Saturday, September 7
Back to Hollywood Studios, this time with the whole group including my brother in law who got in at about 1 AM Friday night/Saturday morning. Again, we were in no rush. We weren’t concerned about crowds because of the previous days and we needed to pace ourselves because of the heat. We arrived slightly before the park opened at about 8:45, which was well after the early magic hours began. My brother in law had issues with his tickets so I took the kids back to Toy Story Land while he and my sister dealt with that. We walked onto Toy Story Mania once and then waited about 15 minutes and rode it again with the whole group after they arrived. Walked onto alien swirling saucers before heading to Galaxy’s Edge.
Being 9:30, GE should have been packed. It wasn’t. We waited about 30 minutes (of posted 50) for Smugglers Run. This time I got to be pilot with my nephew. I think it’s an amazing ride, but being pilot vs. the other jobs is definitely a big upgrade. The other jobs can draw you’re attention away from the screen and pilot you have more control of the experience while also being focused on the visuals the whole time. We did much better than my first experience and it is very repeatable from that perspective. First time my 4 and 6 year old (guessing) pilots crashed into everything and, reasonably, didn’t know what they were doing. We only got 1 canister and made a marginal profit (~1200 units). This time we got two canisters and made an 8000-something unit profit, so the ride was much different.
After that we had reservations at Oga’s cantina. Really sorry for the lack of pictures, but I just don’t think about it when I’m with my family. I thought it was overpacked, rushed, and very corporate feeling. I liked my drink, the blurgfire, although it could have used to have the ice cubes melt and dilute it. That wasn’t really an option as we were parked in a standing room corner next to the fire exit; even though we theoretically had 45 minutes, no one would have wanted to stay that long. The lava roll was good too, but this place wasn’t to my taste. Even as a non-alcohol drinker I can appreciate a bar, this just felt like chaos and not in anything resembling a good way.
We had a FP+ for Star Tours, so we headed out of GE. With the new FP+ tiers the options are pretty terrible, pretty much get one ride, Star Tours, and a show. Our prime FP+ was for Slinky Dog in the afternoon, but we went to Star Tours and then Indiana Jones in our other two. Hadn’t planned on actually using Indy, but it was nice to sit and my niece wanted to see the show again. Can’t say no to that.
Next, we were back to GE for our big production of the day. Building a droid at Droid Depot. We had reservations for both droids and lightsabers for my niece and nephew, but we cancelled lightsabers. I saw the lightsabers and was happy with that decision. They were perfectly fine, but I have a couple UltraSabers and would definitely recommend spending a little more to get something more durable, brighter, and with better sound. I'm already well into overkill on what a person should spend on movie props/glorified flashlights/they’re real to me darn it, so it was clearly not something I should get; but I thought it was a good decision for them as well. Anyway, back to droids, I made the reservation for 3 and was planning on cancelling mine, but then the kids both wanted BB units and (twist my arm) we couldn’t leave without an R2. Just decided, I’ll make a full review post after this post, once I can take a couple pictures, but I was impressed with the souvenir of the process was a little impersonal.
The downside of the droid building was that we now had large droids to carry around with us. We didn’t ask if we could have them shipped back to our room or held until we were ready to leave. So we hit ToT with the droids being held between our legs. The droids are not held in place in their box very securely, so they had no choice but to bounce around inside. All 3 made it out in perfect condition. We didn’t risk them on RnRC. My niece is not tall enough, so she and my sister waited outside with the droids while the rest of us hit the ride. After that we had our Slinky Dog FP, but I headed out because of already been on (and was tired of lugging the droid) and we needed to kickstart the shower schedule as we were headed to MK for the fireworks dessert party that night.
So, after we all relaxed, showered and cooled down a bit it was back out for HEA. This was my birthday present to the kids and my sister (she shares a birthday with my nephew on the 17th and my niece was born on the 15th of the same month). First time we’ve ever done a fireworks dessert party. The spread was pretty good and the view was amazing. I love HEA and this was the best view we’ve had of it. Don’t know that I’d do the dessert party again, but I definitely enjoyed doing it once.
Sunday, September 8
Another big day. Breakfast at trattoria al forno then a break before MNSSHP.
Breakfast was awesome. One of the best and most reasonably priced character experiences we’ve had. It’s a little inconvenient to get to the boardwalk (we used a ride share app both ways from AKL), but definitely worth it:
After breakfast we went to the pool, watched some football, and relaxed until leaving for MNSSHP at 3:15. We arrived at MK at 3:45 and, fortunately, they opened the gates early for the party. It was crazy hot and already a substantial line building. I can’t imagine how warm it would’ve been if more people crowded in and we had to wait another 15 minutes. Anyway, we had reservations for BoG at 4:10 to try to get eating out of the way before the party started. It was a good meal and really great to get out of the sun during that time of day. We might’ve burned the kids out before day guests were even gone if we hadn’t done dinner at that time. Here’s our picture when we entered:
Our theme for our (kind of) costumes were the princess comfy outfits. I think I got closer on mine than the rest of the group, but it wasn’t a big deal. It’s definitely function over fashion for us at MNSSHP.
After that we just had a ton of fun. We rode every ride at least once or at least had the option to (that’s a big nope from me Tomorrowland Speedway). Most, including 7DMT multiple times. Saw the parade. Watched the fireworks while riding and re-riding PeopleMover. It was a great night all around and always is. Here are a couple ride photos:
I still think an early September Tuesday or Sunday MNSSHP is one of the best values you can get at the parks. Cheaper than a day ticket. Everything open. Light crowds. Only thing you’re missing are the regular daytime shows, parades and fireworks. I’d take Festival of Fantasy and HEA over Boo To You and (insert name of new Halloween show I’ve forgotten), but they’re all good.
Monday, September 9
This was our Epcot Food and Wine day, but the kids loved FoP so much that they had to take their dad and we started the day at AK. Got on the ride in about 30 minutes, so not bad at all. Grabbed a night blossom punch and headed for Epcot.
I have to say, it was too hot. I had a great time, but I did not eat very much because it was so hot that nothing looked appetizing. We hit all the big rides, FP+ for TT, walk-on for Soarin, and waited about 45 minutes for FEA. Not bad at all. FEA was our longest wait of the trip and it wasn’t a bad deal because we wanted out of the heat anyway.
I had enough food during our around the world to keep from crashing, but I look forward to someday being able to attend Food and Wine when it’s not surface of the sun hot. Because I work in agriculture, harvest rules out most of the festival, it may never happen.
Tuesday, September 9
My flight was at 11:15, so it was up, shower, and off to DME. My sister’s family actually had an earlier flight, so I was last to leave.
Overall, an amazing trip. Thanks for reading along.
I’ll be back in the next couple days with the droid review.