A Far More Successful Day At Hollywood Studios

I know, I know, I'm a little behind on blogging our trip.  We've been home for a few days now, and I'm just now getting around to our last day in the parks.  In our defense, it was a super long day, and then things were a little chaotic getting back home and adjusting to reality once again.  I know I'm just making excuses, but it's the truth!

So, if you read about our first day in Hollywood Studios, you'll know that it was definitely a disappointment.  Our second day, however, was definitely an improvement, although the crowds were still ridiculous.  Like I said a million times in my first Hollywood Studios blog post, that park simply isn't built for crowds.  Thankfully, we spent most of our day in Galaxy's Edge, which is far more equipped to handle crowds than Toy Story Land.

Our day started far earlier than our other days in the park because we wanted to get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.  Our travel agent suggested we splurge for the Minnie Van, which goes through its own entrance to the park and won't get backed up with all the other Ubers and Lyfts (it's run through Lyft but only goes to Disney locations for a flat rate no matter the distance or how many people).  There was a lot of back and forth between Bryan and I about how to get to the park.  He wanted to take the skyliner without a bag, go through the no bag line, then go back to the hotel for our bag.  The skyliner doesn't open until 7:15, and even with the no bag line, we would potentially be cutting it close.  In his defense, when I suggested the Minnie Van, he misunderstood me and thought we would be renting a car for the day, which wasn't true.  Once he understood what I was talking about, he was perfectly fine with it.

Unfortunately, things were far easier said than done.  We had a lot of problems getting the Minnie Van, it kept cancelling on us, and I started getting extremely stressed the morning of.  We were about to call an Uber and hope for the best when I got an alert on my phone saying my Minnie Van had arrived.  Great.  Apparently in all the chaos and sleep deprivation, we had done something correct.  We shared the ride with another guy, and we were off.

I will say this, despite its faults, Hollywood Studios does one thing correctly: it's super efficient at getting people through the gate.  It probably has the most turnstiles to get into the park that we saw, and, despite the crowds, we were through the gate in record time.

Once we got inside the park, most people ran towards Galaxy's Edge to get in line for Smuggler's Run.  It was pretty much like what we saw at Epcot for Frozen Ever After and Animal Kingdom for Flight of Passage.  We didn't run, we just accepted that we'd be in a long line for that at some point during the day, but more about that later.  We were going to head towards Toy Story Land to rope drop meeting Woody and Bo Peep, but a cast member said we wouldn't be able to get Rise of the Resistance boarding groups if we were in that part of the park, which didn't make sense to us at all.  Another cast member said that that wasn't true, and his best advice was to have someone completely close out of the app at about 7:55, then open it up right at 8 AM, while another member of the group open it at about 7:59 and start pressing "Join Boarding Group" right then, so that's what we did.  I closed out of the app, and Bryan had his open.  I'm going to be honest with you, that was the most stressful minute and a half of my life.  I was so afraid if we didn't get a boarding group, Bryan would get a little grumpy because we'd gotten up early, bickered with each other about how to get to the park and went through all this trouble for nothing.  It would just start off our last day in the parks on the wrong foot, especially in a park we already had a sour taste in our mouths about.

Well, all that stress was for nothing, we got boarding group 36 (or something close to that), and we could finally relax.  It was hilarious watching other people get boarding groups, there was cheering and high fiving all around us.  With our boarding group in hand, we could finally relax and enjoy our last day in the park.

The park technically didn't open for another hour, but there were a few things open.  We headed over to the Star Wars Launch Bay, which isn't in Galaxy's Edge to meet our first character of the day, Chewbacca.  Unfortunately, many of the characters we met on this day didn't do autographs, so our Hollywood Studios frame looks a little empty.  Now, Chewbacca wasn't a big fan of Bryan because he had Darth Vader on his shirt; he tried to kick him out.  What threw me about Chewbacca was how tall he was, I even commented on it.  It was a little intimidating.  It's one thing to see how tall he is in a movie, it's another thing to stand next to someone in a Chewbacca costume and experience it for yourself.  Meeting him was a great way to start off the day.

After meeting Chewbacca, we got some popcorn.  It didn't matter to me that it was something like 8:30 in the morning, popcorn is one of my favorite foods, and when I'm on vacation, I'm allowed to have popcorn for breakfast if I want.

We then headed into Toy Story Land to try and rope drop meeting Woody and Bo Peep.  We wanted to do this sooner rather than later because the line for them can get extremely long throughout the day.  As we were waiting, we actually found out from someone in line that it was Bo Peep's last day, she's retiring, along with Mike from Monster's, Inc.  When I made a comment about this to Bo, I asked her what she was doing.  For the first time in our trip, I honestly couldn't figure out what the character was trying to say (or make an educated guess that they just go with, but, honestly, they're pretty good about getting their message across).  I actually said to her, "I have no idea what you're saying."  Finally, I figured out that she's going to look for her sheep.  I was actually a little embarrassed that I couldn't figure that out sooner.

