Another Birthday Trip, Oct 2019 - Day 4, Hollywood Studios, Swimming and Disney Springs

[Lisa29]

The previous day is HERE.

Sunday 6 October 2019

I had another poor nights sleep again. I think it was because of the early alarm clock, I never sleep properly when I have a very early alarm in case I sleep through it.

The alarm went off at 4.30am! We were going to Hollywood Studios today and they had EMH from 6am to 9am and we wanted to take advantage of them. We got up, had showers, dressed, sun cream, breakfast, etc. and were leaving our room at 5.30am. We were in the car and on our way at 5.35am.

It didn't take us long and we were soon driving up to the parking booths. As it was so early, they were all coned off and we had to go to the far left hand side and go around the parking booth and round into the car park. We were getting out of the car at 5.48am, parked in row 300. This is the very first row you come to when you leave the park and head towards the right. The lines for bag check / security were quite long and it took us a while to get through.

Sorry, no photos so far as we were on a mission to get straight to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge to go on Smuggler's Run.

Once through security and the tapstyles, we went straight to SWGE. As we got to just before where you went in, there were CM's giving out maps of SWGE so we got a couple.

We joined the line at 6.17am with the wait time saying 60 minutes! Thankfully it didn't take quite this long and we were off the ride 45 minutes later, so really wasn't too bad.

Now I apologise, I have seen some of the Star Wars films but I don't know a massive amount about the whole Star Wars story, in particular the current films, so I have no idea what many of the following photos are.

I do know these were taken in the queue and right before getting onto the ride

Phil and Kaley were chosen to be pilots

Madison and I were chosen to be gunners

[APP]https://www.thedibb.co.uk/postImages/37943/ec2d6aeddc5c1e.jpg[/APP
We all really enjoyed this ride and Madison still says it is one of her favourite rides from the holiday.

More photos, including some PP ones

We carried on having a look around SWGE

As with Pandora, Disney have really made a great job of this land. It is so incredibly detailed and even I could appreciate how good it was. They really have done this so well.

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[Lisa29]

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It was now time to head to another new area for us, Toy Story land

We went to check on the wait times - Slinky Dog Dash was 60 minutes, Toy Story Mania 30 minutes and Alien Swirling Saucers 5 minutes.

We decided to join the line for this, being only a 5 minute wait

Being 5 minutes, this was just a walk on and was really good fun, Madison and Kaley really enjoyed it.

We came off this and the line didn't look too long for Jessie so we joined it. It was 7.35am by now. It got to 7.40am and we decided to give up. Jessie had to 'nip off quick' not long after we joined the line, and there was no sign of her coming back. 2 minutes later and we were in the line for Woody and Bo Peep

(Whilst in line, we saw Jessie come back - she had been gone for just over 20 minutes.)

This turned out to be a very long wait and it was 8.25am when we were done here. Had we known it was going to be that long, I don't know that we would have waited. They were good fun though and the girls both enjoyed meeting them

This meet is right next to the entrance to TSM so in less than a minute, we were in the line for that as the wait time now said 20 minutes. We all love this ride and couldn't wait to go back on it after so long

I think it was about the 20 minute mark and we were on the ride

I absolutely love this ride, I just laugh all the way round…..well except when I'm trying to win!

Phil and Kaley's scores

Mine and Madison's scores

I was disappointed that Phil got a higher score than me but my accuracy was far better so I win on that!

We were off TSM at 8.55am.

This is a small land and could do with being bigger, but again, Disney have done a fantastic job and the theming and detail is brilliant.

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[Lisa29]

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We walked back to SWGE to look around some more.

