to secure. We'll be coming back here later...

Then I wandered down Commissary Lane, a decidedly uninspiring little section of the park. Why did the designers ever think that commissaries - the studio equivalent of high school cafeterias - would be an inviting setting? Studio parks are weird, man!

Then the walk out along Hollywood Blvd. Definitely felt the lack of shade along this stretch, particularly in that Mickey-shaped plaza which is strangely oversized for this bitesize park. Palm trees are the world's most useless tree!

I decided to take the water taxis back to the Swan, rather than do the 20 minute walk in current temperatures. The transfer time was still half an hour or more, for the nearest hotel on property, which struck me as wildly inefficient compared to the on-site hotels I've enjoyed at the more compact Disney resorts worldwide.

There were a lot of people queued up for the water taxi as we approached 1 PM. Apparently it's a common tactic to duck out of the parks around midday. Or they were park-hopping to Epcot. After an eternal wait for a boat - time I spent admiring butterflies in the nearby foliage - it was a big question mark if anyone would even get on the boat. Crowds were that massive! I wound up filling in the last available standing spot on the unshaded rear deck, and only because I was sailing solo. (Solo? Should've used that joke on the Smuggler's Run Single Rider! ) There was at least another whole boat's worth of passengers awaiting on shore, and no additional watercraft in sight.

I greatly enjoyed my respite back at the Swam. I cranked that AC all the way down to 72 - you just cannot find temperatures that low in Disney's public interiors, for some godless reason - and I initially just cooled down whilst sweating all over my bed. Then over the next few hours I showered, I napped, I maybe updated the earliest portions of this trip report. Spent maybe 3 hours in total simply lounging about, sometimes checking in on ROTR wait times to gauge a good time for my DHS return.

Because trust me, we're not by any means done with Hollywood Studios for the day! ​

 

[spacemt354]

They should really change the single ride line to 'Solo Rider' line at Smuggler's Run - similar to the 13 minute wait gag at ToT

 

[ArmoredRodent]

in lieu of the famous Nalgene bottle which remained at the Swan

Gasp! Were you afraid to expose it to alien influences?

Seriously, an awesome set of descriptions. Thank you.

 

[D Hulk]

While I had no pressing reason to head back towards Hollywood Studios as early as 4:30, that's precisely what I did. I felt reenergized enough from the midday break, and time was a-wastin'. But still, there was no evening rush, so I took a decidedly indirect route back to Hollywood Studios by way of the Skyliner...wanted to see what that was all about. This meant a 20 minute walk by foot through the Boardwalk area - the same effort it would've taken to simply walk back to DHS, but I wanted to see new things.

This Boardwalk area was notably absent from the previous day's resort-focused touring. It would, however, become a common feature in the coming days. Incidentally, I don't understand this picture above. Apparently, I decided halfway through my Boardwalk stroll to take the water taxi over to the Yacht & Beach Club side? Obviously for no clear reason other than simple curiosity. I was under no pressure!

(No, wait, that's just the Boardwalk as seen from Jellyrolls. Ignore me !)

Boarding the Disney Skyliner over by Epcot's International Gateway was a breeze at this hour. This is a good addition to Disney World! It adds a new transportation option for a whole cluster of hotels - highlighting the central drawback of a sprawling, non-centralized resort layout - and creates an easy way to parkhop from Epcot to DHS. It also allowed me a nice preview of the following day's theme park.

I got a whole Skyliner gondola to myself, as per pandemic procedures. I hear this can make capacity a nightmare at peak hours, but it was a non-issue just prior to 5 PM. The aerial route provided some nice initial peeks into Epcot's newest Ratatouille area directly below; it probably adds some nice kinetic movement for guests on the ground as well.

While the Skyliner isn't air conditioned, as long as it's moving swiftly there's a decent airflow which works out well enough. Occasionally - when entering a transfer station or an L-shaped bend in the route - the gondolas would slow to an absolute crawl (roughly 1 inch per second!). In these moments, the heat crept up, and I was instantly reminded that I was in a glass capsule in Orlando. I'd dread getting stuck in one of these for hours during a breakdown.

Views were plentiful along the entire route, providing nice new aerial panoramas of Disney World's shocking endless expanses. Walt Disney World overwhelmed me! It activated my latent agoraphobia. I could never get accustomed to the sheer sprawl which is a design choice at every single hotel complex, with their great big empty lawns and their acreage each akin to Disneyland Resort. But I feel I've harped on that point too much already. Bully for the Disney World fans who take solace in this scale!

I *think* these were the Riviera and Caribbean resorts. It's super hard to keep track of the two dozen or more hotel complexes on-property. Most of these hotels are easily ignored if you're not actively using them.

