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Hawaii!
Finally getting around to writing up my trip journal from Hawaii! Sorry it's so long but we packed a LOT in. Hopefully the cut tags work.
Sunday 2/23/2020
Sunday 2/23/2020
We got up early and got a lyft to the airport. Had no trouble checking in for the flight, and luckily the big suitcase weighed in just under the maximum. We had a direct flight, about 11 1/2 hours, so it was long and boring but uneventful. We were in the middle section, but I had an empty seat on my left and Aaron was on the aisle on my right, so it wasn't terrible. Aaron managed to sleep for a decent chunk of the flight -- I slept some but less than he did. I watched The Addams Family movie and Shazam, which were actually both better than I expected. I also had some books on an e-reader that filled the time, and Aaron played some games on his Switch.
Finally we arrived in Hawaii! It was glorious. Aaron had to stick his head outside the airport doors to breathe in the air even before we got the luggage. Even with the exhaust fumes in the mix, it still smelled like paradise.
We got a lyft to the hotel (Ohana Waikiki East) from a super friendly and helpful driver who gave us some tips for a day later in the week when we’re renting a car to drive around the island. When we checked into the hotel I asked nicely if we might be able to get a room with a lanai, and we had to take a room with 2 queen beds instead of the king one, but having our own little private balcony was well worth it.
We changed into summer clothing (ahhhh!) and went out to explore. There was a little convenience store across the street that had shave ice, so we had to get our first one. So fluffy and refreshing! It really is a whole different thing from a sno cone, and way better.
We wandered along Waikiki Beach, where we saw the Wizard Stones (four large stones that, according to an ancient legend, possess the healing powers of four wizards who visited Oahu).
Eventually we got hungry and found ourselves near a food stand I had just read about recently online, called Hula Dog, that does Hawaiian hot dogs. I got a veggie dog in a white bun with mild garlic lemon sauce, pineapple relish, and lilikoi mustard, plus a mango lemonade. Aaron got a Polish sausage in a bacon taro bun with jalapeño garlic lemon sauce, pineapple relish and lilikoi mustard, and a lilikoi lemonade. They were really delicious! Aaron especially loved the taro bun -- besides being tasty, it was a lovely lavender color.
After dinner we wandered back to the hotel, took a nice soak in the hot tub, and then back to our room to go to fall into bed. I think I made it to at least 7:30pm before I crashed, and given that that was after midnight by my body's clock and I usually go to bed around 9pm on weeknights, that seemed good enough.
Monday 2/24/2020
Woke up at 3am as I had pretty much expected, although I did eventually manage to get back to sleep. We got up around 6:30, went to shower and discovered that the shower spray only worked while holding the handle and the tub was barely draining, so we had to get creative and take turns under the water while the other person held up the handle. Got dressed and walked down Waikiki Beach to a restaurant a friend had told me about called Eggs 'N Things. There was a reasonable long line to get in, but also a view of the ocean right across the street, so that was ok. They had a smart system going, where you ordered at the podium outside before you were seated, so we didn't have to wait as long for the food. We shared an order of amazing pineapple waffles with a mountain of whipped cream at least 6 inches high and chopped macadamia nuts, and I got smoked salmon eggs benedict and Aaron got his first loco moco (a burger patty on rice with a fried egg and brown gravy). It was all amazingly good.
After breakfast I went to stick my feet in the ocean. Aaron even joined me, and he’s not usually one for the water. It was warm and blue and lovely, and I could feel myself relax as I stood there gazing out into the ocean.
We walked along the beach a ways, then poked along the little shops. We found the International Marketplace, which I remembered seeing outside my hotel window when I was there with Mom-Mom 20 years ago! It’s changed a lot since then; it used to be an outside area filled with little carts all clustered around a banyan tree. The tree is still there, but they built a whole open-air mall around it. It’s got lots of little water features and statues and open areas, and was remarkably nice. We stopped at the convenience store for POG juice and some pineapple scones for tomorrow morning, then came back to the hotel at 10:45am or so to rest up before we headed out again.
After resting for a bit, we went out for more adventures. We walked over to the Hawai’i Cat Cafe, where luckily they had availability for us to go play with a room full of 24 cats for half an hour. Aaron was in heaven. There was one tiny kitten named Tiger Lily who was particularly adorable — even I couldn't resist her. After a while the dander got to me and I had to go outside to the cafe area, but there was a large glass window into the cat area so I could still watch Aaron playing with kitties.
