Family Morning at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Yes, we just went to Disney over Spring Break butttt we turned around and went back a couple weeks later! With owning a vacation rental home now we’re still very much trying to get everything fully rolling and looking the way we want it to. That means more frequent trips in order to get stuff done and since it was booked over Spring Break we needed to go back! Our plan was to devote a weekend in later April as a “house weekend.”

When we purchased the house is came fully furnished so our original intent was to just leave what we could as it was and rent it. However, some items needed to be replaced right away. And when it came to replacing things it didn’t make any sense for us to buy brand new items for a rental property when the stuff we own at our home is all pretty much from Ikea and a good 8-10 years old!

We discussed it and agreed that as things needed replacing at the Disney House we’d shift our current stuff down there and replace our items at home. The day we closed on the house we took down our entertainment center from our living room because there wasn’t an entertainment center at all at the rental. We replaced ours at home with a new one (which it was really beyond time to do ha!) and the new one really made our super old coffee and end table look even more worn. Plus the colors didn’t match and the rental house had pretty junky coffee and end tables. Sooooo we replaced ours at home and made plans to take our current ones from home down there!

Who would have thought that purchasing a rental property would mean new stuff for our house? Def a perk!

You see us rollin’ 😉

We checked the kids out of school on Friday April 27 to head down. Spear did GREAT and slept the whole way but when we got down there WHEW he was FUSSY. Zach went to get groceries and stuff we needed for the house and I dealt with unpacking and entertaining children 😉 

If we’re at the rental house, then we’re also at Disney 😉 It’s SO AWESOME being able to pop in the parks for a couple of hours! We’ve been LOVING the more relaxed vibe! This trip we decided to hit up Hollywood Studios as a family. It was Spear’s first time visiting Hollywood Studios (by the end of the weekend he’d officially visited each Disney Park and wasn’t even 5 months old yet!). 

We got there SUPER early because we wanted to ride Toy Story Mania. With the adding of Toy Story Land they have been re-working a lot of the Toy Story Mania ride so fastpasses haven’t been available and often times less tracks are open and the line is reworked so wait times for it have been rough. 

I think I’m one of few people who isn’t crazy excited for Toy Story Land. Toy Story Mania will continue to be the main attraction so all the land is going to do is to create more crowds. I don’t think the Slinky Coaster or the Alien Bumper Car type thing are going to result in tons of people heading there so the lines for Toy Story Mania will just be worse. I really think there is strategy in the whole Toy Story Land thing…I think they’re trying to provide a way to spread out the crowds once Star Wars Land opens. But we’ll see! From what I’ve seen of Toy Story Land it looks awesome and I’m sure our crew will love it, although unless they have some pass holder event I doubt we’ll be rushing to check it out!

While we waited for the park to open we did venture over to the gift shop. Britt wanted to spend money that she didn’t have on more stuffed animals that she doesn’t need 😉 So we started working on birthday and Christmas wishlists! 

That strawberry smelling bear!

Britt would like this stuffed unicorn as a gift! I told her she did NOT want to buy it at the park b/c omg it’d get FILTHY!

Of course Tessie wants it too!

Our favorite duck paying everyone a visit and handing out hugs!

This boy is so go with the flow! We brought his whole car seat in so we could use the double stroller! 

Waiting with the masses to make the Toy Story Dash!

Zach LOVES using the Baby Bjorn! We got it when KYE was born and it’s been used for all of our babies! 

Enjoying all the people watching 🙂 

We made our way to Toy Story Mania. Remember we were there a solid hour before opening and still had quite a few people in front of us! I can never stress it enough: ARRIVE EARLY. 

The line was re-worked in a crazy fashion and we were scared b/c when we walked up to the ride it said 50 MIN WAIT. Um. Nope. We debated just leaving but then all agreed that they must have just went ahead and put that as the wait time because the park had literally only been open for 5 min or so and there was no way it could already be that long of a wait when we were among the first big grouping of people!!!

The line ended up curving and weaving all over the place and we found out that they had the entire line outside of the experience so once we actually got into the door we didn’t have much of a wait at all. Really our total line walking/wait was under 20 min. Not bad at all and it was constantly moving! We later found out that they also only had one track running so we’re thankful we got on so quick!

A little nap while we waited 🙂 Sweetest snuggles!

We opted for Zach to carry him on the ride because it’s pretty jerky and I would have probably been stressing to the max but with him in the carrier against Zach’s chest I knew he was safe 🙂 

Team Rebels ready to WIN!

Mine and Britt’s scores! Not bad! 

Of course Zach showed us up though 😉

Tess def lost haha bless her! 

Kye rode solo and loved it! I think he does best on his own! I think his score was 80,000 or so?

Pro dad.

On our way out we got to meet Cruz Ramirez!

We headed straight for Launch Bay to meet our main man, Chewy!!!

Wookies give THE BEST hugs!

Tess had her mini Chewy to show him 🙂 

Spear was in LOVE with Chewbacca. He kept grabbing his finger and it was beyond adorable. 

