Galactic Starcruiser Adventures Day 2

The alarm went off early. 

I think at around 715? 

At first I was like "uggggg" but then I remembered I was on the Galactic Starcruiser! What sort of adventures would we encounter? 

But before I could figure it out, I needed caffeine. 

Luckily at the breakfast buffet, there was unlimited Diet Coke. (And there is coffee for those who need that.) Plus there was food like this (that's blue milk yogurt):

And POG juice. If you've never tried it, you MUST.  I had like 3 glasses. My stomach was making sloshing noises by the time we left but you know, worth it!

Anyway. That day we had a trip to Batuu! For those who don't know, that's Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios. Your stay on the Galactic Starcruiser gets you a trip to Batuu, a free lunch at Docking Bay 7 or any of the other food spots, plus a Lightening Lane for Rise Of The Resistance and the Millennium Falcon. 

How do you get to Batuu? Great question! By this:

I mean, yes, it's obviously a box truck but PRETEND it's a space craft. And there's fun music from aliens. It takes like 10 minutes to get to Batuu. 

Oh and before you board, you get these nifty pins to wear so the people of Batuu know you're a passenger on the Galactic Starcruiser. 

What does that give you? Well, some cast members will play along and ask how your voyage is going. Also, you get your own special spot to cool off and grab water whenever you want. 

Batuu isn't exactly a relaxing time. Why? Well, remember the characters you helped on Day 1? They still need help on Day 2 and you have to go around Batuu and scan things. Scan what? Well, these:

If you're helping the First Order like my son (tsk), your mission will be different from the Resistance missions so you'll split up. I suggest doing the rides first. 

We only waited about 10 minutes for the Millennium Falcon. 

Rise Of The Resistance was initially down so we did some missions. Man, I was sweating. But Natalie was like, "We have to help Sammie!" and I thought that Sammie better appreciate all the boob sweat that was going on. 

Luckily Rise eventually came back up so we quickly rode that. 

We did more missions and then we ate at Docking Bay 7. Lunch is free, so we paid nothing. And it includes alcohol for those over 21. 

Now, you can book a reservation and build a lightsaber at Savi's. Since you're a passenger, they are usually able to accommodate you. But we had already done this at a previous visit. You can also build a droid, but I didn't want to lug it around. 

You can stay on Batuu until 4, but we headed back around 1. 

This is because we had a photo session at 230. I recommend booking it on Day 2 in the afternoon when most people will be at Batuu. It's less crazy. However, if you book it when more people are on, you might get lucky and have a character in your shot. But on Day 2 they generally don't start coming out until after 4. Still, we got some cool shots which I'll share in a future post. Here's one:

Oh, and the lunch buffet on the ship is served until 4, so you can have TWO lunches. We were full from eating on Batuu, but we still ate a few things there because why not? 

Soon after the characters were back and asking for more help. Gaya came out and Natalie swooned because she LOVED Gaya's performance during dinner the night before. You can get photos with her!

Other characters were around as well:

We had lightsaber training and that was a cool experience. 

We played a game of Sector Set which is kind of like Bingo:

Dinner was pretty special. It was a Taste Around The Galaxy theme so you got all sorts of different foods. There was one dish inspired by Chewbacca's home planet! They explain where each dish was inspired from. And again, it's all you can eat, so if you love something you can get more of it.

Natalie ordered a sparkly pretty non-alcoholic drink:

Tommy got one inspired by the Dark Side. It had a spice to it and was also glittery:

Blue shrimp was brought out. It's naturally dyed apparently. I do not like seafood so I passed. Everyone else enjoyed them.

There was delicious meat. I believe this one was inspired by Chewbacca's home planet:

Dessert was pretty:

And again, as I have mentioned before, if someone in your party has allergies, you will get special portions with this in it:

After we ate we got to go to special meetings. Remember all the tasks you did for certain characters throughout the day? Well it pays off. You are invited to certain events and you MUST BE invited in order to get in. We got to see this wonderful moment and REY was there!

We also got to help Sammie and the Captain:

Then everyone is called into the atrium for a fabulous finale. 

There was lots of cheering and clapping. It was incredible. 

You can take photos with the characters of course. We had to get one with Sammie since we helped him the most:

Natalie also got a photo with Raithe, who we helped some of the time. Natalie LOVED his laugh. It was kind of an "ah ah ah" that she actually recorded at one point so she'd always remember. These characters are amazing!

To finish off the night there is an all you can eat dessert party with some singing and dancing.

Day 2 is long with lots of things packed in, but you'll remember it forever. 

Before we headed off to bed, Natalie had to get some water. Remember, it's always available. You can get sparkling, chilled, or room temperature.

There was a letter waiting for us in our room:

At this point, the adventures are over. But. You still get a final breakfast buffet, and I'll share more about that soon. 

We couldn't stop laughing and talking about what we had witnessed. The memories will surely be with us forever. 

Onto Day 3...

Snacks We Tried At Walt Disney World

We love everything about Walt Disney World: the castle, the characters, the merchandise, the rides, the FOOD...

Gosh, whenever I go I always wish I had extra stomachs so I can try it all. There's so much to taste but I get FULL. It's why I'm jealous of the people who live close. They can go and eat whenever they want! Lucky. 

As it is, I only get to eat when we visit and I have to pick and choose what I want to try. Here's what we decided on when we visited in July. Many, if not all, are still available to purchase if you have a trip coming up.

So here's some of what we ate!

