Disney Trip: Hollywood Studios

Here’s a recap of our Disney trip, post 3 of 4! We spent our third day at Hollywood Studios. If you missed them, here are our first two days at Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

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Picking our third and final park

In retrospect, we probably should have scheduled 4 days of parks or done a park hopper option because we didn’t get to Animal Kingdom.

I debated long and hard whether to do Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom for our third and final day, and I chose Hollywood for the closer location and more rides I thought the kids would like. Maybe we will do Animal Kingdom next time (and we will definitely be back for Universal).

I think I made the right choice though because Hollywood Studios was Mazen’s favorite park by a long shot! He LOVED the Star Wars land, and the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was his top ride of the week.

Disney Trip: Hollywood Studios

Boat Ride

Our resort had an 8-minute boat ride to Hollywood (as opposed to buses to Animal) so we also picked it for being close. We could actually hear the shows from Hollywood each night and see the Tower of Terror from our hotel! Just another reason why we really liked the Swan Reserve’s location.

Genie+

Once again we purchased Genie+ for $60. I was scared not to! We didn’t wait for any rides all day so I think the $180 we spent over the course of the three days was worth it.

Also worth it: the upgrade to Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance. Your only choice there is pay for a lightning lane or wait in a 2-hour line. I got Mazen, Thomas and me all a reservation in the 12:00 hour.

Our only Genie+ Mishap

I booked Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway for 9 a.m. after reading it was the headlining ride at Hollywood. After we hopped off the boat, we went through the gates. Just like Epcot, the crowds weren’t too bad.

We made a beeline to Toy Story Land hoping to ride the Slinky Dog Dash, but the wait was already 40 minutes! And when I checked Genie+, the time slots were already at 7 p.m. So we missed out on getting to ride Slinky. Mazen and Thomas were both pretty sad.

Mickey + Minnie’s Genie+ never went more than an hour or two ahead of us, so in retrospect I should have gotten Slinky first and just done Mickey and Minnie whenever. Take note if you’re heading there! (The Slinky standby line never got under an hour all day either.)

Toy Story Alien Saucers

So we headed to Alien Saucers first thing which spins you around like a carnival ride. Birch loved it! Thomas opted out for fear of morning motion sickness.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (G+)

We then headed to our first G+ and had to wait about 10 minutes in line. The ride is like Remy where you’re in a magnetic car with special effects. I thought it was good, but not as good as Remy! Birch liked it!

Toy Story Mania (G+)

We booked Toy Story Mania right after Mickey with Genie. The line was 45 minutes for standby but we walked right on! It’s a slower ride where you sit in a car and shoot at targets to get a high score. I didn’t love it, but the boys did.

Meeting Pluto

On the way to our next stop, we ran into Pluto and for the first time all week Birch said he wanted to go say hi! So we waited in a 10-minute line and they took a pic. Birch seemed less afraid of the characters in costume than the real people dressed up (Aladdin, Jack Sparrow).

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (G+)

We felt a little more scattered at Hollywood going across the park several times but I wanted to get our big rides out of the way so we wouldn’t miss out on them like we did with Slinky.

Next stop was Rockin’ Roller Coaster which has an Aerosmith theme. We ended up doing this one as a rider switch, which meant that Mazen got to go twice. He was a little nervous to go at first, but it ended up being his favorite ride of the week! I thought the beginning was fantastic – you go SO fast with G force right into going upside down. It’s indoors and in the dark which is my new favorite kind of coaster.

Star Wars Lunch at Docking Bay 7

By now it was about 11 a.m. and it was starting to rain. So we walked over to Star Wars Land where we knew we wanted to try to have lunch. We got there just in time for a downpour.

Docking Bay was pretty cool. We all agreed we felt like we were really in a Star Wars movie.

TIP: Here you can sit down and relax and order food on your mobile app and then you’ll get a notification when it’s ready. A cast member told us this, but there were lots of people still waiting in a line.

