D23 EXPO 2019 Superthread - dates announced!

[KPeterso]

We went on Friday morning 8-12 time slot. Loved having the early time slot and only having 1 overlap period.

We put our name in at Oga's right away and were told 45 minutes. So we headed off and took pictures by the Millennium Falcon and then built droids. As we were finishing our droids, we got the text for Oga's so we went over there and got in with a short wait. We tried the Hyperdrive which is one of the non-alcoholic drinks and really tasty! We then rode the Millennium Falcon 3 times in the next hour or so. Our wait was mostly spent walking up the ramps in the queue. Our last time ride we got in the line about 10:50 AM and when we got off the hoards from the next group were coming in. Glad we got to ride 3 times and got to try out all of the positions. We spent some time then wandering the marketplace area and eventually over to the resistance area before exiting about 11:30-11:45 by Hungry Bear. We had seen all we wanted to see and headed out.

The reservations really made it very nice and easy to see everything. But it was noticeably more crowded at 11 when the next group of reservations arrived!

 

[EmJ]

We obviously won’t know the answers to these questions until it happens. But my plan is to line up for SWGE during early entry.

This is making me want to switch to staying on site for the every-day EMH benefits.
But those prices... talk about choking on things

 

[RomCom]

Trying to decide if the Cantina is worth it. On one hand it looks super cool and it is my birthday BUT just worried that with kids it isn't really practical between having to arrive super early to get in and just the bar set-up. Has anyone done the Cantina with kids (5 and 8 for reference)

 

[smartlabelprint]

This is making me want to switch to staying on site for the every-day EMH benefits.
But those prices... talk about choking on things

We’re going to dapper days specifically for the discount. I’ll try to dress up but I’m not a seamstress or really “in style”.

 

[EmJ]

We’re going to dapper days specifically for the discount. I’ll try to dress up but I’m not a seamstress or really “in style”.

Whatever you do will be great!

We are really limited in when we can travel, and I just don't think I can bring myself to shell out $450 for a hotel room. We will probably plan to SWGE on a day that has EMH/MM in California Adventure, and then be at the gates two hours before rope drop. So, not perfect, but at least there won't already be people in Disneyland ahead of us.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Whatever you do will be great!

We are really limited in when we can travel, and I just don't think I can bring myself to shell out $450 for a hotel room. We will probably plan to SWGE on a day that has EMH/MM in California Adventure, and then be at the gates two hours before rope drop. So, not perfect, but at least there won't already be people in Disneyland ahead of us.

DLH is $300 with tax in November. They also have a spring dapper days. We’ve been been going to the park for over a decade and this is our first on site stay. Maybe some day you’ll get there!

 

[EmJ]

DLH is $300 with tax in November. They also have a spring dapper days. We’ve been been going to the park for over a decade and this is our first on site stay. Maybe some day you’ll get there!

I'll keep checking back; I have heard that maybe there are some discounts offered in the fall for spring stays; yet to be seen if SWGE changes that. Right now we are booked at BWPPI, but for the right price, I could definitely be convinced to switch.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I'll keep checking back; I have heard that maybe there are some discounts offered in the fall for spring stays; yet to be seen if SWGE changes that. Right now we are booked at BWPPI, but for the right price, I could definitely be convinced to switch.

BWPPI was my go to for years. Stayed in dec. Bring white noise or ear plugs. I’m almost 40 and have stayed in too many actual hotels since our BWPPI years.

 

[crystal1313]

Trying to decide if the Cantina is worth it. On one hand it looks super cool and it is my birthday BUT just worried that with kids it isn't really practical between having to arrive super early to get in and just the bar set-up. Has anyone done the Cantina with kids (5 and 8 for reference)

We are going next week with a 9 and 11 year old. I am going to have them watch the scene from the movie again (they have seen it and they for sure know the music from it) but I want to make sure they have their memory refreshed. We don't plan on spending a ton of time in there. Just want to see and experience it. I will report back unless you are headed there before we are

So we broke down and booked one night at the DLH. For those pondering it, do you have any credit card reward points? That is how we were able to justify the insane cost. We looked into because the very low crowds were super enticing. We saw the prices and said, no way! But the next morning my DH had a light bulb moment and realized we had a bunch of Amex points and we could use those to book a room. We never use those points for anything else, so for us it works out. Had it not been for that, we would not be doing this at all. Just wanted to throw that out there!

