#Batuu West

[sheliesshattered]

We had a fabulous time visiting Batuu yesterday! Our outfits were comfortable and functional and well suited to what turned out to be a relatively cold and cloudy day in southern California. Disney cast members definitely seemed to interact with us more because we made the effort to dress up, and we got some lovely compliments from other guests, too. We were even gifted some BSO credit coins by random strangers who liked our outfits!

It was Jack's first visit to Batuu, and while I did get to spend a little bit of time there with my mom in October, this was my first opportunity to really explore the entire area, browse through the shops, and sample all the food and drinks available. It was at least as cool as my first impression of it back in October, and Jack was impressed and delighted by all of it. We spent a good portion of the day just admiring all the details and world-building and excellent sets.

Jack has requested no photos, but I did manage to snag this pic of him blocking the camera like a victim of the paparazzi, lol.

But look at those pleats! Both Jack and I are so pleased with how they turned out. Several of the Resistance jackets on display in the Rise of the Resistance queue had similar pleat details, and it was fun to look at them up close.

Over this last weekend and all the way up to late Monday night, I was able to add a few last details to our outfits. I finally adjusted the chain length of my dangley earrings and glued the leather cording wraps to the back of my kyber crystal necklace so that it wouldn't slip out. While I had the glue out, I figured I'd take a stab at making some spat-type things to cover the lacings of my tall Doc Marten boots. I was completely winging it from start to finish, but I'm really happy with how they turned out!

The spats are made from some left over suede I've had in my stash for literally more than 20 years now -- it's been used for an Aragorn vest for Jack, a couple of bags for me, and the inner layers of the big wedge shaped piece on my Oswin belt. And I still have some left over! Maybe I'll make myself a belt pouch to match these spats at some point in the future.

The narrow end of each spat tucks under the laces closest to the toe of my boot, and theoretically secures to itself with a hook and eye, though I found the hook didn't really hold from that angle, and really wasn't necessary anyway. The straps then velcro around the back of my leg, at the lowest point of the bend of my ankle, and right at the top of the boot, so that the strap sits just above the top edge of the boot in the back, which helps keep it from slipping down.

To make these I really just draped scrap suede on my boot while wearing it, started cutting it to the shape I thought might make sense, then copied that over for a second spat. I measured how much I would need for the straps and how much of an overlap I wanted for the velcro, then cut out all those pieces and glued them together using E6000 -- which works wonderful for adhering velcro to suede and suede to suede, but is a bit more iffy with the metal hooks and eyes (one eye popped off when I was taking off the spat at the end of the night, but since it wasn't staying hooked anyway, I'm not fussed).

Despite being such a quick off-the-cuff project, the spats worked out great, and added that last little bit to my outfit by covering the laces of my boots. They're visible in the third photo, the full-length shot in front of the door (and in the video below), and I think they add an understated bit of texture difference in all the black-on-black there, in addition to obscuring the modern look of the boots a bit.

Besides those detail bits for me, I also made a pair of little pockets for Jack's jacket, to hold 'code cylinders'. It's a tiny detail that really makes the jacket look that much more Star Wars-y, and the cylinders themselves are empty and their tops unscrew, so the space can actually be functional, too. (Currently they're filled with gum!)

And at Jack's request, I threw together a quick insert for the zipper section on his collar that used to hold the hood before we removed it. The hood was making the collar too puffy, but without it the collar didn't have enough body to stand up on its own.

I took some measurements, then cut a piece of cotton duck canvas (that I had originally bought to cover the zippers on my Moment vest, before I changed gears and made the Batuu vest instead) to the right length and about three times the height of the interior of the hood section. I did a simple zigzag tri-fold on the height, ironed it flat, and marked some guide lines perpendicular to the length. Then it was just a simple process of quilting the three layers together by machine sewing in short vertical rows ~1cm apart.

The quilting gave the canvas even more stiffness, and after that point it absolutely did not want to fold or droop along the short vertical axis. I slipped it into the former hood pocket (after snipping one corner to fit around the snap I hadn't accounted for), zipped it closed, and gave the whole collar area a quick pressing. It's removable if we ever need to, completely washable, and keeps the collar standing upright without looking too stiff. Jack was very happy with the result.

