The Force is Strong in Disney's Hollywood Studios

The force has awakened at Disney's Hollywood Studios with all things Star Wars...as a huge Star Wars fanatic I couldn't help but completely geek out while enjoying everything that Disney has recently added to Hollywood Studios. We only had a short visit this time and made seeing all the new offerings our priority and we loved every minute! 

Our first stop was the new Star Wars Launch Bay (formerly the animation building). As you enter there is a line to a theatre on the left which you can go into and watch a short video with interviews from directors, writers and producers who have been involved with bringing the movies to life. Once you exit you will come out into the Launch Bay where you will find rooms of movie props and memorabilia. If you don't want to watch the movie you are able to go to the right and skip the video. Other areas in the Launch Bay are a game centre where you can try out the latest and upcoming games. And a "Cantina"area where we found Jawa's looking to trade items with you (if you bring items to trade they will trade small trinkets with you). 



The Launch Bay is also where you will find some character meet and greets with some of your favourite Star Wars characters. Currently you can choose to step into the Dark side and meet Kylo Ren on the bridge of his Star Destroyer as he attempts to persuade you to join the dark side. The experiences are very intimate because the way the line works you do not actually see the character until it is your turn which is great! 

You can also choose the light side (don't worry you can do both) and meet Chewbacca in a hidden rebel base where he will interact with you and respond to what you say in his famous Wookie growl. We had so much fun at this interaction! I was wearing a Darth Vader dress and he was not a fan! He ketp pointing at my dress and crossing his arms and making sad or scared Wookie groans. I love how in character they were, they truly bring them to life! 

Outside the Launch Bay the experience doesn't end, as all day long there are two First Order Stormtroopers patrolling the area interacting with park guests outside of the building. This was probably one of my favorite touches to the Launch Bay area! 

Periodically throughout the day (generally every hour until 4pm) Captain Phasma will come out with an army of Stormtroopers for Captain Phasma's First Order Stormtrooper March. She will lead the march from the Launch Bay to the stage in front of the Chinese Theatre. She will then go on stage and announce that she is there under the order of General Hux before heading down to the Stormtroopers who have lined up in front of the stage to give them commands. They will then March back to the Launch Bay. 


The stage in front of the Chinese Theatre is also the location for the current stage show Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away which takes place several times throughout the day. The show plays out iconic moments from the movies on screens as well as all of your favourite characters each taking the stage. 



Closing out the day is the current Star Wars fireworks display Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular. Being major Star Wars fans we decided to get the full experience with the Symphony in the Stars fireworks dessert party. We thought this was a great experience! We found our own table and various dessert and beverage stations were setup with Star Wars themed desserts and beverages. Also included is alcoholic beverages, we tried two out of the 4 choices. My favourite was the "Jakku Juicy Cocktail (Green Apple Lemonade with Citrus Vodka). The other drink we tried was "The Force"(Pomegranate Lemonade with Jim Beam Bourbon), this one I really didn't prefer(not a bourbon drinker). 


The presentation and atmosphere for the dessert party was fantastic! I am more of a picky eater so my favourite treats were the Mickey Ice Cream bars and Darth Vader chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter frosting. My husband really enjoyed the other desserts, and the options were plentiful and included: Darth Maul Eclairs, BB8 Lemon Cakes, Fruit Sabers, etc! Also included in the party was a souvenir Chewbacca drink stein! If you are a Star Wars fanatic like us and love desserts I would highly recommend the dessert party! 


Once we had filled ourselves up it was time for the fireworks to start! The fireworks display was absolutely incredible! We went back another night to watch them again because we loved them so much! The show is about 8 minutes long and is a fireworks display synchronised with Star Wars music and voice clips. This would be up there with my favourite fireworks displays in Disney, and the show is only going to get better! In the upcoming months the fireworks are going to be enhanced to include lightsaber battles in the sky with lasers, light projections, fire as well as other special effects! I'm pretty excited to see the new show when we return in October!! 



As you can see there is lots and lots of Star Wars at Hollywood Studios! All of these additions have been to hold everyone over until the new land is built. There is no confirmed date for when this should be opening (I would expect at least 2019-2020). Disney recently announced this expansion and released the below concept art which looks amazing! The land is expected to be very immersive and will include two new attractions, including a simulator inside the Millennium Falcon!! There will also be themed restaurants and a market with various shops.

