# Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge



## mj2vacation (Dec 9, 2019)

Now that the second ride, Rise of the Resistance is open, the new land is absolutely incredible.

Rise takes theme park experiences to a new level. It’s roughly 20 minutes and has several different segments.


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## CalGalTraveler (Dec 9, 2019)

Wish they were opening soon at Disneyland. We are scheduled to be there over New Years but not open yet.


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## bizaro86 (Dec 9, 2019)

I wish they were opening sooner in CA as well. We booked for the end of January specifically to try to find the slowest time of the year. Then they announced that's when they're opening the big new ride. Probably be twice as crowded as otherwise.


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## pedro47 (Dec 10, 2019)

Now I can understand why the admissions cost increased in Florida.


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## KewZee (Dec 11, 2019)

Except don’t you need to be at rope drop to get a queue slot?


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## Firepath (Dec 12, 2019)

I heard 5:30-6:00am to get into a boarding group at all for that day, and it might be much, much later that day or night.


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## TheHolleys87 (Dec 12, 2019)

Firepath said:


> I heard 5:30-6:00am to get into a boarding group at all for that day, and it might be much, much later that day or night.


Yes, people have been arriving at 5:00 or earlier and the gates have been opening around 6:30, although 8:00 was the official opening time, with the "boarding groups" filling up around two hours from the gates opening, until yesterday, when they filled in just over an hour.  Today the official opening time was 7:00, gates opened around 6:30, and the boarding groups filled in 45 minutes.  So the folks who arrived after about 7:15 or so didn't get chance to ride today.


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## mj2vacation (Dec 12, 2019)

The groups do fill up early.  The park opens at 7am for the rest of December. 

Rise opens at 9. 

once they work out some of the kinks, capacity should increase.


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## heathpack (Dec 12, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> I wish they were opening sooner in CA as well. We booked for the end of January specifically to try to find the slowest time of the year. Then they announced that's when they're opening the big new ride. Probably be twice as crowded as otherwise.



We booked then for the same reason- just a single Fri night at VGC Jan 24.  

But now since Rise will be open (hopefully), we’re going to head down Thurs night so we can be there early both Fri and Sat mornings.

Really looking forward to it, despite the crowds!


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## CPNY (Dec 12, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> I wish they were opening sooner in CA as well. We booked for the end of January specifically to try to find the slowest time of the year. Then they announced that's when they're opening the big new ride. Probably be twice as crowded as otherwise.


Went on it today! Here now in Orlando. We got up at 5AM and headed to the park at 6AM. we got in line around 6:15. They opened the park early at 7AM to accommodate the crowds. It’s a virtual line which means you need to be on your app as everyone in your party going on the ride needs to scan their bands and be In the park. Once you’re in you can go on the app and get a boarding group. The boarding group allows you to get in line for the ride. Without a group no dice! All groups were gone for the day by 7:45AM. There were a few thousand people ahead of us when we went through security and were placed in group 46. Once your grouping is allowed to get in line you have approx two hours to head to the ride. Once in line we waited around 25 minutes. 

I won’t go into the details of the ride as you should go in with no expectations. I for one, as a universal fan and big Harry Potter guy can say wow. Disney nailed this. In typical Disney fashion the CM’s don’t break character. Dollars are referred to as credits. Receipts are called cargo slips, you’re a traveler and may the force be with you. It’s surreal. The new ride was worth the 5AM wake up call!


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## CPNY (Dec 12, 2019)

heathpack said:


> We booked then for the same reason- just a single Fri night at VGC Jan 24.
> 
> But now since Rise will be open (hopefully), we’re going to head down Thurs night so we can be there early both Fri and Sat mornings.
> 
> Really looking forward to it, despite the crowds!


Read my post above. Went on today. Got to the park by 6AM. It opened around 7. All boarding groups gone already by 7:45AM


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## CPNY (Dec 12, 2019)

TheHolleys87 said:


> Yes, people have been arriving at 5:00 or earlier and the gates have been opening around 6:30, although 8:00 was the official opening time, with the "boarding groups" filling up around two hours from the gates opening, until yesterday, when they filled in just over an hour.  Today the official opening time was 7:00, gates opened around 6:30, and the boarding groups filled in 45 minutes.  So the folks who arrived after about 7:15 or so didn't get chance to ride today.


Oh wow! Was it 7:15 they were gone? I heard 7:45! I was there this morning and arrived by 6AM. Placed in group 46. The nice thing was riding smugglers run, star tours and Aerosmith all before my call time. So excited I was able to ride. They killed it with this ride.


