Well we had an amazing time today. We arrived at the parking lot a little after 8am and got a very close spot to the entrance. They were already letting people in the park so we headed back to GE, checked in, got our cantina return time, and waited a few minutes before they let everyone in. They checked our email and ID at the first stand and scanned our cards and checked ID to get the Oga return time. We started by taking photos and then went to the droid depot. Got there around 8:45 and there was no line. We had plenty of space to pick our pieces and take photos while building. Later in the day the line was outside but I don’t know how long it was taking for people to get to the front. Finished around 9:10 because we took forever to decide on the color combinations. They didn’t have the backpack and the box made it really hard to hear when the droid responded to the land so I ended up holding it most of the day. We had a 9:10 Oga return time and checked in around 9:15. Waited a few minutes before being allowed in and got a spot at the bar. The cast members were working crazy fast there. Not a big fan of any of the drinks we tried. It was fun but I’m not sure we will go back.
After Oga’s we walked around to take more photos. We noticed the crowd pick up around 10:30 while we were heading to MFSR. The wait time was posted at 35 minutes but it took about 25. For any others who can’t ride, they let me stay with my group until their color was called and then I returned to the cast member who was passing out assignments and they showed me the door to the exit. Went to Docking Bay 7 around 11:30. The line looked long but moved quickly. We tried 4 entrees. I wasn’t a fan of the ribs but my husband enjoyed them. The salad was really good and we both loved the braised shaak roast. The chilled shrimp salad was tasty but it would not have filled us up as a meal on its own. After lunch we took some more photos and then my husband rode MFSR 7 more times. The first time through the wait posted was 55 minutes but the line looked shorter than it had with a 35 minute wait. The actual wait was closer to 30 minutes. The second time through took 25 minutes. My husband then decided to use the single rider line and made it through another 6 times, averaging about 15-20 minutes from entrance to exit including the ride time. Standby wait continued to be posted at 35 minutes or so during this time. The single rider line worked really well for him but I spoke with a family who said they waited 90 minutes in the single rider line while the standby line was posted at 70 minutes earlier in the day.
By this point it was about 4pm so we just walked around, got more photos, took in the sights and sounds, talked with cast members (who were awesome), and did some shopping. My husband got in line for his 9th time on MFSR just before 5pm. At 5 they closed the queue for the ride and placed cast members blocking people from venturing to the back of the land. They weren’t pushy getting people to leave but made it clear it was time to go. It took us until 5:30 to get out of the land because we kept stopping for photos and talking with cast members. It was so nice to have photos with no one else in them.
Throughout the day we also spent a lot of time on the play parks app. I was able to see the Star Wars additions but my husbands app would only say it would be available on August 29. This happened with someone else we talked to as well. We couldn't figure out why I could get the Star Wars stuff but he couldn’t. It is definitely something I will have to play around with a lot more since I only started to understand some of the things by the end of the day. Once we left GE we stopped to pick up some passholder merchandise. The cast member at the store said they were out of the blue passholder magic band but still had the red. Not sure if they were out at that location, out for the day, or sold out completely (didn’t want a magic band so didn’t ask).
In summary, although our preview technically ended at 1 they didn’t kick us out and we stayed until it closed. The first and last hours were the best with lowest crowds, especially the last hour. At 4:30 the cast members from Savi’s were down by the droid depot inviting people to make a light saber. The crowd definitely picked up in the middle of the day but it was never a huge crowd. In our opinion 11-1 was the busiest. If you have a late preview time don’t worry about people staying past their time. It seemed most people weren’t staying to much longer than the 4 hours. Building our droid early was nice because no one else was there yet. Wait times for MFSR fluctuated throughout the day and it seems the single rider line can be a timesaver but not necessarily from what people I spoke with said. With a little luck you shouldn’t have waits more than 30. Injures at most points during the day. Food was really good but I wasn’t a big fan of any of the drinks.
I’m sure there is plenty I forgot but I’ll post updates if I remember anything important.