Right nearby was Baileys Hawaiian shirts, a famous store that sells used and vintage Hawaiian shirts. It was a pretty overwhelming selection, but Aaron managed to find one that he really liked that wasn't too pricy, and it was fun to see how crazy expensive some of the designer shirts are.
Next we walked over to Snorkel Bob's to rent gear for the week. They were great, and helped fit us out with corrective masks so we could see without our glasses underwater, and gave us some suggestions for places to try snorkeling.
We headed back to the hotel, with a stop by one of the ubiquitous ABC stores, where we got our first taste of the amazing Maui Brewing Company's delicious local root beer, and I grabbed a can of Mr Brown's macadamia iced coffee for the next morning.
We had planned to go to the Bishop museum but it was only open until 5pm and it was already getting a little late by then, so we decided to try out the snorkeling gear. We walked down along Waikiki Beach and past to Kamaina Beach and waded in. Sadly, even with a ton of vaseline Aaron's mustache wouldn't let him get a good seal on his mask. But at least he got to try it enough to tell that it was worth shaving for so that we could do more snorkeling later. I stayed in for a while although I wasn't seeing much sea life, but then an Israeli guy and his friend came out and showed me a better area, where I ended up seeing a huge sea turtle placidly swimming along right under me! It was magical. Just sad that Aaron didn't get to see it.
We went back to the hotel to rinse off and change, and then took a Lyft to Lin's Hawaiian snacks, where we bought $55 worth of snacks, including 4 bags of their amazing dried garlic. A friend of Aaron’s brought some of that back from a trip years ago and he’s been trying to find it ever since, and having tried it, I can now understand why. I also got to try my first li hing mui flavored snacks, a local seasoning that is sweet and sour and salty, which I really liked. We asked the clerk for the best place nearby to get fresh poke, and she suggested the Foodland supermarket nearby. So we walked to the Ala Moana Center a few blocks over and found the market. They had a counter for poke with a huge array of selections, where we got the best poke we've ever had. Impossibly fresh raw tuna, well marinated in seasonings, over warm rice. They had a little cafe area with tables where we sat and ate it, stopping only to say “Oh my GOD” and shove more in our faces. We wandered the mall a little bit, then saw that there was a trolley that ran right back to our hotel and was free for guests of the hotel. It was a double-decker trolley with open windows, so we got to enjoy the warm breeze and tropical smells as we rode along.
Tuesday 2/25/2020
We woke up, and ate our (sadly disappointing) pineapple scones and my canned iced coffee out on the lanai. There were some very bold pigeons out there shaking us down for crumbs, but it was still really nice, even though most of our view was the construction going on across the street. Still, we could see Diamond Head and even a sliver of the ocean, and it was warm and sunny and lovely. We opened some of the snacks from Lin's to try. The dried mango was juicy and delicious, just a whole different experience than any dried mango we’ve had at home. The dried pineapple was super sweet, and the garlic was crunchy and mild and almost sweet and garlicky and utterly addictive.
After breakfast we showered (which had, happily, been fixed) and went out to the International Marketplace in search of more breakfast, since sadly the scones had been dry and underwhelming. We ended up at Kona Coffee where I got a delicious pineapple almond croissant and an iced mocha and Aaron had a strawberry chocolate scone and an iced lychee black tea.
After that we caught our tour bus to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I had been there with Mom-Mom twenty years ago and remembered enjoying it, and Aaron and I are both interested in the cultural side of things, so this was up there on our to-do list. The bus ride itself was fun, with "Cousin Boyd" giving a fun narration and lots of info about the places we passed. When we got there we grabbed lunch from a Mexican food truck in their marketplace and then I joined in on a ukulele lesson, which was one of my Hawaii bucket list items. Lots of fun! I’m thinking I might try to get a ukulele as a souvenir of Hawaii, although I’d probably have to get it shipped home. We’ll see. After that we went to start our official tour. As part of the package we chose for the day we got a guided tour, which was totally worth it. Our guide took us from village to village, getting us there in time to see the shows and do the activities and hit all of the highlights. We got to weave palm frond fishes into little fish (which Aaron did way better than I did, surprisingly), watch men start a fire with coconut husks, see a Maori war dance, hear someone play a nose flute, try our hand at throwing spears, and more. They had a cool afternoon show full of amazing costumes and dancing that was all performed on canoes in a little water arena. Dinner was at a luau all themed around Queen Emma in the 19th century. It was a little hard to pay much attention to the show while dealing with the buffet, but the food was decent -- Aaron was in heaven with the kalua pork and the taro rolls, and there was some decent fish for me -- and it was fun overall. We got amazing seats for the Ha: Breath of Life evening show, which was all that we had hoped for from the luau and more. Dancing, fire spinning, and some really nice storytelling. And one of the reasons we chose the tour package that we did is that it came with a backstage tour of the show, so afterward we went to ask someone about that and found that the main fire spinner had actually been our bus guide from the morning, Cousin Boyd! He took us around backstage, showed us the costume area and some of the tech, especially once he found out that Aaron is a stagehand. Very cool to see. And then we rushed back to our bus for the hour ride back to Waikiki. Very long and full day, and we happily fell into bed when we got there.
