The (Foodie)Force is Strong with Us...a Feb/Mar 2016 trip! THE END - NEW 9/13 Disneyland TR link!

[KathyM2]

Wow that does look really cool. I love the theming.

 

[Dugette]

I actually know 3 people born on this day, so I wished them all a Happy 10th birthday etc. Yes they are technically my age, hahaha.

I have a co-worker born on Leap Day too - I think he just hit his teenage years.

Our Chewie meet n greet was out of this world!!! He obviously loved DH's t-shirt. DH told him to "Laugh it up, fuzzball!" which made him roar even more. He had somewhat of an issue with my outfit though, but he still gave me a hug.

Glad you had such a great meet with Chewie - sounds like fun!

Love the shot of you taking a selfie!

I really like our picture with this Kylo Ren though.
I call this one: FAMILY PORTRAIT

Very nice. We did the Disneyland Disney Visa meet with him. It was a rather long wait, but fun - he was definitely intimidating.

Cool to see the WDW Launch Bay, as there appears to be more than the Disneyland one - like the whole Cantina area. Fun!

 

[superme80]

I'm in! I love it!!!! Can't wait to see more!

 

[Elevationist]

Sorry Steve, you were poned.

BAHAHAA!!!!

I tried to get the stormtroopers to take a picture with me but they were just wandering all over the place and somehow not wandering near me so I was out of luck.

I had this same issue in December!

Our Chewie meet n greet was out of this world!!! He obviously loved DH's t-shirt. DH told him to "Laugh it up, fuzzball!" which made him roar even more.

HA!!! That is awesome!

After Chewie, we went over to Kylo Ren whose wait was a lot shorter.

Yeah, when it was Darth Vader on the Dark Side, this was total opposite.

Our Kylo Ren meet n greet was very different...he was definitely the most intimidating character we've met.

Well, I'm glad they managed to retain that factor. (Meeting Vader in the Launch Bay was so scary that I nearly peed!)

"The Circle is Complete."

YAY! I love this shot!

There's my boo, BB-8!

There was a lot of stuff at Launch Bay and we'd come back multiple times on our trip!

You got some GREAT photos in there, lady!

 

[DnA2010]

Well over the last few days I read your May 2015 report (sooo much awesomeness!) and I think I'm all caught up on the current reports.
Launch Bay = much awesomeness and I loved your KR meets- def unique!

In the May report I read about your NY Comic Con adventure! So fun! Last weekend we were in Calgary for their Comic and Entertainment Expo- not as big I'm sure but still great. DH and I volunteer for the weekend and are part of the Guest Protective Services, so we get yo work directly with the guests, at their autograph tables and photo ops- a couple of years ago I worked with miss Carrie Fisher - she was fun indeed. Thus year we had Peter Mayhew (Chewie) at our con- I didn't work directly with him, but he was super nice.

Look forward to reading more!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Love all your launch bay pics. You can tell you all definitely enjoyed yourselves. We met Chewie and Kylo on our last trip and completely agree that Kylo has to be the most intimidating character ever. I hadn't planned to take photos because I really didn't know who in the heck he was, but we ended up in an epic stare down until I moved to the M&G area. Simultaneously terrifying and funny ; )

Yeah, the Kylo Ren meet n greet completely took me off guard! I wasn't expecting the stare down but I'm glad they stayed true to character!
We had a great time at Launch Bay! It's so exciting to see new attractions up close for the first time.

Ahhhhhh creepy jawa!!!!! You need to put a warning on every entry that includes a creepy jawa

LOL I will put warning signs for you whenever I have a Jawa in my posts!

I wonder if your dh had tugged really really hard he couldn've stolen some blue milk

It's really cool how much stuff they have there on display!

Haha, he did try to tug, but those things were down pat. It was a fun area and we're so happy we got to experience it!

And I just realized I need to pm you questions about Maui!!! Going to do that right now

I hope you have an amazing time!

Wow that does look really cool. I love the theming.

It was really cool! We loved it!

I have a co-worker born on Leap Day too - I think he just hit his teenage years.

Hilarious! But I was dangerously close to being born on leap day too so I could have turned 10 on this trip. Hahaha.

Glad you had such a great meet with Chewie - sounds like fun!

Always a pleasure hanging with Chewie!

Love the shot of you taking a selfie!

