DAY 4 – Hollywood Studios – 20,240 steps

On our fourth day, we rose early to finish packing as quietly as we could while the kids slept a bit longer. We managed to get everyone ready to go and drop our luggage by bell services (who would ensure that it made it over to the Contemporary for the second half of our split-stay) in the allotted timeframe. This was the day we were really leaning into the notion of paying to avoid waiting. We booked our Genie+ service so we could schedule lighting lanes for the most popular rides. And we separately purchased a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance.

We grabbed the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios and managed to get ourselves in line for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway early enough that our wait time was probably in the 30 minute range. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is kind of like Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. The cars are on a trackless system so they can whirl you around as needed to fit the presented storyline. This time, we were on a train with Goofy as the engineer and things didn’t go to plan. I felt like this one was better executed and somewhat more immersive than Remy’s had been the day before, though both of them were pleasant enough.

Sean had a good plan for breakfast all ready to go after we were done with our first ride. The grownups stopped at Ronto Roasters and had Ronto Morning Wraps (pitas with eggs, pork sausage, cheese and peppercorn sauce). Some of us also had coffee. They were delicious and very filling. We took the kids to Woody’s Lunch Box to have house made lunch box tarts (think pop tarts but without the branding or trademark). We thought it was going to be a slam dunk because they had a chocolate hazelnut tart on the menu that we were certain Ian would devour. Alas, they were out. Sean came back to the table that the kids and I had staked out with an apple pie tart and a beautiful pink raspberry marmalade tart. No matter how beautiful and pink it was, Ian was having none of it. He tried both tarts and soundly refused to eat them. In the end, we went all the way back to Ronto Roasters and bought him a wrap as well, of which he ate the sausage and the egg.

Sean’s beautifully laid plan was slightly blown to bits by then, but I think during the Frozen Sing along, he rallied and hit the rest of the day head on. Both kids actually sang along a bit during the “For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration,” so that was fun, and the show was pretty cute.

Because lightning lane rules (that I never took the time to learn) enforce wait times between bookings, by the time we could have gotten a lightning lane for Smugglers Run, they were entirely booked through the end of the day. So, the next thing we did after belting out “Let it Go” was to stand in the mother of all lines to experience Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. That’s right – we were gonna fly the Millennium Falcon.

When we got in the line, the wait time was posted at (I think) 75 minutes. Here’s the rub though: Rise of the Resistance was broken down and we think that those people were given lightning lane passes to use elsewhere, and that elsewhere was primarily Smugglers Run. We were in that line for nearly two hours before we get to fly the Falcon.

After safely smuggling our cargo during Smugglers Run, it was time for a lightning lane at Slinky Dog Dash. Toy Story Land is already pretty neat. You’re in the midst of eye-popping color and geometry as you wander through a land of giant toys. For the roller coaster, we were riding in an outsized Slinky Dog and I felt like the track design took advantage of just how maneuverable a giant slinky might be. The ride was smooth and just exciting enough to bring Ian back around to loving roller coasters again after his tough ride on Expedition Everest.

Back in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge part of the park, we picked up blue milk and green milk from Milk Stand. Blue milk in the Star Wars universe comes from milking an Bantha. I guess WDW couldn’t find any of those because both blue and green milk are plant-based concoctions. I found them both to be absolutely delicious. They were frozen drinks and the fruit flavor was lovely with no syrupy unpleasantness. We sipped our milks while we watched Kylo Ren prance around with an air of menace, flanked by storm troopers.