Having met Bo Peep and Woody, we had a little bit of time before our first FastPass for the day, so we decided to get breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox, which was just as crowded as when we went there for lunch the previous weekend.  A Disney vlogger I like said the breakfast bowl there is amazing, so I decided to try it out.  Honestly, I didn't like it at all.  It had tater tots, scrambled eggs, brisket and gravy.  I ate a little bit of it, but Bryan ended up eating most of it.  I didn't mind, I had my popcorn for breakfast earlier.

By now, it was time for our first FastPass for the day, Slinky Dog Dash.  This is an adorable roller coaster where you ride in Slinky from Toy Story.  It's supposed to be a roller coaster that Andy built in his backyard with his toys.  I'm so glad we got FastPasses for it, as it had a three hour wait but 9:45 in the morning, which was absolutely ridiculous.  I mean, it was a fun roller coaster, but it wasn't anything amazing.  Disney's definitely trying to make some smaller scale roller coasters that will appeal more to children, and this is one of them.  Still, it was fun, and the line was adorable.  There were little drawings by Andy and his toys scattered all over the place.

At this point, we were done with Toy Story Land; it's crowded, has little shade and is loud.  It really isn't built to hold any type of crowds.  On our way out, we noticed that Buzz was supposed to come out in a minute or two, so we stuck around to see him again.  Unfortunately, this would be the last signature on our Hollywood Studios frame.  Yes, it looks very empty when compared to the others (especially Magic Kingdom), but am I going to let that get me upset?  No.  It is what it is.  If anything I've definitely learned to go with the flow more with this trip, which is a miracle.

On our way to Galaxy's Edge, we decided to meet Mike and Sulley, especially since it was Mike's last day.  They were a lot of fun to meet, but I was a little upset.  I was prepared to meet them the first day in Hollywood Studios, complete with a clean sock to present to them.  This time, however, we didn't plan on meeting them, so I didn't have a sock.  Okay, there were socks in our backpack, but I took my socks off at some point in Epcot the day before and stuff them in the bag.  I think they're still in Bryan's backpack, oops.  There was no way I was going to give them my smelly socks from the day before, so we just met with them.  I asked Sulley if he'd seen Boo lately, as they were standing in front of Boo's door, and he said they had.  He seemed pretty excited about that.  Mike and Sulley had sculpted hands that they couldn't move, so we couldn't get an autograph from them, but we still got some great pictures.

By now, we'd gotten the exciting news: our boarding group was called for Rise of the Resistance!  I couldn't wait.  We had two hours, so we weren't in a huge rush to get to Galaxy's Edge, so we took our time to explore the area a little bit.  Unlike Toy Story Land, Galaxy's Edge is a completely immersive experience.  Nothing in the area says "Star Wars" on it, you're supposed to be on the planet Batuu.  This includes Storm Troopers wandering around, along with Kylo Ren every once in a while, along with Chewbacca and members of both the First Order and the Resistance.  It was unlike any other part of Disney World I've been in before, you actually felt like you were there.

I think what I liked most about Rise of the Resistance was the line didn't feel like a line.  You had all the pre-ride stuff, which is really just more of the line, but it didn't feel like it very much.  You first go into this room where you're given a mission to get information to the Resistance from Rey and Poe.  You're then put on a shuttle with an insanely realistic looking animatronic of Admiral Ackbar, where, unfortunately, you are captured by the First Order.  Even though you're standing, the shuttle shakes, moves back and forth and feels like you're caught in a tractorbeam.  I have to say, however, my favorite part was getting captured by the First Order.  You're taken into this large room with a bunch of Stormtroopers in it, and if you look close enough, they move ever so slightly every once in a while to give the impression that they are real people instead of animatronics; if they stood completely still the entire time, they wouldn't look realistic.  We were allowed to take pictures to "Document the greatness of the First Order" according to the cast members.  You could definitely tell they had fun with their jobs.  You were given colored groups to determine which group you would be "interrogated in", and then you had to stand in a line on that color.  I know this is all part of the line for the ride still, but, honestly, it didn't feel like it at all.  Unlike rides like Mission: Space, where it's just waiting around and getting talked to, you feel like you're actually there and there are exciting things happening around you, so you don't really mind waiting.  Anyway, while waiting in line, apparently I was slightly out of step with the rest of our line, and a First Order member came up to me and said, "Does the concept of a straight line escape you?"  I actually felt like I was in trouble!

