Hollywood Studios, April 2017

The second park day of our April trip was spent at Hollywood Studios.  As always, we arrived at the park before opening.  On this Monday, the park was open from 9-9.  The fastpasses that we had planned were as follows: Star Tours 9-10, Toy Story Mania 10:10-11:10, and Tower of Terror 11:55-12:55.  If you read about our first day at Magic Kingdom, you know that we had hopes of Littlecjc being able to ride both Star Tours and Tower of Terror, which both have a 40" height requirement, but she was just a little too short.  (If you missed that first post, you can read it here.) 

Littlecjc didn't usually like wearing her band this trip, but she loved scanning it.  She knew every time there was a Mickey scanner that she needed her band.  Here, she's ready to start her day at Hollywood Studios. 

9:00

When the park officially opened, we decided to head to Rock N' Roller Coaster first.  Mom and I jumped in line, making Rock N' Roller Coaster attraction #1 and getting a fastpass so that Patrick could ride later.

Although it didn't take long for this ride, Patrick and Littlecjc didn't wait.  As soon as we entered the line with our rider swap pass, Patrick and Littlecjc took off to Toy Story Mania, attraction #2.

Even though we had fastpasses for this ride later, this is the main attraction right now at this park, especially for anyone under 40 inches.  By the time Patrick and Littlecjc got off this ride, Mom and I were waiting and watching Buzz and Woody with their meet and greets through the large window.  The wait to meet these two was already pretty large so we asked Littlecjc if she wanted to wait and she said no so we moved on.  Instead, we met Olaf, character #1.  

After our summer visit with Olaf, we needed to get to Star Tours while still within our fastpass time.  Patrick and I rode first, being sure to get a rider swap pass so that Mom could ride later if we decided to come back.  At that time, she said she didn't really care whether she rode it or not.  So while Patrick and I made Star Tours attraction #3 Mom and Littlecjc watched some Jedi Training.

10:00

With mom opting not to ride Star Tours now, we made our way to the Star Wars Launch Bay so that we could meet BB8, character #2.

This was our first visit with BB8 and Littlecjc thought it was great.  We decided to stay in the land of Star Wars and we waited to see Chewbacca, character #3 next.  With little ones, you never know how they are going to react from one day to another.  On our last trip, Littlecjc loved Chewy and called him the big doggy.  This trip, she didn't find him quite as lovable.

We decided to hold off on meeting Kylo Ren, because every time we've used our Visa for our special meet and greet, it's been him.  Instead, we made our way back to Toy Story Mania, attraction #4 to use our second fastpass.

11:00

Once we made it on and then off the ride, we decided to make our way to PizzaRizzo to check out the newly rethemed restaurant.  For me, I think I liked the old Pizza Planet theme better, but I understand it would have been out of place once the new Toy Story area opens.  Thankfully, the food seemed the same.

While we were eating, a super sweet cast member gave us paper fastpasses for Muppet Vission 3D.  Now, I know that fastpasses aren't at all needed for this attraction, and that she was probably only passing them out to encourage more people to stop in at that attraction, but that didn't dampen any magic feelings created by this cast member.  We enjoy this attraction anyway, so we headed there next with our fastpasses in hand.  They didn't save us any time, but we felt special anyway.  Littlecjc seems to be the perfect age for these 3D attractions and she loved Muppet Vision 3D attraction #5.

12:00

By the time we finished with the muppets, we convinced mom she really shouldn't skip out on Star Tours.  So Mom and I used our rider swap pass for Star Tours, attraction #6 while I think Patrick and Littlecjc watched some more Jedi Training.  By now, it was getting close to time for our final fastpass at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, attraction #7 & 8.  Patrick and I rode first while Mom stayed with Littlecjc.

1:00

This time around, we immediately swapped riders and Patrick stayed with Littlecjc while Mom and I took our turn.

After using these fastpasses, we got on the app to see if we could get any more.  We ended up with The Voyage of the Little Mermaid for the 3:00 show.  With this in mind, we headed that way to see some Disney Jr. characters.  We tried encouraging Littlecjc towards those with shorter lines, but she pretty much had free range here.  Her number 1 stop this time was Jake, character #4.

Next up, was Doc McStuffins, character #5.

After Doc, we found the shortest line for Pluto, character #6.

2:00

At this point, Daddy intervened and suggested seeing a space man.  So, we made our way back inside the Star Wars Launch Bay to take advantage of the Visa Cardholders meet and greet.  Yet again, it was Kylo Ren, character #7.

We were a little disappointed this time that he didn't talk to us.  I hope this was a one off, because that is always my favorite part.  After our visit to the dark side, we had one more Disney Jr. face to see.  Sofia the First, character #8.

By the time we made it through Sofia's line, we didn't really have time to go anywhere else before entering for The Little Mermaid with our fastpasses.  So we just stepped outside of the animation courtyard to get a drink and our picture in front of the Studios sign.

This worked out well, and we were back in time to use our fastpass at The Little Mermaid.

3:00

Voyage of the Little Mermaid, attraction #9 started right at 3:00.  Littlecjc made it through this show, but just barely.  When we left the theater, we put her in her stroller and made our way down Sunset Boulevard.  By the time we made it to Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, attraction #10 she was out.  Patrick and I used the rider swap pass, while mom sat out with Littlecjc.

4:00

Since Littlecjc was out, we figured it was the perfect time to ride The Great Movie Ride, attraction #11.  This was great in theory, but it could have been bad if it was anyone else besides my kid.  Littlecjc of course woke up during the Alien scene which probably would have been a disaster for most kids, but Littlecjc just gave the alien attacking from above a weird look before sitting up to enjoy the rest of the ride.

5:00

I love the Minnie and Mickey at Studios, because come on, Sorcerer Mickey!! So, we took the time here to meet first Minnie, character #9.

and then Mickey, character #10.

6:00-8:00

By 6:00, we were eating dinner at the Backlot Express.  When we finished eating, we asked Littlecjc what she wanted to do and she of course chose Toy Story Mania.  We had to stop to get our picture taken at the Pixar Place sign.

I think the line for the ride was about 40 minutes so we explained that we would have to wait a long time, but she said that's what she wanted to do.  She did great in line, and Toy Story Mania became attraction #12.

It was after 7:30 by time we got off the ride, so we hurried over to the Fantasmic theater as soon as we were done.  Although this theater is very large, we still try to get there 45 minutes to an hour early to ensure a seat.  We were lucky when some young (probably high school aged) girls sat down behind us, because they entertained Littlecjc until the show started.  They all had a little dance party and she showed off for them the entire time.  At 8:30 Fantasmic started.  I love this show, and we chose to concentrate on seeing this show and then opting to leave the park without trying to watch glimpses of both Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks.  If you've seen my Studios post from our past October trip, you know that we saw part of the Star Wars fireworks but none of Fantasmic.  So, we knew what we were missing, but we also knew that if we tried to watch the fireworks after Fantasmic that we wouldn't get a good viewing spot and we would have missed the first half of the show anyway.  We were happy to learn though, that we could watch the fireworks as we left the park, and actually had a good view from the bus stop.  We obviously missed all the projections on the castle, but it did make waiting for a bus a lot more enjoyable.  If you're keeping track, we caught 13 attractions (if you count Fantasmic) and we met 10 characters.  Not a bad day!