November 4 – 14, 2020 day 10 – Should have been Wine and Dine races

Friday 11/13/20

I was up just before the alarm, showered, and got ready for the lottery/crap shoot of trying to get a boarding group at 7:00 for Rise. I took my phone off wifi, 7:00 hit and my thumbs flew! I got boarding group 40! Oh my gosh, my heart was absolutely racing! I seriously felt like I had just run super fast! This was much more stressful than any FP I’ve ever tried to get, including 7DMT, FoP, or Slinky Dog back when they had the tiers! But I was so happy to be successful after hearing so many horror stories. We met up with Robyn on the way to fill our mug and she was so happy we got a boarding group! More squeeze hugs were exchanged as they were getting ready for the trip back home. It was really nice to see her as much as we were able! We filled the mug and got down to the Skyliner where we saw our new friends up ahead. I went up to chat with them and they had gotten boarding group 3! Oh my gosh, I was so happy for them! They were going to rope drop Runaway Railway and we were going to go straight to Galaxy’s Edge to rope drop Smuggler’s Run. We got the Beauty and the Beast wrap to CBR and the Monsters Inc wrap to Studios. We figured out that the Skyliner gives a definite advantage over car for Studios. The first Skyliners arrive before they open the parking booths so we were in front of all the people driving. This is an advantage we will definitely use in March to rope drop Runaway Railway. We saw our friends just ahead of us, probably about only three groups back of the first heading to Railway while we enjoyed a very, very empty entrance to Batuu. Oh my gosh, there was absolutely nobody there but a few cast members! We got some great no people shots of all we wanted, including the Falcon! We were literally the first people into Smuggler’s Run! I got a couple pics of the gaming table while they set a few things up and led us to the cockpit. I took the right pilot and Kathy took left. Unfortunately being a pilot disoriented her a bit so we’ll ask if she can be a gunner next time if possible. We did get one container of coaxium. But oh my goodness, nothing compares to taking the Millenium Falcon to light speed! Wow! I love that ride! They did just a fantastic job! Batuu was still pretty empty, it was just at official park opening now, so we got some more shots empty of people. Then Kathy sent me to ride RnRC since she knows how much I love it and she went to the mask relaxation zone. It’s really amazing with low crowds. You can actually HEAR things! Background noises that make the whole park come alive. I heard so much more in the alley of RnRC than I ever have before! I heard Sweet Emotion in my limo and was done and off the ride by 9:10! 10 minutes after official park open! Oh, and the spotlights at the end when pulling up to the red carpet form a Hidden Mickey! How have I missed that all these years? I stopped at a photopass guy on Sunset Blvd and we were chatting about where I was from. He was familiar with Tony Packo’s! It truly is a small world! I met back up with Kathy and we went to the bazaar on Batuu, this time with no wait since it was earlier and less crowded in the park. We found a game that Chloe wanted us to pick up for her. We went to the Droid Depot and checked that shop out since we didn’t have the chance on Saturday. It’s really cool in there! Since Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy was one of only a couple things we hadn’t done, we worked our way over there, pausing to enjoy a Mickey pretzel. That is such a cute and fun show! It always makes me laugh and we really enjoy it. The Lightning animatronic is amazing! We worked our way back to see the Muppets, the other thing we hadn’t done, and saw the Pixar cavalcade on the way, and followed them around Echo Lake. I could follow the green army men around all day! They are so energetic and fun! After they peeled off we went the rest of the way to see Muppetvision. Ah the Muppets, such a hidden gem! We decided we wanted a good hot dog for lunch since we hadn’t had one this trip yet. So we enjoyed a delicious chili cheese dog from Rosie’s All American on Sunset Blvd for lunch. We could tell Rise was having some difficulties today as the boarding groups were moving much more slowly than Saturday. They were getting close but it was on pause from advancing for a very long time. So after lunch we rode TSMM with only a 10 minute wait! And even better, our boarding group was called while we were in line! I got best in vehicle at 174,100! Kathy was a bit lower than she usually is at 87,100.

We got to Rise and entered the queue pretty quickly, getting some selfies at the waterfalls and various other pics. We were assigned a yellow dot on the transport, right next to the door. This is the best spot for when the door opens and you see the room of Storm Troopers! I was able to snap a pic right as the door opened with no one in the picture but the Troopers! Best shot of the trip I think! After they led us down the hallway, we were assigned a silver dot. The First Order officer instructed us very sternly to remember what color we were on, going through each group in turn. When she came to me, being the smartypants I am, I said very loudly and very cheerfully, “PURPLE!” To her credit she never broke character, admonishing me and telling Kathy that they only needed one of us and I was expendable! I’m sure she was cracking up inside though! Well, as things would have it, the ride broke down about a third or so of the way through. So they came to each car, asked everyone to put all cell phones and cameras away, and led us out of the ride, through some areas of backstage. It was pretty cool to see. They gave us “fastpasses” on our magic bands to come back once it came back up. So we went to the Den of Antiquities and looked around a bit and then found a place to sit after going back and forth across the park a few times today. It didn’t take too long for it to come back up, about a half hour and we went right back and in through the rider swap, disabled, fastpass lane. I think we may have been the first ones back! We got the other yellow dot in the transport, the one right in the middle. This one was great too, as we were right in the center of the vehicle and could see everything! Front, back, you name it! We were also the last out of the transport which allowed us a little time to linger in the Storm Trooper room before being ushered out by First Order officers. We had a great ride experience and even had our own car! Kathy said this beats out every other ride with the exception of her Haunted Mansion! It was a perfect way to end our second Studios day and we made our way out, getting some photopass on Hollywood Blvd. The Skyliner was very quick and efficient way back! No waiting for a bus and it moved quickly! I just wish we had the option to take a bus at opening if we wanted to. Apparently AoA does have that but Pop doesn’t. We even got the Pooh wrap for our second leg from CBR to Pop. It was rest time before going to DTD to meet the Ambielli’s for the evening.

After a bit of a foot break we left the room about 4:00 and the bus to DTD was there in just a few minutes. We were able to have some delicious Pizza Ponte for dinner before the Ambielli’s got there and we had a great evening with them! We got to see the Rainforest volcano erupt, and enjoyed walking around and talking with them. We get far too little time with them. We all enjoyed some treats from Ghiradelli for dessert too! It was just a great evening with a great family! We were home by about 9:00.

Steps: 25,891
Miles: 11.66