A dramatic sunrise for what would be - for me at any rate - the highlight of our Florida Vacation: Hollywood Studios, featuring the Star Wars-themed park section, Galaxy's Edge.
We were out of the condo and on the road before 8am, largely due to my own excitement for the day's itinerary: several of our friends have already experienced the new Star Wars section of Hollywood Studios and had nothing but praise for it, but this was going to be our first time seeing it (last time we were down to Florida in 2019 that part of the park was still under construction, debuting a few months after we left.)
I had heard nothing but negative things about Disney's new Genie+ 'Fastpass' system (their way of minimizing wait times for guests, which I'll detail more in a sec), and was anticipating huge crowds and abysmal wait times. The parking entrance was busy, but not overly so - about the same as what we've always experienced at Disney parks during the summer months.
It was going to be a hot, cloudless day in Central Florida, but about five degrees cooler than our scorching days in Aquatica and Sea World. Still, Disney does a good job at keeping its guests cool - outdoor fans strategically placed around the park, indoor air-conditioned queues, etc. - so we were optimistic.
The roommates, trying to keep up.
Our friends, the Voigts, were once again getting us into the park for free (which, as always, was greatly appreciated), and we were to meet them outside the ticket gates right as the park opened.
(Alayna asked to try taking a picture with my SLR)
After about five minutes we met up with the Voigts and started forward in the ticket line. . .
They gave us each our own day passes for the park, and with which we would be able to get into future parks later on our trip (they were able to hook us up with two days of Disney Parks, so, as they were Park Hopper passes, we planned on splitting our second day doing Animal Kingdom and either Magic Kingdom or Epcot.)
Coming into the main thoroughfare at the entrance of the park (I forget what its called at Hollywood Studios, but its similar to Main Street USA at Magic Kingdom.)
It looks pretty crowded here, but that's because everyone entering the park has to navigate down this single street.
The Cannonball becomes annoyed I'm stopping so frequently to take pictures (something I'd be doing a lot of throughout the day.)
Sweet socks, bro.
The Chinese Theater (not the real one.) This used to be The Great Movie Ride, but - as you're about to see - this was recently changed.
Mandatory family picture in front of an iconic building.
And one with Kris' phone.
. . . and one of the Voigts.
This is what this ride is now.
Lindsey had reserved our first Genie+ ride for 9:30am (for $15 per person per day, you get to reserve one ride every two hours), and had snagged a coaster ride in the Toy Story section of the park, which wasn't at the top of our priority list but she insisted it should be our first reservation. Apparently that ride books out quickly, so if you don't grab it right away it fills up and you're unable to get it at all later in the day. Some of the rides I really wanted to do - Smuggler's Run, namely - is largely available throughout the day if you utilize the Genie+ system. Seeing how they all work for Disney and know way more about this stuff than we do, we took their word for it.
So, since we had like 45 minutes to kill between our arrival at that coaster ride, we first stopped off to hit up this new Mickey ride. The Standby wait time said 30 minutes, but it was honestly closer to 15 minutes.
Kris makes a friend.
Inside queue at the Chinese Theater. . .
Getting closer.
Preparing to set out on some runaway train or something.
As I did on our last go-around with these Florida amusement parks, I once again opted not to take video of any of the rides on this trip: the videos never turn out great, and after you wait in line for these rides you honestly just want to sit back and enjoy them. So, just like last time, I'm going to link the 4K, POV videos that professionals have taken of each of these rides and upload them from Youtube for your viewing pleasure (and reference.) You're welcome.
Following that ride, we made our way over towards the back right area of the park, where the new Toy Story section is located.
The whole area here is supposed to look like Andy's backyard from the films (or at least that's what Adam tells me. . .)
Here's that ride we were heading towards - Slinky Dog Dash.
(We'd be doing this later on in the day.)
Some of the kids had to use the restrooms prior to going on the ride (I was happy there were real toilets and not like toy toilets made out of giant wooden blocks or some shit. . .)
We arrived at the ride right when we were supposed to (they give you like an hour window so you have a little bit of flex in your schedule) and the wait time was non existent.
This kid's diagrams look like garbage. He must be special needs.
Preparing to board. . .
Close to that Slinky Dog coaster was some saucer ride that had a reasonable wait time (maybe 30 minutes - it would end up being our longest wait of the day.) We had some time to kill before our next engagement, so we said 'what the hell'. . .