Trip Report Pt. 2: Disney on New Year's Eve

One of the advantages of spending Christmas at Disney World is how easy it is to also include spending New Year's Eve there! We actually had originally planned to go down for just New Years, but that quickly changed to include Christmas since they are so close together. Last year I spent New Year's Eve in Times Square with a couple million people and was not able to leave my spot or use the washroom for 11 hours, so I figured if I can do that no problem then Disney will be a breeze! 

 New Year's Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at Disney World since it is one of the top places people visit on New Year's. As far as crowds go I found it much more crowded than even Christmas Day was. The park generally reaches capacity by 11am just like on Christmas Day. So once again staying onsite avoided the traffic getting into the Magic Kingdom parking lot. While there were a lot of people in the park, I still found we had no issues maneuvering from place to place.  But there were still a lot of people there and lines for everything were very very long; even for the restrooms (more so the women's). So once again our plan was simple. Go expecting the worst and only doing the attractions we had reserved with fastpass+!!

We arrived at the park around 9am. Since it was a bit chilly we had brought a bag with a sweater and some layers of clothing. We rented a locker for the day so that we didn't have to carry it around. This ended up being a very smart plan because we stopped by the locker a few times and the layers of clothing were needed later on in the day and evening. Since it was our last night we also couldn't ship any purchases made that day back to our resort so it was also very useful having the locker. This way we didn't have to carry those around with us or have them shipped to the front of the park; which avoided the long line at the end of the night picking them up. So this came in very handy. 

 

 Just like we had done on Christmas Day we first went to Starbucks on Main Street for some breakfast. There was of course a long line which was not a problem and it moved pretty quickly. The remainder of the day was spent just walking around, taking some pictures and sitting and watching some of the castle shows from beside the castle. We also killed some time in the afternoon playing Magic Kingdom's Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom game. This is an interactive card game that takes place around the park. I love collecting the cards you get at the fire station (one pack per day). I have played the game a couple of times previously on Main Street and Adventure land, so this time we chose to play in Fantasyland just behind the castle. Basically the game has a storyline where some Disney villains are working for Hades and you need to defeat each villain. Throughout the park there are "magic portals" that will display when you tap the key card you are given at the key hole. Once you complete each one it will show you which location to go to next. They are hidden well and most people walking around wouldn't even notice them until some has interacted with one. Usually they are located in various windows or on certain walls. At the portals you can use your spell cards to defeat the villains. It is actually pretty fun. We don't often get a chance to play the game but we had nothing but time. 

For dinner I had made us reservations at Tony's Town Square. Luckily I had because any walk-ins were being told they were full for the entire evening. Tony's is one of our favorite Disney restaurants as it is a special place for us (it is where my husband took me here for dinner the night he proposed), so we go back here quite frequently. This restaurant is based off of the restaurant in Lady in the Tramp where they have their famous spaghetti seen in the alley. This is meant to be the inside of that restaurant, and I just love the theming! Around the restaurant there are plenty of tributes to the movie including a fountain in the center of Lady and Tramp. There is also some artwork based on the movie around the restaurant as well as little touches like red checkered table clothes. My favorite detail is in the back right corner of the restaurant where it looks like there is a window and you can see the silhouette of Lady and Tramp sitting at their table in the back alley eating their spaghetti. Our waiter was fantastic and the food was as good as we remember. We got lucky and had a table in the front sunroom dining room area behind the patio, so we were able to watch the nighttime Main Street Electrical Parade out the window from our table. All in all we had a very nice meal and the server was fantastic! 

After we finished dinner we made our way up to the central hub to watch the Holiday Wishes fireworks for 7:30. Once they were over we noticed that everyone seemed to be staying where they were in order to have a spot for the New Year's Eve fireworks that start 10 minutes before midnight. We had a perfect spot in front of the castle which was also at the edge of a walkway the cast members had made in the middle of the street for people who need to get through so there was no one standing directly in front of me to block the view (seeing as I am quite short this is easily done).  We didn't have any other plans for the evening so this just gave us time to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. 