Thanks! The selfies didn't come out as good but I tried!

Very nice. We did the Disneyland Disney Visa meet with him. It was a rather long wait, but fun - he was definitely intimidating.

Cool to see the WDW Launch Bay, as there appears to be more than the Disneyland one - like the whole Cantina area. Fun!

Did you find that the lines at Disneyland are longer than WDW? Trying to plan our DLR trip but I have no idea what to expect!!

I'm in! I love it!!!! Can't wait to see more!

Thank you!!!

I had this same issue in December!

Apparen't these stormtroopers would not give me the time of day the whole trip!

Yeah, when it was Darth Vader on the Dark Side, this was total opposite.

I wish they coulda left the Vader on the Disney Visa meet n greet at least...

Well, I'm glad they managed to retain that factor. (Meeting Vader in the Launch Bay was so scary that I nearly peed!)

LOL, I think they did well with staying in character!

YAY! I love this shot!

Thanks! One of my favorites!

There's my boo, BB-8!

He's soooo cute!!

You got some GREAT photos in there, lady!

Thanks!!

Well over the last few days I read your May 2015 report (sooo much awesomeness!) and I think I'm all caught up on the current reports.
Launch Bay = much awesomeness and I loved your KR meets- def unique!

Thank you!! We love Star Wars!

In the May report I read about your NY Comic Con adventure! So fun! Last weekend we were in Calgary for their Comic and Entertainment Expo- not as big I'm sure but still great. DH and I volunteer for the weekend and are part of the Guest Protective Services, so we get yo work directly with the guests, at their autograph tables and photo ops- a couple of years ago I worked with miss Carrie Fisher - she was fun indeed. Thus year we had Peter Mayhew (Chewie) at our con- I didn't work directly with him, but he was super nice.

Look forward to reading more!!

Thanks! NY Comic Con is big but not as big as San Diego. That one is like a mecca. I'd like to go one day but usually it never works out (meaning sold out, LOL). That's really cool you got to volunteer at the expo! It's always nice to see celebrities and fan favorites up close. I once went to the bathroom next to Hayden Panetierre...she was doing some promos for Heroes back in the day. LOL. Aww, Peter Mayhew!

 

[ArielSRL]

Joining in! Love me some Star Wars and the PeopleMover. Oh and I definitely avoid Mad Tea Party! Looks like a great birthday trip thus far! Looking forward to more!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Joining in! Love me some Star Wars and the PeopleMover. Oh and I definitely avoid Mad Tea Party! Looks like a great birthday trip thus far! Looking forward to more!

Thank you!! We had an amazing trip! I see you're going in a few weeks! I hope you have a great time! I'm so jealous! I hope you get to ride some Soarin' previews...that alone would make me go down for a day! I'm really excited to see the new movie!

 

[SonyaShay]

Finished following your cruise TR and just caught up on this one!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 3 Part 3: Launch Bay Cargo and Lunch at Sci-Fi!

Continuing our tour through Star Wars Launch Bay, we come to the area that houses all the merchandise. Yes you can spend as much money as you'd like for Star Wars memorabilia, costumes, toys, even magic bands!

You can be the lovely owner of this Han Solo outfit. I think it was 700-800 dollars? That was not bad compared to other outfits.

Most costumes were in the 1000-3000 range.

The most expensive was obviously Vader's costume. You can walk away with it for a measly 4000 USD.

I opted for the cheap route and got my dress from Her Universe/Torrid for 59.99!

In addition to costumes, there were lots of models and replicas for sale,

Books,

magic bands,

and lots of toy figures

They also had Magic Bands and phone/tablet skins which could be customized. It's a pretty cool store for most action items but if you wanted t-shirts and stuff, you should check out Watto's Grotto which I'll go into when we visited later.

Here's the entrance to Launch Bay Cargo when you're coming from the outside. You don't need to go through the whole exhibit to go to the store.

Outside Launch Bay, the stormtroopers still wouldn't take a picture with me. Hmph.

After Launch bay we made our way over to Sci Fi for lunch, but took a quick detour at One Man's Dream and watched the Zootopia preview. It was really cute and I was excited to see this movie! (We did see it after we got home and I thought it was awesome! I even bought myself a carrot pen)

Now it was time for lunch! I'm glad our lunch was at this time (1pm) because if it was any earlier it would have disrupted our time at Launch Bay and we'd probably have to move around some FP+ too.

