FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Welcome Home!

The view from our 1 bedroom villa at the Grand Californian

The time had come. Another leg of our trip ended and the last began. And we had saved the best til last. Today we would be "going home" to our home resort of Disney's Grand Californian. Well one of our home resorts...We had to save our joy filled Disney fix for last as it was always a big emotional downer whenever our cruises came to an end! We ate our very last table service breakfast trying our hardest not to look depressed...

Back in Miami

Savouring our very last full service breakfast

At 740am sharp, we were taken down via dedicated elevators to disembark the ship where we would then pick up our luggage and go through immigration. This was one of the privileges of sailing concierge that was worth its weight in gold. Fortunately my parents being platinum members meant they allowed us to disembark together as they had similar privileges.
By 8am we were by the sidewalk and climbing into our Lyft rides.
At 830am we were at Miami International airport checking our bags. This was where we encountered our first delay. The American Airlines lines for printing bag tags were disorganised and crowded. It was only at 0910 when we were done! We started lining up for security. The line was LONG...so long in fact that we had serious doubts about making our flight. We heard a faint voice saying "Come with me for a shorter security line" and we promptly followed the AA staff, moving our legs as quickly as we could. The few seconds pause that others took to look or think was enough to set them back significantly in the new line. We were so relieved for the "shortcut". By 0935 we were through security. It meant more time in the AMEX lounge which fortunately was not too busy. I enjoyed my free 15 min massage, and made sure my tummy was full before boarding our 12:10 no frills AA 5 hour flight to Los Angeles. We were grateful that it was on time and we arrived safely.

On arrival in LA, it was time to say goodbye to Oma & Opa. They would be spending time with family friends. We were picked up by a private van we had booked through primetime shuttle. The van itself was only just ok but the driver was friendly, he was there waiting for us on arrival, we didn't have to go to the shared ride area, and he drove us safely to the Grand Californian. Most of all, the price was good. All in all, a win!

American Airlines to take us westward

The children settled in very quickly. By now they have their routines...

Snack and show. The girl child's set up

The boy child's set up

Economy flight. Egad! Need to be creative with entertainment...

There was nothing better than to hear the words "Welcome Home!" other than our room being ready. The cast member assured us that it was worth waiting for. She was right. It was one of a handful on the 6th floor of the DVC wing and gave us a great view into DCA. We took the opportunity to sort out some minor problems with our light saber and droid making reservations whilst waiting for our villas. As soon as it was ready, we dumped our stuff and headed for the parks.

We had to go on Haunted Mansion as this was going to be the last day before the ride closed for refurbishment. There was a "holiday" overlay on that covered both Halloween and Christmas - it was not quite spooky enough for Halloween and not quite cheery enough for Christmas. A bit of cost cutting perhaps? From there, we made our way towards Galaxy's Edge.

We were cautiously optimistic about Galaxy's Edge. The prequels scar runs deep. A lot of the attractions required pre-booking so it was impossible to go in spoiler free, but we had avoided any ride run throughs or detailed reviews with photos. Where to begin...

Batuu is visually extremely impressive. We were immediately hit with sensory overload and had to consciously tell ourselves to look at one thing at a time and to remember that we had ample time to experience Galaxy's Edge over the next few days. The ships, props, shops and skyline are right on the mark. Disney have obviously put an incredible amount of effort in. The real challenge is to give the "offworld" vibe. It sounds like they will be taking this to the next level with the hotel. Here they do a good job, but I think there is still room for improvement. The background music is great and the characters play the role wonderfully - particularly the storm troopers with their tongue-in-cheek (or is it?) stern commands. It took me a while to figure out what was missing... droids! We wanted to see a mouse droid scampering around a corner or an R2 unit being frog-marched by a Jawa with a cattle prod. There are probably all sorts of logistical and financial reasons why there isn't a bit more of this sort of bustle on the streets, but hopefully Disney heads in this direction. To be fair there are early glimpses..Jonah built a droid which was able to "interact" with some of the props, but only in a minor way. If rumours are true, original intentions had been scaled down by Bob Chapek due to financial constraints and never made the final cut at the parks as it would not generate revenue.

Interactivity has played heavily in Disney's marketing for Galaxy's Edge. It is there, but like the character situation, it needs to be stepped up. There is an app which allows users to take on missions and scan various targets. The theming for this is good, but the "mission" component of it is a bit vague. There isn't any real sense of purpose or accomplishment. Still, it makes the lines "go faster".

OK, now for the feature items:

Food and Drink! We tried Oga's Cantina and Docking Bay 7. These have been described and reviewed ad infinitum already so we will just leave our opinion rather than try and reinvent the wheel. We had our very late dinner at Docking Bay 7. The food was tastier than expected which was a pleasant surprise. Oga's Cantina is reasonably well themed, but doesn't feel like a den of scum and villainy. The music and visuals are good, but the vibe is more Cosmic Rays. How to create vibe? That's a tough one for Disney but maybe a few staged bar fights and a few more stains and BO on the barman would help.

We were ecstatic to see that Smuggler's Run had a wait time of only 30min. We would later discover that this was always true in the evenings and this was the best time to go on the ride. The mornings were always the worst with lines spilling out of Galaxy's Edge. Now that Disney has made this a FP ride, we're not sure how that would change the demand for the ride and the best time to go on it.

When we finished smuggler's run, we had to listen to our bodies, still on east coast time shouting out "NEED SLEEP!" Until tomorrow when we tackle Disney's California Adventures!