We were then taken to another room where Kylo Ren appeared and said that we would be interrogated for information about where the Resistance is located, but, thankfully, then the Resistance showed up to rescue us.  Since they're trying to make it seem like we have to hurry to get away from the First Order, people were quick to load up into the actual cars for the ride.  That's right, everything leading up to this wasn't part of the ride.  You're sent off speeding through the starship, including underneath Imperial Walkers, all the while dodging shots from Stormtroopers (don't worry, since they're Stormtroopers, they don't actually hit anything).  At one point, you make it to the bridge where you see Kylo Ren yelling at General Hux for allowing us to escape.  I have to say, that's probably one of the best animatronics I've seen next to the Shaman on Na'vi River Journey; he spins around and throws his cape back, it looks like a real person!  We finally make it to an escape pod where we drop down and fly through an epic space battle before crash landing.

I have to say, everything about that ride was absolutely amazing, and, in my mind, it was totally worth getting to the park early.  Bryan said he didn't feel like all the staging ahead of time was necessary, but I personally loved it, and it definitely made it feel like it was an experience not a ride.  If this is the trajectory of future Disney rides, we're definitely in for some wonderful and amazing experiences in the years to come.

After Rise of the Resistance, we temporarily left Galaxy's Edge to ride Star Tours, which isn't part of Galaxy's Edge because it doesn't fit with the timeline of when Galaxy's Edge exists, and it has been a part of the park for many years.  It was a fun ride, but it was also a little forgettable.  Bryan had a good point, it definitely felt dated, and when compared to the other Star Wars rides, it just didn't live up to the hype.  Disney's going to have to do some major reconfiguring of that ride if they want it to live up to the expectations of the other Star Wars rides and attractions.

When we were done with Star Tours, we went back to Galaxy's Edge where we made our big mistake of the day: believing the time on the Disney app saying the wait for Smuggler's Run was 90 minutes, which would give us some down time between that and our reservation at Oga's Cantina.  We waited two hours.  Towards the end, I was extremely cranky and stressed that we wouldn't get out in time for our reservation.  The cast member I talked to was also extremely not helpful and unsympathetic.  I asked him how long the wait was from where we were, as it said an hour and a half, and it was two hours at this point, and we had reservations at Oga's coming up.  All he said was, "Well, those are estimates anyway."  Since he wasn't being helpful, I said, "If your estimate is that far off, there's a problem."  I totally get that they're not going to be 100% correct, but to be that far off is a problem, especially when you have people like us who think that they'll have enough time to get to a FastPass, reservation, etc.  People base a lot of their decisions on those estimates, so they should be somewhat accurate.

Someone told us the line for Smuggler's Run was really interesting with all sorts of weapons, machinery, etc., but it really wasn't.  Once you got inside, it was just some machines making a bunch of noise and the same announcements coming over the PA system.  I've definitely seen more interesting standby lines in Disney World.  It's somewhat worth noting that they do have a bar in line where you can buy drinks, but it's also worth noting that a glass of beer is $14.  That's right, that's a ridiculous price even for Disney.  The horrifying part was the fact that people were actually buying the beers!  That's supply and demand for you.  Bryan and I were going to get beers, but when we heard how expensive they were, it was a hard no.  Besides, once we got off the ride, we had reservations as Oga's.

As much as I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed Smuggler's Run, despite the two hour wait.  Would I wait in line for two hours to ride it?  Definitely not, but once I was on it, I enjoyed myself.  Unlike Mission: Space where the same thing happens every single time, regardless of if you press the correct buttons or not, what you do on Smuggler's Run actually makes a difference.  Bryan and I were pilots, which meant we were completely screwed.  It wasn't Bryan's capabilities I doubted, it was my own.  I'm terrible at steering when it comes to video games and such.  He took care of the up and down steering, while I handled the left and right.  In a way, it makes it easier since you're only in charge of one lever, but it also means you have to communicate a lot.  The premise is simple, you're flying the Millenium Falcon to deliver some smuggled goods you're stealing from the First Order for Hondo Ohnaka, who's apparently a character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is something I've never watched.  You have to work as a team of six to find the goods, steal them and deliver them without getting caught.  It's far more challenging than it sounds, especially with me steering.  We actually only ended up getting 38% of the proposed profits because we damaged the ship so much.  Oh well, it was a lot of fun, and the fact that it was so interactive distracted me from the stress of waiting in line for it for two hours.

Finally done with Smuggler's Run, we headed over to Oga's Cantina for our reservation, making it right on time.  As of right now, you really can only go into the cantina if you have a reservation, and then they limit you to a 45 minute visit so as many people can get in as possible.  It's a shame, because this place was a blast!  Definitely one of the more exciting places we ate on vacation.  We stood at the bar and had a wonderful bartender.  The first drink I got was the Yub Nub, which was alright, it just tasted like a typical tropical drink.  My second drink, however, was a Fuzzy Tauntaun, and it was absolutely amazing!  Now, I don't really drink fuzzy navels, but this sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot.  The "Buzz Button Tingling" foam on top was the strangest thing ever, it made my lips and tongue tingle as I drank, which definitely made the experience better.  I would seriously drink that all the time if I could get my hands on it; I've never experienced a drink like that in my life.  For my last drink, I decided to step way out of my comfort zone and get a Rodian Ration, which was pretty much a large jello shot in a petri dish.  Now, I can't stand jello, but this had bobas and pop rocks, so how bad could it be?  What a game changer!  I'm thoroughly convinced that all jello shots should come with bobas in the bottom and pop rocks on top; I couldn't get enough of it.  I actually want to make some jello shots now and try out some fun mixtures of jello, bobas and pop rocks.  I know it sounds crazy and like I'm back in college, but you should definitely try it out.  You could definitely tell the mixologists had a blast making the drinks for that place.

