Day three at Disney World was scheduled for Hollywood Studios. I do actually mean scheduled. Post Covid, Disney parks require you to indicate which days you are attending. I'm not actually sure what happens if you don't. Hollywood studios entrance had changed a bit since were there last so the big sign where we usually get our picture taken was replaced with a new overhead tramway. Luckily as we entered the gate there was a guy with a sign that said 'This is the way'. Not sure what we would have done if he hadn't been there.
It was a very cold morning so not easy to decide what to wear. 8 degrees in the morning and a high of 20. I decided shorts were the right call. Callie was flagged at the entrance once again and we arrived just after they fully opened so we didn't have to wait behind the ropes. Today's first ride was Rise of the Resistance. This remains my favourite ride. I'm not even sure where the line ends and the ride starts. At some point you get loaded on to a transport carrier which takes you to the actual ride where you are moved through some very realistic scenes and eventually 'docked' for a Star Tours like 4D ride.
Galaxy's Edge is virtually identical to Disneyland. Everything from the layout to the rides and shopping areas. Hollywood studios used to be a bit of a dud when it came to rides but since they added Galaxy's Edge as well as Toy Story Land there is quite a lot to see and do. Since we were only going to be here for a single day we had decided last minute to get the Genie Pass. This confirms my suspicions about Disney's greediness. No apparent restrictions on Genie Passes. I had expected the passes to be sold out. Instead we forked over more money for a faster experience.
Even with the Genie Pass you have to be smart about what you sign up for. Early on you can sign up for anything but as they morning goes on, the time to the next available time slot gets farther out. If you were to show up late you might not get to use it at all. If you sign up for something at 7:30pm it means you get nothing else until that time slot. We chose volume and tried to select rides we wanted that were relatively soon. I think we got 5 fast lanes in while Disney says 2-3 is average. By noon we had done Smugglers Run, Mickey's Runaway Train, Star Tours and Toy Story where I once again had the family high score.
I try not to buy too much in the way of merchandise as it is both expensive and you can quickly run out of space in your luggage. I couldn't resist however getting a 'Droid Builders' hoodie. Hopefully in the next 2-3 years I will have earned it and finished building my first droid. Since I'm working on an R2D2 any of the R-Series droids were of special interest to me. They are everywhere in Galaxy's edge including on the cars on Rise of the Resistance. They share a common body and leg format with a number of different heads and various colour patterns. Many of the ones here are just shells.
By this time the access to Genie Pass was pretty much done so Kerry and the kids went over to the Slinky Dog Train to stand in line. It ended up being almost two hours fir them. It's a crazy roller coaster so I sat this one out and wandered around looking for a treat. Unlike Disneyland, Disney World is much harder when it comes to finding sweets. Instead of a sweet shop on Main Street each restaurant has one or two options so I had to wander around until I found something I liked which turned out to be a very good mint cheese cake at the ABC Commissary.
We finished the day up with the Alien Swirling Saucers and had a bit of time left despite having done everything we wanted to do. We treated the aerial tramway as a final ride and took it over to Disney Springs where we had dinner and went to the Coke store. They were very tricky with the area where you can get your picture with the coke bear. It was lit with blue light and they had a flash so your pictures sucked forcing you to consider there's. Callie was tricky though and snuck pictures of the samples as the sales person was showing us our options.
We tried out the coke sampler flight which includes samples of coke products from around the world. Some country out there thinks coke that tastes like ground up cactus is a good idea. We had a new favourite terrible favour though as some other country figures their coke should taste like BBQ sauce. We finished the day with churros and waffle sundaes and they headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. Good thing our hotel is redoing the pool next year because I hope they redo the hot tub. It's off in an adults only area and is a very small circle. Too many drunk adults staring at me for my liking.
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