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## CPNY (Dec 12, 2019)

KewZee said:


> Except don’t you need to be at rope drop to get a queue slot?


No. Just magic band or ticket scanned and in the park. All guests riding the ride need to scan in so wait until your whole party is scanned And in the park.  I suggest the app opened ready to go to get a group as soon as you enter. They push you further into the park because people were scanning and stopping to get in their app. We were scanned within 15 min of the gates opening and were group 46. The guy behind us by 3 min was in group 65. By 7:15 all groups gone. Gates opened around 6:45-7 this morning.


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## KewZee (Dec 13, 2019)

We will be going end of year, this helps. Thank you!


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## heathpack (Dec 13, 2019)

CPNY said:


> Oh wow! Was it 7:15 they were gone? I heard 7:45! I was there this morning and arrived by 6AM. Placed in group 46. The nice thing was riding smugglers run, star tours and Aerosmith all before my call time. So excited I was able to ride. They killed it with this ride.



Shut up.  I have now also booked a single Friday night in late Feb at the Fairfield Inn.

Now we have weekend trips for Jan, Feb, Apr, and Aug.  Aug is 2 nights so we will get three Park days, all the other trips are 1 night/2 days.  (It’s about a 90 min drive for us).

We bought the Flexpass in September of this year, and have already been 6x.  Including daytrips, I’m imagining we’ll get 15-16 Park days out of the pass.  It’s been fun so far, but now I’m really glad we have it because we can roll with the punches a little dealing with crowds and inevitable chaos/closures...


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## bizaro86 (Dec 13, 2019)

heathpack said:


> We booked then for the same reason- just a single Fri night at VGC Jan 24.
> 
> But now since Rise will be open (hopefully), we’re going to head down Thurs night so we can be there early both Fri and Sat mornings.
> 
> Really looking forward to it, despite the crowds!



My kids probably aren't old enough for rise (they'd find it scary I think). But people waiting for their boarding group will end up in line with us at buzz lightyear and big thunder mountain. Unfortunate, but the trip was locked in before the announcement.


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## heathpack (Dec 13, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> My kids probably aren't old enough for rise (they'd find it scary I think). But people waiting for their boarding group will end up in line with us at buzz lightyear and big thunder mountain. Unfortunate, but the trip was locked in before the announcement.



Maybe MaxPass will help?


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## TheHolleys87 (Dec 13, 2019)

mj2vacation said:


> Rise opens at 9.


The first Boarding Group for Rise was called at 6:44 this morning.  Some people recommend getting there early enough to get an early boarding group because it's been going down for an extended period every morning and then opening up again later.  When it's down for an extended period, some people are evacuated from the line and given fast passes for later while others are allowed to stay in the queue and are given snacks (fruit, cookies, water, etc.) and visited by Chewbacca, Rey and other characters.


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## bizaro86 (Dec 13, 2019)

heathpack said:


> Maybe MaxPass will help?



Yes, I'll be doing maxpass for sure. I was planning to anyway. We always buy enough photos that getting it for 1 person pays out. And I figure DL is expensive enough that the incremental money per day for a few more rides is worth it. 

We might also make this a California Adventure heavy trip. I bet a lot of the people going for rise will be locals on 1 day non-hopper tickets. So hopefully the madness doesn't extend across the promenade.


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## heathpack (Dec 13, 2019)

bizaro86 said:


> Yes, I'll be doing maxpass for sure. I was planning to anyway. We always buy enough photos that getting it for 1 person pays out. And I figure DL is expensive enough that the incremental money per day for a few more rides is worth it.
> 
> We might also make this a California Adventure heavy trip. I bet a lot of the people going for rise will be locals on 1 day non-hopper tickets. So hopefully the madness doesn't extend across the promenade.



If the kids are old enough to enjoy a tour, The Grand Circle Tour (steam train tour) is supposed to open again after Jan 1.  Tours can be booked 30 days out. Having a reserved spot away from the madness helps us cope.  There’s a 15% DVC discount, I think.

We also use Fantasmic dining packages as a means of coping with crowds.  The 8pm seating at Riverbelle is on the patio and you can actually watch from your seat on the terrace.  You might know all this already, apologies if you do.

We’re not much for World of Color usually, but we saw the holiday version at Moonlight Magic and there was a cool new element that kind of made that show pop for us.  If they carry that over to the regular show, a WOC dining package might be worth a thought.  (It’s possible this element is not new, we hadn’t seen WOC in awhile).


