A Long and Somewhat Lackluster Day at Hollywood Studios

Today was our second day in the parks and our first day in Hollywood Studios.  We started by taking by new Skyliner, which was fun and quick, not to mention so much easier than a bus since you're guaranteed a seat.  On the other hand, it doesn't start running until 7:30, while the buses start between 7 and 7:15.  As was expected, the park was an absolute zoo, which stemmed from the fact that Galaxy's Edge is still the latest and greatest attraction.  We were in no rush to get into the park to get a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance, so we weren't as stressed as the girl behind us.  She didn't get to the park until about 7:45ish, and she's all stressed because you have to be scanned in in order to get a boarding group.  She kept complaining and saying things like, "You'd think a company like Disney would be more efficient."  First of all, the park was packed, and second of all, poor planning on your part does not make an emergency on their part.  I wonder if she got a boarding group.

After getting through the gates, we headed down to Rock'n'Roller Coaster, since we weren't able to get any FastPasses for it.  When we first got in line, the wait was originally about 110 minutes, it quickly jumped to 180 and then 210 minutes.  It was ridiculous.  We waited for about an hour before deciding that it was a waste of our time, and we wouldn't make it to our FastPass for Toy Story Mania.  It was a difficult decision, because I felt like we just wasted all that time for nothing.

Waiting in line for an hour for nothing wasn't a complete waste, as we got chili mac and cheese from the small stand next to Rock'n'Roller Coaster.  It's the breakfast of champions, as we ate it at 9 in the morning(ish).  The mac and cheese was absolutely delicious, and I would easily eat it again.

From there, we headed into Toy Story Land to poke around and see what things were like.  There was already a three hour wait for Slink Dog Dash, but we have FastPasses for that for Saturday, so that wasn't a big deal.  While there, we met Jessie.  She was a lot of fun and our first character of the day.  We wanted to stick around, as our FastPass for Toy Story Mania was soon.  Unfortunately, right around when our FastPass was set to begin, the ride broke.  We could cash it in for another ride if we wanted or wait and use it whenever we wanted later for Toy Story Mania once it started running again.  We opted for the latter.  We could wait in the FastPass line, but that seemed like a waste of time, we might as well try to make the most of the time we had now.

Toy Story Land was absolutely packed, so we went over to Pixar Place where we could meet some characters from The Incredibles.  The line for Edna Mode was super short, so we decided to meet her.  While waiting in line, Mr. Incredible appeared in the window with a little girl.  He was playing around in the courtyard and was looking for Jack Jack (he pretended to rock a baby, so I'm assuming that's who he was looking for).  Edna ignored him, so he kept playing around.  We met Edna and talked about fashion and the fact that Jack Jack was everywhere.  It's true, there are little statues of Jack Jack all throughout the little courtyard area, including one in the Edna meet and greet location that looks shockingly like Auntie Edna.

From there, we headed back into the courtyard where I wanted to meet Mr. Incredible.  Rather than have a designated spot, however, he was kind of all over the place.  There wasn't a line or anything, just a small group of people following him.  I was able to meet him and talk to him, which was a lot of fun.  I asked him where Jack Jack was, and he pointed to the little statues of the baby up on the roof.  I asked if Violet helped take care of him, and he said no.  I told him I totally get what it's like, as I work with teenagers, and he felt sorry for me.  It was definitely a wonderful and fun interaction with him.

Afterwards, we headed back to Toy Story Land, as Toy Story Mania was back up and running.  The ride is very similar to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, except you have this little rope you pull on the back of your gun to fire, and you're firing at screens with different themes.  I talked a lot of smack to Bryan, saying I was going to beat him, and I ended up doing terribly, so we're not going to really talk about that.  I'm not making any excuses, but that little string you have to pull the entire ride is exhausting and a pain, so maybe that's why I didn't do too well.  I don't know, I have time to redeem myself when we go to Magic Kingdom in a few days.

While we were there, I really wanted to meet Woody and Bo Peep, but the line was absolutely ridiculous, and by absolutely ridiculous, I mean an hour to meet them.  I just couldn't justify waiting that long to meet some characters, so we didn't.  We're fine with not meeting Buzz right now, as he's also in Magic Kingdom with, hopefully, a bit shorter of a wait.

After Toy Story Mania, we decided to eat again, this time at Woody's Lunchbox.  Just like everywhere else in the park, this place was absolutely packed.  We wised up and used mobile ordering, which was significantly easier.  We simply ordered our food, marked that we were there, and waited at our table until our food was ready.  This time, we both got totchos (tater tots with chili cheese and sour cream on top), which were alright.  The food was a little dry, but it was a lot of food.  We might have been able to split a plate instead of each of us getting our own.