Wednesday 2/26/2020
Cousin Boyd had mentioned something yesterday about Maui Gold pineapples being even better and sweeter than the regular pineapples in Hawaii. So I found a place nearby that claimed to offer them and we walked over for fresh açaí bowls. I've seen them around Boston but never quite knew what they were. It turned out to be an acai berry sorbet type thing, but these were topped with granola, blueberries, strawberries, apple bananas (which I had never heard of before and are WAY better than normal bananas!), fresh Maui gold pineapple, cacao nibs, chopped macadamia nuts, and honey. And a mint leaf. The açaí was fine, but man, I could have happily eaten a bowl just of the toppings!
Today was our day to drive around and explore. I had originally reserved a car at the airport, since that was the cheapest, but then before the trip I realized that adding in a Lyft to and from the airport added a lot to the cost, and managed to find an Alamo right across the street from our hotel with decent rates. So we went over there, and after standing in line for a while, instead of the Mini Cooper convertible we expected, we got a super cool convertible sports car. Woo! Took up a while to find the button to put the top down, but once we did, we were off.
We started out at Leonard's, a famous bakery in Waikiki that sells fresh hot malasadas, a Portuguese donut. We got two each — I got a cinnamon sugar and a li hing mui one, and Aaron got a classic and a guava-filled one. They were AMAZING. Warm and fresh and soft and sooo good.
We drove to Nu‘uanu Pali Lookout, which Joe Rohde, a Disney imagineer, had recommended to us on twitter. It’s a scenic lookout with an amazing view of Oahu, and the wind there is incredibly powerful. I was glad I had brought my fleece with me so I wasn’t too cold, but we were still almost blown over by it. Also, there was a sign warning us to look out for bees in high winds. So apparently that’s a thing?
I had downloaded a GPS-based guidebook app before the trip, and that actually ended up being well worth it. Fun and entertaining guide, and he led us to stop at some spots that we never would have noticed on our own. We stopped at Kailua Beach Park, which was heavenly. Incredibly soft white sand and clear blue ocean, and hardly anyone there. There was a 300-pound monk seal just chilling on the sand, with some volunteers nearby to answer questions and keep people away. We waded in the warm water for a while and enjoyed the sun and ocean, then got back on our way.
The app suggested that we stop in at Tropical Farms Macadamia Nuts, which we happily did, and tried a range of tasty flavored macadamia nuts and a really tempting Hawaiian barbecue sauce. Aaron even tried and liked the nuts — and he hates nuts! And we got to see some roaming chickens with a brood of adorable chicks.
My friend Dorina at work had told me about a fruit stand that sold a drink called mango otai, so when we spotted their sign we stopped in there. There was a wood carver there who had some gorgeous necklaces for sale. Aaron had been wanting one as a souvenir but didn’t want to buy a mass-produced one from the ABC store, so he decided to get one there. I got a mango otai (which was in fact delicious — a smoothie made with two kinds of fresh mango, coconut, and some guava, I think he said) and was talking to the carver, just chatting about Hawaii and the amazing resources and food. I told him how we had just been introduced to apple bananas that morning and loved them, so he reached up to a huge bunch that apparently someone had just given him that day and started pulling some off and handing them to me, and then he pulled out a baggie of fresh coconut from a cooler and gave me that as well! I love the aloha spirit here.
We drove around some more, stopped at another wood carver who had done an incredible huge statue of Maui and Moana (with Hei-Hei sitting on Maui’s head), and at Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline to watch some surfers. So cool to see that in person. The waves weren’t huge by Hawaii standards but they were still much taller than a person and breathtaking to watch. We stopped at Laniakea Beach, aka Turtle Beach, and got to see a huge sea turtle just sunning herself on the beach.