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## vacas (Dec 31, 2019)

We were able to go on this by getting on the queue shortly after 6am. I am not the biggest Star Wars fan but I was impressed by the actors/cast members in certain areas. Other than that to me the ride was meh. Avatar land is far superior imo.


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## ljmiii (Jan 6, 2020)

For those who don't know, Disney switched from a 'first come first served' virtual queue to a lottery virtual queue that starts at the official HS opening time. Which has the extraordinary advantage of disincentivizing getting to HS as early as possible - people were lining up outside HS at 3:15 to get early boarding groups.

During the week between Christmas and New Years Eve the virtual queue lottery ended as early as 7:06AM. We went 1/4/2020, got in line at 5:40 and they opened the gates at around 6:15. We waited in the Rockin' Rollercoaster 'rope drop' line, and hit the 'join boarding group' button at 7:00:00. We got group 105 which was called at 4:00PM.

Rise of the Resistance was amazing - 25 minutes of increasingly themed line as you enter the rebel base followed by the 20 minute long RotR ride/experience.  Much, much better than I was expecting.


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## CPNY (Jan 10, 2020)

ljmiii said:


> For those who don't know, Disney switched from a 'first come first served' virtual queue to a lottery virtual queue that starts at the official HS opening time. Which has the extraordinary advantage of disincentivizing getting to HS as early as possible - people were lining up outside HS at 3:15 to get early boarding groups.
> 
> During the week between Christmas and New Years Eve the virtual queue lottery ended as early as 7:06AM. We went 1/4/2020, got in line at 5:40 and they opened the gates at around 6:15. We waited in the Rockin' Rollercoaster 'rope drop' line, and hit the 'join boarding group' button at 7:00:00. We got group 105 which was called at 4:00PM.
> 
> Rise of the Resistance was amazing - 25 minutes of increasingly themed line as you enter the rebel base followed by the 20 minute long RotR ride/experience.  Much, much better than I was expecting.


So you have to be in the park at 7am to get a boarding group? When I went, as soon as you scanned in you got on the app and a boarding group popped up.


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## mj2vacation (Jan 11, 2020)

CPNY said:


> So you have to be in the park at 7am to get a boarding group? When I went, as soon as you scanned in you got on the app and a boarding group popped up.


Yes.  Depending on the day, they fill in minutes or an hour.
The app then advises where you are in the queue.  We got a group 102 spot a week ago, knew it would be called in the afternoon, and did other things after hitting a few rides.


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## CPNY (Jan 11, 2020)

mj2vacation said:


> Yes.  Depending on the day, they fill in minutes or an hour.
> The app then advises where you are in the queue.  We got a group 102 spot a week ago, knew it would be called in the afternoon, and did other things after hitting a few rides.


Ok I’m a bit confused because I know how I did it in December. After change of plans, I’m going next week on Friday. Tell me exactly what I need to do lol


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## TheHolleys87 (Jan 11, 2020)

CPNY said:


> Ok I’m a bit confused because I know how I did it in December. After change of plans, I’m going next week on Friday. Tell me exactly what I need to do lol


They changed the process on 12/18, I think, because guests were arriving earlier and earlier and earlier every day, forcing Disney to open the gate earlier and earlier and earlier every day for safety reasons.

Now you have to wait until you are into the park and the park has officially opened for the day. Then you can click on the Join A Boarding Group icon (assuming it has turned red) and if you are quick enough, a boarding group number will pop up and you will be assigned to it. The “regular” boarding groups have been filled within seconds to 10 minutes of the park opening during the last week or so, but Disney also has “back up“ BGs which do not guarantee you a ride but seem to take about two hours to fill after the park opens.

if the boarding group you are assigned to has a high number, you are welcome to leave the park and do whatever you wish until your boarding group is called. Once your BG is called, you have two hours to return and get in line for the ride.


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## ljmiii (Jan 11, 2020)

CPNY said:


> Ok I’m a bit confused because I know how I did it in December. After change of plans, I’m going next week on Friday. Tell me exactly what I need to do lol


Really, the best advice I could give you is to join one or more Disney social media groups and see what is happening for Rise of the Resistance in the days leading up to your visit. Or better yet, look at Disboards's forum on RotR - https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...nformation-read-post-one-no-spoilers.3782822/

I went on 1/4. On 1/3 the regular boarding groups filled in a minute and the backups filled in another four...which was bad news no matter how you look at it. Thus our approach to when to get to HS. But what I didn't know at the time was that Disney only got through 85 boarding groups (ie didn't make it through the regular groups never mind the backups).

