We just got back to the home planet this morning…. So here is my spoiler free experience.
Overall incredible experience…truly mind blowing…humbling…touching and uplifting experience. We met so many great people on this trip that we really connected with and enjoyed talking to. This was our 1st time doing the costume thing…but we killed it!! Going in my thought process was we are going full Star Wars…all Star Wars..all day and all night. We didn’t know how we would fit in, if we would be out of place, or feel silly. Turned out that most people were dressed up in one way or another and I would say as high as 85 percent of the people were in something costume related. What we didn’t expect was to fell like celebrities on Batuu, but we posed for pictures, answered questions about the trip and even were stopped by a couple of little kids asking if they could see my lightsaber and get an autograph. At one point we had a crowd of about 10 people listening and talking to us and asking questions about the trip and this and that….very cool. So if your debating about costumes…..JUST DO IT!!! Totally makes it that much better!!
Some points that will help people…
Arrival…
We arrived at about noon and checkin and unloading was a breeze. We were able to hang in the shade with the super fun crowd and time flew by and we were let in about 12:50 or so. Wife and I both agreed that this was the perfect time to arrive…and the “Die Hards” are always the 1st to show up and always a blast to talk with. That hour really set the stage for our trip. There was no talk of bus to DS or anything like that.
We were not offered Disney Data Pads…we used our phones…one IPhone 12 and and me on a Google Pixel 6 XL
What we did and how it worked out…
I made some Galactic Credits from 3d printer before the trip, and I bought some metal “special” ones from Etsy. These coins were used to hand out to the kids both on the Starcruiser and on Batuu….and they were a huge hit, with both the kids and the parents. My wife “Queen” would love handing them out to the kids and explaining what it was and what to do with it. On Batuu I gave a couple of coins to a couple of boys with their Mother, they had pins, so i knew they were from the ship…what I did not know was their sister was over on the other side of the ride on Rise of the Resistance…so I didn’t see her. We ran into them on the ship and the boys came running over to say hi and we noticed their sister for the 1st time…we felt so bad, so I gave her one of only 3 special metal coins I had and she was so excited she ran over to her Dad and just started bawling…was very touching and rewarding. By the end of the cruise we had a ton of kids and parents coming up to us to chat and ask if we had any credits for them…again incredible experience.
Photo session…
We booked everything by what the cast members recommended to us, so we had a 2:00 2nd day time slot. The time was perfect because most people were busy on Batuu still…which is important for many reasons..but the main one is nobody is in the way. Before our session we saw some people we had met in line…they were doing the 1:30 photo session. They said they wished they had some lightsabers…so I ran to the room and grabbed my lightsaber case..lol…a couple of blades and off to meet them on deck 4. Not only did this work out for them, it also worked out for us as we just jumped in at that location as soon as the guys were done. So we didn’t have to waste time in the atrium going over everything and it also allowed us to do many shots at 3 different locations. We cannot wait to get the pictures on the app in about a week.
So after our session we ran into the photo pass guy upstairs and he proceeded to do a 1 on 1 session with us all over the ship, which was unexpected and incredible of him.
Lightsaber Training and Bridge Training…
So again as stated, we went by what the cast members recommended for us as far as times go, so again they were spot on with times they recommended.
6:15 Day 1 Lightsaber training…perfect time during 1st dinner. Was definitely better than you would think after seeing that 1st video….I really loved it.
5:15 Day 2 Bridge training….this was in my opinion the only time I would book the bridge training for!! This time slot is tied into a major event!! Not only do you get 2x the amount of time in the bridge, but trust me when I say….if you can book this time. Our cast member specifically told us we “had to do the 5:15 training” again JUST DO IT!!
Some wow moments…I got private time with Rey!! Which was very cool…was so odd that I had to ask her if she really was Rey. The reaction from her was priceless…we chatted for a little bit and then, well I can’t really say I guess.
We can’t really go over much more as it would be spoiler territory stuff…so some final thoughts that may help people.
You can bring a steamer…worked for our costumes great!!
Watch the weather on Batuu…Summer in Florida is brutal and if your wear a heavy costume…it will take a toll.
Get they early…we met so many great fans that we talked to and saw our entire trip.
No corkscrews…
Don’t waste money on a suite….if your in your room for more than sleep and costume changes, you are missing out.
There are missions that you are rewarded with special merchandise you can buy….they pull it out from a special panel too….very cool
The bunk beds are cool and fine for sleeping on…I only tried it for about 10 mins.
Lost my m-band, they gave me a new one, then they found my original one.
They have no stock of the nice Batuu excursion pins…they gave us all generic buttons and they stink. Also they do not like to talk about it..lol finally a cast member told me it was a sore subject for Disney because it is a supply issue and people just assume they are cutting back.
All for now…must go get ready for Disney Springs
Ignite the Spark!
I will post some pics soon