Some thoughts and reflections on the event now that I'm at a keyboard and it's not one in the morning:
-Rock 'n' Roller Coaster: Star Wars Edition continues to be the highlight of the event for me. Just about makes me feel like I'm swooping about in an X-Wing. I hope they continually find ways to plus this experience. Downside is that I think I lot of the speakers are starting to be in real rough shape. In an ideal world I'd love to see them let the Aerosmith contract come to an end and do some major upgrades to the ride to let them switch out themes at will like they are able to do with a couple of the other Space Mountains.
-I got a kick out of the projections on the Tower of Terror. Seems less inappropriate for a special event like this rather than transforming it during normal operating hours. Another fringe benefit I see we're getting out of this is that when they aren't doing a projection show, they are using the projectors to really enhance the color on the Tower. After the event was over I was looking at it and noticed how vivid it was and how they were even subtly changing the color of the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" sign to make it look like something ethereal or something was happening.
-The reveal of the Galaxy's Edge tunnel with the big photo op was a real nice surprise. That will definitely be a big attention getter for guests over the next couple of years.
-Was really excited to find the Galaxy's Edge merchandise. Can't think of any other time when a park has offered merchandise for an attraction a full two years before it's due to open. Everything was really high quality, too, like the shirts are really soft and nice stitching details on the ballcaps. The metal Millennium Falcon artwork was GORGEOUS.
-I was kind of disappointed by the Galaxy's Edge panel, even considering it's not exactly meant for people who scour message boards like we do. Not a lot of new information, but it was a little interesting hearing about the integration between the Imagineering and Lucasfilm design teams. I loved seeing the pictures they did show, especially of the Millennium Falcon cockpit ride vehicle. I was very disappointed that they barely even mentioned the Battle Escape ride or didn't reveal anything additional about the interactive personalized story elements of the whole land.
-I think it's great that they're offering the Skywalker Vineyards seminars (essentially the same seminar as what they've done at Food & Wine) as part of the event now. The seminar is free to attend, and then it's only $15 if you want the wine flight. Either way you get a great presentation on the history of the Skywalker Ranch property, great pictures from over the years. Very excited to learn that they will be offering a sparkling wine next year, too!
-The Galactic Spectacular keeps getting better and better. It seems like every time I see it there's more fireworks or flames or something, and of course they've added some Last Jedi stuff in, now, too.
-With the capabilities of the current Star Tours, I wish they would find some kind of way to plus the ride for these events, even if it was just something as simple as inserting some Easter egg characters into some of the scenes or something. Plus, I miss when they would have Star Wars characters on the ride with you, they don't seem to have been doing that for the most recent Star Wars events.
-All-in-all they actually have done a great job building up Galactic Nights, there's plenty I haven't even mentioned, like all of the food they've added, the nice little guidebook you get, the swag you're given, etc. But this actually kind of leads to my main gripe about it... there's just simply not enough time to do everything now. I would have loved to get pictures at even just a few of the really cool photo ops (Malachor!) but we just simply did not have anywhere near enough time whatsoever. I suppose it's a better problem to have too much to choose from than to have hardly anything to do, but I hope they find a way to make the event longer.