So on 1/4 the groups actually boarding Rise of the Resistance simply didn't move for the first few hours. Which panicked me until I asked online and someone told me how bad the day before had gone - they were busy filling the ride with people holding FPs they gave out on the 3rd.


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## louisianab (Jan 11, 2020)

E


CPNY said:


> Ok I’m a bit confused because I know how I did it in December. After change of plans, I’m going next week on Friday. Tell me exactly what I need to do lol


Easywdw.com posted a "what to do" update this week


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## IuLiKa (Jan 12, 2020)

Does anyone know how it will be at disneyland? i know the ride opens on January 17th. Not planing to go right away but I would like to go on a Thursday early Feb. I have the Flex Pass and I usually go in the evening .. that might not work since they assign time early in the morning. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ljmiii (Jan 12, 2020)

IuLiKa said:


> Does anyone know how it will be at disneyland?...


I know that the boarding groups for DL's RotR will work more or less like WDW's (i.e. you and everyone else in your party will need to be through the gates before the official opening time and you will join a boarding group through the app). What I don't know is any of the pesky details - how soon the regular boarding groups will close, how early before the official opening you will need to be there, will there be any shops/rides open before the official open, etc.  Also, I *think* this will replace the existing DL boarding group system that just gets you into Galaxy's Edge...but haven't read anything one way or the other.


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## CPNY (Jan 21, 2020)

Ok so I did it, got in att 6:30am on Friday. At 7am I opened the app and since I have a slow phone (iPhone 6, don’t judge) lol I was placed in boarding group 68. I did line up for toy story land and was literally the first person behind the cast member on the ride. I got to ride slinky dog dash first train out. By the time I walked to where the end of the line was it was a 100 min wait, I’d say that was a success. I used my FP for rock n rollercoaster at 7:40. Got in the car by 8 and headed over to AK which opened at 9. I was on the first ride of FOP after an 18 min wait, then went to Navi river and waited around 25 min there which wasn’t bad without a FP.  It was 10:50am and we did 4 huge rides with little wait. I was checking the boarding groups the whole time, around BG 35 it went down. No boarding groups were called, we decided after going on the safari and rafikis conservatory to head back to HS to see what was up.

back at HS, we learned ROTR went down at 10:30 and was down for 3 hours! It was around 2pm. We went to smugglers run and waited for that around 30-45 min. We went back to RISE to see the status. At this point we were told they would let us come back with a FP for rise the next day or “whenever” problem was I only had a one day tickets since I was doing universal mostly. they gave us a free day ticket for the next day with FP for Rise at Hollywood studios. So we went back to AK and used a FP for Everest then headed over to Epcot for some drinks and dinner. Next day we walked right onto rise and waited 32 seconds. Got to enjoy the remainder of the day at HS and did tower of terror with FP that popped up that day and a left over FP for rock n rollercoaster.
All in all it was an extremely successful Disney day with no line waited for more than 45 min. I doubt I’ll ever have that again.


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## TheHolleys87 (Jan 22, 2020)

CPNY said:


> Ok so I did it, got in att 6:30am on Friday. At 7am I opened the app and since I have a slow phone (iPhone 6, don’t judge) lol I was placed in boarding group 68. I did line up for toy story land and was literally the first person behind the cast member on the ride. I got to ride slinky dog dash first train out. By the time I walked to where the end of the line was it was a 100 min wait, I’d say that was a success. I used my FP for rock n rollercoaster at 7:40. Got in the car by 8 and headed over to AK which opened at 9. I was on the first ride of FOP after an 18 min wait, then went to Navi river and waited around 25 min there which wasn’t bad without a FP.  It was 10:50am and we did 4 huge rides with little wait. I was checking the boarding groups the whole time, around BG 35 it went down. No boarding groups were called, we decided after going on the safari and rafikis conservatory to head back to HS to see what was up.
> 
> back at HS, we learned ROTR went down at 10:30 and was down for 3 hours! It was around 2pm. We went to smugglers run and waited for that around 30-45 min. We went back to RISE to see the status. At this point we were told they would let us come back with a FP for rise the next day or “whenever” problem was I only had a one day tickets since I was doing universal mostly. they gave us a free day ticket for the next day with FP for Rise at Hollywood studios. So we went back to AK and used a FP for Everest then headed over to Epcot for some drinks and dinner. Next day we walked right onto rise and waited 32 seconds. Got to enjoy the remainder of the day at HS and did tower of terror with FP that popped up that day and a left over FP for rock n rollercoaster.
> All in all it was an extremely successful Disney day with no line waited for more than 45 min. I doubt I’ll ever have that again.