We had a reservation to keep at Oga’s Cantina. This one was mostly for the grown-ups, as it is by and large, a Star Wars themed cocktail bar. The kids were disheartened to see that the table we’d be occupying was meant for standing at, not sitting at, but they were delighted to see a bunch of creative mock-tails on the menu for their enjoyment. Maya had a Blurrgfire, which was lovely and pomegranate red and had a habanero-lime spicy kick. I had a Jedi Mind Trick, which was a nice enough mix of grapefruit and rose flavored vodka and various tiki ingredients. Sean and Ian’s drinks were the most fun. Sean had a Fuzzy Tauntaun – think fuzzy navel but the foam on top sort left your lips with sort of a tingling sensation. (I had originally thought Szechuan peppercorns, but in looking at copycat recipes on the internet, it seems like the secret may be something referred to as a “buzz button.” It’s the dried blossom of a toothache plant, and apparently an infusion of these may be used to give the foam its numbing quality.) Ian had the Carbon Freeze, which featured green apple popping pearls. His drink fizzed and frothed next to him for a bit after it was set down. He was worried enough about it that he wanted me to try it first before he was willing to do so.

While we nibbled on an unremarkable meat and cheese tray at Oga’s, that was really intended to be a drinks-only visit, so we needed to find some food before our next ride reservations came around. Sean had some treats in mind to acquire from Backlot Express, so we went ahead and at lunch there as well. The food was fine (Cuban sandwich for the grownups, chicken fingers for the kids), but the desserts were great. First up was the driver for our visit to this restaurant: The Wookie Cookie – watch out, it’s chewy (har, har, har). Maya thought that gag was hilarious, and we all thought the cookie was divine. Sean had also purchased a Glimmer and Shimmer Blondie, but we were all so full that we actually stored that one for future consumption.

Now that we all had our cannons loaded for projectile vomiting, we made our way over to the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The theming and lead-up story for this one worked wonders on the kids. They had been excited about the ride all day long, but after some spooky backstory and associated theatrics, they were both looking a little bit nervous. The neat thing about this ride is that it’s a drop ride, but you aren’t *just* dropped, you’re pulled, so the drop feels especially shocking. The kids ultimately loved it and were sad when it was over. Also, nobody lost their lunch.

As you may remember from earlier, Rise of the Resistance had been broken down for part of the day. We were all hoping beyond hope that it would open again before our afternoon reservation time. And it did! Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was an interesting experience. We were all part of a rebel mission. We were captured by the First Order and hassled by the guards (which felt real enough that Maya showed off her stubborn, combative side). And of course, we ultimately escaped because the Force must always prevail over the Dark Side. I won’t lie – it was super cool being immersed in scenes of good and evil that hearkened back to our dorky childhood. It was obviously themed toward the Rey / Kylo Ren timeframe, but the world and the machinery felt largely the same. I’m sure I had a grin plastered on my face when our little ride vehicle (driven by a friendly R5 droid that Maya fell in love with) darted through the legs of AT-AT walkers. I would do it again.

Next we lined up for light saber photo pass photos. Yep, we even had to line up to have our pictures taken – the kids were so, so sick of it. Lucky for us, the family behind us had a couple kids around our kids’ ages (plus an itty bitty baby in a stroller). While we waited, the four kids climbed around on rocks and traded pins and generally let loose for a few minutes. The family was super nice, even gifting our kids with light up glasses that they pulled from an envelop full of goodies that seemed to designed to perk their kids up every now and then (or temper the inevitable souvenir requests).

We went back over to Toy Story Land and at the kids’ repeated request, took a spin on the Alien Swirling Saucers. It was more fun than I expected it to be, and in a rare turn, I got to ride with Ian. He had mostly been sticking with his dad, who I think makes him feel safer, but for this “easy” ride, I guess he thought it was ok to ride with me.

Next, we made our way over to Toy Story Mania. Here we all donned our 3D glasses and hopped into the ride vehicles and used our little shooters to hit targets as we meandered through the ride. Maya was my partner for this ride, and together we learned some things about shooting targets. I would carefully aim at each intended target, pull my little spring back and fire, more often than not hitting what I was after. My score and accuracy were both (to my mind) pretty good. Maya struggled a little initially, but then sort of started rapid fire pulling and releasing her spring trigger, and sort of mowing down the targets in front of her. She and I were nearly tied by the end. Ian and Sean had massive scores, comparatively, and it seems it was because they too employed this rapid fire, mow-em-down action. Lesson learned.

