Figment's HolidayTime, SpringTime, and Other Trip Reports, 2015-2019

Holiday Season, 2018

Grand Californian Gingerbread House (2018 Edition)
The Grand Californian Hotel continued the tradition started a few years ago of creating a gingerbread house show piece in the lobby. So far, the design has been fairly similar each year (the house itself resembles the GCH), but there are new and different details added each year. This year's house featured 25 HIdden Mickeys!

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Hidden Mickeys
These are the Hidden Mickeys located on the front of the Gingerbread House.
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These are the Hidden Mickeys located on the backside of the Gingerbread House.
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These are the Hidden Mickeys located on the side of the Gingerbread House.
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These are the Hidden Mickeys located on the top (roof) of the Gingerbread House. You can only see this if you go to the second floor and look down onto the house.
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It's always fun to spend sometime hunting for the Hidden Mickeys! This year, they were pretty tough to find, but most all of them looked like actual classic Mickeys.
 
Spring & Egg-Stravaganza, 2019
There were six prize eggs this year (Mickey, Minnie, Dumbo, Timothy, Aurora, and Maleficent). This year, the eggs had a prize inside!
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In addition to the prize eggs, they were also selling a set of three Hitchiking Ghost eggs.
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Disneyland Egg-Stravaganza, 2019
Like previous years, the hunt consisted of 12 eggs. The two unique eggs to Disneyland were Tinkerbell and Mr. Toad (same as in previous years).
Most eggs were pretty easy to spot, but a couple were harder to find. None of the eggs were hidden inside attractions or queues. Most were outside or inside shops.
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it's a small world - Daisy was hiding along Small World Mall. She was on the corner of the tower above the Slushie stand.
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Tomorrowland Platform - Mr. Toad was probably the hardest of the Disneyland eggs to find. I didn't know where the Tomorrowland Platform was (I thought it might be the train station or perhaps the monorail station), but it turned out to be the old Peoplemover loading area. It was visible from the side facing Launch Bay.
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Baby Care Center - Thumper was "hiding" next to the Disneyland Baby Care Center sign.
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20th Century Music Company - Mickey was hiding in the Pin Shop on Main Street. He was opposite of the main register.
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Fire Station - Pluto was hiding atop the Fire Station (on the side closer to City Hall).
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Emporium - The White Rabbit was hiding in the toy store within the Emporium complex.
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Candy Palace - Minnie was hiding in the Candy Palace. She was against the shared call with Gibson Girl.
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New Orleans Square - Tinkerbell was hiding in New Orleans Square. This one was one of the more vague clues. She was sitting on one of the balconies above the entrance to the Blue Bayou.
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Adventureland Bazaar - Goofy was hiding near the Adventureland Bazaar. Depending on how one thinks about it, he was actually over the entrance to South Seas Trader (next to Bengal Barbecue).
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Frontierland Shootin' Exposition - Donald was hiding next to the Shooting Exposition sign.
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Splash Mountain - Chip was hiding where guests can watch the big Splash Mountain drop, near the Critter Country sign. He was a bit hard to see because he was nestled in among the plants.
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Pooh Corner - Dale was hiding on the roof of Pooh Corner.
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Disney California Adventure Egg-Stravaganza,2019
Like previous years, the hunt consisted of 12 eggs. The two unique eggs to DCA were Lightning McQueen and Mater (same as in previous years).

Pixar Promenade - The White Rabbit was one of the hardest eggs to see. Not because he was well hidden, but because he was so high up!
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Redwood Creek Challenge Trail - Dale was hiding along the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Because the trail often closes early, he was visible from the walkway around GRR.
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Rushin' River Outfitters - Chip was hiding inside the Rusin' River Outfitters store towards the back.
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Elia & Co - Mickey was hiding in the kids clothing room of Elias & Co. He was to the right of the registers (when facing them), near the doorway.
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Julius Katz & Sons - Minnie was hiding in Julius Katz & Sons...I forgot to take photos!

