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Old 24 Mar 18, 11:01 PM  
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LostPrincess
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Garth and Louise's Graduation Celebration June 2017 - Day 8 - Hollywood Studios

Welcome to my trip report! The index is here, and day 7 is here.

Tuesday 20th June – Day 8

We had a great night’s sleep! It was weird how it felt like we were still in the Rosen Inn but we knew we were in the Disney bubble. I woke in the night but I got back to sleep easily and woke properly at 6.08. I can never wake that early at home and feel ok! I’d had a dream that all our credits had gone and our refillable mugs had stopped working! Fingers crossed it was just a dream While I waited for Garth to wake up I went through all my notes and added the dates and stepcounts to the top of the pages… I hadn’t been too organised so far! I learned so much from writing trip notes for the first time though and I’m sure next time it’ll be a lot easier when I’ve got a better idea of what’s useful. I’m not sure what time Garth got up but we were up, washed and ready by half 7.

I found the hairdryer better here compared to Rosen Inn so it was quick and easy getting ready. As we were leaving I checked my emails to see if my tutor had replied about my grade (I calculated I was 0.04% off getting a first class degree after receiving my last assignment mark yesterday so I was really hoping they’d round it up) but I had no reply. I pushed it to the back of my mind again as we headed down for breakfast.



It was a bit overcast this morning. Floatworks was reasonably quiet. There was plenty of choice for breakfast but we knew what we were getting… beignets! There was a bit of a wait because they were making them fresh.



Joey made them for us… he’s not Tiana but he’ll do! We got 6 beignets for a snack credit which was brilliant value seeing as it was enough for both of us. They would have cost $5.49 OOP.


Worth the wait! We made a bit of a mess on the table but this was to become a running theme, we just couldn’t eat them without making a horrendous mess!

We enjoyed them and were heading to the bus stop at 7.55. We were heading to Hollywood Studios today but there was no time up for the bus yet and most people around were heading to MK. There was a castmember about helping people so we asked her if there would be bus anytime soon. She said she’d check for us but before long it popped up on the screen saying there would be a bus at 8.13. The castmember said there were sometimes gps issues with the sign, I think it’s so cool how they calculate it with gps though. It was a perfect temperature while waiting but I did get a bit impatient, especially when the time changed to 8.18. We looked over our plan for the day. We were using a touring plan but it was a loose guide rather than a strict plan for us and we weren't planning on following it strictly.


The bus arrived at 8.19 and we were at HS at 8.32. Garth rushed off to find a restroom while I took the bags through bag check and took some pics.


It was quite busy around. When Garth came and found me we headed into the park and were held in the street until 8.52. We hot footed straight to Rock’n’Rollercoaster as soon as we were allowed.


They held us again by the ride and the sign said 45 minutes already! It looked pretty busy.


They were trying to give out fastpasses for the 10am Beauty and the Beast show, probably to discourage people from bunching up around R’n’r now but we had a plan and we were sticking to it! As soon as we were allowed into the line it moved fairly quickly. I really love this queue line. We got onto the ride at 9.20, lying queue time! The ride played Love in an Elevator and then Walk this Way. I normally always get Sweet Emotion which is my least favourite Aerosmith song so it was great to get some gooduns and we had a good singsong on the way around! I do love this ride and although I’m interested to see the replacement in DLP (Iron Man fan) I don’t want to lose it from WDW. We were walking out at 9.23.


Our fastpass for Star Tours was active now so we wandered over. The park looked so naked without the hat.

But it does look better… more classy! We walked past Goofy on our way.

The queue time for Star Tours was only 10 minutes when we arrived at half 9 but we scanned in anyway. My Star Wars knowledge isn’t very good (I’m working on it) so I can’t tell you what we did/who we saw/where we went but the ride was still fun and I love listening to everyone’s ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhhs’. I love being thrown around! We were off at 9.48 and went straight to the Great Movie Ride. It was only showing 20 minutes. This is another great queue line in Hollywood Studios. There was actually a separate queue inside here for parties of two which was brilliant and we got on really quickly. I feel like this ride is really dependent on who your “tour guide” is. We had the gangster track but she was really quiet and mumbled and I could hardly hear what she was saying! So this ride was a bit pants. I’m not sure how I feel about the new ride here. I feel like I should be sad because the Great Movie Ride is obviously a classic but I’m quite excited for the new ride. I’m glad we got to see TGMR before it went though. We got off at 10.20 and our Toy Story fastpass was active so we headed down towards Pixar studios. En route we passed an assistance dog with a first time badge aww.

The standby was 60 mins and we waited 15 in the fastpass queue. TSMM is my favourite shooting game. We’re quite competitive but I just about won! I pride myself on my accuracy score though!