I love Kye intently watching too 🙂 

We decided our next family pet will be a Wookie 😉 

After Chewbacca Kye and Zach headed for their fastpass for Rockin’ Rollercoaster and the girls, Spear and I headed to watch The Little Mermaid!

It was so funny because I let the girls choose where we sat and they picked smack dab in the center of the center row. I didn’t even think about the fact that I was holding a baby. Who could get scared or cry or poop or be super loud or have a need that would require me to exit during the show. I think the fact that I didn’t even think about it just shows how EASY GOING Spear is. I hadn’t even thought about it!!! 

The show is pretty dated but still SUPER great and really keeps everyones attention and has so many great elements. We loved it and Spear enjoyed it too! 

After we met up again with the guys and this time went to meet BB8. Spear had his first ever fussy moment at Disney. While we were waiting for BB8 (we were like 5th back at that point) he got SUPER fussy. Zach decided to leave with him because we never want to be those people with a crying baby and everyone around us wishing we’d leave. We’ve met BB8 plenty of times so it was fine for Spear (and Zach ha!) to miss out if needed. 

As he started to leave Spear found his thumb and BAM! He was golden 🙂 

I’m trying to do better at taking our TIME at meet and greet experiences and getting more individual shots. Especially because Spear is so little. The photo pass person typically has a family shot and then a “kid picture” and it bugs me that Spear isn’t in the sibling photos. So doing them individually is better to me because then Spear isn’t left out! Yall know I’m sensitive to making sure all my babies are equally represented!

I’m sad this pic is so blurry! Kye was excited to be wearing his BB8 shirt and hat for a BB8 pic!

On our way out we had a run in with some storm troopers!

Bless Tess. We made a run for it while the storm trooper was interacting with another guest and he just so happened to walk backwards from where he was standing and he walked right on top of her. She fell and was pretty scared and cried a bit. The storm trooper wasn’t really nice about it either which I guess he shouldn’t have been since he is a storm trooper haha! 

Father?

Snack Break!!!

I know I say this every post that Spear is in with us at Disney but I always want people to know that I don’t recommend taking infants to the parks. I know I HAVE my infant AT the park with me haha but I still don’t recommend it 😉 

Being pass holders we’re able to be super casual about our attendance and don’t have to push, rush, and squeeze stuff in. On days we take Spear? We stay for literally just a few hours. Our longest park time has been 4 hours total with him. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon either. I want to be flexible with him but I also don’t want to push him too hard or have a situation where we’re dealing with an upset baby and we’re all miserable. Plus we’ve only had our passes during the cooler months…I’m sure as the heat gets more intense we’ll take Spear even less! 

We got to the park at 8 and his naptime is 9 so he did sleep on and off a good bit!

Our Star Wars Crew!

(Minus Tess. My new thing I’m trying to do is when Tess opts out of pics to get more individual ones of everyone!)

Gotta have the “fierce face”

Zach in a backwards hat IS MY FAV. Whew *swoon*

Teaching Tess all of her Star Wars knowledge!

The Disney Chase Visa meet and greet at DHS is Kylo Ren and it opened at 11:00 am so we waited for about 5 min for opening time and were the first people to meet him that day 🙂 

My favorite thing with Kylo Ren is to refer to him as Ben 😉 He loves it. 

My main goal for the morning at DHS was this particular meet and greet! I loved Spear’s little Darth Vader outfit (even though it’s already too little and his diaper literally kept busting open the snaps haha) and had to have a pic of him with Kylo Ren in it!

Meeting the newest member of his family lineage 😉 

The cast members were SO CHILL and offered up for EACH of us to get a photo. I’ll never turn down photo opportunities! 

BRAVIEST CHILD EVER 🙂

Tess looks like she’s debating joining the dark side 😉

We split up again, this time Zach took Kye and Britt to ride Tower of Terror (Britt’s firs time) and I took Spear and Tess to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (aka Disney Jr Live on Stage). We timed it perfectly so Spear would be drinking his 11:00 bottle during the show and it worked out flawlessly! Although, whew, sitting on that floor ain’t easy on a mama haha!

I LOVED watching Tess. Usually she just SITS but this time? She was INTO IT! There is also one part of the show where they tell kids to get up and dance and it was so cute because Tess stood up, started to dance, then got all embarrassed and sat down haha

SNOAP!!!

We needed a little more to cover Spear’s bald spot 😉

He wasn’t sure what to think haha!

DABLOONS!!!

Tess LOVES Mickey and the gang. Moreso than any of my kids ever have. She’d watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse/Mickey and the Roadster Racers all day every day if I’d let her. It’s ALWAYS what she picks to watch during TV/movie time. She LOVES it. 

We were SO PROUD of Britt. I booked the fp for Tower of Terror without really even asking her if she wanted to do it. I just assumed she’d want to now that she’s been on this thrill experience kick lately. Well. We pulled up to the park that morning and were going over the plans and she kinda freaked about it.

It’s tough with Britt because she is pretty dramatic so we can’t always tell what’s genuine and what’s part of her show. But she was legit fearful and I’m HARDCORE against pressuring my kids to ride anything, ever. 

