Trip Report With a little bit of Pixie Dust...we made it to Batuu!

Hi all, super excited (and nervous) to be doing my first (pre) trip report!
I absolutely love reading others trip reports on here and with the help and encouragement of @Darstarr decided to give it a go!
This trip took some serious magic to come to fruition, and makes looking forward to it all the sweeter. Fun fact, this trip was arranged with a 2 week time window, as explained below.

I apologize ahead of time for the long winded explanation of how it is we will be traveling to Galaxy's Edge, but here it is!

Some back story to this unexpected trip, (and to explain the pixie dust part). We were at Disney in December of 18, and did not think we would make it back this year as my daughter will be getting married this October. But, we are annual passholders and I heard there would be an AP preview for GE, reportedly for people who have activated AP's. (This is where the pixie dust will come into play).
I started following the blogs much more closely. Why the blogs? Because we rarely to never get any communication from AP or DVC and no matter how many times I've chatted with their IT department has it been resolved.
And, sure enough the day the registration opened I didn't get an email from Disney, but got a notice from one of the blogs I follow.

So I jump on the link and there were all kinds of spots available, and I got my husband and I a slot to see GE and make a lightsaber! So exciting!
Now is where it starts to get more complicated. My 19 year old son who previously wasn't sure he wanted to go, now said he would love to go once he realized we were going. :confused:
So I start reading comments from several people who had been able to get a reservation, that they were able to buy an AP that morning and use it (unactivated) to register for the GE preview. (It wouldn't have mattered one way or the other, but I thought my sons AP was renewable but it had expired).

I go onto the website to try to buy a pass. But the pass would not stay in my cart. I call Disney and some how end up with a pleasant reservation lady who says it's true, you can buy a pass and link it for the preview. (She actually put me on hold and checked and said reservations were still available for GE, let's do this)!

So, she takes my credit card info for $950 (we're DVC), and then neither of us can link it to my account and I end being transferred to the AP IT people. They finally get it linked and, you guessed it, the reservations were now closed because at that point I had been on the phone 2 separate times, once for 1 hour 15 min, and the second 1 hour and 48 min (no joke). So at that point I figure we're not going if we can't all go and I (naively) ask them to refund the cost of the AP and cancel it. (They misinterpreted what I said and thought I asked for their first born). So, apparently this isn't done and I get told because we're DVC I have to talk to them. That lady at DVC thought I asked for 2 of her children and said I needed to talk to guest services. She in turn thought I was speaking a foreign language because she said if I wasn't currently on property she couldn't help me. So guess who she transfers me to, yep, back to the AP people. :banghead:

But, this is where the magic starts, I'm talking to the AP lady and she says "honey I can't find you in our system at all", of course you can't, almost came out of my mouth. But then, she realized I paid full price and she is the lady you pay payments to for your AP. She asks if I can wait on hold she thinks she can throw some magic my way, and I thought are you serious?! I am now an hour into my 3rd phone call of the day, I am not going anywhere if you can help me! She connects me to guess who, yep, the AP IT people! Aggggghh. But things started to look brighter, because THIS lady told me she couldn't return my money, but could "escalate" our situation to the escalation team, but she couldn't guarantee the outcome.

And now I will apologize again for the incredibly long wind up to the resolution, but we waited for over a week and when I finally had given up that anything positive was going to come of this, I got an email from Hope. That was the name on the email, no lie, and their solution was to add my son to our reservation, and so we are headed to Batuu with less than 2 weeks to plan/schedule etc!

Now, who will be coming along. My son S who started all of the drama.
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And my husband G and me! Missing this trip is my daughter and her fiance.
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We will be there Aug 18-21, with our GE preview day on Monday morning. With such late notice, the only place I could find to use our DVC points was at Saratoga Springs. The Tree Houses no less! I have never stayed there before but from the sounds of it we will have plenty of room to spread out!
We are ridiculously excited to have this impromptu trip and can't wait to get there!
 
