As well they should be.

I stumbled across this scan while looking for something completely unrelated - it's from a Ryerson student assignment that required us to document a small business in eight photos. I had selected Bakka Books - the only small business in Toronto that I was really familiar with - and this was one of the prints from my final submission. I recall there also being a shot of staff member Jack Brooks shelving books, and a picture of a blonde woman with glasses behind the front desk - sadly, her name is lost to me after all this time.

I wonder if I still have those shots somewhere?  It's very likely that I've since disposed of those amateurish 35-year old black and white negatives, which, in retrospect, is a bit of a shame, it would be fun to scan those shots and post them.  Well, who knows, they might still be in a box in storage, after all, I do have a bit of a reputation for hanging onto things.

- Sid

Disneyland 2020: Merch.

Photo by KT

What would a trip be without some souvenirs? Visiting Galaxy's Edge is no exception, and there are certainly lots of options from which to choose.  I picked up a couple of t-shirts:  an unexpectedly long one for Rise of the Resistance, as unintentionally modeled above, and a Black Spire Outpost shirt.

 

I also grabbed a great R2-D2 mug, which is quite large and very sturdy, and some pins:  the infamous "I love you!"/"I know." exchange that Karli and I didn't buy the t-shirt version of during our first visit to Disneyland, a limited edition droid pin, and some Resistance propaganda. (Apparently Disney pins are a fandom all on their own, my apologies to anyone who is deprived of that droid pin because of my purchase.)

Karli and I also made each other action figure droids at an assembly workstation in one of the stores.  We showed the results to each other, and ended up buying them.  They cleverly come with blister packs and stick-on lettering so that you can name your figure - Karli is KT-74, and I'm going to be S-P61.*

More significant are the merch opportunities that I decided against.  Galaxy's Edge offers visitors two Star Wars-themed construction opportunities.

First, you can construct your own customized Bluetooth-controlled astromech droid (BB or R series) at the Droid Depot for $99.99 USD,  batteries probably not included - the Droid Depot web page is not explicit.

For the seriously committed would-be Jedi, the second do-it-yourself souvenir is your own light saber, assembled in a secret ceremony at Savi's workshop for $199.00 USD. Builders can choose from four different styles of light sabers, each of which has a selection of parts that can used in the final assembly - not to mention your choice of kyber crystal colours.

I won't lie, I did find the light saber ceremony a bit tempting, but in the final analysis I declined:  although the ones that I saw people carrying around looked quite impressive, two hundred bucks US felt too much like real money, and I can't imagine what it was like to get one home without breaking it.

Surprisingly, the US Transport Security Administration is totally fine with having a light saber in your carry-on, and concludes their statement on the topic by cheerfully hoping that the Force is with us - which is completely not how I see the TSA when I'm at a US airport.

- Sid

* We're a very cute couple.  Karli made the R-type with the mouse ears.

Disneyland 2020: Livin' on the Edge.

"I will protect the sacred holocrons with my life!"

To wrap up our visit to Disneyland, here's a selection of random snapshots from Galaxy's Edge.

It really is just like being on the set of one of the movies.

Enjoying blue milk - before remembering the scene from The Last Jedi where Luke drinks it fresh.

Speaking of which, do you have any organic craft lagers on tap?

Kylo Ren's shuttle at night - this is obviously a man who likes to make an entrance.

It's comforting to learn that garages in the future will be just as messy as garages today.

Okay, that's at LEAST five fuel lines - I wonder what it costs to fill the Falcon's tank?

"We're wanted men - I have the death sentence on 12 systems!"

Wait - is that the same landspeeder that Luke had in the background?  Time for a new ride, friend.

Coolest lunch menu ever.

Again, easy to imagine this as a movie set.

"Yes, husband, I AM a spy for the First Order - and now, you will come with me.  Kylo Ren...is waiting."

That's right, if you have time to lean, you have time to clean.

How to separate the fans from the boys, as it were:  $6,615 stormtrooper armour.  In US dollars, too.

"Yes, you, the Corellian midget in the stroller!  Show us your papers immediately!"

And, in conclusion, my thanks to Team Thomas for being such great travel companions!  Peace out!

  - Sid

Disneyland 2020: "Recruits: thank you for joining the cause."

And now, without further ado, in the great Star Wars tradition of holographic messages from female leads, we give you Rey, from Rise of the Resistance.

- Sid

Disneyland 2020: Rise of the Resistance.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE RISE OF THE RESISTANCE RIDE AT DISNEYLAND.

Yes, it's impressive. Keep moving. 