With our outfits finally done, we headed into the park around mid-morning, with a plan to stay late. I wasn't quite sure what to expect with Batuu Bounding at Disneyland (which is notoriously a bit more hit-and-miss than Batuu East, in Florida), but we got through security without incident and through the rest of the park without anyone commenting on our outfits. We saw someone else wearing the same leather-look leggings as me, and a guy wearing similar jacket and pants to Jack (but without the pleating), which made us feel like we didn't look too weird, by general Disneyland standards.

Once we were in Batuu, though, our bounding definitely got noticed more. A couple of fellow guests complemented our outfits (including the kind strangers who gave us the coins!), and cast members seemed way more interested in interacting with us in-character. I got to bring up a bit about the history I'd made up for Samæni Ray -- which led to one cast member later referring to me and Jack as "my friends from Denon!" All of the prep and character design made it a lot easier to think on my feet in those little improv interactions.

One cast member in particular kept finding us throughout the day, just suddenly appearing out of nowhere it felt like, and kept trying to sell us a speederbike that totally wasn't a broken down lemon.

Later in the day, he kind of sold us out to Kylo Ren and a pair of stormtroopers (but like, in a fun way, lol) which led to an intense interaction with Kylo Ren right up in both my face and Jack's. Kylo Ren is tall, and the voice and the mask and the body language was all perfect up close. There was a bit of nervous laughter on our part, but we kept our cool and convinced Ren that that since we'd only just arrived on Batuu from Denon, we couldn't possibly know anything about any Resistance activity in Black Spire Outpost.

We were way too in the moment to get any photos, but because we were dressed up and Kylo Ren was so much up in our faces, we did draw a bit of a crowd, so for all I know other people may have taken pictures or videos of the event, lol. My family has a saying about 'look hard' rather than take photos, and it was definitely that for us.

Overall the whole day was wonderful, and we ended up spending nearly 12 hours in Batuu without leaving once. I got to pilot the Falcon multiple times (though I can't really say I've gotten any better at it, lol), and got to try out gunner and engineer, too. We managed to ride Rise of the Resistance both during the day and again after dark, explore every part of Black Spire Outpost in detail, learn to play Sabacc with a cast member, have drinks at Oga's, and eat a bunch of really tasty, really well-presented food.

All together it was an excellent, excellent birthday. And we're already talking about when we might want to go back again.

#Batuu Bounding #Batuu West #Disneyland #Disneybound #Disneybounding #Star Wars bounding #2024 mood #this is my real life #my sewing #Batuu vest #scrappy sweatshirt project #Jyn Erso sweatshirt #hooded wrap #Jack's jacket project #Samæni Ray #Samaeni Ray #long post #safe to unmute #there was a snaffu with my lightsaber so I didn't get to take it -- but I don't regret not doing Savi's #soon I will have a lovely slim saber that I can spin with #I didn't really miss having a saber on this trip (and it would have made the interaction with Kylo a bit more pointed I think) #but if we go back for another round of bounding for Star Wars night then I'll certainly take it for the lightsaber meetup #last night and this morning I was SO TIRED -- spoonies are not meant to go for 14 hour days like that #but I am already back in the mode of wanting to be Samæni all the time lol #and hey the Season of the Force Star Wars nights haven't sold out yet so just maybe we can do this again soon

[jaye42]

It’s been a while.

Holoscans of Jaynessa Archeron (and Vi Moradi!) on Batuu by ThatCornerInCoruscant.

May the stars light your way. ✨

#Star Wars #Galaxy’s edge #vi moradi #star wars sequel trilogy #batuu #batuu west #Disneyland #batuu bound

[fanfoolishness]

We did it ❤️💀🖤

Wet hair Hunter: mission accomplished

#wet hair hunter #hunter the bad batch #Hunter tbb #tbb Hunter #the bad batch #for all the hunter girlies out there #Hunter girlies #Disneyland #Batuu #Batuu west

[youcantrewind]

🦆

🎦: BDX Droids Arrive at Galaxy's Edge by thelaughingplace

#couldn't help but gif this bit of adorableness #but they are just so dang cute overall 😍 #bdx droids #droids #galaxy's edge #batuu #batuu west #star wars #disneyland

[pastrymenschen]

just some little things i loved from my most recent trip to disneyland 🪐💛✨

#mine #disneyland #disneyland california #dlr #disneyland resort #batuu #galaxys edge #batuu west

[impossibleprincess35]

Forever annoyed that The Powers That Be at TWDC didn't set up a ride photo inside the Millennium Falcon in Smuggler's Run.