Not only did the mixologists have fun, but the bartenders were a blast.  They taught people drinking songs, chest bumped each other, got people to chant when they ordered different drinks.  This is all on top of the robot DJ playing music in the background (including the famous/annoying song from the cantina scene in A New Hope).  It felt like we were in a tough and tumble bar somewhere in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, not in Disney World.  Disney definitely did a fantastic job creating an immersive experience there.

Even though we left Galaxy's Edge for the time being at this point, we kept with the Star Wars theme by meeting Darth Vader.  Me being me (and still on a mission to trip up a character in some capacity), I greeted with with the biggest smile in the world and said in the happiest voice I could come up with, "Hi Anakin!"  Yeah, I was that person.  This is where I got in trouble for the second time today, this time by Darth Vader's handler, who said, "He prefers Darth Vader."  I regret none of my decisions; it was so worth it.  I did decide to not ask for a hug, although the temptation certainly was there.  As to be expected, he was curt with us, didn't stand near us for the picture and pretty much told us to get out.  Bryan thinks he has pre-recorded sayings that just come out at random, which would make a lot of sense.

At this point, the plan had been to head down to our last FastPass/ride in Disney, but instead we opted to meet BB-8 instead.  I have to say, it was a little weird meeting BB-8, since it was just a little robot that's probably controlled by a person backstage.  I don't think he was an animatronic in the sense that he repeated the same little movements over and over again, as he did react to what we said.  Bryan asked him if he preferred Rey or Poe, and he let out a sad little beep and seemed to shake his head back and forth as if to say he wouldn't pick.  Had he not done that, I would have thought he was just an animatronic.  Despite the slight awkwardness, he was still fun to meet, and he had an actual PhotoPass photographer, not one of the machines like they had with Chewbacca and Darth Vader.

Sadly, once we met BB-8, that was our last character we met, which I'm sure Bryan was happy about, but I wasn't.  We also headed back down to Rock'n'Roller Coaster for our last ride in the park.  This time, we were equipped with a FastPass, so we didn't have to experience the nightmare that had been the first time we tried to ride.

I have to say, I absolutely love Rock'n'Roller Coaster, it's definitely one of my favorite rides in all the parks.  You're completely surrounded by music and it's an actual inverted roller coaster with loops and corkscrews, which none of the other roller coasters in the park are.  My head did bang from side to side the entire time, which wasn't particularly pleasant with earrings on, but it was still a blast.  Let's not forget it's also a launch roller coaster, which is my favorite time.

Of course after riding Rock'n'Roller Coaster, we had to get more of that amazing chili mac and cheese from the stand right outside the exit.  I have no idea what Disney puts in its mac and cheese, but I could eat it all day every day.  Seriously, when you go to Disney you need to get your hands on some of it; you won't regret it.

Food in hand, we doubled back to Galaxy's Edge.  We'd heard it's wonderful getting pictures in front of the Millennium Falcon at night.  Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought that, as it's the perfect opportunity for people who got lightsabers to turn them on and get some amazing photos.  The PhotoPass photographer went above and beyond with the lightsaber photos, but it also took an incredibly long time, especially for people like us who didn't have lightsabers and just wanted some nice, generic pictures.  Thankfully, we were entertained while in line.  Like I said before, there were different characters wandering around Galaxy's Edge in character, including some Stormtroopers.  We watched them wandering around in front of Smuggler's Run from our perch when all of a sudden they cut to the right and went into the fenced off area around the Millennium Falcon.  At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on until I saw Chewbacca go running out another gate on the other side of the starship, and the Stormtroopers went running after him and the Resistance member with him.  They tried running all over the place and hiding behind people.  At one point the Resistance member and Stormtroopers came up where we were, so I did the logical thing and got in the way of the Stormtroopers (others were doing the same thing).  It was a lot of fun, kept us entertained and helped create that immersive experience I talked about earlier.

Once we got our photos, we were going to watch the Star Wars fireworks at the Chinese Theater, but we were both tired, so we decided to call it a night.  It was a wonderful, somewhat relaxing way to end our amazing trip.  Plus, we got to sleep in the next day, which was amazing and much needed.

