Day 17: Early morning!
Yesterday I decided to set my alarm at 5:30am. Yes you read that right, and know I don’t really like it anymore. But let’s just continue with the plan I’m awake now anyways.
At 5:55am I’m in the car towards Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s to score a boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This a is a brand new ride, open since just over a month and apparently the best theme-park ride in the world at this moment.
But why wake up and what is a Boarding Pass you might think? A Boarding Pass is a virtual ticket from a virtual queue system. To get a boarding pass you need to be inside the park, this is known the moment you use your ticket or magic and to enter the park. The park opens before it’s official opening time of 7:00am but the distribution of boarding passes starts only at 7:00am the parks official opening time. To get a virtual boarding pass you need to use the app or stand in line with guest experience. And then cross your fingers to be within the first 96 boarding passes as only these are guaranteed access.
I parked my car at 6:10am, entered the park at 6:15am found a nice spot to sit a bit covered the wind. Here I finished writing yesterday’s blog before it was 7:00am. At 6:59 I was fully prepared and less then a Minute later I got boarding group number 16. People around me got way higher numbers and a couple even got backup boarding group numbers (97 and up).
Now that I had my boarding pass with a low number and the park officially opened I followed the crowds into Galaxy’s Edge on the planet Batuu, also known as Star Wars Land.
What an unbelievable detail, it really looked like being somewhere else. I decided to directly step into the line for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, the other new ride in Galaxy’s Edge.
At 7:30 I stepped out the ride again, I was the right pilot and we actually made it to our target location. Beautifully done, from the queue to the exit of the ride everything is very detailed with many interactive elements. I loved it.
After the ride I walked around a bit and got a Photopass picture taken.
Now I started to feel a bit hungry after all this excitement, but I was also completely disoriented in this land. I went for Mobile Ordering in Ronto Roasters, the Ronto Wrap. Delicious.
The moment I finished the wrap, a notification came in. It was 8:06am and it was time for Boarding Group 16, my group. Way earlier as I thought actually.
And I won’t put any ride spoilers in this post but it was amazing. I had only seen one picture so far, so most of it was a surprise. And I fully agree with the reviews, it’s the best ride I’ve ever been on. It’s also more an experience as a just a ride. Disney is just great at story telling. Too bad I can only ride it once.
I took one more Photopass before I left the park to pick up Daniëlle and Emily. But not before I got Daniëlle a Flat White from the Starbucks inside the Target besides our resort.
I got “home” around 10:15 and at 11:30 we got back to the park for some more excitement. First stop was the Disney Junior area where Emily met with Pluto an Vampirina.
Next stop was Mike & Sully’s meet and greet. Before we got something for lunch at the ABC Commissary.
When our lunch was finished we continued with out Fastpass+ for the Voyage of The Little Mermaid, a musical. Before we got inside the heather we found a cool sweater for Emily: “I speak fluently Disney”.
After the musical we went by Mickey and Minnie Mouse for some pictures in their Red Carpet outfits.
Time for our second Fastpass+ of the day, Toy Story Mania. Emily loved this Shootings ride, this time I had the highest score among us with 158600 points.
We know walked through Galaxy’s Edge. The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run had a wait time from just 40 minutes and a single rider line, Daniëlle needed to take this opportunity. She got to be engineer and nailed itu with a 100% score (pirate).
Emily and I tried out a restroom on Batuu and they work the same, lucky us. Then I decided that we should try Star Tours, another 4D simulator ride.
I was a bit scared that Emily would not like it and would start to scream/cry. But she actually like it a little bit, the part she didn’t like was that where we went underwater.
We went to meet Doc McStuffins next, and we also found the stroller we parked here earlier again. Daniëlle joined us here too.
We went to the Starbucks and here we decided to fly to the International Gateway with the Skyliner, the second entrance to Epcot. During the ride we talked about going to Canada in Epcot’s World showcase to see the new film.
When we entered the park we walked directly into Mickey Mouse and a couple steps later Goofy.
Then we quickly went to Canada to watch the new movie, and back again to the Skyliner station. A very short visit to Epcot, just to make sure we’d be back in the Studios for Fantasmic on time. We easily made it back and shared Chicken Nuggets and frites at Rosie’s All-American Café.
At 7:25 we walked into the Amphitheater. We picked seats close to the exit to make sure we could get back to the car quickly after the show. Emily loved it, her highlight was seeing Moana in board of the ship at the end of this fabulous nighttime entertainment show.
The show ended close to 8:30pm, and we made it back to our Airbnb by 8:56pm. Emily fell a sleep during the ride but woke up again while we put her PJs on.
And at 11:15pm I’m really exhausted now and decided to upload the blog tomorrow morning as I still need to add pictures but I can’t keep my eyes open.
Day 11: Animal Kingdom and more…
Another cold morning on our vacation Airbnb. Sander needs to figure out how the thermostat is working because waking up with 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17 Celsius) isn’t comfortable…
Just 10 minutes a reprogrammed the thermostat and the place is warming up already, target 70F (21C)!
Another 20 minutes later Sander showered, got Emily dressed and did her hair by the best of his abilities. Next stop Target for something for breakfast and to stock up on Toilet-paper! With a non-fat flat white in their hands they got back home.
Emily her hair got redone and we were all on our way to Animal Kingdom. First stop was a meet & great with Mickey & Minne Mouse at the Adventure Outpost. They were so excited, and Emily loved it.
Shortly after it was time for our lunch at the Tuskerhouse, a character dining experience. We met Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goody and Mickey Mouse while eating African inspired food from the buffet. Was it worth it? For the food no, for the experience with the characters I think yes as they visit while you are having your lunch.
Since it was really cold we decided to only do one more ride as we had a Fastpass for it, the Na’vi River Journey in Pandora – The World of Avatar.
Around 2:30pm we got back to a 77F (25F) hot Airbnb, so we overshoot the target by just 7 degrees F and Sander needed to study the Thermostat a bit more.
Only minutes later the apartment was cooling down and Emily was in her bed sleeping holding Forky tightly making sure he didn’t jump into a trash can.
After she woke up we left to the Mall at Millenia where we visit the Lily Pulitzer store. Here Emily got her own fitting room, pretty amazing experience for a 4-year old. She changed herself, asked for another size and decided she wanted that new PJs.
After Milkshakes from Johnny Rockets for the ladies and a Firehouse Sub for Sander we decided to go back to our Airbnb at a perfect 70F, good job Sander!
But then there was traffic, our GPS routed us differently and we literally passed the Premium Outlets. In this outlets there is a Disney Outlet, called Character Warehouse. So that was a no-brainer, park get out as quickly as possible and find that store!
Score: A Giggle McDimples (4,99$ was 19,99$) a Disney Cruise Line best (14,99$ was 39,99$) and a T-Shirt (12,99$ was 29,99$) for Emily and a new iPhone cover for Danielle (7,99$ was 24,99$).
From there we drove back and by 9:15pm Emily was in bed with Forky, Giggle McDimples and Duffy!
After finishing of the blog we call it a day too!