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Old 12 May 20, 03:36 PM  
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nothingless
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5-week Split Stay in Florida, Feb/March 2020 - Day 28: Hollywood Studios & Mickey Railway!

Day 28: Hollywood Studios and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway!
March 8, 2020

[-- Trip Index --]

Today's quick movie:


Today, Sunday, was our last full day at the Polynesian, as tomorrow we'd be checking out and heading to Old Key West. We were off to visit Hollywood Studios today, with the main reason being the fastpasses I'd been able to snag for Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, the brand new ride in Grauman's Chinese Theatre that had only opened a few days earlier! The FPs for this new ride only became available about a week before we actually left for our holiday, and I was so happy to have been able to snag some - Myla looooves Mickey and Minnie, and as there's no height restriction on this, I was fairly hopeful she'd love it. Plus Michael and I were excited to try out a new ride too - we'd done the Great Movie Ride on our honeymoon in 2015 and enjoyed it, and I was eager to see what this new ride was like.

Michael woke me up at 7AM when he got back from the gym. He'd felt super tired when his alarm went off, but dragged himself out of bed and to the gym after all. I said to him, no wonder you were so tired, with the clocks going back and all, could you not have skipped it this morning! Turns out he had completely forgotten about the clocks going back and hadn't realized that '5AM' actually felt like '4AM' to him haha. Upside though, this meant there was now only a 5 hour time difference between Florida and home instead of the usual 6, as Europe doesn't do the clock changing for another few weeks.

We took it easy getting ready this morning as it was still a bit cold early on (but due to warm up later in the day). Myla watched some of Tangled with her new Rapunzel doll in bed, while we all had breakfast in the room and I did some organizing of our stuff in preparation for tomorrow.


We left our room for Hollywood Studios around 10:15, Myla of course insisting on pressing the elevator buttons.


We waited about 10 minutes for a bus, and pulled up to HS at 10:50.


The entrance was nice and quiet, although inside the park it was busy as seemed to be the case on every day we were there!


We were all in need of snacks, so we made our way up to the Starbucks in Trolley Car Cafe.


Myla picked a banana, Michael wanted a Strawberry Refresher, and I had a slice of banana bread with a cappuchino. He took her to a bench in the sun while I went in and ordered - the total was $16.34.


We sat enjoying our snacks in the sun, just relaxed, although we were talking about the coronavirus a bit while Myla played on the curb in front of us. It had been in the newspapers that morning that back home in the Netherlands, the first coronavirus patient had died and at least 50 staff across several hospitals in the south of the country had tested positive, as well as larger groups of people who'd celebrated Carnival at the end of February. The government was now urging anyone with even mild cold symptoms to stay at home and NOT go outside at all - a new mindset that took some getting used to. We were reflecting on how relatively untouched Florida seemed - people were sneezing and coughing all around us, and no one seemed to bat an eyelid. We felt fairly safe, most US cases were in other parts of the country far away from us, and you couldn't really notice much in the way of measures or concern in Disney - aside from a few extra signs reminding people to wash their hands. It was nice to feel relaxed about everything back then... right now every time I go outside I worry about getting sick.

This is the bench we sat on:


Our first FP was for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, and we made our way around the lake. This had originally been a FP for the Frozen show, which I thought Myla would love and would want to experience multiple times, but no - she still maintained it was way too loud and did not want to do it again.


I'm not sure the stunt show was an improvement over the Frozen show - she kind of enjoyed it, but she sat glued to my lap the whole time (hence no photos) and buried herself in my chest with her hands over her ears any time there was gunfire or explosions. She concluded at the end that it was good but a little scary, and she asked us if really no one died, and we assured her no, it was all pretend lol.

Our plan had been to stroll into Galaxy's Edge next, but as we passed the Olaf meet and greet, we saw there was almost no queue! Since we missed meeting him earlier in our holiday when Myla fell asleep in the queue, we decided to take the opportunity and headed right in. I had hoped for this to happen today, and had her Olaf dress with me, to Myla's delight. A 15-second change later and she was all ready!


We only waited 5 minutes to see him, and he was brilliant! He was lovely, so soft and cuddly, Myla loved it!


We initially had her autograph book out and ready, but the CM explained to Myla that Olaf has sticks, not hands, so he can't write! She gave us a round card with his autograph instead, that we glued into her book when we got home. Myla still tells everyone to this day when the subject of Olaf, or Frozen, or even anything vaguely Disney related comes up, that Olaf has sticks, not hands you know! Never fails to amuse me watch others be confused by her random statement until I explain it haha.


Once back outside, we waited for Michael to go to the toilet, and she asked for her Star Wars dress back on, because it matches the skirt I was wearing that day. Myla played about a bit jumping off a little ledge while we waited for Michael.


Once all reunited, we walked further. We stopped outside Star Tours to watch part of the Jedi Academy show on the little stage, and I made Michael pose for a nice photo with the big ATAT in the background.