Buzz Lightyear stands guard over the entrance.
We used our time waiting in line to schedule our next Genie+ ride - Smuggler's Run - for 2:45pm. You get to reserve one ride every two hours, so after two more hours pass we'd be able to reserve another ride. Between these different reserved rides, we'd still have time to walk on to many of the not-as-popular rides, have lunch, etc. Everyone was cool with this plan, and I was just happy to know that we had the one ride I wanted to do the most securely locked in.
Spinny saucer thingies.
Having a blast
Kris and her damn selfies. . .
Having done a couple rides over in the Toy Story neck of the woods, we decided to knock out a few of the older rides towards the middle of the park before their lines got too crazy.
(Not a real brontosaurus.)
A classic that is definitely overlooked now that the larger Star Wars stuff is established elsewhere in the park.
You gotta get some gratuitous shots of the imperial walker. . .
The queue inside Star Tours, featuring this ol' dynamic duo. . .
Aaaaaand of course you have to exit through a gift shop. . .
Some of the kids were starting to get a little hungry by late morning, so upon leaving Star Tours Adam led us over to a print-themed pub (because it's Adam) called The Baseline so we could pick the kids up some pretzels and drinks for the kids (and beers for us adults, of course.)
He wanted to show us this place because I guess it gets pretty busy as the day draws on. When we got there it wasn't too bad, but it was only 11am so we were just getting into the legit lunch time territory.
(Those are printing press pieces on the wall above the bartender. . . at least that's what Adam tells me.)
This half-hour stop bought us some time with the kids as the day started to heat up. Nothing worse than putting miserable kids on a forced march.
After our pit stop at The Baseline, we set off across the park in order to hit up some more walk-on rides. So, as we passed back by Star Tours, I felt compelled to take more pics of All Terrain Assault Transports.
We reached the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular just as the next show was about to start - our timing was impeccable.
So as the show was starting we were told that due to some technical difficulties we would only be able to watch the first part of the three-part show, which was fine with us because that meant we'd be able to squeeze in more rides between now and the time for Smuggler's Run.
Around this time of the morning, we were able to reserve another ride (Toy Story Mania), this one during the 1-2pm window, right before our reservation for Smuggler's Run.
The girls were both kinda meh with this, which isn't too surprising - I can't see Disney holding on to this for very much longer. As much as I loveIndiana Jones (my all-time favorite movies, after all), I'm honestly surprised it's still there at all..
After the shorter-than-usual stunt show, we headed out towards Galaxy's Edge at long last. . .
Along the way, we passed through the Muppet section of the park. Once it seemed as if Disney was going to do away with the attraction, but Adam told us they decided instead to double down on the Muppet franchise and expand the section of the park.
And I'm 100% cool with this, because I f***ing love The Muppets.
The wait time was next to nothing for this one, so we stopped off for a short detour.
Virgil Q's Dixieland Kazoo Revue, waiting for wives and kids to finish up in the restrooms.
Preparing to enter Muppet Studio. . .
After the short - but air-conditioned - show, we continued on towards Galaxy's Edge. . .
Keith Moon incarnate.
This discreet tunnel entrance leads to newly-added Star Wars section of the park. . .
The decor shift is subtle, but it's there. . .
Even the drink kiosks are themed.
An A-Wing 'Jedi' Fighter.
Gonk droids.
An X-Wing fighter (with a few douchebags posing in front of it.)
The entrance to the Galaxy's Edge marketplace, the insides of which resemble some kind of middle eastern bazaar..
This new addition to the park place was f***ing incredible.
Entering the marketplace
Shops and market stalls lined this huge open-air marketplace, some actually sell stuff, some are just for 'atmosphere.'
Ah yes, the ol' light shop. . .
Miniature speeders and some luggage
Picking out Christmas Tree ornaments in one of the market shops - a requirement on Hough family vacations.
We still had a couple hours to kill before our allotted time for Smuggler's Run, so we just walked around Galaxy's Edge, ducking in and out of shops and stuff and allowing Yours Truly to take, like, 5,000 pictures.
Droid mechanics working at a speeder garage. I assume.
Behold the Space Restrooms. . .
Kylo Ren's ship. But who cares, the Sequel movies were straight-up garbage.
I was on Cloud Nine in this place, you bet your ass.