An officer of the First Order, The Rise of the Resistance

8:59 AM - Disneyland, Main Street, USA.  The street is filled with small groups of people, most of whom are staring fixedly at their phones and tapping rapidly on the screens.  9:01, and some of the groups begin to cheer and high five - against all odds, they've managed to get onto the exclusive digital queue for Rise of the Resistance, the latest addition to Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland.  As they say, the struggle is real.

Unlike everything else at the park, Rise of the Resistance, the incredible new ride which has only been live since January 17th, relies on an online reservation system rather than fast passes or just getting in line.  At 9:00 am every morning, the park unlocks access to the site for the ride, and people can attempt to create a boarding group that will board the ride at some point during the day.

I use the term "attempt" advisedly.  I have no idea what percentage of the park's guests are trying to get a spot in the queue, but it's generally completely full for the day within about five minutes of the reservations site opening.  This suggests that competition for slots is fierce, thereby explaining the high fives on Main Street.

We don't even try on the first of our three mornings at the park - the system requires we download the app and that all our passes be scanned in and linked together while being connected to the Disney wifi network, and we don't get into the park fast enough to make that happen in time for the release of the boarding group queue.

Day two, we're ready - we become one of the huddled clusters of people on Main Street who are staring at their phones as the clock ticks over to 9:00.  Two of us camp on the site, the others jump back and forth from the main page to the access page.  To my mild surprise, I get a spot in line for our group - we're Boarding Group 46, out of approximately 100 for the day (actual throughput on the ride varies, depending on group size - and not infrequent mechanical failures). The system will give us a two hour window to report to the ride and join the actual line.  Karli, who has done a lot of research for our visit, estimates sometime in the mid-afternoon, and she's right, our report time is just after 2:00 pm.

Day three, we decide to try again - it's an exciting experience, and what do we have to lose?  We find a spot with strong wifi, and we're ready to go at 8:59.  Amazingly, I get us in queue once again, there must be some kind of positive energy associated with being a science fiction fan.  This time we're in Boarding Group 9, so we do a quick visit to Star Tours and then head over to Black Spire Outpost and its concealed Resistance base almost immediately.

It seems so limiting to call Rise of the Resistance a ride.  Yes, there is a point in the process where you end up in a seat and get whisked away, but beyond that, Disney has brilliantly expanded the boundaries of the ride experience.

You begin by making your way past a defensive laser turret and through a dusty alien temple* that's been converted to a Resistance base, past lockers of weapons and flight suits, until you are ushered into the ready room by members of the Resistance.  Once there, you're initially greeted by BB-8, and then Rey makes a holographic appearance to explain what's in store for us as new recruits to the Resistance**, and mentions that Finn and a group of Resistance soldiers has managed to infiltrate a First Order Star Destroyer.

Poe Dameron makes a video appearance from his X-Wing's cockpit to confirm that he and his flight group will be accompanying the shuttle that's transporting us to the Resistance training centre at General Leia Organa's hidden base, the location of which must be concealed from the First Order at all costs.

We leave the briefing area, and go outside to board a shuttle commanded by Lieutenant Bek, a Mon Calamari officer, and unexpectedly piloted by Sullustan smuggler Nien Nunb, who we last saw co-piloting the Millennium Falcon with Lando Calrissian in The Return of the Jedi.  Unfortunately, shortly after takeoff we attract the attention of the First Order - our outnumbered escorts are eliminated one by one, until only Poe remains.  Forced to retreat, he promises to send us help as our shuttle is drawn into the waiting maw of a Star Destroyer.

And that's when the experience REALLY starts.  The doors through which we entered the shuttle re-open, revealing a cavernous landing bay filled with First Order officers and a threatening cohort of armoured stormtroopers.  Behind the troops, a panoramic view of patrolling star destroyers is visible through the bay's force field.

We're brusquely ordered into the ship's prisoner receiving area, where more First Order officers bark commands to stand in line as they split us up into colour-coded groups and then usher us into holding cells, where a stormtrooper monitors us from a raised walkway.

After a brief wait, General Hux and a masked Kylo Ren pay us a menacing visit, but are called back to the bridge before they can begin to interrogate us.

As we ponder our fate, there's a flare of energy and a massive hole appears in the cell wall - Poe Dameron has delivered on his promise, and we're being rescued by Finn and his Resistance team.  As two of the soldiers urge us to strap into our seats in a commandeered 8-seat First Order Transport Vehicle piloted by a black and red R5 astromech droid, I have a brief epiphany:  the last 20 minutes has actually been nothing more - and nothing less - than the most sophisticated example of line management that Disney has ever come up with.

Once we're strapped in, our R5 attempts a direct run to the escape pods, but a probe droid blocks our path.  We rapidly reverse and seek another route, only to be confronted by a pair of stormtroopers who open fire on us.