Buena Vista Street Balcony - Pluto watching guests from the balcony above Elias & Co, facing Julius Katz & Sons.
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Off the Page - Donald was hiding in Off the Page. He was against one of the back walls, near where the comics are behind displayed. He was easy to spot if entering from the Animation Academy exit, but less obvious to find if you came in the main entrance to the store.
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Animation Academy - Daisy was one of the harder eggs to find; not because she was really well hidden, but because it's kind of dark inside the Animation Academy building and she was behind some wavy glass near the entrance to Turtle Talk.
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Hyperion Theater - Thumper was hiding high atop the Hyperion Theater. He was located opposite of where Spiderman meet guests, on the left side of the forced perspective street (when facing it).
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The Collector's Warehouse - Goofy was hanging out in the Collector's Warehouse. He's on the left, when entering the store.
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The Oil Pan - Mater was hiding near The Oil Pan sign, located above Ramone's shop.
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Flo's V8 Cafe - McQueen was hiding on the roof of Flo's V8 Cafe, on the side facing the RSR attraction.
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Downtown Disney Egg-Stravaganza, 2019
Like previous years, the hunt consisted of 12 eggs. The two unique eggs to DTD were Woody and Jessie (same as in previous years).
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The Disney Dress Shop - The White Rabbit was hiding in the Dress Shop, to the righ when you enter the store (from the main entrance). You have to go into the store to really see the egg.
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Marceline's Confectionery - Chip was hiding with all of the chocolate chips in Marceline's! He was behind the main register. You can probably see him from the main entrance, without having to go into the store.
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Wonderground Gallery - Jessie was hiding in the window above the Wonderland Gallery entrance. She's visible from outside the store only.
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Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen - Pluto was hardest egg to find of the DTD hunt, mostly because he was so high up!
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The Lego Store - Woody was hiding next to the main entrance to the Lego Store.
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Uva Bar - Donald was hiding in one of the tall planters, on the side furthest from the parks.
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Salt & Straw - Thumper was hiding above the main entrance to Salt & Straw.
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Naples Risorante E Bar - Goofy was hiding over the outdoor seating area for Naples.
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World of Disney - Dale was hiding in the World of Disney. He was near the "Get Your Ears On" Celebration display.
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Starbucks - Minnie was hanging out above the main Starbucks (the one closest to World of Disney).
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Curl Surf - Mickey was hiding in the Curl Surf shop. He was on the right wall, when you enter the store. (He was in the same spot that Goofy was "hiding" last year!)
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Sephora - Daisy is hiding above the make up mirror near the front of the Sephora store.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away, June 2019
Figment and his family went to Disneyland to check out Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge during the very end of the reservation period. Figment's family is split between someone who's a casual Star Wars fan and someone who has only seen a couple of the movies!

We had a reservation on Saturday from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm and overall the entry process was okay. The CMs were still telling guests that there was no line but to wait over by the Splash Mountain side of the walkway. Unfortunately, not all guests were listening and there clusters forming by the entrance to Hungry Bear, on the Rivers of America side, and on the Splash Mountain side. Far earlier than we anticipated, they began scanning in wristbands and letting guests into the first of two holding areas. We waited along the RoA for a bit (less than 10 minutes) and then moved forward past the railroad tressel.
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Then about 15 minutes later, they moved everyone forward into the Resistance area of the land (kind of near the blue colored ship in the area). CMs along the edge tried to yell loud enough so that everyone would know that the CM with the flag would be the start of the line for the Cantina. He was somewhere to the far left of the waiting area (we could not see him). My guess is we were in the first third of the group, but I couldn't really see the start or end of the queue. For the most part, guests seemed pretty well behaved and I didn't notice any pushing or shoving as we entered the land.
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Our first stop was the Droid Factory to build a purple BB-8 unit. We got the white body with purple highlights and an all purple head. It took about 45 minutes in total (the wait in line was the longest part). Building didn't take very long (it's pretty easy).
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Outside of the Droid Factory is a lot of droid parts and droids to look at. BB-8 was very chirpy (his eye would light up, his head would swivel, and he would beep) in this area.
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Inside the store portion of the Droid Depot is the very expensive, but life-sized R2D2. He was resting while we were there, but he was pretty cool to see.
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Outside of the Droid Depot were a number of droids. BB-8 happily beeped at them.
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From there we walked over to the Milk Stand to try the blue milk. The milk jugs were surprisingly heavy feeling and light up! Blue Milk was...interesting...it was kind of a fruity, in a morning breakfast ceral way, but left a slightly slimy feel on the tongue. I don't know how to explain it, but it had a weird taste and texture. It was a one-and-done kind of thing for Figment's family.
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The Milk Stand is near the First Order area of Black Spire Outpost. We didn't really explore this area very much, but did see the ship on the landing pad and could see a store on the other side of the plaza.
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From there we headed past Oga's Cantina where there was a short line of guests waiting for their turn to enter. The available times were gone within the first 12 minutes of the reservation period. We didn't try for a Cantina; we figured would could try this one on a later trip to Black Spire Outpost.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away (continued), June 2019

