Hello Everyone! It’s been a while since my last post, and for that, I apologize. Between getting ready for my vacation to Disney, and travelling out of town for my friends’ wedding, plus trying to make sure all my work was taken care of before it was time to go- things kinda got a little crazy there! Alas, I am back and ready to blog about my travels to Disney World, and I am going to start with the first park we visited; Hollywood Studios!
Our first full day at Disney was a balmy 11 degrees Celcius, rising as high as 14 once the sun came out, which didn’t happen until much later in the afternoon. This wasn’t going to stop us from having a magical time, as we came prepared with the appropriate layers and sweaters etc. The park opened at 9am, and we were basically there right for rope drop. Due to the popularity of Hollywood Studios’ latest edition of Toy Story Land, we recognized and understood that it was going to be a long day of waiting in lines and taking in all the sights. We were quite excited to start our adventure.
Apart from snagging a photo or two in front of the signs, my friend and I headed straight for Toy Story Land; an entire section of the park which is staged to look just like Andy’s backyard full of all the beloved toys and characters from Toy Story. The rush of excitement flooded our bodies and instant smiles ran across our faces; the impeccable detail Disney showcases from everything big to small is unmatched. You truly felt like you were immersed in the land of Toy Story! We rushed over to Slinky Dog Dash, the rollercoaster you’ll find immediately as soon as you enter that section of the park. To our surprise, the wait was only about 85 minutes or so. Some of you might read this thinking that’s a long time, but when it’s a new Disney attraction, that’s actually pretty quick! Wait until I blog about the Animal Kingdom and the Avatar Flight of Passage Ride… The rollercoaster was a great thrill ride, it had good speed as well as a decent amount of hills and turns – nothing too scary or anything that would make you ill!
Next, we headed over to the Alien’s Swirling Saucers for another moderate wait of about 45 minutes. While in line, we were able to watch some of the Green Army Men do some tricks and their march; it was pretty cool! After making ourselves a bit dizzy, we headed over to go meet Woody and Jesse. Character greetings are one of the coolest things about Walt Disney World! It sounds silly, but you’re never too old to do a character greeting at Disney; many of the characters can be really fun to talk with and do an excellent job interacting with you. This time, my friend and I planned our outfits to be similar to the characters of Woody and Buzz from our “Mickey Ears Headbands” down to our shirts, pants and shoes! Many people commented how much they loved our “Mickey Ears” and the details we put into our whole look from head to toe.
After meeting Woody and Jesse we headed over to our next attraction, Toy Story Mania; a fun interactive shooter-style arcade game. For this ride, we snagged a Fast Pass which allowed us to by-pass the long line up and we only waited about 3 minutes to get on the ride. For those who don’t know, everyone is entitled to 3 Fast Passes per day that can be scheduled anywhere from 30-60 days away from your trip; the fast pass gives you a dedicated one hour window to arrive at that ride or attraction. Fast Passes allow you to go into the faster line, where your wait time won’t be any longer than 5 minutes. These must be booked ahead of time if you want to take advantage of it, you can’t just jump on a ride and use them. After scoring approximately 90,000 points in Toy Story Mania, I had worked up an appetite, so we headed to Woody’s Lunch Box for lunch.
One of the neat things about Disney is that much of the food is based on characters or themes from their movies; the food will often be shaped like or look like the character or movie it is based on. Again, they really immerse you in the whole experience. My friend and I were able to share the BBQ Brisket Melt and Totchos with the Alien Mystic Portal Punch. The portion sizes were great, and we were able to get all this food for $25, and we were more than satisfied with the quality and portions!
If you’re on Instagram, you may have come across some pretty awesome photos people take in front of various walls, corners and spots throughout the Disney Parks. Remember when I talked about how immersing the atmosphere is at Disney? They seriously never cut corners or slack anywhere! There is always a fun spot to take photos around the park. Whether you’re on Instagram or not, you’ll find some really cool places to snag some pictures! My friend and I definitely enjoyed finding these cool spots and striking a pose or two. We made sure to take some time out of our busy day to capture some great photos.
After spending about 5 hours in Toy Story Land, it was time to venture off to galaxies far far away; well okay, not that far just off to the other end of the park. We rode Star Tours, got to meet Chewbacca, BB-8, and Kylo Ren! Also, we were able to catch Muppets 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Aerosmith’s Rock n Roller Coaster, and did some shopping. Just when we were feeling a bit tired, The Incredibles Dance Party was there to perk us up! Here we got to dance along with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, while also pitching to the broadcasters about how amazing Jack Jack’s Num-Num Cookie was (yes, of course, you could buy this giant novelty cookie to eat and enjoy!) We also met Edna Mode, who wanted us to remove our hoodies immediately (too close to capes she says!) but was willing to strike a pose with us; she absolutely loved my Incredibles bag.
My favourite character greeting of the day was Mike and Sully from Monster’s Inc. I am totally biased here because Monster’s Inc is my favourite movie, with Mike Wazowski being my most beloved character ever, yes it’s true, come at me! So while they don’t talk, they do their best to interact with you through gestures, and Sully gives the softest and best hugs (sorry not sorry Olaf!) I was really glad that we got to see them this trip because I hadn’t seen them since 2014!
The sun was beginning to set, it was just about 6:30 pm, but there was still fun to be had. We made our way back over to Toy Story Land so we could snag our photo with Buzz Lightyear and ride Alien’s Swirling Saucers one more time, before heading out to catch For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-a-Long Celebration (oh and sing-along we did!) After that performance we ran quickly to grab warm hugs from Olaf then made our way to the main stage to catch the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular nighttime show. If there is anything that Disney does bigger than anything else, it is their fireworks shows! While it was quite cold, once the show started, being chilly was the furthest thing from our minds. Our day at Hollywood Studios was coming to an end, but we couldn’t complain; we had so much fun and made so many great memories.
The last time I was at Disney World was September 2016, but more specifically, I had not been to Hollywood Studios since 2014, and Toy Story Land was a new addition to Hollywood Studios in June 2018. Needless to say, there was a ton of hype and expectations about the changes to the park and the rides. Overall, I was blown away with how detailed Toy Story Land was and how every other section of the park offered something for everyone. What I appreciated about Hollywood Studios was that there was a lot to do and see, but you never felt like you were rushed or had to rush before missing out on anything. Hollywood Studios offers rides and attractions with different intensity levels. Between the Star Wars march and the Green Army Men, it was difficult to miss either of these troops walking around the park while you were walking by, waiting in line, or taking a break for food or drink. With many character greetings, there is sure to be someone for everyone to meet; if the Disney princesses aren’t really your scene, I highly recommend Hollywood Studios.
Stay tuned for my next Disney blog where I will review our day at Epcot! Thanks for reading.
Five Feet High Thoughts 