Aaron had been asking around for recommendations on the best garlic shrimp truck on the North Shore. Giovanni’s is the one that all of the web sites mention, but a local told him that there was one called Fumi’s that used super fresh shrimp from their own pond, so we went there. His eyes were rolling back in his head when he tasted the first bite. I had some corn on the cob that was good but not life-changing. We made use of the sink that they thoughtfully provided, since the food is not the neatest to eat, and headed on to the town of Haleiwa. We made the requisite stop at Matsumoto Shave Ice, which was delicious and refreshing. I stopped in a ukulele store to consider buying one, but they didn’t have anything in my price range, and since I’m not entirely sure that I’d really play it, the cost plus shipping didn’t really seem worthwhile.
We had the car reserved until the next morning, but we realized that would mean we’d have to pay for parking at our hotel, and we had plans to get up and out super early the next morning, before Alamo opened. So we reluctantly headed back to Waikiki, and managed to pull in just minutes before Alamo closed. Whew!
I had seen a little hole in the wall onigiri restaurant in our wanders the previous days, so we went there for a quick and cheap dinner. Onigiri are Japanese rice balls; they come with all kinds of different fillings and usually have a seaweed wrapper. They made them fresh to order in this place, unlike most of the onigiri I’ve had before, and there were a ton of delicious options, for only around $2 each. I got tuna mayo bonito, miso salmon, and tuna curry mayo. Aaron got two different types of spam musubi and an onigiri. We took them back to the hotel and ate on the little table in the room with the door to the lanai open for a breeze.
Thursday 2/27/2020
We got up at 5:30 am to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was chilly and drizzly so we were worried but decided to try it anyway. The woman at Snorkel Bob’s had told us that if you arrive before 7am it’s free and you don’t have to watch the required safety video, so we got a Lyft and arrived just minutes before 7am and got to walk right in. There was hardly anyone there. We had some equipment issues on and off — mostly sand getting stuck in the snorkels, and losing the mask defogging goop from Aaron’s pocket — but managed to get in some decent snorkeling and see some pretty fish. We spent about two hours there and were getting tired, and the crowds were starting to arrive, so we decided to leave. There’s a very steep slope down to the bay from their parking lot, which was no big deal going down, but looking up at it we elected to take the tram back up the slope. Best $2 I’ve ever spent. We caught a Lyft back to Snorkel Bob’s to sadly return the snorkel gear, since we’d be heading out to Aulani the next day and then flying out from there, and the only Snorkel Bob’s location is in Waikiki. They were great and actually gave us a refund on part of the money for returning it early.
We walked back toward the hotel, stopped along the way at a little shop to get a pretty Hawaiian dress for me and an eye-bleedingly bright Aloha shirt for Aaron, then went by the açaí place and stopped in at my urging for delicious pineapple smoothies plus, at the last minute, a tiny jar of mango honey.
After that we headed over to the Bishop Museum. We did a quick wander through their Hawaiian hall, then sat through an interesting presentation in the planetarium on Polynesian wayfinding and the amazing voyaging canoe Hokulea, although given the dark room and the early time we woke up, I had to poke Aaron to get him to stop snoring. We checked out their science museum, including a walk-through volcano that reminded me of the Franklin Institute giant heart, and a presentation on different kinds of lava. Aaron wanted to go back to the Hawaiian hall to take a photo of something he had spotted before, and while he was in there we heard the most lovely music. It turned out to be a group of Tahitian teenagers, here on a school trip, singing a song of thanks to their ancestors for the opportunity to be there. Not a performance, just a genuine moment that we happened to be lucky enough to catch.
We poked around the gift shop and bought a set of wooden salad claws as a souvenir, then stopped in their cafe for a local grape soda and caught another Lyft over to the Ala Moana shopping center not too far away. I really wanted to check out the Hilo Hatties store, since I remembered going to one on my last visit and getting some fun stuff. I had forgotten that they give you a little shell lei when you walk in — fun! We ended up buying some kosher Spam-flavored macadamia nuts, a pair of pretty blue plumeria flower earrings for me, a wooden salt box to replace our ceramic one that’s been cracked for years, and a little tiki statue for Aaron’s parents. We wandered around the mall a little more and then caught the trolley back to the hotel, where we dumped our souvenirs and then headed out to the Kuhio Beach hula show right near our hotel. We got there not too long before it started but I managed to find a spot to sit at the back of the astroturfed audience area, while Aaron stood at the back to take pictures. The show was great. It started with an old man wearing a feathered cape going around the outside of the area lighting torches and playing a conch shell, followed by a group of local performers, playing music and dancing old and new style hulas. I’ve heard that a lot of locals come to see the show, and that it’s not just a tourist thing, so that was fun. And free!