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DryerLintFan

Premium Member
Here are some pictures of our Tree House Villa, as I said before the room was fabulous, the transportation and remote location were the only issues. We were in unit 7010.
This is the walkway back to the unit. We were right at the internal bus stop for the villas.
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This is the deck, I tied to upload a panoramic view, but apparently it's too large of a file.
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This is the living room/kitchen area.
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The master bedroom and bath.
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This is the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms and guest bathroom.
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I have to take a moment to give a shout out to all of the people who post trip reports. I love reading them and seeing the photos, and I don't think I realized what all goes into producing one with great photos.
I kept taking food pics with 2 forkfuls gone because I kept forgetting to take the picture before I chowed down! Or, in the case of the room pictures. We put all of our stuff in there before I remembered to take the pictures. (When it was still pristine)!
But, with that said I wanted to share how nice and spacious the villas are with you.

Well, that's it for DAY 1!
Tomorrow is our day to visit Galaxy's Edge, and it was an absolute blast!

I think you're doing a wonderful job with the trip report!! For me, I take a lot of pictures just to help my memory a bit. And I still haven't successfully taken a picture of my hotel room without my stuff in it. Can't wait for day two!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I think you're doing a wonderful job with the trip report!! For me, I take a lot of pictures just to help my memory a bit. And I still haven't successfully taken a picture of my hotel room without my stuff in it. Can't wait for day two!
You're very kind.
Reviewing my photos and writing all of this down has helped with the post trip blues for sure!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 2

We woke up bright and early and got ready for our trip to Batuu! We ate some bagels and OJ and headed out the door.
I've mentioned the difficulties with transportation from the villas and we developed a work around. We were only a few villas down from the gated entrance off of the main road there, Disney Vacation Club Way. So we called for an Uber that only took a few minutes to arrive to take us to DHS. (We ended up doing this quite a bit for the duration of our stay).
He dropped us off at the front of the park and we went through security without any problems.
Our scheduled time for our GE preview was 9am. We were at the front of the park by 7:55 am according to the time stamp on this photo.
Minimal crowds at that time of day!
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We made our way back to the entrance to GE, checked in and received our time/reservation card that told us to return to Savi's Workshop at 9:25am for Seth and Gary to make their lightsabers. And then joined the rather large (but festive and friendly) crowd waiting for entrance into the land.
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They let us in early at about 8:24 am, and while it was a large crowd it was very orderly with people not pushing or shoving.
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Once in the land the crowds dispersed fairly quickly and we took our time looking around and taking it all in and getting some pictures. What I think happened was the largest part of the crowd headed to Smugglers Run, but I had read from previous reports that the line would decrease as the morning progressed. And that is what happened. By the time we made it to the ride later there was only a 10 minute wait.


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We then stopped in the Droid Depot, which a cast member had to point out to us because they did such a good job trying to stay true to the "real" Batuu, that you have to look hard for the various buildings and shops as the signage is very subtle.
(Except for the restrooms thank goodness)!:joyfull: Speaking of restrooms, the theming continued right into the ladies room. Couldn't resist taking a picture. This was a restroom in the market place area
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Anyway, back to the Droid Depot.

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It was early morning and the shop was basically empty. This picture above with Gary was from the store side, then the pic below is where you make the droids. Seth had been debating on making a droid, but when we got there and saw how cool the process was, encouraged him to go ahead and make one. We were debating on coming back later to make one so we didn't have to carry it around all morning, but excellent decision to go ahead and make it then because when we came back around to the shop at around noon, the line was out the door and around the building!:oops:
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As at Savi's, only one person can go with the builder, but here it is open and you can stand behind a railing and watch. The builder pulls the necessary parts off of a conveyor belt going by and then takes them to another section where the droid is assembled and brought to life. Some people reviewing Savi's vs the droid building felt there wasn't enough to the droid "experience", but my son said it was very interactive and the staff were super nice. It may also have been that there were very few people building at that time of day. This did not require a reservation, unlike Savi's. I have heard once GE opens you will need a reservation to make a droid.