As we were close we went into One Man’s Dream next. I feel like we’d got a lot done this morning considering it wasn’t even 11am yet! Garth could spend hours in here. We have Jim Fanning’s ‘The Disney Book: A Celebration of the World of Disney’ at home and so much of the stuff in the book is in One Man’s Dream. It was so cool seeing stuff like the multiplane camera when we’d been reading about it at home.




The multiplane camera.

I love the vintage posters.

The Starlord meet was 40 minutes long. Garth was really keen but I was scared (I have a thing about face characters) and he didn’t want to wait alone so we gave it a miss I feel guilty but I really don’t know how I’d cope meeting someone who looked like Chris Pratt We had enjoyed the break in the aircon for a bit so we decided to keep it going and head for The Voyage of the Little Mermaid for the 11.15 showing. We snacked on some oreos while we were waiting and I noted that my legs were feeling quite sore today. The show was great and we had a really good Ariel. I love all the bubbles. It was nice to sit down for a bit and rest the legs! We came out at 11.33 and we were a bit early for our Tower of Terror fastpass but headed that way anyway. The park seemed quite busy.


We were still early when we got to ToT but Mickey turned green anyway. I checked my emails but I had nothing from my tutor yet. We booked a fastpass for Fantasmic while we were waiting in the queue.



I think we only waited 10 minutes or so. I hate this ride not going to lie. I put up with it for Garth but the anticipation when going up kills me hehehe. He loves it though. When we came in 2014 he was a bit of a scaredy cat and this was his response to his first ride:

Which is a contrast to now!

We were coming off at 12 and passed Bellhop Stitch on our way.

We were heading back to French Quarter now for a bit of a rest. It was great to have the freedom just to nip back whenever we wanted. We wanted to spend some snack credits in the Trolley Car Café on our way out so we went in for a look. It was bigger than I thought it would be in there. The sweet treats looked fab

But we were after coffees. I got a mocha Frappuccino and Garth got a midnight mint Frappuccino. I didn’t make a note but I presume we got Ventis so they would have cost us $11.58 but we used 2 snack credits.

We really discipline ourselves with spending at home with Florida/wedding/house deposit to save for so we hardly ever get Starbucks or any other coffee shop treats so we loved being able to treat ourselves! And they were yummy. We were leaving the park at 12.20. Garth got grabbed by a person with an ipad to give feedback which delayed us a bit but when we got to the bus stop there was one waiting loading an ECV so we weren’t in a rush. When we boarded the bus the driver asked where his Starbucks was He was very happy and made us all wish another passenger a happy birthday on the journey home. We arrived back at 12.40.

We loved it here so much! We were hungry and had been planning to eat at Floatworks so we went to look at the lunch options.


Plenty of choice. I got a cup of gumbo with rice and Garth got a shrimp po boy sandwich. Mia served us at the till which was the start of a tradition- she seemed to be there every morning when we got breakfast. Our lunch would have cost us $15.38 but we used a snack for mine and a meal credit for Garth. We got some orange juice as well with the QS credit.



It was a good lunch! Although mine was a snack I couldn’t finish it! I thought they’d maybe made a mistake with the portion size. It was massive but so yummy. It was a bit too seasoned so made me quite thirsty but it was good. Garth’s fries were nice too and he enjoyed his po boy. When we had finished we went back to the room and planned the rest of the day. It felt good to know we were getting most of Hollywood Studios done in one day. At half one I decided to take a nap and conked out really quickly. I woke up again at 2, got changed and we were ready to go again by 2.20. It was just a little break but much appreciated!

We went to look at the river when we left. French Quarter is a beautiful resort. Photo spam!









When we were done wandering we filled up our mugs. I got vanilla coke and Garth got a lemon coke. We thought we’d check again for our $200 gift card but no luck yet. We got to the bus stop at 2.39 and a bus was scheduled for 6 minutes time. I messaged my Mum and had a chat while we were waiting. The bus arrived on time and was playing Aerosmith, I love how the bus music is so well matched to the park! We arrived at 2.58 and hopped in the queue to get photopasses outside the park. As we were queuing the photographer changed and a really enthusiastic woman took over. It was such a strange experience. Because we were British she decided she would make us do weird chivalric knight stuff and then she said “if you get down on one knee it’ll look like you’re proposing” to which we responded that he’d already done that. I think she thought we’d got engaged on this trip and it was just a very awkward experience Here are the pictures to prove it.



There was a kissy one too but I don't think it's necessary to share that one- this photo experience was definitely awkward enough We went into the park and got some more normal photos!



The force! Our plan now was the First time in Forever singalong so we went in at 3.20 ready for the 3.30 show.