 

[RomCom]

We are going next week with a 9 and 11 year old. I am going to have them watch the scene from the movie again (they have seen it and they for sure know the music from it) but I want to make sure they have their memory refreshed. We don't plan on spending a ton of time in there. Just want to see and experience it. I will report back unless you are headed there before we are

Our reservations is next Monday morning so we'll probably beat you there. 9 and 11 would definitely be easier. The 8 year old is patient but the just 5 year doesn't have a ton of patience and he is super short (39.75 inches without shoes) so it might be a struggle if we don't get a table. BUT I feel like if we don't do the Cantina we aren't doing a lot since we don't plan to do a lightsaber or droid.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Our reservations is next Monday morning so we'll probably beat you there. 9 and 11 would definitely be easier. The 8 year old is patient but the just 5 year doesn't have a ton of patience and he is super short (39.75 inches without shoes) so it might be a struggle if we don't get a table. BUT I feel like if we don't do the Cantina we aren't doing a lot since we don't plan to do a lightsaber or droid.

We took our six-year-old yesterday (just turned six a month ago). It's definitely not a particularly "kid-friendly" place, but I think it's the most interesting place in all of SWGE, so it was worth inconveniencing her for awhile for the rest of the group to experience it. She liked DJ Rex and we went over and watched him for awhile, but mostly it was a "the adults want to see this, so you're just going to hang out here for a bit" type of situation. I just asked her if she thought people should take their kids to the Cantina and she said, "Yeah! It was cool." There were other kids in there.

The lack of seating was the main issue. She's an only child who gets dragged to a lot of high-end restaurants, so she's used to behaving herself and being patient in more "adult" surroundings, but normally we bring drawing stuff, activities, etc. for her. There's just nowhere to do that kind of thing here. (I guess unless you luck into a booth? I wouldn't plan on it.) And I don't know any kid who likes to stand with no table to even use... She actually sat on the floor underneath our table for awhile (after I swiped a napkin around down there - it was only about 9am, so the floor didn't seem too dirty and wasn't sticky or anything). If I was taking her again, I'd probably make sure I had a plastic bag that she could sit on if needed. My other friend who took her kids said the jello stuff was a big hit with them (we didn't try it, but she did get the Jabba Juice drink).

We did all just get one drink instead of the two I got when I came kid-free.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

A few have said that the booths are usually held aside for large parties. What constitutes a large party? We are a family of 6 (2 adults, 2 teens, 2 kids) and I’m wondering if maybe we’ll luck out a get a booth

 

[crystal1313]

Our reservations is next Monday morning so we'll probably beat you there. 9 and 11 would definitely be easier. The 8 year old is patient but the just 5 year doesn't have a ton of patience and he is super short (39.75 inches without shoes) so it might be a struggle if we don't get a table. BUT I feel like if we don't do the Cantina we aren't doing a lot since we don't plan to do a lightsaber or droid.

We are not doing the lightsaber or droid either! We go on Saturday-sorry keep thinking that is next week! My DS9 is a young 9 and I am sure he will be over the Cantina in about 5 min. But the rest of the day is all about the kids, and my DH and I really want to see the Cantina, so DS9 will have to deal! LOL.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I apologize for the delayed responses, but I haven't been able to get on Disboards with my iPhone or iPad. The popups are back for me after the system upgrade, and I get a constant redirect to "Comcast." Hugely frustrating. Anyway, back on my desktop ...

Thanks for that report CalifornaGirl! The other post about crowds kind of bummed me out. We going for a couple days on 16th, 17th, and 18th and we have 2 8am reservations so hoping that slot stays lower crowds!

