Ft. Wilderness - Nov 1 - 8, Part 2
Day 2 dawned, bright, stiff and painful but blister free. After schoolbread, coffee and enjoying the morning sunshine for a bit, we strung up the lights and banners we'd brought down and the site looked pretty festive as we headed out to catch the bus. We wanted to get to Hollywood Studios in time to try to catch a pass to Rise of the Resistance.
This time, we caught the bus in the campground going the correct way, and almost immediately caught the bus to HS. This is easily my favorite park at this point - the Art Deco entrance under a bright blue sky really evokes a California sort of vibe to me. Love the colors, love the theming - there's a feel that amazing things are waiting inside.
And there was... in the Nikon Camera Shop/The Darkroom just past the gas station. I thought I'd see what the popular cameras are these days. But browsing around there, something I noticed wasn't really available were... cameras. There was one small Nikon, but otherwise? Lots and lots of... pins. Sigh. Okay, I MAY be slightly addicted to getting pins. (There may be a Pins Anonymous group somewhere...)
Well, my lovely bride dragged me away and further into the park. We were going to try to get a 'Rise of the Resistance' boarding group after all. We went around the corner onto Sunset Boulevard and towards Tower of Terror, found a spot to wait and got ready to try for a boarding group. We failed at the 10 AM attempt, but it was easy to tell the people who DID manage to get them. We went on towards T0T, and again I was amazed at the comprehensive detailing the Imagineers included all through the queue line.
Plus - I think I know why the Darkroom no longer concentrates on cameras. My cell phone (A new Samsung Galaxy 20FE) was able to take pictures in the dark 'basement' queue area where I could barely see. There were times I was tempted to use it to see where I was walking, lol. I almost wished the queue was slower - I REALLY wanted to get good shots of everything, so I could examine the details later.
The ride itself was fun, and worth the time spent getting to it. AND.... there were some pins in the gift shop. Win-win!
We thought about trekking over towards Galaxy's Edge for lunch - and decided to try Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy first. I was wondering how well they did the whole 'talking car' thing - and the answer was 'very well indeed'. I know it's supposed to be more of a kid's thing - but aren't we all just big kids at heart? (My lovely bride certainly is!)
Now - Galaxy's Edge...
Holy cow. They've done an incredible job creating that area. We got in line for Smuggler's Run, and AGAIN I wanted the queue to go slower so I could take in all the detail. (Anyone else catch the bird's nest? It's on the second level of the queue as you pass around the back of the Millenium Falcon - looks like something built a nest on top of a junction box above a doorway.)
With Disney, it seems like the closer you look the more detail you notice. I really wanted to ride it again, to see even more - but it was time for lunch as we wanted to get that taken care of before trying for another boarding group at 2 and the line was stretching out a long way.
Ronto Roasters was our choice, with Ronto wraps. It was pretty good - but with so many food options in the park I don't see it's a 'must have' when we go back.
Then it was over to the Toy Story area. There was essentially no line on Space Ranger Spin, so we hopped on that, got dizzy, staggered off of it and over to someplace to sit and wait for the 2 PM boarding call... and we got it! But it looked like it'd be a while before the boarding, so we got in line for Toy Story Mania - and AGAIN we loved the theming AND the ride. (She beat me in the shooting gallery, if you were wondering...)
After that, we wandered Galaxy's Edge a bit to see what we could see. We actually didn't do any shopping, but enjoyed watching the characters wandering around and what played out on the 'stage' until it was time to get in line.
By this time, you've probably figured that I REALLY appreciate the level of detail that the Imagineers have created all over. I know that most people wouldn't even notice a lot of it - like the tracks and footprints in concrete, or the bird nest, but those were placed for a reason and I'd believe that the Imgaineers WANTED them to be noticed.
So when we got into the queue for RotR, I loved how everything looked from the speaker/light stands to the 'cabling' which looked like rubber-coated cable between uprights but was actually metal tubing - to all the tools 'laying' around, and the items locked in the wire cages in the queue. A lot of thought went into it all and it really made the experience immersive.
The ride itself? Wow. Just... wow. I was blown away by it - and again, I wanted to ride it immediately to catch even more of the detail.
But... that wasn't an option. We started working our way out of the park after dinner at PizzeRizzo and Muppetvision 3D. We were definitely dragging at that point - but there was one last stop for pins...
As I've mentioned before, I love the entrance. And at dusk, with the lights on - it was even better.
