Thank you all for the help!! As you all predicted, the boys had an amazing day. And, I survived! The tip to bring an old iphone was genius. We unearthed and managed to unlock and old iphone to load with the Play app and Heads Up. It made the few (but long) lines much more manageable. The MaxPass (and refreshing for better options if the first list didn't work) was also key. Here's a rough outline of our day:
1. Got to the Mickey & Friends Garage by 8:50am, but it took another 30ish minutes to get through security. Due to the tram lines, we took the new pedestrian bridge to the Downtown Disney bag check and then the Monorail into the park. The good thing about the Monorail, was that as soon as we had our tickets scanned, I could get our first Fastpass.
2. We got onto Buzz Lightyear right a bit before 10am. I think it helped to get the first right taken care of quickly.
3. We then got Fastpasses for Big Thunder (at the request of a couple of the other kids) and tried to locate churros or popcorn while we waited. The churro carts for the flavors they wanted were not open yet and we learned that the holiday popcorn buckets really add to the popcorn lines! The lines were well over an hour at several of the popcorn carts, but we waited for only about 20 minutes at the cart by the Haunted Mansion. Upon finally receiving our popcorn, one box was immediately spilled all over the ground, but a cast member very graciously replaced it for us with no issue.
4. After Big Thunder (which was enjoyed by all and for which all effects seemed to be working- which may be a first for me), we went over to Galaxy's Edge.
5. It turns out one of the boys is an extreme Star Wars fan and was especially interested in interacting with all of the cast members, so that was pretty fun to watch. One of the boys may or may not have called Kylo Ren a "butthead" (his mother was later informed).
6. About 50% of the group enjoyed Oga Cantina. I had hyped up the bubbling dry ice drinks, but apparently they don't do those any more, so that was a bit of a disappointment.
7. We opted not to do lunch in Galaxy's Edge due to the nature of the food options. I wish they would incorporate some slightly more kid-friendly options for non-adventurous kid palates. Fortunately, Hungry Bear is very close by, so we mobile ordered cheeseburgers for all. In a true sign of an extremely busy day, there were no tables available anywhere when we arrived, but we eventually found one in a corner on the lower level (with some duck visitors, who entertained the kids).
8. After lunch, we went back to Galaxy's Edge and waited in the standby line for Smuggler's Run. Although the wait was 70 minutes, it went by pretty quickly thanks to Heads Up and the Play app. My son got to be a pilot, which he was dying to do and two of the kids really wanted to be gunners. Since we had a group of 6, we got one cabin to ourselves and everyone had a great time.
9. After Smuggler's Run, we kept up the Star Wars theme with a Fastpass Hyperspace Mountain. The boys absolutely loved Hyperspace Mountain. They immediately wanted to go again, but the Fastpass return time was 11:30pm and MaxPass wasn't much better.
10. We then went over to Tom Sawyer Island with a brief stop at Bengal Barbecue for some beef skewers. I learned that you can get them with the sauce on the side, which worked perfectly for a couple of the pickier eaters. Mobile order worked great and allowed us to get our food much more quickly. Despite the crowds, there was seating available for all of us.
11. The boys ran around for a while on Tom Sawyer Island while we waited for our Fastpass time for Star Tours. And, while they were running around, I managed to get another Fastpass for Hyperspace Mountain immediately after Star Tours. The boys were overjoyed (one of them actually gave me a hug).
12. We did Star Tours and Hyperspace Mountain in quick succession, and then planned to do a final trip to the Jolly Holiday to get a sweet treat and sing Happy Birthday. But, the boys had other ideas, all proclaimed that they did not want any sort of "pastry" and all wanted candy instead. So, we got bags of candy as the final treat and headed out of the park. (As a side note, we also had Fastpasses for Haunted Mansion Holiday at this point, which is a favorite of my husband's and one thing he really wanted to do. Unfortunately, there was no amount of convincing that could be done to explain to 3 of the 4 boys that it was not going to be scary and we decided it was not worth fighting that fight.)
13. We left around 6pm, which I think was perfect. It was dark at that point, and much more difficult to keep track of them in the dark- even with the glow sticks/necklaces we brought just for that purpose. A couple of them were also starting to show signs of exhaustion and it was pretty clear that things might fall apart pretty quickly if we did not head back.
All in all, it was a great day. Thank you all so much for helping make my son's birthday trip such a success!!
