This is honestly starting to be a Star Wars blog as much as a Disney blog — between my review of The Last Jedi, my Dapper Day outfit as Rey, and Disney bounding as female Kylo Ren at Star Wars Galactic Nights. So for Disney to pull together two of my favorite things (going to the parks and Star Wars), I was extremely excited for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. It almost felt like this was happening just for me. As soon as they announced the opening date at Walt Disney World, I booked a hotel room to take advantage of the Extra Extra Magic Hours.
But just a few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant … again. I was literally just pregnant last year, and it stopped me from doing a lot of the things I wanted to do at Disneyland (e.g., Matterhorn and Mission: Breakout). I was worried this was going to impede my first Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge experience too.
I didn’t want to be there for opening day because I knew it was going to be crazy, so I booked a hotel room for a couple days later. Little did I know at the time that it would coincide with Hurricane Dorian. I was so worried that we were going to have to cancel our trip completely. Thankfully, the storm took a turn and didn’t wind up impacting Orlando much at all. However, it did scare away a lot of the crowds.
I had planned to only go for the Extra Extra Magic Hours at 6 a.m. after our hotel stay to avoid the crowds during the day. But while we were at Magic Kingdom and saw the smallest crowds I’ve ever seen (no wait for Peter Pan, hello?), I figured we could check out Galaxy’s Edge that first day after all. So we hopped over to Hollywood Studios for my first-ever trip to Batuu. It was a truly magical experience. The land absolutely blew me away with all the details. It put Toy Story Land (which had recently opened just next to this land) to absolute shame. Seeing the Millennium Falcon in person for the first time nearly brought tears to my eyes.
The cast members were all in character. Even when we said something about the hurricane, the cast members asked us what that was and if that was something from our planet. Or when my husband asked if there were any hidden Mickeys on the Millennium Falcon, the cast member asked what a hidden Mickey was. In Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, I asked if they had Rey’s double-bladed saber (from the recent Rise of Skywalker promo), and they acted like they had never heard of it before. To be clear, I’m 100% sure all of the cast members actually know what a hurricane, a hidden Mickey and Rey’s double-bladed are. They were just in character, acting their parts.
We explored all of the shops and took a peek inside Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo but opted for the Ronto Wrap at Ronto Roasters instead. It was pretty good. I’m not sure it was worth $13/each, but it was good. My aunt got the Fried Endorian Tip Yip at Docking Bay 7, and that seemed like it would be a better bang for your buck and yummy too. It wasn’t horribly crowded at all, which was amazing. I think we have Dorian to thank for that. We then went back to the room to rest up before our early morning with the Extra Extra Magic Hours.
We woke up at 5 a.m. to make it to the park for rope drop for those staying on property at 6 a.m. Immediately upon letting us into the land, we (and everyone else) queued up for Millennium Falcoln: Smugglers Run. I wasn’t sure I could ride it, but because I had gone on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland last year, my husband thought maybe I could do this one too. So when we got to the entrance to the ride, we asked for Rider Swap. My husband waited in line while the baby and I went to Oga’s Cantina for a non-alcoholic drink.
I asked what time they opened because nobody else was there, and they said that they were open now. I couldn’t believe it. There was absolutely nobody in the cantina because they were all in line for Smugglers Run. I hung out at the bar, ordered a Cliff Dweller (citrus juices, coconut, hibiscus-grenadine and ginger ale) and listened to DJ R-3X (pronounced REX) spinning the best hits in the galaxy. DJ-R3X was the original droid on the Star Tours ride before they refurbished it. It was pretty cool to see him there. The Cliff Dweller would typically be $6, but because I wanted the adorable porg mug that it came in, it wound up being about $30. A bit steep, but look how cute it is!
The baby had spit up on my shoulder, but thankfully I wasn’t wearing sleeves. Nonetheless, a cast member handed me a free T-shirt that said “Black Spire Outpost” on it. She said it was in case I wanted to change into something clean after the baby spit up on me. I thought that was incredibly generous and nice. Even though this was supposed to be on another planet, there is no denying the magic that a Disney cast member can bring.
When my husband had finished his ride on Smugglers Run, he assured me it wasn’t that bad, so we traded spots. I went to the ride, and he took the baby and hung out in the cantina. Because we did rider swap, I got to go straight to the front of the line, but it also meant that I lost out on seeing the queue. I’ve heard the Hondo Ohnaka animatronic is amazing, but going to the front of the line was pretty sweet too. I got to be the right pilot. When my husband went, he was the left pilot. That meant that he got to control the ship side-to-side, and I got to control it up-and-down. I also got to blast us into hyper speed, which was thrilling. The left pilot seems like the most crucial role, but the right pilot was certainly fun too. I would definitely rather be a pilot than a gunner or engineer.
I agreed that the ride is absolutely doable while pregnant, though Disney advises against it. Definitely check with your doctor and don’t just take my word for it. I probably wouldn’t do it if I were further along, but it seemed just fine for about halfway through my pregnancy.
Speaking of being pregnant, I also brought a blue “It’s a Jedi” sign as my gender reveal because I’m having another boy. I got some hate from trolls on Facebook because girls can be Jedi too. But if I was having a girl, I think I could just as easily say “It’s a Jedi” but with a pink sign, so I don’t think it was sexist at all. Or perhaps I could have said “It’s a Rebel” or “It’s a Princess,” but I don’t think it matters that much. Besides, my friend made it last year for my Star Wars-themed baby shower, and I thought the sign was cute enough to keep. I’m glad it could come in handy here.
Before ending our time in Black Spire Outpost (at least on this trip), we did a little shopping. The baby loved the porg stuffed animal from the Creature Stall. We checked out the Droid Depot as well, and my husband couldn’t believe you could build an actual working BB-8. I decided we should wait on that until the boys are older. The Den of Antiquities was by far the coolest shop we saw. I picked up a new lanyard to start my pin collection. My husband has been pin collecting for a while and wanted me to start collecting with him, and we figured this was a good excuse to start.
The last thing we did before heading back to our own planet was get a 360º photo in front of Kylo Ren’s ship. It turned out so much cooler than I was expecting. The three hours of Extra Extra Magic Hours before they let everyone else into the park were incredible. I’m not sure if it was because of the Extra Extra Magic Hours or because the hurricane frightened everyone away, but either way, I’m so grateful to be able to experience the land like that. We got to do everything we wanted to do without crowds and got out at a decent hour. It was absolutely worth getting the hotel room even though I live in Florida, just to get the Extra Extra Magic Hours.
Have you experienced Batuu yet? What was your favorite park? If not, what are you most looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!