Myla asked to also go on the stage like the other kids, and I explained there'd be a big bad guy coming soon who was a little scary. She still insisted she wanted to do it, so at the time I made a mental note to maybe watch Episode One with her before our September 2020 trip and see if she'd still be up for it! Michael loves SW, so I'm sure he'd love to see her being a mini jedi lol.

We then headed to the Tatooine Traders shop for a browse around. Neither Michael nor I like simulator rides, so Star Tours is a big no - I rode it once on DLP and vividly remember swallowing my own sick down as I was trying to not throw up on the ride!

At the shop entrance, Myla noticed the writing on the wall and proceeded to tell me how each letter spelled out MYLA <LAST NAME>. Sure kid!


Michael took a picture of our matching outfits for me.


When I then wanted to take a picture of both of them, Myla told him to stay back, and told him he had to catch her!


Myla was in a great and playful mood, and we just went along with it, enjoying our time - it had dawned on me that we only had a little over a week left of this mammoth trip!

Anyone else love these random but cool details?


We headed into the shop for a bit of browsing but didn't end up buying anything, although Michael was tempted with the lightsabers!

Edited at 03:39 PM.
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Old 12 May 20, 03:37 PM  
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We now headed into Galaxy's Edge properly, with no real plan other than just enjoy the atmosphere, and have our lunch there since we all loved our meals at Docking Bay 7 there previously.


We came across some Storm Troopers who we accidentally followed for a bit as we happened to be going the way they were. They were hilarious, making unsuspecting people jump and just generally telling everyone off for everything lol.



We decided to get a Photopass picture in front of the Millenium Falcon, and the photographer got us to kiss Myla at the same time - her face!


By now it was 13:40, and we were hungry again after our mid morning snacks. So we headed into Docking Bay 7 to basically order the exact same thing we had before: Youngling's Pasta with apple juice for Myla and Felucian Garden Spreads for us! Total was $37. Myla was starting to get a bit tired, so I was keen for her to eat before she might fall asleep!


Like before, we all loved our food, and all finished our plates, Myla included who normally is SUCH a picky eater.

She crawled into the stroller after lunch and wanted to lie down, so we figured there was a good chance she might fall asleep if we walk around a bit. We had no set plans for this afternoon - we had FastPasses for Mickey & Minnie's Railway and Toy Story Mania around 17u and 18u, so there was plenty of time for her to have a nap, and us still do the Disney Junior meet n greets.

We randomly walked back towards the Streets of New York and then on towards Sunset Boulevard, intending to get a Photopass picture in front of Tower of Terror.


Our plan worked today, for a change, and she was asleep in no time. We were just wandering around, and decided we'd fill up the popcorn bucket for later and get some coffees for ourselves plus find a quiet place to sit. Pixar Place seemed like the right spot for all that, so we walked back down Sunset and turned right in front of the Chinese Theatre.


The standby queue for MMRR was just over 2 hours, so I was glad we had our fastpasses!

Michael queued at Joffreys to get us coffees and I got the popcorn refill at Neighborhood Bakery, plus decided to get a Nom Nom Cookie for a snack - I'd been dying to try one, and oh my, it was HUGE and yummy! Crunchy on the outside and soft and gooy inside! We sat down on the ground in Pixar Place and just relaxed some more, enjoying the sunshine, the weather warming up, and discussing our dreams for the future. I don't know about you, but I just love little moments like these. Today was a really slow yet so relaxing day...I think it's just what we needed after the previous more stressed-out MK days we'd had.


Myla woke up just after 3, and we went autograph hunting some more. We headed to the Disney Junior area, and joined the queue for Fancy Nancy first. We have had Disney+ in the Netherlands in September, so I made sure she'd seen some episodes of all these Disney Junior shows. Consequently, she knew who they all were, and loved meeting them because she 'knew' them.


Next up was Doc McStuffins.


Then we did Pluto.


And last up was Vampirina! Myla doesn't really like this show, she finds Vampirina a little scary, so even though she DID want to meet her, she asked to do it together with me, instead of alone. She did give her a hug though!


She concluded afterwards that actually, Vampirina was really nice! These were all great meets, each had short (>10 minutes) queues with lovely hugs and autographs - well worth spending 45 minutes here if you have a character-mad kid like me!

I had originally planned to do the Disney Junior Dance Party this afternoon too, but with her long-ish nap and the character meets, we'd missed the last show of the day. I wasn't too worried, and just resolved we'd do it on our last HS day next week.

Edited at 03:47 PM.
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Old 12 May 20, 03:38 PM  
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It was around 16:15 now, and there was a Little Mermaid show starting in 15 minutes. We hadn't done this show yet, and I didn't have a FP, but it seemed quiet enough and Myla was up for it, so we went inside for this. She loved it, with the big puppets and the live singing, but I did actually not remember how much water they spray on the audience?! We got a lot more wet than I remember, and Myla screamed at the cold water hitting her bare arms lol.


Next up it was time for our most anticipated fastpass, for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway! We headed back to the Chinese Theatre and had a few minutes to kill before our window opened, so we took a few photos in the courtyard.


