ThemeParkCommando

My husband is saving up for his lightsaber. We are going to watch the results of the experience over the next year, to decide if it will be worth it.

SeaWorld is doing something right this year. Here in San Antonio, we went last Saturday and it was PACKED. We came in at 4pm, and they were using the overflow parking area. I've not seen that parking area in use on a regular park day in years. I saw actual lines at all the rides. Usually, it's not worthy buying the Quick Queue option, because most of their rides have 10 minute waits or less. Not on this day. I saw ride lines that were up to and hour and half wait. Just amazing for this park. I hope our park does something for Natl. Coaster Day.. I gotta go look.

I would have been striding through with my magic band, and taking as much advantage of the lower population in the park as possible.

It's possible they didn't open the date, as they haven't gotten word on the final decision on rates. When I worked for a hotel chain, it was normal to hold special events closed until special event rates could be decided upon. Sometimes, the bigwigs were not available to make the final decisions, by the time we were ready to open the rooms 1 year in advance of the event. We regularly held Mardi Gras, Superbowl, Fiesta and other events closed for up to a week after the 1 year opening period, in order to make sure the agreed upon special event rates were in place. Maybe Disney's just r

SeaWorld San Antonio is building a new wooden coaster for 2020. Rumored name will be "ABYSS". Claim to fame is that it will be the longest wooden coaster in Texas. Our park is only seeming busy on the weekends, but attendance does appear to be up over last year. The new Turtle Reef area is drawing attendance, but right now they are shooting themselves in the foot. The new biofilter is not working as expected, I don't believe. The turtle aquarium was SO green with algae last week, you could barely see the turtles unless they were right up on the glass. I'm thinking it's currently a PR ni

The report I read said the family was escorted out of the park and told to leave. I can't imagine for what charges they could sue Disney. Park Security turned them over to Anaheim police, who initially didn't arrest anyone because no one wanted to press charges. Now that the police have seen the video, they are reviewing whether or not they can bring charges based on that. I hope they do. I'd think: 'Disturbing the peace, assault and creating a public nuisance' could apply.

I remember seeing the animators working on Mulan. I also remember the 4 hour long backlot tour. That was a bit much, I'll admit. But, we did get some great family memories from that. My daughter was chosen to ride the bee on the 'green screen effects' part of the tour. Everyone in my family fondly remembers Crackaxle Canyon.

YAY! Glad to hear they are bringing back the Animation Academy in some form. These are some of my favorite characters, too! This will be a must do for me, next year.

Wait, if you can't wear a jedi costume in the park, how are they going to do that fully immersive LARPing package that is supposed to come with the new hotel? I thought I read earlier that there will be a 2 day, 1 night, fully immersive experience for sale, once that hotel is open? For the rest of it, I can see where a custom build R2 unit would be a draw. In the fandom, there are many other droid units besides R2-D2. They have their own backstories and presence in the novels. I would prefer if we could see some merch for the lesser known characters too. I really liked Sebulba i

SeaWorld San Antonio started using metal detectors just this year. BUT, they started with this method, where personal items can stay on your body. I pass through wearing my lanyard bedecked with with about 14 pins, my cell phone and car keys, and no alarm. I'm a firm believer that metal detectors are useless, though, so anything that gets me through faster is a win.

Indiana Jones!

And this is what we get when kids that never played outside, grow into adults. They never learned to deal with wildlife! At least they are harmless. I've been in a swarm that size of biting flies in Kansas once. That was painful.

Why do you think they won't be able to get on a ride? By limiting the number of people in GE, they pretty much guarantee that you will have time to get on a ride. That's the whole point behind the reservation system they've worked up.