The Millennium Falcon was pretty impressive and a very popular Photopass spot. I would say it is arguably one of the most iconic features in Black Spire Outpost. Even the non-Star Wars fan knew what it was.
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From there we headed over to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
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The Millennium Falcon was visible from inside the queue at several points. We could see Big Thunder Mountain from this part of the queue. It's one of the only places where Disneyland is visible from inside Black Spire Outpost.
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We had read that there supposed to be Porg nests scattered throughout the queue area and we manged to find one!
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There were scattered packages of Kat Saka's Kettle popcorn.
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There was a lot to see in the queue!
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We ended up paired with another family of three for our ride and ended up with two engineers and one gunner positions. I'm going to try and reserve judgement until we've had a chance to ride it a few more times and try out a the other positions, but I was the gunner and really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. There really aren't any tutorials or instructions that we saw/heard. The button would light up and I'd press it, but it didn't really seem to do much. The engineers said pretty much the same thing. The pilots seemed to be the only ones that were having fun. I'm glad we only waited about 30 minutes to do the ride, because for the two positions we got to try, the general consensus was it wasn't really worth the wait.
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I don't think we did really well, but the ride didn't link to the datapad app, so I guess it didn't matter...
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More Aubresh as we left the attraction.
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After that we headed off to look around Black Spire Outpost for a bit before picking up our mobile order at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. We stopped by the Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities for a quick look. It was quite busy inside and there were lots of things to see. We all agreed that we'd like to spend more time looking at the displays and decorations next time!
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I think this was the entrance to Savi's, which we could see from the Droid Depot.
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From there, we headed over to the Shopping Bazaar area. There were lots of little stores, with not much space in any of them. It was quite a squeeze at times.
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The Creature Stall had a Loth Cat in a cage. They also had Loth Cat plushes that the CMs were featuring. It was cute, but it's not a soft plush. Much like the Porg, the Loth Cat, had very solid legs and body so that it can move.
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Across the way was a rack of ships.
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Near the entrance to the women's bathroom is a drinking fountain. The pipes make some funny noises and if you hang around long enough, you might even see something inside the pipe!
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Most of the signage is in Aurebesh. The Datapad has a translator...
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Stormtroopers were patroling Black Spire Outpost. We also saw Chewie and Rey (they were over on the Resistance side of the Outpost).
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The Resistance side of the Outpost was pretty quiet. There was one store and drink stand. It'll pick up when RotR opens, but there wasn't much happening over there during the reservation period. There were a couple of ships and various other pieces of equipment.
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The least busy place in Black Spire Outpost! A small drink cart that sold the specialty Coke bottles...no line and no one there!
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We found a table near Ronto Roasters were we could see the walkway leading through Black Spire Outpost. While we were eating, the next group was let into the land. We watched them come like a giant wave! From out view point, we could even see the CM with the flag (he wasn't in the front of the group, but near the front).
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No trip to Black Spire Outpost would be complete without trying the food! We had an early dinner at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo where we basically tried almost everything on the menu. :)
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Moof Juice - Simply Fruit Punch®, Simply Orange® with Pineapple, Chipotle-Pineapple. The drink was okay, but not too memorable.
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Phattro - Gold Peak® Unsweetened Tea, Odwalla® Lemonade, Desert Pear. This one was kind of bland.
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Braised Shaak Roast - Beef Pot Roast, Cavatelli Pasta, Wilted Kale, Mushrooms. This was one of our favorite dishes! It's bascially pot roast with pasta, but it had really good flavor.
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Smoked Kaadu Ribs - Sticky Pork Ribs, Blueberry Corn Muffin, Cabbage Slaw. This was also pretty good. It reminded us of the ribs from RBT (in terms of flavor). The slaw was good too!
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Roasted Endorian Tip-yip Salad - Marinated Chicken, Mixed Greens, Roasted Seasonal Vegetables, Quinoa, and Pumpkin Seeds, tossed in Green Curry Ranch. This was probably the least sucessful of the entrees. The dressing was kind of bland and the chicken didn't really have much flavor. Figment probably wouldn't order this again.
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Yobshrimp Noodle Salad - Chilled Shrimp, Marinated Noodles, Vegetables, Cilantro. Oh my...this salad was spicy! The salad would have been better if it had a been a bit fresher (the marinated noodles had dried out a bit), but boy was it spicy!
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Oi-oi Puff - Raspberry Cream Puff, Passion Fruit Mousse. Slightly tart, but light and refreshing. Figment liked this dessert!
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Batuu-bon - Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Mousse, Coffee Custard. This was probably the best thing at Docking Bay 7! It was very rich, but very good!
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Ronto Roasters, Dinner
We augmented the food from Docking Bay 7 with a wrap and drink from Ronto Roasters.
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Ronto Wrap and Meiloorun Juice - Roasted Pork, Grilled Pork Sausage, Peppercorn Sauce, tangy Slaw, wrapped in Pita. Barrilitos® Aguas Frescas Pineapple, Simply Lemonade® with Blueberry, White Cranberry Juice, Lemon Juice, and Desert Pear. The wrap was pretty good, but we were getting pretty full at this point. The drink was our favorite. It was slightly tart and very refreshing!
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Ronto Wrap & Sour Sarlacc - Minute Maid® Limeade with Raspberry and spicy Mango. Another one of the drink options. It was also good, but not super memorable.
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Kat Saka's Kettle
The last food item we tried was the popcorn from Kat Saka's Kettle. It was interestingly colored popcorn with a vaguely fruity flavor. Figment couldn't really tell the difference because the different colored popcorn (the spicy one wasn't noticeably spicy). It was okay, but regular popcorn is better!
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Thermal Detonator Drinks
While the drinks themselves tasted the same (Coke, Sprite, and Diet Coke), the bottles are pretty cool!
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Porg and BB-8 - Figment made two new friends in Black Spire Outpost!
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Figment’s Second 2019 Trip to a Galaxy Far Far Away
Figment and his family decided to make one last trip down to Disneyland on this year's Annual Pass to check out Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in a more leisurely fashion. We been down during the end of the reservation period, so we had a sense of what Black Spire Outpost was like, but we also knew that there were a lot of things that we did not have the chance to check out during the 4 hour window. This time, the plan for the trip was to spend almost entire time on Batuu!
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Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
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Got in a total of six rides on the Millennium Falcon on this trip and now I have a much better sense of the ride. For the most part, the ride is the same, but there are a few different things that can happen depending on the crew. The biggest differences (that I noticed) are how many coaxial containers you recover (I think all runs recovers one, but it's possible to get two) and whether you end up in the Asteroid Belt above Batuu. The dialog implies that if the hyper drive is damaged the ship fall out of hyperspace early and ends up in the Asteroid Belt.

