On our first morning in Disney World, we were up early and on our way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
We were lucky enough to be in Disney World with Gabbie’s dance school. The trip was through a program called Dance The World and 14 girls from the school were there with us (there were supposed to be 15 but one got sick – so sad!). Two of the girls and their families are good friends of ours so when I mention our friends, that’s who I’m referring to!
Through our Dance The World package, we had four-day Park Hopper passes, which I’ve never had before. It was convenient to be able to go to two parks in one day! On our first day, Gabbie had dance practice in the middle of the day, so we planned to go to Hollywood Studios in the morning, take a mid-afternoon break while she went to her practice, and head over to Epcot in the evening.
One of the best things about the Swan and Dolphin Hotels is the location! It is about midway between Hollywood Studios and Epcot and it is walkable to both. There are also boats to both, but the boat to Hollywood Studios was closed when we were there and there was a bus instead. We opted to walk over. The Swan and Dolphin are only sort of Disney hotels – you get a lot of the benefits of staying on site, but you don’t get Magic Bands. I purchased bands for the kids and that was a good decision because that way I didn’t have to juggle their park tickets and Dave and I just had to hold on to our own!
We got to the Studios before the park had opened, but they let people in up to certain points so you don’t have to contend with the rush to the rides from the entrance, but rather you wait at your designated spot for the ride you are headed to. We did not have any Fast Passes because I made a Fast Pass reservation for Epcot in the evening and the program wouldn’t let me make advance Fast Passes for multiple parks on the same day.
Our first stop was Toy Story Midway Mania, one of our favorites. We were there about a week before the new Toy Story Land opened. They had been working on the line for Toy Story Mania but luckily the ride was open when we were there! They had us lining up mostly outside the building instead of on the inside, but the line moved quickly.
We passed this area while in line:
Inside:
Whenever possible, Zachary liked to ride alone. Gabbie and Simon rode together on this one and I rode with Dave. I beat him!
Next, we checked our app and saw that the Tower of Terror only had a 20 minute wait. Zachary really wanted to go on it but Gabbie and Simon didn’t. For some reason I forgot that I don’t like the ride and I decided I should go on it with Dave and Zachary. Gabbie and Simon waited outside.
When the ride ended, Zachary said “that was awesome!” and I said “I’m going to barf.” What I should have done was get in the single rider line for Rockin’ Roller Coaster while Dave and Zachary went on Tower of Terror, but it’s ok because that’s what I did next while Dave took the kids back to Toy Story Mania and they rode it again in the same amount of time it took me to get through the single rider line.
When I came out of Rockin’ Roller Coaster it was starting to rain and it felt so nice! The weather was so hot and humid! I met Dave and the kids at Starbucks and we stayed in there for a little while as we waited for the rain to slow down again. We were heading for Muppet Vision 3D but somehow decided to wander into the Frozen Sing-Along show. It was cheesy. We saw our friends in there and it was fun to run into them!
After that we continued on to the Muppets. I’m a huge Muppets fan and this is a must-do for me! We must have gotten there just as the previous show started so we were waiting for a little while and I got to check out some of the fun decorations in the waiting area.
Inside the show:
We didn’t have much time in the Muppets store because we needed to get back to the hotel!
From there, we left the park and hopped a bus back to the hotel so Gabbie could get ready and head off to her dance practice. We ate lunch in our room and we felt like we were rushing but there were others in the group who were waiting for buses at other parks that got there much later than us!
So, if you’re keeping track, we were at Hollywood Studios from 9 AM – 1 PM and rode Toy Story Mania (all of us), Tower of Terror (me, Dave, Zachary), Toy Story Mania (Dave, Gabbie, Zachary, Simon), and Rockin’ Roller Coaster (me), and watched the Frozen Sing-Along and Muppet Vision 3D! We were actually completely done there and would not have been able to spend a whole day there. It might be different now that there are two more rides in Toy Story Land, but it definitely wasn’t a full day park for us!
There was still more of the day after Gabbie’s practice, so come back next week to find out what we did that evening!