Monday when I was done with work (and as per usual, my boss rolled in with additions to our work that are nonsensical--this is not her, this is her attempting to respond to a concerns from unions AND upper management; she knows our team can be trusted to explain/design/implement whatever in a way that soothes the savage beasts even thought sometimes it makes work feel Kafkaesque).
The boys returned from MK and wanted to swim/hot tub. I used to wonder when my kid would become like the kids who swim no matter the temperature. Seems now is when. Now.
We swam for a bit and then cleaned up to go to The Wave for dinner. This is one of three indoor, public meals we're having over this trip and 5PM meant a rather empty restaurant. I'll review The Wave in the next post. Our intent was to head to MK after dinner, but we instead wanded through the gift shop and then decided to (watch a 9 year old) swim. I sat in my parka.
Tuesday was one of the days I took off from work, b/c it's our only HS day and I'd hoped for a boarding group. No dice, at 7AM they were gone instantly. We drove over and entered the park with no line just before 9 and went straight to RRC with an advertised 40 minute wait that was more like 20. Again, I felt okay with the people, spacing, and compliance, and a little sad by the loss of some detail in the cue. After that we headed to MMRR but were informed the ride was down and opted to do TSMM (SDD was at 80 minutes already). Our next stop was GE, for MFSR. That was 50 minutes, and took the whole 50.
Again, I was underwhelmed by Smugglers Run. I'm a slightly bigger than average Star Wars fan, approaching nerd territory. I've watched every film and TV show in order from Episode 1-9, the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, Solo and Rogue One and even read some of the books. I have an Ahsoka Tano mask. My kid's backpack straps broke I and I replaced them with leather strap with Aurebesh letters on them. So, you know, I'm a fan. But this ride just isn't that exciting or fun. I appreciate it, but when I compare it to something likes of FoP and consider what could have been done, I'm just disappointed. And my husband, who doesn't give two ****s about Star Wars has to ask me every time who Hondo Ohnaka is, and then I wonder how much the average rider even knows about what's happening on the ride. My first ride was in February, and I was didn't like it then either--you can hardly hear what Hondo is saying, and if you are slow hearer like me, you find that everything goes too fast to grasp what you are doing.
Anyway, we did that and then it was lunch, so we came back to the room ate and what else, went swimming. It was 55 degrees. I sat in the hot tub.
We returned to HS at 5PM, and went to MMRR right away; it broke down again when we were about to enter a car so we took the Fast Pass option and headed out to TSMM (SDD was still at 80 minutes and by now it was 6PM and we wanted to make sure we got back to MMRR). MMRR remained broken and we had a margarita instead. And then, at 6:40 it opened again and we finally went on!!
I really liked this ride. Truthfully, I expected something more like the Hogwarts ride whose name I can't recall, but its trackless and the cars go up and down as well as forward and around. This isn't quite that exciting but it's fun and if you've watched all those cartoons and love them (Potatoland!!!) then its a treat. My 9 year old loved it and he's a big roller coaster fan, so the lack of 'thrill' doesn't take away. It's for sure a whole family experience.
But in the end, HS needs a way to consume the people. The lines, even during normal operations are too long for what is offered and I find myself less inclined to go there. GE is crowded, TSL is hotter than the sun most of the time, and crowded, and the loss of street performers takes away some of the atmosphere. I'm glad we are only going once on this trip.
Dinner was in the room, a bit late, sausage and peppers. And then we went to bed.
The boys returned from MK and wanted to swim/hot tub. I used to wonder when my kid would become like the kids who swim no matter the temperature. Seems now is when. Now.
We swam for a bit and then cleaned up to go to The Wave for dinner. This is one of three indoor, public meals we're having over this trip and 5PM meant a rather empty restaurant. I'll review The Wave in the next post. Our intent was to head to MK after dinner, but we instead wanded through the gift shop and then decided to (watch a 9 year old) swim. I sat in my parka.
Tuesday was one of the days I took off from work, b/c it's our only HS day and I'd hoped for a boarding group. No dice, at 7AM they were gone instantly. We drove over and entered the park with no line just before 9 and went straight to RRC with an advertised 40 minute wait that was more like 20. Again, I felt okay with the people, spacing, and compliance, and a little sad by the loss of some detail in the cue. After that we headed to MMRR but were informed the ride was down and opted to do TSMM (SDD was at 80 minutes already). Our next stop was GE, for MFSR. That was 50 minutes, and took the whole 50.
Again, I was underwhelmed by Smugglers Run. I'm a slightly bigger than average Star Wars fan, approaching nerd territory. I've watched every film and TV show in order from Episode 1-9, the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, Solo and Rogue One and even read some of the books. I have an Ahsoka Tano mask. My kid's backpack straps broke I and I replaced them with leather strap with Aurebesh letters on them. So, you know, I'm a fan. But this ride just isn't that exciting or fun. I appreciate it, but when I compare it to something likes of FoP and consider what could have been done, I'm just disappointed. And my husband, who doesn't give two ****s about Star Wars has to ask me every time who Hondo Ohnaka is, and then I wonder how much the average rider even knows about what's happening on the ride. My first ride was in February, and I was didn't like it then either--you can hardly hear what Hondo is saying, and if you are slow hearer like me, you find that everything goes too fast to grasp what you are doing.
Anyway, we did that and then it was lunch, so we came back to the room ate and what else, went swimming. It was 55 degrees. I sat in the hot tub.
We returned to HS at 5PM, and went to MMRR right away; it broke down again when we were about to enter a car so we took the Fast Pass option and headed out to TSMM (SDD was still at 80 minutes and by now it was 6PM and we wanted to make sure we got back to MMRR). MMRR remained broken and we had a margarita instead. And then, at 6:40 it opened again and we finally went on!!
I really liked this ride. Truthfully, I expected something more like the Hogwarts ride whose name I can't recall, but its trackless and the cars go up and down as well as forward and around. This isn't quite that exciting but it's fun and if you've watched all those cartoons and love them (Potatoland!!!) then its a treat. My 9 year old loved it and he's a big roller coaster fan, so the lack of 'thrill' doesn't take away. It's for sure a whole family experience.
But in the end, HS needs a way to consume the people. The lines, even during normal operations are too long for what is offered and I find myself less inclined to go there. GE is crowded, TSL is hotter than the sun most of the time, and crowded, and the loss of street performers takes away some of the atmosphere. I'm glad we are only going once on this trip.
Dinner was in the room, a bit late, sausage and peppers. And then we went to bed.