While I definitely enjoyed it more this time around, I'm still think it depends a lot on which position you get and, to a lesser extent, how good your crew is. I ended up being the gunner three times, the pilot once, and engineer twice. I think the pilot is, by far, the most fun of the positions. It's also the hardest! The next best is the engineer because you do have to push the correct buttons and flip the right switches to "fix" the ship. The least interest position is the gunner because you mostly just press the same button over and over. (I think this might be a more difficult position if you turn auto targeting turned off, but I wasn't quite ready to try and figure that one out.) I still find it hard to watch the main screen and watch for the buttons to light up. I (kind of) wish there was a way to set things on "auto" so that you can just watch the video if you want to ride without having to worry about pressing buttons (at least for the gunner and engineer positions).
Aside:I'm wondering if there isn't a way to do this already, but it's not an option the guests can select. We almost ended up with a crew of 5 one time, so it seems like there must be a way to have that empty position play on "auto" so that the ship either drives, shots, or fixes itself.

The table in the waiting area is still a very popular photo spot, but there often isn't very much time between when you enter the room and your group is called. So if you want to take a photo, head there as soon as you enter the room.
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I also learned that there are buttons in the waiting area to be pressed when the light up. Keep your eyes (and ears) open for anything flashing (usually following something that sounds like a crash or bang).
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Once your group is called, you're asked to line up (two pilots first, then the gunners, and lastly the engineers). The CMs now have a spiel that they give explaining what each position is. It's not very detailed, but in some ways, it is helpful to at least give guests a primer on what they'll be doing (and why). From there, you head down the corridor to watch a short video of Hondo explaining what you're going to be doing. After that, it's time to enter the cockpit and try your hand at being a smuggler.
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At the end of the ride, you're given a summary how well you did and how much you earned. Hondo takes a cut and then deducts what you owe him for repairs that are needed. I didn't quite understand how the scoring worked, but overall, my crews earned between 4,000 and 9,000 per run.
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Hondo was very good about providing payment this time around (last time it took about 4 weeks for the payment to show up). You do need to have the datapad app running when you're on the ride (I'd have it running from at least the point where you get the position cards) and bluetooth enabled. I don't know if you have to finish the "Flight Crew Wanted" mission first, but it doesn't hurt to do that one (I'm thinking you don't because the folks in the SRL wouldn't be able to do that mission because they're not in the queue). Most of the time, the payment came just as I was exiting the attraction building, but sometimes it took a bit longer.