After walking around for a bit, taking it all in, we stopped off at one of the Star Wars restaurants the Voigts recommended and put our name down for a table for lunch, since the wait time was pretty long. This worked out pretty well for us seeing how we still had to run over to Toy Story Mania.
Behold. . . theMillenium Falcon.
If you could go back in time and tell 12-year-old Brian J. Hough that one day he would not only get to stand in front of the Falcon, but that he'd actually get to f***ing FLY IT (Smugglers Run is a simulator ride where you fly the Falcon), he would have never believed you.
(Adam asked us to 'use the Force,' the girls weren't having it.)
. . .and one with the dads.
You can never have enough pictures of the Millennium Falcon, kids. . .
Some weird-ass statue outside a Jedi 'training temple' (where you can build your own lightsaber.)
Back in Toy Story Land.
The Genie+ system works incredibly well, we practically walked right onto this ride. . .
I usually destroy Kris at the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom, and this one is very similar, but instead of utilizing triggers like the Buzz ride, Toy Story Mania have some weird pull-string sticking out of the back, and for the life of me I just couldn't get the hang of it. As a result, Kris beat me like a red-headed step-child.
After the ride, we pulled out our phones and started checking out the menu for that Star Wars restaurant. . .
Leaving Toy Story Land, headed to lunch.
Just as we got to the restaurant (which just so happens to overlook Smuggler's Run and the Millennium Falcon, which I'm taking pics of here), it started to rain. Nothing too crazy, just your usual Florida, afternoon downpour that passes over in an hour or so.
We had about ten minutes to kill, so while the rest of our party huddled against the outside wall of the restaurant, I braved the downpour so I could snap off a few more pictures of the Falcon.
Abby shelters from the rain and kills some time on her phone while waiting for our lunch reservation.
Seriously couldn't get over this thing being real.
At long last, we were allowed to enter the restaurant and place our orders at the pick-up counter.
The interior decor of this place was okay, but nothing super impressive - just like a hangar bay or some shit.
This one one of those order-up joints, like the Pecos Bill Cafe in Magic Kingdom. I just ordered a beer, I wasn't really hungry (its hard for me to eat a lot when its hot out.)
Who the hell knows what's on tap with handles like this. . .
I found us a table as the rest of our party were waiting for their food orders - we were seriously lucking out today.
This is how you lunch, people.
Outside the blast doors, it was pouring rain out - we've had nothing but incredible timing today.
After we finished up eating (and drinking) we stepped outside to find that the rain had stopped. Hell yes.
We still had like ten minutes or so before we could jump into the FastPass lane for Smuggler's Run, so we decided to kill some time hitting up the marketplace
. . .and hitting up the restrooms.
For all the cool Star Wars stuff everywhere, and for all the merch shops scattered about Galaxy's Edge, there wasn't a whole hell of a lot that caught my eye. I didn't buy much of anything today.
FINALLY, it was time to fly the Falcon. . .
The line to this ride queues up right behind the ship itself, which was kinda cool.
Usually I'm pretty respectful of the people around me in lines when it comes to pictures and stuff, but it's not everyday you get to experience a childhood dream. . . so I was overly-obnoxious with the picture-taking throughout Galaxy's Edge, but especially with this Falcon stuff. Other people be damned.
This ride is insanely popular (hence us only being able to grab a 2:45pm reservation when we booked at 9am), so even with our reservation there was a short line. . . though some of this was due to the staggered queue (akin to Haunted Mansion or Mission Control.)
Boarding the Falcon was definitely surreal. . .
They only take six people at a time onto the ride, so they stagger the groups prior to boarding like so.
A legit Dejarik table, as seen inA New Hope.
If the line hadn't been moving so quickly I would have tied to get a picture here. Oh well, maybe next time. . .
Seriously. I had f***ing chills walking through this queue.
Watching the instructional video shortly before entering the cockpit. They split our group up into two groups of four, with us going in one and the Voigts going into another, then they added two randoms to each of our groups to fill out all six 'roles' for n the ride.
When we entered the cockpit - which looks identical to the one in the movies, I nearly wept - Kris asked me which role I wanted for the ride. . . as if I could be anyone but Han motherf***ing Solo. After seating myself in the Captain's seat (as Pilot), Abby sat down beside me in Chewbacca's seat (as Co-Pilot), then Kris and Alayna took the seats directly behind us as the Gunners. The two randoms that were added to our group - a young-ish couple in their late 20s, thereabouts - were then brought in and placed in the two seats towards the back, as the Engineers.