Man, I'm having fun with this one. What if they have a PSA at the gates as you enter, in Kylo Ren's voice, or another threatening voice, that tells you in a very dramatic, no-quarter-given tone, exactly when you are expected to leave. " After 2:00 PM Batuu time, all citizens with gold armband are to be ejected from the settlement " " After 4:00 PM Batuu time, any resistance scum with red band ID's will be driven into the rancor pit." I guess you can't get too vicious with it, because too many people would WANT to be fed to a rancor.

hahahahahah! yeah, you are right. They won't read any rules. And, there will be the groups who get tipsy and decide that it will be fun to be taken out by stormtroopers. I can see that becoming a badge of honor and fodder for you tube videos. Heck, the candid video's of people who don't want to leave are going to be very entertaining, too. I feel sorry for the stormtroopers, but then there are people like my husband, who would gladly volunteer for that job.

IT is interesting for sure. But this is the first time I've ever heard that Disney will be limiting attendance to a land. This means they probably have only a few guardable ingress/ egress points, so non-wristband folks can't even go into the general star wars themed area. The article says guests will have wristbands color coded to the time they are allowed to be in the land. I'd bet those wristbands also will also limit when you can get on the rides inside the land, and won't let you into the cantina / stores too. After the 3 week reservation only timeframe, you will STILL have to j

Those hawks are smart. Evolution in action! The big machinery scares up small rodents and turns them out of their homes, and then the landscape is so different, the rodents cannot find their other usual hiding spots. Makes them easy prey for raptors. I see something like this in my area. When I mow my lawn, I am now followed by at least 6, sometimes more grackles .( Greater Boat-tailed Grackle) They come to collect the bugs I stir up with my mower. They never did this when I was younger, but in the last 15 years or so, they have started coming to the sounds of mowers. Used to be j

This is only for the first 3 weeks, when admission into Galaxy's Edge is going to be by reservation only, anyway. I assume that Disney will not overbook the attendance, so that everyone can get through the ride in a timely manner. It's not like they will be allowing everyone who wants to, to get in line, the way they have done with other openings. This one is going to be MUCH more limited.

A great coaster built with the land is the Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. The park is in an old quarry. The coaster is built along the big cliff, the hill is double the size of most wooden coasters because they built it up the side of the quarry. The first downhill of track goes down over the cliff edge, and is quite startling. The 2nd downhill is a wide, sweeping turn, so you are almost sideways on the track when you go over the cliff. The drop off of the cliff wall just makes your heart leap. Love that coaster.

Eh... lightsabers are weapons, and are pretty much only used for slicing body parts off of entities, or slicing the entities into smaller bits. Not sure people want to point their kids at special effects areas and say " Kill it or be killed!" I guess they are also used to escape closed off areas.. I suppose you could trap people in a room and terrify them with poison gas or a rancor... and have them slice their way out. 😎

For whatever reason, I took the laughter as Mark Hamill's Joker character. Now, I'm not sure if it was supposed to be Palpatine or Luke's force ghost. I got tingles seeing Lando. So happy they brought Billie Dee back!

My 14 yo grandson, after watching Illuminations on a mid December day said: "If that's what they do on a normal day, what do they do on an actual holiday?!"

I've not owned an RV before, but I've been in a few dog handler setups. One of the neat ideas I saw, was where they changed the base of the dinette seats to be dog crates. Worked well for the medium sized breeds. Another option is here: http://www.doityourselfrv.com/thor-pet-friendly-motorhome/ This motorhome is less than 30 feet, and has some nice customizations for dog owners.

If you do decide to go up the coast to SF, you may want to plan an evening at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. This is the little amusement park you see in the movie ' The Lost Boys'. It has a nice old wooden coaster, and newer metal coaster with a neat little drop that made me squeak ( and I'm a serious coaster rider, hardly anything scares me anymore), a vintage haunted house with a fun tradition, and a lovely old carousel, with a brass ring machine that still works! It's free to walk around, you pay for each ride you want to go on, or buy a wristband. https://beachboardwalk.com/

Full circle! It does look like the campground now has a three night minimum over the weekends. I was able to get just about any date in September, as long as my reservation had 3 or more nights on it. Looking for 2 nights, Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun, was a no-go. Thu-Sat or Fri-Sun worked just fine. It would be nice if Disney's website explained about minimum stays.