We wandered around Toy Story Land for a bit longer taking photos and enjoying the area. You will notice that the kids, especially Maya, were less and less interested in performing for the camera as the trip wore on. This was a trend that would continue throughout the rest of the trip until we eventually broke and got angry and tried to explain that not all the fun was about them, that the thing Mom and Dad really loved was smiling photos so we could remember the trip. It *sort* of worked. An effort was made, if nothing else.

Afterward, we wandered back through the lake area to take photos of the big Christmas tree and the dinosaur guarding the lake before heading to our final ride of the night, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. To get there we had to head down Sunset Blvd toward the Tower of Terror. It was good and dark now, we saw some of the fun holiday projections on the Tower of Terror, and it began to snow! Ok, not really. Sean chuckled and said it was “snoap.” The kids looked confused, so we explained the snow was made of soap bubbles. Maya, lover of fine puns, thought this was hilarious. She and I decided that it could also be thought of as “snope,” because is it snow? Nope.

Ian and Maya had been excited about Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster all day long. Ian was back on the roller coaster bandwagon by this time and needed us to assure him that this one was “wild enough” to be fun. This one was going to be particularly thrilling because it was the first coaster the kids would ride that went upside down. The idea is that Aerosmith is late for a concert and we get to go along with them in their limo as they barrel through town. And sure enough, the ride rockets you forward almost from the very beginning. Since the ride is largely through the dark, the kids weren’t immediately aware of when they were going upside down, so we started calling it out. The loved it, but like all good rides, it was over way too soon.

After the ride, we wandered back by the Chinese Theater to see the nighttime show there – Wonderful World of Animation. This was a projection against the theater of various Disney animation clips, complete with audio and fireworks. The kiddos (and grownups) were quite tired by this point. Sean scored some Christmas popcorn that Maya and Ian shared while they watched the show. After the animation show was over, we parked ourselves on a ledge, so we could sit for a moment and make sure there were no last things we needed to do.

That was when I discovered my magic band was gone. These little wrist watch looking things are your whole life while at Disney. They let you into your hotel room, they let you purchase food and souvenirs, and they let you into the parks and into the lightning lanes, if you have them reserved. Sigh. I had been reaching into my backpack about a hundred times a day since we’d been at Disney World to fetch snacks, retrieve jackets, stow jackets, provide and put away pin laniards and mouse ears as the whim struck. And with the roller coasters and 3D rides, I had put away glasses and provided them again over and over. Luckily, we had already ridden all our rides that day. Also luckily, very little time would have passed since I last used the band and lost it. On our way out, we took a trip by guest services to disable my band and provide me with a card that I could use instead.

We took a bus to our new hotel, Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We got ourselves checked in and up to our new room, picked up some pizza we had ordered from one of the hotel restaurants, and generally settled in and eating a late dinner. Compared to our Pop Century room, this one was sprawling. Plus, Sean chose a room that was as high up as we could find that was facing the Magic Kingdom. Our view was amazing.

In fact, we were up late enough that we managed to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our room! It was a little cool out on the balcony, so Maya and I watched them through the sliding glass door (Ian mostly didn’t care). Sean stayed out on the porch so that he could try to take fireworks photos, and there’s no denying – it was amazing.

[Sean: Genie+ is the way at Hollywood Studios.  And buy the individual Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance.  Even then, because you can only schedule one ride every two hours, you are going to end up doing something called “stacking” which is where you schedule most of your rides for the afternoon/evening.  7a, schedule Slinky Dog or Smuggler’s Run for as early as you can get it.  Rope drop Runaway Railway.  As soon as you can schedule your next Lightning Lane see if the other of Slinky Dog or Smuggler’s is available.  It won’t be so instead schedule Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster or Tower of Terror (which ever has an earlier time slot).  Now go hit a show, ride something with a short standby (10-20 minutes at most) or if Slinky Dog or Smuggler’s has a short standby (45-60 minutes) go do that.  Rinse and repeat.  Now all the cool rides are stacked at the end of the day and you rush between them meeting all your hour long Lightning Lane windows.  Viola, you hit all the major attractions, most of the minor ones, and all it costs your is $30 per person and a bit of the planner’s sanity.]