Day 14 – (7.8.18) Hollywood Studios, villa, Star Wars Dessert Party and Fantasmic!

[VeryexcitedH]

And today is the day where I have zero notes as it was a ridiculously late evening the night before and we were so close to the end of the holiday. Therefore, I will use the photos taken, google timeline and my aging memory to try and piece the day together!

Plans in my note book say that we were spending the morning in Hollywood studios with Jedi training first and fastpasses for TSM from 8:40-9:40, RnR from 9:50-10:50 and Star Tours from 5:00-6:00. The afternoon was down as villa time and in the evening we were back at Star Wars: A galactic Spectacular Dessert Party from 8:30 and I was also hoping to catch the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic before calling it a day.

After a really late night last night we had alarms set for early to ensure we were up and out in time for rope drop at HS. No timings on getting up but I reckon alarms will have been set for 6:15/6:30. Dressed and breakfast in the villa my photo shows we made it to the tapstiles to queue for rope drop at 7:54. Pretty good going after a late night!

Tapped through and made our way to sign the children up for Jedi Training. On the way DD got a pressed penny I think near the Prime Time Diner and just before Indiana Jones we came across 2 Stormtroopers walking around.

This was a great impromptu meet and greet as they were happy with DS’s Star Wars t-shirt chosen especially for the day.

Storm Troopers met we made our way around to sign up for Jedi Training. I think we were on the second show of the morning and my photo timings show we were back by 10am so that gave us almost 2 hours to explore the park.

First stop was across the park to the Star Wars Launch Bay to check it out and to also see where we would be heading for the dessert party later. The children still didn’t know about the dessert party so that would be a surprise for later. We enjoyed looking at the exhibition pieces there as we have watched all the Star Wars films and they are well liked in our house. DD’s favourite character is Kylo Ren so as he had a short queue we queued up to meet him first. It wasn’t long before we were meeting him and it was fantastic. He was very in character and quite frightening but both children enjoyed this and played along with him, thankfully neither of them were too scared. In fact, I think DD was completely in her element here!

Upon leaving Kylo Ren we decided to meet Chewbacca as his queue was relatively short. We jumped in on this one and I got a hug from him, he was quite fluffy!

I think Chewbacca was asking why DS had Stormtroopers on his t-shirt!

Another good meet once finished we went to meet BB8. This one was ok, just an ok meet because BB8 doesn’t do anything!

We browsed the shop (Launch Bay Cargo) and both the kids chose to buy a build your own droid so spent some time putting the different elements together. Purchases in hand at 8:56 and a total cost of $23.28.

We left Star Wars Launch Bay and headed over to Toy Story land to use our first FP. We got into the queuing area by 9:24 and it wasn’t long before we were riding. I thoroughly enjoyed this ride. The theming is fantastic and I think it is so much better than Buzz. No doubt on this game DD and I had dire scores compared to DH and DS! Before going on TSM we must have picked up a return time for SDD using the DAS pass, no recollection but I have evidence of us riding it!

Once we had finished on TSM we made our way back across the park for the children to become Jedis! Now, here was a moment of touch and go as the children had both been signed up to this last time we came (5 years ago) but when it came to the crunch DD at the time (she was only 4!) refused to do it and we had to take her out. I did feel guilty about this at the time as another child could have had that space. Anyway, I was hoping now she was older and had watched the films she would complete the training.

We handed our ticket back in and the children were put into two lines, I think according to age as DD and DS were in different lines. In these lines the children were each given a rope to wear. 1 thing I can say is that Disney have thought carefully about this part of the Jedi Training. It has moved across HS from last time we did it and all this part of the training is under cover so the children were kept out of the sunlight.

Once all the children had their robes on the CM lined the children up in 2 lines and marched them across HS to the stage near ST, with all the parents following around.

I will now just share lots of photos of the experience rather than describe it! Needless to say it was fantastic and the kids really loved it. Both of them this time! The photopass photographer got loads of great pictures of the whole experience which we collected before we left the park that morning.

Darth Vader defeated (phew!) the children took off their robes and gave them to a CM then we were free to leave. We hot footed it across the park to make it to our FP for RNRC before it closed. Pictures show we were in the shop by 11:08.

Love this ride, so super! We browsed the shop and managed to find Rock N Roller Coaster Stitch. For those of you that have read my previous days you will know that Stitch is DSs favourite character so he was delighted to spot him! He asked a CM for a cuddle with Stitch and thankfully they obliged.

Photo taken, and a photopass taken outside we headed back down Hollywood Boulevard

where we were feeling a little peckish so stopped at one of the food stalls for a quick snack. DS was desperate to have a corndog (despite me telling him he’d tried them when he was little and he didn’t like it!) It was 11:24 by now.

At Anaheim produce I bought DH and myself churros each and asked the CM if they had any corndogs. She wasn’t sure so asked her manager. He said no so I paid for the churros $11.27. As the CM was serving us the Manager came over and apologised for having no corndogs and said he would gift us something else. I think DS chose churros too. Lovely bit of Disney Magic again! DH had nipped to Mickey’s of Hollywood next door and picked up some cotton candy ($5.64) as per DDs request. Snacks in hand we found a quiet bench to sit on and take a break. DS got chocolate all down himself so we had to attack him with baby wipes once he’d finished before using the restrooms to freshen up!

After this we spent some time browsing in the shops on the way out of HS but decided not to buy anything. Back at the car we left HS and made our way to Miller’s Ale House at Champion’s Gate for a spot of lunch. Looking at the photos there are children’s quesadillas (DS) and children’s shrimp (DD) and both DH and I got the Zinger melts, with different sauces.

