Where We Stayed
Disney’s Art of Animation
The Art of Animation Resort is a Walt Disney World Resort near Hollywood Studios. This hotel is popular because it offers fun Disney themes with characters that families love and spacious accommodations with convenient access to the theme parks riding the skyliner. The Art of Animation resort invites you to explore the storybook landscapes of classics like Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. From delightfully themed family suites to wondrously detailed courtyards, Disney’s Art of Animation “draws” you and your family in to become a part of some of your animated favorites. It was the perfect hotel for our Day at Hollywood Studios.
We stayed in a Lion King-themed family suite. The family suites include a bedroom with one queen-size bed; one double-size convertible TableBed; one double-size sleeper sofa; a living room; 2 bathrooms and a kitchenette. If you are looking for a Disney resort hotel room that will accommodate more than a family of 4, the Art of Animation’s family suites may be just what you are looking for.
I thought that the rooms rocked a bit on the tacky side. For the money spent for two nights here, we could have found a room in the area with true luxury. If you are looking for a romantic and quiet hotel, this is not for you. However, if you have kids along for the trip, then they will love it. And, it is a Disney hotel, so transportation to the park was a breeze on the Skyliner.
Hollywood Studios
The best perk about staying at The Art of Animation Hotel is the Disney Skyliner gondola station. This connects the hotel to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This mode of transportation is convenient and easy– in fact, it’s a breeze to get to the park!
Park Tips:
Purchase Genie+ for the day:
Genie+ allowed us to reserve multiple attraction return times for a single fee throughout the day. The Disney Genie app will update your itinerary during the day based on current and anticipated wait times…. it might tell you ‘Ride Slinky Dog Dash now’ because the wait time is low, so you can optimize your day by waiting in a shorter line. By selecting your preferences before you enter the park, you have a higher chance of Disney Genie creating the best day for you and your family. Pick your top three rides or shows that you are your party wants to experience and put them into the Genie.
Genie+ allows you to reserve multiple attraction return times for a single fee throughout the day. While the Genie planning app itself is free, Disney Genie+ costs us $17 per person. Prices vary depending on the day you attend.
Early Entry, Park Open, and Rope Drop
The early hours of the day are about one thing—rides. Your goal for this part of the day is to get on as many rides with short waits as possible before crowds settle in and waiting commences. Guests with Early Entry (those who are guests of Disney resorts and select partner resorts) have access to Early Entry and should take advantage of it.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Live Your Star Wars Adventure in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. From the attractions such as Rise of the Resistance, and Millenium Falcon Smugglers Run to the shops to the dining, when guests visit Galaxy’s Edge they find themselves transported to the planet of Batuu deep into the land of Star Wars.
Head Straight to Rise of the Resistance
From everything I have read, Disney advisors say to head straight to Rise of the Resistance when the park opens. This ride is the most popular in the park. Upon arrival, cast members warned that the ride was closed and may not open for another three hours. We decided to buy Lighting Lane tickets for a later time before they sold out. Well, as soon as we did, they started letting folks in. Since a lot of the crowd had moved to other areas of the park, we were able to walk right through.
Rise of the Resistance is the most advanced ride ever built at Disney and an experience you do not want to miss, especially for the die-hard Star Wars fan. Join the Resistance in a battle against the First Order.
Once you’re finished with this ride head across to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Next, it was time to fly the MMillenniumFalcon on a thrilling interactive smuggling mission. You take control of a ship much like a videogame with guests performing one of three different roles—pilot, gunner, and engineer. The pilots will get to steer and push the ship to light speed. Pilots are instructed not to hit anything (easier said than done). The gunner is instructed to pretty much shoot anything that moves, and the engineers are told to push any button that flashes. Pretty easy, right?
Build your own Light Saber or Droid
In Galaxy’s Edge, you can build a Droid or a Light Saber to take home (reservations needed). The two most talked about souvenirs are the Droids you can build yourself and the lightsaber-building experience. These unique shops are not only a place where you can build and take home your very own Lightsaber or Driod, but you’ll experience the pride of building these yourself.
While waiting for Micah to build his lightsaber, Brenda was confronted by a Storm Trooper advising her to keep her phone usage to a minimum due to radioactivity in the area. The look on her face was priceless as she explained that she was only searching for lunch options. The actors do a good job of mingling with the crowd in character. You could just be minding your own business and look up to find you are in a scene from Star Wars.
Blue Milk
After riding the Rise of Resistance and the Millenium Factor Smugglers Run and before leaving Galaxy’s Edge, we had to try the Blue Milk. It is basically like drinking a fruit smoothy. Blue milk has Pineapple, Lime, Dragon Fruit, and Watermelon. I thought it was quite refreshing. For an extra price, you can even get a shot of rum in it.