Read More

A Closer Look at Hollywood Studios

That's right, after a week off for Christmas last week, it's time for another Walt Disney Wednesday.  Today, we're looking closer at Hollywood Studios, which I still refer to as MGM even though it changed its name all the way back in 2008.  Old habits die hard.  I'm working on it, but I know other people are having trouble with this adjustment as well.

Since we've done our FastPasses since our last closer look at a Disney park, this one is a little bit different since we have a better idea of what exactly we're doing.  Now, that doesn't mean everything is set in stone, but we do have a much better idea of what's going on when we arrive at the park.

As the name implies, Hollywood Studios focuses on show business and everything that goes into making a movie.  Since the overwhelming majority of Disney's job is to make movies, that means they can put just about anything in this park, and it will work.  For that reason, it is a little bit of a ragtag of everything cobbled together. 

Originally opened in 1989, Hollywood Studios has undergone some extreme changes in recent years.  The first of these was Toy Story Land, which opened in 2018.  More recently, however, Hollywood Studios has opened Galaxy's Edge, which is based on the Star Wars franchise.  I'll talk about both of those in more detail in a little bit.  It is important to note that Hollywood Studios is the smallest of the four Disney parks.

Since the premise of Hollywood Studios focuses on show business, many of the attractions are shows or performances.  With the opening of Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge, however, there have been a few more rides that have opened in recent years to balance out the number of shows and rides in the park.

Even though there have been some huge changes in Hollywood Studios since the last time I went to the park, there are still some attractions that I'm excited to visit again.  One of them is Muppet*Vision 3D.  As the name implies, it is a 3D show with the Muppets.  It focuses on taking a tour of the Muppet studio, where they're getting ready for their upcoming performance, until Dr. Honeydew's technology goes wrong (as usual), and shenanigans happen.  Apparently we saw the show the first time we went to Disney World when I was four, and my cousin kept reaching out and trying to touch all the 3D images floating in front of her.  My mom loves to tell that story.

Another attraction I'm excited to ride is Star Tours.  This is not part of Galaxy's Edge, but it has been updated in recent years.  Originally, the ride focused on the first three Star Wars rides.  In recent years, however, it has been updated to include the entire Star Wars saga.  This is a 4D ride (Bryan hates when I use the phrase "4D", but he's not here, so he can't stop me).  Riders enjoy a 3D show on a ride where the car moves in conjunction with what's happening on screen.  It's difficult to say what exactly the ride is about, as there are 18 different scenarios that riders can experience, so almost every time you ride this attraction, you will experience something different.  This is all new to me, as when I saw it, it was a completely different experience, so I'm excited to see it.  We do have a FastPass for this attraction.

Near the front of the park is Rock'n'Roller Coaster, which is an amazing roller coaster.  On this ride, you join the famous band, Aerosmith, as they race to get to a concert on time.  Of course, the only way to do this is in true Aerosmith fashion: racing through the streets of Los Angeles in a classic car with Aerosmith music blasting all around you.  There are speakers embedded all throughout the car, including under the seats, thereby completely surrounding riders as they launch from the platform and zip through this exciting roller coaster.  It's definitely one of my favorite rides.  I remember riding it with my family last time we went to Disney World, and my dad made the most hilarious face on the ride that was captured by the cameras.  Needless to say, he hated the ride, while the rest of us loved it.

Near Rock'n'Roller Coaster is one of my absolute favorite attractions: Fantasmic.  Fantasmic is a laser light show on a large lagoon behind Tower of Terror (which Bryan and I have agreed not to ride).  The show focuses on Disney villains who attempt to infiltrate Mickey's dreams and give him terrible nightmares.  With the help of his friends, however, Mickey is able to fight off the villains and return to his dreams.  The technology is absolutely amazing, and it's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most when we visit.  We even got the dessert package for this attraction.  Slightly different from a dessert party, this is simply a margarita and a box of snacks/desserts, along with prime seating for the show.  It seemed like a fun thing to splurge on, especially since this is one of my favorite attractions, and I want to make sure we have good seats (not that there are bad seats in the seating area). 

Like I said previously, there have been some huge changes to Hollywood Studios since the last time I went, including a name change.  First is Toy Story Land, which has three new rides: Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers and Slinky Dog Dash.  Bryan and I did manage to get FastPasses for both Toy Story Mania and Slinky Dog Dash, which are the two rides in Toy Story Land we want to ride.  Toy Story Mania is similar to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in Magic Kingdom, you ride in a little car and shoot at various targets with a laser gun.  The competitive side of me absolutely can't wait to ride this.  Slinky Dog Dash is a roller coaster.  It's supposed to be as if Andy built a roller coaster with his toys in his backyard and uses Slinky the Dog as the car for the ride.  It's not nearly as intense a roller coaster as Rock'n'Roller Coaster, but it still looks fun and adorable.  As a whole, Toy Story Land seems like a lot of fun, like Andy has simply left his toys out, and they've come alive, just like the Toy Story movies.

