Travel

A Really Long Day At Hollywood Studios

Today is the longest day in any of the parks at Disney World that we’re going to have. It’s also the hottest (it would get up to 108 with about 60% humidity) and it seems like it’s the park with the least shade. We’re becoming pros, we got this!

We get to Hollywood Studios and I’m so grateful to see a map that makes sense. One thing that’s driven my OCD self a little crazy is that there doesn’t seem to be a great flow to the Disney lay out of their parks. I know they have their reasons for how things are done, but this is a much more orderly layout and I’m thrilled with that. (It’s the little things, right?)

Straight back to Toy Story Land! Oh my heck!!!! Walking into this place is unbelievable. There are gigantic Tinker Toys, blocks and characters everywhere. You turn a corner and suddenly you become a toy. It’s honestly pretty freaking amazing!

Our first Fast Pass, Toy Story Mania, is down. Wait – what? Déjà vu! Thankfully though, a very attentive cast member hears us and explains that we can come back anytime that same day and use our Fast Pass. I’m so glad she told us that and that I didn’t change it. We wander around a little in Toy Story Land checking things out and decide we’ll come back later and spend more time there when we’re able to use that Fast Pass. We did get to meet Buzz Lightyear first though!

As we’re on our way to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster we realize the crowds have stopped to watch something. Then we here it…it’s storm troopers marching down the streets. That was cool! Dad and I are not much for roller coasters, but the kids were so they were able to ride it twice. It’s so funny because they both lost their “First Visit” buttons on the ride! They literally got pulled off of them! (We’d get replacements later.) A long, heated debate took place about the Tower of Terror and finally it was decided no on that one. Next time I think I’ll give in and do it though.

After a breakfast of frozen lemonade, churros and pretzels it was off to Star Tours, meeting Olaf (again, Mom’s choice), Muppet Vision 3D and some shopping! We found a cool, shady spot and waited for our lunch reservations at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. We did this as part of a package deal where you pay X amount for lunch, drinks and dessert and you get preferred passes to Fantasmic for later that night. Absolutely recommend doing this!!! It was so nice to get in out of the heat and enjoy a wonderful late-afternoon lunch (Chicken Alfredo, Salmon, Chicken Parmiagana) and dessert (sampler plate with Sponge Cake, Cheesecake and Tiramisu). I loved that our waitress was an older lady who was so friendly and asked a lot of questions about us and our time here. Turns out she was going on a trip to Idaho in a couple of weeks with her family – what are the odds? Well worth the money!

Dad is exhausted so he heads back to the resort for a nap. The boys and I head over to Toy Story Land. They rode everything and did everything there was to do in Toy Story Land, including using our Fast Passes without a problem when the ride opened up. I did a lot of sitting and people watching, but it was a lot of fun. One of my favorite things was watching the Army Men. These are full grown, adult men in head to toe army green outfits that looked like they might have been made from vinyl and cut outs on their feet like real toy soldiers have. They would march through the crowds and then come to a grinding halt, hit some music and start dancing. How they were able to do a fast paced running man in those outfits in that heat is beyond me, but they did it! They were so much fun and so good with the crowds – definitely a favorite.

While sitting there waiting for the kids (they were on Slinky Dog Dash) the temp hit 108. I was chatting with an older couple that lived about 2 hours south of Orlando and were season pass holders. They said they typically come up the end of May because it’s not hot yet and the crowds aren’t bad because school isn’t out yet. They both told me they’d never seen temperatures like this around Memorial Day – these are August temperatures! They assured me it wasn’t just me having problems with the heat. It was way too hot too early. As we were sitting there chatting, a cast member approached us and offered us glasses of ice water and asked if we were doing okay or if she could help with anything. I thanked her, let her know I was fine and asked why she was doing that. She told me that it was unseasonably hot and Disney wanted to make sure their guests were staying hydrated and as cool as they could during this time. I know part of it’s a liability thing, but honestly, how nice is that? It’s just one of the many moments where you know they really do care and that’s nice to see that.

We still have a little bit of time before we have to meet Dad for Fantasmic so we take in The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Oh how I love Ursula! It was a really well done combination of live-action and animatronics. Nice break from the heat too!

We return to the center of the park to wait for Dad. While we’re waiting, the boys need a drink so I let them go to the refreshment cart right there to get drinks. They come back and tell me their magic bands didn’t work – they’re having problems with the readers right now. I ask how much money they need (I do have some cash on me) and they reply “None. They told us to enjoy the drinks and have a fun first visit.” Huh??? I tell them that can’t be right, hand them some cash and they go back. They return to me, cash in hand and say “No – he said he’s serious. Just have a good time.” Crazy, right? So unexpected, something seemingly little, but what a big impact that had.

Here we go – off to Fantasmic! What. A. Performance. No words for how amazing this production was. Just none. You truly have to sit through it to appreciate the music, the lights, the flames, the technology, the water magic, the sounds…it’s out of this world what they’ve done. PLUS from where we were sitting, you could see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom too. Does it get much better? I don’t think so.

As we were leaving Fantasmic, going back towards the main entrance to the park we caught the tail end of the Fireworks from the Star Wars nighttime show too. So awesome! So exhausted! We will definitely sleep like rocks tonight.

Clickable Souvenirs