Disney 2021: A Day At Hollywood Studios

On our first full park day with friends, we planned to visit Hollywood Studios and hopefully obtain a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. We also had another Hollywood Studios day planned later in the week, just in case a Rise boarding group didn't work out that day. 

So, around 6:50 a.m. my little group met up in the courtyard outside of our rooms (near the Lady statue) to try our hand.

Sadly, the odds were NOT in our favor for the 7 a.m. boarding group round. It was ok though, because we could try again at 1 p.m. from inside Hollywood Studios and we were ok with that!

Since we were up and ready to go, we decided to join the Skyliner line and hit up Hollywood Studios early. We'd heard that they were letting people inside of the park before official park opening time and we wanted to experience that if so.

The Skyliner line was quite the orchestration at the Caribbean Beach hub, but those cast members knew exactly what they were doing and it all flowed very very well! (However, it looked like a hot mess to the outsider!) 

We had time to stop at Joffrey's for coffee, so we ordered toffee flights! With an incredibly short wait time at the hub, we were off to Hollywood Studios! (I'm pretty sure it was right at 7:45 a.m. when they started running - and HS wasn't set to open until 9 a.m.!)

After arriving at Hollywood Studios, we joined the line for temperature and security screening and by 8:25 a.m., we were inside of the park. It was SO strange seeing it so empty but also incredibly cool to be among the first to enter the park that day!

A new to all of us ride was Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, so we all headed straight there and it was a walk on! 

Runaway Railway is seriously the CUTEST ride EVER! We all loved it! Sadly, we only had the opportunity to ride it one time this trip but will definitely remedy that next time! I think this is Brayden's new favorite WDW ride!

After Runaway Railway, we walked over to Slinky Dog and waited maybe 10-15 minutes to ride. It wasn't long at all! 

So so cute!

After Slinky Dog, Brayden spotted Alien Swirling Saucers which was yet ANOTHER walk on!!

We felt like we had been transported in some kind of magic Disney bubble because this couldn't be real life!

By this point, it was officially 9 a.m. and "park opening time" and we'd already hit three rides - two of them being major headliners with little to no wait!

Next up was Star Wars Land and a ride on the Millenium Falcon. By this point, the lines were growing throughout the park and this one had about a 40 minute wait. Still not bad considering!

After flying the Falcon and crashing horribly, we all enjoyed a little blue milk treat. I've tried both and prefer blue over green. Anyone else?

We returned to Toy Story Land and Toy Story Mania. The posted time here was 75 minutes but we didn't end up waiting that long, thankfully!

He's not a toy but he sure is a cute little fella!

Before lunch, I had to take my traditional "Karen" photo at One Man's Dream. These date back all the way to 2007! On one trip, they changed the outfit to "Cubby" but it was back to Karen and has been ever since!

By this point, it was closer to noon and definitely time for lunch! We tried ABC Commissary and their new (to us) menu. I really really enjoyed the curry shrimp dish. This is totally something I would never order while out and about around home, but I like to try new foods and was pleasantly surprised!

We hung around ABC Commissary for a little while, waiting on 1 p.m. and the time to snag a Rise boarding group. I was also trying to get Brayden to take a nap, but he was not interested in any of that!

Thankfully, we were successful this time and were set to go! YAY!

While waiting for a boarding group, I sent Jason and our friends over to Rock n Roller Coaster while Brayden and I shopped around and again attempted a nap.

The runDisney merchandise inside of Hollywood Studios was by far the best selection I saw out of any and all of the parks! So, if you're headed there, be on the lookout - this store was on the road way headed to Tower of Terror.

This time, our nap time attempt was successful, and we hung out for a few minutes beyond our rise boarding group return time to give him a little time to sleep. People over on instagram were amazed that he still takes naps in the stroller and yes, he definitely does!

Rise was just as amazing as we remembered and Jason tried to get us all in trouble by attempting to convince the resistance that he actually belonged on Tatooine. They were quite funny in their banter back and forth! 

Our last quest of the day was the brand new Scenic Selfies challenge hosted by Disney Vacation Club. After scanning a QR code at a DVC desk, scavengers set out throughout the park to take selfies with the various landmarks/clues put out by the website.

After completing the challenge, you return to the DVC desk, show the guide your completion, and obtain your button! It was a lot of fun and we learned some trivia/facts about the parks we wouldn't have otherwise known!

Our plan for the evening was to return to Disney Springs for dinner. We wanted to try Chicken Guy as none of us had been there yet.

This salad was SO good!! I would definitely order it again!

We ended our evening with dessert at Ghirardelli and it was truly the perfect way to top off our day!

My plan for the next morning was to run the 5K around the lake at Pop Century prior to heading to EPCOT. I truly loved not being at the parks until midnight then waking up and doing it all over the following day. We actually had a chance to relax and get some sleep on this trip and it was perfect to me!