We checked in and didn't have to wait too long for our table. We were in one of the cars to the left of the stage.

To start we shared the fried pickles. I was surprised they came in spears as I thought they usually come in slices but I think I prefer them this way! They were good, hot and crunch on the outside and tangy crisp on the inside!

As an entree I got the pasta. I didn't really feel like eating with my hands so I didn't get a burger. The pasta had shrimp, tomato, artichokes, and asparagus served in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. I tried to be healthy and ordered the whole wheat pasta, but I secretly wished I ordered the regular pasta. It was pretty good although it kinda weighed me down the whole day and I was really full, which was probably a good thing since we had the dessert party that evening anyways.

DH got the build your own burger and he added bacon, cheese, and jalepenos as he likes things spicy!

Always love the ambiance at Sci Fi - I think the food comes second to the ambiance here, but it's nice to get away into a dark cavernous space in the middle of the day. I love the contrast of stepping into the dark theater-like atmosphere, and then stepping back outside to the bright sunlight.

After our filling lunch we went for our FP+ at Star Tours. The wait actually wasn't that long so after doing our FP+ we went back on twice! It was really cool to see the new Force Awaken updates and we really enjoyed it! Although I have still yet to be the Rebel Spy.

As we were leaving I couldn't help but spy this space slug in Tatooine Traders, so we had to get this picture:

"This is no cave!"

We had a some time before our FP+ for Indiana Jones so we went to Muppet Vision 3D where I promptly fell asleep again. Why is it I fall asleep when it's cool and dark now? Oh yeah, #thisisforty #oldage.

Coming up...Indiana Jones, Watto's Grotto and a quest for BB-8!
​

 

[chunkymonkey]

Finished following your cruise TR and just caught up on this one!

Thank you for reading!!

 

[soniam]

Unfortunately, they have closed Watto's Grotto now. It closed on April 2 or 3 with LMA. I think they moved the merchandise to Mickey's of Hollywood, Tatooine Traders, and a shop across from Mickey's. I love the way Sci Fi looks. We have never been. I think this is where we will eat on our next family trip. I am so getting a Rey Magic Band from Launch Bay in July. I had really wanted an R2D2 one, but we ran out of time. Last month they started offering Rey Did you get anything in Launch Bay? It's a fun place to hang out.

 

[ArielSRL]

I've eaten at Sci-Fi a few times but it's been awhile. Might need to add that to our June 2017 trip!

Love the dress! I got several Disney tanks from Hot Topic and a BB8 one as well. I want another more classic SW one but they are out of my size. I did get a couple SW shirts from TeeTurtle that I love (Disney princesses with light sabers is one).

Looking forward to more!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Unfortunately, they have closed Watto's Grotto now. It closed on April 2 or 3 with LMA. I think they moved the merchandise to Mickey's of Hollywood, Tatooine Traders, and a shop across from Mickey's. I love the way Sci Fi looks. We have never been. I think this is where we will eat on our next family trip. I am so getting a Rey Magic Band from Launch Bay in July. I had really wanted an R2D2 one, but we ran out of time. Last month they started offering Rey Did you get anything in Launch Bay? It's a fun place to hang out.

Oh too bad. I knew it was going to be a short-lived thing. The space was too big for the store, but it was so nice to be able to walk around in so much space rather than deal with Tatooine Traders. I think some people didn't know it was there or how big it was. I was delighted to stumble upon it and spent quite some time in there

I didn't get anything at Launch Bay but I did get some stuff at Watto's Grotto. Hehehe.

I've eaten at Sci-Fi a few times but it's been awhile. Might need to add that to our June 2017 trip!

DHS needs some new food offerings but I think Sci Fi is great for what they have now. I like the atmosphere and decor, just so cool!

Love the dress! I got several Disney tanks from Hot Topic and a BB8 one as well. I want another more classic SW one but they are out of my size. I did get a couple SW shirts from TeeTurtle that I love (Disney princesses with light sabers is one).

I saw on your PTR! You have some awesome stuff for your trip! Each trip I find more stuff to wear on the next, hehehe. It's a never ending cycle for me. I also bought the entire star wars rock and republic collection when it came out earlier this year. I love it and everything is so comfortable.