At this point, we were tired of Toy Story Land.  We really hadn't made it very far in the park, and we were a little frustrated with how crowded it was.  It was close to the time for our Muppet*Vision 3D FastPasses, so we headed in that direction.  We also saw this as the perfect opportunity to sit down for a little while.  The show was just as fun and silly as I remembered it being.  It might have been childish, but the Muppets are always fun to see.

From there, we did a bit of shopping at the Christmas shop (I want an ornament from each park) and then went to visit with some more characters.  The line for Mickey and Minnie was fairly short, so we visited them.  Bryan commented how he was surprised even though it was just one line, we didn't meet Mickey and Minnie together.  Animal Kingdom is the only place you can do that right now unfortunately. 

Next door to Mickey and Minnie was Olaf, so, of course, we had to meet him.  The second we went in the room, his arms were out, ready for those warm hugs he loves so much.  He was a little disappointed that he had to wait a minute while we put down our bags.  We talked for a few minutes, and he was so excited to learn it was warm outside.  I told him that he couldn't go, though, because he didn't have his personal blizzard, but then he reminded me that Elsa gave him permafrost now, so he's fine.  He doesn't do autographs, so he couldn't sign my picture frame, but that's okay.  He was one of the characters I was looking forward to meeting the most.

At this point, it was close to our dinner reservation, so we first went to the new taphouse to get some beers.  As can be expected, Bryan got an IPA while I got a hefeweizen.  What really threw me off was the fact that we could take our beers into our dining reservation next door at Sci-Fi Dine-In.

I'd read the food at Sci-Fi Dine-In was mediocre, but it was somewhere I really wanted to visit because it looked so much fun.  The tables are two across in these little cars, and they're facing this huge movie screen where you can find trailers and clips from B-list sci-fi movies from the 50s.  It was all super cheesy but a lot of fun.  The drinks were delicious, and the vibe was a blast.  We even got to bring our drinks with us to go afterwards, which is still something that throws me for a loop.  As long as you're in the park, you can walk around with your alcohol.

Following dinner, we walked around for a little bit more before heading over to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show Spectacular.  Instead of being a shortened version of Indiana Jones, it shows how they do some of the stunts.  It was another wonderful opportunity to sit down and this time, get out of the rain.  They had to shorten the show a little bit because of the rain, which caused me to worry because we had the dessert package for Fantasmic! in an hour, and that's a completely outdoor show.

After Indiana Jones, we wandered into a few shops near Fantasmic!, but they were packed also because people were trying to get out of the "rain" (it wasn't even sprinkling, neither of us put on our ponchos).  I bought a shot glass for Nicholas and then we went towards Fantasmic!, the shops were just too crowded.

We paid a little bit extra for the Fantasmic! dessert package, which gave us a delicious margarita (I'm just as surprised as you are about this, as I usually don't drink tequila) and this delicious box of food.  It included some apple cake, a brownie, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate mousse, cheesecake with bobas on top and cheese and crackers.  It was a lot of food, especially given the fact that we ate so much already today.  We ended up bringing a lot of it back to the hotel and put it in the fridge to eat another day.  We also got absolutely wonderful seats to Fantasmic!, center stage, about ten rows back.  It was perfect. 

Fantasmic! is one of my favorite things in Disney World.  The special effects are out of this world as you watch villains try to ruin Mickey's happy dreams and give him terrible nightmares instead.  The show includes projecting images on large fans of water, fireworks, lasers, fog and sparklers.  It's so much fun as Mickey shows that he can control his own imagination, and the villains have no control over him.

My favorite part of the show is the end.  At this point, a steamboat comes out with Mickey dressed as Steamboat Willy.  On board is a whole collection of Disney characters showing that they've won and defeated the villains.  It ends with fireworks and Mickey standing at the top of the rock formation on the stage setting off fireworks and water effects.

After the show, there were Extra Magic Hours, but we were kind of done for the day.  We felt like we didn't do a whole lot, and yet, we were still exhausted.  Throughout the day, we talked and figured out what made it so difficult to get on attractions at Hollywood Studios.  While there are some shows, there are no filler attraction rides.  I mean, look at Magic Kingdom, if you have some down time, you have smaller rides such as Carousel of Progress or Prince Charming's Regal Carousel.  Rides like that take the burden off the bigger rides such as Space Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight.  Those rides still have long lines but you still have the option to ride the smaller ones.  There really isn't such a thing in Hollywood Studios, all of the rides are big ticket items, and the tier system there is still heavily flawed  Personally, I think they should do what they do in Magic Kingdom there, you get three FastPasses, use them however you want.

While our day in Hollywood Studios wasn't the best, it could have been a lot worse.  We're excited to be going back to Animal Kingdom today and then Epcot tomorrow.  Be sure to check back for those posts soon.