The Edge of the Galaxy

The first day of my recent Orlando trip revolved around space travel. The second day focused on fake space travel. We went to Disney's Hollywood Studios, home of the Galaxy's Edge Star Wars area that's opened since the last time I visited Walt Disney World.

We were allowed in early enough to beeline straight for the hottest ride, Rise of the Resistance, and face only a 20-or-so minute wait (compared to the 90 to 100 minutes the ride quite regularly balloons to). Rise of the Resistance is a big leap forward in the theme park "technology" of expanding the experience. Yes, it had the now-standard "here's a cleverly realistic movie to watch while you're standing in line." But then it also led to essentially three rides: a mild motion simulator experience, followed by a march through a fully realized set, culminating in a second more intense ride. Once you hit the part that felt like The Ride, the whole experience actually lasted 15 minutes -- epic for the amount of time we waited, but quite novel and enjoyable even if we'd had to wait longer. Rise of the Resistance is, simply, every bit as good a ride as it's said to be.

From there, we headed to an appointment at Savi's Workshop to build our own lightsabers. This is, to be frank, an expensive experience. Even if it were more reasonably priced, it wouldn't be for everyone. You don't end up with a toy you're going to play with; you end up with a highly personalized memento of your vacation that you'll keep on display. That said, that memento is cool as can be. If you've ever swung a plastic lightsaber, this is not that. You choose crystal (blade) color, emitter piece, hilt sections, and end piece -- each from multiple options, resulting in an end product that truly does feel uniquely yours. (Out of more than a dozen people in the room, we were the only one to build a green-bladed lightsaber, so that alone made ours feel more rare.) And this thing is sturdy, hefty. The parts are weighty and metal (or something cleverly crafted to feel sufficiently like metal). In the end, I think the only way you could feel more like "you actually built a lightsaber" is if the end product could actually cut things.

As we continued through Galaxy's Edge, we found the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run ride, which wound up being a personal favorite of mine for the entire trip. You pilot the Millennium Falcon on this ride -- actually steer it in a fantastic motion simulator experience. The ride is built for 6 people, and there happened to be 6 of us together. Two people pilot, two fire the guns, and two repair damage the Falcon takes along the way. All of this is directed by flashing lights directing you to flip switches all over the Falcon cockpit, making this so much more than a passive ride you sit back and experience. We rode it enough times throughout the day for everyone in the group to experience all three roles in the simulator -- and when the line dwindled to a mere 5 minutes at the end of the day, rode it a fourth time for good measure (getting a great group photo of us all for good measure).

The bulk of the day was actually filled with other non-Star Wars rides in the Hollywood Studios park. I'd done the Tower of Terror before, but it was fun to experience it again.

I'd actually never experienced the Aerosmith-themed Rock 'n' Roller Coaster before this trip; that was fine, if well outshined by other coasters in Orlando (even others at Disney). This was notable, though, for the Disney "Magic Bands" we'd secured for the trip. Our travel friend had suggested them as a way to make gathering ride photos much easier (you just wave your band at a button as you get off a ride). But in this case, waiting in line with a band on triggered custom "band tour posters" that displayed on the walls.

We'd encounter that sort of use of Magic Bands again the one time we rode Star Tours this trip. (We got Hoth and Coruscant as the random locations -- nothing added from the sequel trilogy.)

We'd also wait in a too-long line for the Slinky Dog coaster in the Toy Story area, after some friend of friend recommended it. Maybe if you have a kid who's looking to move beyond explicitly "kiddie" roller coasters, sure. It was a big bust with us, given the 60 minute wait to get on.

We closed out the entire day with a stop at Oga's Cantina for a couple of Star Wars drinks that looked quite authentic and tasted amazing. I actually wish more of the Galaxy's Edge area had been built up like this. Seeing the Millennium Falcon just parked there was great, of course. But otherwise, the area looked like a fairly non-descript rock quarry -- not as impressive as the Harry Potter-themed areas over at Universal. Basically, each individual experience within Galaxy's Edge felt wonderful, even if the whole area containing them felt a little underwhelming.

Before this trip, Hollywood Studios was the Disney World park where I'd probably spent the least time. After this, I would say it's the Disney park I'd absolutely want to spent the most time at in any future Orlando trip.