We stopped in front of this gigantic ?fighter? for a PP pic of that and the newly created droid. The droid works amazingly well, rolling all over the place when he tried it in our hotel room. Some people were rolling/running their droids around the land which I didn't think was such as great idea, as someone could trip over it, and/or squish it like a bug. They aren't very large.
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We then continued on our way and decided to try one of the "milks". Because they were $8 each and we had no idea if we would like them, we opted to try the blue one only. Seth and I loved it, Gary said it tasted like Pepto Bismol!
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Next up, probably one of the coolest views ever, and it's onto Savi's!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After we enjoyed our blue milk, we rounded the bend and got to see this amazing site!
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Next up, we checked into Savi's. So excited! (A note of warning, this section contains spoilers for the light saber building process).

At check in you have to decide which of the Sabers you want to build. Seth of course chose Power and Control :D, and Gary chose Elemental Nature. You are given a green plastic card that I assume is to identify this, they take that back once you are in the room. You also get the pin Gary and Seth are wearing that signifies your choice of saber. You get to keep that.
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Once in the room each person is assigned a building station.
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There is a very theatrical show that follows, prior to actually assembling the saber.

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He talks about the the power of the various Kyber Crystals that they chose for their sabers. Gary initially chose blue and Seth red. (They later, of course, "needed" another color crystal they each bought at Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities)🤣
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They then began assembling the sabers.
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Staff was there for assistance if needed.
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And now, on to the finish!
 
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After the sabers are assembled there is an insanely cool process that happens to finalize the creation of the sabers. I debated on posting the little video clip I made, but to be honest I didn't want to ruin it for people who are going to do this. (Probably can be found on multiple sites if someone really wants to see it).
I will show Gary and Seth with their completed sabers.
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And, ta-da!!! We are now the proud owner of 2 (I think) very expensive toys!
On the way out they give you a really cool black padded case for the sabers included in the purchase price. So for $199 plus tax, you get a really cool experience, a Disney pin, the light saber and a carrying case.
And something that I think is beyond hilarious, is this statement on the TSA website regarding getting these light sabers home. (We brought a lot of packing material with us, initially not sure how we were going to get these home).

🤣 I laugh hysterically every time I read this!
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Who says the government doesn't have a sense of humor?!

We went into Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities next, to see it and to get the aforementioned additional Kyber Crystals we had to have.
(At this point I will interject that I bought way too much stuff this trip, was going to use another word, not sure if ok on a website. But, I don't feel guilty at all compared to what these 2 spent). I will show pics later of my loot from the character warehouse and I ask people not to judge.
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We now headed over to ride Smugglers Run and ran into this guy on the way over!
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At Smugglers Run the wait time was 10 minutes. It probably didn't even take us that long. This is a cool shot from inside the ride on one of the ramps. And another as you walk up through the queue.
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When we rode, 2 in our group could have been pilots, but I gave my spot to the guy behind me who clearly wanted to be a pilot. Gary and I were gunners. It was a hilarious ride and I'm pretty sure our performance was terrible! But, great fun.
This is a pic of Seth and the other gentleman (sort of) piloting the ship. 😀
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Next up, the market place and then Docking Bay 7 for lunch.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We headed to the market place to look around and see if there were any treasures to find. It is a really neat space with different stores/stalls on both sides of the area.
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I'm a pretty hardcore Disney fan, and try not to criticize too much. But, I will say the comments I have read regarding these areas being too small are spot on. I don't know the name of the store I bought a pin in. But, back where the pin rack is, you seriously can't stand 2 people deep to look at the pins. Probably only 3 people total can squeeze into the back of the store where they have the pins. I do think it is going to be pure chaos when full crowds arrive.

