Trip Report, Dec. 27-Jan. 2

[hermione]

We stayed at Caribbean Beach. It was ok. The skyliner is great and makes travel to Epcot and Hollywood Studios fast. However, buses take forever and are always the farthest away when traveling back to the hotel from parks or Disney Springs.

Dec. 27 - We flew Spirit which I was nervous about since I have only heard bad things. It was...fine? No frills but we got to Orlando on time with all our luggage. We arrived mid afternoon and went to Disney Springs for 6:15 reservations at T-Rex. We thought the menu was kind of limited. It was raining which kind of put a damper on the evening but we made the best of it.

Dec. 28 - Took a Lyft to Universal (about $22 each way before tip). I am a huge HP fan. Given it was the Saturday after Christmas, we paid for the fast pass option. We never rode the Hagrid ride since there was no express option and we weren’t willing to spend 2-3 hours in line. We were there about 12 hours and rode a lot: Minions, Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, the hippogriff ride, hulk, Spider-Man, more that I’m forgetting. Plus we rode the train both ways and went into every shop and did things like the Olivander “show.” We borrowed a wand to do the spells from a friend who’d gone earlier in the year. It was fun to do the spells but I’m glad we didn’t have to buy another wand.

Dec. 29 - MK. We were tired from the day before but had morning fast passes for Buzz Lightyear, 7DMR, and Space Mountain. We walked right into Monsters Inc Comedy Show. We did those and went back to the hotel for some pool time. We made last minute reservations at Toledo which was really good. Then we went back to MK in the evening where we picked up fast passes for Pirates, Aladdin, and Little Mermaid.

Dec. 30 - Epcot. We did our fast passes for Soarin’, Turtle Talk (way more fun than we thought it would be!), and the Pixar Short Film Fest ( which we all loved). Had lunch reservations at Coral Reef (good!) Then we went back to the hotel to rest up for what we knew would be a huge next day. More pool time.

Dec. 31 - Hollywood Studios. Let me start by saying we are Star Wars people. This was basically the purpose of the trip. Park opened at 6am. We were up at 4:30 and on a bus by 5:15. There were thousands of people there with us. They let us into the park at 5:45. Sign up for Boarding Groups for Rise of the Resistance opened at exactly 6am on the app. After a few glitches we got our group (group 70) at 6:03 am. We then went directly to Smuggler’s Run. We were in line for that for about an hour. Super fun ride. The line is entertaining in and of itself. All of Galaxy’s Edge is amazing to look at. To walk around the corner and see the Millennium Falcon or Kylo Ren’s fighter is kind of amazing.

Rise of the Resistance is unbelievable. Immersive and top notch. Our group could board between 11:15-1:15. I took a lot of pics if anyone wants to see.

We skipped our first fast pass for Little Mermaid but did our second for Star Tours. We had reservations to make a droid and a light saber. Both awesome experiences. We did a quick bite at Oga’s Cantina. Great for theme, we didn’t love what we ate/drank. Toy Story Area is right behind Star Wars. It is tiny but very well done. Our third fast pass was there for Slinky Dog. Fun! Then we went to Jedi Training which my 6yo DD loved - she got to fight Darth Vader.

The app glitched and we couldn’t get any more fast passes that evening. We stood in line for the Aerosmith ride and then left. It was a 25k step day. We were sound asleep by 9pm and I didn’t hear one firework or NYE celebration.

Jan. 1 - Animal Kingdom. We originally had a 9am Safari but wanted to sleep in. Since the app was so glitchy the day before we couldn’t switch the time. The front desk hooked us up with a multi pass experience so we could just go on whenever we wanted. We did that, bug’s life show, and expedition Everest. We also bought the scavenger hunt which C loved doing. We left mid afternoon and went shopping in Disney Springs.

Jan. 2 - Breakfast at Chef Mickey (always fun!!). Then we went back to MK and did Buzz again ( we love it), Peter Pan and Thunder Mountain.

Now we’re on the Magic Express to the airport! I’m sure this is full of typos but I wanted to type it up before I forgot everything. Feel free to ask any questions if you have them!

ETA: countthestars was a super great TA. She helped me every step of the way including while we were there!!

ETA 2: fixed some of the typos.