(We're headed to Batuu East next week!!! and I will, as always, try to take a selfie on the Falcon, and I will, as always, fail to do so.)

#smuggler's run #millennium falcon #disney world #disneyland #galaxy's edge #batuu east #batuu west #wdw

[ivorydragoness44]

#i can't #love them #the mandalorian #disneyland #galaxy's edge #batuu west #just thought i'd share #making my day right now #precious #Youtube

[youareheaven]

this is what I feel like rn because I wanna buy clothes and accessories soooo bad but I don’t get paid until Friday

#BUT!!!!! #I am pretty much done paying for stuff in my room!!! #AND I GOT ALMOST ALL OF THE MONEY I SPENT ON CARPET BACK BECAUSE LOWES FELT SO BAD ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCES SKSHSJS #TRUST. IT WAS BAD #but soooo worth it because I got So Much money back #and I probably won’t even spend much money at Disney this week because I bought all the Halloween stuff I like in Disneyland #and I don’t like the food and wine merch this year #so I will probably just be buying a couple of Christmas gifts for my bestie and maybe some Star Wars stuff #if we even have time to go to Batuu lol idk if we will #oh and I’ll probably get a MNSSHP shirt if I like any of the designs #slayyyyyy I’ve missed being an irresponsible spender I’m stoked #and I can rebuild my savings too lol #anywho first thing I’m doing when I get paid is buying my patches to recreate the CAIN jumpsuits #so I can wear it to my Matthew West concert on the 30th 😌💕 WOOOOOOOO #busy month ahead folks #very excited

[yukipri]

Still desperately wanting to be her apprentice😭

Pics with the queen of assassins herself, Fennec Shand @ Batuu West✨

#YukiPri selfie #Fennec Shand #Batuu #Galaxy's Edge #Disneyland #Batuu Bounding #Black Spire Outpost #Star Wars #the Book of Boba Fett #TBOBF

[akitasimblr]

List 5 facts about a favorite sim of yours, and send this to 10 simblrs whose sims you adore 💜💜💜

thank you, thank you! i'm gonna go with cressida west-harper the founder of the meow legacy.

cressida probably knows more quotes from the lord of the swings than anyone you'll ever know;

mom billie and cressida have this private joke between them in which they talk to each other in elvish leaving spencer mad about it, hehe!

cressida's favourite series are lord of the swings, the game of groans and henry puffer;

cressida loooooooves the geekcon!

cressida dreams to go to batuu one day!

#extras #extras:cressida #asks

[vylewa]

Over the last few weeks, I have been spending my time working on my save file because I'm gearing up to start a Let's Play series on Youtube. As I've been building the stories for the characters in my save file, I started thinking about the Sims universe as a whole and how I want my Sims to travel between worlds. It got me thinking that some worlds feel like they're just a short 4-hour car ride away, while others feel like you'd need a plane to get there.

So, I decided to map out my sims universe. I got a lot of inspiration from different Reddit posts as well as the EA descriptions of each world. This has been so helpful for me as I plan out the buildings I want to place in each world. It has been so helpful with finding inspiration for creating builds. I hope you can find this helpful too.

I'm really happy about my Sims universe turned out. I'd love to hear what you think about it! Are there any worlds you disagree with me on? Also, when are we getting an African world, EA?

United States

New Crest reminds me of suburban New York, mostly because you can still the city skyline from there.

Brindleton Bay reminds me so much of New England.

San Myshuno is quite obviously New York.

Willow Creek gives me a New Orleans vibe.

Magnolia Promenade is somewhere in the south because of the name (magnolias grow in the mostly in Southern United States - Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina). I placed it close to Willow Creek for story telling purposes.

Chestnut Ridge gives me a strong Texas vibe.

Del Sol Valley is undoubtedly Los Angeles.

Oasis Springs I think of as Palm Springs with the desert and all, also the Langraabs live there.

San Sequoia I think of as San Francisco mainly because of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay area, I have all my tech gurus living up there.

Strangerville is straight up Area 51 with all the weird stuff going on there.

Granite Falls gives me a National Park vibe, so I chose my favorite, Yellowstone which is mostly in Wyoming.

Copperdale seems to be in the rocky mountains, I placed it in Montana because of the old mining town description. Butte, Montana used to be a huge mining town.

Moonwood Mill reminds so much of the thick woods in the Pacific West somewhere Washington or Oregon.

Glimmerbrook I imagine is close to Moonwood Mill and the witches and the werewolves are always beefing.

