So the second day of our Disney trip included what I remembered to be my favorite park: Hollywood Studios. I have fond memories of the old Hollywood-glam look and feel, the really fun rides (like Tower of Terror, which my mom and I rode so many times!), and also cool restaurants. Fortunately, my memory served me right and we all loved this park. I think everyone said it was their favorite (and best, out of three great, day).
At the advice of some travel blogs, we rushed back to Toy Storyland right as the park opened, hitting the (already) 40-min line for the Slinky Dog Dash right upon entrance. Maryn felt pretty brave after loving Splash Mountain, so she decided to stay with me and JB (while James and Wesley went to check out the area). Even as the rollercoaster zoomed all over and around us, she remained committed...
Poor gal did NOT enjoy the ride once on it! It moved fast and whipped around and around. JB and I loved it, but poor Maryn had her head down and in my lap the entire time.
It started sprinkling on us during the Dash, so we quickly tucked into the ride one over where we also met up with James and Wesley.
Then we headed as a family over to Toy Story Mania which turned out to be a SUPER fun ride/game, all in 3D and involving a little competition of target shooting. Of course, we all got competitive. :)
We walked out of Toy Story Mania to a MASSIVE DOWNPOUR. Social distancing out the window, we huddled with several other families under an awning and waited for it to pass. Which, fortunately ('cause it's Florida) it went as quickly as it came.
We headed over to the Muppet Vision 3D (one of James' favs from childhood) to watch it. Monster did come out in the audience but Maryn did
great and didn't freak out.
We got some snacks because, well, DISNEY. Rules out the window, I even let them eat the artificial flavored / colored cheese dip with their pretzels.
Even prior to arriving at Disney, JB had talked about the Tower of Terror ride. He had heard me talk about it, his Grammy talk about it, we watched a YouTube video, and he proclaimed it his #1 aspiration of our Disney trip. Of course he wanted to ride it the second we arrived at Disney, but patiently waited until the right time. He kept telling me (himself??) when I asked him if he was sure he wanted to do it: "look, super smart engineers built it, no one has died on it, it's perfectly safe."
We waited in the long with another family that had a young boy. As we went into the building, and the room got darker and colder and eerier, I could tell JB tensed up a bit. However, once we got off, he said he LOVED IT. It wasn't until after the ride when I saw the picture that I realized he gripped my arm the entire time!
We met up with the rest of the family afterwards for our lunch reservation at Minnie's Diner. All our favorite Mickey Mouse characters showed up and the kids (even Maryn) loved it! Of course the characters couldn't give hugs or take pictures, but they came over to every table and waved and said hi. Little Wesley could not stop flirting with Minnie and I got a precious video.
Oh, and the food was delicious. Everyone cleaned their plate and the desserts put a huge smile on everyone's face.
After lunch we headed over to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. Now, our kids know little-to-nothing about Star Wars, and James and I have (
gasp) never seen a single Star Wars movie. I even told someone we'd probably skip that part of the park. I'm so glad people convinced me otherwise (AND filled me in on some tricks and tips to getting in the virtual queue, which takes mad skillz on the Disney App.) I managed to get us in right after lunch, and James and I took advantage of the rider-swap benefit so that we could both go (and lucky JB rode twice!)
The Galaxy Edge ride blew me away. Not so much a ride but an experience. Just super cool and I can appreciate all the technology and creativity that went into building and running it.
After hanging out in the Star Wars area for a while, we headed back over to the center of Hollywood for the new Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway. Of course, as all lines do right now at Disney, we wrapped around half the park while waiting. BUT, the benefit to these spaced out lines is that you always feel like you're moving...even if it's around and around for an hour.
This was the only ride where we all five fit into the same train car, and we loved it! If the line had been shorter, we would have hopped back in it to ride again.
We finished up with Lightening McQueen and Cars, one of Wesley's favorite (as you can tell by his mask). The boys really enjoyed it.
On our way out the park we allowed JB to pick a souvenir, since the littles had bought bubble makers while we rode Tower of Terror. He selected a build-your-own light saber.
On the way out to the bus I realized how long we'd been at the park! The sun was starting to set. Yet still, everyone had energy and behaved and walked with smiles on their faces. Just a GREAT day.
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