I started checking what the weather was like in California day by day (the answer is “much hotter than the UK, even in winter,” by the way). I’d stay up late into the night, trawling forums and reddit threads reading people’s impressions of their time in the land. Thinking about flights and hotels quickly changed to “going part way through the process of booking flights and hotels, just to feel something.” Every night, another check through the Twitter hashtag, another hit of that Galaxy’s Edge dopamine. I became insufferable to myself. I became insufferable to my family.

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I became insufferable to my colleagues.

People say the green milk tastes weird though!
People say the green milk tastes weird though!
Image: James Whitbrook/io9
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Well, more insufferable. When even they started telling me to just go every time I whined about wanting to be where the people are, you could tell I’d really gone off a deep end.

So despite the fact I tried—emphasis on the tried—to be mature about this, and at least wait for the actual main ride at Galaxy’s Edge, Rise of Resistance, to officially open (what’s the point in visiting a theme park that’s not even complete?), I buckled harder than an AT-AT walker tripped up by Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson. Mainly because I actually made plans and booked tickets for Star Wars Celebration 2020, which takes place in Anaheim next year, literally a short walk from the Disneyland parks.

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Burdened with this dark, geographical knowledge, the Palpatine-esque voice in my head made its move: it doesn’t matter if Rise isn’t open by the end of the year, it whispered. You could see it next year anyway. I’m no Luke Skywalker or Ahsoka Tano when it comes to resisting the lure of the Dark Side, apparently. I’m barely even an Anakin Skywalker.

Guess I’m eating fruit and discount ramen packs for the next few months.
Guess I’m eating fruit and discount ramen packs for the next few months.
Image: James Whitbrook/io9
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So I’m going to Galaxy’s Edge later this year. And then next year during Celebration, too. Because this is who I am now, a mindless husk driven mad by the galaxy, the one both far, far away and the one that’s merely an approximately 11 to 12-hour flight away.

At least I can just look forward to it instead of incessantly craving the possibility. Now I just get to spend months hoping eBay resellers didn’t steal most of everything that wasn’t bolted down before I arrive.

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