A very nice CM spotted me trying to take a selfie of us all, and she came over and took a few nice family photos of us with my phone instead.


Finally our window was open, and we headed inside, Myla as excited as the rest of us to experience the 'new Mickey ride'.


If you're trying to avoid any and all spoilers for this ride, just skip the next few paragraphs!

We all absolutely loved this ride - we were all 'wow'ing and laughing out loud together while riding this! In the queue, you encounter a little pre-show first, where they show a movie on a big screen, then something goes wrong, the screen blows up, and you step through the blown-up screen into the cartoon world! It was really well done and Myla was amazed, everything looks so cartoony on the other side it was hard to believe it was real! It was all just super clever paint jobs on the walls etc, but really well done.

You then get to the actual ride. The ride vehicles looked exactly like I remembered from the Great Movie Ride - one long train with each fitting a whole bunch of people. We had a whole row to ourselves but Myla asked to sit on my lap, just in case it was a little scary, and off we went.


Everything looks really cute at first when we follow Mickey and Minnie on a lovely day out for a picnic and an evening at a funfair. Then Goofy turns out to be driving our little train, and it all goes horribly wrong - you go into mine tunnels, and then the ride vehicle itself actually breaks up into various smaller vehicles, and it turns out each little bit of the train is a vehicle in and of itself, that moves independently along the trackless layout of the ride! You then have some more adventures as Goofy tries to get his train all back together and back on track.


Eventually Goofy manages to fix everything, and Mickey and Minnie have a nice end to their night after all.


We came off the ride absolutely buzzing. It was so funny and exciting and the technologies used were wow, like how'd they do that! Really cool - all 3 of us agreed we'd love to ride it again! I'm normally really sensitive to being motion sick, so I had hoped I'd be OK on this, and I was! I don't think I could ride it twice in a row, and I closed my eyes briefly twice, but that was all and I came off feeling fine! Much much better than DLP's Ratatouille for motion sickness!

By now it was just after 5Pm. We decided to stick around and ride Toy Story Mania with our next fastpass at 6:30, but to not stay for Fantasmic that night. It was cooling down again now that the sun had disappeared behind some dark clouds, and Fantasmic doesn't start till 20:30 which really is quite late for Myla. I just didn't think she'd enjoy it if she was freezing cold - and neither would I for that matter!

Since we now had another hour to kill before TSM, we went to see Lightning McQueen and the Racing Academy show, and headed up Sunset Boulevard to find this.


It's all the way in the back of the park, past Rock N Roller coaster in the back of that courtyard.


Myla spotted some of the big cars sitting outside and wanted to get their autographs, but very quickly corrected herself and told me that oh no, of course they couldn't sign, they didn't have hands just like Olaf! So we settled for some photos instead.


The Lightning McQueen show is inside, and runs every 15 minutes. It wasn't busy at all when we were there, and it's a cute show just perfect for younger kids! It's a nice sit-down in the air conditioning too, if you're visiting on a hot day. This is only fairly recently opened, but I hope they keep it for a while, I thought it was really nice and well done, especially Lightning himself was fairly impressive with the way his eyes and mouth moved etc! Myla likes the Cars movies, and really enjoyed this.


When we came back out, the skies had darkened considerably.
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Old 12 May 20, 03:38 PM  
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Luckily that was as bad as it got and the promised rain never materialized. We still had 25 minutes until our Toy Story Mania FP, so we settled Myla in the stroller with the popcorn, and took another leisurely walk over to Toy Story Land via Galaxy's Edge. It was a lot quieter in the park now than it had been earlier in the day - on our next trip, I'd love to spend more evening time in HS.


We watched these Storm Troopers for a while again. At one point Michael booed them (as did other people), and they warned him to be careful as droids can easily be reprogrammed (he was wearing an R2D2 shirt) haha!


The park just looked beautiful in the early evening light, and we really enjoyed all these relaxed strolls without any specific purpose.


We scanned into our FP a few minutes early, and Myla went straight into competitive mode, determined to beat daddy!


She's convinced she does every time, too - as she can't really read the numbers on the scoreboard yet, she just kind of makes up what they say and it's always in her favor!

We made our way back to the bus and took the bus back to the Polynesian around 7.


We all had showers and baths, and I did my work on the laptop. We were in bed for 9PM after a really lovely day that had felt really chilled!
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Old 12 May 20, 04:00 PM  
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What a great day! You packed in so much but at a lovely relaxed pace.
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Old 12 May 20, 07:51 PM  
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Sounds like a lovely day today - very relaxing but still getting lots done. Myla definitely loves the character meets which is great - her autograph book must be filling up nicely by now! Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway sounds fun.
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Old 12 May 20, 08:03 PM  
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That was a really good day


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Old 15 May 20, 10:41 AM  
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a lovely day, thank you for posting
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Old 26 May 20, 08:35 PM  
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A lovely slow pace today with lots of time to relax. I'm loving the little videos with each day.
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