You have to make one gondola transfer at a resort station if you're taking the Skyliner from Epcot to Hollywood Studios. This was extremely easy. My final descent towards the red carpet happened maybe some 40 minutes after starting this trek way over at the Swan. Definitely not the most efficient route, but worth doing for the change of pace.

Reentering Hollywood Studios, the Rise of the Resistance queue was holding steady at under an hour - that condition was a major impetus for returning when I did. While crowds didn't seem particularly different from noontime, the park itself was far more pleasant in the late afternoon. The sun was getting real low (big guy), the ground temperatures were dropping, and the shade was becoming more plentiful by the minute. Disney's parks undergo lovely transformations as night creeps in, and I was about to enjoy Hollywood Studios in a totally new light.

Next stop: Rise of the Resistance!​

 

[D Hulk]

Your galactic gateway awaits!

I had done Rise of the Resistance once before this trip, over at Disneyland in that brief window between Rise's opening and the world's closing. This was when the only option was to join the 7 AM Virtual Queue inside the park gates (it runs out in 10 seconds!), requiring a 4 AM wakeup to get from home to Disneyland in decent time. So in contrast, Rise's 45 minute posted wait time - really 30 minutes - was a no-brainer choice.

This is one of the best rides Disney has ever done.

Rise's queue - which I now got to enjoy at length for the first time, not just darting through - is good, but it's carefully weighted to never overshadow the attraction. The queue starts you out in Batuu's wilderness, then sends you spelunking into Batuu's caves, which gradually reveal themselves to be a Rebel Resistance base. Details aside, that's all there really is to it. The line moved at a steady clip, because there was no Lightning Lane yet to muck things up, so it was never dull.

There's some debate about when exactly Rise of the Resistance transitions from queue to attraction. Imagineering did a fabulous job of blurring the traditional ride mechanics into a story-driven Star Wars experience. The eventual moment where you board your ride vehicle is woven organically into the storyline. (The same goes for Smuggler's Run, to a lesser degree.) There's a lengthy sequence of pre-shows and sorta-ride moments along the way, all of them entertaining & immersive & state-of-the-art.

I'm trying my best here to be as spoiler-free as possible. This is one ride I wholly recommend to everyone reading, wholeheartedly. (I'm over-the-moon about Velocicoaster, but I recognize that it has niche appeal.) Go, experience Rise for yourself! See Disney combine their decades of ride design tricks into a single massive E-ticket. As with Disney's best modern rides, like Radiator Springs Racers or Shanghai's Pirates of the Caribbean, you don't even need to be a fan of the franchise to get something out of this.

So, in my opinion, is Rise of the Resistance the best ride Disney has ever done?

Is it even the best ride on property?

Surprisingly, no. (It's my 2nd favorite ride at WDW, FWIW, BTW.) Walt’s old school Imagineers still won...which we'll get to eventually.

But even so, Rise of the Resistance is a fantastic Disney benchmark. It stands alongside Shanghai's Pirates as the best modern Disney blockbuster ride. Those two rides are extremely different in many ways, but they both combine practical sets and animatronics and screens and vehicle movement together in wonderfully fluid ways. They both do their franchises justice. If I had to choose only one, I would actually side with Shanghai's Pirates, because it has extraordinary rider capacity and is easy to do. Rise's biggest fault is how hard it can be to access. But once you're on...Wow!​

I accomplished Rise of the Resistance in good time. From entry to exit was under an hour...and the attraction itself took roughly 20 of those minutes. Absolutely, I'd be doing this one again later. But for now, with (some) lines definitely decreasing in the early evening as the prophets foretold, it was time to retrace old steps and experience again some of Hollywood Studios' best offerings.

I departed Galaxy's Edge towards Echo Lake. Along the way, I paused to satisfy a longstanding curiosity...

I ducked inside of the Sci-Fi Dine-In!

In fact, I first just approached the cast members stationed at the Dine-In check-in. I had no reservations here! Asking if there might be a sudden table available? Hard no! Asking instead, oh so very politely, if I might simply be allowed to look inside for a moment and see the amazing themed interior? Hard yes! A Sci-Fi cast member totally hooked me up, and provided a personal mini-tour of the restaurant floor. This was one of the trip's two best cast member interactions, easily (the other would be later today), so I took pains to lavish praise at Guest Services later on.

"OH THAT IS SO COOL! " I spontaneously exclaimed upon seeing the Sci-Fi floor. (The emoticon was silent.)

Such a brilliant themed dining concept! An interior made to resemble an outdoors nighttime drive-in theater. Eat in your vintage car, while enjoying Z-grade 1950s sci-fi schlock projected onto the big screen. I love everything about this. I quickly identified the movie onscreen as Roger Corman's timeless It Conquered the World, starring Lee Van Cleef. The brain-sucking manta rays were a dead giveaway.