Standby Line
The standby line was generally between 55 and 75 minutes when I was there. I tried doing the "Flight Crew Wanted" mission while in the line and for most part it seemed fine. It's definitely designed for when the standby line is going to move slower (probably after they introduce FP). A lot of the mission involved looking at something and counting the number of items or something along those lines. Many times, we walked by that area so quickly that the game couldn't keep up. It doesn't really make a huge difference in terms of the mission, but for anyone that is a completionist, you're going to need to let others go by if you want to finish the mission without skipping parts.
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I only spotted on Porg's nest in the standby line. It's in the room where you climb up the ramps, against the windows where you can see another (currently unused) ramp. I'm wondering if that's going to be the FP ramp up. If it is, then the merge point is going to be really close to where you enter the room with Hondo (I did see a pair merge in at that point, so I'm guessing that's where FP will merge ultimately and they're probably using it for rider swap or something similar at this point).
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Single Rider Line
I did the Single Rider Line for five of the six rides and for the most part it took about 45 minutes from start to finish (including time on the ride). So it's a little faster than the standby (which had posted waits of 55 to 70 minutes), but not necessarily going to save you a lot of time. I generally found that if the line is backed up to the corridor before the split, that's probably a 35 to 40 minute wait or so (assuming about 5 minutes for the ride itself). That being said, there were a couple of rides where one side was backed up to the split and the other side was nearly at the top of the stairs. So be sure to check both sides before picking one.

The biggest drawback to the SRL is that you miss the entire queue and pre-show with Hondo. The line merges at the point where they're handing out the position cards. The SRL is almost always going to be the last couple of people in any group, so you're more likely to end up with gunner or engineer. In all six rides I did, the positions were handed out in the same order (2 pilots, 2 gunners, and then 2 engineers). So it seems like you have to be in the front of the group to get a pilot. The only reason I got to be a pilot was because the people that got the pilot positions did not want to be a pilot nor did anyone else in their group.
 
Datapad App
The datapad app is a lot of fun, but it does consume battery life and it means walking around a lot. Missions are scattered all of Batuu, so try to check out where each mission is to minimize walking. Some are for the Resistance, some are for the First Order, and some are for the Smugglers. You earn badges and items as you complete the missions.
Aside: There doesn't seem to be a lot of connection between the app and one's experience on Batuu, but I did notice once that Hondo knew that some of the crew was new (pretty much everyone because the other five people in my "crew" didn't know what to do with the position cards or how to line up when our color group was called) and some were returning (me!). So it does seem like there is some connection between the app and one's experience.

Mini-Games: There are four different types of mini-games that have to be completed in order to unlock whatever it you're finding.
  • Tanagram - You have to fit all of the pieces into the shape shown on the screen. This game usually comes up when you have to decode something you found by scanning a QR-like code on the side of a crate.
  • Wave Length - You have to move the four pieces in the correct order so that they form a single, continuous wave. This one usually comes up when you're hacking an antenna.
  • Rotating Path - I'm not really sure how else to describe this game, but you basically have to move the rings so that the lasers can light up the dot in the center of the screen. This one usually comes up when you're hacking a droid.
  • Building a Circuit - I really don't know how to describe this one, but it's the most common game because it's associated with hacking the panels. You have to draw a line between two icons of the same color/shape without crossing any of the other paths.[/UL]
The games are all pretty easy, but I did notice that the tanagram puzzle and circuit one got harder the more you did. The first circuit only had two icons, but later ones had more (up to four or five) and they would undo themselves if you didn't move fast enough.

Missions: The missions are pretty easy for the most part. They usually involve scanning something and then solving one of the mini-games. Most of the missions are "one-and-done" (they do not reset the next day), except for the one where you're trying to help one side take control of the Outpost. Guests can hack the panels and take control of the panel either for the Resistance or First Order (or install a Skimmer if you're playing for the Smugglers). Eventually one side or the other controls enough of the panels to take control of the entire Outpost. Once that happens, the hacking game resets and starts over. The Resistance always won when I was there. I wonder if the First Order has ever taken control of the Outpost?
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Transmissions: From the Tools menu, select Tune and you can search for antennas that are near you. Keep refreshing because they don't always seem to show up. This one unlocks a series of transcripts between various people on Batuu. They're kind of odd because they don't unlock in order (I think). I was also surprised that some of them are a bit more adult in nature (e.g., Dhoran's Mistake), so not all are small children friendly. I don't know for sure, but it seems like you can only unlock an antenna once per day, so it might take several days to finish getting all of the transcripts.