KT video frame

As laser rounds char the walls of the corridor, we once again retreat,  and enter a mammoth garage, where a pair of towering AT-ATs loom above us. Our path blocked once again, we back onto an elevator as Finn and more of his group return fire at a squad of stormtroopers on a catwalk.

As we take an elevator up, a startled officer in an AT-AT cockpit points us out to a stormtrooper who grabs for his blaster rifle and opens fire.

Attempting to find a safe refuge, our droid driver makes a bad choice, and we find ourselves below the bridge, where Hux and Kylo Ren shout orders at the crew as the Resistance fleet erupts from hyperspace and launches an X-wing attack.

A female voice announces, "Sir, the prisoners have escaped!"

Kylo Ren spins and looks down at us.

"How brave - but ultimately hopeless.  There's nowhere to run!"

The shuttle reverses again and seeks a new route.  As we board another lift and blast doors close behind us, a masked figure leaps down from above and stalks toward the transport as he activates a flaming scarlet light saber:  an angry Kylo Ren is in pursuit.

KT video frame

His anger is immediately demonstrated as the blade of his light saber plunges through the ceiling of the elevator and he begins to cut his way in.  We quickly leave the elevator and pass through a bank of ion cannons that recoil and return to firing position over our heads as they thunder away at the attacking ships that are visible beyond the gunports.  As we pass glowing red battle damage in the ship's hull, Finn commandeers the intercom system and warns all Resistance personnel to abandon ship.

Then a voice speaks from behind the shuttle.

"There's no escape! You will tell me the location of the secret base, and then I will destroy you, and the Resistance!!"

Kylo Ren has found us.

KT video frame

As he rages at us, a sudden wind springs up from behind as the ship's hull is blasted open behind him, threatening to drag Ren into the vacuum of space.  Structural beams collapse around him, giving us an opportunity to make a getaway.

We finally find the escape pods - there's a moment of free fall as we drop precipitously from the bay, follow Resistance X-Wings through a conflagration of exploding ships, and then glide through the clouds and back to Batuu, where we breathlessly leave the pod and return to the real world.

 

The Rise of the Resistance provides an astonishing and unique experience, it's  exactly like being part of a Star Wars movie.  The 17 minute multi-level escape through the Star Destroyer is a whirlwind combination of action and narrative that keeps you on the edge of your transporter seat for the entire time without giving you the feeling that it's a "ride" - there are no tracks or guides for the transporters, and the incredibly detailed interiors and views create a complete illusion of being on a gigantic starship in the middle of a battle between fleets.

The actual Disney cast members do a superb job as soldiers on both sides.  The members of the First Order who assault and pursue you during your Star Destroyer escape are a combination of sophisticated video projection and animatronics, but the result is completely convincing.  The impressive degree of involvement by so many of the actors from the final trilogy is the final touch - the only other thing they could do to enhance the rider experience would be to put you in a costume.

I'm very glad that we were able to get reservations twice - the first time, I wanted to take pictures and record the experience somehow, which hampered my ability to enjoy what was happening (a realization that made me put my phone away about half way through our escape run.)  The second time, I was simply along for the ride, and what an incredible ride it was.  Long live the Resistance!

- Sid

* Come to think of it, there seems to be a lot of this sort of thing in the Star Wars universe.  I wonder how the Catholic church would feel if a bunch of militant aliens set up a base at St. Paul's Cathedral?

** The Galaxy's Edge timeline falls between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, so presumably we're part of the fire lit by the spark of the Resistance.

Disneyland 2020: Can I call you Steve?

Scott Lang : Ca... Captain America...
[shakes Steve's hand vigorously] 
Steve Rogers : Mr. Lang.
Scott Lang : It's an honor. I'm shaking your hand too long. Wow, this is awesome!

Captain America: Civil War

So, umm....I met a fella, at Disneyland....we held hands...I think he liked me...😌

- Sid

P.S. Look for a new Avengers-themed area in the California Adventure side of the park sometime this summer.

Disneyland 2020: Smuggler's Run

Photo by Lisa T.

The full scale model of the Millennium Falcon is undeniably the centrepiece of Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland, and as such, it seems fitting that guests should have the incredible opportunity to be part of the old girl's* flight crew.  And, really, out of the all the experiences from the movies that might appeal to a Star Wars fan, piloting the Millennium Falcon would certainly be high on the list. (Personally, I'd rather run the Death Star trench in an X-Wing, just in case anyone from Disney is monitoring the internet for comments.)** 

Smuggler's Run lets people do exactly that:  a group of six people take the Falcon on a mission for the Resistance (with a small side gig aimed at making a little money, as it turns out).  There are two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers, all of whom are involved in making the mission a success.