Star Wars ain't got nuthin' on this!

I didn't get to eat here - reviews suggest the food is middling, anyhow - but I am extremely grateful that I got a chance to see it.​

 

[cgersic]

When my niece was newly pregnant, we went to Magic Kingdom for the day. One of the best experiences was when I couldn't get a reservation for Be Our Guest so I asked the cast member outside if she could at least peek inside? I got a great one too because he gave us a guided tour stopping at all of the best features, and made sure she was at the Beast's door when he came out so she could get a photo. Love me some Disney Cast Members!! Also, the way you are able to get the "story" of some of these queues (I noticed it a lot in the Animal Kingdom section) is beyond me! I've been in them countless times over the years and you've taught me many things I had no idea about! Thank you so much for the lessons and the fabulous photos!!

 

[D Hulk]

As I stepped out of Sci-Fi Dine-In, I asked its cast members for the location of a certain nearby bar which serves a certain cocktail, one recommended by Orlando veterans on this forum. I forget its name. And I never was able to locate this mythical bar, since as I rounded the corner in its supposed direction, my eyes caught the distant sight of something both towering and terrifying...

That that is one effective weenie! The mere glimpse of Tower of Terror changed my priorities, and so I set off crossing Hollywood Studios' longest expanse (not very long) to drop in on a top-tier ride.

More unique views of Tower of Terror show off how effectively it complements everything around it. Since this is a reride, I'll drop the commentary and let the images to the talking. Tower of Terror lost none of its potency on a second ride-through.

No Fantasmic showings in September, so I couldn't satisfy my curiosity about how this one stacked up.

The trip back through Sunset Blvd.'s dead end also doesn't need much more added either. I find it interesting where Hollywood Studios features the same design elements as California Adventure's Buena Vista Street & Hollywood, but realized in different ways. Here, Carthay Circle is a store façade and not a high-toned restaurant. A distant poster for Paradise Pier made my sad for a part of California Adventure long since lost to the gaping maw of Pixar. Cables overhead suggest that a Red Car Trolley type ride might've been considered for this boulevard, but never realized.

Back in the impersonally huge plaza before Mann's Chinese, with again the whole of Hollywood Studios offering itself up, and an hour to go before dinnertime. With Sunset behind me, and sunset fast approaching, I strolled off down the Animation Courtyard route to see the park come to life at dusk.
​

---

@cgersic, that is a wonderful story about your niece! Thank you for sharing. At all six Disney resorts, the cast members have always strived for excellence. It can be these unique, personal moments which stick with you long after a trip ends.

 

[D Hulk]

I was simply wandering at this point, with no agenda. Walt Disney Presents: Walt Disney - One Man's Dream might get overlooked while rushing from E-ticket to E-ticket, but it really appealed to me at this stage. It seemed relaxing and reasonably time-consuming. Hollywood Studios needs more little things like this to supplement the headliners.

The first part of the attraction is a museum to Walt Disney and to Imagineering as a whole. All throughout, there are models and costumes and reproductions of concept art all depicting the history of Disney theme park design. For anyone with a passion for the parks' history or their creation, this is a mecca. I was heartened to see Disneyland's O.G. Sleeping Beauty Castle get a spot of prominence. Disney World fans often deride our diminutive icon, but naturally I love it.

There was a whole lot of Disneyland DNA in here...it reminded me a lot of the Disneyland Gallery which precedes Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, only with different models. (For all that I've compared DHS to DCA, Disneyland shares - or will soon share - nearly 50% of DHS's rides.)

Like with Mr. Lincoln, the One Man's Dream gallery concludes with a lengthy theater presentation. This was even less attended...undeservedly. I value these "purists not tourists" attractions. The theater show was a 20 minute long movie chronicling the life of Walt Disney, from his childhood in Marceline and Chicago, to his hardship years working on Oswald for Universal, to his creation of Mickey Mouse, the triumphs and tribulations of the Walt Disney Studios over the decades, all the way up to the theme park creations of Disneyland and the 1964 World's Fair. Naturally, the show concludes with Disney World, tying the whole story into the current setting.

The show let out into the Animation Courtyard, which presently seems to be a nearly purposeless corner of Hollywood Studios. This whole section is ripe for redevelopment once DHS's turn comes up again on Disney World's improvement rotation (One Man's Dream can relocate if necessary).

The difference is striking between these soundstage relics and the new hotness of Toy Story Land just around the bend. Toy Story Land was looking fabulous in the golden red final hues of the day. Lights were coming on. Slinky Dog continued to rush by. A moment to savor.

