You guys, I am not really a Disney person. I’m not the one with the Disney paraphernalia and the license plate holder that says Happiest Place on Earth and all of that jazz. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy most (if not all) of the Disney movies and have had a few fun times at Disneyland as an adult (hello Club 33, my two visits there were awesome!) and visiting Disney World as a kid on the East coast. Disney just isn’t high on the list of destinations for me. I prefer international travel and honestly, some of our trips have been about the cost of a week at Disneyland. I will take the international explorations over Disney any day of the week. But…

BUT.

Some of my girlfriends here really love Disney and planned a trip earlier this month. I love these ladies and it had been about five years since I had been to Disneyland last (ironically, with clients of Sams, not even our children!) so I decided to come along. I’m so glad that I did. I embraced the necessary Disney preparations. Gold sequin Minnie Mouse ears – check. Disney tee shirt that matched the other 13 people in our group- check. Downloading of necessary Disneyland app – check. The BIG push for me to go was that I am a true Star Wars fan (I’ve seen Rise of Skywalker three times) and I have been wanting to go to Star Wars Galaxy Edge since it opened. Add to that the brand new ride in Galaxy Edge Rise of the Resistance and I was ALL IN. I told my friends that I was a complete Disney novice, knew nothing about how to work Fast Passes, navigate the parks, know where to eat or anything of that nature and that I was just along for the ride. Bless them, they were fine with that. We all congregated at Downtown Disney on Thursday night, ate our way through a few fun places (the beignets at Jazz Kitchen are seriously out of this world) and tried to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Friday morning we were scheduled to wake up at 5:30 AM so that we could be through security and in the actual park well before the 8:00 AM opening time for Rise of the Resistance boarding passes. There was no guarantee that our efforts would get us on the ride but we were all willing to try.

Friday morning was early but worth it: our group of five got boarding group number 33 which was totally amazing and unexpected! Leah gets credit for having the fastest fingers on the app :). Our other group was assigned number 72 but that still meant they had a good chance of getting on the ride that day. With our anxiety filled ROR boarding pass situation over, we moved onto the rest of our morning in the Disneyland park. I DO NOT like roller coasters but I allowed my friends to talk me into Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain. I’ll admit it: I had fun. I was happy when it was over but proclaimed to anyone who would listen that I would do it again. It was a firm “NO” to Space Mountain and Incredicoaster and I felt good about that :). Indiana Jones was fun (but the ride glitched out and then I didn’t have time to do it again. Pirates is always fun and honestly, just walking around the park was really nice. Our group was huge (as you can see below) and we were rarely all together so it was nice to break off here and there and spend time with friends I don’t normally get to spend as much time with.

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge completely overwhelmed me with awesomeness. I truly felt like I was walking around in the movie and loved every single second I was there. I totally geeked out. I didn’t even recognize myself! Who knew I was such a diehard Star Wars fan (well, maybe I knew…)?! The detail in this place is remarkable.

One of my favorite parts about Galaxy’s edge was seeing characters walking around and feeling it was so believable! Storm troopers! Chewbacca! Kylo Ren! Rey! So dang fun.

Our boarding group number came up and off we went to the new Rise of the Resistance ride. I truly had no idea how in demand this ride was until a few days before we went to Disneyland. We were super excited; the entire “ride” experience begins as soon as you are in line. The actual ride is about 20 minutes long and utilizes live action, animatronics, huge video screens, virtual reality, true to life size set pieces and a drop that really takes your breath away for a few seconds.

Without a doubt the best ride I’ve ever been on or seen in my life. You are completely immersed in Star Wars! It is like you are IN THE MOVIE!

About 80% of the way through the ride malfunctioned and we had to stop. Eventually all of the lights came back on and we were escorted out of the cars and through what I can best describe as an enormous sound stage with promises we could come back as soon as the ride was back up and running.

We were bummed but apparently this is not the first time this has happened with ROR. There are SO many moving parts (both literally and figuratively) and it just opened; there are kinks to work out for sure. Since we knew we would be able to have priority entry as soon as it was fixed we didn’t stress about it. Instead we spent some time at Smugglers Run (which made me and my friend totally sick. Fun ride, not going to do that one again especially as the pilot!). Then it was off to a fancy lunch at Carthay Circle Restaurant in California Adventure.

This was a beautiful restaurant and a welcome respite from the craziness of Disney to sit down and enjoy a great meal. I had a fillet mignon and it was perfection. I’m picky about my steak; they knocked it out of the park. Also, best drink I’ve ever had, some kind of a Key Lime concoction that I need to figure out how to recreate. SO GOOD.

We eventually met up with the rest of our group and timed our boarding passes to all get on Rise of the Resistance together for our repeat and their first time. It was the BEST being on it all together. And it worked. And it’s worth riding to the end because that drop into some crazy virtual reality stuff is magical. Best ride ever. AND I got to essentially ride it twice! To get an idea of what this ride is like check out this video (it isn’t mine but is so well done that I wanted to include it here).

Towards early evening I was starting to feel more and more sick. My throat hurt and I could tell I was coming down with something. Most of our group was planning to stay late in the park and I wasn’t up for that. Instead my bestie Carrie picked me up (she lives about 10 minutes from Disney) and I had a nice Japanese dinner with her and then went back to my hotel to rest. The next day was spent almost entirely in California Adventure. I got to experience Cars Land for the first time and try my hand (twice) at the Toy Story ride. I wasn’t feeling well but my friends encouraged me to stay as long as I could and I made it until about 5. It was a full, fun day but I felt pretty crummy and even a fun day at Disneyland can’t overcome feeling sick.

Carrie came to my room back at the hotel and brought me dinner which I ate while she edited photos. I’m so glad I got some time to hang out with her on this Disney trip as well. She actually brought me a brown paper bag filled with anything she thought might help to knock out a cold/sickness and it helped me SO much.

The drive back home went by fast because Leah and I never stopped talking. 6 1/2 hours flew by! I really loved spending time with my friends and totally enjoyed the entire Star Wars experience. And that drink. And those beignets. Until next time, Disney!

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