Evergreen Harbor gives me a strong Pacific West port city like Vancouver (I know Vancouver is not in the US, but you get the drift).

Sulani reminds me so much of Hawaii, the beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and mountains and the culture portrayed by Sulanians.

South America

Selvadorara gives a strong Amazonian vibe so I placed it in Brazil.

Europe

Britchester because of Britchester uinversity reminds me of Universtiy of Oxford, or University of Cambridge so I placed it in the UK.

Henford-on-Bagley gives off a strong English country vibe so I placed it South Central England.

Windenburg gives off a German vibe because of the style of buildings placed in the world.

Forgotten Hollow I think of as somewhere in Transylvania so I placed it in Romania.

Tartosa is undoubtedly mediterranean so I placed it in Italy.

Asia

Tomarang with the tuk tuks and the tiger sanctuary reminds me of Indonesia.

Mt. Komorebi, my absolute favorte world, is Japan. I can't wait to visit someday.

P.S. Batuu is not included in my sims universe because it is in space, I don't anticipate my sims ever traveling there, but if I ever feel otherwise, I will include it in here.

#vylewa #sims 4 #simblr #sims 4 map #sims 4 universe

[sims4t2bb]

weekly update

Hello everyone! The weekly update can be found under the cut!

All DLC flooring conversions have been added, however, due to the large amount of items, the following post will only list entries that had not been added to our database prior to this week :) Stay tuned for the addition of all Base Game flooring!

— Expansion Packs

Get to Work

Inversely Square Linoleum and Studded Baseplate conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

Get Together

Basic Black Bricks, Council of Stones, Greyish Floor, So Many Pebbles. Like, So Many, and Straight and Proper Stone conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

Cats and Dogs

The Sloppy Paint conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

Get Famous

Wild West Wood, Marbled Walk, Royal Marble, Celebrity Tile, Catwalk Flooring, Heroes Flooring, and Villains Flooring conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

Island Living

Plumeria Tree and Tahitensis Bush conversions by @kayleigh-83 have been added.

Curly Wood, Koa, and Lava Bubble conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

High School Years

Copperdale Tiles conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

Reliable Rug conversion on ts2 mesh by @kayleigh-83 has been added.

— Game Packs

Outdoor Retreat

Granite Falls Wood Flooring conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

Dine Out

Fibre Grain Carpeting and Floral Fancy Carpeting conversions by @lordcrumps have been added.

Jungle Adventure

Ancient Temple Hieroglyphs, Broken Stones, Rustic Wooden Planks, and Stone Ruins Flooring conversions by @lordcrumps​ have been added.

Journey to Batuu

Bricked Pace, Made of Stone, and Made with Stones conversions by @lordcrumps​ have been added.

Werewolves

Grass, Greg’s House, Warning Sign: Greg, and Wooden Fence conversions by @simmerit have been added.

Wolf Party Bush conversion by @kayleigh-83 has been added.

Rough and Tumble Tile conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

— Stuff Packs

Bowling Night

Bowled Over Linoleum conversion by @lordcrumps has been added.

#weekly update

[fanfoolishness]

Will I ever get photos this epic again? I think I’ve peaked here! Me as Cal Kestis at Batuu West under the fireworks!!! 🤩

#cal kestis #Jedi: survivor #Jedi: fallen order #Jedi fallen order cosplay #Disneyland #batuu #Galaxy’s edge #black spire outpost #my cosplay #fine to reblog if anyone feels so moved!

[dindjarindiaries]

Starlight here with a starcruiser voyage update! xD

Ok so…the Batuu excursion was so much better than I expected! I visit Batuu West pretty often (this was my first visit to Batuu East) so I was worried I’d get bored having seen all of the same decor, locations etc. but OMG I loved loved loved the little missions and how the storyline of the ship matches with the storyline of the rides! Ahhh! I did run into Din but didn’t get a photo with him - there was such a big crowd! It was great getting to see him though (and Grogu too!)

Also can I just say the food here is 🙌. I keep stealing the sunbutter and jelly things from the buffet 👀 and the Night 1 dinner was fantastic! I’m super excited for the Night 2 four course meal - especially the Felucian blue shrimp!

But most of all I am SO JEALOUS of you getting to work here for 8 months! I’m seriously thinking about doing the DCP because it looks sooo cool. It would be fun to work in Batuu West! I’m about to start my senior year of HS so maybe something to look forward to in a year or two 🙈

SUNFLOWER BUTTER AND JELLYYYYY yes those are so good! I myself am partial to the classic tip-yip and noodle cheese, but honestly, anything you get is just so, so good.