After that we went to try to find dinner and had a surprisingly difficult time. We looked in the International Marketplace but there wasn’t anything we were really feeling, although we did get an Earl Grey lavender mochi donut. We tried to get poke at a place called the Maguro Spot but apparently they were completely sold out. Finally we ended up back at Eggs ’N Things where I got a furikake macadamia nut fresh ahi burger, which turned out to be just a hunk of tuna with seasonings on a bun. Not bad, but a little overdone and dry, sadly.
Friday 2/28/2020
At the suggestion of a Lyft driver earlier in the week, we went to Purvé this morning for donuts. They have unusual flavors, and they fry up the donuts and top them right there when you order so they’re hot and fresh and gooey. We got the Sunburnt Haole (lemon glaze blistered with Li Hing Mui, the sour/sweet/salty seasoning that I am now hooked on), the “It’s ok… cuz it’s your dog” which had peanut butter glaze soaked with raspberry “slobber”, the “Umpa Lumpa Moist Dreamcicle” (orange glaze blanketed by cream cheese), and the “Unicorn Butt Sneeze”, which had lemon glaze covered in Fruity Pebbles cereal. All were tasty, but the lemon Pebbles one was, surprisingly, the best. We made our sugar-filled way back to the hotel, and got ready to head towards Aulani.
We had received real flower leis at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We’d seen flower leis draped around lots of nearby statues and landmarks, so before leaving Waikiki Aaron placed his at the Wizard Stones and I left mine at a nearby statue of Princess Ka’iulani.
We took an Uber across the island to Aulani, and were greeted there with new leis -- Aaron got a lovely kukui nut one, and I was gifted with a lovely flower lei of orchid and tuberose, which smelled heavenly. We got there around 1 pm, and the room wasn't scheduled to be ready until 3pm, but we had packed our bathing suits in a separate bag so we left our suitcases at the bell desk and they gave us a key to their lounge so we could change and go enjoy the pools. We had our phones and stuff with us, though, so even though I had a small dry bag and in fact the new phones are supposed to be waterproof, we were hesitant. So we grabbed flatbreads for lunch at their quick service restaurant, and then changed into the bathing suits, and ended up running into Moana and Stitch meet and greets with no lines. Win! We scheduled a sailing canoe trip, but it ended up being cancelled due to high winds, so we rescheduled for tomorrow morning.
Our room didn't end up being ready until 4pm, which was annoying, but it was super lovely once we did finally get it. A nice large private balcony (without pigeons mugging us for food), two queen beds, and a bathroom with not only a working shower, but an amazing deep bathtub.
We got ourselves organized and then went down to the adults-only infinity edge hot tub that looks out over the beach and the ocean. Amazing. It wasn't too hot, so we ended up in there for over an hour, watching the sun set and seeing whales spout off near the horizon. At one point I ran to the pool bar and brought us back a margarita for me and a mai tai for Aaron, and we sat in the hot tub sipping those. Heaven.
After sunset we went back to the room and changed, then walked across the street to explore dinner options. We ended up at the Island Market ABC store, where Aaron got a poke bowl and I got some salmon. We brought them back to the room and ate out on the lanai, enjoying the warm evening breeze. Not the most traditional shabbos dinner, but still a super nice one.
Saturday 2/29/2020
Our last full day in Hawaii. Man, it's going to be hard to leave. We went for our canoe sail in the morning, and it was wonderful -- possibly the highlight of the entire trip for me. It was just us and the crew. They were both Hawaiian natives, and we had a great time talking to them, while laying on the canvas stretched across the canoe and staring down into the clear blue water. In some places it was ten feet deep but we could see the bottom as if it were through a pane of glass. We even saw a sea turtle! The sun and the wind were wonderful, and it was just a joy to be out there. We had learned about the voyaging canoe Hokulea at the Bishop Museum, and it turned out that the man who built the canoe we were on was the son of someone who had helped to build the Hokulea, which was really cool. I also got to ask one of the crew members about her tattoos, and it was really interesting to learn about their history and meaning.