[jlt19]

So what's the boarding time thing? Is it not the same as a fast pass?

[hermione]

Jan 2, 2020 17:33:59 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

So what's the boarding time thing? Is it not the same as a fast pass?

No. Currently you have to sign up for a boarding group through the app. To do so, every member of your party must be inside Hollywood Studios. This is entirely separate from your fast passes.

[jlt19]

Jan 2, 2020 17:36:13 GMT -5 hermione said:

Jan 2, 2020 17:33:59 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

So what's the boarding time thing? Is it not the same as a fast pass?

No. Currently you have to sign up for a boarding group through the app. To do so, every member of your party must be inside Hollywood Studios. This is entirely separate from your fast passes.

Ok. So you're timing was a two hour window, so what does that mean? That's when you can get in line? How long is the wait from there?

This is all fascinating to me. I feel so bad for non-technical people or foreigners. How convoluted!

[jaycee]

Great trip review! A few questions:
1. Would you say one day at Universal is enough? We basically only want to see HP and maybe one or two other rides. I thought we would need two days. What time did you arrive/leave?
2. How did you manage the signing up for Jedi training? Sounds like you didn't try until maybe after smuggler's run, I thought it would be full by then.

Good info that the Lyft for Universal was only $22. I thought it would be way more.

[cincodemayo]

I’m really impressed with all you got done at the busiest time of the year! Did you find the crowds to be miserable? Manageable? Would you go at Christmas time again?

[curbsideprophet]

Jan 2, 2020 19:06:11 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

Jan 2, 2020 17:36:13 GMT -5 hermione said:

No. Currently you have to sign up for a boarding group through the app. To do so, every member of your party must be inside Hollywood Studios. This is entirely separate from your fast passes.

Ok. So you're timing was a two hour window, so what does that mean? That's when you can get in line? How long is the wait from there?

This is all fascinating to me. I feel so bad for non-technical people or foreigners. How convoluted!

Yes, once your boarding group is called you have a two hour window to return. You can look at it in the app and see what groups are currently boarding. Ex - right now it says boarding groups 142-167.

[hermione]

Jan 2, 2020 19:39:17 GMT -5 jaycee said:

Great trip review! A few questions:
1. Would you say one day at Universal is enough? We basically only want to see HP and maybe one or two other rides. I thought we would need two days. What time did you arrive/leave?
2. How did you manage the signing up for Jedi training? Sounds like you didn't try until maybe after smuggler's run, I thought it would be full by then.

Good info that the Lyft for Universal was only $22. I thought it would be way more.

I’ve always found one day at Universal to be enough. Could we fill more days? Certainly. But I’ve never felt we missed out on anything. We were there from 8am until about 7:30pm.

Jedi training was easy with only one kid. The guy said there is almost always a single spot. Plus when we went back for our group, the guy said there’s almost always room at the designated times because you can pretty much count on 5-6 kids who signed up not to show.

[hermione]

Jan 2, 2020 19:55:32 GMT -5 cincodemayo said:

I’m really impressed with all you got done at the busiest time of the year! Did you find the crowds to be miserable? Manageable? Would you go at Christmas time again?

It was crowded (obviously). I would go again because this is a time that works for us as far as travel. If I could choose another time, I would. Honestly, I’d pick these crowds overs 100 + degree heat.

[countthestars]

Glad you had a good trip! I couldn't believe how much you got done. Did C walk the whole time? Did she get to ask any questions during Turtle Talk?

[jaycee]

jlt19, here is more info on the boarding groups: www.kennythepirate.com/2019/12/09/complete-guide-to-star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-boarding-groups/

[hermione]

Jan 2, 2020 22:25:07 GMT -5 countthestars said:

Glad you had a good trip! I couldn't believe how much you got done. Did C walk the whole time? Did she get to ask any questions during Turtle Talk?

We rented a stroller for Hollywood Studios Day but she was, overall, a trooper! We didn’t even get that until almost 11 - we’d been at the park 5 hours at that point, lol. I could tell she was tired. It was a good call.

She didn’t get to ask a question but our joke got told on the laugh floor!

[alleinesein]

What lightsaber did you build?

[hermione]

Jan 3, 2020 14:03:58 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

What lightsaber did you build?

Peace & Justice. And she chose green.