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On our third full day at Disney, we went to Hollywood Studios. Although we had traveled to Florida and Disney with Ken’s sister and her family, they opted not to go to Hollywood Studios and instead traveled to Sarasota to visit friends.
Starting our Day at Hollywood Studios
That said, it had been a LONG time since I had been to Hollywood Studios. Ken too. The last time we had been there (long before we even met), it was still called MGM Studios and the “Backlot Studio Tour” still existed.
So, we were excited to see the park!
We happened to arrive just as as Stormtroopers were passing through. (Although we learned this happens pretty regularly throughout the day).
And, we took advantage of our Disney Photo Pass by having a Disney photographer take a few pictures of us.
We took our time heading down the “Hollywood Boulevard” area, and stopped by a small exhbit, which I think was called “Walt Disney One Man’s Dream” There was a lot of Disney memorabilia and history on display.
Pixar Studios Area
We made our way back toward the Pixar Studios area, where we had Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania early in the day.
I have to say, I think that Toy Story Mania might just be my favorite ride of all the Disney parks. It was so incredibly well done! Although it’s similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom, it seems much more sophisticated.
Although we had the Fast Passes, I still stopped to take some photos of the fun Toy Story decor in the lines area.
And more rides and shows!
Afterwards, we watched the Muppet Vision 3D show (which I swear has not changed in 20+ years), and then grabbed some lunch with our Advance Dining Reservation at Mama Melrose’s. (More on where we ate in a future post).
Next up was the Indiana Jones show, followed by the Great American Movie ride, which closed permanently shortly after our visit!
Then there were even more rides, like Star Tours, and we also spent time at the Star Wars Launch Bay.
We opted NOT to go on The Tower of Terror, mostly because neither one of us like rides the drop straight down. And unfortunately, the “Rock ’n Roller Coaster” was closed during our visit, so we didn’t get to go on that.
There was a LOT of construction at Hollywood Studios while we were there. Obviously Disney does a great job of covering it up and making the construction walls “fun,” but we could tell there were a lot of changes forthcoming at Hollywood Studios. We know that there will be a new HUGE Star Wars area opening in the near future, and a Toy Story land as well.
I find Hollywood Studios to be a very “picturesque” park, with all its old school Hollywood charm.
We ended our evening with another Advance Dining Reservation at Sci Fi Dine In Theater Restaurant. (Again, more on that in a future post). Then, some souvenir shopping.
As we boarded the bus to go back to our hotel (the Port Orleans Riverside), we were astonished that we had the entire bus to ourselves!
And that was it! The last park of our trip. We did other stuff around Disney property the next day though, which I’ll cover in the next post in the series.