Category Archives: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

We’re Going to WDW – 10 Things I’m Looking Forward To!

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As mentioned before, I’m crazy excited to introduce our granddaughter to the joys of a Disney vacation. I can’t wait to see her reaction to characters, rides and all the sights, sounds, and flavors we can find for her to enjoy.

Personally, I am looking forward to quite a few things by myself. When I focus on staying “in the moment” while I’m at WDW, it’s amazing what random experiences stick in my mind as being particularly wonderful. I know what I’m most looking forward to changes for every visit, but this time the top ten are….

Drumroll, Please

10. The Electrical Water Pageant. Sure, there’s no afternoon parade in Magic Kingdom and no nighttime fireworks in the parks right now, but I’m kind of okay about it because I can still enjoy the most cheerfully ridiculous spectacle on the Seven Seas Lagoon!

9. Florida dawns and sunsets. I suppose we have some pretty amazing sunrises and sunsets in Louisiana, but I’m typically too busy to notice. Seems like when I’m at Walt Disney World I get to start and end the day with gorgeous skies and have time to soak up every moment.

8. The Ghost Host will lower my safety bar. And then I’ll get to see and hear all the things I adore in the Haunted Mansion! Madam Leota, Constance-in-the-attic, all of it! Maybe Little Leota at the exit might be my favorite. Hard to say because I love it all.

Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota

7. The smell of the lobby in Bay Lake Tower. Sure, it’s lovely when they say, “Welcome Home!”, but nothing is more welcoming to me than that special scent. It’s like a warm hug that washes away all my worries. I could be weird, but there it is.

6. Earning the lowest score on Toy Story Midway Mania. I don’t do it on purpose, but there’s a reason I have never participated in any sports requiring eye-hand coordination. Nonetheless, I love this ride! Breaking those plates is inexplicably gratifying.

5. PeopleMover. If you don’t love it, stay off of it and let the rest of us have it to ourselves. There’s not a single second of resting on that lovely blue upholstery as I cruise around Tomorrowland that I don’t love. Mr. Morrow, I can’t wait to be there!

4. Sipping and Snacking my way around World Showcase. This is the ultimate Epcot experience for me. I can shop, stroll, or sit and relax while sampling exotic fare and sipping an adult beverage. Doesn’t matter if we start in Mexico or Canada, I’m going to enjoy the trip around the World!

Italy Pavilion / Epcot's World Showcase

3. Taking a million pictures on Kilimanjaro Safaris. I’ve stopped trying to NOT do this. I can ride the Safaris five times on a single vacation and I will snap pics like I’ve never been there before. I’m convinced my family appreciates this phenomenon as just another of my many adorable quirks. And if they don’t, I don’t care. Look! An Okapi!

2. People watching from the Dawa Bar. Give me an Old Elephant Foot IPA and a place to stand. This is a great spot for soaking up the atmosphere in Africa. I don’t have very many must-do’s on every trip, but this is absolutely one of them.

And Number One…

Walking down Main Street USA. I can’t be alone here. This is probably something the majority of people love to do on a Disney vacation. It’s the ultimate I-am-back feeling. Familiar sights, sounds, and smells. The lovely air of nostalgia. There’s Cinderella Castle in all her glory…a familiar and beloved sight that will be especially welcome to these weary eyes…they’ll probably start leaking.

View of Cinderella Castle from Main Street U.S.A.

What will you be looking forward to the most on your next visit?

Our (Spoiler Free) Rise of the Resistance Story

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We absolutely did not want to miss out on an opportunity to experience Rise of the Resistance and had only one morning to work it out. We did it! Here’s how it went…

Note: Currently, to experience this attraction, guests must first enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios park and use the My Disney Experience app to obtain a boarding group number. The numbers have been going fast once they become available for booking. Currently, that booking window begins when the Disney’s Hollywood Studios is officially open for the day. Once a boarding group number has been assigned, guests can use the app (tip: turn on notifications) to see which groups are boarding during the day. Once a guest’s group number has been called, that guest has two hours to return to Rise of the Resistance for entry.