One great thing is that there is pretty much constant entertainment to keep you occupied. Just about every 30 minutes there would be something happening on the stage in front of the castle. We got to again watch the Frozen Holiday Wish castle lighting, Celebrate the Season Castle Stage Show and the Celebrate the Magic Castle projection show. Around 10pm or so there was a DJ that came out on the stage and basically the hub was a dance party to occupy everyone for the remainder of the evening until the fireworks. The atmosphere was great for New Year's Eve and everyone had special hats and blowers which had been handed out in the park for free in the afternoon. So we were ready for midnight!

If you ever spend New Year's Eve in Magic Kingdom and get your spot early for the fireworks (which I recommend), one thing I learned is be careful when leaving temporarily! I had decided after a couple of hours of waiting I was going to quickly go use the restroom. My husband stayed in our spot and just stretched out and took up the space I would have also occupied. This was not an easy task and I ended up needing to go through a walkway area in the backstage area behind Main Street that had been opened up to use the restrooms at the front of the park. This wasn't a big deal…however, when I finally got back up to the area that leads to the hub I was redirected around the side and on the other side of the bridges to Adventure Land and Liberty Square. When I reached the second bridge they were not allowing anyone else to go into the central hub!!  I spoke with a cast member and tried explaining to him that I had been in there for the past few hours and my husband was still in there. He would not let me through. I may have had a bit of a panic attack at this point. When I had left I had mentioned to the cast members there I was trying to get to the restroom and no one told me I wouldn't be able to get back in and I have never seen this happen in Disney so I just didn't know. Luckily when I went back to the Adventure Land Bridge and spoke to another cast member and explained what had happened she let me through. But I was very lucky because they are not supposed to. Overall, it took me about 45 minutes from the time I left until the time I got back to our spot. I completely understand the reason behind it. The hub was full and due to capacity they couldn't let any more people through due to safety reasons. So lesson learned and I did not leave the hub for the rest of the night! 

The evening waiting flew by and before we knew it the Fantasy in the Sky New Year's Eve fireworks show was starting at 11:50pm! I have to say this fireworks show is absolutely spectacular! It is completely worth dealing with the crowds. The fireworks are shot off over the castle as well as outside of the park over the lake in front of Magic Kingdom. So we had fireworks behind the castle and if we turned around they were also in the sky behind us. As with every Disney fireworks display it is choreographed to music. Then when it is time for the countdown to midnight this is even done in fireworks that form the actual numbers in the sky! Once midnight hits there is basically an explosion of fireworks for the remaining couple of minutes with fireworks literally surrounding the park in a 360 degree intense fireworks display! This fireworks display is absolutely amazing! In my opinion this is Disney's best fireworks show (at least that I have seen, and there are only a few which I have not). 

So overall we had an amazing time! I would consider this my best New Year's Eve so far (very closely followed by NYC). I definitely plan to spend New Year's in Disney again. Fantasy in the Sky alone makes me want to do it all over again! I would like to eventually experience each park on New Year's Eve and also do Magic Kingdom again. Disney is without question one of the best places to be for New Year's Eve and as long as you plan for it and you have the right attitude you can have a lot of fun regardless of the crowds. 

Trip Report: Disney World on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend Christmas at Disney World? This is something I have always wanted to experience. We have gone during the Christmas season a couple of times in previous years and always thought the decorations were beautiful. But high up on my Disney bucket list has always been to actually experience Christmas Day in Magic Kingdom. And for Christmas 2014 we finally decided to do it! It was something we would always put off as something we will do "someday" because of the cost to go during that time and the crowds. I am not known for letting that "someday" take too long on things I would like to do because "someday "may never come. My goal has been to cross at least one thing off my bucket list each year, for 2014 this was one of the things crossed off! And I am glad that we decided to do this because Disney at Christmastime truly is…well magical!

We decided this trip since we had the extra time available we would drive to Florida. This was something we had never done before, but with flights being about four times the amount we normally pay chose to drive. It is about a 27 hour drive from New Brunswick to Orlando, which we did over two and a half days each way taking turns driving. At times, it did feel long but overall it really was not that bad and went a lot quicker than we thought it would. We weighed the pros and cons before making our final decision and there were a lot of pros. We would save about $2000 by the time you factor in the difference in what we paid for gas and hotels vs. flights and a car rental in Florida, having our car for the entire trip (which came in handy), not needing to worry about any delayed flights (like your normally see over the holidays), no luggage restrictions and we can see the country with a couple of stops along the way. The only con we came up with was the time it takes to drive. So really it was a no brainer for us. 