When we got back we spent the day enjoying Aulani, soaking in the hot tub, floating around in the lazy river, sliding down the water slides (Aaron lost his glasses coming down the tube slide when we went down together, so that was exciting -- I had them hold people from sliding down, but I couldn’t find the glasses, and we finally had to have a lead go get them -- she knew exactly where to dive for them, so it was clearly not the first time that had happened.) We enjoyed Mickey-shaped shave ice, and Aaron got a Mickey-shaped spam musubi and a taro bagel while I had a Minnie-shaped tamago egg musubi and a delicious slab of butter mochi, a kind of cake made with rice flour and coconut milk. It’s oddly gooey in texture but really delicious.
We had tickets for the luau that night, so a little while before the scheduled time we changed into our Hawaiian shirt and sundress and headed over there. We were the first people there, although an older couple from the Philly area were right behind us. They were a hoot. He was grumpy about everything, hated waiting -- even though someone came over and told us exactly what time they would come let us in -- and kept asking what time it was. His wife was great, very apologetic about him but obviously loved him anyway. At one point he asked what time it was and Aaron said "I'm not going to tell you!" and I thought the wife was going to die laughing.
Eventually they did let us in, gave us lovely shell leis, and we went to explore the activities. There were temporary Hawaiian tattoos (done with carved stamps and ink, not waterslide paper), ukulele lessons, poi pounding, and wrist lei-making. Then we were seated, and since I had mentioned keeping kosher someone came and walked me through the buffet line before it opened so I could ask questions and make sure there was plenty I could eat, which of course there was. There was a tasty macadamia nut fish dish, poke, lomi salmon, taro rolls and lilikoi (passionfruit) butter, and probably some other goodies I don't remember. Aaron also got some of the crispy pork skin, and some pulled kalua pork, so he was in heaven.
The luau itself was fabulous. It was all held together by two narrators, Auntie and Uncle, and they talked about their family and traditions, and told some stories, punctuated by dances that happened both on the main stage at the front but also on smaller stages throughout the space, so that we could see everything clearly and were really immersed. The costumes and dancing were, of course, Disney quality. It made for a really wonderful last Hawaiian experience, and I was super grateful to my friend E for gifting us with the tickets!
Sunday 3/1/2020
Time to oh-so-sadly leave Hawaii. We had pre-scheduled a Lyft to the airport and got there with time to spare to find some food, only to find that there were very few options. We wandered around a bunch and finally ended up settling for sandwiches from a little kiosk. At least they came with Hawaiian chips. The flight was pretty bumpy for a good bit of it, but otherwise uneventful. I watched a documentary about the champion female surfer who had her arm bitten off by a shark and then finally watched RBG, both of which were really good, and managed to nap a bit. We arrived at Long Beach around 7:30pm, where it was surprisingly chilly and rainy. I was really glad that I had changed to jeans and kept out my fleece in the airport in Hawaii. Poor Aaron had packed his jeans in the bag that we checked, and was stuck in shorts. Our friend Troy, who we hadn’t seen in about 5 years, picked us up at the airport, drove us to our hotel (the Anaheim Majestic Gardens, where we stayed on our last Disneyland trip) and waited while we checked in and Aaron changed. Then we drove to Downtown Disney and had dinner at a Mexican place. It was great to see him, and he seems really happy out there. He has a new girlfriend and they're moving in together, so that's exciting. After dinner we were pretty tired, so he drove us back to the hotel.
Monday 3/2/2020
We woke up early, dressed in our Star Wars finery (Aaron had put together an outfit to look like a Jedi, and I had one reminiscent of General Leia from one of the recent films), took one look at the line of people waiting for the bus to Disneyland and called a Lyft. We got there, got through security (although I had to take off my cape and promise to leave it in a locker) and got ready to get our Rise of the Resistance boarding group as soon as the clock hit 9am. This is the biggest new ride that Disney has opened for the Star Wars area, and instead of just standing in line, you use their app to get a “boarding group” number that is called later in the day to let you know when you can ride. It’s extremely competitive and all of the numbers for the day are often gone within minutes. So Aaron watched on time.gov and counted me down and I tried to get the pass, but I think it must have been a fraction of a second early, because we were hearing cheers all around us while I kept refreshing and trying to get in. I finally quit and restarted the app and got group 86. Technically a backup group, but it seemed like there was a pretty good chance that we'd get on -- fingers crossed!