Since we're spending two days in Hollywood Studios, and there aren't any FastPasses available for Galaxy's Edge, we've devoted an entire day to Galaxy's Edge.  There isn't a lot there, but we're not entirely sure what the lines will be like for the attractions.  First and foremost, there's Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run.  In a way, this ride is slightly similar to Mission: Space at Epcot, in the way that you're supposed to pilot a ship (aka: the Millennium Falcon).  Unlike Mission: Space, however, what you do actually matters.  If you press the wrong button or steer incorrectly, bad things will happen to the ship.  My cousin has told me the best role is the pilot, as you actually get to steer the Millennium Falcon, but my coworker has told me the best view is from the back.  If you can provide some insight, be sure to leave it in the comments below.

The newest ride at Hollywood Studios is the one people have been looking forward to the most: Rise of the Resistance.  It's supposed to be one of the most immersive experiences ever created by Disney.  It's part ride, part immersive experience.  On the ride, you're part of the resistance fighting against the New Order.  Unfortunately, you're captured by the New Order and must escape back to the resistance.  This ride is supposed to be unlike anything people have ever experienced before, and the lines have been ridiculous.  In order to help with the lines, you can check in for a boarding group as soon as you are checked in to the park for the day, which has resulted in people getting to Hollywood Studios incredibly early in order to get a boarding group.  I'm really hoping that by the time we go in a little over a month, things will die down a little, and we won't have to get to the park at five in the morning in order to get a boarding group.  One can only hope.

At Galaxy's Edge, we also have reservations at Oga's Cantina.  Disney recreated the cantina from Star Wars: A New Hope, where you can get some delicious drinks and snacks.  Most quick service restaurants don't do reservations, but there are reservations for this one because there's such high demand to eat there.  Just like the rides, it's supposed to be a completely immersive experience where you feel like you're eating at the actual cantina from the movie.

This brings me to my next point: nowhere in Galaxy's Edge will you find the words "Star Wars".  This is because you're supposed to feel like you're actually in the Star Wars universe.  Disney went out of its way to create the most immersive experience possible, not like you're just visiting restaurant  or ride themed after a movie, instead, you're actually inside the movie.  I'm excited to see all the little details Disney incorporated into Galaxy's Edge.

All this talking about Oga's Cantina reminds me that I skipped over our other restaurant reservation at Hollywood Studios: Sci-Fi Dine In.  I came across this restaurant in one of my guide books, and while Bryan and I didn't want to do a lot of table service restaurants since they take up a lot more time than quick service restaurants, this one seemed like too much fun to skip.  This restaurant is themed after drive-in movies.  Instead of regular tables, there are the front ends of classic cars with tables built into them.  As you eat, there's a huge screen that shows trailers and clips from old, cheesy sci-fi movies.  I've heard the food is mediocre, but I really wanted to do it because it seemed like so much fun.  I just hope it lives up to the hype I built up in my head.  We'll have to see.

Of course, there are characters I want to meet at Hollywood Studios.  I'm still working on getting Bryan into meeting the characters, but I'm optimistic that he'll come around...eventually....maybe.  Most important, you can meet Olaf in Hollywood Studios.  This is non-negotiable for me, as, next to Stitch, Olaf is my favorite Disney character.  I love his personality and love for life, and I loved in Frozen II when he kept thinking that everything in his life would make sense when he got older, as he tried to navigate through his own midlife crisis of sorts.  Hopefully by the time we see him, he's gotten through this crisis and is back to his usual bubbly self.

Since there's a significant amount of Pixar attractions in Hollywood Studios, there's also a significant number of Pixar characters to meet.  I want to meet Mike and Sulley, although the Mike costume freaks me out a little bit because I can't quite figure out how a person fits inside it.  I've included a picture so you can get an idea as to what I'm talking about.  There would have to be a pretty short person to fit inside, and the hat would definitely help hide the cast member's head.  Even so, it's a little weird for me.

Along the same lines of Pixar, I can't wait to meet Edna Mode from The Incredibles and The Incredibles 2.  I personally think her character is one of the best; she doesn't care what anyone thinks and always says what's on her mind.  When I see her, I want to ask her about Jack-Jack, as their relationship is probably one of the best things to come out of The Incredibles 2.  If you haven't seen the Pixar short with the two of them, I highly recommend it.  It's on Disney+ and might be on YouTube as well (no promises though).  It's also available on the extras menu on the dvd and blu-ray of The Incredibles 2.

Of course, no trip to Hollywood Studios would be complete without meeting Star Wars characters.  Since there's no Baby Yoda character (yet), I can't wait to meet BB8.  You can also meet Kylo Ren (who seems pretty fun to meet) and Chewbacca.  Around Galaxy's Edge, there are also Storm Troopers who wander around, although you probably want to steer clear of them since they are known to give you a pit of a hard time.