Toy Story Land
Once you walk through Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you are immediately transported into Andy’s Backyard. Everything is larger than life, as you are shrunk down to the size of a toy and you are surrounded by other toys. You can explore the whole land including a lunch box, a flying saucer toy set, and more. There are hundreds of toys to find in the yard. You’ll see toys you grew up with and lots of bright colors – it’s very captivating, especially for kids. You can ride the Alien Swirling Saucers or experience Toy Story Mania, or you can take a ride on Slinky Dog Dash.
Slinky Dog Dash
Take off on a family-friendly coaster that twists and turns past giant toys and springs across Andy’s oversized backyard! As for intensity, it has lots of turns, dips, and hills but no loops or highspeed curves. For adults, it’s probably more fun than you’d expect. If you are going to do just one thing in Toy Story Land, make it Slinky Dog Dash.
Muppets 3D
N000000! Please don’t drag me into this Muppets 3D show. I was casually reminded that I was about to be a Grandpa, and I better get used to this again. Put on your 3D glasses and get ready to be entertained by Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the gang.
The show has all the charm and humor you’d expect from the Muppets, playfully using all the tricks used for the movie’s 3D gimmick. 3D still amazes me when it is done well. Always fun. Another great thing about this attraction is that it allows you to sit and relax in a cool theatre for a while.
Lunch at Mama Melrose
Tucked away in the corner of Grand Avenue you’ll spot a sweet Italian restaurant welcoming guests with its cozy dining space and delicious lunch and dinner Italian fare. The intimate tables and booths with checked curtains and lights strung across the ceiling make for a cute atmosphere. And as you can see the wait staff with their cute red checkered aprons are eager to serve you.
At Mama Melrose, you get a surprisingly intimate environment, where you feel like you’re in a small family Italian restaurant. It was nice to be able to sit down and take a break from the theme park hustle and bustle and enjoy a relaxed table service lunch. We found the food to be good, but I must say that I have eaten at better Italian Restaurants.
Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a few shows that are worth seeing. These include the Frozen Sing-along, Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, Muppet Vision 3D, and my favorite, the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. The show takes you behind the scenes with fights and explosions just like the stuntmen do in Hollywood movies. The show highlights particular scenes and stunts from Raiders of the Lost Ark as if you were on the set, such as the classic rolling boulder scene, the chase through streets of Cairo, and then Indy’s fight around the German plane. This action-packed show also provides an inside look at how these stunts are performed as well.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is where you will find Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The theater here at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is practically a replica of the original Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is a wild adventure through a cartoon world. This ride takes place in a free-moving vehicle that whisks you around and takes you along for a ride with Mickey and Minnie as they take off on a picnic date with surprises and twists at every turn. Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is the first ride-though Disney theme park attraction to feature the Mouse Duo.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The story is an original tale based on the classic Twilight Zone television show where guests board a rickety, old maintenance elevator trying to find out what happened to the people who vanished into thin air in the hotel’s elevator shaft. This said in my best Rod Serling imitaton: “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a journey into another dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind … into the Twilight Zone”!
The Tower of Terror and Rock N’ Roller Coaster are near one another. When you get off one ride, head directly to the other.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is one of the top rides in Hollywood Studios. Wait times often climb to over an hour and a half on the busiest days. Your best bet may be to cue up in the single rider line. We were able to get right in with minimal wait time by doing so. It is so dark on the ride that you won’t care who you are riding with anyway.
On this ride, while in line, you enter a recording studio where Aerosmith is wrapping up a recording studio session. The manager has backstage passes for everyone and you are invited to come along. As you are strapped into a “limo” to make it to an Aerosmith show you’re running late. The driver promises to get you there but not without taking some shortcuts.
This coaster includes two roll-over loops and a corkscrew, so you’ll spend some time upside down. Pair that with high-speed and loud music and some folks may want to skip it. On the other hand, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster might be just what you need.
This fast-paced roller coaster starts by blasting off down the track and is sure to kick your adrenaline into high gear!
The ride itself? Super short. Most of your time here will be in line.
Evening
Fantasmic
Fantasmic! is an epic outdoor show that is part fireworks, part stage show, part water show, and part lights show. There is so much going on during a performance. You’ll see tons of characters doing all sorts of different performances while fireworks, lights, and water are going off all around. It even incorporates boats that circle the stage. This is Hollywood Studios’ best nighttime show.
It was a great day at Hollywood Studios! The weather was perfect and we got to see most of what we wanted to see. It was a long day from rope drop to Fantasmic. At the end of the day, it was nice to be able to board the Skyliner and head back to the hotel without fighting traffic. After returning from the park, it was nice to find the “Landscape of Flavors” restaurant at the hotel still open to grab a bite to eat and shuffle off to our room after a long fun day at Hollywood Studios.
Hollywood Studios: 351 S. Studio Drive Lake Buena Vista, FL
If you were not able to find a souvenir at the park, head over to Disney Springs before you leave the area. Disney Springs is a huge outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista.