And while Slinky Dog Dash remained at well over an hour, Toy Story Mania next door was a walk-on! How the mighty have fallen! I went in and did Toy Story Mania again, getting a pretty crummy score for my efforts. In just the time that took, day had officially given way to night outside. Compare these similar Slinky Dog images!

Nighttime had reawaked all of Hollywood Studios. I continued on my park loop journey through Galaxy's Edge towards Muppet Studios, happy to rediscover familiar sights anew. Lines mostly remained too long for convenience, Toy Story Mania aside (and possibly A.S.S., I never checked), but that barely mattered with my dinner reservation at long last about to start. Let's enjoy our stroll back towards Echo Lake...

Don't worry, I'm not dining at PizzeRizzo! Learn all about dinner next time.​

 

[D Hulk]

I dined at the '50s Prime Time Café. This stands alongside Sci-Fi Dine-In as one of Disney World's most intriguing themed dining experiences, plus it has a better food reputation. While missable from the outside (passed it earlier so many times without noticing), the meal experience is something else.

I'm calling it now. This is the best theme park meal I've ever had!

Part of what makes a good theme park meal is the theming, natch, which Prime Time Café has in spades. Some of the fancier and technically "better" in-park meals focus more on classy haute cuisine ambience. They lack Prime Time's pure fun! This is a 1950s retro diner to the nth degree. The old studios concept is that we're extras on an old sitcom set, I suppose, having a simple at-home family dinner. There are enough wall dividers to make each family's table feel personal - the large floorplan never overwhelms - with plenty of distinctive, authentic, period appropriate baubles on display.

The cast members are a delight, too! They're all in-character, playing up the idea that this isn't a restaurant, but instead dinner over at grandma's. No elbows on the table! Say "please" & "thank you!" Yup, it's one of those places where the servers are intentionally rude (which is hysterical!). This was best exemplified in the moment when a greasy grandmother in curlers and an apron charged past and unceremoniously dumped my meal on the table. "Here's your leftovers, hon," said in full stride as she crossed the entire floor, coughing loudly.

My "leftovers" were a Sampling of Mom's Favorite Recipes. Fried chicken, pot roast, meatloaf, plus "all the fixin's" as the menu puts it (greens beans and potatoes 'n' gravy). And guess what, the food was excellent too!

This is American comfort food, possibly the least adventurous fare found in a theme park. But comfort food done well and with care - in any culture - is the absolute best food! Here at the Prime Time Café, they care, which sets this food far apart from the usual soggy fries and heat lamp pizza. The fried chicken reminded my of Disneyland's Plaza Inn, a high compliment. The meatloaf was deeply flavored and rich. The pot roast was...a slight letdown. The fixin's, perfectly balanced sides. Plus I had a beer. All in all a wholly filling, satisfying, on-theme meal!

By now, the final half hour of Hollywood Studios' daily operations was coming up. I checked the wait times, and saw Rise of the Resistance at 5 minutes! Obviously, I asked for a check instead of dessert. The plan was always to do ROTR again at closing, so this walk-on queue made me salivate.

That's when DHS's other awesome moment of cast member service happened.

Y'see, I'd forgotten my credit card! It turns out that since mobile ordering went so swimmingly in the morning, I thoughtlessly decided to leave the card alongside the Nalgene back at the Swan. I explained the situation to my server, and I explained that I had my card info memorized in case they could enter it manually, and...he hooked me up! It took a little while longer for Prime Time Café's staff to charge me the old-fashioned, on-theme 1950s way (making my anticipate ROTR all the more), but they managed it.

After vociferously thanking my server, I marched steadily but unhurriedly back into Galaxy's Edge. I reached Rise with 5 minutes left in the operating park hours. There was no line whatsoever. I was able to walk the entire queue length all the way to the pre-show without pause...with less delay than you'd get using Virtual Queue, even. This feels unprecedented! (Meanwhile, Slinky Dog was still way up at 45 minutes, for some reason.)

Of course, Rise was once again a blast! There was a palpable energy coursing through all the guests, like catching a midnight movie premiere. We all knew how lucky we were. There were cheers and hollers at every standout moment!

Since ROTR is a time-consuming experience, DHS was long shuttered by the time I exited my escape transport. But I wasn't done yet, there was still that 9:15 post-closing reservation for Oga's Cantina. So while my fellow Resistance fighters turned right to exit, I turned left and proceeded deeper into the Galaxy's Edge marketplace.

Only a smattering of guests remained by now, largely hardcore Star Wars fans. Bless 'em, they provided better streetmosphere than the Disney professionals could manage. A young boy commanding his droids. Couples with glowing lightsabers. Weirdos in robes acting out their demented Sith fantasies. This is the sort life which the land needs more of!