I have absolutely no shame, I blooming love this show and I cried. I’m such a Frozen fan and I know there’s so much flack around it being overrated but I am just infatuated with the story, the songs, everything! We’ve been lucky enough to get tickets to Frozen on Broadway during our honeymoon in NYC this July and I can’t wait! Although they did cost a bomb There will be tears! I love the atmosphere in the singalong. There was a little kid behind me really going for it bless her! The lady sat next to me was sitting in silence which made me feel a bit awkward about signing but it didn’t stop me The humour in this show is great too. It's definitely the best thing in Hollywood Studios (yep I said it!). We were out at 4 and saw the march of the first order.

Scary stuff! They must be hot in those suits. We walked down to the Muppets passing the old streets of America on our way. I’m excited to see the HS changes but I’m worried about how much time it’s going to take to see the whole park! I like getting HS done in one day and leaving more time for the other parks but things are going to have to change as they’re expanding. Going to need 4 weeks there before long! Even that wouldn’t be enough! We got into the Muppets queue at 4.12. We appreciated the aircon as it was really hot outside now.

We were in the theatre by half past. The 3D works really well considering how old the show is! It’s a good laugh and nice to sit down for a bit in there. When it was finished we looked in the shop and the Christmas shop. We were planning on getting some decorations but it was too early for me to be spending too much money! We also got some photopass pics out here.

The fountain looks nice with a bit of greenery! We nipped to the loo and then noticed as we were walking past that Olaf’s meet and greet had no queue. I get SO nervous meeting characters but as there was no queue we just went for it. We walked straight in and it was so cute.



Garth looks like he’s going to punch Olaf though! Olaf gave the warmest of hugs and I was relieved we’d got a character meet out the way and it wasn’t even too scary After our Olaf experience we went into the Path of the Jedi. Now, on the map this is described as “A saga film experience, including footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Let me rephrase this for you: “A spoiler fest with details of all the plot twists, endings and parts of the movies you didn’t want to know about if you haven’t seen all the films yet”. I spent the whole thing with my fingers in my ears and my eyes squeezed shut! We should have been more careful going in really I was really gutted that some things had been spoiled. But oh well. My notes say “so peeved” so that sums up how I was feeling! After we left we saw a photopass photographer by the lake so got some more pics.


It's an unusual spot for a photo really but they are some nice pictures. It was getting on to half 5 now and Indiana Jones was showing at 6pm. We looked in the Indiana Jones shop for a bit and then took our seats at 5.45 for the show. This show never gets old and is good fun. I’m not sure how long it will be around but I wouldn’t ever want to skip it!


Straight after the show we headed to Pixar Live stopping for pics on the way.

I'm pretty sure it was now when someone kept trying to photobomb our picture. The castmember was getting quite frustrated because whenever he took a picture they jumped behind us and were taking the mickey a little bit. He was only having a laugh but when there's a queue of people waiting to get their photos taken I can imagine incidents like this must test the staffs' patience! We got to the theatre at 6.40 and the toy soldiers were interacting with children. It was really funny to watch and great fun for the kids and the parents! We’d been looking forward to Pixar live after seeing things about it on twitter. They basically had a band on stage and played the music from Pixar films while showing film montages behind on the screens. Each piece was introduced with characters.




This was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen on Disney property. They did music from Toy Story, Cars, Up, Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, finished off with a Toy Story singalong! Up was by far the best part. Obviously they did Married Life and it was amazing. The man behind us hadn’t seen Up before and we could hear him talking to his family throughout the piece. When Carl and Ellie had to keep breaking the money pot he laughed and said “that is so true” and then when it got to the sad parts he just said “this is a sad song” and pretty much everyone in the theatre got a bit teary! It was an amazing experience we loved it. The show finished at around half 7 and we went to get a bite to eat. Rosie’s All American Café was our choice as we were after a good old burg.

We both got the 1/3 lb Fresh Angus Onion Straw Cheddar Cheeseburger with a coke. It would have come to $31.09 but we used 2 QS credits.


It was so good but I ate way too much! I even ate the pickles. My stomach was definitely feeling stretched. We sat for a while feeling a bit stuffed and then headed towards Fantasmic.

I have no idea why (seeing as we were so full) but we headed to the popcorn cart first. We got a popcorn box which would have cost $5.25 but we used a snack credit. We took a selfie while we waited!