If you are thinking about going during Christmas week there are a lot of things to consider. Many people assume that because it is Christmas the parks will be slow…This is not the case at all! Christmas and New Year's weeks at Disney World are actually the busiest weeks of the year. Which also means it is also the most expensive time to go. If you are making a first or second trip I would recommend against going during this time because you will be very overwhelmed and may not have a great time. For us, we go at least once a year and this was our 12^th trip so if we didn't get to do something it was not a concern. For someone who has never been to Disney World the planning alone can be stressful and overwhelming even during the slow season. Planning a trip for me now is basically second nature and I already know the ins and outs so going over Christmas was easy for us. 

We stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (one of my favorite resorts) because there really is nothing like staying on site and it just adds that extra convenience. It does cost more to stay on site but Disney offers all different price ranges. Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of their deluxe resorts so it is one of the more expensive, but Disney does also offer more affordable options with their values and even moderates depending on your budget. But you cannot beat the convenience of staying onsite. The parks often reach capacity on Christmas day through a phased closure, the first being to offsite guests. We didn't want to have this worry either so it was worth paying the extra for the peace of mind. 

 On Christmas Eve we wanted to have a nice dinner out like we would at home so we had reservations at Portobello in Downtown Disney.  We had eaten there years ago and really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere; we were not disappointed this time around either. After dinner we spent the remainder of the evening at Hollywood Studios. I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend Christmas Eve!! I made fastpass+ reservations for Rock N Roller coaster and Tower of Terror (my two favorite Disney rides). We spent the remainder of the evening on the streets of America to watch the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We have seen these before on a couple of trips and have always loved them. There are over 5 million lights and approximately every 10 minutes the lights "dance to holiday music. I consider them a must see if you take a trip while they are up as they are phenomenal. Throughout the evening Disney makes it "snow" on the streets of America using snow machines. Christmas Eve with the Christmas lights on display, Christmas music playing and a light snow fall without the cold or snow accumulating was really amazing. 

Christmas morning we needed to get up very early. We had a small tree decorated in our room so that we could still have our Christmas morning opening presents from each other before making our way to the bus stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge to go to Magic Kingdom. After a lot of research I knew that the parks often reach capacity by 11am, so we caught the bus around 8am to make sure we were able to get into the park. The bus took a bit longer than normal as it needed to take an alternate route due to the traffic. After seeing the lineups of cars waiting to get into the Magic Kingdom parking lot I was grateful we stayed onsite!! Traffic was backed up all the way out past the Disney World gates! And the Disney World area is VERY large. We are talking about 6 miles of a 3 lane road so you can only imagine how long it would take to get into just the parking lot and leaving at the end of the night. The bus bypassed all of that and we were dropped off pretty much at the gates to the park! 

When we arrived at the park, it was actually less packed getting in than I had expected. I basically decided to have the expectations that it would be wall to wall people so that I was prepared. There were a lot of people but Disney was very efficient getting everyone through the gates (the new turnstiles/Magic Band system definitely helped). Once into the park we made our way to the Starbucks on Main Street for some breakfast; which had a line that went up Main Street a little ways. Since we had been prepared for crowds and waits this didn't bother us and we weren't in any hurry.

At this point our plan for the day was just to relax and enjoy the sights of the park with no expectation of going on any rides other than the three we booked with our fastpass+ reservations, watch the parade and see the stage shows. This was exactly how we spent our day and we had no disappointments. You will not have a good time trying to do everything on Christmas day in Magic Kingdom or rushing from place to place. This is pretty much how we did things for the entire trip. The attractions we had booked we were able to go on with little to know wait. We saw some people who were stressed or rushing, but I think what made the difference was our mindset going into the park. I wasn't going to allow myself to be bothered by any slow moving people or any crowds. I actually found there were less people than I had expected. I thought we would barely be able to move and this wasn't the case. We were able to very easily maneuver our way around the park and even find places to sit. 

Our sanctuary was the Rose Garden next to the castle; which rarely had more than a couple of people in it. So we spent a lot of our day relaxing on the pathway in there and made our way back whenever we wanted to just sit. This worked out perfect for us since the Rose Garden is also where my husband proposed to me 8 years earlier, so it holds a special place in our hearts and is my favorite place in Magic Kingdom. This gave us the opportunity to call family, take a break and just enjoy our day. 