This was, hands down, one of the best rides I've ever been on. Easily in my Top 3 of All Time for Disney parks.
I had this down to a science seconds into the ride, but Abby struggled.
31% isn't a great rating, but it never hurts to be referred to as a Pirate.
Back outside in Galaxy's Edge. . .
The backside of some ship (that's most likely not operational.)
The group, strolling around Star Wars. . .
Abby and I, posing in front of. . . something.
Taking a closer look inside some storage lockers that were lining one of the pathways that ran between a couple space-ish looking buildings.
The gang, posing in front of Kylo Ren's ship.
Post-downpour skies over some rocky spires.
Wouldn't really be Star Wars without the infamous blue milk, now would it. . .
Slainte (mine has booze, Abby's - obviously - doesn't.) These things cost like $12 or so apiece, and Abby took like three sips of hers then decided she no longer wanted it and tossed it in the trash. I hate kids.
Another gonk droid.
Some more familiar faces. . . though I'm not sure what their names are. Not that big of a nerd.
By about 3:30, with most of Hollywood Studios already vanquished, the Voigts asked us if we wanted to pop over to another park for a few hours and maybe hit up a couple rides over there before returning to Hollywood Studios for our next scheduled Genie+ thing, Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster (which we had booked earlier for a 7pm return time.) Now, we ourselves had planned on doing Animal Kingdom for the morning/early afternoon in two days time, but our girls were split on which of the remaining two parks - Epcot or Magic Kingdom - to do once we were finished with it. Abby wanted Magic Kingdom, due to all the rides that are there, and Alayna wanted Epcot due to the fact that there's a Japan featured in the World Showcase. Seeing how we only had three or so hours to work with today before our next Genie+ thing, and there was less to check off our to-do list at Epcot, we suggested Epcot so that we'd have more time at Magic Kingdom in a couple days.
Passin' back by this dude again. . .
Exiting out the front ticket gates. Slightly less busy at 3:30 in the afternoon.
With the gondolas out of commission (due to thunder in the distance), the Voigts suggested we take the ferry instead, which would drop us off at the back of park, right in the middle of the World Showcase (thereby saving time.)
All aboard.
This was our first time traveling on one of these ferries while in the parks, though we've seen them floating around for years.
We didn't realize it at the time of getting on board, but this ferry made a couple scheduled stops on our way to Epcot, so the travel time between parks was like a half an hour or so - not terrible, and faster than the gondolas, but a little frustrating.
After disembarking, we saw the gondola station, located right next door to the docks.
We were hoping that on the way back these things would be operational - haven't ever ridden on these things either.
Setting off into the World Showcase. . .
This side walkway (leading away from the docks and gondola station) exits out right between England and France. And, as you can clearly see here, we just so happened to pop into Epcot during the annual Flower & Garden Festival.
Walked right by France on our way to Japan and didn't stop at all. F*** the French.
Here's Morocco. We did end up stopping here, but only so the womenfolk could all use the restrooms.
I usually take more pictures in Morocco than in other countries, but we thoroughly canvassed the World Showcase back in 2019, so we didn't feel too much pressure to take a shitload of pictures at Epcot this time around.
Some minutes later, back on our trip towards Japan. . .
Excited to check out Japan (she, like other teenage girls these days, is pretty big into Japanese culture.)
Hey, look - here's this thing.
While Kris, Lindsey, and all of our kids shopped around in the giant merch store in Japan, Adam and I walked over to'Mericato crab a couple pints. 'cause Freedom.
Independence Hall (sorta.)
After grabbing our beers, we popped into the merch store to check on the families' progress, but found that they were knee-deep in kids asking to buy stuff, so - being the wise dads that we are - we went back outside and decided to wait for them.
Hough girls in Japan.
. . . and one with parents.
After the kids had shopped around for a bit in Japan, Lindsey suggested we swing by Soarin', as the wait time was pretty minimal (surprisingly enough.)
On our way to the front of the park, as we exited the World Showcase, we once again passed through merry olde England. . .
(England, obviously, is one of my favorite countries in this back half of the park.)
From across the lake (er, pond - whatever the hell it is), you can still see Morocco. . .
Check it out, folks - one of those ferry boats we came in on.
. . . and here's a portal fromStargate.