At Hollywood Studios, you can, of course, meet Mickey Mouse.  Of course I want to meet Mickey Mouse in Magic Kingdom where he's in his traditional outfit, but I also want to meet this Mickey Mouse since he's in his outfit from the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia.  It's a great, fun outfit that is unique to just Hollywood Studios.

One thing I'm really bummed about is the fact that we're missing the new ride at Hollywood Studios by about a week and a half.  This ride, called Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, replaced The Great Movie Ride, which was a trip through the sets of various famous movies through the years.  On this new ride, Mickey and Minnie are on their way to the premiere of the new movie, and, of course, things go wrong.  It's a nice, slow ride that looks adorable, and it's the first ride to feature Mickey and Minnie.  Since we're missing it, I told Bryan that we'll just have to go back.

As always, I asked Bryan what he's most excited to do in Hollywood Studios.  His exact response was "The Star Wars stuff and Rock'n'Roller Coaster".  I'm glad we're both on the same page here. 

As a whole, I'm pretty excited to go to Hollywood Studios.  While it's not the park I'm looking forward to the most, I know we're still going to have a great time, especially at Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge.

Read More

Wine, Board Games and Star Wars: the Perfect Start to Winter Break

What a fantastic way to start winter break!  Bryan and I bought tickets to see Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker for the evening, but we decided to start out our day by heading up to New Market Plains.  It had been a while since we'd been there (and by a while, I mean a few weeks), and we're part of the wine club there, so it seemed like a good idea.  On our way up to New Market Plains, we stopped by my house to pick up some board games to play while we're there.

You know you visit a winery a bit too much when the employee there opens the door and greets you with a giant smile.  Yeah, we've gotten to that point in our lives.  Since we're part of the wine club there, we get four free tastings a quarter, so we obvious did a tasting.  We even got to try the new 2016 Chardonnay, which is absolutely delicious and probably my favorite chardonnay that they have right now.  After our tasting, we bought a bottle of the 2016 Chardonnay and set up on the screened in porch with our board games.

We picked up Ticket to Ride on our way up to the winery because I thought Bryan had never played it before.  Turns out, he played it two weeks ago with some of his friends, but that's fine, it's a great game to play.  Apparently one of the cats that lives on the winery property agreed, as he decided to join us.  He only stuck around for a little while, though, because we kept trying to stop him from climbing up on the table and knocking over all the little trains we'd already set up.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, Ticket to Ride is fairly easy to learn.  You draw three tickets with different routes, and you have to keep at least two of them.  These are the routes you'll have to build.  Some are quite long and worth a lot of points, while others are significantly shorter and worth less points.  You don't want to overextend yourself, though, because if you don't complete a route, you lose those points at the end of the game.  In order to build routes, you draw colored cards.  If you want to connect two cities that have say four orange blocks between them, you have to use four orange cards from your hand (or some rainbow cards, which are wild cards).  If a track is grey, you can use any color you want, all the cards just have to be the same color.  It's a super straightforward game, and if you're interested in getting more into board games that aren't Monopoly, this is a great one to play.  There are many different variations as well, including Scandinavia, the United States, Africa, Europe and one that's all over the world.

Unfortunately for me, Bryan won the first game.  I would have won, but he took the one track I needed to complete my route, and I didn't have enough train cars to go around.  Had he not done that, I would have won.  I did manage to beat him the second game.  We didn't have time to play a rubber match to break the tie, but we'll have to do that another time.

After finishing up at New Market Plains, we drove back down to eat dinner at Gordon Biersch, which is our usual dinner spot before we head to a movie at Regal Rockville.  I just can't get enough of their garlic fries, I could eat them all the time.  We also got the pork potstickers as an appetizer, which is part of their Christmas menu.  They were amazing, and I highly recommend them.  I wish they were on the menu all the time.  They're served with a wedge of lime, and I highly recommend squeezing it over the potstickers.  It's a subtle addition, but it makes a world of a difference.

Done with wine and dinner, we headed over to the movie theater.  I prefer seeing bigger movies like this at a movie theater with assigned seats so we don't have to camp out ahead of time and get good seats together.  We sat in the third row, which Bryan and I decided was the perfect row; you're not too close but not too far away.  It was pretty much the sweet spot.

Let me start out by saying that, personally, I think there's nothing more exciting than seeing the famous words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." on a movie screen.  There's that anticipation as you wait for that amazing opening to begin with the powerful music and the opening crawl.  To me, it's the most exciting movie opening ever.  There was, however, a little bit of sadness this time around when I realized that this was the last one I'd probably see in theaters.  Of course, if they re-release the movies, I might be able to drag Bryan to see them again, but this was the last time I'd see this opening crawl for the first time.  It was definitely a bittersweet moment.