Trading: I noticed that it looks like guests can trade digital items that they find with other guests. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm curious to see how that works. It makes sense that you'd have to trade because I ran out of crates to scan and am still missing a lot of stuff. The app didn't let me re-scan a crate on a new day. I'm hoping to try this on my next trip.
 
Droid Around Town
One of the things they mention is that the custom built astromech droids interact with their surroundings. Essentially this means they beep and swivel their head around. I brought my BB-8 unit back with me and carried him all around Batuu for one day. (He doesn't have a personality chip.) He seemed the most active in the area around the Droid Factory, with lots of beeping and swiveling his head!
Aside: So far, he's still running on the set of batteries that came with him. I didn't have the Droid Depot backpack when I went to the park, so a friend helped me build a carrying case for BB-8. I wanted something that I could see through so that it would be easy to see when he was interacting with the Outpost. We used one of those clear bags (meant for sports stadiums), some dowels, foam, blue, and ribbon. It worked pretty well; just rigid enough that BB-8 remained in place, but could be broken down for easy packing.
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The Drop Depot got the backpacks back in stock while we were there. I had trouble envisioning how the BB-8 unit would sit in the backpack. The foam inside is shaped so that the BB-8 (or R2) unit will be stable. There is a small chain you can use to clip the BB-8 unit head to the bag, but I'm not sure how that would work when you're in the land and the head swivels around.
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I asked multiple CMs at the Droid Factory whether two custom built droids will interact with each other off-planet (aka, outside of SW:GE). They all said yes, but one said they won't do very much (just periodically beep and swivel their head). I'd be curious to know how much interaction there is...
 
Oga's Cantina
We went to Oga's Cantina for the first time! As with most places in Black Spire Outpost, there really aren't any signs that say "Oga's Cantina". The archway over the entrance says Cantina and there is a picture of cocktail glass.
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We had a mid-afternoon reservation on a Friday. The line wasn't terribly bad and we were able to request a seated table. The CM warned us that it could be up to an hour longer wait, but we got lucky and didn't have to wait extra. We were seated in the booth right next to DJ-R3X, so we could hear him, but not see him. Our server was friendly enough, but she didn't pay much attention to us once she'd taken our order. The server told patrons that they had to order both drinks at once if they wanted two drinks. All in all, it took about 25 minutes from when we were seated to when the drinks and one food item arrived.
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DJ Rex is fun...especially if you remember him from Star Tours. He jokes about it at one point!
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Most (all?) of the drinks are pre-mixed. The one for the Cliff Dweller (the drink that comes in the Porg Mug) has a set of three porg-like animals as the handle!
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Overall, the bar looks like it's at the edge of galaxy, with lots of clutter and random stuff shoved everywhere.
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Blurrgfire, Hyperdrive (Punch It!), and Cliff Dweller
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Blurrgfire - Odwalla Lemonade, Pomegranate Juice, and Habanero-Lime. This was probably the best of the three non-alcoholic drinks that we tried. It wasn't spicy, but the pomegranate juice gave it a pretty strong flavor. (It's the red-colored one.)

Hyperdrive (Punch It!) - Powerade Mountain Berry Blast, White Cranberry Juice, Black Cherry Puree, and Sprite. This was kind of odd. The puree was all on the bottom (not mixed in), giving the drink a blue color. They didn't provide any straws or stir rods, so it wasn't clear how to mix the puree in. Without the puree, the drink was very watery and flavor-less. When mixed, it was better, but still on the bland side.

Cliff Dweller - Citrus Juices, Coconut, Hibiscus-Grenadine, and Seagram's Ginger Ale. The flavor grew on me, but it isn't something that I'd rush back for. It reminded me of slightly watery grapefruit juice.

Oga's Obsession - Odwalla Lemonade, Cotton Candy Flavor, and Blueberry Popping Pearls with Dried Fruit Mixture. This was interesting. It was basically jello with popping boba (an actually fun idea). We couldn't really tell that it was supposed to be cotton candy flavor base or blueberry pearls, but the overall concept was fun.
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Overall, Oga's Cantina was a fun place to visit. It was very lively and quite busy. They could probably stand to have a few more servers, but overall, the atmosphere was pretty good. I don't think it's a place we'll go on every trip (mostly because we don't drink), but I can see where it would be a fun place to go for Star Wars fans who want to get a drink in Disneyland.
 
Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo
Docking Bay 7 and Ronto Roasters are about the only places to have a meal in Black Spire Outpost. The Cantina has two food items (and they're mostly just a snack) and Kat's only has odd-flavored popcorn. We ate here during the reservation period and liked most of what we had.

Mustafarian Lava Roll - Sweet Galactic Delight.
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Braised Shaak Roast - Beef Pot Roast, Cavatelli Pasta, Wilted Kale, Mushrooms. This was our favorite dish from the reservation period visit so we had it again. Still very yummy. It's basically pot roast.
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Smoked Kaadu Ribs - Sticky Pork Ribs, Blueberry Corn Muffin, Cabbage Slaw. The ribs have good flavor, but were kind of messy to eat. The slaw had a strong vinegar flavor, which went pretty well with the sweetness of the ribs and muffin.
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Moof Juice - Simply Fruit Punch®, Simply Orange® with Pineapple, Chipotle-Pineapple. (I think that's the drink in the photo.) The CM said this is the most popular drink at Docking Bay 7. It was pretty good, but I still like the Meiloorun Juice better.
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Oi-oi Puff - Raspberry Cream Puff, Passion Fruit Mousse. We really like both desserts from Docking Bay 7. This one is lighter, but with a slightly tart tang.
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Batuu-bon - Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Mousse, Coffee Custard. Chocolate+Coffee! Two of our favorite flavors in one dessert. Yum!
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Ronto Roasters
This is the other main place to get something to eat at the Outpost. There are a handful of tables nearby, but they're in the sun for a lot of the day. Also, it's pretty noisy because of the sounds coming from the spit and the droid responsible for turning the spit.
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Ronto Morning Wrap - Scrambled Eggs, Grilled Pork Sausage, Shredded Cheddar, Peppercorn Sauce, wrapped in Pita. This was the surprise dish of the trip. I'm not usually a fan of scrambled eggs, but I actually really liked this wrap. The egg flavor was pretty much covered up by the sausage and peppercorn sauce (which wasn't spicy at all).
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Ronto Morning Wrap & Tatooine Sunset - Gold Peak® Unsweetened Tea, Odwalla® Lemonade with Melon and Blueberry. The lemonade flavor was stronger than the tea flavor. Two of the group really liked this drink, the other was so-so (but is not a fan of lemonade/tea blends to begin with).
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Ronto Wrap - Roasted Pork, Grilled Pork Sausage, Peppercorn Sauce, tangy Slaw, wrapped in Pita. The regular wrap is also really good!
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Kat Saka's Kettle
Kat Saka's only sells strangely flavored popcorn. You can buy a bag of the popcorn (I think it's smaller than the cartons in the rest of the park) or the MSE-6 Repair Droid bucket. You can also get the specialty Coke bottles at Kat's.
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Droid Factory
Like all of the shops on Batuu, stock at the Droid Factory varies from day-to-day, so if you're looking for something in particular, be sure to check every day. When I was there, the Droid Backpacks came back into stock (for one day), but they were still out of the personality chips. It looked like they had most of the colors back in stock for the custom built droids, but I didn't check to be sure. The lines ebbed and flowed, but for the most part, the line was generally less than three people long whenever I stopped into the Droid Factory.
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Maybe because the crowds were lighter than during the reservation period, the full-sized R2-D2 unit was moving about more often. He was pretty impressive to see moving; very much like he moves in the movies.
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There are also several droids behind and around the Droid Depot.
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Black Spire Outpost Marketplace
This is usually one of the busiest places in the Outpost. The shops themselves are pretty small, so they can feel crowded pretty easily. As with the Droid Factory, some things have come back into stock (e.g., the Toydarian Toymaker's fabric Port), while other things were sold out (e.g., Creature Stall's Porg).
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The Toydarian Toy Shop carries various wooden and fabric toy items. This is where the fabric porg that the Loth Cat (over at the Creature Stall) has in his cage comes from. You can see Zabaka the Toydarian in the window and on the sign for the store.
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The Creature Stall is where most of the "plush" animals are sold, including the Loth Cat and Porg. The Porg puppets were out stock when I was there, but everything (that I could remember) seemed to be there. I wish the animals were softer, but most have hard bodies & legs so that they can move or do something when turned on.
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At the far end of the Marketplace is a stall featureing wood carvings. These aren't for sale, but they're neat to look at.
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Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities
This is one of the main stores in the Outpost. It's where collectible merchandise is sold, including the Holocrons, legacy Lightsabers, and other collectibles. There is also a lot of Star Wars stuff on the walls and ceiling. Be sure to check out the displays behind and above the counters.
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Resistance Camp
Right now, this is one of the quieter places on Batuu. There really isn't much happening, other than one outdoor shop (featuring Resistance items). There is a lot open space. The Photopass CMs told me that this is where the Porg magic shot is located. This area will probably be a lot busier once Rise of the Resistance opens.
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First Order
At the other end of the Outpost is the First Order area. There is a store (featuring First Order merchandise and the only place to have packages held). It has a lot of open area. You can often find Stormtroopers patrolling the area.
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Milk Stand
Located near the First Order area, guests can try blue or green milk. We didn't try the green milk this time, but last time we had the blue milk which had a kind of odd, fruity cereal flavor. It also caused an allergic reaction in one of our group, so no more "milk" for us!
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Black Spire Outpost, General
Characters
The tables by Ronto Roasters are the best for people watching because you have a pretty good view of the walkway by the Marketplace where a lot of the characters seem to pass by. We saw Chewie, Rey, Kylo Ren, Stormtroopers, Vi Moradi (a Resistance Fighter with blue tipped hair), and a First Order Officer - not all at one time, but over the course of the day. I got the general sense that the Market Place area is "neutral" ground, where the most characters pass through. You stand the best chance of finding the First Order characters closer to the First Order area and a better chance of seeing Chewie and Rey towards the Resistance Camp side. The Resistance Fighter seemed to be running around the Outpost a lot; I saw her in the First Order area stalking a pair of Stormtroopers, who, luck for her, did not turn around (it was kind of funny because all they had to do was turn around and they'd see her).

