Ahhh beautiful Hollywood Studios! And a nearly empty park to start our morning. We had a pre-park opening dining reservation at Hollywood and Vine, which allowed us in the park an hour before park opening! The reservation was made in an effort to avoid the chaos of signing up for Jedi Training when the park opens and it really paid off! We arrived to the gate at 7:45am and we were let in to the park at 8am. We strolled over to Jedi Training sign-up with the boys while my parents checked into the restaurant for our reservation. Easy peasy!
Hollywood and Vine has the Disney Junior characters like Sofia, Handy Manny, Jake, and Doc McStuffins. We had lunch on our last trip there and enjoyed the buffet and character meets, even though we had to wait a bit for our table. This trip we weren't really going for the characters, but the boys still seemed to buy into the excitement of meeting them! And it was our first taste of Micky waffles this trip! So delicious!
After breakfast, the park had already opened. We decided we were going to head over to the Moana meet and greet at One Man's Dream. There was a 20 minute wait posted, so we sucked it up and stood in a line that felt like it never moved. It reminded me of meeting Ariel in her grotto at Magic Kingdom. But, the boys loved meeting her and they even brought their leis they received after seeing the movie in the theater to give her as a present!
After meeting Moana, we were in the process of walking over to the new Star Wars section of the park: Launch Bay when we saw people congregating in front of the main stage. Turns out the March of the First Order was about to take place! We grabbed some spots near the front so we could see and it was probably one of my favorite experiences this trip watching the stormtroppers marching by and interacting with the crowd. The boys loved it! The music really made the whole thing seem so surreal. It was also a great opportunity to get our sunscreen on for the day and feed some random duck hanging out by our stroller!
We finally made it over to Launch Bay and decided to skip the wait for Chewbacca (45 mintutes) and decided to see Kylo Ren instead. It ended up being a fast moving line to meet Kylo Ren and we also saw the Jawas. We strolled through Launch Bay looking at the memorabilia from the movies and, of course, the gift shop! It was a miracle we walked out of there without buying a lightsaber. They were certainly pushing those toys!
By this point it was time to split up for our first Fastpass of the day. All the boys were off to the Star Tours ride simulator, while my mom and I were going to go to the Frozen Sing-Along. Luckily, they were very close to each other. We made a plan to meet up after ours let out before the boys had to report for their Jedi Training. So, I love Frozen. And I was told this sing-along was very good and maybe I would have enjoyed it more if the kids were with me. But, it just didn't do much for me. And I hated how they corralled us into a holding area for 20 minutes before the show started and we could get seats. The "hosts" of the sing-along were funny at first, but their humor got old quick. Oh well! At least we were in air conditioning.
The boys enjoyed their Star Tours and made "build-your-own droids" in the gift shop. They had an ice cream as a snack to hold them over until after their Jedi Training.
Jedi Training was aaaaaaamaazing! It was everything I thought it would be and more! The boys met up with the others in their group over by the Indiana Jones gift shop. They were sat in order by height and then given their robes to wear. It was H-O-T! I picked a 12:40pm show and they had to report by 12:10pm. By then, it was some pretty intense heat and to have them wear robes on top of that...whew! They were excited, regardless.
The leader had them march down to the stage over by Star Tours and it was adorable! She would shout "Here come the Jedi!" and the kids had to shout "Here we come!" and everyone had to move out of their way. It was the cutest thing! And then the show started. The actors came out and got the kids into their position, they created the scene, and showed the kids the "Jedi moves". Sean followed along and got it all spot on. Evan sort of did his own thing with the lightsaber. When they weren't supposed to be flinging it around, he flung his around. When they did their moves, he stood there looking out at the park. Silly kid!
Then Kylo Ren and the Seventh Sister came out and the kids got to each take a turn battling them! The boys lucked out and were on the big stage with Kylo Ren (take note of where they were sitting on the circles in the first picture above). They did alright! They were definitely stiff, but at least they weren't afraid. It was such a cute show and they did a nice group shot at the end of all the kids.
The boys were tired by this point and needed a small break from the sun. We found a shady spot and let them make some pressed pennies. Then once again, we split up to do our next Fastpass. Scott and I headed off to ride Rock N' Roller Coaster that Aerosmith helped design, while my parents and the boys went on Toy Story Midway Mania. Rock N' Roller Coaster was sooo intense and a ton of fun! It was mostly in the dark with neon lights and super fast twists and turns. I had no idea it even went upside down multiple times. It all came so fast!
We met back up again by Launch Bay and watched a movie about them filming some of the more recent movies. It was a great opportunity for everyone to rest for a bit and in fact, Evan fell asleep just after the movie ended. My mom and dad sat with him in the air conditioning, while me, Scott, and Sean went to grab a pretzel and some drinks to have a snack. Evan woke back up a little while later and was awfully crabby. We tried bribing him to get in a good mood by taking him to a candy story where he picked out some Goofy candy from the dispensers, but it wasn't enough to talk him into riding Tower of Terror as our 3rd Fastpass. So, it was just me, Scott, and Sean.
It was time to head over to our early dinner reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. This place was soo cool! We sat in an old fashioned car, practically in the dark, while they played clips of old Sci-Fi movies, TV shows, and commercials. It felt like being at a drive-in movie theater! They had delicious burgers, fries, and milkshakes. The kids were just mesmorized. The whole restaurant was practically silent as all the kids were content just watching the clips and coloring on the coloring books they supplied. It was our favorite restaurant this trip!
After dinner, we did a little shopping on the main drag. Evan was still disappointed to not find anything Moana in the stores, but he found a Woody doll he fell in love with, complete with the string where he says several phrases. Sean was still not content with the gift shop contents. We rushed over to the last show of Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and had standing room only. We saw on a ledge for the first few minutes and then lucked out when the usher came and brought us to front and center! The kids loved this show with the explosions and the drama! It was so neat!
Our last attraction of the day before the Star Wars Fireworks was the Great Movie Ride. We tried to do this ride last trip, but I had a mini meltdown in line when the posted time said 20 minutes and we waited close to 40 minutes with no end in sight. Luckily, I was able to pick up a 4th Fastpass and we got right on. It was a cool ride! We saw the progression of the movie industry and the boys recognized several of the movies showcased.
It was finally time to find a spot for the Fireworks. We grabbed one last ice cream bar and popcorn refill for the evening and marked our territory. After a long day in the park, it felt surprisingly good to sit on the concrete and wait for the show to start. The boys played with their dollar store glow sticks and shared them with the girls in front of them, so that kept them entertained. And then it was show time! These fireworks were unbelievable! The projections, the movie clips, the audio, everything was spectacular and worth staying in the park all evening for!
It was a little bit of a zoo getting out of the park after the show and by the time we got back to the hotel both boys were asleep in their car seats. The next morning was our break from the parks, so it was nice to look forward to "sleeping in". We had a great day in Hollywood Studios! Despite it being under construction, we were entertained all day. It's definitely not a park for the rides (with the exception of Tower of Terror and Rock N' Roller Coaster), but the Star Wars additions and the shows are top notch!
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