The My Disney Experience app had pinged while I was in the middle of riding ROTR, at precisely 9:15. Disney reservations give you NO leeway! Already with the condescending tsk-tsks. I reckoned I could smooth this out with the cast members over at Oga's. Surely they'd be sympathetic to the ROTR situation. And they were...at least, they were willing to tinker in Disney's system so I wouldn't incur the $10 cancelation fee.

They wouldn't let me inside, though. It was that credit card situation. I asked upfront if they could handle things the Prime Time Café way, and they couldn't. So sorry, folks, no afterhours Oga's Cantina shenanigans in this trip report. Which was a loss, but not a huge loss since I've been to Oga's at Disneyland. Found the décor there to be spectacular, and the well drinks both overpriced and kinda nasty. Wish that these sorts of bedrock Star Wars experiences weren't such a pain in the neck to preplan sometimes!

Sober, I began my long, slow trek out of Hollywood Studios through the Black Spire Outpost. By the time I'd reach Guest Services at the front gate, I'd take a moment to praise the cast members at both Prime Time & Sci-Fi. What I've described in this post is one of the best memories from the trip!​

 

[D Hulk]

There's just a little bit more to cover in this Disney Hollywood Studios day. Mostly pics taken on the final slow passage through Galaxy's Edge, long after park closing with very few guests still filling the walkways.

Since there was no rush whatsoever on the way out - and I was more tired by now anyway - it was nearing 10 o'clock as I made my way down Hollywood's final exit sequence and out through the Pan Pacific gates.

I took the water taxi back home to the Swan. Boats were still operating at peak demand efficiency, so not only was there no wait to board a watercraft, and there was plentiful room inside, there were additional boats queued up to collect any staggerers even slower than me.

Ten o'clock struck while we were out on the water nearing the Boardwalk. Epcot's Illuminations began one of its final ever performances. Out across the lagoon, you could hear and see mere glimpses of Epcot's fireworks. Nothing which could be photographed. Just enough to whet the whistle for the following day in that park.​

 

[ArmoredRodent]

It turns out that since mobile ordering went so swimmingly in the morning, I thoughtlessly decided to leave the card alongside the Nalgene back at the Swan.

Tsk. Karma. Diss the Nalgene, huh? It reaches out with the Force to make sure that won't happen again.

 

[D Hulk]

September 27th
Day 7​

This was the Epcot day.

For some reason, Epcot didn't open until 11 back in September. (It opens at 10 now.) Meaning Early Entry wouldn't be available until 10:30, and strategic pre-arrival wouldn't be until 10 at the earliest. Meaning further still that I had time to poke around more of the Boardwalk area - specifically the Yacht & Beach Club Resorts - on a lowkey morning walk over to Epcot.

It also meant that I had time enough for a proper, full breakfast. This was the trip's most difficult dining reservation. When I first looked into restaurants around the Boardwalk area some several months earlier, there were already no openings. Why do you have to be like this, Walt Disney World? So at that time, I made a "safety" reservation aaaaall the way up at the Grand Floridian, at some restaurant which didn't especially inspire me. Don't recall what it was. The interesting Seven Seas breakfasts, like Ohana, they weren't available.

In retrospect, trying to take Disney transportation up to the Seven Seas Lagoon area, plus a hotel transfer, then getting back down to Epcot, all in time for Early Entry, that all sounds like an atrocious nightmare now! Thankfully, I kept checking dining availability every week or so in the months leading up to the trip. Lo and behold, something did eventually pop up at the Beach Club: Cape May Café.

Of course, Disney World is philosophically opposed to making things easy for guests, so I couldn't simply snag this reservation through the website. Instead I had to dial up guest services - mind you, the cell reception at my mountain home is hellacious - and I had them do the dirty work. It seems like every Disney World first-timer must do the hourlong phone call rite of passage. My cast member had difficulty on her end, even, thanks to Disney's goofy system. It took more time arranging this breakfast than it took eating it!

Cape May offers family-style breakfasts - not that I knew this coming in, I don't research menus in advance - meaning it's prix fixe. Every diner gets the exact same generously massive meal: Yogurt parfait with fruit, an omelet prepared to your taste, a "beach bun" bread bowl with half-a-dozen pastry options, and a mighty skillet teeming with waffles, French toast, sausage, bacon, eggs, bitesize hash browns, and beef hash. The photo below is only half of the meal!

Straight from the @MickeyWaffleCo.

It occurred to me while plowing through this monstrosity that this was a terribly stupid thing to do just before visiting Epcot, the snacking park. I'd spoiled my appetite. I would not be hungry again until dinner time.