Our (Spoiler Free) Rise of the Resistance Story

Our alarm went off just after 5:00 am on Monday morning and by 6:10 we were in front of the Contemporary waiting for our Lyft driver. Honestly, after four days of the Dopey Challenge – 5:00 am felt like a luxuriously late wake-up time.

Our ride (worth every penny) dropped us off at Disney’s Hollywood Studios just after 6:30 and we quickly made our way into the park. Finding a position to wait on Hollywood Boulevard close to the Trolley Car Cafe put us in the perfect position to grab breakfast once we’d snagged our (hopefully) low boarding group number.

Joseph and I both had our My Disney Experience apps open on our phones and he, Raymond and I stood with hundreds (thousands?) of others waiting for the official park-opening time of 7:00 am. I wish I could accurately describe the atmosphere! In the early morning light, there was an air of anticipation among the park guests surrounding us; all waiting for the exact same moment. A hush fell over the crowd, our phones counted down, and at precisely 7:00 am, we heard a bell chime nearby. Then, happy shouts and cheers began all around as different groups were assigned a boarding group number. We got ours immediately: Number 29.

Boarding group 29 seemed perfect to us. Our plans for the day were originally at Disney’s Animal Kingdom with FastPasses booked for Kilimanjaro Safaris followed by Expedition Everest, a lunch ADR for Yak & Yeti, and Flight of Passage to wrap up the day. If we got on Rise of the Resistance in a decent time, we could head for Animal Kingdom without missing a single thing. We watched our phones as boarding group numbers were added as we enjoyed our coffees and breakfast sandwiches on a bench on Sunset Boulevard.

Navigating the Queue

Before long, it was time! We headed straight for Batuu and entered the line for Rise of the Resistance. A Cast Member holding a sign made the end of the line very easy to find. We moved quickly forward and watched in dismay as the dad in the group in front of us continually pulled, pried, and wiggled any and everything along the way in an attempt to obtain a “souvenir”. I’m happy to report that he was unsuccessful (what a jerk!). Just when it seemed like we must be nearing the actual entrance to the attraction, we stopped moving. Several minutes passed and…nothing. After a few more minutes, we were surprised by Cast Members bearing snacks and water. Raymond and Joseph enjoyed bananas and Joseph snagged a cookie to go with his. While we certainly appreciated the hospitality, the snack/water distribution made us feel like whatever was broken wasn’t going to be fixed any time soon.

And We Were Right

Suddenly, we were moving again and…I promised to be spoiler-free here…we entered Rise of the Resistance and proceeded to be blown away! It was amazing! The level of detail, the sights, sounds, story-line…all absolutely incredible. I had goosebumps! And then…we were evacuated. Clearly we had just gotten to what appeared to be the most fun part of the experience and that part wasn’t operating. So, feeling excited by what we’d seen so far and pretty disappointed by what we were missing, we let a Cast Member scan our Magic Bands with the promise that we could return later in the day and ride any time, once the attraction was back up and running again.

Off to Animal Kingdom

It was still early and we had plenty of time to get to Animal Kingdom. We decided to hop on the Skyliner and ride over to check out the new Riviera Resort where we could catch a bus to Animal Kingdom. By watching the boarding group numbers on our app, we could tell when Rise of the Resistance started operating again. By 2:30 in the afternoon, we’d done all we’d planned and Animal Kingdom and were on our way back to Batuu.

This time, we knew what to expect during the first part of Ride of the Resistance. The knowledge allowed us to position ourselves to better see and hear different aspects and details we’d missed the first time. There’s a lot of detail! Things are easy to overlook because so much is going on all around you. I believe this is what will make us (and other guests) want to experience Ride of the Resistance several times. If you’re on the fence, I say DO IT! This attraction is completely different from anything else at Walt Disney World.

We were very pleased with how the day turned out. We got to ride Rise of the Resistance one-and-a-half times, didn’t miss any of our plans in Animal Kingdom and saw a bit of the Riviera Resort. We even had plenty of time to go back to Bay Lake Tower, change for dinner, and stop by Enchanted Rose (Grand Floridian) for a cocktail before enjoying dinner at Shula’s Steakhouse (Dolphin Resort). Don’t you love it when a plan comes together this well?

So? Have you experienced Rise of the Resistance? Want to? What are your thoughts about it?

Walt Disney World Skyliner – Taking Flight!

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We didn’t know what to expect. For sure, I had my doubts. Would we even find Disney World’s newest form of transportation convenient? We hopped on the Skyliner and were surprised by what happened next!

Walt Disney World Skyliner – Taking Flight!

After the infamous Skyliner breakdown during its first week of operation, there was lots of chatter about Disney’s gondola system. Positives and negatives crowded social media as Walt Disney World guests took to the sky for the first time. According to many, fear of heights, motion-sickness, and concern about overheating were top reasons for avoiding the Skyliner. Raymond, Joseph and I weren’t worried about any of those things. We simply thought the Skyliner wouldn’t be a necessary option for us. We could travel between Epcot and the Studios by our customary Friendship Boat. The boats provide reliable, relaxing transport and we enjoy taking in the sights along the way.

When the time came for us to leave Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we exited the park and started walking towards the boat ramp. We noticed the Skyliner had absolutely no crowd. No wait at all! A number of signs provided instructions and other information about the gondola system. Curiosity got the best of us and we hopped right on!

Up, up and away!

What a fantastic experience! We (meaning mostly me) had fun checking out the huge variety of characters on many of the gondolas. I called out the character names as they went by (which I’m sure made Raymond and Joseph glad we had the gondolas to ourselves). We could see far in every direction as the Skyliner moved quickly along towards the transfer station. The gondolas were so well ventilated that my hair blew everywhere – swirling around my head the entire time. I promptly discovered #gondolahair and realized that if one wants to look presentable for a special dinner or other event, the Skyliner isn’t coif-friendly in any way.

We transferred gondolas to continue our trip to Epcot which was a quick and easy process. Before long we touched down outside the International Gateway and were headed for the World Showcase and those Food & Wine Festival booths. My hair may have been a bit messier than usual, but the Walt Disney World Skyliner was a pleasant surprise and a super fun mode of transportation. We can’t wait to ride it again.

Have you been on the Skyliner? What did you think about the ride? How was your hair?

Toy Story Land – Breakfast at Woody’s Lunch Box

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An early morning FastPass for Toy Story Midway Mania left us hungry in Toy Story Land. Rather than fight the crowded walkway to an alternative, we found an uncrowded Woody’s Lunch Box open for breakfast. Was is good? Did we love it? Would we eat there again? Let me tell you about…

Toy Story Land – Breakfast at Woody’s Lunch Box

We were with our friends Nick and Barbie and Nick’s mom, Frieda. The whole Lunch Box set up is adorable (hello, giant thermos!). Umbrella tables are available and the seats look like they’ve been made from pieces of Babybel Cheese (a clear sponsor). The menu is limited but interesting.

Raymond and I were trying not to overeat (to have room for lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby) so instead of the breakfast bowl, “Hearty portion of Potato Barrels smothered in Smoked Brisket Country Gravy, Scrambled Eggs and a sprinkling of Green Onions” which sounded amazing yet filling, we each opted for a turkey sandwich. It sounded great: “Thick-sliced Smoked Turkey Breast, Melted Swiss Cheese, and Scrambled Eggs on Grilled Sourdough” and was indeed delicious. The sandwich size is a pretty generous portion. We probably could have shared one and been satisfied. Tip: Raymond found some spicy sauce packets (buffalo-style) and the addition of this sauce elevated our humble turkey sandwiches into an even higher level of deliciousness.

As you may already know, we’re not huge fans of quick service restaurants in the Studios in general. Having been pleasantly surprised by our breakfast at Woody’s Lunch Box, we may have to reconsider other places in the future. Maybe it’s an indication that Disney’s working harder on their quick service game as the park’s expansions open? Or…maybe we were so hungry that anything would have tasted good? We’ll definitely give Woody’s another try and let you know for sure.

Have you eaten at Woody’s Lunch Box? How was your experience?