Hollywood Studios

 

We started our trip off at Hollywood Studios and this and Magic Kingdom were my favourite parks. We spent 2 days here. We had fast passes to Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Slinky Dog Dash and Toy Story Mania. 

Our favourite rides were –

Alien Swirling Saucers – this was one that everyone could ride and everyone loved it. We never had a fast pass but didn’t seem to wait too long despite certain times of day having 60+ minute waits.

 

Star Tours – my (older) boys and hubby loved this however, once it was my turn as a rider swap, I felt sooo sick and closed my eyes until it was finished. The 3D Motion/Thrill ride was very clever but it made me feel pretty awful and so I never attempted another ride. I’d say it’s great for Star Wars fans (or not) but not for those who get any amount of motion sickness unless you have taken something!

 

 

Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy – everyone LOVED this! It was a really fun 10 minute family show and a must for any Cars fans. My 2 year old in particular was enthralled with his seeing his favourite characters of McQueen, Mater and Cruz.

 

Tower of Terror – my oldest loved it, middle child not so much! Infact, the whole ride, he never made one peep until it finished and then he burst into tears VERY loudly which we found pretty funny (#badmumaward) but it is still as great as when I first rode it at age 16. Maybe it didn’t help him that we rode with a bunch of high school kids that were scaring each other and in turn scaring everyone?! 

Toy Story Mania – Another 3D ride that the whole family can go on and enjoy (minus the motion sickness!)  My 2 year old didn’t ‘shoot’ the targets but loved watching everyone else do it and there’s so much going on the entertain him without needing to shoot anything. Just make sure your arms have been working out in the weeks leading up and be prepared for a repetitive strain injury from constantly relaunching your shooter but it’s all worth it! 

 Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular – This was the evening show and it was pretty impressive with fireworks and special effects. Because of the schedules, we could only choose this or the Fantasmic show (which they ran at the same time.) We were torn but chose the Star Wars one and weren’t disappointed. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Fantasmic show though so…another reason to return! 

Slinky Dog Dash – I was surprised that this roller coaster was so fast for the height requirements but no one was complaining with my boys! They LOVED this! The wait for this was always really long no matter the time of day (or night) so I’d recommend getting a Fast Pass for this or riding first thing in the morning/last thing at night.

One thing we found out quickly at Disney Parks – 1. Ice cream melts VERY quickly so avoid anything on a stick and stay to ice cream in a cup, otherwise you’ll have a huge mess and upset children. 2. Take the (metal) water bottles that you can carry around and refill at the numerous water fountains throughout the Parks. With the heat and humidity, everyone will be downing water like nothing else and finding a bottle of drink or pop costs over $8 will quickly add up. 3. Don’t spend $25 on a water spray/fan on the first day and then never take it back into a park.

Florida Trip

We had a fantastic 2 weeks in Orlando during the Easter Holidays. The journey was pretty good with no mishaps apart from middle child spilling his drink on himself before take off. I was reminded again why I pack a change of clothes for each child in our hand luggage. (I will do a post soon on what and how I pack for our trips. A few people have asked me some tips with summer holidays coming up. I definitely don't think I'm any kind of expert but I have a particular way of packing and tips that I've learnt and found most helpful with international trips we've taken with 3 kids over the last 9 years. These are from clothes, times to fly, onboard tips and airlines. )

When we do park holidays like on this trip, we are definitely not the kind of family that are there from opening until closing. We may do a couple of days like that but we find days (and the whole trip) is much more enjoyable when we take our time and have some down time too. Day after day walking around parks is exhausting and takes its toll on everyone! So on most days of this trip, we either arrived earlier in the morning and left mid afternoon or got to the park around 3.30pm and left late evening/closing time.

Our accommodation was also split between a Condo that we rented through AirBNB and a Marriott Vacation Villa which we love every time we stay at one. We used the week that we had busier park days at the Condo (that was less expensive and where we wouldn't be around as much) and the time that we had lazier days and more spare time at the Vacation Villas. 
We also visited each park more than once and with our tickets, were able to book 3 fast passes each day 30 days before our trip so we planned ahead what we wanted
to do and it certainly helped with organising our time at the parks. When it is in the mid 90's and humid, it's not very enjoyable running around like headless chickens and waiting in lines for 200 minutes like some rides!

I am remito nded that when my 2 year old has had a tablet for way too long, I'm leave him because a happy child is a happy parent and happy fellow passengers! My husband always tells me that a long haul flight is NOT the time to get the Mum of the year award!

It's hard work sitting on a plane for 9 hours being fed and having constant entertainment!

 
I think the easiest way to break down the parks is by doing a different post for each park, starting with our Day 1 Park... Hollywood Studios.