While I was standing in line I got a look at some of the details. The lights are fabulous!
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To deviate a moment if I could. We have a very large Christmas tree that we usually put up, 12 feet or something. I got lazy this past year and found this little one to put my Disney ornaments on. But, I was told by my kids that I can't break a 32 year tradition and have to keep the angel on top and not put a Mickey up there. (I did try to find little mini Mickey ears to put on her). They didn't approve of that either.
Anyway, back to GE. I bought an ornament in the market place to put on this tree. I'm going to look for itty bitty stormtroopers, droids, etc. to put in it!
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After visiting the market place, we went to eat at Docking Bay 7 which has been receiving pretty good reviews. It was fairly crowded, but we were able to order fairly quickly, get our food and find seats in a reasonable time frame. This is the menu front and back. Sorry it's a little blurry as I was holding it in one hand and taking the pic with the other.
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Seth had the Fried Endorian Tip-Yip and thought is was reasonable.
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I had the Roasted Endorian Tip-Yip Salad, and thought it was fabulous!
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And Gary had the Braised Shaak Roast, that he said was awesome!
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We bought one each of the desserts to share, Oi-Oi Puff, and the Batuu Bon. We felt that the Batuu Bon was clearly the winner!
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After lunch we felt as if we had pretty much seen everything we wanted to see and started to meander to the exit of GE. The stormtroopers are everywhere and were messing with me on our way out! They were awesome, they interacted with old and young alike.
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My thoughts on GE are that the land is just amazing. The details are exquisite and it is a wonderful place to explore.
Like many reviewers have said, very small things could enhance it. More characters, certainly more creatures walking around as you would see in a Star Wars setting. The market and stores are going to be a problem with crowds, the same with the very limited dining options. Disney execs were banking on (pun intended), large crowds willing to spend money and yet didn't in anyway plan for that. The idea of small spaces for theming could have been carried out with shopping and dining areas having connecting, labrynth type areas. This is all just one woman's opinion.
But, with all of that said, will we be clamoring for the ability to get back in and ride RotR? You betcha!

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Till next time Galaxy's Edge!

And now it's off to spend some of that money Disney expected at the Annual Passholder Merchandise event! I didn't get any pictures, it was crowded and @Darstarr, to quote X, "it was hot"!
Gary got a Star Wars GE hat, Seth and I got a shirt and we got the AP exclusive pin.

Coming up, we bail on EPCOT and head to Character Warehouse instead.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After we went to the AP merchandise area located near the Muppets, (I think it's called the Stage 1 Company Store), we decided to cancel our fast passes and head out of the park. It really was very hot, supposedly 94 degrees with humidity and we were starting to drag. I had passes for TSM and Star Tours and cancelled both. The original plan was we were going to head to EPCOT (I was really looking forward to bumping into @riverside, but just couldn't hang!

On the way out, near Echo Lake we saw these super cute Disney ducks. My son, not understanding people's interest in such things, didn't get why I took the picture of some random ducks. I told him I think @DisneyGigi would get it!
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We decided to Uber back to the villas again to drop off the light sabers, etc. before heading to the Character Warehouse (CW).

There are apparently 2 different locations for CW, we went to the one on Vineland near Disney Springs.
I have only been here twice. We went during our last trip in December and they were very slim on stock.
A friend of mine advised me to watch YouTube videos of people who go in periodically and show what is in stock. I watched one 2 days before we left, and by the time we got there some of the items were gone and there didn't seem to be a lot of new items.
But, this didn't stop us from finding an entire basket full of items we really "needed'!🤣

Now this is where I ask you all not to judge. This is a pic of our loot. And what is crazy is the next day we saw several of these items full price as we went into various Disney gift shops. The red/white/blue zip up my husband paid $10 for, was full price at $59.99 at AK. The Dooney & Bourke DVC purse (that I have coveted for a long time but was too cheap to buy), was half price.
If you saw my Christmas tree photo, you could see I love those very large Mickey head ornaments, and the pink one was $7 at the warehouse and still available at full price at the Disney Springs Days of Christmas store! We bought the 2 Cinderella bubble wands for my friend's daughters for $2.99. The deck of Haunted Mansion cards my son bought, was still available at Memento Mori.
I do love a bargain!
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We once again used Uber to get back to the villas, we ordered in some food via Uber eats and called it a day.

