Walt Disney World Vacation: Day 3 (Disney’s Hollywood Studios / Magic Kingdom) – 10.1.19

Day 3 of our Disney Vacation, I woke up at 5:30am so we could get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios around 6:30am. Resort guests can take advantage of Early Magic Hours from 6-9am so you can see a lot before the general public gets inside. I mainly wanted to see Toy Story Land first since everyone goes to Galaxy’s Edge first thing. By the time they do Smuggler’s Run, it will be a better wait time.

So we got through the security line, took some photos with the Disney PhotoPass photographers on the main drag and headed to Toy Story Land. This is all new to me, since not being to the parks in over 15 years. TSL might be my favorite area of the parks that isn’t Star Wars related. I love the way it’s setup, with all the Christmas lights all over the place and the giant toys. It looks amazing at night (or in the morning when I first went). We didn’t have a FastPass until 930am for Toy Story Mania so Connor and I went to do Slinky Dog Dash together, since my wife doesn’t really do roller coasters. I still wasn’t sure how he was going to be, but just tried to amp him up to ride it and be my “Coaster Buddy.” We got on the ride half hour later and it was right during sunrise which was pretty incredible to do by the way. Sure, most people I know weren’t even up, yet I was riding roller coasters at 6:50am. He managed to do really well on it, despite still probably tired from the day before and it being early. After that, we waited in line to get photos with Jesse, Woody, Bo Peep and Buzz. We had about an hour to get to Galaxy’s Edge and check things out before the park opened to the general public.

The one annoying thing is you can’t go to Galaxy’s Edge through Toy Story Land, have to walk all the way around to go in that way. You have to leave that way and go through TSL but can’t enter that way. I’ve been waiting to go to GE for awhile, and it was really, really cool seeing how everything was displayed and constructed to make you think you’re on another planet. This was going to be a quick visit to Batuu since we wanted to do Smuggler’s Run and then we had reservations at Oga’s Cantina at 9:15am. We saw Chewie walking around, saw the ships and then the mother of all ships, the Millennium Falcon! SO COOL!

We got our photos by it and then made our way to wait about half an hour or so for Smuggler’s Run. The queue was neat, as you made your way around the Falcon and then inside. He made our way inside the falcon and I had to get shots of us at the chess table of course. Can’t do that ride and not get a photo there. I was worried about Connor for the ride but the cast members there said it should be okay and made him be a gunner. I was a gunner too and my wife Kristen was an engineer. Obviously the best thing to be in the pilot, but we had to watch after Connor to make sure he was okay. The ride was fun, but I felt like it would be better if I wasn’t worried about pushing all these buttons all the time. I didn’t get to ride it again so I’m sure next time I do it, I’m going to try pilot and see how I like it then. It was a bit bumpy and think I would have liked it better if I wasn’t looking over at my son every 2 seconds to see if he was okay.

After that, we went to the cantina which I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a booth which really sucked, especially when you have a 4 year old who can’t even reach the table we had to stand at. That made the experience kind of sucky, since Connor was in a pissy mood by this point. I ordered the Blue Bantha with the cookie on top and the cinnamon bun thing. There’s no bathrooms inside the cantina for some dumb reason, so Kristen had to go outside. The other people at our table had to go too so I was left with some other guy and the cast members at the cantina kept trying to sit people at our table. We were like, there’s already like 8 people here and the cast members were getting annoyed that people actually, ya know, went to the bathroom. By the end of the cantina visit, I just wanted to leave since it just wasn’t ideal for a kid. Not to mention the casts were being pests and kept trying to put people at our table and weren’t really considerate of that fact. Connor barely ate anything and just wanted the cookie. The blue milk was really good though, I liked it a lot but 13 bucks is a bit pricey for that.

