November 2023 Trip Report - Travel and Hollywood Studios

We had a very early flight on Sunday, leaving the airport at 6:00 AM which meant waking at about 3:45 AM to get to our small airport. While waking that early isn't fun, taking one of the first flights of the day is pretty nice in that you aren't encountering airport crowds or delays yet. However, we were delayed about a half hour because our aircraft was giving the pilot some sort of error. It cleared, and the pilot blamed it on the cold morning.

Arrived at MCO at about 12:55 PM (early... our expected arrival was 1:31 PM). MCO was a madhouse. It was very crowded, very noisy, people darting every which way which made me very nervous for the week to come. We learned later that there were about 5 conferences, two of which were major conferences in town, and a music festival, and that it was by Orlando standards a very busy week.

We got an Uber to Rosen Shingle Creek where we were staying because the husband's conference was there. The ride took only about 15 minutes, but the driver was a very aggressive driver and by the time I arrived, I was ready for a drink. Staff at the hotel was very nice. Our room was on the 10th floor, overlooking the pools and courtyard and was an amazing view. Room was nice and clean. Some reviews have said the resort is outdated, and I don't find that to be true. The style is more traditional than the popular contemporary style at hotels lately, but everything looked fresh and clean.

We got some snacks down at the pool bar (buffalo wings and a paloma for me). Husband and I enjoyed the hot tub for a while while the daughter decompressed in the room. We had an early bedtime because we were just beat from the long day.

Monday - Disney Hollywood Studios

Crowd level prediction was 8 and I believe it.

I woke about quarter to 7 to purchase Genie+ for the day and secure lightning lanes, and I hit my first snag at 7:00 AM when Genie+ just kept showing the "Something went wrong" screen. After trying for another 15 minutes, I gave up and took a shower. Ended up checking back at about 7:30 and Genie+ was back up but return times were now garbage. Nevertheless, I knew we needed a Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash, so I took the 7:50 PM Lightning Lane I was offered.

The screen you do not want to see when trying to get an important Lightning Lane.

The park opened at 9 AM and we arrived shortly before 9 AM. From the entrance plaza, I was able to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance. Off-site guests need to be "inside the park" to purchase Individual Lightning Lanes but I decided to gamble on the margin of error with GPS and it was a good bet. Even so, the return time wasn't until 8:10 PM.

Entrance plaza madness at Disney Hollywood Studios. After this day, we decided there was no point in showing up right at opening anymore and avoiding these entry lines.

Having secured a Lightning Lane and an Individual Lightning Lane, this meant the 120 minute rule had started from park opening. Which means that it would be 11 AM before I could get another Lightning Lane. I was concerned it was going to be a rough morning.

We entered the park and got in the standby line for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, assuming that by 11 AM, the line would be longer and Lightning Lanes might be gone. It was a good move. Even though the standby line was posted at 50 minutes, the real wait was 31 minutes.

After this, we made our way to Galaxy's Edge because husband and daughter were looking for blue milk. We found the milk stand and got blue milk for husband and green milk for daughter. Consensus for us was we actually like the green milk better. Then, we rode Star Tours. Posted wait time was 25 minutes and that was about what the wait time was.

By now, it was finally 11 AM, and I got a Lightning Lane for Toy Story Mania for 1:00ish. We shopped for a while, and went to find fruit and smoothies at the Fairfax Market on Sunset Boulevard. The two hours between 11 and 1 went pretty fast between shopping, looking around, and snacking, and soon it was time to go back to Toy Story. We rode that, and then showed up at Woody's Roundup BBQ for our 1:50 ADR.

This was a late lunch for us and we were starving. Thankfully, the food was plentiful and very good. One thing that wasn't great was the outside waiting area, which was in the full sun with no fans. Everyone standing out there looked like they were just dying. Disney, please put some umbrellas and fans up there!