This was almost too pretty to eat. It's the Enchanted Rose at Hollywood Studios! You can pick this up at Catalina Eddie's on Sunset Boulevard for about $6. It's dark chocolate mousse with a cherry chocolate shortbread cookie. If you don't like cherry, I'd avoid this. I enjoyed the flavor!

This is the Fry Flight at the Fry Basket booth at Epcot. It's only around for the Food & Wine Festival which goes on until November 19th. You get 3 different varieties of fries for $7.50. My fave was the Sweet Potato Casserole Fries. 

From the same spot, we also got the Adobo Yuca Fries with Garlic-Cilantro Aioli for $5.50 and honestly I probably liked this more than the Fry Flight. They had an amazing flavor. 

Also at the Food & Wine Festival is this amazing Creme Brûlée Vanille a la Confiture de Framboises which is vanilla creme brûlée with house made raspberry jam from France. Not only do you get the fabulous creme brûlée flavor, but you have raspberry too! This was $5.95. 

Also from the Food & Wine Festival at The Alps booth is this Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese. It comes with alpine ham, baby potatoes, cornichons, and a baguette. It's $5.50 and tasted like feet. We weren't impressed. Normally I like raclette but this tasted strange. 

Oddly enough, we DID like this Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Riesling-poached Pears, Red wine-braised figs, candied pecans, honey, and cranberry toast. Maybe we needed the sweetness to get through the feet cheese. This was also $5.50. 

This Alien Freeze was at Auntie Gravity's in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. It's a blue raspberry slush with lime dole whip. The eyes are sugar! This was around $7 and I loved it. It was hot so this was a refreshing treat. 

This Hare March Foolish Tea was at the Cheshire Cafe which is right in front of the teacup ride. It tasted like hibiscus tea and I loved the chocolate medallion. This was another fabulous cool down beverage in the heat. It was $5.99. 

This is the 50th Celebration Hot Dog and it was $11.99 at Casey's in the Magic Kingdom. It's a hot dog topped with strawberry bacon jam, funnel cake pieces, and powdered sugar. Some people might be like "Oh ew" but I liked it. The funnel cake pieces were hard to chew at times though. But I loved the jam! 

This is the Mint Julep, also at Casey's in the Magic Kingdom. It's basically lemonade with some mint. I thought it was okay and probably wouldn't get it again. My kids enjoyed it more. It was about $7. 

This chocolate mousse is available at Epcot all year long in France at Las Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie. I always get it whenever we visit. It's incredible. Try it! You won't be sorry. 

If you go to 50's Prime Time at Hollywood Studios, pick up this Grasshopper Bar dessert. It was $8 and it's mint white chocolate mousse with chocolate chips on a chocolate chip cookie topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips. 

We also ordered this lemon meringue pie and it was just okay. I was hoping for a sharper lemon flavor but it tasted like Jello mix. We still finished it though, but probably wouldn't order again.

At Animal Kingdom in Pandora at the Pongu Pongu lounge you must get the Night Blossom drink. It tastes like lime, apple and pear and there's boba balls on top. Yes, you can add booze if you want but I never have. The non-alcoholic version is around $7.

Next door at the Satu'li Canteen, we always get this blueberry cream cheese mousse. It's a blueberry cream cheese mousse with passion fruit curd and oh my gosh, it's delicious. I hate that the kids like it too because it means I have to share. I might need to get my own because I'm always sad how fast it goes. It's $5.79. 

Finally, you can get these specialty 50th Walt Disney World Coke bottles. I believe they have 4 different designs. I liked this one the best. You can find them at all the parks and resorts!

Do you eat a ton if you've visited Disney? 

How To Get Rid Of Solicitors

Ah, solicitors. They always seem to ring the doorbell right as you're about to sit down to eat. Right when you're about to start a TV show. After you've put the kid down for a nap.

I fully respect that it's their job. But they can come across as irritating and when they still knock on the door even if you have a no soliciting sign? It's downright aggravating and borderline rude. So here are ways you can get rid of them.

1. Get a sign. I have this one, plus the other above. You can purchase these on Etsy. Some people even have what look like plaques screwed in right beside their front door that have NO SOLICITING across them. Granted, most companies admit that they ignore these signs and will knock anyway which is a poor sales tactic. To me it shows they don't respect or follow rules, so why on earth would anyone want to purchase anything from that company?

2. Pretend you speak another language. One lady wouldn't stop talking about how she wanted to clean my mattress. "Did you know Beth down the street with a newborn? She let me clean her mattress." This is a tactic they use to try and seem personable. There's no Beth down the street. I just started randomly making noises, and she got the hint and backed away like I was the crazy one even though SHE'S the one who lied. Beth down the street with a newborn? *Snorts*



3. Remind them to respect the no soliciting sign if they ignore it. I've had to do this multiple times. I'm polite about it. "Hey, I have a no soliciting sign," and I'll point it out. Most get the hint and leave. One man tried to argue with me. "But ma'am, we have this fantastic lawn service." I was like, "Sir, I have this fantastic lawn service too. My husband."


4. Start doing weird things to freak them out. Like this:

5. If they tell their lies about "Beth down the street with a newborn" be like, "No, I don't know Beth, but did you know Burt who lives UP the street who has five cats? Maybe go clean his mattress." I mean. A lie for a lie. It's only fair.

Source

How do you get rid of solicitors? Or do you like them? Some people do! Me, I'll continue doing one of the above suggestions in hopes that I become the house with the crazy lady to avoid.