Up next: EPCOT and Festival of the Arts!

Disney World (November 2019) - Day 2 Hollywood Studios

Hi again from yet another dreary Southwest Louisiana! Is it spring yet? :)

Speaking of spring, I've been de-cluttering, organizing, and doing a little spring cleaning. It's crazy how fast things accumulate and become un-oraganized. I always tell myself, I'm going to fold this neatly every time from now on or put things back exactly where they go every single time then...yeah right, life happens. Anyway, I've strayed from my main point here. While sorting and organizing things in my closet, I came across....none other than...my long lost Princess Half Marathon video footage from 2019! To check out that footage, head over to YouTube!

Fast forward to our November trip and here we are at Hollywood Studios/EPCOT. We spent our time after the Enchanted 10K exploring Star Wars land and having dinner at the Food & Wine Festival.

If you have missed any of those recaps, check them out below. Links will be updated as those posts become available.

Disney Travel Day: Wine and Dine Expo & Animal Kingdom
Disney Day 2: Wine and Dine 10K & Kids Races & Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Disney Day 3: Wine and Dine Half Marathon & Magic Kingdom
Disney Day 4: Boarding the Disney Dream
Disney Day 5: Castaway Cay
Disney Day 6: Nassau
Disney Day 7: At Sea Day
Disney Day 8: Disney Springs and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Our first stop at Hollywood Studios was in Toy Story land for our Toy Story Mania fast passes. On our way there, we passed a DVC booth and they gave Brayden stickers for DAYS!

SO many stickers!!

For Toy Story Mania, Brayden and I shared a car while Jason was in his own.

Brayden was mesmerized by the ride and didn't really attempt to play! Haha!

I thought I beat Jason, but he squeaked ahead of me by 4,000 points. We always like to make this game (and Buzz) a little competition. It's always up in the air who will win!

For lunch, we decided to stop by Woody's Lunch Box since none of us had eaten there before.

I give it an A. It was all really good!

Even though we weren't on the dining plan for this trip, we decided to order the Lunch Box Tart. Together, our group ordered and split the raspberry and the chocolate hazelnut.They were both really tasty, but the hazelnut one won in our book!

Before walking over to Star Wars land, we had to stop by the One Man's Dream exhibit for my traditional "Karen" picture! So fun!

Finally, we ventured over into Star Wars land. The lines were too long to wait in for the rides, so we spent our time wandering and observing!

Oh yes, and drinking Blue Milk!

Everyone in our group got in on the action, too!

The verdict? I liked it. Jason did not. Whomp whomp. Oh well!

We said goodbye to Star Wars land and Hollywood Studios, then set out for EPCOT and dinner at the Food & Wine Festival!

This was our first time riding the Skyliner and Brayden instantly fell in love!

The ride over to EPCOT was a super easy one and we enjoyed the journey!

Once inside EPCOT, we rode Spaceship Earth, then decided to take a break at the DVC lounge inside Journey to Imagination.

Although we had 7 total guests with us, we were still able to get everyone in and we all enjoyed the break!

Up next was the Food & Wine Festival! Since this was planned to be our dinner for the evening, Jason and I decided to order several dishes to try (and we shared a few of them, too)!

Our journey began at Hawaii with the pork sliders. These are so good!

Up next was Canada with the filet and cheese soup with pretzel roll (my favorite)!

Our next stop was in Brazil for the pork belly. This dish came highly recommended by my friend Lisa and it was delicious!

As we made our way around World Showcase, I had to stop in Germany for (yet another) traditional picture!

This is one I take every single trip!

 

Last but not least, we ended our evening with dessert at the Islands of the Caribbean booth for a Questio (I think)! 

It was the perfect way to end our evening and our day at Walt Disney World!

Up next: Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom

2019 Wine & Dine Half Marathon Recap

Last month, I participated in the 10th Anniversary of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I had so much fun running throughout the parks and loved running a different race route from the typical Princess and Marathon Weekend!

At first I wasn't going to dress up for this race at all, but then I remembered I had a costume already made from a friend's birthday party (years ago), so I went with it!

What team? Wildcats!

We stayed at Pop Century during this race weekend and when I arrived at the bus stop, there were buses galore!

In no time, we were at the starting area. Since I was a bit early (the corrals weren't open yet), I stood around and listened to the guys on stage. Y'all, they were cracking me up about the hummus vs cheese in the post-race boxes from the 10K the day before!

Yay! That's me!!

I was happy I arrived early because I was able to jump right in the front of the corral once it opened. Another favorite of this race weekend? Not having to walk a mile to the corrals before starting the race! WIN!

The theme for this race was colonial Mickey and I LOVED it!

Before I knew it, it was time to run. We were off!

I knew my IT Band was going to be an issue here, so I made up a game plan of doing run/walk intervals throughout the course. Another idea was to run the straight parts of the course and walk the curves/inclines. Oh yes, and stop for characters, of course!