Mazen had some blue milk, the adults got chicken salads and a beer, and Birch got mac and cheese, one of the 10 or so kids meals we paid for that he did not touch.

The rain let up for a few minutes so we went to take some pics and to visit the gift shop. But the window was short because it started raining harder again. This is when my shoes got wet and didn’t recover for several hours. My toes were frozen and I was pretty cold until I warmed up my socks in a bathroom dryer.

Rise of the Resistance

We took turns going on Rise with me going first alone. The ride was pretty cool! I appreciated all the theatrics before it started in different phases before the ride part started. I also loved how the guards stayed in character and were kind of mean to us. The ride itself was another magnetic one with the cars moving in all directions. There’s a big drop near the end that was so fun.

And right after our drop, the ride actually broke down on me as we were leaving, so it was closed for about an hour. The boys had to delay their ride and I got a second ride for free, but I didn’t end up using it just so they wouldn’t have to wait on me alone again.

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Smugglers Run (G+)

After Rise, we went to Smugglers. Thomas and Mazen went first and then Mazen and I went second. Let’s just say I am not a very skilled pilot! I do love all the virtual reality rides though. They seem to be getting more interactive, too.

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Star Tours (G+)

Mazen and I did Star Tours while Thomas and Birch were on their own. I remember this ride from when I was a kid! It felt pretty outdated, but the 3D effects were still cool. I imagine back in the 90s this was the top of the line technology!

Frozen Sing-Along + Muppets 3D

While Mazen and I were in Smugglers and Star Tours, Thomas lucked into ducking into a Frozen sing-along right when more rain started. I am devastated that I missed this show because Thomas said I would have loved it!! But I didn’t want Birch to have to do it again, so when Mazen and Thomas went to Rise, I took Birch to the Muppets 3D. Birch liked the Muppets, especially the bubbles.

Both shows were great when the weather was less than ideal.

Afternoon Pool + Hot Tub

After those shows we were all pretty cold, so we went back to the hotel to get in the hot tubs! The pool was heated and I got in it too, but only after getting pretty warm in the hot tub first.

Dinner at Flying Fish

We went to our room to shower and then walked over to the Boardwalk (in jackets, long pants, and layers – the temp drop was crazy!) for dinner. I had planned to wear a sleeveless dress and sandals, but went dressed for winter!

Flying Fish was VERY nice but VERY expensive ($58 for an entrée). The wine list was good, and I had Matanzas Creek’s Sauv Blanc.

This salad was excellent (split with Thomas on two plates). The bread was also great.

And our seafood couscous dish was pretty good. This was the most ‘normal’ restaurant meal we had on our trip – it didn’t feel as mass produced as the In-park restaurants did.

Birch was over it and didn’t touch his noodles, fruit, and carrots.

Ice Cream Repeat

Since we were walking by the ice cream shop again, we had to go back! Mazen, Birch, and I all shared this incredible sundae!

Hollywood Studios Overview

This part would have felt pretty outdated to me if it weren’t for Toy Story and Star Wars lands, which were both pretty cool. It just seemed to lack the energy of the other parks, but that might have been me low on energy too! And the cold and rainy weather that started around 11 didn’t help me love this park.

Tower of Terror + Shutdowns

We didn’t get to go on Tower of Terror because 1) Mazen didn’t want to, and 2) it shut down for a good part of the day. Slinky Dog Dash also was shut down for the weather, so even if we had gotten a Genie+ for it we might not have been able to go. With Rise of the Resistance also shutting down for an hour, it seemed like everything was on pause!

Half a day was fine

We really only needed half a day to do all we wanted to do there, so I’m glad we didn’t have dinner reservations or we might have felt obligated to stay.

The Best Parts

I think the best part was Star Wars, especially seeing all the fans of the movies dressed up! But between Rise, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Mickey’s ride, it was a good day.

If you have young kids, I would probably skip Hollywood Studios, but since it was Mazen’s favorite we were glad we decided to go.