I asked for Tapatio with my breakfast. S'pose they don't have that out East, so I then pronounced it as "Tabasco." My server (named Elias!) brought the Tabasco out in a great big bowl, like soup. Presumably bottles are a contact surface concern? I blindly just emptied the entire bowl of Tabasco out over my skillet, and I mostly do not regret this decision. Gave it an OK kick!

After breakfast, I took a casual pace towards Epcot along the Beach Club shoreline. Walked off those waffles a bit. Seen from this distance, I realize that the best views must be from the Swan...because it's the only place where you can't see the Swan! (Old Parisian joke about the Eifel Tower, repurposed.)

Getting into Epcot through the International Gateway a little before 10 was a breeze. As you can see, crowds were simply mingling out by the Skyliner. When we did eventually move through security and line up by the ticketing gates, I got into a lengthy strategy conversation with a family of WDW regulars. To my surprise, I was more informed & knowledgeable than they were regarding Early Entry availability, the FastPass situation, and generally just knowing Epcot...a park I'd never visited before.

It wasn't even 10 yet when I got through the gates and into World Showcase. That's Disney Park #11! Only one more to go!

It was a brisk, cool walk through the UK Pavilion towards the rope drop holding pen. I could tell already that today was gonna be a hot one. For the time being, I took little effort to appreciate the nearby pavilion design or the larger park atmosphere. I was in tunnel vision mode, focused on securing a good rope drop starting point. For my spot, I selected a maple-shaded patio over near the edge of World Showcase Lagoon, with decent shelter from the sunlight and far enough away from the ever-growing gatherers.

Cast members on speakers passed the time by engaging the crowd. The lead cast member would ask a Disney fandom question (e.g. Frozen vs. Frozen II. The answer is Tangled.) and guests would vote. These questions ran the gamut from Disney World rides to popular Disney Channel stuff I've never heard of...all extremely Disney-centric. Tackling the Disney World parks in reverse order meant that I grew increasingly inundated with the Disney brand. Knowing Epcot's onetime reputation as a refuge from the Mouse, it seemed possibly out-of-place here.

I tried to clear my mind as much as possible I wanted to experience Epcot with the fewest possible preconceptions...an impossible task. The day's touring strategy to come was simple enough: Begin with high-priority rides, go on a loop through Future World doing the remaining attractions, then take on World Showcase with no pressure whatsoever. Then dinner reservations. Until tomorrow!​

 

[MickeyWaffleCo.]

Straight from the @MickeyWaffleCo.

 

[D Hulk]

And we're off!

Most of the Early Entry rope drop crowd had the same plan as I did: get to Frozen Ever After ASAP. There was no running - at times like that I started to miss Tokyo Disney's panicky rope drop free-for-alls, their "running of the otaku" - but there was no time to bask in Epcot's massive, parklike design either. Let it go, no time to get frozen along the way.

And little time to admire the 50th Anniversary golden statues. I haven't commented much yet on the 50th décor throughout the parks, largely because it wasn't made for me. It was made for Disney World regulars who'd be visiting primarily for the 50th, who want to see a familiar resort transformed. For my first visit, the parks in their most "vanilla" state were enough for me.

Saw some fun stuff along the route. The Mexico Pavilion sure was striking...and more presentable from the "back side" in the morning light. The Norway Pavilion - what parts of it remained untouched by Elsa's icy fingertips - looked to be awash with explorable details to be discovered later.

I arrived at the entrance to Frozen Ever After with barely a wait ahead of me, since in typical rope drop fashion the little crowds ahead were simply pulsing through the empty queue and letting it naturally fill up. I could see the queue behind me already swiftly surging out into walkway space all the way towards China (the pavilion), blocking entry to Restaurant Akershus along the way.

I'd've almost preferred a slightly longer wait. I was still a tad bit overheated & sweaty from the desperate walk over. Thankfully, since Frozen Ever After is a boat ride, the air inside its show building is naturally just a little bit cooler than Disney's paltry air-conditioning can do on its own. The ride seemed a little short, though.

I'll take an iconoclastic position and die on this hill: Frozen Ever After is my favorite ride in Epcot!

It helps that I experienced this first, before I had any greater Epcot context. That made it easier to appreciate Frozen Ever After for what it is - a perfectly solid Fantasyland D-ticket. And I say this as a major Frozen non-fan.

I'll grant you that, in retrospect, Frozen Ever After isn't a great fit for Epcot necessarily. The character stuff felt a lot more intrusive in Norway than I expected it would, and it's readily apparent that the ride layout was a retrofit from the old Maelstrom. However, the ride was charming, the fluid animatronics with the backlit facial projections were exceptional, and it was a rare moment of genuine fantasy and escapism in this rather OCD theme park.

