Today I’ll be recapping DAY TWO of my trip; I decided to spend the day in Hollywood Studios, so in addition to making a Park Pass Reservation I made an Advance Dining Reservation for Oga’s Cantina. More on that here! In addition to detailing my day, I’ll be sharing tips and tricks that could help you on your next Disney vacation.
I used both Genie+ and Individual Lighting Lane throughout the day! While I’ll briefly define them in this article, I will have a FULL blog detailing the ins and outs of Disney’s new skip-the-line system.
I woke up around 6:30 am to purchase Genie+ and preselect my party for the day. While this was technically a solo trip, my husband was arriving in Orlando a little later in the day for a conference at Disney, so I needed to add him to my party so we could both use Genie+ while we were in Hollywood Studios together. With Genie+ purchased I waited for the clock to strike 7:00 am to book my Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash.
As soon as my Genie+ selection for Slinky Dog Dash was confirmed I made my Individual Lightning Lane selection for Rise of the Resistance. With my return times secured I got ready and headed out the door! Hollywood Studios opened to resort guests at 8:00 am, and I wanted to make sure I got to the Skyliner station with plenty of time to spare, especially since I had to transfer at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
Pro tip 1 – use a world clock to know EXACTLY when the clock strikes 7:00 am
Pro tip 2 – book Slinky Dog Dash BEFORE booking your Individual Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance
Pro tip 3 – ONLY Disney resort guests can make Individual Lightning Lane purchases at 7:00 am
I walked into Hollywood Studios at 7:40 am and popped inside Trolley Car Café to grab a cold brew before heading to my first ride. While most of the resort guests taking advantage of Early Park Entry head to Toy Story Land or Galaxy’s Edge first, I was on and off Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in less than 10 minutes!
After a lovely ride on one of my favorite attractions I headed down Sunset Boulevard to Hollywood Scoops. While this Quick Service location typically serves brownie sundaes and other ice cream treats, if you visit early enough you can enjoy a plate of blueberry Mickey waffles for breakfast!
Around 8:30 am I hopped in the standby line for Tower of Terror, which had a 20 minute posted wait; I was on and off in 10 minutes. If you like thrills Hollywood Studios is the park for you! After screaming and laughing on Tower of Terror I made the short walk to Rock n Roller Coaster. I planned to wait in the single rider line, but it wasn’t available. I was on and off the ride in 15 minutes – and the park was officially open to all guests!
After a whirlwind morning my husband let me know that he had made it into the park, and that I could find him back in Galaxy’s Edge! I made my way to meet him, stopping at Kat Saka’s Kettle in Black Spire Outpost for some Outpost Mix and a Cold Brew Black Caf along the way.
We spent some time learning how to play Batuu Bounty Hunters with our MagicBand+ before venturing off-world and into Andy’s backyard to ride Slinky Dog Dash. As we tapped into the Lightning Lane entrance for the ride, I opened up the MDE app to make another Genie+ Lightning Lane selection! We chose Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at 2:30 pm. There were rides with much earlier return times, but we wanted to spend time playing Batuu Bounty Hunters, so we were happy with our selection.
Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss my full recap of Batuu Bounty Hunters!
After bounty hunting for a bit, it was time to redeem our Individual Lightning Lane selection for Rise of the Resistance. This is one of my top five attractions in all of Walt Disney World! If you don’t want to pay for the Individual Lightning Lane, I recommend arriving to the park as early as possible and heading directly to the queue OR getting in line shortly before the park closes.
We grabbed a Ronto Wrap and a Surly Sarlacc from Ronto Roasters and Blue Milk from the Milk Stand. As we walked around Kylo Ren and his Stormtroopers came through, and he reprimanded me for my allegiance to the Resistance! How could he tell my allegiance? My entire outfit was head to toe Ahsoka Tano. These roving character interactions are just a fraction of what makes Galaxy’s Edge so cool!
Since our Genie+ return time for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was more than two hours from the time we booked it, we were able to make another Genie+ selection. We chose Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. On our way there, we decided to hop in line to Star Tours since there was a very short line. We had a few great scenes, including one I had never experienced before! Did you know that George Lucas actually had a hand in creating this attraction long before Disney acquired Lucasfilm?
After getting “Nothing Can Stop Us Now” stuck in our heads on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway we headed back into Galaxy’s Edge to ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. After waiting about 10 minutes we were able to pilot the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy… and let me tell you, she doesn’t handle anything like my car! I crashed into quite a few canyon walls, but we still managed to smuggle more coaxium than ever before!
After a break at our hotel we headed back to the park for dinner around 6:30 pm. We had a Quick Service dinner from Docking Bay 7. If you like spicy food, I recommend the Pirjanad Hot Chicken Tip Yip; if you don’t like spicy food, I recommend anything else on the menu! We also tired the Outpost Puff and the Gold Squadron Lager.
After dinner we made a Genie+ Lighting Lane for Toy Story Mania! which is a very fun game-meets-ride attraction. We headed into Andy’s backyard once again and had a blast trying to get the highest score possible! We also made – and redeemed – a Genie+ Lighting Lane selection for Alien Swirling Saucers while in Toy Story Land.
The wait time for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was nice and short, so we got in line around 8:15 pm and had an excellent ride through! The guests we rode with had never experienced the attraction before, and they were laughing and having a blast – I think it’s safe to say they loved it as much as we do!
We watched Wonderful World of Animation, a fun projection show that transforms the Chinese Theater into a tribute to the 90+ years of Disney and Pixar animation. If you’re still in the park at 9:00 pm, I definitely recommend sticking around to watch!
It really was a FANTASTIC day!
Glossary
Advance Dining Reservation guests with a valid Disney Resort Hotel Reservation can make dining reservations – as well as reservations for other enchanting extras – for the entire length of their stay (up to 10 days) up to 60 days in advance of their arrival
Early Park Entry guests with a valid Disney Resort Hotel Reservation can enter the parks 30 minutes before the park opens to all guests
Quick Service good food served fast; order and pay at a podium, pick up your food, and find a table on your own
Batuu Bounty Hunters a new game that utilizes the Play Disney Parks app and MagicBand+
MagicBand+ an enhanced version of the MagicBand that comes alive with color-changing lights, haptic vibrations, and gesture recognition, and can be used to interact with the parks in new ways
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