I'm glad you enjoyed Batuu East and YAY YOU SAW DIN! I know, he's definitely a popular guy in the outpost, but I'm glad you at least got to see him from afar. He's really got a sweet team of allies behind him. They're the best!

I hope you keep having so much fun!

#i treasured every month i spent there trust me #my beautiful halcyon :') #nice things #you have spoken

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

I finally got to ride Runaway Railway!

I finally got to go to Disneyland for the first time in a while, and finally got to check out our newest ride!  While I generally liked it, I also found it sort of... odd?  So I sorted my thoughts into the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The Good:

-The operations!  This thing JUST opened but there’s already no need for a virtual queue/boarding pass and the line waits never got past 65 minutes or so even during a crowded day.  Lately, smooth operations with reasonable lines have become a MASSIVE BLESSING and a rarity at Disneyland so I have to give props to this.

-That QUEUE!  I love it so much, it’s so well done with just the right of Toontown humor and whimsy.  The only downside is... How the heck do they make a museum of Mickey and not reference ANY of his video game roles???  I understand not mentioning Kingdom Hearts since that’s partly owned by Square, but Epic Mickey was a major thing, reintroducing Oswald to the whole Disney canon!  How hard would it have been to just add in the paintbrush or the keyblade somewhere?

-Actually taking advantage of being trackless!  Aside from a few effects, Rise of the Resistance still feels like it follows two general “tracks”.  Runaway Railway actually has the cars moving in crazy random-feeling patterns that definitely feel like they could not have been accomplished without this technology.

-Catchy theme tune!  It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had a Disney ride with one of those.

-Tailoring the Easter Eggs to the new location!  I noticed the Great Movie Ride references were removed, which is a nice attention to detail.  Batuu West still has Lights Motors Action Easter Eggs despite that show never existing on the West Coast, simply because Disney didn’t care and just copied Galaxy’s Edge entirely verbatim.  I’m not sure yet if Runaway Railway West has any Anaheim-specific Easter Eggs added, but at least taking out the Floridian ones shows some care to detail.

-Generally looks better in person than on film.  A surprising amount of the screens have this layered effect where there’s actual depth in them.  Like, in Goofy’s train compartment, it definitely seems like Goofy is standing in front of the train interior background; cameras flatten this effect out when filmed.

The Bad:

-The presentation on the ride portion feels weird and uneven.  I know you’re supposed to get a sense of seeing different things depending on which car you get, but it felt more like I just kept arriving to a scene early or late, or missing some parts of it, instead. (I rode twice, once in the first car and once in the last)

-The ride is a LOT rougher and jerkier than I expected based on video footage.  This subsequently places it in a weird spot, thrill-wise.  It might be a bit intense for the little-kid audience its Toontown location suggests (alternately, it might give some grandpas and grandmas whiplash), but it’s also not quite intense enough to be an actual thrill ride.

-Doesn’t take as much advantage of its 2.5D projection-mapped style as it could.  The transforming factory/park scene shows the real potential this style/technology has, but for a lot of the ride it just feels like screens.

The Ugly:

-The Mickey and Minnie animatronics look WORSE in person than they do on camera.  It’s not just that they’re projection-faced, but the decisions the designers made with regard to nose and ear placement for the duo make them look really wrong.  They were going for “2.5D”, with the ears and noses being placed in perspective as if the characters were drawn, but instead it just comes off as them placing the facial features in the wrong places.  Mickey’s nose looks like it’s growing out of where his cheek should be.  One of his ears is on the wrong side.  I’m not the biggest fan of the art style of the new shorts to begin with, but even then I know these designs could be translated into real space better.

Overall:

I like this ride, and I’m glad we got this addition to Anaheim, especially since it felt somewhat unexpected.  It finally revitalizes a long-neglected corner of the park, and I think with a few adjustments it could be a truly great ride.

#mickey and minnie's runaway railway #disneyland resort #disneyland #runaway railway #ride review #original post #off topic #not tower

[batuuan-artist]

Me seeing the clips from Batuu West

[id: Garfield meme edited to say “I am not immune to baby Yoda” /end id]

#sometimes I think I see him too much and then I look at him and I realize i am wrong #star wars #grogu #the mandalorian