Epcot handles the typical post-ride shops a little differently. There's at least an effort made to have some "edutaitional" content alongside the Disneyfied merch. In most of World Showcase, that means some additional items which are least nominally related to their host country. Here in Norway, it meant stuff like this insane troll statue. I suddenly felt like I'd stumbled into the Darkest Timeline from Community. (There was Frozen merch by the barrelful, too, but whatever.)

My speedy Early Entry agenda wasn't over yet. I turned my attentions immediately towards Future World, heading away from the Norway Pavilion with nary a moment to truly appreciate the stave church or sample a school bread.

I'm not the first person to pass this way. Nor shall it be my last time. I will again seek the spirit of Norway, in the mid-afternoon, but next I face peril and adventure, upon Test Track. Will I find beauty and charm?​

 

[D Hulk]

Having knocked out Frozen Ever After, I wished to do a complete counterclockwise Future World loop before returning to World Showcase.

While I'm happy overall with when I chose to visit (short standbys and no FastningLanes), this was not a good time to first discover Future World. The whole area is under a heavy thicket of construction walls, not unlike DCA prior to its glorious 2012 rebirth. I'm familiar enough with construction walls from DCA - and also from every single time I've visited Tokyo Disney because they never stop their ambitious maintenance rotation - so walls aren't not a deal breaker for my enjoyment. But it cannot be denied that Future World was a shambles, and it would be unfair to pass judgment on it in this state.

Regarding Future World's exteriors, at least, I'll try to be kind. Fair warning upfront, though: Epcot as a whole didn't particularly work for me.

My voyage towards Test Track took me on a shortcut through the Odyssey restaurant. Great big wide open spaces separate nearly everything in Epcot. This means that there are constant wide panoramic views across the whole park. Minimalism is favored over Disney's traditional detailed design. It also meant a lot of walking (relative to the payoff) with very little shade. Those who recall my rants regarding Disney World's overall scale won't be surprised that I found Future World (even its pristine sections) very soulless, very difficult to warm up to.

Test Track posted a 40 minute wait time already, and this was still during Early Entry. Single Rider got me boarded in under 5 minutes. Doing this, I missed out on the car prototype design portion of the queue...though it seems that's only a Magic Band thing? Are people still using those?

Addressing a strangely common Disney fan misconception: Test Track is not a roller coaster! It's similar, but distinct, like how a dolphin isn't a fish. Which means it's a fun ride, but not a credit.

Test Track was a decent enough ride. Something felt lacking though. The thrill aspect is good, but obviously since this is Disney we grade on a substantial curve. That leaves theming & storytelling, as always, and in those areas Test Track felt sterile. The newish "TRON Track" design was surprisingly ineffective, less impressive than Shanghai's similar TRON coaster, perhaps because that goes by faster. There was no particular narrative or setting. Compare this to either Radiator Springs Racers or DisneySea's Journey to the Center of the Earth, two of Disney's very best rides using the same ride system, and it's clear where Test Track comes up short.

As would be the case with all of these Future World rides, Test Track exists into an interactive learning pavilion. This is one of Epcot's biggest design innovations. With everything ostensibly educational - Test Track seemed only nominally informative - this is a chance to learn more at your own speed. Or to internalize corporate car propaganda, at any rate. I rarely gave these exhibits anything more than a once over glance. Was that an error on my part?

Apparently in Epcot's Golden Age, these exhibits were revelatory. Circa 2021, they seemed take-it-or-leave-it. Nope, right or wrong, I was gonna experience Epcot simply as I would any random theme park, and hopefully its deeper charms would eventually start to show themselves over time.

Following the standard theme park touring playbook, I simply exited and hit up the next attraction - Mission: Space.

If memory serves, this day incidentally was also the grand opening for Space 220. Advanced dining reservations became available online something like a week earlier. Of course I made a low-effort attempt at snagging one, with predictable failure. The vague notion I had of trying to grab a walk-up table, that was snuffed out instanty. Here was a long, unmoving line, people standing motionless in the direct Orlando sunlight, awaiting doors which wouldn't open for well over an hour. For a chance at a table. Disney fanatics are a special breed!

So instead I just went right on into Mission: Space. At no point during this entire attraction experience would I witness a single other park guest. Well, that doesn't bode well for the ride, does it?

The initial queue theming followed Test Track's pattern: Minimalist, non-immersive, bland, empty, uninspired. And I wasn't learning anything either! This seems to be Epcot's style, and obviously a whole lotta folks are deeply enamored with this for some reason. I wasn't a fan. I've seen what Mission: Space's head designer, Eddie Sotto, is capable of. His work on Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Paris' Main Street is stunning. Simply stunning. Epcot broke him.