Around noon we had fastpass+ reservations for the first Christmas parade (it goes through the park twice on Christmas day). I was glad I used one of our fastpass+ spots to ensure we had a good spot, because we ended up right at the front and had a perfect spot front of the castle. This was a huge deal for me, because growing up (as far back as I can remember); my biggest Christmas Day tradition has been (and still is) to watch the Disney Christmas Parade on TV. I can't lie I had tears in my eyes while watching the parade go by. I have seen it before at the Christmas Party in the evening but it was not the same feeling as watching it in person on Christmas Day. I remember being a kid watching it and dreaming of someday going to Disney World. I always loved seeing what new things Disney was planning for the following year! For me this was an amazing experience. The parade shown on TV is prerecorded earlier in December but it was still the same floats I remember seeing every year when it airs! 

For dinner I had booked us reservations for a home-style turkey dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic Kingdoms Liberty Square. We had never eaten here before and we were both very impressed. I am a very picky eater and even I loved the food and the atmosphere was perfect for Christmas Day. The service we received from our server was the same great service we pretty much always receive on site at Disney. It is very important to book as early as possible any dining you want during these two weeks. As soon as the 180 day window opened to be able to book dining I was online making the reservations. At any time of the year I recommend booking as early as possible since the popular places book up quickly, during the holidays this is a must. 

One of the great things about the last two weeks of December, is you will have a lot of the entertainment usually at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (a separate ticketed event) happening in the park each day. Normally the Christmas parade is only seen at the party as well as the Celebrate the Season stage show, which is shown several times each day during at the end of December. I really enjoyed the show. We were able to catch it several times on Christmas Day. Celebrate the Season is in front of the castle and includes Disney characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and so on.  This is something both children and adults would enjoy. 

A Frozen Holiday wish took place twice in the evening. This is a newly added show on the stage in front of the castle with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf. During this show Elsa uses her ice powers to light up the castle and turn it into a beautiful ice palace. This show was absolutely amazing!! We ended up staying for both showings because people found their spots very early so we did not have the best view at the first showing. However, at the second showing we were able to move right to the very front. This just involved some waiting. Seeing Elsa light up the castle is spectacular though so it was worth a little bit of waiting. During the holiday season Cinderella Castle is absolutely stunning lit up so I could stare at it all night. There are 200,000 lights draped over the castle to make it look as though the castle is covered in ice. If you go in November or December you will be able to see the castle lit up like this along with the castle lighting show, as it is not exclusive to Christmas week. And it looks so much more amazing in person than in a picture. In previous years the castle was lit by the Fairy Godmother, but since it looks as though it is covered in ice I personally think it makes more sense for Else to light it!

The finale for the evening is the Holiday Wishes fireworks show. I had made us reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party since I knew it would be busy on Christmas day in the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully I am a huge planner and booked as soon as our reservation window opened, because not only did it sell out quickly but the seating was assigned based on when you booked so we had a perfect table right by the railing with a view of the castle! We had done the dessert party once before and really enjoyed it and we were not disappointed this time around either. The desserts were great and it was a nice way to spend the end of our evening! 

We were able to watch Holiday Wishes without needing to worry about crowds and had a perfect view of the fireworks. This is also normally exclusive to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, but is shown nightly during the last two weeks of December. This differs from regular Wishes and is the holiday edition choreographed to Christmas music. Personally, I still think Hallowishes during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party are far better. But this still is an amazing show that was perfect for Christmas day and to get you into the Christmas spirit. Halloween fireworks somehow would not go with Christmas! Really any fireworks show at Disney is phenomenal!

 Spending Christmas at Disney was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful it is something that we were able to do. Disney over the holidays really is magical and there is nothing like it. I would never have wanted to do this as one of our early trips. Now we are more experienced with Disney so we really enjoyed ourselves and had a very laid back Christmas. I still wouldn't recommend it for an early trip but if you go with the right attitude and are prepared you will have a great time. If you have never gone just be prepared for some VERY LONG lines and long days in the parks in order to fit everything in. But make the most of your fastpass+ reservations so that you get the most out of your trip. I am not sure what it is about Disney over the holidays but it truly is amazing! 

So what is it like to spend Christmas at Disney World? Magical!!