Disney World Trip January 2020- Part 2

Hey everyone! Today I’ll be continuing my recap of last month’s trip to Disney World! If you missed Part 1 you can click the link to that post here:

Disney World Trip January 2020- Part 1

I ended that post with Day 2, so this post will begin with…

Day 3

We woke up early, ate breakfast in our room, and got on the bus to Hollywood Studios! We were expecting a crazy day there because of the Rise of the Resistance ride opening just a few weeks prior. We had already vowed to not waste our precious Disney World time on the Galaxy’s Edge rides. Since we live about 30 minutes away from Disneyland, we’ll just tackle those rides back home after the craziness has died down. Besides, in order for us to get a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance, we would have had to arrive no later than 7am…and that just didn’t sound very fun to us. Plus this way, I have a great excuse to sneak in a Disneyland trip soon! 😉

The park was busy, but not as bad as I’d feared. We stopped by the Trolly Car Cafe for our Starbucks fix, and then headed for our traditional picture in front of the Tower of Terror.

We usually like to ride Tower of Terror first, but the wait was crazy long, so we decided on Star Tours instead. This ride is always fun!

Because the Fast Pass Tiers had been changed during our trip, we were only able to pick one Fast Pass for a ride(so we picked Slinky Dog Dash), and then the other two Fast Passes had to be for shows. So our first Fast Pass of the day was for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! I’ll never get sick of this show- there’s action, comedy, crowd participation, stunts, fire, and explosions. It’s awesome. If you like Indiana Jones, you’ll love this show.

Right after that it was time for our second Fast Pass which was Frozen Sing Along show. This is usually one of my favorite shows at Hollywood Studios because the “Royal Historians”(the hosts of the show) are super funny. This trip there were different hosts than the ones we’ve seen the last two years and they were just okay.

After the show, we were getting a little hungry so we used Mobil Order to grab some food at ABC Commissary . It was so easy and convenient. I just opened up the My Disney Experience app. on my phone, picked our meals, and hit the I’M HERE button as we were approaching the restaurant. We grabbed a table outside, and I went into the building to find the Mobile Order counter. I walked up and waited maybe two minutes until they called my name(it was really just long enough for me to grab some napkins and utensils). I grabbed my order and walked back to our table-easy as that! It was my first time using the Mobil Order feature and I was impressed. The line inside the building was really long- I was happy to not have to wait! Our food was good- we shared a chicken club burger and Cooper had the mac and cheese.

Next up it was time for Toy Story Land!

We jumped in line for Toy Story Mania first. The line wasn’t too bad, and we played the game on the Play Disney app that only works when you’re in this queue- that definitely helped to pass the time. This ride is so fun- especially if you’re competitive! It’s a 3-D ride and you get to shoot at targets to try and get the highest score you can. For once I WON! Cody always beats me, but not this time! I was super excited about that 🙂

We had to take some pictures in front of the “Popsicle Stick” wall as we exited the ride:

Toy Story Land is so cute! Everything is gigantic and made to look as though we are tiny little toys.

Next up was Alien Swirling Saucers . Cooper and I really like this one! It’s swirly and fun- and the line seems to move pretty quickly.. Cody sits this one out- he doesn’t do any sort of spinning rides.

Finally we had come to our time slot for our Slinky Dog Dash Fast Pass! Thank goodness too- because the regular line for this ride was a 120 minute wait. No thank you! Instead we walked right on using our Fast Passes. This is a family friendly roller-coaster and it’s really fun! It goes pretty fast, but the track is super smooth. I could ride it over and over!

Definitely DO NOT miss this ride if you come to Hollywood Studios- it’s really fun!

Once we were done with Toy Story Land we decided to check out Galaxy’s Edge.

We are not big Star Wars people. There. I said it. I know I’m going to get a bunch of grief for that, but it’s just not my jam. I’ve only seen the first 2 movies and they were fine- but I certainly didn’t feel an urgency to go see the rest of the movies.

Walking through Galaxy’s Edge, you definitely feel like you are entering a completely different world. It’s completely immersive, and there’s a lot to look at. If you’re into Star Wars, and know what you’re looking at, you’ll probably love it. We walked around a little bit and took some pictures.

Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of how everything is so worn down, rusted, and broken looking. I know that’s what it looks like in the movies, but it just isn’t pretty or aesthetically pleasing. Part of why I love Disney World is that everything is SO pretty and mostly perfect looking. It’s just nice to be surrounded by beautiful scenery, and this land is not beautiful. I know, I know, cue the hate mail…

I’m sure the rides are great- I’ve heard that Rise of the Resistance is absolutely amazing. I’ve always liked Star Tours, so I know I don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to like the rides. I’ll have to give a real Galaxy’s Edge review once we visit Disneyland and get on the rides.

Next up we had dinner reservations at Mama Melrose. We really like this restaurant and we eat here every time we’re at Hollywood Studios. The serve these amazing ciabatta rolls with olive oil and herbs for dipping the bread. We ordered the calamari for our appetizer and it was delicious. Cody had the chicken parmigiana and he loved it- he gets that every time we’re here. I tried the Mama’s Italian Pasta with grilled shrimp added in. It was so delicious! The sauce was super light and there were these huge cloves of roasted garlic that were amazing. Cooper had the cheese pizza and he ate every bite- so it must have been good!

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of all of it! When I’m hungry and I see food I just want to EAT. So, sorry about that. I did remember to take pictures of our desserts though:

Cody and I had the dessert trio which was a Lemon Cheesecake, Tiramisu, and a Blood Orange Spongecake. All of them were good. Cooper’s dessert was a cupcake made to look like Spaghetti with a meatball on top! It was really cute.

If you’re in Hollywood Studios I definitely recommend this place for dinner. We’ve always had great service and we’ve always liked our food. You can take a peek at the dinner menu by clicking HERE.

After dinner, my plan was to go ride Tower of Terror and then grab seats to watch Fantasmic….but I was out voted by my husband and my son! They decided we should instead get in the crazy long line for Rock’n’Rollercoaster! I was not on board with this idea. My son had never been on an upside down coaster and I was super anxious about him going on one. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m completely fearless going on rides…unless my son is on the ride with me. Then I start to think like a crazy person! What if the restraints fail? What if the ride car thing derails? What if someones phone flies out of their pocket and hits him in the face going 65 mph? What if what if what if what if??? (Yes- I know I should probably be medicated). Combine all that anxiety with  with the fact that I’d never been on this ride, and you get an idea of how I was feeling as we waited almost an hour in line. But Cooper really wanted to ride it once he found out he was tall enough, and Cody kept assuring me that everything would be fine. In the end he was right…of course.

I have to admit- this ride is awesome! It’s a launch coaster, so you are shot out immediately going super fast! The ride has two loops, and a corkscrew, so lots of upside down action. During the entire ride Aerosmith’s music is blasting. It’s very fun- and of course Cooper LOVED it. Lord help me.

After that we caught the end of the Star Wars fireworks show as we were walking out of the park. It was a really fun Hollywood Studios day!

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That’s going to be all for Part 2! Stay tuned for Part 3 and our Animal Kingdom day. Thanks for reading!