This is, objectively, Disney's most intense ride. That doesn't mean it's the most exciting, enjoyable or thrilling, it simply means that this pulls the most G-forces. Yes, I did Orange Team!

The experience is a sort of centrifugal space launch simulator - one which presents itself as a simulator, not a genuine space flight, because Epcot strictly forbids fantasy - all inside of an extremely claustrophobic sardine can. There are some switches you can randomly toggle, like a Smuggler's Run prototype, but they purely ornamental it seems. Several lengthy periods of extreme positive Gs - where you weigh 5 times what you typically weigh - made the ride memorable. They also made it a one-and-done.

There is an admirable attempt at a "documentary in a theme park" type experience here...which I s'pose is Epcot's raison d'etre to begin with. In this case, the intent is to create something as close to a genuine astronaut training simulator as possible. Which, it turns out, is kind of joyless and industrial. But hey, workplaces are like that! ​

 

[D Hulk]

The hallway above exemplifies most of Future World's interiors. Oppressive emptiness. No texturing or detailing to please the eye. And the lines aren't even straight!

This particular lifeless hallway is the Mission: Space exit, which sure is long. They route you around seemingly 70% of the building's exterior, because the post-ride shop is over on that side. There must have been a more efficient layout option.

Most of "WallCot" was towards the front of the park, marring every approach to Spaceship Earth. It's a necessary evil. I'll give 'em credit for making these walls colorful and pleasing. The whole center of Future World was seamlessly hidden away.

Spaceship Earth had a sizeable line, no doubt because it's close to the main entrance and the park had only just recently opened, but at least the line moves quickly. Ah, the joy of omnimovers! This queue was nothing special either, just switchbacks out in the open, but under the shade of the great geodesic dome it worked. This iconic sphere and the space around its base...it's the most successful use of Epcot's modernist, streamlined aesthetic. The shapes are interesting enough that there's a new discovery from every angle, which is pretty impressive for what is fundamentally a ball.

There aren't many detailed moments, so those precious moments where maximalism intrudes are all the more powerful. Spaceship Earth's entry mural - an evolution of the Fantasyland dark ride murals, perhaps? - was stellar. A great bit of first generation Imagineering. For the faintest second, I caught a glimpse of the Epcot Which Once Was (And Never Will Be Again).

I quickly boarded my omnimover and easily selected "English" on the touchscreen. The pair of fuddy-duddies in front of me had difficulty with every aspect of that, and they weren't any older than I am, mind you, they were just doofuses. After some attempted help from a cast member, they somehow selected "Arabic." They were visibly perplexed throughout the entire ride!

Spaceship Earth awkwardly transitions through the pylon ramp and upwards into the sphere. Once inside that sphere, old school Imagineering brilliance takes over! There are a dozen or more animatronic tableaus visually conveying mankind's progression from hunter gatherer to spaceman, with communication as the central spine. While this could have stood on its own, in my estimate, there was an undying ride-long gibbering narration courtesy of Dame Judy Dench, to over-explain what you're looking at. Removing all your personal interpretations for a didactic schoolmarm lecture. It was distracting, condescending. Not needed.

The ride hits its apex - metaphorically and physically - at the sphere's peak, where the dome opens up for a spectacular expansive view up into space. The much-dreaded descent begins well, too, with a grid-like starfield which got me to gasp aloud. Then the ride keeps on going...and going...and going. The cars struggled along at a Skyliner-esque inch-a-second pace, slanting backwards inside those tilted pylons. Cracks in the outer walls let sunlight break in. Transcendence gave way to awkwardness. I felt like I was inside of a corrugated metal shed.

Spaceship Earth in the end proved to be a surprisingly mixed bag. You can feel the fingerprints of the genius designers who created Pirates and Haunted Mansion, but you can also feel them struggling with Epcot's limitations - with its creative straightjacket, with it’s po-faced seriousness, with the physical requirements of the sphere.

The exhibit afterwards mostly consisted of additional touchscreens. Epcot grows dated pretty quickly. Suppose when they added these, they were cutting edge. Now, they're a daily annoyance. The central globe design was neat - reminded me of a Bond villain's lair - but there wasn't much content here to keep me around.

I made a detour towards Epcot's front gates to further admire Spaceship Earth from the outside. This is a striking park icon! It is utterly unlike the various Disneyland castles, and it is an utter triumph. A single image which sums up Future World's entire goal. The geodesic ball is an abstract, symbolic form which implies a whole ton of concepts, from the sheer awe a child might feel, to adult thoughts about Buckminster Fuller's humanist philosophies.

Also, too, Spaceship Earth creates shade. Epcot is south-facing, meaning you're walking into the sun most of the time (bad design), but in this one moment at least the interplay between sun and Earth was fantastic.