At Hollywood Studios, there is one ride that EVERYONE wants to ride, but is very tricky to be able to: Rise of the Resistance. It is a very new ride. You have to get on-line at exactly 6:59:59 AM according to the world clock to try and get a boarding pass on-line. The passes are gone in literally just a couple of seconds.
Ben, Audra, and I have been practicing how to get boarding passes at home for over a month (don't worry, it didn't affect anyone actually at the park from getting a pass).
We spent the night before going around our room trying to figure out where our best wi-fi signal was.
I am HAPPY to say- Audra got it!
I was jumping up and down in excitement! Look at what group she got us- group 3! That's amazing! There's typically about 165 groups a day, BUT- the ride breaks down A LOT. Often only maybe 50 groups will get to do, if that. With group 3, I knew unless the ride was broken down the entire day (a very real possibility) we would get in. Lucky for us, it didn't break down and we got to ride!
But, we didn't start there. Since we rope dropped, we took the bus, we wanted to knock out a few rides to take advantage before we went on Rise. We went on Slinky Dog- which both Camille and I have been wanting to go on for a few years, ever since I checked out The Unofficial Guide with the Slinky Dog ride on the front cover. It was such a fun/cute ride! We wanted to ride it again, but it did break down and was closed for over half the day. Thank goodness we rode it early!
Toy Story Mania was so cute!
I made us lots of matching shirts before we left. These Steamboat Willie ones were my favorite!
I'm not exactly sure when the ride started....I think when we watched a video saying we needed to fight The Dark Side.
It's a 16 minute ride, which is more of an experience. You walk through a few different rooms where they tell you the story of what is happening, and then eventually you get in a car/ship thing to "fight" the bad guys.
There was plexi-glass separating the rows because of Covid, so Ben and Audra didn't get as good of a view.
It was pretty cool. Admittedly, in the future if I wasn't able to get a boarding pass I wouldn't be too upset, but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad we got to do it once!
The Star Wars Land is amazing, and I'm not even that big of a Star Wars fan. But, it really feels like you are in Star Wars. It was really fun to walk around.
The Muppets 3D. This was on Ben's must-do list, and it was super cute. He saw it when he was a teenager and went to Hollywood MGM Studios and loved it.
Audra did not like this Droid talking to her;)
Then it was off for some more rides.
I was wearing Mouse ears, but they blew off and they had to stop the ride, shut it down and move us to a different portion of the ride, and reset the ride. It caused a back up for all the people waiting in line. I was so embarrassed and apologized profusely- no more ears for me!
Then, we took the Skyliner to Beaches and Cream, a restaurant at a neighboring resort. I was so incredibly excited for this restaurant, it came with such high reviews. Of all the restaurants I booked, this was the one I wanted most.
And, it did not disappoint! Claire got grilled cheese and tomato soup, and I had a bite because people say it is their favorite, and it was SO GOOD!!!
I got a French Dip sandwich that was incredible.
But, really, you go for the desserts! Check these out! We got three desserts- strawberry shortcake, chocolate fudge mud slide, and....
Brownie Sundae.
SO DELICIOUS!!!!
While we were eating, and massive rain storm came in. When we were done, it was gone, so we were like, "thank goodness we were inside when it came! What luck!"
We went around the resort and ran into Pluto and Goofy.
Because of the storm, the skyliner shut down. And, so did the boat transportation. So, the only way to get back was to walk 15 minutes. No big deal, except the rains came back! With a vengeance!
We finally found shelter, but it was pouring so hard, and it wouldn't stop. There were rivers with 6 inches of water we had to run through. The umbrellas did nothing, and I didn't bring the ponchos.
Eventually, we were so wet we decided it didn't matter anymore and we should just run back to HS. We were totally stranded with really no other options. So, off we went.
By the time we got back, the rain had stopped. We were soaked, but we realized something awesome: everyone had left the park! We decided to go back in and do the last few rides we hadn't done. The park was basically empty!
We went in and rode Millenium Falcon twice- this is another super headliner ride that gets extremely long lines, and we walked on both times! It was amazing, and one of our favorite rides. We liked this better than Rise.
Inside the Millennium Falcon. Isn't it incredible?
You are given different roles- pilot, gunner (shoot things) or engineer (pretty much do nothing). I ended up being the engineer both times because I am the best mom and wife on the planet and that way everyone else could be a pilot or gunner as there's two of each position on the ride. It really does feel like you are flying the Falcon! Again, I'm not a Star Wars fan, but this was really, really cool.
We did Mickey and Minnie's Rollercoaster, another new ride and the only ride in all the parks dedicated to Mickey and Minnie. I loved it! It was such a cute ride!
With more rain.
We went to Docking Bay 7 for dinner. This place was awesome! It looked just like the restaurants you see in Star Wars! And, the food was also delicious.
I got the Ronto Wrap- yum!
Here we are leaving after a great day. Yes, it is crowded again- this makes it look like it was packed, and it was busy- but we still had a wonderful, wet day.
Even if Ben had to blow dry shoes in the hotel! (I was wearing hiking sandals, so I was good, but everyone else was wearing tennis shoes. Thankfully, no blisters!)