Here we have. . . uh. . . a glass pyramid. I forget what's in this place.
Oh yeah, Figment. Imagination-land, or whatever. I haven't been on that ride in like ten years. Probably for good reason.
Ah yes. The Land.
Kris and the girls love this one. It's only a mid-tier ride for Yours Truly - definitely not terrible, but it doesn't hold a candel to some of the better rides found throughout the parks.
Giving the kids a much-needed snack break following the ride (though we were definitely in dinner time neck-of-the-woods. )
Abby was pretty hangry, and gave us some serious shit when we told her we would grab dinner stuff later on in the day. This chick has the Hough Family Temper, for sure.
In a slightly better mood by the time we got out of that place (thank Jebus.)
Exiting through World Showcase, yet again, as we made our way back to the docks in order to return to Hollywood Studios. Here's Canada. . .
. . . and England, once again. . .
The Disney Skyliner (the gondolas I was talking about earlier), now running and ready for action.
We said 'screw the ferry' for our return trip to Hollywood Studios - we really wanted to try out the gondolas, not to mention I had a sour taste in my mouth with the whole boat trip earlier: I had accidentally left behind a $30 neck fan on the boat when we disembarked earlier. I had only used it for a whopping six hours, too. F*** my life..
Gondolas.
All eight of us were able to fit in the same flying car too, which was cool.
Voigt fellas
Houghs (sans neck fan.)
We had to switch cars halfway along the way from Epcot to Hollywood Studios because there wasn't a direct route between the two parks, and changed up cars at some random resort (I forget which one.)
Sweet, we scored a pirate gondola. . .
Voigts.
Coming out of the Skyliner Station, heading back up towards the front ticket gates.
Re-entering the park after being away for three hours (I kept all of our original admission passes and would pass them out to the rest of the fam whenever we had to use them - they were each individually matched up to our unique fingerprints, so we had to keep track of them.)
Back in Hollywood Studios. . .
Attempting to get a picture of our girls down the main drag into the park. . .
This about sums it up.
Another bathroom break. I forgot little kids need to pee so Goddamn much.
Nope. Didn't go on this one.
I hateAerosmith, but the girls - and Kris - really wanted to do the rollercoaster. So. . . whatever.
The whole concept of this ride was just dumb as hell. You have to leave a recording studio with the band and go to a show, and for some inexplicable reason you drive in a limo really, really fast. Man, f*** these geezers.
After the ride - which was fast, but who cares - we once again exited through the gift shop. Lindsey and Ella waited for us outside, as she was took little to ride the coaster
I bet that's not playable.
After riding the Aerosmith ride, the Voigts took off for home, as it was getting later on in the evening - we'd be hanging out with them tomorrow for Father's Day, though - and so we decided to take one, last victory lap around the park and hit up anything we may have missed the first time around.
Passing back through Toy Story Land (didn't stop here for anything, though.)
After passing through the previous section, we once again arrived in Galaxy's Edge. We had explored this area twice before, sure enough, but I wanted a little more time in the merch stores (as on the previous two passes through I was conscious of the Voigts waiting around for us and didn't want to be rude or anything.)
Inside the Build-Your-Own-Droid depot (or whatever the hell it's called. . .)
First Order banners hanging off of buildings (because, you know, the Sequel movies are more important than the Original Trilogy as far as Disney is concerned.)
I seriously love this place so frickin' much. . .
Inside another souvenir store (forget the theme of this place, but I ended up buying a stone bust of Darth Vader from here - pretty awesome.)
Here's this old guy from Jabba's Palace (Return of the Jedi)
After shopping around Galaxy's Edge for a bit (well, I shopped - Kris and the girls sat out by the Millennium Falconand waited for me to wrap up), we started making our way out of the park, passing back through Muppet Land (I don't know its name) on our way back towards the front entrance.
Kris gave me some serious shit for wanting to take this picture of them on their way out of the park at the end of the evening - she said I took way too many pictures today and I didn't need to take one of them exiting a frickin' theme park. But I prevailed in the end.
Back at the condo, we rolled in around 9:30pm-ish - just in time to catch the evening's firework shows from the various Disney parks from our vantage on the balcony by the elevators (though the pictures never turn out good.)
Winding down and watching some Stranger Things with the Cannonball(she's now on Season 4) at the end of a long, long day.
.jpg)
~2.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment