Hollywood Studios fun

We enjoyed another fabulous day of touring.  It is often said that HS is a “Half-day park” meaning there is not much to do there anymore.  We managed to fill every iota of our day, and still didn’t get quite EVERYTHING finished. But we didn’t leave frustrated over the bits that we didn’t get to do.  We left exhausted and happy.
I was up again at 5 A.M. 

We had a breakfast of pancakes (made at home and transported frozen) and sausage.  (Oops – I brought twice the sausage we needed.)
We were in the car by 7:20 A.M. and en route to Hollywood Studios.
We did our devotions in the car again today.  It actually is working out well.


We were some of the first folks in the parking lot, again, and hurried our way to the gates.  Security was still setting up some tables, and John managed to get selected for higher level screening.  (Because all terrorists travel with their six kids, MIL and SIL?)


We were second in line at the tapstiles.

We we allowed in past the tapstiles around 8:30.  John and Tabitha hurried down the street to the left to get her signed up for Star Tours.  The rest of us hurried down the right side to queue for Toy Story Movie Mania (TSMM).  Amazingly, John and Tab got signed up and met us in line for the running of the bulls. 

It was at the dot of 9 AM that the CM allowed us to start walking to TSMM.  We got there and got right onto the ride. 

Afterward I went to the FP+ kiosk with our second set of bands to get another three rides.  The CM attending the kiosk was from Rochester. We got talking about the area.  She asked what I was doing with the bands.  I had removed our current ones as I approached the kiosk.  I wonder if they are going to be cracking down on how folks use two sets to navigate around the ride rationing system…  I’m glad they are still allowing it for now.  I grabbed FP+ for three more rides per person and hurried to meet up with the rest of the family over at Rock –n- Roller Coaster. 



Here is where our touring plan died a quick death not even a half-hour into the day.
See, even though it took me a solid ten minutes to navigate my two sets of magic bands, I still managed to get to RNRC just moments after the rest of my party.  First there was the issue of not knowing where to head. Then there were those pesky Storm Troopers. 


We had a blast on that ride.  The launch is just so great.

After RnRC, most of us did Tower of Tower.  We didn’t ALL do Tower of Terror…  There were a few who were intimidated by the queue. 

We disembarked too late to enjoy the Beauty and the Beast stage show.  We ended up never getting to see it.  We didn’t lament this, but moved on. 

We met Kylo Ren.  And by we, I mean everyone but me and Johanna.  This isn’t because I didn’t want to meet Kylo Ren.  It was because being a good mom sometimes means forgoing a much desired Meet and Greet in order to take your timorous and trembling five year old away from the Dark Side. 

We did meet some Jawas on the way out of the Launch Bay.

From there we took our second ride on Toy Story.

And then decided to have a really early lunch.  This was not a plan from the start, but ended up being a huge blessing.  We ate before the crowds and everything rocked for the rest of the day.
We ate at Backlot Express, and was surprised by how good a meal it was. AND it is one of the restaurants with refillable fountain drinks. 

We had a Plan Of Attack at this point.

First was Muppets. 


Tab had to report for the Jedi Training Academy, so John took her to the Resistance Headquarters somewhere D’Qar.  Marie, Nigel and Stewart went to Star Tours, and Nan, Nene, Johanna, Katriel & I went to meet Olaf.  There was No… Line… 


We watched Tabitha defeat Darth Vadar.

She rocked it.

And we planned to use our FP for the Great Movie Ride and made a quick stop to the bathroom.  And that was when Kelly and Tabitha spotted the coup d’etat: BOLT
Extremely rare to find, we enjoyed meeting our favorite movie dog.  This.  Was.  HUGE.  I LOVE BOLT!


After that we did the Great Movie Ride, then split up.
We stopped frequently for photos during the day.  We have a lot of fun “Magic Shots.”

The older four kids went to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and the rest of us when to Frozen Sing-a-long.  Frozen Sing-a-long was in AIR CONDITIONING.  ‘Nuff said.


This is when we learned that technology has disadvantages.  Texts did not go through properly and the older kids ended up missing the end of Indy.
The older four did another run on Star Tours while they waited for us to get back from Arendelle, then we all went on together. 


When we got back from saving the galaxy we hurried out to the exit for the unadvertised Character Palooza that I’d learned about.
This was really fabulous!

Dopey was also there, but we were hot and tired. 
We headed in for some light shopping and dinner.

Dinner was outstanding.  We’d reserved dinner at Mama Melrose for a Fantasmic Package.  In retrospect, we didn’t really need the passes, but it worked out really, really well for us.

Our server, Angela, was fantastic.  We had the best meal.  It included appetizers, entrees, beverages and dessert.  Every morsel was scrumptious and the portions were enormous.  The steak was mouth watering.  And it was worth every minute out of our touring time to enjoy this meal. 

APPS
Nigel had calamari.  Stewart and Marie enjoyed mozzarella and tomatoes. I had tuna. Some had salads.


From there we headed over to meet Chewbacca, and take another visit into Kylo Ren.

Then we enjoyed another run through Rock N Roller Coaster.  MAN is that ride fun!

And we headed over for our spots in Fantasmic!  I don’t love Fantasmic. Parts are fun.  I’m glad we did it.  Not in a hurry to see it again.


We left just before the finale, and headed down to main street for Star Wars fireworks.  Those were AMAZING. 

Kids were tired.
We made it out by staying close together.
And we tucked the little girls in bed with their clothes on.