I think those 8 am reservation periods are the way to go. We felt so fortunate to be in there early like that and with no crowds. I think it not being a MM helped, too. I'm sure you will love it, and definitely report back on your experience.

We were there last Thursday (6/6) from 8am -noon and had a similar experience to you (starting the day quite early). Maybe I was expecting too much from reading other people's trip reports, but the only enthusiastic CM was our waiter at Oga's who we saw very briefly (service is not that great). The CM at Dok Ondor's entrance was just twirling her holocron looking bored and when another CM asked about her shift, she sounded like she really didn't want to be there. I guess we were surprised because this was at the beginning of the day--I would expect it at the end of a shift, not beginning. Then, there was only one cashier inside and he was SLOW and seemed a bit stressed. When I asked him how he was doing, he was he wasn't supposed to be working there. Just strange.

My whole family had a blast. We felt lucky to be able to experience with relatively low crowds. It was fun chatting with people around us when we were waiting in line. There was a guy hanging out at the bathroom at Rose Tavern--I think he was planning to cut the line once they opened it up---I hope CMs look out for that. We loved Oga's. The atmosphere is amazing. Drinks were pretty good and kids loved the Oga's Obsession which was essentially jello (which they love, very expensive jello). We rode SR twice and that was enough. I felt like being the engineer was too stressful for me--I couldn't enjoy the ride because I felt like I had to watch out for the flashing buttons to push. Can't wait for ROTR!

So glad I wasn't alone in my strange CM encounters. We had one nice exchange with a guy cleaning up, but that's about it. I'm not sure whether they are instructed to be abrupt (which would be weird) or whether they are following some sort of script, but it was pretty un-Disney. No one was rude, they just weren't necessarily nice and friendly like we are used to.

Upon entering the land, do you recall if the CMs allowed folks to immediately go left (for Savi’s), or did they require the entire crowd to walk through the right hand side and filter into the First Order section?

It was so stressful, I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. I was just concentrating on getting through the wristband check without letting line-cutters in.

Well, this would fit in with the theory mentioned elsewhere that people have been figuring out that there seems to be little enforcement of the 4 hr limit, hence crowd build up that gets worse throughout the rest of the day. Add to that what has been reported here about some people having been able to add others to their reservation if they missed the “add guest” button when making their free reservation and the new, more lenient policy about substituting group spots that might have otherwise fine unused, and you will get higher crowd levels. Probably still less that what’ll hit the land after June 23 and, worse, the crazy madhouse it’ll probably be once ROTR has finally opened...

I completely believe it. I spoke to people in line who'd been before and they specifically mentioned not having to leave. It's kind of a bummer, but hopefully those reading this board can get that early spot. We will be back in July and December when the gates open to the masses. If ROTR opens by the end of the year, I don't even want to think about the crowds.

A few have said that the booths are usually held aside for large parties. What constitutes a large party? We are a family of 6 (2 adults, 2 teens, 2 kids) and I’m wondering if maybe we’ll luck out a get a booth

We were a party of three and got a table. They were not being set aside as of the 8 am time slot last Friday. We were simply seated with another group of two. We had a great time meeting them and driving with our new friends at 8 in the morning, LOL.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We took our six-year-old yesterday (just turned six a month ago). It's definitely not a particularly "kid-friendly" place, but I think it's the most interesting place in all of SWGE, so it was worth inconveniencing her for awhile for the rest of the group to experience it. She liked DJ Rex and we went over and watched him for awhile, but mostly it was a "the adults want to see this, so you're just going to hang out here for a bit" type of situation. I just asked her if she thought people should take their kids to the Cantina and she said, "Yeah! It was cool." There were other kids in there.