Phil bought the coke, diet coke and sprite droid shaped bottles. These were $6 each. He was going to bring them home then got concerned after all we had read before going so ended up not bothering in the end

It had started spitting by now, then rained a bit heavier. We went into the Droid Depot shop area and stood in there for a bit, waiting for it to ease off. We got the SWGE bag, $2.67 including tax

There was an R2D2 in the shop so we got a couple of photos

It was still raining a lot so we went into the droid building area and took a few pics

The rain slowed down so we went to the market-type area (sorry, I have no idea what anything is or where it actually was), seeing these on the way

This area

It was raining again by now so we waited in this area for a bit

We were here, under an area with a proper roof, hoping the rain would let off a bit

It didn't, and looked like this for a while

I had split our FP's here, getting a Tower of Terror one for 2 of us and a Rock n Rollercoaster one for the other 2, so that Phil could ride both of them, and the time for these was 9.25am - 10.25am. It was 9.26am by now and the rain looked like the last picture. We waited a bit longer and it started to slow down quite a bit. We decided to put the ponchos on and get on with our day. Phil went on ahead with both his and my MB (Kaley didn't want to go on either with him) and me and the girls took a slower walk towards Sunset Boulevard

We hadn't been walking for very long when the rain had stopped completely and I was able to put the ponchos away. We took a slow walk and went into Trolley Car Café to get the HS Starbucks mug, $19.99 plus tax, total $21.29

Looking at the receipt, I used some of what was left from the $200 gift card. I can't find another receipt to find out what the rest of this was used for though. It was busy in here and the line took quite a while.

We had a look in the shops on Sunset Boulevard while we were waiting for Phil. We hadn't been looking long when he messaged to say he was done so we met him outside. He had only been on ToT as the line was really long, even having the FP for it.

He wasn't fussed about going on RnRC so had decided to leave going on that.

We wanted to look in Animation Courtyard so went there next, Kaley having some photos on the way

We decided to go and have a look in the Star Wars Launch Bay, which we haven't been in before

The wait time for BB8 said 15 minutes so we joined that line as Kaley really likes BB8. It actually took less than 5 minutes and we were inside having photos

The girls both really enjoyed this. We had a look around the shop. I had finished so went outside and saw all the Star Wars characters walking towards us so rushed back inside to get Phil, Madison and Kaley to come and see them. Phil managed to get some photos while I filmed it

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[Lisa29]

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Kaley had asked to see Fancy Nancy Clancy and the line wasn't too long so we joined it. She had to go and see Frenchie but was only gone a few minutes. I haven't written how long we waited but it wasn't long.

Kaley really liked seeing her. Nancy saw her birthday badge and was asking her how old she was by holding up her fingers.

We walked down to the Incredibles area and joined the line to see Edna Mode. This turned out to be a complete walk on, there was no one in front of us.

She was fun and the girls liked meeting her.

Quick photo outside

We were feeling a bit hungry now. (Well, it was about 11am and we had been up since silly o'clock! ) We walked back to Toy Story Land

It was busy

More brilliant detail

We wanted to try Woody's Lunchbox for lunch so went there after having the PP pic. It was busy and there were no free tables. While we hovered around waiting, I did mobile order. Though getting on and staying on the wifi could be very hit and miss, mobile order was so easy. The line was really long to order food so I was glad I did this.

I ordered a BBQ brisket melt with potato barrels, $12.99, a grilled three-cheese sandwich with potato barrels, $8.99, another three-cheese sandwich with tomato-basil soup dipper, 2 diet cokes and 1 sprite, $3.99 each. This should have cost $42.94 plus tax but we used three quick service credits.

Just before I got our order was ready for pick-up, a table came free which was good timing. I kept the order page open on my phone and just kept refreshing it and it was only a couple of minutes before the order was ready to collect.

I quickly collected it and brought it back to our table. This was all really good, especially the cheese sandwich. We ate all of it between us.

It had gone really hot and bright by now, and there were people waiting for tables so we didn't hang around after we had finished. We stopped and had a PP picture by the sign on our way out of TSL

I had made a note to try Hollywood Scoops for ice cream for Phil, Madison and Kaley, so we went back towards Sunset Boulevard. We walked down to where it was and it unfortunately didn't open until 12.30pm. I think it was about an hour until then so we said we'd come back another day.

We stopped for some PP pics

This photographer was really good; he had some props to take photos with and also wanted to do some magic shots too

I know you can't see ToT in the background nut I really like this one.

Earlier when we were waiting for Phil, I had seen some SWGE pins in the Once Upon a Time store. We went in there to pick one up, this was $15.99 plus tax, total $17.03.

We walked back to Hollywood Boulevard and stopped for some more PP pics

On our way out of the park, we went to the refreshment place on the far left, before you go out of the tapstyles, near this

I don't know what it was called, I didn't write it down. Phil, Madison and Kaley wanted something icy as they had missed out on ice cream!