We tried to get a churro but the cart didn't have any yet, so we headed to Batuu! We wandered around, soaking it all in, and made our way to Docking Bay 7 for breakfast. We split a Mustafarian Lava Roll, which ended up being a fairly dry cinnamon roll with some cute icing, and I got a hot chocolate with purple whipped cream. After breakfast we headed to the Millenium Falcon and Smuggler's Run. We had fun playing the Disney Play app while in line, and it wasn't too long a wait before we got on. I asked the cast member if Aaron could get the pilot position and it turned out we both got pilot cards, so I pushed him toward the right seat, knowing that that position was the one to push the lever to go into hyperspace. The ride was a lot of fun -- I was steering left and right, fairly terribly, while he had up and down. Luckily no one on the crew seemed too upset that we didn't do better.
Our costumes definitely got some attention, and Aaron was harassed by stormtroopers, loving every minute. We also we saw R2-D2 rolling around, ran into Resistance agent Vi Moradi and helped her to escape the First Order, and saw Rey sneak through Ronto Roasters while we were eating lunch. We drank blue milk (which mostly tasted like a slightly chemical, oddly slimy, fake fruit flavored slushy) and ate a Ronto Wrap and a Felucian Garden Spread (vegetarian kefta “meatballs” served over a bed of herb hummus and tomato-cucumber relish with pita bread).
After lunch our group was called for Rise! Woo! But as we were waiting in line, it suddenly stopped moving and we got word that the ride was down. We sat on the ground waiting for an hour, and finally were told to leave, and had our tickets scanned so that we could come back if the ride made it back up later in the day.
We had reservations for Oga's Cantina at 6pm, but we had just missed the afternoon parade and really wanted to catch the 6pm one, so we went over and explained and they let us in then. I got a Carbon Freeze (Powerade Lemon Lime and Wild Strawberry with Blueberry and Green Apple Popping Pearls -- quite tasty!) and Aaron got a Hyperdrive - Punch It! which had Powerade Mountain Berry Blast, White Cranberry Juice, Black Cherry Purée, and Sprite, and we shared a dish of Batuu Bits (rice crackers, dried lotus root, and some other tasty bits.) We enjoyed seeing DJ R-3X, the robot DJ who had been part of an old Disney attraction, but overall it was pretty crowded and noisy so we were fine with just having one drink and leaving.
We decided to head into Disneyland proper for a bit. We got a Dole Whip mango/pineapple swirl at the Tropical Hideaway, which was delicious -- one of my favorite combos so far. Then we rode the Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, and Space Mountain. Space Mountain was faster than the one at Disney World, but at least I could sit next to Aaron and grab his arm with the fingers that were not clutching the bar. And I had watched a lights-on video before the trip, so I knew there were no big drops. It was still a little scary, but nice and smooth, and I really kind of enjoyed it.
By then it was almost time for the parade, so we went over to Small World and found a spot to sit on a ledge by the street. The parade was a lot of fun -- we enjoyed the music more than we expected, and the floats were fabulous. I think my favorite part was watching Merlin on the Sword and the Stone float dancing along like a loon.
After the parade we saw that Rise was up again, so we went back to Galaxy's Edge for that. Totally worth the wait -- it was an amazing experience. Aaron was literally at a loss for words when we got off. It was so immersive, I felt like I had really lived through a Star Wars adventure. So cool! More than just a usual ride, it involved characters from the Star Wars stories and movie-grade special effects that turned it into a real story.
We had a quick dinner at the Golden Horseshoe, where I indulged in a root beer float along with my fish and chips, and then rode Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours, then headed back into Galaxy's Edge and did the single rider line for Smuggler's Run. Usually single rider means that you get separated, but we walked right through and it ended up being just the two of us for the ride, so we got to choose any position! We both chose gunner, which was a lot of fun. Then we went back to the start of the line, but they had just closed the single rider line so we had to go through the normal one. We were put with a group this time, and got the gunner cards but the engineers were happy to swap, so we were happy that we got to try all 3 possible positions on the ride.
By then the park was closing, so we walked around and took some more photos, stopped in the Emporium to do a little shopping, and slowly and reluctantly made our way down Main Street and out of the park. We caught the bus back to our hotel and fell into bed, very happy and very, very tired.
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you want <cut text="whatever"> before what you want to cut, and then </cut> at the end of that day, before starting the next one. Not sure what you did but it didn't look like that...
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