I presume we would have got nachos with cheese if we weren’t feeling so full! I love the music they play before Fantasmic. Ashley Tisdale’s Kiss the Girl was my jam back in the day and it really got me in the mood for some magic! We took our seats in the FP area. They were ok but there were some really rude, drunk British people behind us. They had a selfie stick (I don’t know how they had got away with it) and they kept jabbing me in the ribs with it so we moved forwards but we could still hear them. As I was taking pictures they were shouting at me saying something about how I was trying to take arty photos. One of them then walked down the stairs a bit and shouted at everyone to get in his big group selfie. I just glared at him. I was so annoyed that the castmembers didn’t do anything! I know everyone goes to Disney to have fun but they were drunk and if I’d had kids with me I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with them around. When the show started they kept shouting things like “wicked” and making weird noises it was such a distraction We tried to enjoy the show anyway. I loved having the view from the side as we could really see the projections well. My pictures all came out rubbish because of the lighting so I gave up with the camera and just enjoyed the show. I was on edge when the big boat came out after seeing the video of Dopey nearly falling of the boat a while ago But he was ok and it was an amazing show, despite the distractions. When the show was over we shuffled with the rest of the crowd out of the park and made it to the bus stop by 9.45. We had plans to see the Star Wars show another day. We were off and away by 9.52.

I must have been pooped as my notes thin out by this point! We got back just past 10 and had a big drink. I was really thirsty after eating the popcorn during Fantasmic. We packed a swim bag for Volcano Bay tomorrow and we both had baths. My sunburn had started peeling so I slathered on the aftersun before getting into bed. I updated my budget spreadsheet but we hadn’t spent a single penny today! And considering all the treats we’d had that felt great! Dining plan is brilliant. We were conked by 11.15 after a really good day at Hollywood Studios.

Tomorrow we burst the bubble and go back to Universal for a trip to Volcano Bay before spending the evening at Magic Kingdom!

Steps today: 18316

Edited at 09:56 PM.
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Old 25 Mar 18, 12:15 AM  
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The Pixar show sounds fantastic, and your burger from Rosie’s looks so good. I love the Fantasmic! music too, I tracked down all the songs and play them in the car, You’ll Be In My Heart is my favourite.
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Old 25 Mar 18, 08:27 PM  
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Like Colette I really hope your tutor replies soon as I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out whether you ended up with a first or not. If not a 2.1 is still great.

I loved all the photos of the resort. The beignets look so tasty and so did your soup. We have a couple of days at POR at the end of our trip this summer and I think we will have to nip over to POFQ to try out some of the food!

A fab day at HS, such a shame the drunks soured fantasmic for you. It's my absolute favourite night time show at WDW. I just love it.
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Old 26 Mar 18, 09:52 PM  
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Originally Posted by collybird View Post
The Pixar show sounds fantastic, and your burger from Rosie’s looks so good. I love the Fantasmic! music too, I tracked down all the songs and play them in the car, You’ll Be In My Heart is my favourite.
The Fantasmic music is good. It's nice how other films that are sometimes ignored like Tarzan and Pocahontas get a voice in Fantasmic!


Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Like Colette I really hope your tutor replies soon as I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out whether you ended up with a first or not. If not a 2.1 is still great.

I loved all the photos of the resort. The beignets look so tasty and so did your soup. We have a couple of days at POR at the end of our trip this summer and I think we will have to nip over to POFQ to try out some of the food!

A fab day at HS, such a shame the drunks soured fantasmic for you. It's my absolute favourite night time show at WDW. I just love it.
I'm about to post the next day so you'll soon find out what grade I got Oooh you'll love the food at FQ! It was a shame about the drunks but you can't let people like that distract from the good memories, it is a brilliant show!

Thanks for reading
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Old 28 Mar 18, 07:06 AM  
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Brilliant day, I really hope you got the grade you wanted!
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Old 5 Apr 18, 09:10 AM  
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Originally Posted by yellowrose78 View Post
Brilliant day, I really hope you got the grade you wanted!
Thank you! Thanks for reading and commenting
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Old 10 May 18, 07:08 PM  
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Oh gosh, the suspense of your results

Love your Minnie and Mickey T Shirt.

HS has traditionally become our first park day over the years, rounding off with Fantasmic dining package. Love the music too and have the soundtrack along with a few others collected over the years.

How lovely you'll get to see Frozen on Broadway, I think you may need extra tissues though
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Old 11 May 18, 03:34 PM  
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Another super busy day!

I am on tenterhooks to read what result you got!

Dining Plan looks like it worked out well for you - so many threats Venti Starbucks for a snack credit is awesome.

Great work hitting everything at Hollywood Studios in one day.

Your PhotoPass pictures are lovely, especially the one with the boat and the fountain in the background. I hate when you get a photographer that makes you do awkward things, we got told to do the kissing too and it is a terrible photo!

We may have to pop into FOFQ for lunch one day on our next trip as my BF loves muffuletta and I spied it on your photo of the lunch menu.

Such a shame some idiots affected your viewing of Fantasmic. At least you were able to move a bit further away from them and they didn't spoil the show completely.

You have been very lucky with the buses too, they must have known you had places to be and behaved themselves

Thanks again for such a detailed trip report
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Old 18 Jun 18, 10:59 PM  
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Fingers crossed for good news from your tutor

Sounds like you did everything in the park today

Ummm those burgers look good
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