Up next, our last full day at Disney and yet another frustrating fight with the door locks on our villa!
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
After we went to the AP merchandise area located near the Muppets, (I think it's called the Stage 1 Company Store), we decided to cancel our fast passes and head out of the park. It really was very hot, supposedly 94 degrees with humidity and we were starting to drag. I had passes for TSM and Star Tours and cancelled both. The original plan was we were going to head to EPCOT (I was really looking forward to bumping into @riverside, but just couldn't hang!

On the way out, near Echo Lake we saw these super cute Disney ducks. My son, not understanding people's interest in such things, didn't get why I took the picture of some random ducks. I told him I think @DisneyGigi would get it!View attachment 402011

We decided to Uber back to the villas again to drop off the light sabers, etc. before heading to the Character Warehouse (CW).

There are apparently 2 different locations for CW, we went to the one on Vineland near Disney Springs.
I have only been here twice. We went during our last trip in December and they were very slim on stock.
A friend of mine advised me to watch YouTube videos of people who go in periodically and show what is in stock. I watched one 2 days before we left, and by the time we got there some of the items were gone and there didn't seem to be a lot of new items.
But, this didn't stop us from finding an entire basket full of items we really "needed'!🤣

Now this is where I ask you all not to judge. This is a pic of our loot. And what is crazy is the next day we saw several of these items full price as we went into various Disney gift shops. The red/white/blue zip up my husband paid $10 for, was full price at $59.99 at AK. The Dooney & Bourke DVC purse (that I have coveted for a long time but was too cheap to buy), was half price.
If you saw my Christmas tree photo, you could see I love those very large Mickey head ornaments, and the pink one was $7 at the warehouse and still available at full price at the Disney Springs Days of Christmas store! We bought the 2 Cinderella bubble wands for my friend's daughters for $2.99. The deck of Haunted Mansion cards my son bought, was still available at Memento Mori.
I do love a bargain!
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We once again used Uber to get back to the villas, we ordered in some food via Uber eats and called it a day.

Up next, our last full day at Disney and yet another frustrating fight with the door locks on our villa!
Disney Ducks!!! :)
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
(I was really looking forward to bumping into @riverside, but just couldn't hang!
Likewise!! We ended up getting there later than originally planned b/c our flight couldn't land due to lightning. We only ended up being there for a couple of hours.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 3

We were able to have a bit of a slower pace this morning, because the plan was to walk to the boat dock behind the villas, and catch the boat that connects to Disney Springs. We were going to leave the villa around 9:30 with plans to be at DS around 10 to do some shopping and then eat lunch at Rain Forest Cafe.
We have learned our lesson with the locks on our villa door and one of us stayed inside while the other went out and tried to get back in. We are so clever, or so we thought. The magic band worked and so we headed off.
Gary all of a sudden decided he wanted to change shoes, they were hurting his feet, and went back up the steps, tried to get in, and guess what happened?! Of course, we were locked out again. None of our bands worked. I was able to flag down a housekeeper who told me she could not let me in. Seriously?! I showed her my ID, didn't matter. I had some difficulty understanding her (there was a language barrier), but figured out she was going to radio someone to help us.
Not really trusting that this would be effective, I used the phone at the bus stop to call the front desk. (Did you ever try to actually get the front desk of a Disney hotel by phone)? :( This phone that was literally hanging by loose wires, was able to dial, and once again someone told me, someone :rolleyes: would be by.
Finally, maybe 20-30 min later, a front desk CM, named Jeremy, came to our rescue. He couldn't open the door electronically. He couldn't open it with a METAL key!! He finally got it open by forcefully (read kicking it) with the metal key in the lock. Gary got his shoes and Jeremy tried to offer us 3 fastpasses for our troubles, but I told him we wouldn't be able to use them, as our only plan was for AK later in the day and I already had scheduled 3 FP's and didn't think we would have the time or energy for much more.
We had wasted at least an hour at this point, so we decided to go ahead and head to DS, but Jeremy told us to come to the front desk when we finished so someone could bring us back and make sure we could get in after they worked on the locks.

