A Simple Wildflower

I grew up next to Disney World and shockingly, this was only my second trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Without Toy Story or Star Wars Land, this park was just Tower of Terror and an old Hollywood vibe. To be completely honest, I’m terrified of the Tower of Terror. To be even more honest, this the main reason why I’ve hardly visited this park! Now that this park has two new lands (Toy Story and Star Wars), there’s so much more for me than being scared of Tower of Terror!

First things first, the two of us went to Disney in the middle of August and it was HOT and no less crowded. My boyfriend and I were sweating bullets throughout the entire day and even when the sun went down, it was still ridiculously humid. I wanted to start this blog post off with the realistic expectations of the weather in Florida (especially during the summers) because it can be pretty unpredictable. Oh, and speaking of unpredictable, it rained multiple times throughout the day, but with how hot it was, the rain was always welcomed.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is filled with live-shows and character meet-and-greets. The few rides that are there have the longest wait times and Alec and I won’t wait for a ride longer than one hour; the rides are never worth a wait longer than that. But let’s start off with Toy Story Land because that is the newest attraction and it was the first stop of the day. After waiting in the scorching sun for 40 minutes, we were able to ride the Alien Swirling Saucers. I didn’t know what to expect out of the ride but think of the Mad Tea Party at the Magic Kingdom. The only difference is you can’t control how much you spin, but it is nowhere near as dizzying as the Mad Tea Party. You can’t control it because the ride follows an infinity-shape motion (I see what Disney did there: To Infinity and Beyond!) and once we got off the ride, we both thought it was definitely cute and worth the wait. The other two rides: Slinky Dog Dash and Toy Story Mania had wait times over 2 hours and that was WAY too long because let’s be real the actual ride will last less than 2-3 minutes and you waited for 160 minutes…umm NO!

Once we got off the Alien Swirling Saucers, we were both really hungry for a snack and that’s when we walked over to Woody’s Lunch Box. I was really excited to try one of their pop tarts and I had to make the difficult choice between chocolate hazelnut with candied bacon or raspberry. I know it may seem like a no brainer to some, but I really enjoy fruit-filled pop tarts. But because Alec and I were sharing, I ended up trying the chocolate hazelnut filling with candied bacon (that I could barely taste) and overall it was really tasty. I was really glad I got a root beer float to wash it down as its a little dry and you’ll definitely need something to drink. Alec and I really enjoyed Woody’s Lunch Box and I would like to visit again to try more of their menu.

Next on our itinerary was to meet Mike and Sully, which ended up happening at the perfect time because it started to pour as soon as we were walked into the building. We obviously didn’t mind waiting because it was inside so we were able to get AC and shelter from the rain, but holy moly this line felt like it was never going to move!! A couple of groups in front of us left because we were waiting in the same spot for well over 20 minutes. Once we were getting close my excitement was rising because I couldn’t wait to finally meet Sully. When it was our turn to finally meet the characters, Sully was such a loveable, fluffy character; however, Mike, on the other hand, will continue to give me nightmares because talk about being creepingly realistic. & of course, my interaction with both characters was beyond awkward because the characters can’t talk to you and I don’t do well in situations where there is an awkward silence. Even though I was the most awkward human on the planet that day, I personally think Alec was able to capture some really great candid photos of our interaction.

Afterward, we had fast passes for The Little Mermaid Show, Voyage of The Little Mermaid, and the For The First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. Personally, I enjoyed one show over the other, but I think both shows are worth seeing.

Voyage of The Little Mermaid was really cute because the puppets were neon-colored which looked really cool with the stage’s blacklight and of course, Ariel looked stunning and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. But that’s probably because I’ve always wanted to be Ariel with her mermaid fin! Even though I really enjoyed the colors of the animals and Ariel, the show as a whole seemed a little too gimmicky. The perfect example of this is the show stuffed Prince Eric’s shirt with multiple pillows to make him appear bigger/stronger than Ariel, but he just ended up looking ridiculous. When he came on stage, I legit laughed out loud so bad that I couldn’t help myself!

When The Little Mermaid show ended, we made our way across the sidewalk to see the Frozen show, and while it felt long, it was a really cute show that I thought was planned out really nicely. First off, this show is a sing-along so plan to belt your heart out or sit there miserably while everyone else does. The show starts off with Anna looking for her sister Elsa, but of course, we cannot find her! The two Arendelle Historians stall by telling us the “history” of Arendelle, which is you watching the song portions of the movie (except for Reindeer are Better Than People, For the First Time in Forever Reprise, and Fixer-Upper). Although they didn’t play every single song, the show still felt like it was dragging towards the end, but I personally believe the ending is the best part. In the end, you find Elsa and the whole auditorium starts to snow as Elsa is singing Let It Go; it’s pretty epic!

After seeing both shows, we walked over to see if the Beauty and the Beast had any showings, but they were done for the day and we went to Tower of Terror instead. If you know me then you know how much I HATE rides that just drop you straight down; but Alec had been such a trouper that day taking photos that I wanted to make him happy by joining him on this terrible, terrible ride. The standby wait time said 40 minutes, but the line felt like it was constantly moving so we didn’t mind the wait. I love the details that Disney put into this ride while waiting in line, but if you’re like me and hate the drops, you’ll hate this ride. The silver lining is the actual ride is really short and is over before you know it, but when I got off the ride my legs were shaking. BUT…getting on the ride I had a huge ping of guilt because I had a middle schooler to my left and Alec had an elementary schooler to his right so I thought, “if they can do it so can I.” Well, when the ride was over they both freaking loved it and I’m over here looking like a newborn deer with how badly my legs were shaking.

The very last thing on our Hollywood Studios visit was our Fastpass to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. This was another ride I had never been on so I had no idea what to expect, but this is a true roller coaster in the sense that it shoots you really fast in the beginning then immediately flips you (this part thinks of The Hulk at Island’s of Adventure). However, the rest of the ride reminded me of Space Mountain at Magic Kingdon because I felt like it was the same ride just different effects. I really enjoy roller coasters and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith was a great way to end our Hollywood Studios trip.

Alec and I had such a fun time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but it continues to be my least favorite Disney park. I mean, come on, how can you compete with Magic Kingdom or Epcot (my two all-time favorite parks)? But I know once Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opens, this park will be able to compete with the others. Have you visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios before? What were some of your highlights from your trip?

With Love,

A Simple Wildflower