 

[LindseyJo22]

Love the Sci Fi lunch - we've got a reservation there and I'm pretty excited about it! And I'm amused by the insanely expensive costumes - I wonder if anyone actually buys them?

We liked the new Star Tours scenes as well, and I'm pretty excited to ride this again Looks like a great trip so far!

 

[bcwife76]

Mean Stormtroopers, they're no fun

I wonder how many people actually plonk down $4K on a vader outift? Maybe the people that eat at Victoria and Alberts every trip?

I remember you ate at that restaurant on your last trip to WDW and thinking "wow, now that's a cool drive in!" lol

Ok wait so teacups makes you feel ill but you're ok with Star Tours? I'm the opposite - I'm assuming Star Tours is the same at both Disneyland and WDW....I felt quite green after getting off ST and never again

 

[mzpoirot]

Love that they added all the Star Wars things since our last visit - I think my husband will LOVE seeing all the movie stuff!
Excited to read your next update

 

[LanaBear-ox]

Love your TR so far! And your meet and greets sound so much fun. Looking forward to your Victoria and Alberts post, i'd love to go there but DH wouldn't eat anything off the menu!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Love the Sci Fi lunch - we've got a reservation there and I'm pretty excited about it! And I'm amused by the insanely expensive costumes - I wonder if anyone actually buys them?

We liked the new Star Tours scenes as well, and I'm pretty excited to ride this again Looks like a great trip so far!

I'm not sure if anyone has ever bought them but maybe they would attract the eye of a wealthy collector, LOL. Definitely not me. I put together DH's Han Solo outfit for less than 100 bucks.
Star Tour was a lot of fun and we really liked the new scenes!

Mean Stormtroopers, they're no fun

And the sad part is that I was wearing a vader dress! I find their lack of loyalty disturbing. Force choke them all!

I wonder how many people actually plonk down $4K on a vader outift? Maybe the people that eat at Victoria and Alberts every trip?

Haha maybe! They are probably there more for show but I can see some wealthy collector picking them up just for "fun"

I remember you ate at that restaurant on your last trip to WDW and thinking "wow, now that's a cool drive in!" lol

It's a really cool ambiance. Too bad they didn't continue with the Star Wars breakfasts because those were so much fun.

Ok wait so teacups makes you feel ill but you're ok with Star Tours? I'm the opposite - I'm assuming Star Tours is the same at both Disneyland and WDW....I felt quite green after getting off ST and never again

Yes its the spinning motion I can't take. A rough ride through the galaxy is fine with me I can understand how Star Tours is a bit nauseating though. But spinning rides really get to me. That's why I only go on Mission Space Green and never orange. The one time I went on orange a few years ago, i wanted to puke for the rest of the day!

Love that they added all the Star Wars things since our last visit - I think my husband will LOVE seeing all the movie stuff!
Excited to read your next update

It's so much fun! Especially for the Star Wars fans! What's too bad is that they didn't make Space Mountain into Hyperspace mountain like in Disneyland. But the DL space mountain in general is much more updated than the one at WDW, so I heard they wouldn't be able to do it anyways.
Thanks for reading!

Love your TR so far! And your meet and greets sound so much fun. Looking forward to your Victoria and Alberts post, i'd love to go there but DH wouldn't eat anything off the menu!

Thank you!! V and A will be coming soon! We ate there on Day 4 of the trip!
As far as tasting menus go, V and A is actually pretty traditional and quite tame. They called us a few weeks before to see what our allergies and aversions are. Maybe you can work something out with them? It's definitely a pinnacle of Disney Dining, and a wonderful experience!

 

[Elevationist]

Most costumes were in the 1000-3000 range.

I could actually see paying that if you're somebody who is big on cosplaying and conventions and stuff.

opted for the cheap route and got my dress from Her Universe/Torrid for 59.99!

And it is ADORABLE!!!

Always love the ambiance at Sci Fi - I think the food comes second to the ambiance here, but it's nice to get away into a dark cavernous space in the middle of the day. I love the contrast of stepping into the dark theater-like atmosphere, and then stepping back outside to the bright sunlight.

I agree! The food is nothing to write home about, but it's just such a fun and unique restaurant! I think everybody should check it out at least once!

"This is no cave!"

Bahaha! Nicely done!

a quest for BB-8!

Say whaaaaaaaat!