Menu

Kaley had a frozen lemonade slush, $4.99

Madison and Phil both had a Mickey premium ice cream bar, $5.69 each

I asked if I could pay using my snack credits and the CM said there was no need as they were on Mickey! We've not had this before so it was a lovely surprise. I thanked her and we headed out.

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[Lisa29]

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We took the short walk back to the car and were there at 11.56am. A bit of faffing and cooling the car down and we were on our way back to POR at 12pm, getting back to our room at 12.20pm.

I wanted to get some washing done and Phil and the girls wanted to go swimming. I sorted the washing into different loads while they got into their swim stuff. We left at 12.40pm to go to the pool that was next to our building. We grabbed a couple of sunbeds where we put our stuff then they were straight in the pool. I went to the laundry room and put two loads of washing on. They were $3 each and the timer on it said they would take 34 minutes, meaning I would need to go back just after 1.20pm.

I took our refillable mugs over to Riverside Mill and got us all a drink, then walked back to the pool. I sat wand watched them for a bit before going and putting the finished washing into the dryers. I haven't wrote it down but I am guessing these were $3 each too.

I went back and took some pictures

I watched them for a bit and read more of US Weekly. Phil got out after a while and left the girls in playing. They loved it in the pool and would happily have stayed in for hours and hours.

At 2.20pm, Phil took Madison and Kaley back so they could all have showers and get changed to go back out. I had another 6 minutes to wait for the drying to finish so sat and waited. Once finished, I folded everything and put it all back in the £1 laundry bags I had bought. These were really handy for putting the washing in each day then taking to the laundry when we did it.

We left our room at 3.15pm to get the boat to DS. We must have gone ahead of Phil as he took this photo

We walked down the ramp as a boat came around

Posing for more photos

Our boat was Bayou Princess

The boat dock from the boat

More from the boat

We were on our way at 3.28pm

POFQ

We stopped at POFQ as usual and also stopped at the Treehouse Villas at SSR today. It wasn't long before we were seeing DS again

We were at the Marketplace dock at 3.55pm

I mentioned in yesterdays report how the POR boat shares with POFQ but POFQ has a direct boat, as shown in this picture.

We were going back to the Landing area for dinner and didn't want to have to walk through the whole of Marketplace again so got in the line to get the boat to West Side. We were on Saratoga Queen at 4pm

Life vest instructions

Amphibicar

It took less than 10 minutes to get to West Side. We had a wander around, looking at the different dining places and some of the shops

We saw Dan, Dave and Cole in Under Armour so we went to see them and walked with them for a bit more. Cole was very happy

We all walked to Polite Pig and went in and found a table. It was 4.50pm now and we were due to be meeting Mum and Dad too. They had messaged to say they were stuck on the bus from the Poly (they didn't have the best experience with Disney transport from there) so we decided I would just go and order our food as Dan needed to feed Cole so didn't want theirs just yet either. We had a look at the menu

We picked what we wanted and I went up to order. The line wasn't too long and I was soon getting some sauces to take back to the table.

Mum and Dad got here just after I had come back to the table. I gave Dan my MB and pin number and her and Mum went up to order their food using our DP credits.

It wasn't long before our food came out. After reading lots of dining reports, I knew I wanted to try the Cedar Plank Salmon, maple-dijon glaze, $22. I had this with sweet potato tots

(The 'from the smoker' menu options come with jalapeno cornbread, signature polite slaw and your choice of 1 market side.)

This was amazing, just as good as all the dining reviews I had read. I really enjoyed the cornbread too, though I did wish I had just got the waffle fries, rather than the sweet potato tots. These were ok but a bit samey after having a few.

Phil had the Ravenous Pig Flight. This is $10 but can be your DP drink and you just pay a $1 upcharge.

He liked most of these, I think it was just the darkest one he wasn't keen on. This was definitely a good value for the included drink.

For his food, he chose the Baby Back Ribs, polite rub, Layla's sweet BBQ sauce, with BBQ waffle fries as his market side, $23.

He really enjoyed all of this, except the cornbread, and ate it all.