The lack of seating was the main issue. She's an only child who gets dragged to a lot of high-end restaurants, so she's used to behaving herself and being patient in more "adult" surroundings, but normally we bring drawing stuff, activities, etc. for her. There's just nowhere to do that kind of thing here. (I guess unless you luck into a booth? I wouldn't plan on it.) And I don't know any kid who likes to stand with no table to even use... She actually sat on the floor underneath our table for awhile (after I swiped a napkin around down there - it was only about 9am, so the floor didn't seem too dirty and wasn't sticky or anything). If I was taking her again, I'd probably make sure I had a plastic bag that she could sit on if needed. My other friend who took her kids said the jello stuff was a big hit with them (we didn't try it, but she did get the Jabba Juice drink).

We did all just get one drink instead of the two I got when I came kid-free.

Thank you so much for all this! I really want to do the Cantina but we will have our 4-year-old with us. We will just get one drink each and jello for him and helpfully he can hang!

 

[crystal1313]

I apologize for the delayed responses, but I haven't been able to get on Disboards with my iPhone or iPad. The popups are back for me after the system upgrade, and I get a constant redirect to "Comcast." Hugely frustrating. Anyway, back on my desktop ...

Glad I am not the only one getting that! Beyond frustrating!!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Glad I am not the only one getting that! Beyond frustrating!!

I've been getting something worse... something NSFW! I posted about it on the Technical Support page, and I'm hoping they'll fix it soon... in the meantime, I can only DIS from my computer.

I took a few pictures yesterday that I wanted to post here just to show where some stuff is, a few procedures, etc., but I can't post from my phone, now, so... oh well.

 

[AliceGal]

Just got back from a trip Friday 6-7 to Sunday 6-9. The park was just beautiful, everything was looking spiffy and the crowds were low. We had an amazing time in the rest of the park but our experience with Galaxy's Edge wasn't the best.

We had an 8 to midnight reservation on Friday night. Our #1 priority was the Cantina. (Did not want to do a lightsaber or droid.) We lined up to get into the land about 7:40 and got in the check in line for the Cantina immediately, with no stopping or slacking. Aaaannnnnd we stayed in that line for 45 minutes before being told they were not going to take any more reservations. There were many, many people behind us too. So that was a big drag. There were long lines for everything, even going into shops. We waited 20 minutes to get the popcorn. I was expecting it to be so much more lively with music and cast members interacting. We did have one fun CM who was sneaking up on people with her tentacled beast--she was awesome. During our wanderings and waiting in lines, we did not see one Stormtrooper, nor did we see any character interactions at all. We did see Chewbacca walking through at a fast clip, and wow, he was really good but he was not interacting! The lines for the Falcon were fine and you could ride it several times. I was looking forward to hearing the John Williams score but I didn't hear that at all, anywhere. The fireworks were cool to watch by the Falcon but it was just weird and quiet. That would have been a good place for some John Williams Disney! I hope we were just there on an off night, and I hate to say it, but we were bored and left early.

If you are going during the reservation period and you want to go to the Cantina, get in line for the land super early and make sure you are at the front of the pack. May the Force be with you and may your experience be funner than ours. We were so excited, oh well.

 

[cxr]

Disney magic. Here now they allowed small change to th reservation

 

[pharmama]

Our reservations is next Monday morning so we'll probably beat you there. 9 and 11 would definitely be easier. The 8 year old is patient but the just 5 year doesn't have a ton of patience and he is super short (39.75 inches without shoes) so it might be a struggle if we don't get a table. BUT I feel like if we don't do the Cantina we aren't doing a lot since we don't plan to do a lightsaber or droid.

I'm not sure if you mentioned his height because he'll be lost in a sea of rear ends if you don't have a table or because you're worried he can't ride the ride but just in case it was the latter I wanted to make sure you know Smuggler's Run has a 38" height limit so he'll be good to go on that.

Glad I am not the only one getting that! Beyond frustrating!!

Add me to the list! I'm also getting either Comcast (when on my home network which is Comcast) or AT&T (my provider) when on cellular on my phone and it's SO annoying! I thought it was fixed last night when I didn't get any for several hours but then it happened again this morning. Glad I'm not getting the NSFW ones though!