No receipt so I can’t give any more detail and I have no idea what we had to drink. Checking the FairFX card shows this cost a total of $33.20 which was such good value for the amount and quality of food we had! If I remember the correctly the children also got an ice cream with their meal.

Leaving Miller’s we headed in to Publix where we bought a 4 pack of Bud, milk and a Starbucks iced coffee. Total spent in Publix was $13.17. The Publix receipts says by this time it was 15:21.

After that we went back to the villa where I have no photographic evidence or recollection of what we did! I am guessing that the children got their costumes on and went swimming while us adults sorted the washing, shopping purchases and started packing some cases ready for our imminent departure.

After time in the pool and packing we all got changed ready for our next surprise – Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Dessert Party. The children were dressed in themed outfits, as was DH whereas I had struggled to find a Star Wars t-shirt I liked so opted for Star Wars themed ears bought off Etsy.

We headed out of the villa at 6:48. I know this not because of my extensive notes but because there is a photo of a beautiful butterfly landing on the flowers outside the villa!

Butterfly watching done we jumped in the car and made our way back to HS. We arrived in the parking lot and were in a tram at 7:18 where we took a few photos.

First stop in HS was the photopass shop at the entrance to add the Jedi Training to MDE. This was a really quick process. The CM in there took the card the photopass photographer had given me earlier that day and scanned it. I then had to look through all the photos and say which had the children on and they were scanned onto my Magic Band. Simple!

Whilst I did that Dh and the children looked at the old posters dotted around the shop.

We headed over to RnRC and rode that (not sure if it was standby but must have been a short queue!) and we were having a photo outside at 7:41.

After that we rode Star Tours, this must have been our third FP which we moved to accommodate leaving the park for the afternoon, this had originally been for 5-6. Once we had scanned our Magic Bands I think I then logged back into MDE and picked up 4 FP for the 10:30 Fantasmic viewing. We thought it might be cutting it fine doing this straight after the Star Wars fireworks but we had missed Fantasmic last time we came and tonight was our only night to do it so we were willing to give it a shot.

After ST we made our way over to the Launch Bay where we checked in (approx. 8:40 by this point) and told the children what the final surprise was. They were both chuffed to bits! Upon checking in we were given a (rather large!) lanyard each and told our table number.

We were allowed to sit down straight away and help ourselves to food and drink and the CM told us our time to meet Kylo Ren was 9:00.
We found our table and settled down before browsing the buffet. It was nice to see that there were savoury options as well as sweet options. I can’t remember what everything was or what we had (but we tried most things!) so will just share the photos I took of the buffet (good dibbing there hey?!)

It's safe to say this is alcoholic!

As we were eating the Storm Troopers were in and out of the area. We met them on the way to the toilet! And DH snapped them in the background...

As our 9:00pm meet and greet time was approaching we left the food for a while and went to meet Kylo Ren. This was excellent. As all people had been given a time slot there was only 1 or 2 families in front of us. I hadn’t realised that we would have a time slot during the dessert party and had I known we may not have met him this morning. Although in reality there was no queue then either so it wasn’t really a hardship! Again, this was a fantastic meet and greet and we jumped in on the interaction too. He even allowed me to grab a selfie!

It was a stark contrast to the compliments DS got from the Storm Troopers this morning thanks to his new t-shirt…tonight he was getting grief from Kylo Ren and did afterwards tell me I shouldn’t have made him wear the t-shirt and meet Kylo Ren. I had no clue!

Meet and greet over we returned to our table and resumed our (very difficult) task of trying everything available! Eventually the CMs started to round us up and escorted us out of the room when it was time to head over to the area to watch the fireworks. On the way out we were each given a bottle of water and a silver star wars mug. I have just text DH to find out what sort of mug it was and according to him it is Captain Phasma. Not sure I really needed 4 of the same mug, especially considering we had 13 other drinking vessels already collected in our suitcases (including 5 Starbucks mugs! ) but they were great souvenirs and the children use them most days. I am yet to drink from one!

Goody bags in hand the CM walked us from the Launch Bay across to the front of the Chinese theatre using a light sabre to guide us. When we reached the Chinese theatre it became clear we could just grab a spot where ever we wanted. We started off at the back of the area but realised we weren’t comfortable so mooched a bit further forward and sat very close to the front in a line of 4. This turned out to be excellent and I am really glad we did the dessert party. Whilst I don’t think the $200+ is exactly great value for money in terms of what we actually consumed food and drink wise the whole experience was excellent and I am so pleased that we did it.

The projection show started and everyone stayed sat down which was fantastic. After that the Fireworks started and we thought they were amazing, really excellent and with so much going on across the front of the theatre we were never sure where to look! Once the fireworks had finished we got up and gathered our belongings and hot footed it across the park to try and make our FP for Fantasmic. We literally legged it each holding a child’s hand! Thankfully we made it with some time to spare and got a seat in the FP area, there were plenty of seats to spare across the whole seating area but having that FP just gave us piece of mind.

Fantasmic was a brilliant show, we all really enjoyed it. We didn’t take many photos of either the Star Wars fireworks or Fantasmic as we simply wanted to enjoy both shows.

Once Fantasmic was finished we slowly strolled out the back entrance and left HS for the last time. I absolutely love this park and think there is now so much in it to enjoy, particularly now the children are older and can enjoy Tot and RnRC. I am a little bit gutted we didn’t manage to see the Indiana Jones Stunt show and the Frozen show though.

We went back to the car via a tram and arrived back at the villa at 11:30pm after a really long but thoroughly enjoyable day. Tomorrow was our final Disney day.

[Excitedx4]

Wow a long but jam packed day! Excellent 😁

[VeryexcitedH]

Originally Posted by Excitedx4

Wow a long but jam packed day! Excellent 😁

See more...

Thanks for reading. Certainly was but I think it was one of my favourite days!