For Madison and Kaley, we got the Half Chicken, citrus marinade, polite rub, with BBQ waffle fries, $17.

This was really good too, the girls really liked the chicken and waffle fries.

The girls and I shared two sodas, these were $3.50 each. The total here should have been $79 plus tax but we used 3 QS credits

Mum, Dad, Dan and Dave's food came out not long after ours had.

Mum and Dan had gotten the Butchers Board (for 2), pork shoulder, smoked chicken, brisket and BBQ cheddar sausage with slaw, house pickles, 2 cornbreads, and a choice of two market sides. They had the crispy Brussels sprouts and sweet potato tots, $39.

They really enjoyed this, I had a taste of a couple of the bits and it was all so good. This is a great value for your DP credits.

Dave had the Beef Short Rib, peppercorn honey glaze with his side as the BBQ waffle fries, $23.

Looking at this, I think he had the sweet potato tots from Mum and Dan's meal. He enjoyed this and again ate it all.

For their included dining plan drinks, Dave also had the Ravenous Pig Flight ($9 for DP purposes) and Mum and Dad had a rum and coke each ($11 each). Dan was just having tap water. I think my Dad just had the Fried Chicken Sandwich and despite me telling her otherwise, my Mum didn't think it was worth using a credit for his so she paid. Excluding my Dad's, their meals should have cost $93 plus tax, but we used 3 QS credits. (It shows how much better value it is when getting alcohol too.)

After I had finished eating and while Dan and Dave were still eating, I got lots of cuddles with Cole

After a while, he got a bit fidgety and wanted to get down. We were near a long, empty table with banquet seating so I went and let him crawl up and down that, which he absolutely loved. Madison and Kaley sat at the other end and he loved going to them. I would then pull him back and he'd just go again.

We were all finished at 6.10 so I left a $10 tip for our share (our server had been very good) and we all left. We said bye to Mum, Dad, Dan, Dave and Cole and walked up towards Marketplace. After missing out on proper ice cream earlier, we were going to Ghirardelli's for dessert.

Pictures of the menu

Using a snack credit, you can have one scoop of ice cream in a cup or cone. Kaley had a mint choc chip, $5.95

Phil had a rocky road, $5.95

And I had a butter pecan, $5.95

For some reason, Madison didn't want any. It was very busy and very chaotic in here, we were glad to get back outside. These were all really good and were so big. We ate them as we were walking back to the boat dock. Me and Kaley couldn't eat all of ours but Phil finished them off for us.

We had a couple of minutes wait for the boat and were soon on Bayou Princess, leaving at 7pm. It didn't take long to get back. Madison and Kaley wanted to go in the arcade again so Phil took them in there while I went back to get our refillable mugs.

I went and refilled our drinks then went to the arcade. I had another sit in the massage chair ($2 for 5 minutes) before we then went back to our room, getting back at 8.15pm.

We all got ready for bed and put the TV on. Hotel Transylvania was on so we left that on until it finished, with Madison and Kaley in bed watching it. I got into bed at 9pm and I think we were all asleep by 9.30pm.

My steps for today - 22,179
Phil's steps for today - 16,148

Next up, Epcot, Eating Around the World and POFQ is HERE.


TODAY'S DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 9 Counter Service used and 3 Snack Credit used.

OVERALL DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 19/80 Counter Service used and 12/80 Snack Credits used.

DINING PLAN CREDITS REMAINING - 61 Counter Service and 68 Snack Credits.

[collybird]

It’s great that there were so many new things for you to enjoy in the Studios, it must have felt like a new park in a lot of ways.

Lunch looks fantastic and you got a lot out of the morning.

I took a pop-up laundry basket from Primark with us last year and it was probably one of my best pre-holiday purchases haha, so handy.

I think I’d have the same as you from Polite Pig! I really want to try there so I might pencil in an evening at Disney Springs, we tend to avoid it in the evenings as I worry about it being too busy. Ghirardeli for dessert is a fab idea.

[DiddyDan]

I still can’t believe you got to HS so early! You did well to get on Smugglers run and you got some lovely family pictures in HS too 😊
I think we must have got to HS just as you were leaving 😂
Those dinners in the polite pig look amazing and are making me hungry 😂 love the pictures you have of Cole ☺️ x