As always at Disneyland, the four of us (Karli, myself, and her sisters Stefanie and Lisa) start by getting in line - to be fair, I suspect that there aren't many times when you would be able to just walk right to the entrance to the ship.  Disney is obviously aware of this, and as such, they've made the experience of standing in line as entertaining as possible under the circumstances.

 

The line for Smuggler's Run takes potential crew members through the maintenance bays of Ohnaka Transport, which has temporarily borrowed the Falcon from Chewbacca the Wookiee.  In addition to an elaborate and detailed environment, there's an ongoing comedic dialogue over the intercom, as long-suffering Ohnaka Transport employee Malta deals with his co-worker Garr, who is perhaps not the sharpest hydro-spanner in the spaceport's tool box.

Garr and Malta also receive instructions from Hondo Ohnaka, owner of the company and our eventual employer.  Hondo is a canon character - he's a Weequay who first appears in the Clone Wars animated series and later in Rebels. 

The background scenery is impressively layered and complex, and contains Easter eggs for the knowledgeable viewer, including crates of hijacked stormtrooper armour, a rack of DLT-19 heavy blasters from the first trilogy, and one of the Falcon's turret-mounted quad cannons (which probably explains why we don't have access to them during our upcoming flight.)

 

We also get a little too close to an engine that's being tested a bit prematurely, but Garr manages to get things under control before it's too late for innocent bystanders - and the spaceport.

Eventually, we meet Hondo himself, who explains that he's looking for crews to take on missions for the Resistance.  In this case, we're going to steal an important shipment of coaxium from a freight train - and, if possible, Hondo would like us to pick up a little something for him as well, Hondo isn't in this out of a sense of justice, he has bills to pay.

 

After close to an hour, we finally board the Falcon.  Strange as it sounds after waiting 55 minutes to get there, I'm a bit disappointed that they almost rush us into the cockpit, I would have enjoyed a few minutes to look around the ship's lounge.

In the scenario, the Falcon is operated by a crew of six:  two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers.  The seats are randomly assigned by a Disney employee who hands each of the six people a card with a flight crew position on it.

Karli ends up as one of the pilots for our mission, but generously gives me her card.  Equally generously, her sister Stefanie trades cards with Karli so that we can fly the Falcon together - thank you, Stef!

It's not a complicated control panel:  Karli controls left and right, and I control up and down (and the light speed drive, as it turns out.)  I hit the flashing green launch button, and the ship lifts off. I instantly discover that I actually am controlling the Falcon's flight to some extent:  unfortunately, I make this discovery by running into another ship.

 

Fortunately, at that point decades of computer gaming experience kicks in, and I'm able to fly out of the atmosphere without any further mishaps.  Karli shouts, "Right pilot, light speed!" and I realize that there's a flashing green light around one of the iconic levers on the control panel. I pull it back, and we enter hyperspace.

 

We emerge over our destination, and instantly dive through the atmosphere to our target.  The train is protected by TIE fighters, which the gunners have to shoot down, then Karli and I quickly manoeuvre the Falcon into position behind the freight cars, and the engineers launch towing harpoons to capture the shipment of coaxium - after which Hondo demandes that we seize some cargo for him, as well.  We complete both parts of our mission, hit the boosters, and make our escape.

And then we're back on Batuu, with an irritated Hondo calculating damage to the ship (and subsequent Wookiee unhappiness) versus the value of the hijacked cargo to determine whether or not he's managed to make a profit. I can't have done too badly as a pilot - according to the datapad app, Hondo paid me 5,500 credits for my run in the Falcon, thereby earning me the designation of "Hot Shot".

Smuggler's Run is a lot of fast-paced, edge-of-your seat fun - I spent all of my time as a pilot wearing a wide grin, and Karli alternated between laughing and squealing in delight. I'm glad that the two of us found the time to go back and do the mission a second time, simply because it's such a quick experience - flying the Falcon is a very extreme example of on-the-job learning.  At least the second time you have some idea of what's going to happen, whether you have the same crew slot or not. (In our second round, I was a gunner and Karli an engineer.)

It also gave us a chance to look around the ship's lounge a bit, which, from a geek perspective, was an extremely cool experience.***  You know, it's a shame that they haven't found a way to make the holographic Dejarik board game functional.  I'd much rather learn to play in a situation where I don't have to worry about a Wookiee tearing my arms out of their sockets if he loses - they've been known to do that.

- Sid

* No offense, L3-37.

** Initially I typed this just as a casual alternative, but now that I think about it, my god, can you imagine?  My initial thought was that the return on investment for single-person rides wasn't practical, but my well-informed wife tells me that there's a single-seat virtual reality Avatar experience at Disneyworld - on that basis, blowing up the Death Star seems eminently possible.

*** The astute observer will notice the helmet and sensor drone that Luke uses for light saber and Force practice on the shelf above me.