We had a FastPass for Toy Story Mania so we had to get out of the Galaxy’s Edge at this point but definitely wanted to go back at night. It was cool inside the cantina but the way it’s currently run, not sure I’d go back anytime soon. The land itself was cool from what I saw but didn’t get to spend a lot of time in there. I’ll have more thoughts on it in another post. Toy Story Mania was a lot of fun and we ended up doing that 3 times for the trip! After that, we went to see Muppets 3D which is always a fun time, then made our way back to the other side of the park so Connor can go to Cars Racing Academy thing. I needed a bit of Bryan time, so I did single rider for Rock n Roll Coaster. It was a good time to be in doors since it was pouring out. Single rider took a lot longer than I was hoping but the coaster was scary! I remember it being fast and fun, in the dark but felt scarier for me this time. Still fun and I’d do it again. I had to do the rock pose with my tongue out for the photo, which looks like I ruined the other group’s photo. Or maybe they ruined my photo!?

After eating some much needed food at Hollywood Brown Derby, we made our way back to our hotel room to rest up since we had to go to Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. After finally making our reservation at Skippers Canteen, we headed out for the Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Connor went as Woody, Kristen went as Buzz and fittingly I went as Sid. We took some photos, which the photographers got a bunch of great ones of Connor. That was worth the price right there. Then we went on Buzz Lightyear ride which I remember liking but didn’t really like it as much this time. The lasers weren’t really working correctly. We saw the lines for the trick or treating and decided to wait until later to do that. I don’t see the point in waiting in line for candy when you can be doing rides and other things. We made our way over to the Haunted Mansion and we were curious to see how Connor would be on the ride. Earlier in the summer, he went on the haunted ride down at Rehoboth Beach where they jump out at you and hated it. Thankfully he did this with flying colors! We made it fun and he seemed to enjoy it thankfully.

Then surprisingly, he was like let’s go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! I was shocked since I didn’t think we’d be able to go on this trip. We waited about 25 minutes for that and he loved the ride! Plus it was in the dark too. After that, it was getting close to the Boo To You Parade so we got a good spot in Frontierland. I’ve never seen this parade before but it was my favorite parade I’ve seen at Disney. The SpectroMagic one is great too but they don’t do that anymore. The good thing about seeing the parade in Frontierland is the parade is over there first so we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean again. They put live actors on the queue and in the attraction so it was worth checking out during the party. There was a pirate in the jail cell talking to someone else and not looking, when all of a sudden Connor was directly in front of him. He startled him and the pirate asked Connor where he came from. Connor was talking to him for a few minutes, it was a really cute. There were a few actors on the ride but nothing too crazy. I feel like they could make it even better with more actors. We do get a lot more wet on the boats for this new pirates ride though. I never remembered getting soaked before but I guess it depends on where you sit.

We made our way to the front of the castle area to see the fireworks, which was about to start and was crowded with people. Kristen found a decent spot for us, but I of course ran into a bit of an issue with some stupid lady who didn’t want to move. “Oh there’s people in wheelchairs here.” She wasn’t in one and could easily move. I said “look, my wife just went by and sitting right there, please let me move in there real quick.” I was with Connor and he was in the stroller. After few minutes of me telling I’m going to cross, I finally start moving and she moves and goes “oh for fuck’s sake.” I respond angrily “how about being a little nicer next time!” That was my Disney response, I should have given her my NJ response of “look you’re not in a wheelchair, fucking move your legs or I’m going to run them over!” Ah lovely people you’ll find at Disney some times. Thankfully that was only experience dealing with assholes.

During the fireworks, Connor fell asleep so Kristen and I got a big giant cupcake to split before we left. The cupcake was so massive and sugary, we barely made a dent in it. I asked Kristen if I could go on Space Mountain since Connor was sleeping. I sped over there and the queue was 15 minutes at this point. Space Mountain has always been a scary ride for me but I never rode it in the pitch black before. Holy crap, that thing was terrifying. I couldn’t see 2 inches in front of my face. Still fun but freakin scary!

Well this post is long and that was about it for the day. Long day but a lot of fun.

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Tags: big thunder mountain railroad, boo to you parade, disney hollywood studios, disney vacation, disney's hollywood studio, galaxy's edge, halloween, haunted mansion, magic kingdom, mickey's not-so-scary halloween party, millennium falcon, smuggler's run, space mountain, star wars, star wars land, tomorrowland, toy story land, walt disney world