Ready to hear more about our multi-generational 7-night whirlwind trip to Disney World and Universal at the beginning of April?
If you missed Part One, start here!
Hollywood Studios
The Hollywood Studios park includes a lot of attractions not to be missed by many families, with the two top attractions being Toy Story Land and Star Wars Galaxy's end.
Our family is the odd one out here. My kids aren't Toy Story fans (they won't even watch the movies!) and I can already hear you say "really!?!?!" when I tell you that we haven't watched the Star Wars movies. We really tried to binge-watch them before we left, but it didn’t happen.
But we still really enjoyed our visit to Hollywood Studios!
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We headed straight to Star Wars Galaxy’s End so we could attempt to get on Rise of the Resistance, which is a fantastic ride! The lines tend to be long, and your best bet is a paid Lightning Lane, but it's definitely a highlight. It’s entertaining and surprising, and it lasts for a decent amount of time too. The theming through Galaxy's End is really cool too and you really feel immersed in the Star Wars world. We also saw Chewbacca walk past us, which was fun!
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We didn't end up getting to Toy Story Land at all, other than walking through a couple of times. The line for Slinky Dog dash was so long, and the lightning lane options weren't great, so we skipped it.
We did go see The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular though, and my daughter wanted to hit the Tower of Terror, which they all loved (and I skipped!)
Honestly, I felt like we didn’t get a lot accomplished in this park, but I also think there were fewer attractions and longer lines. I’d like to spend more time in Star Wars Galaxy’s End because I felt like we rushed out of there to see other things. I wish we had done a little more planning and familiarized ourselves with the map better before heading into the park.
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We ended up getting "stuck" in the Mardi Gras parade as we were trying to leave. And even though we were exhausted, the kids had so much fun jumping for beads, it was definitely a fun way to end our day!
Epcot
Our day at Epcot was one that I wished we’d planned a little differently too. We had a Lightning Lane for Remy’s early in the morning, so we basically had to rush through all the attractions at the front of the park and even some of the countries. After the ride we had lunch reservations we had to hustle to, so we had to rush through even more countries. We planned to go back later in the day, but it was a really long walk and we were exhausted. Both Remy’s Ratatouille and lunch at the Biergarten were definitely highlights though!
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I loved our meal at the Biergarten. It’s a buffet with lots of variety, and there was a German folk show every hour. Our family is very German, so we loved watching the show and the cool instruments that were played. After Germany we made our way around more countries, stopping in Norway for the Frozen Ever After ride and also Mexico for the boat tour.
At that point we were out of the World Showcase and back to the area with other Epcot attractions, and were really excited to ride Test Track and Mission Space. Test Track was one of my favorite rides of the week. There were a lot of “pre-show” activities that I didn’t really get how they tied into the ride, but the kids enjoyed building their own vehicles. I loved flying around the track at high speeds, it was so fun!
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On Mission Space, we chose the boring version, which was still really fun as you get launched up into space. We flew over a lot of Earth and then touched down in a storm. Some people in our group did the Orange version, where they felt G-Forces of up to 2.5G as they lifted off to space. They said it wasn’t bad, but it’s the only ride in the parks that has vomit bags installed right in the experience. (No thanks!)
Our last ride of the day was Soarin’, which is another one of my favorite rides of the week. It was a pretty incredible experience, lots of flying over beautiful parts of Earth, and we all wanted to ride it a second time!
I really wanted to stay for the evening show – Harmonious – but everyone was so tired that it just wasn’t going to work for us on this trip. We’ll see it next time!
My Thoughts on Genie+
Our experience with Genie+ was pretty good. It was a very crowded time, which we weren’t expecting, but Genie+ allowed us to get on rides without as much wait. I think it’s worth the add-on cost, but it’s more useful in some parks than in others. Magic Kingdom has so many attractions that you can typically make 5-6 lightning lane reservations throughout the day. At places like Epcot and Hollywood Studios, it’s a little harder because there are fewer rides and more people trying to get time slots. By mid-afternoon most Lightning Lanes were reserved, unless you were willing to come back later in the evening. (Which works for many families, they take a mid-afternoon break/nap and then come back in the evening.)
Dining in the Disney Parks
People make a really big deal about getting dining reservations for your Disney vacation. But it’s not absolutely necessary to make advance dining reservations for table service restaurants. Disney World makes it very easy to grab food while you’re in the parks. If you don’t have reservations, there is always a quick-service restaurant around the corner. We’d get on an attraction and I’d pre-order something while we waited. Then we’d head off the ride, pick up our food without much of a wait, and continue with our day. It worked very well!
In Part Three I'll share about our visit to the Universal parks, and also share some tips that I learned from our visit, stay tuned!
Don't forget that I'm also a travel advisor and I LOVE helping families plan their vacations. Elite Travel Concierge is an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, and it's my specialty to make this kind of vacation less stressful and more enjoyable! Learn more at my website.
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