Wow, that was indeed an extremely successful Disney day!  We're hoping for similar this coming week.


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## Firepath (Jan 22, 2020)

We went last Tuesday, 1-14. Park opening was 7am. We were at SSR. Went to Grandstand bus stop at 5:55am. Bus came shortly after. One scooter on and then everyone that was waiting got on. Next stop, Carousel, another scooter on and everyone that was waiting, 3rd stop everyone fit on except the two waiting scooters (no more room). Our bus drove past the last two stops (Congress Park and Springs) as we were full. 

We arrived at park around 6:15 and got in one of the two "no bag" lines which were shorter (tip from Disboards: carry an empty shopping bag in your pocket. If the bag check line is shorter, put all your pocket contents in the shopping bag and get in the "bag" line). Entry point opened around 6:30am and everyone quickly (and surprisingly orderly) started moving. They only had you "tap" in band or badge, no finger scan, so it was quicker. We headed down Sunset Ave. as I had read wifi is better there. Stay to the left if you think you may need help from a Cast Member as they were around the corner to RNRC. They make announcements just before go time so you can get ready. I have a crummier phone than CPNY (LG with TracFone service!). Disney's wifi was giving me trouble that morning, so I switched over to my TracFone wifi and it was actually better! Right at 7am I clicked on "Join a Boarding Group." Our group of two got BG #41. 

Around 7:15, I found a Guest Experience CM to ask what timed our group might be called, since we were planning to leave and come back later. The couple in front of us were getting help to get a BG (I think they didn't have a phone) and the CM got them one even at 7:15 so it can be done. CM wouldn't give me a time, so I found a young CM and asked him. He suggested getting back at 10:30-11. 

Our BG was called around 11am and we got in line. The line didn't move at all (it was broken down) for about 20 minutes, then moved quickly for about 5 minutes until broke down again. This time we waited about 45 minutes. They offered bottled water and bags of chips and escorted people to restrooms. Once they got it up and running, it was very quick getting on. 

If I had not done it before, I absolutely would do it again. Since I'm not a huge SW fan, I wouldn't do this again for a while, but BG's are much better than hours in a stand-by line!

Another tip, if you go to Oga's Cantina, use your phone light to make sure you know what you're ordering (it's dark in there). I accidently ordered a drink that came with the glass and ended up spending around $50 for just 2 drinks! But, it was a lot of fun.


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## CPNY (Jan 22, 2020)

Firepath said:


> We went last Tuesday, 1-14. Park opening was 7am. We were at SSR. Went to Grandstand bus stop at 5:55am. Bus came shortly after. One scooter on and then everyone that was waiting got on. Next stop, Carousel, another scooter on and everyone that was waiting, 3rd stop everyone fit on except the two waiting scooters (no more room). Our bus drove past the last two stops (Congress Park and Springs) as we were full.
> 
> We arrived at park around 6:15 and got in one of the two "no bag" lines which were shorter (tip from Disboards: carry an empty shopping bag in your pocket. If the bag check line is shorter, put all your pocket contents in the shopping bag and get in the "bag" line). Entry point opened around 6:30am and everyone quickly (and surprisingly orderly) started moving. They only had you "tap" in band or badge, no finger scan, so it was quicker. We headed down Sunset Ave. as I had read wifi is better there. Stay to the left if you think you may need help from a Cast Member as they were around the corner to RNRC. They make announcements just before go time so you can get ready. I have a crummier phone than CPNY (LG with TracFone service!). Disney's wifi was giving me trouble that morning, so I switched over to my TracFone wifi and it was actually better! Right at 7am I clicked on "Join a Boarding Group." Our group of two got BG #41.
> 
> ...


Don’t order the cinnamon roll. It was horrible. With some fruit drizzle on top. BG 41 isn’t bad. First time I went I was BG 47. I truly hope they keep the BG situation and keep FP away. Standby lines being 3 hours is ridiculous and it will be 3-5 hours. I guess the good thing about a 3-5 hour standby wait time is you’re not spending money In the parks. Ironic how the people with FP are ones staying on property with meal plans, the ones staying in line for hours usually don’t have plans and are paying cash for everything. I enjoyed not spending money for 3 hours in line for FOP when i went in December. Decided to leave the park for lunch after that.


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