Once inside, though, Woody's Roundup BBQ is really fun. The servers are great, there are frequent diversions, some of which require you to "freeze" like toys. But the food is king. Oh my gosh, so much food. The meal is family-style all you can eat. You get biscuits with a tomato salsa jam (which was the favorite thing on the table for us), a full meat platter with ribs, chicken, brisket, and sausage (there is a vegan option available, 3 types of salad (one was the freshest, ripest, coldest watermelon ever which was another hit, and another salad was primarily tomatoes which were nice and ripe and cucumber. The last salad was greens and also very tasty), and your choice of 4 sides. We got fried pickles, potato salad, loaded tater tots, and sweet corn. Then, everyone gets a mason jar dessert (mine was ice cold apple pie which was the only thing I think was not good). I don't lie when I say everything we put in our mouths tasted like the best thing ever. Maybe we were just so very hungry, but it was very good food. I give it a 4/5, one point off for a combination of the price and the waiting area.

After this, the park looked like it was shoulder to shoulder and it was very hot. Our feet were very tired, so we decided to take a little break. We left the park for a bit and took the boat over to EPCOT. Then, we transferred to the Skyliner and rode that all the way to Art of Animation for some shopping and to get my kiddo some ice cream. the sundae she had there was just okay... it was soft serve ice cream with some crumbles on top... nothing special. I do love the store there, though, and my husband and daughter, who'd never been there, were pretty impressed that it is considered a value resort, given the amenities they saw. I agree. Art of Animation is a nice resort with great amenities.

Art of Animation resort decor in the lobby/gift shop area.

After cooling off and resting away from the crowds, we finally took the skyliner back to DHS at about 4:30. We were amused this time at the number of birds resting on the skyliner wire in the stretch between Art of Animation and the Caribbean Beach Resort. They were really making quite a racket and it reminded us of the Pixar short. Family said the Pixar short must be based on it, and I reminded them that the skyliner didn't exist when the Pixar short was created.

Hollywood Studios was more calm, and more picturesque in the evening.

We arrived to droves of people exiting the park - just what I like to see. During the day, I had been stacking Lightning Lanes. I got one for Smuggler's Run after we did Toy Story, waited two hours, and got one for Alien Swirling Saucers again, then after using Smuggler's Run, got another one for Star Tours. So, we rode Star Tours twice, which I kind of like given the number of scenes and different combinations you can get making for different stories. We had entirely new scenes the second time we rode, which was fun. I got gunner on Smuggler's Run while husband and daughter were engineers (they did not care for being engineers and felt the buttons should be above you rather than to the side, so you can be looking forward. I agree.)

We ended the night by riding Slinky Dog Dash, then we headed over to Rise of the Resistance at about 8:10 only to learn it was down. With the park closing within the hour, some people were camped out outside of the ride hoping it would re-open. I asked a cast member what they thought the chances were. They said usually when the ride goes down, it's down for a half hour to an hour, BUT that it had already been down three other times in the last few hours which sounded like it was not a good sign. We were very tired, so I headed to guest services to see if I could be refunded for my ILL purchase.

This could have been a very bad experience at Guest Services. After all, pretty much everyone who had an ILL for the last hour for Rise of the Resistance would be in line, but it was not bad at all. Disney managed the crowds very well with immaculately polite cast members checking people in and making small talk until a Guest Services rep was ready. This is one thing I love about Disney - they can turn around a bad experience very well, and they did, offering us an extra Individual Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage on the day we'd be in Animal Kingdom in exchange. Furthermore, it was an "Anytime" Lightning Lane, which meant we weren't restricted to a time and could ride whenever. Given Flight of Passage is our favorite ride as a family, we were pleased with this resolution.

Summary:

• Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway

• Star Tours (twice)

• Toy Story Mania

• Alien Swirling Saucers

• Smuggler's Run

• Slinky Dog Dash

• Blue and green milk

• Woody's Roundup BBQ

• Lots of shopping

• Boat and skyliner break

Crowd level - 8

Felt like - 8

Weather 85 degrees and sunny

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Next week, we'll summarize our awesome meal at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium (Universal Citywalk), and a mother/daughter day at EPCOT. Until next time...