Toy Story Land was a big hit!
We arrived to the park early, hoping to take advantage of some low wait times in the new Toy Story Land. It worked!! We rode Toy Story Mania followed by Alien Swirling Saucers with minimal wait times. Toy Story Mania was Briggs' favorite ride of the entire trip, and I think it was Zach's favorite and Papa's favorite too. Big win! Luckily I had gotten Fast Passes for Zach, Papa, Briggs, and Adelie to do it again later in the day, and then they waited in line for an hour to do it one last time because Briggs was adamant that he wanted to do it again.
Toy Story Mania is a whole family favorite.
Hollywood Studios houses Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, two of the bigger thrill rides in all of Disney. Staley was convinced that she wanted to do both, so I had gotten Fast Passes for us to do both rides. Although initially nervous, she loved Rock 'n' Roller Coaster so much that we waited in line later in the day for 45 minutes so she could ride it a second time.
Even though her face may not convey it...
...Staley deemed Rock 'n' Roller Coaster her favorite ride in all of Disney.
My rockin' little gal!
Tower of Terror, on the other hand, was not Staley's favorite ride. The creepy intro and set-up to the ride had Staley in tears, convinced that she didn't want to do it. However, having learned from our Expedition Everest situation, I insisted that Staley go through with the ride. We met some very supportive young adults in line who helped distract Staley. And although Staley cried her way through most of the ride, as soon as it was over, she announced "I liked it!" That drew a laugh from the rest of our plummeting elevator full of people who were probably judging me for dragging my crying child onto the ride in the first place. Contrary to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, however, Staley did not seek out an opportunity to do Tower of Terror again.
So scary!!
The other headlining ride for our day at Hollywood Studios was the new roller coaster in Toy Story Land called Slinky Dog Dash. Staley and I had a Fast Pass to do that one together, and we were able to use Uma's Fast Pass and rider swap to do it together a second time without a wait. It was a fun little coaster that Staley put into her top 5 rides at Disney. (She ranked her top 10 rides/attractions, but I've lost track of exactly what number between 2 and 5 Slinky Dog Dash ranked.) Staley, Uma, Papa, Adelie, and I also squeezed in a ride on Star Tours which is a motion simulated ride through Star Wars scenes. Staley and I enjoyed it, while Adelie didn't care for it and it made Uma and Papa a little motion sick. Lesson learned.
There's always time for photos on Star Wars props, even if my kids have never seen the movies.
Although there are not a ton of rides at Hollywood Studios, there are plenty of characters and shows to fill the rest of the day. We met lots of characters throughout the day. Some of the character interactions occurred while part of the family was off doing something else, but each kid got to meet at least some fun characters.
Pluto always cracks the kids up when he signs their autograph books by putting them on his nose.
A visit to Toy Story Land wouldn't be complete without meeting Buzz.
Staley and I had gotten in line to meet Woody and Jessie while waiting for the rest of the group to get done with Toy Story Mania. We were close to the front of the line when everyone joined us, but then the girls chose to go see the Frozen show that was starting soon rather than stay to meet Woody and Jessie. Briggs, however, passed on the show and loved all his attention from Woody and Jessie. They might have been his most favorite characters we met.
Because there were no lines to speak of, Adelie and Briggs met Sofia...
and Doc McStuffins.
Chewbacca was Briggs' favorite character when he was only 10 months old. I'm not sure if he still ranks among the tops for Briggs, but we meet him every time if for no other reason than to have comparison pictures from each trip. And because he's one of Zach's favorite characters.
Apparently Briggs and Adelie weren't so sure about Kylo Ren. You can probably tell by the serious side-eye Briggs is flashing.
The shows at Hollywood Studios are also entertaining. Briggs chose not to do most of them (and cried through the ones we took him to), but the rest of us enjoyed them. We saw the Little Mermaid show, the Frozen show, March of the Third Order, and Muppet Vision 3D. The girls always cracked me up at the 3D shows, reaching out to try to grab things that appeared to be floating towards them. Uma and Papa stayed with me and the girls for the night time show, Fantasmic, while Zach took Briggs back to the resort for an earlier bedtime. We had never stayed for the Fantasmic show before and we all really enjoyed it. Water displays and projections and fireworks and fire and boats and music and lots of special effects and Mickey and princesses and characters...I mean, they couldn't have fit much more into the show if they had tried. Briggs would have hated it!
Although some days Papa accused me of withholding food in order to fit in more fun, we did find time to eat at Hollywood Studios. We had a fun lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. It is fashioned after a 50's home and is made to seem like you are eating in a family kitchen being served by a family member. The food was all very good comfort food. Zach and I shared a sampler of fried chicken and pot roast and meatloaf. Yum!! However, I think the highlight might have been the peanut butter and jelly milkshake. For dinner, we used mobile ordering at Woody's Lunch Box in Toy Story Land. The food was nothing special and they only had outdoor seating at tables with umbrellas. Briggs was none too pleased.
Reality of waiting for our table at the Prime Time Café
Amazing the change when there is the promise of milk shakes if everyone just behaves.
Hollywood Studios was typically our least favorite park as a family, but the addition of Toy Story Land and the fact that my kids are growing into some of the bigger rides has really given it a boost. We had another full, fun, park-opening-to-park-closing day. For as much as we had packed into the week, it was still hard to believe we only had one park day left.
An incredible vacation with this incredible family