I have NEVER liked thrill rides and having people pressure me REALLY bothers me. I’m content not riding. I don’t mind waiting in line with you so you can ride. I don’t mind even holding all your stuff for you so you can ride. I genuinely have a great time watching you enjoy the ride. I JUST DO NOT WANT TO RIDE IT. 

I will not EVER pressure my kids to ride something. Ever. So I told Britt she did NOT have to try it. Or she could try it and then not ever do it again if she didn’t want it. The choice was hers. And she opted to try it. And I’m SO proud of her for making that decision and following through with it! 

And I’m proud of Zach for stopping for a photo pass moment 😉 

Zach said she was literally shaking. She didn’t just hate it. She LOATHED it. 

Clearly. 

(this video is SO AWESOME)

After Tower of Terror Britt announced that not only would she never be riding that again but that she also no longer likes Everest. Which is at Animal Kingdom and is SO RANDOM that she decided she no longer likes it when she’s been claiming it’s her favorite haha. We’ll see what happens with that! She did also say she does NOT want to try Rockin Rollercoaster in the near future but she does still want to do Space Mountain. She’s kinda all over the place!

We refilled our popcorn bucket for a little break time!

No one else wanted a picture and there was no line so DUH I’ll take one!

As we were discussing the ride plans for the morning on our way into the park Britt asked if I’d ride Star Tours with them. I had booked the fastpass for Zach to ride it but since it was our last thing of the day I kinda thought it was the perfect time for me to try it. 

I don’t do motion sickness type stuff and I knew Star Tours was similar to Back to the Future at Universal. I don’t have many memories from the time my family visited Universal (and yall know my feelings of Universal now haha) but I just remember being on Back to the Future and feeling like I was going to puke at any minute and opening my eyes just at the moment we “crashed” into a Texico gas station sign. Nope. Not my favorite memory!

I’ve never done Star Tours before but I did Flight of Passage and it wasn’t terrible and I’ve done a few other things that I’ve felt icky but not horrible after (Soarin’ in both Cali and at Epcot as well as Radiator Springs at DCA). I knew I could handle Star Tours and the kids were SO PUMPED for me to ride it! With it being the last ride I had nothing to lose b/c if I felt awful after we were leaving anyway!

We had a few minutes before we’d be allowed to use our fastpass so we got some pics! This particular photo pass guy was so odd. He never spoke to us. Not once. But he’d roll his eyes a lot like he was annoyed with his job. Then as we went to leave he did a Roz impression and said he’d be always watching. Not gonna lie, kinda freaked me out haha

Britt asked for another chance at her pics haha maybe that’s why he rolled his eyes 😉 

Really cool experience walking into the ride!

It was set up JUST like Back to the Future. Very confined which I do NOT do well with. Flight of Passage, Soarin’, Radiator Springs…all OPEN. This was closed in and very tight feeling. 

I put on that happy mama face though for my babies 😉 And it was a SUPER COOL experience. Just one that I don’t ever need to have again. I think I said “oh my gosh oh my gosh” like a billion times. It was neat that Kye was chosen as the spy and that each time you ride it tells a different story!

I survived and lived to tell about it!!! 

Had to show off my C3PO earrings! I got them from Ali Express 🙂 

We met Zach at the Muppet-Vision show where he, Spear and Tess were while we had been riding Star Tours. I don’t know that we’ve ever done the Muppet experience but Zach said it was cute!

Pretending to be monsters. We literally have no knowledge of Muppets haha!

We fed the kids lunch in the car and were home by nap time! My sweet husband had spent TONS of time at Walmart getting groceries and stuff for the house the night prior but still stopped by Publix to get me sushi. I have a KEEPER yall! 

After naps we FINALLY got to ENJOY our pool!!!

With any home purchase there have been “bugs” to fix and one has been the pool heater. It’s finally good to go and we turned that beast on and ENJOYED! 

Not too cool to rock a princess float 😉

We had a bit of a “feast mode beast mode” for dinner with steaks and rice-a-roni and our favorite bread (yall rice-a-roni and hawaiian sweet rolls are a straight FEAST to us ha!). We enjoyed it outside and had a great time just being together!

This outdoor furniture has been a BIG upgrade to what was originally here when we bought the house…

Here’s a link to similar chairs (the exact ones aren’t available)

and to the table! 

We also got a couple of these small side tables to go between the chairs for the ultimate relaxation 😉 

Bahaha Zach showed me this pic when he came to bed about how I left the kitchen that night. I have an issue with leaving ALL the cabinet doors open! 

We had SUCH a fun day! It will be sad when Toy Story and Star Wars Lands open at Hollywood Studios because it will go from being SUCH a CHILL park to being INSANELY crowded all the time!!! We loved getting the chance to really have downtime at the house too for the first time. Such a perfect family day 🙂 

If you enjoy seeing our Disney adventures be sure to follow me on Instagram where I post live updates in my stories every time we visit! 

And if you’re visiting the area…be sure to check out our Disney Vacation Rental Home! 6 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and 3 miles from the parks! Plus a huge discount for friends, family and blog readers 🙂 

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave