Tuesday 10/15/19 (cont.)
After ten attractions it was time for lunch. I'd wanted to eat at Bengal BBQ for the last two trips after hearing rave reviews. We finally made it. We both had the two-skewer rice plate with chicken and veggies. I added a Jungle Julep which was really refreshing. We both enjoyed our lunch and we’d definitely eat there again.
After a fun-filled morning it was time to go back to our hotel for our usual midday rest. I went to the pool for a short time, going down the waterslide a couple of times and swimming around a little. Very refreshing. I like the slides at the Monorail pool in the Disneyland hotel better.
We were back in Disneyland around 3:45 (this time we walked instead of taking the monorail!
). We wanted to catch an episode of Storytelling at the Royal Theater. DD told us this was a great show, especially the Rapunzel version. We lucked out and the 4:15 show was Rapunzel.
Unfortunately we waited in the courtyard near the food cart. We assumed we could walk into the theater from that entrance, but in fact the line was forming on the other side of the tent. In the end, it didn’t matter much and we were able to get seats for the show.
DD was right. It was really a hoot! All the players were top-notch and the story was told in a fun way. Highly recommended!
Afterwards, we again took advantage of our Disney VISA card and went to Star Wars Launch Bay to the exclusive Meet and Greet for cardholders. It was super dark where we were checked in. We had to wait while the cast member explained to the person in front of us in line that they need to have a Disney VISA card over and over. But after a few minutes we were ushered into the presence of none other than Darth Vader himself! I was surprised how intimidating it felt.
He took note of my shirt (showing the battle between him and Luke in the Empire Strikes Back) and thanked me for my support of the Empire. Then he wanted to know if I’d seen a rebel spy. Since we’d been to Batuu I told him I might have spotted one. He said that associating with members of the Rebellion will NOT be tolerated.
Then he posed for a picture. Wow! What a great experience. Next time, I need to have someone video the whole encounter.
After catching our breath, I told DW that we could go over to another part of the Launch Bay and get our picture taken with Chewbacca and get a hug. She readily agreed. This is in the regular meet-and-greet area that is open to anyone.
We told Chewie that we’d gotten two crates of Coaxium for Hondo while piloting the Millennium Falcon and he gave us a roar of approval. Later he posed for a picture. This was a much more relaxing and fun encounter.
Combining these two meet and greets was a lot of fun and I consider it a must-do from now on.
We had lots of time before our 8 PM Fantasmic Dinner Reservation at the River Belle Terrace. At this time of day the Fantasyland attraction wait times are way down from the morning, so we knocked some of those off to free up more time later in the trip.
First up was the Mad Tea Party. When we took our kids when they were three, we all fit in a single teacup. I took a picture of all our hands on the wheel, so that has become a family tradition:
The teacups are a lot of fun. Usually we turn the wheel in the opposite direction of the way the big wheel is spinning to cut down on the g-forces. Next time I want to ride this at night, when I’ve read it’s the most magical with all the lights.
DS’s favorite Fantasyland ride is Mister Toad, and it’s one of mine too. I’ll never forget telling him he was doing a great job driving the toad-mobile on our second trip when he was five years old. Guilty!
On one of my Disney podcasts, I’d learned that Pinocchio’s Daring Journey was not an original Fantasyland attraction. It was added in 1983 when Fantasyland was rebuilt from scratch. I’m pretty sure we went on it when the kids were little, but we'd skipped it ever since. It was time to give it another try. We enjoyed it, but my favorite Fantasyland dark rides are still Peter Pan followed by Alice in Wonderland and Mister Toad.
I’d learned that over the course of the day the wait time for Smuggler’s Run goes down, so it was time for another trip to Batuu! I also wanted to buy a red kyber crystal so I could have a red lightsaber as part of my Darth Goofy Halloween Costume. I was also planning to buy a RFID read/write device so I could change the code inside the kyber crystal to get different colors. So we stopped at Dok Ondar’s to buy a red Kyber crystal.
From what I’ve read online, the identity of this probable Jedi Priestess in front of Dok’s hasn’t been revealed yet. But it sure is a cool-looking statue!
We didn’t spend a lot of time inside Dok’s. When I was there, you had to go to a special register to buy Kyber crystals and you could only buy one at a time. They kept them behind the desk. I was also hoping I’d get a black kyber crystal, but it turned out to be a regular red one. Maybe next time. I’m not going to buy more than two since I’ll be able to reprogram on of them to have the black kyber crystal code and I can paint it black.
In any case, I now had my red kyber crystal and my Darth Goofy costume was complete!
Here’s a link to a video of my lightsaber with a red kyber crystal:
The Falcon ride queue moved quickly like last time. As we approached the crew assignment spot, the castmember called out for a “party of two”. We quickly raised our hands and skipped in front of a few other groups. Then I remembered that when they call for a party of two, that party will be the engineers. A little bit of a letdown after being pilots the first time, but a major goal of this trip was to sit in every position, so it was our chance to be engineers.
I found the engineer position fun, and DW liked it better since it didn’t affect her tummy as much. You are farther back in the cockpit, so the motion is reduced. Also, you don’t have to watch the screen as much as when you are pilot or gunner. The engineers are key members of the crew, since they have to fire the tow cable at the right time to capture the coaxium car from the train. And you have to keep fixing the ship as it gets damaged. I was able to hit all the flashing buttons fast enough to keep my side of the ship at 100% fixed for the whole mission.
Once again, we got two cannisters of coaxium and about 8000 credits from Hondo. Not bad!
It was getting closer to our dinner reservation, but we decided to go to Tomorrowland and ride the Astro Orbiter at night. This is another family tradition. The ride is so much more fun at night with all the lights of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.
The queue was 25 minutes long. I was getting antsy about our Fantasmic reservation. I was pretty sure that your table location was based on when you made your reservation (earlier gets a better view), but I wasn’t sure. DW said we wanted to share a rocket. That turned out to be a mistake (we barely fit and my downhill leg was severely squished until we took off and could level out), but in the end it was nice to ride with my sweetie.
We hustled over to The River Belle Terrace and found out I was worried for no reason. We checked in with plenty of time to spare. We were seated in the left front corner table. I’m 90% sure I must have been the first person to make a reservation, because this seemed to be the best table for watching Fantasmic.
We both ordered the Beef Brisket Sandwich which wasn’t that good. The meat was dry and the “seasonal vegetables” consisted of overcooked broccoli and half mushrooms (which I don’t like). In retrospect I should have done more research on which entrees were good and at least ordered the coleslaw.
I got the Cookies and Cream Pudding and DW got the Maleficent Dragon. Both were good but not great.
What was great was the view of Fantasmic! Wow. I would definitely book this experience again. It was very nice to be able sit in a chair after dinner and just watch the show without having to worry about getting there early and jostling with other people to get a good view. You are just elevated enough to see everything on the water.
I took some video highlights I’ll post on YouTube later.
Another benefit of this package was the ability to wait after Fantasmic and see the Halloween Screams show. I knew that there wouldn't be fireworks on a Tuesday night, but there is still a projection show. I'd seen videos of the show from main street, and the version of the Rivers of America wasn’t that great. It was confusing and didn’t have any fun things like The Jack Skellington Pumpkin King head and Zero flying from the castle instead of Tinker Belle. Oh well. Next time I’ll make sure we see them from the hub. We’ll go on a night when they have two showings of Fantasmic and fireworks. We’ll watch the fireworks, then watch the second showing of Fantasmic.
The park was closed after the show, so we walked slowly down Main Street, enjoying the Halloween nighttime atmosphere before exiting the park and going back to our hotel for a well-deserved sleep. We’d been on sixteen attractions, come face to face with Darth Vader, got a warm hug from Chewbacca, and saw three shows (Storytelling at Royal Theater, Fantasmic, and Halloween Screams). The best part is that my sweetheart and I did it all together. A great day at the Disneyland!