On Thursday morning, we woke up very early and very excited for our day in Hollywood Studios. We needed to get our boarding pass for the new and uber-popular Star Wars attraction, Rise of the Resistance. I was nervous about this because I had heard that it can be difficult to secure a boarding pass for this ride. At 6:59 a.m., Morgan and I pulled up the Disney World app on our phones (the kids were still fast asleep), so we could hit the "refresh" button at 7 a.m. on the dot. Somehow - thankfully! - we managed to book a boarding group for about midday, which meant that our chances of getting to ride RotR were pretty good. Morgan is a huge Star Wars nerd, so getting to ride this attraction was at the tip top of his list.
With a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance secured, we woke our snoozing kids and got ready to catch the sky buckets from our resort to Hollywood Studios! I will say that the sky bucket lines for Hollywood Studios were LONG...
Thankfully, we still managed to arrive early!
I LOVED the retro Christmas decorations! Even the music they played fit that retro vibe, jazzy Christmas numbers from the 1940's and 50's. The whole atmosphere really transports you to Golden-Age Hollywood. I was way into it. The last time I visited this park, it was called MGM Studios, so things looked very different. In a good way.
First up, we rode Hollywood Studio's newest attraction, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. This ride, which is inside the Chinese theater, usually has a pretty long wait since it is still such a novelty. But since we got to the park so early, we were able to move through the line quickly. We all adored this ride. It is very cute and actually really fun.
Look whose prints we found in front of the Chinese Theater!
After Runaway Railway, we headed down Sunset Boulevard for Tower of Terror! I had never been on this attraction, which is themed to the Twilight Zone. I have to say: even though I have never liked rides with sudden drops, I loved everything about Tower of Terror. The theming was incredibly detailed, and you really feel like you are a part of the story, which is exactly what a Disney attraction should accomplish. I thought it was perfect.
Lucy and Alice liked it as well, although I think Alice thought it was a little scary. But she still went back for a second ride!
After Tower of Terror, Morgan took the girls on Star Tours. I was not eager to ride another simulator attraction, so I kept Esme company outside. While we were waiting, enjoying a churro, a mini parade of Pixar characters walked and / or drove by. We spotted Woody, Buzz, and Jessie from Toy Story, along with the green army men, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, and Edna Mode. It was super cute, and Esme loved it.
Echo Lake was all decked out for Christmas...
Even Gertie the dinosaur was wearing a Santa hat!
I love Alice's pose in this picture!
For lunch, I had made a reservation for a character meal at Hollywood and Vine. This was one of the few restaurants offering a meal with characters at the time. Because Esme is a huge fan of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto, I knew that we had to do at least one character meal while we were in Disney World.
Trying to get a picture of my kids is near impossible.
Here we are, doing our best.
Goofy! Look at Esme's sweet wave!
Pluto!
The characters could not come up to our table or hug the kids, but it was fun to get to see them and interact with them. Esme was beside herself.
She was literally speechless when she saw Mickey Mouse.
So much joy!
Ice cream sundaes!
I have heard that ordinarily, this restaurant is a buffet and not very good. Due to the pandemic, it was a regular sit-down meal instead of a buffet. I thought the food was delicious. I had a Caesar salad for my appetizer. I can't remember what I ate for my entre, but I know I liked it. The kids had ice cream sundaes for dessert, and the grownups had a variety of cream pies - chocolate, banana, and coconut, I believe.
After lunch, it was time for us to rush to Galaxy's Edge (Star Wars Land) to ride Rise of the Resistance!
Galaxy's Edge was so impressive! I really felt like I was in a galaxy far, far away...
This is the marketplace area. We did not have much time to
explore, because we needed to board the attraction.
Rise of the Resistance was amazing!!!! I won't even try to describe it because I can't. (Esme was too little to ride it, so I hung out with her while Morgan took the older girls.)
After Rise of the Resistance, we watched the Muppet Vision 3D show, which is one of the things I remember from my childhood. It was just as charming and funny as I remember. Then, we made our way over to Toy Story Land.
This land is also very immersive. The idea is that you "shrink" down to the size of a toy, and everything in this land looks like it was built by a child out of blocks and Tinker Toys.
We immediately hopped in line for Slinky Dog Dash, which is a roller coaster. Lucy and Alice really enjoyed this ride.
It was getting pretty late by the time we got off Slinky Dog, so we went to restaurant called Baseline Tap House for some beer and a quick bite to eat. We enjoyed this place because of the outdoor seating, and the food, even though it was mostly appetizers, was pretty good as well. We got a cheese and charcuterie board and some soft pretzels. Since we were still full from our big lunch at Hollywood and Vine, this was a perfect light dinner.
For our last ride of the night, we wanted to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster. This attraction has the highest height requirement of any current Disney World attraction, and we were not sure if Lucy would actually be able to ride. Lucy, who is a roller coaster addict, really really wanted to ride this one. We decided to take a risk and hopped in line. When they measured her, we held our breath. They let her on! She was SO excited. This was her first ever upside-down coaster. She got to ride it twice.
Finally, the park was closing, and we had to call it a night. Even though we were exhausted, I think we were all sad to leave Hollywood Studios.
Hollywood Studios Day
New Experiences: Even though I had visited this park back when it was MGM Studios, I had a lot of new experiences! The park has changed so much. We got to visit two brand new lands (Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land), ride brand new attractions (Ride of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway), and eat at new-to-us restaurants (Hollywood and Vine and Baseline Tap House). Basically, the only things we did that were not new to us were Muppet Vision and Star Tours. And everything was new to the girls because they have never visited Hollywood Studios before.
Things we had to skip: Of all the parks we visited, this was the park I felt like I wanted to spend more time in. We did not get to do a LOT of things we wanted to do because there just wasn't enough time. We didn't ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run in Galaxy's Edge or Midway Mania in Toy Story Land.
Woody's Lunchbox, a quick service restaurant that I have always wanted to eat at because the food looks so yummy, was closed while we were there, so we didn't get to try the gourmet Pop Tarts.
Also, there were not many shows running while we were there because of the pandemic. I used to love the Beauty and the Beast show when I was a kid, and believe it or not, that show is still around! (At least, it was until the pandemic hit.) Even if the shows had been running, I don't think we would have had enough time to see them. There is just so much to do in Hollywood Studios, and one day is not enough time.
Things we wish we'd skipped: We loved everything about this park.
Favorite Treats: There are so many things I wanted to try at this park - the Lunch Box Tarts at Woody's Lunch Box, the Ronto Wrap and Blue Milk in Galaxy's Edge, cocktails at the Brown Derby Lounge, friend chicken and the PBJ milkshakes at 50's Primetime Café... Sadly, the only "treat" I had were some churros from a churro cart. They were good but not memorable.
Favorite Attraction: Rise of the Resistance is definitely the winner, no contest. But I really enjoyed Tower of Terror as well. Lucy loved Rockin' Rollercoaster, and Alice liked Slinky Dog Dash. Esme's favorite was Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.
Memorable Moment: Letting the kids meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy was pretty special. Esme especially was so excited to see them, and she still talks about it at least once every day.
Also, while we were on Rise of the Resistance, I did not realize that the Disney World cast members who work on that attraction are actually in character the whole time. While we were waiting to board part of the ride, one of the cast members, who was dressed as an imperial commander, started to interrogate me about the rebellion, and I just lost it. He stayed in character and told me that I would "pay for my insubordination". Lucy thought this was hilarious, but I think Alice was actually worried.
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