And finally we're off!
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My husband is almost 70, (thinks he's 12!) and next to FOP, and pin trading, this boat ride is his absolute favorite thing to do at Disney!
Very glad we still got to do it, despite yet another episode in the door lock drama!

We did a little shopping before lunch. We didn't buy it, but I thought this shirt was very funny in the Star Wars store.
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We headed over to my husband's favorite restaurant, (I can take it or leave it), to eat lunch.
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Sorry photo is so dark, this is inside the restaurant. I do think the decor is fun. The food is frequently not so memorable.
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We did a little more shopping, Seth wanted to get some shirts at Uniqlo. I saw this shirt there, and couldn't agree more!
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We said goodbye to DS and headed back to the lobby of Saratoga Srings as instructed by Jeremy, to hitch a ride back to our villa, with the hope that our lock problems were a thing of the past. Check out the volcano at Rain Forest, with pure luck, I caught it spewing flame!
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Up next, our super sweet, 2nd Pixie Dust sprinkle of the trip!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We took what ended up being 2 boats to get back to the main building of Saratoga. This was because we went to the dock at the Market area, and found out none of the boats there stop at Saratoga. We had to ride a boat there to the Landing boat dock, and then transfer to a boat that would stop at Saratoga. This was all because when were at the Market boat dock, where you could see the walking bridge to Saratoga, both my husband and son wanted to ride not walk. :rolleyes:
Anyway, we eventually made our way to the front desk. We saw Jeremy who waved us over to what I think was some sort of manager who told us for our troubles they were going to return one night of our DVC points to our account! I told her it wasn't necessary, but she said she felt bad for the troubles we experienced with the lock to our villa. We thanked her, and definitely appreciated the gesture. We went to bell services at her direction to get a golf cart to take us to our villa. They did this so the driver could bring us back if the locks weren't fixed yet. We had a nice scenic ride back to our room, and yesssss the locks were working again!🥳

And then we were off to visit the last park of our trip and ride one of our favorite rides.
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When we got there we had fast passes to both Kilimanjaro Safari and EE. But, again we started to drag with the heat and cancelled both FP's and decided to take our time and wander over to Pandora and enjoy the sights. We watched the drummers who were performing and enjoyed their show, then decided to eat at Satu'li Canteen before our FOP fast pass.

Gary wasn't very hungry and only got a drink. I got the Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl, which I always enjoy.
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Seth got the Chili-Garlic Shrimp Bowl, which he said was very good.
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And we each got one of the Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousee desserts that we love. (While I know not everyone agrees), I find the "Blue Stuff" much more delicious than the "Grey Stuff"! :hungry:
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We then headed off to ride our current favorite, FOP. I haven't completely sorted out my feelings yet, but, I think I still like it better than Smugglers Run.

We grabbed a PP pic on our way out of the park.
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They have a weird and confusing setup at the bus stop at AK for Saratoga Springs and Disney Springs. They use the same stop with 2 separate queues. I saw several people get into the wrong line, and then quickly climb under (or run around) the chains to catch their bus. Also fun, was we got to see 2 Disney Springs buses come and go before the Saratoga Springs bus showed up.

It was dark by the time we got back to Saratoga and we decided with all of the problems we had been having with our door lock that we did not want to be stranded out there in the swamp, in the dark unable to get into our room. And it had started to rain. So we went to bell services again and requested a ride over in one of the golf carts and asked the driver to please wait till we were in the room before he took off. He was agreeable, and this was our ride in the cart in the dark through the swamp while it was raining. I thought it was just a little creepy!:eek: It's fun being melodramatic!
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We got in our room with no further issues and said goodbye to our driver who headed off by himself on the dark creepy road!

