Today at Disneyland: Return to Galaxy's Edge

Tonight I spent a wonderful evening in Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland.

In the month since our Opening Day experience, the reservation period for the new "Star Wars Land" was a big hit, with thousands of guests enjoying four-hour blocks in the new land. The rest of the park has been relatively empty for the start of summer, between most annual passholders being blocked out of the park and perhaps concerns regarding crowding and/or parking. (The parking issue should be alleviated with the opening of the new Pixar Pals parking structure this Sunday, June 30th.)

Unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland attendance is hugely powered by annual passholders and local attendance, which remained light after Galaxy's Edge opened to the public without reservations last week on June 24th. As can be seen in these photos, Disneyland was quite uncrowded for a summer afternoon. The wait time for Peter Pan's Flight was only 25 minutes, which is unheard of for that popular family ride.

My daughter and I each have one of the higher pass levels which was not blocked out of Disneyland this summer, and thanks to the light crowds, Cast Members had their sign-in privileges unblocked, so a close friend was able to sign in other family members tonight.

As can be seen above, Galaxy's Edge was "open" without any "Boarding Group" needed. Boarding Groups are a sort of FastPass which Disney will use to control entry to the land when it's crowded, but I believe it was only used this past week on the first public day, June 24th.

Black Spire Outpost and the Millennium Falcon still impress on a second look!!

We paid a return visit to Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities. Love the ceiling detail:

Disney tracked down the jeweler who made Princess Leia's necklace from the final Throne Room scene in the original STAR WARS (1977), and he still had the original mold. These replicas made from that mold sell for a cool $2000. (I'd love to know if they've actually sold any!)

We rode Smugglers Run for a third time. I was a Gunner tonight, so I've now experienced all three positions on the ride, the others being Pilot and Engineer. This is the "pre-show" room with Hondo Ohnaka:

It was great to see Disneyland President Josh D'Amaro spending his Friday evening out and about in Black Spire Outpost, chatting with Disneyland guests. As I wrote last month, he was also front and center interacting with guests on the land's opening day.

Love the "lived in" look of Black Spire Outpost.

It's a good thing I bought my own loth cat on opening day as Disney hasn't been able to keep them in stock! There were none in the "critter" store last night other than the one napping in this crate:

Our daughter had been online right at 7:00 a.m. to snag our 8:00 p.m. reservations at Oga's Cantina.

DJ R-3X, otherwise known as Rex. Honestly, when the STAR WARS (1977) cantina music started playing my eyes misted at the sheer awesomeness of the experience.

I'd just as soon Disney had stuck to their decades-long policy of no alcohol in the park, but that ship has clearly sailed. They do at least have strict controls over the quantity and location, and the cantina is family friendly, with children allowed inside and numerous non-alcoholic drinks (even a version of milk and cookies!). Thankfully it also doesn't smell too much like a bar.

The drinks went by funny names like (left to right) Imperial Guard, Fuzzy Tauntaun, Jabba Juice, and Jedi Mind Trick.

The entrance to Smugglers Run by night...

...and a nighttime shot of the Falcon.

The Marketplace is simply magical at night!

Although there's no music, watching Disneyland's fireworks from Batuu has become very popular.

Gorgeous! The perfect end to a very special evening.

For my complete coverage of Galaxy's Edge on Opening Day last May 31st, please visit this post and follow the links at the end of the post to read all of my four-part coverage.