Living the Dream Trip Report: Day 2- Hollywood Studios

[BudgieMama]

For our first full day at WDW, we chose to skip MK (the crowd calendars made it look like a bad option) and instead spent our first day at Hollywood Studios.

Unsurprisingly, we woke pretty early... and a light was flashing on our phone, with a welcome message from Mickey! He said something about knowing we were there to celebrate, and wishing us a great trip. I hadn't heard about that before, so it was a really cute surprise for us! We'd set our phone for the Wake Up Call, but we were up and out long before it went off at 7am... as we were wide awake, we had some toast, then went for a sunrise stroll around The Paddock area of SSR (where we were staying). It really is a beautiful resort, and we were very impressed.

I was determined to be out of the room by 7.45am, but DH was faffing around (and he claims I'm the one who always delays us!), so we didn't get out till 8am... and a DHS bus drove past us as we walked to the stop! Doh!

After a short wait (we only once waited more than 20 minutes, and most of them time much less time than that) another DHS swung by and we were on our way.

We arrived just after rope drop (I think they let people in around 8.45am) and we headed first for Star Tours, where we had a FP+. It was a walk on, so we swapped our FP, and enjoyed our first Disney ride! I think C3-PO has hidden Mickeys as his pupils- has anyone else noticed that?

After Star Tours, we strolled over (no hurry) to the Backlot Tour, taking the the sights along the way. It was really interesting... the tram bit more than the water show, though both were pretty cool. It was heading towards 10am, so we wanted to go check in for our Frozen Premium Package. We walked up via Pixar Place and met our first character!!

The only people in line ahead of us when we arrived at check-in didn't know what the line was for (LOL), and didn't have it booked, so we didn't wait long before we had our lanyards, picked our show time (we opted for the 7pm show) and made our way into the reserved area. We had a great view of both the stage and the parade, and enjoyed our treats as we waited.

My first (and only! I just wasn't hungry a lot!) Mickey bar!

I also took my Olaf picture, which was featured in the show later that night!

We enjoyed the parade (perhaps good it was the first one we saw?) and then being allowed forward in front of the stage ahead of the crowds advancing down the main street. It was hot in the crowd, but we had a great view, and the show isn't too long to make it too unpleasant.

After the show, we saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid (I used to work as a puppeteer as part of one of my previous jobs, so I LOVED it... and the effect with Ariel at the end was very cool!) and caught Muppet*Vision 3D before it was time to check in for our lunch at Mama Melrose...

It was CHAOS when we arrived- lots of people without reservations trying to get in (most of whom didn't speak great English and took a lot of explaining before they understood they couldn't eat there, because they were fully booked), but we were given a buzzer, and eventually got a seat in the foyer. They actually called us bang on time, which was pretty impressive to say the chaos that was happening. I think being two works in our favour at most venues, and we didn't have too much of a wait anywhere we had reservations. I think CRT was the worst, but as there was plentiful seating, it wasn't too much of an issue.

I'm going to continue in the next post, as this feels like it's getting long...

 

[BudgieMama]

Once we were seated at Mama Melrose, we met our waiter, who was probably the least helpful member of staff we met all week. Not quite sure why, but there was just something off. We didn't know how tipping worked with our Magic Bands (as it was our first meal) and he made no effort to explain our options, despite our obvious confusion. He also gave us the wrong receipt, and only took one credit for the two meals, which lead to some stress later on in the week when we realised something had gone wrong, but couldn't understand from our receipts where the mistake was made.

Despite the chaos in the foyer, the atmosphere in the restaurant was nice. As we had the Fantasmic Dining Package, we got an appertiser as well, but it was WAY too much food for us. I had Calamari to start (my favourite) and whilst it was good, the portion was so oversized for a starter! We both had the Strip Steak for our main- I loved the macaroni it came with, but only ate half the meat as I was already so full (DH polished off the rest)... it was really hard going without steak knives! We got the family desserts, and I tried a bit of each (can't remember what they were) but DH ate most as I was struggling!

After our lunch, it was time for our TSMM FP+. It was lovely shooting past the huge queue! We enjoyed the ride, although neither of us understood what all the fuss was about. We also stopped by the Magic of Animation, hoping to say hello to Mickey on our first day, but the wait was too long for us. I did make DH wait for Ralph and Vanellope (as they won't be around for much longer)... I think theirs was the slowest moving line we were in all week (other than security at MCO on our return... what a joke!)

I can't remember when we had the following shot taken (in the morning probably) but I didn't want to miss it out! We loved Memory Maker and not worrying about photos of the two of us! We got so many nice ones! Worth every penny for us!

We rode the Great Movie Ride, which wasn't so great at the gangster didn't have his mic on/at an appropriate level, so we still have no clue why the guide went away or why the gangster came with us for part of the journey! We then rode Star Tours again with a minimal wait (I think it was even shorter than the morning) before heading to our FP+ at Indiana Jones (something DH really wanted to do)... that was a very cool show- we both really enjoyed it!

We then headed down towards RnRC to find some details for the virtual geocache in the park, but as I was still feeling so full from lunch, I didn't want to risk losing said lunch by riding it! ToT appeals to neither of us, so we skipped it too. We headed to Bill and Mins for some ice water (joy in a cup!) before our time for the Frozen Sing Along... I really enjoyed it, and LOVED the historians! They made me laugh a lot. We had great seats on the second row thanks to our Premium Package.

After the show, we strolled slowly up towards Echo Lake, ready for the Dessert Party... I stopped in Wandering Oakens Trading Post to pick up the Anna/Elsa flip doll and an Anna and an Elsa pin. (Resort shipping FTW!) The food and drinks were great, and we thought the view of the fireworks was pretty good too. I didn't eat or drink much, because I was still so full from lunch. In retrospect, I wish we'd cancelled the lunch and just grabbed a quick service somewhere (although the time to cool off and sit down was nice!) so I could have enjoyed more of the Dessert Party.

I didn't manage to eat everything on that plate!

After seeing me on the Take Along Olaf montage (yay!) and the fireworks (which were DH's favourites of all the ones he saw) I was too tired to stick around for Fantasmic... DH stayed to watch it, whilst I headed back to the resort. We had a great first day in the parks, but I was definitely ready for bed!!

 

[Chilly]

I really need to see Frozen to see what all the fuss is about

 

[Azza1987]

Loving reading your trip report BudgieMama!

 

[SilentK]

Yay you're back! I love the Studios, I think it's my favourite park to just be in, such a nice atmosphere.

I'm really hoping the Frozen Summer comes back for my trip next year. I think we've got Mama Melrose on our to do list.
Fab so far, off to catch up on your next day now x