We had packed up a lot of our stuff in the afternoon, and as it was getting late decided to get to sleep. The internal villa buses don't start till 7 am and our Magical Express pickup time was 5:20 am. The only time slot available for a ride from our villa to the main building was 4:45 am! Blah!
Up next, departure day. (In the wee hours of the morning)!
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 4

We got picked up right at 4:45 am for our ride to the main building. The airline luggage service team was just opening up shop and checked our bags assuring us they would make it to MCO for our 8:30 am flight back to Pittsburgh.

I went into the lobby to use the restroom and this is what the lobby looks like at 5am. No humans!
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They've got everything they need for a 5am Magic Bus road trip. Light sabers and phones
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And always the saddest sign in the world, (Unless you're going the other direction)!:cry:
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Not another soul in site!
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The bus arrived about 5 min late, and was almost full. I feel really bad for whoever was on first, their time must have been really early!
We got to MCO and through security with no difficulties.

A little side note, just today (Wednesday the 28th), I saw on several sites that the TSA now does not permit the transport of the Coke bottles being sold in GE that look like, (according to the TSA, replica weapons/explosives).
We had both a regular and diet coke version, as well as one of the water bottles. We did empty ours of the liquid prior to packing them in our suitcase, so I don't know if that made a difference.

The travel gods were kind, we took off on time and were back in Pittsburgh by 10:45am.
I went to get our car while Seth and Gary collected our luggage.

We got home and were greeted by our old doggie who missed us. But what is funny is while he may miss us, he knows he always gets some treat we bring him from our trips. He was sniffing the correct bag in my hand and found these that we got him at HS.
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They were really cool, stamped with various Star Wars character's faces. (He could care less about that)!
He just wanted to chew on Chewie!🤣
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Well, that ends my very first trip report. Thanks again, @Darstarr for that push to start this, and the help getting it going.
Thank you all so much for following along, I loved writing it up, but really enjoyed people's comments, etc.
I found it is a great way to relive the memories and stave off the post trip blues!

We are super grateful for the opportunity we had as Annual Passholders to experience Galaxy's Edge.
It was great fun to have a sudden unexpected trip to Disney, for sure.

We think we won't be back till 2020. My daughter is getting married in Oct. of this year.
My husband is trying to get everyone to go for a big family get together November of 2020.
But, since we, as my daughter says, "solve our problems loudly", maybe all of us going as a group may not be the best idea?! :D
I need to get some pointers from those of you who travel in large groups. You seem to do it so well as I read your trip reports.

We'll see, but as they say on Batuu, "Til the Spire"!
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
After lunch we felt as if we had pretty much seen everything we wanted to see and started to meander to the exit of GE. The stormtroopers are everywhere and were messing with me on our way out! They were awesome, they interacted with old and young alike.
View attachment 401936

My thoughts on GE are that the land is just amazing. The details are exquisite and it is a wonderful place to explore.
Like many reviewers have said, very small things could enhance it. More characters, certainly more creatures walking around as you would see in a Star Wars setting. The market and stores are going to be a problem with crowds, the same with the very limited dining options. Disney execs were banking on (pun intended), large crowds willing to spend money and yet didn't in anyway plan for that. The idea of small spaces for theming could have been carried out with shopping and dining areas having connecting, labrynth type areas. This is all just one woman's opinion.
But, with all of that said, will we be clamoring for the ability to get back in and ride RotR? You betcha!

View attachment 401943
Till next time Galaxy's Edge!

And now it's off to spend some of that money Disney expected at the Annual Passholder Merchandise event! I didn't get any pictures, it was crowded and @Darstarr, to quote X, "it was hot"!
Gary got a Star Wars GE hat, Seth and I got a shirt and we got the AP exclusive pin.

Coming up, we bail on EPCOT and head to Character Warehouse instead.
Ha haha
I have been MIA (guess why) but caught up and loving it!
X is back at school. Moving him into his dorm in the heat was such a treasure!! Thank goodness he had 4 roommates to help!!!
I really enjoyed your TR!!!
 
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for following!
And I have to take Seth back to school in Savannah next week.
I get hives just thinking about moving him in with that heat!
(And how about I just looked at the opening day crowd pictures for GE)!!! :eek:May the force be with all of them!
 

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