I’ve got a great feeling about this!
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”
For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work. Not ME, baby…
…except on Thursday. That was her one free day, all play and no work. She’d be asked to suffer no business meetings, no HR-mandated activities, no coworker chitchat, and no miss-you-SO-much text exchanges miles apart juxtaposing my solo adventures with her expertly catered drudgery. The Wednesday evening captive dinner was the nadir of our trip, but the next morning was The Best.
Five years ago we attended Star Wars Celebration Chicago, where the exhibit hall featured a sneak preview of Disney World’s extravagant, then-upcoming new attraction, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. An entire corner of that park was terraformed into a full-scale recreation of that world-famous far-faraway galaxy. Rides! Ships! Shops! Props! Merch! Environments! Cosplaying “cast members”! Long lines just like at the theater! The convention preview was fancy and entertaining, but we kept our enthusiasm in check. We’d already been to Florida once, visited the other Orlando theme parks, and didn’t plan a Florida encore anytime soon. Of course we dreamed of one, preferably before retirement while we could still walk under our own power, but it seemed pretty doubtful at Disney World prices. We figured by the time we did come back, Galaxy’s Edge would be long gone and replaced with, like, Doc McStuffins Village or whatever.
A lot can change in five years. And, to our shock, did. Their overpriced Star Wars-themed hotel was history, but Galaxy’s Edge was still there, waiting.
Pretty much within the first minute of our trip planning, we’d known where and how this day would begin: STAR WARS!
As we entered the park, the Skyliner foreshadowed our morning to come.
DAY THREE: THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023.
Despite being kept late against our will the night before, we were both up early like kids on Christmas morning. By 7 a.m. we were out in front of the Grand Floridian and boarded the next complimentary Disney World Resort bus that would take us directly to Hollywood Studios. We arrived, we joined the crowd in line, and — unlike my foot-dragging EPCOT blunder — absolutely took advantage of the resort perk that would let us guests into the park early. At 7:45 we stampeded inside, bore southeast, and joined the considerable line for Ride of the Resistance, which we correctly assumed would be their best Star Wars ride, and possibly one of Anne’s all-time favorite amusement park rides.
The resisting begins here! Note the surprise Florida bird I couldn’t bear to crop out because I’m a tourist at heart.
Cast members get psyched up to take on the First Order and whatnot.
The line was a veritable museum tour through an immersive alien environment. Lots to look at, such as this decommissioned A-Wing Fighter.
GNK Power Droids and the requisite sci-fi antenna array.
Authentic space trash cans.
We kept our spirits high even when the line stopped moving for several minutes.
The line snakes through a “cave” because of course you’re preparing to join an underground rebellion.
Deeper into the darkness, secrets of the Resistance are revealed, such as this maddeningly misdrawn space radar.
Cages held costumes and SF gizmos.
Sorry, kids, these grenades are merely display items, not for sale.
Same goes for the flight suits. They just didn’t have enough to go around.
The farther we went, the more interactive things got. Deep in the Resistance’s hideout…
….above us loomed BB-8, jittering and beeping but mostly ignoring us as its attention was turned…
…toward a tiny Rey hologram delivering a special report and performance. (I cannot believe this photographed at all.)
Video messages came in from the Star Wars Sequels’ answers to Nien Nunb and Ackbar.
Such a lovely flourish: a prerecorded cameo by Oscar Isaac as ace pilot Poe Dameron. Will he ever get over Palpatine’s return?
The line took us outdoors one more time, passing by Poe’s ship Black One.
Come 8:30, a plot twist! We’re all captives of the First Order, boarding a prison transport!
The detailed engines on our “transport”.
Live cast members played our First Order captors, and ordered us down a hallway to where we’d board the actual ride. Apropos of Disney, animatronics abounded.
By this point a lot was going on as kept walking and interacting, which we couldn’t track and photograph at the same time.
The Stormtrooper lineup in our lead photo was among the biggest jaw-drop moments. This half-sized Force Awakens TIE Fighter was mounted in the same giant room.
Finally we got to the part where we sat and rode. Same as the Chicago sampler, R5-J2 was mounted on the front as our driver.
The grand finale worked much like EPCOT’s Ratatouille ride — trackless magnetic cars skating across smooth metal floors, occasionally hitting short drops (a bit of a gut-punch to our motion-sensitive stomachs) as we navigated the perilous escape from the First Order’s sinister clutches. A space battle is waged everywhere around you. At one point you’re jetting under the legs of an AT-AT. A cast member as Kylo Ren bellows orders, comes at you ready to kill, and you narrowly get away while his lightsaber slices through the ceiling overhead. And so on goes the sensory overload.
By 8:45 we had to exit the ride and readjust to reality. As we walked out, Anne screamed in my ear, “THAT WAS AWESOME!” Our mutual giddiness took a while to ebb.
The Resistance may have been done rising, but for us the Star Wars had only just begun.
To be continued!
* * * * *
[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for other chapters and for our complete major trip history to date. Follow us on Facebook or via email sign-up for new-entry alerts. For further signs of life between entries, wave hi to me on . Thanks for reading!]
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 