Chewie was over in the Resistance Camp one afternoon trying to fix one of the ships. Mostly he seemed to be looking in the boxes and growling at the contents.
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Battle Over Batuu
We decided to watch fireworks from Batuu one evening. You can pretty much see them from anywhere with a view of the sky to the north, but the residents recommended watching from over by the Resistance Camp. We ended up watching from the overlook near Docking Bay 7 and it was an interesting view. You can see all of the big bursts, but it's kind of odd watching fireworks without any music.
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Other Things
The creature in the water tanks by the bathrooms was missing for the first couple days of the trip, but reappeared on the last day.
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Under where the Stormtroopers often watch the Outpost were a couple of ships looking like they needed some repairs.
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Another ship is sitting atop Docking Bay 7.
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There weren't very many strollers in the Outpost, but there are a few spots for Stroller Parking.
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Some other things scattered around the Outpost.
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Signs
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Recycling cans
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Lack of Shade: There is a definate lack of shade on Batuu in the mid-morning through mid-day. So it can be pretty hot walking around. I'm thinking this also means that there is going to be a lack places to take cover in the winter if it starts to rain. Just something to keep in mind...

Background Music & Sounds: While there isn't background music per se, there are still plenty of places where there is music and even more where there are sound effects. In most cases, I actually found the lack of music as something that added to the atmosphere of the land. Walking around where I live, there isn't music playing in the background very often (sometimes when you pass by a restaurant or business). So in that way, the lack of music makes sense for Black Spire Outpost, which is supposed to be a "living" place. There were still places where music could be heard (e.g., Docking Bay 7 outdoor seating area, the Droid factory bathroom area, etc.) that felt like it fit in. Other places were quiet, or you could hear the sounds of machinery, equipment or other effects.

Residents of Batuu
Some of the CMs were more "into" the story than others. When I asked about whether some item was in stock, one resident told me that they were still waiting for a shipment from Hondo, but he hadn't told them when it would come in. Another said that they'd heard that the latest shipment of the Personality Chips had been diverted to another world at the other edge of the galaxy. Another CM told me that I wasn't going to find any of the things on my shirt in Black Spire Outpost and that I'd have to travel off world for them (my shirt had a list of things like Mickey Mouse, Space Mountain, Churros, etc.).

Access to Batuu
On the one EMH/MM that I was there, they were still requiring guests to enter Batuu from the Critter Country entrance around 8:30 am (park opened to everyone at 8:00 am). Only guests with reservations for Savi's or Oga's could use the Frontierland entrance (I didn't check the Fantasyland one). On the two non-EMH/MM mornings, we were able to enter from the Fantasyland and Frontierland entrances by 9:30 am. I don't know when they open all of the entrances to everyone, but it's something to keep in mind. I wish there was a sign saying whether all access points were open or not (even if it's by the Mark Twain dock, it would save the walk to the Frontierland entrance).

Other Notes
This lone security CM was one of the only things that remind guests of "Disneyland" from within the Outpost.
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