Personally, I thought the movie was fantastic.  I'll be sure to warn you guys before I dive into anything that has spoilers.  Out of the last three Star Wars movies, I definitely thought that this one was the best.  When it comes to where it falls in the grander scheme of things and compared to the rest of the movies in the series, I still haven't decided where it fits.  Like I said, though, it was the best out of the last three.  That doesn't mean a lot, however, since I thought that The Last Jedi wasn't very good at all.  In fact, it was so forgettable that I had to look up the synopsis at dinner and read it again so I could remember what had happened in it; I remembered the main plot points, but not some of the finer details I was afraid would come up in the movie.

One thing I will talk about before jumping into the spoilers is how General Organa was portrayed.  All of Carrie Fisher's were incredibly awkward, but that's because of her untimely death.  They had to work with what little footage they had of her, which made her scenes seem incredibly choppy.  It's hard to hold it against the movie, however, as they were doing the best they could with a tragic situation.

I feel like that is all I can talk about while avoiding spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet or want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.

Wow, just wow.  There were so many twists and turns, it was a lot to take in.  I'm struggling with where to start, so let's start with Rey and her family.  I knew she had to be someone important, but I had no idea who.  Part of me thought at the beginning of the movie with her eerily close connection to Kylo Ren that they were twins, but I just couldn't understand why Leia and Han would have abandoned her then.  It didn't seem like something they would do.  Other than that, I honestly had no idea who she was.  It never once dawned on me that she was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.  I never even thought of him having children, which is why her being his granddaughter never even crossed my mind.  It definitely made sense though, because Palpatine was so powerful, and Rey was obviously incredibly powerful as well.

Personally, I thought Kylo Ren showed incredible growth as a character.  I definitely got the feeling that towards the end, he was in way over his head and had no idea how to stop the monster he created.  He knew he did something wrong, but he was too far gone and had no idea how to go back and put a stop to everything.  Therefore, his only solution was to keep going forward and hope for the best.  In his mind, he'd come this far, he had no thing left to lose.  In the end, however, Rey brought out the best of him, and he figured out a way to put a stop to everything by sacrificing himself for Rey.  One of his greatest moments, I thought, was when he was talking to his father.  He was no longer a megalomaniac but rather a small child of sorts who just wanted everything to go back to the way it had been before.

Okay, time for complaints.  I actually only have two big ones.  First of all, that kiss.  I mean, seriously?  I didn't seen any point in that kiss at all, and it just made what was an amazing moment incredibly awkward.  I thought that a hug was perfect, maybe a few tears, but there had been absolutely no sexual or romantic tension between Kylo Ren and Rey in the first place, which made the kiss seem even stranger and out of place.  Yes, they had just risked their lives, but there wasn't any sort of history that would cause them to act upon.

Alright, time for my other complaint.  When Bryan and I left The Last Jedi, I was thoroughly convinced that Supreme Leader Snoke was Darth Vader reincarnated.  Bryan insisted that I was wrong, and this was a huge bone of contention between us for the past two years.  We would argue about it back and forth at random intervals, and both of us would get incredibly worked up and passionate.  To me, it made perfect sense; he wanted control of the galaxy, he was incredibly disfigured, and the scar on his forehead lined up with the one on Darth Vader's forehead.  There was no way I could be wrong!  Well, I was, or so I thought at first.  In the movie, you find out that Palpatine created the image of Supreme Leader Snoke in order to pull the strings and control Kylo Ren.  In fact, you even see a tank or sorts with several renditions of Snoke's body.  Here's my theory: Palpatine based Snoke's appearance off Darth Vader.  He did this to create an image that Kylo Ren would subconsciously trust, and who better than his hero, Darth Vader?  So, while Snoke might not have technically been Darth Vader, I think, in a way, he was.  Bryan doesn't exactly agree, but I think he just doesn't want to admit that I'm right.

I would be remiss if I didn't take some time right now to talk about Disney World's Galaxy's Edge (of course).  On December 6th, they opened a new, amazing ride, Rise of the Resistance.  I always assumed they waited so long after the opening of Galaxy's Edge to open Rise of the Resistance because the ride wasn't quite ready yet.  While this might partially be true, the ride also aligns itself pretty well with the movie.  In both, members of the Resistance are captured by the New Order and must escape.  That's pretty much where the similarities end, but it's enough that both tie in together and can work as easy advertising for each other.  When I told Bryan this, he rolled his eyes and said, "No, Disney would never make a ride with a movie tie-in."  In instances like this, I just ignore him.  I thought it made perfect sense, and now it makes me even more excited to ride Rise of the Resistance in a few weeks.

Overall, I thought Rise of Skywalker was a fantastic movie.  Like I said before, I found it to be the best of the last three Star Wars movies.  It did have some moments that were mediocre, but part of it (such as Carrie Fisher's death) wasn't their fault.  It was a fantastic way to wrap up the saga, and it was bittersweet to see everything come to an end

Read More