The first character I spotted was Louis and although I already have a photo with him, his line was super short so I stopped!

 
Lotso was out on the course too which was a first for me! Yay!

 

The Mickey golf cart was out there as a filler without characters or a photographer, so a lovely race volunteer took our photos! She was so sweet and told us she doubled as a photographer (for real) on the side!

Around mile 3, the IT Band was really starting to bother me. I stopped at every single medical tent to pile on the BioFreeze. The fully stocked medical tents are something I honestly appreciate about runDisney and haven't seen at other race events. You need BioFreeze mid-race? It's at every medical tent in a huge pump bottle.

Life. Saver. Seriously.

Before long, we were at our first park - Animal Kingdom!

If you're wondering what a typical character line looks like, there you go! I didn't wait in line for Russell as I already have a photo with him, but you can see the crowd there. Thankfully, although these lines look really long, they actually don't take much time at all to get through!

Into Animal Kingdom we go!

As the sun rose, it became easier to see people's outfits and for real, people were cracking me up with their "Wildcat" cheers! I LOVED it! One girl even asked to take a picture with me as she said High School Musical was one of her favorite movies! So fun!! (I'm just glad people recognized the outfit!)

I. Was. So. Excited. To. See. Kevin!!!

This race course took us through Pandora. Although I've visited Pandora, I've never actually run through Pandora, so this was a very cool experience!

The sunrise over Animal Kingdom was absolutely beautiful! Seeing the sunrise was a big change for me with the Wine & Dine Half as I haven't run this race since it switched over from being a night time event.

Running through Animal Kingdom made me smile because it reminded me of the last time I ran the full marathon during Dopey a couple of years ago!

Another new-to-me stop were Chip and Dale in Dinorama! Of course I had to stop here, too!

After looping through Animal Kingdom, it was time to say goodbye! We ran out behind Animal Kingdom which led to a pretty nifty view of the backside of Expedition Everest.

Almost half way!

Running to Hollywood Studios was pretty much all highways without anything spectacular going on. I do have to say that I love Disney's overall immersive theming, though. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Yankee Doodle Mickey album and I'm not even joking - they kept playing songs from that album throughout the course! It seriously made me so happy! If you haven't heard that album, you should look it up. It's so cute for kids and full of patriotic songs with Mickey and friends!

As we approached Hollywood Studios and mile 10, my IT Band really began to act crazy. It started shooting these sharp pains down my leg and into my foot. Remember my plan of walking the curves and running the straights? Yeah, well I guess I never really noticed before, but there weren't many "straight" parts of this course. The roads either banked right or left or went up or down. I finally found a walk/run pattern of some sort that worked for me and just went with it!

I loved how there was specialty signage near mile 10 for the 10th Anniversary of this race weekend! Fun times!

Our time running through Hollywood Studios was seriously SO short. Jason and our friends were planning on visiting the park that day and just so happened to be in the vicinity. They found a spot right after security and camped out while waiting on me to run by. I figured they would be waiting a while but no - we literally ran down Sunset Boulevard for 30 seconds and turned out near Once Upon a Time...

...which meant my friends and family were literally only waiting for maybe 5 minutes for me to run by! Perfect timing!

After leaving Hollywood Studios, we ran along the Boardwalk towards Epcot.

Team Daisy was there to cheer us on!

We looped through the back of Epcot and around World Showcase...

...where we hit mile 12!

I almost missed Lady Liberty with her 10th Anniversary sash - I'm so glad I spotted her before it was too late!

There were a few characters out and about in World Showcase, so I stopped for some pictures.

Honest John and Gideon from Pinocchio...

...and Dopey from Snow White, of course!

The Big Bad Wolf was also out and about for pictures and this one holds a funny story. 

As a child, I was super scared of the Big Bad Wolf. Like so scared I wouldn't go anywhere alone. Yes, I realize it's ridiculous, but I was a kid. It has also become kind of a running joke with my family as of late. So, as an adult, the first time I saw Big Bad at a Not So Scary Halloween Party several years back, I had to do a double take and kind of giggled at the stupidity of my childhood fear. (But I never stood in a line for a picture.) I knew when I saw him here (for the first time ever at a race), I just had to get that picture. 

I sent it to my husband, brother, mom, and dad with the tag line "No longer scared..." :)

Oddly enough, this was the final character stop on this race course!

Just like that, the finish line was near!

Mile 13! Despite the ridiculous IT Band pain, I made it!

Another runDisney Half Marathon and Challenge done!

I didn't hang around long after this one because I knew my people were all at Hollywood Studios and I wanted to join them as soon as possible.

However, I did take time to eat a little breakfast before then! The Mickey waffles were worth every bite!

I run for Disney food, seriously!

Did you run in this Wine & Dine Half? If so, what were your thoughts on the race? Did you enjoy it? Like the course?