We'd decided we couldn't wait to ride Rise of the Resistance so had booked Hollywood Studios for our first day. The dining report is
here.
We woke a couple of times after an early night, partly due to the loud aircon. We got up about 4ish and started getting dressed. Mum and Dad were awake so we discussed breakfast and agreed on ihop or Denny’s since they were 24 hours. We drove round to LBV and IHOP but there didn’t seem to be anyone there so we headed across to Denny’s. It was quiet with only one other customer at 6am. We all ordered the French Toast slam with a variety of egg choices. Other than Dad who just had a decaf coffee we all had coffee and OJ.
This came to $69 and we left $85. While in Denny’s we made our first IAS of the trip and LL with me doing one and Marie the other. I clicked on ROTR at 8.10am and by the time I got to the next screen it was 9.25. By the time I selected our party it was 10.25 and by the time I checked out it was 2.45pm. Not much could be done at that point as we’d already paid but it was a bit late for us. Marie got SDD at 12.25 which was a bit better at least. This is where we learned one of the first lessons of Genie plus and Individual Attraction Selection - make sure your party is all selected prior to going in to book. The additional seconds lost removing Mum resulted in several hours of slots going. in hindsight I wish I had just paid for Mum to ride too even if she had decided not to.
We headed straight to DHS after breakfast as the park opened at 8am so for us 7.30am. We were parked fairly close but at the far end of the row.
We headed round to Galaxy's Edge to ride Smugglers Run before the regular guests arrived. We passed RotR which didn't open until 8am and could see lots of people already queuing. I can see the logic as it means you probably won't wait much more than 30 minutes but I'm not sure how long those people waited to get in to the park.
The wait time for SR said 15 mins but was a walk on. Mum rode it because she didn't really know what it was. She's not a lvoer of rides and most of the ones she rode was because we just kept walking
. She said it was ok but she's not a Star Wars fan so doesn't really get it.
We wandered round GE for a wee while as all the wait times were a bit high for us and we already had our LL booked. We stopped at the blue milk stand and Marie and I got blue while Mum and Dad got green.
We headed to Star Tours as the only ride with minimal wait and another I thought Mum would probably be fine on. I set an alarm for 10 so I could make another LL 2 hours after park opening.
After Star Tours we went for a wander and looked in some shops and got our replacement Magic Bands. The voucher just said 4 Magic Bands with nothing else so we didn't know if we could just pick anything. We just picked 4, including a limited series Boba Fett one for Dad, even though his original one was been plain and took them to the till. There were no issues using the voucher. I only have a picture of mine because we were standing in the shop linking them and putting them on so it was a bit of a faff.
We headed to the 9.30am showing of Frozen which I knew Mum would enjoy and Dad would secretly enjoy! I tried to make another LLS after this but it showed Dad and Marie as having no Genie + so we had to go to Guest Relations. Apparently it’s common with UK ultimates although I've not seen any other reports of this. The CM said she would log a ticket with IT and could fix in temporarily for the day.
We went for a coffee to Rosie’s and got Churros and a pretzel.
The whole time I tried to get a LL for something before our SDD but in vain. TSM was showing around 3pm and that was just too late. Eventually 1.40pm appeared and I managed to bag it but by now I was getting a bit grumpy. We'd basically managed to get 2 LL selections so far. It probably didn't help that there wasn't much Mum would go on, I don't like R&RC and Marie doesn't like ToT - not that we would have got a LL for either of those anyway.
From there we looked in some more shops and went to the Launch Bay which is mostly closed off. There wasn't much to see but I too a picture of this poster. I still remember when Return of the Jedi was briefly called Revenge of the Jedi and I'm sure I had a book or something. Little did I know it would probably be worth something some day!
We did a lot of hanging around waiting for it to be time for our SDD slot time.
We went to scan in early for SDD but were before the 5 mins grace period. The CM let us in anyway.
After that we went to Backlot Express for lunch. It was so busy it was a nightmare getting a table but we managed it. Had to wait for the “we’re here” time slot then again for the food to be ready. Mum & Marie got pulled pork burger and Dad the Cuban. I decided ti be fancy and got the Teryaki chicken bowl. This was terrible. It was cold and the rice was stodgy. Mum gave me her burger as she only wanted the pulled pork.
After lunch we did TSM then it was finally time for ROTR.
It’s an amazing experience but we definitely felt the need to do it again. That first time you feel like you've probably missed half the experience! As much as Disney have not been great recently with all the paid for add-ons you have to give the credit when it comes to immersive experiences. This was truly an experience rather than just a ride.
We left after that having already stayed longer than we normally would on day 1. The park was incredibly busy, more so than we'd normally see in September and lots of groups of teenagers due to the cheerleading competitions that were on.
We went to Walmart to get some bits and bobs including muffins, milk, water and cookies and cream pie.
I don't think the photo really shows how massive that bag was!
Our trash has been emptied presumably during the room check but nothing else. We were expecting housekeeping every other day so that was reasonable.
We were so tired we decided just to go to the food court again for dinner. We ordered before we left the room and waited until we were there and had a table before clicking that we were there. Dad had the pot roast, Marie and I the turkey dinner and Mum the chilli bowl. Dad loved the pot roast, the turkey dinner was fine but the turkey and gravy a bit tasteless. Mum said the chilli was nice although she left most of the bread bowl. On this occasion I had Minute Maid light lemonade - pink.
More resort photos.
We had bought our favourite cookies and cream pie at Walmart so had a slice of that for dessert then headed to bed.
We had brought back coffee in our mugs but it was horrible. The same blend as the room but much stronger. I poured mine out and made a decaf in the room.
We ended up with another early night as we'd been up so early.