Disney Day 1 Hollywood Studios

DisneyWorld's new requirements for reservations seemed doable when we booked this trip. I purchased tickets online, selected my dates, and saw that the parks we wanted to visit were available. I clicked purchase and thought we were good to go. A month later as we stood at the ticket window, the Disney employee told me that we didn't have a reservation. 

Say what? I was shocked. Here we were, standing at the window for Hollywood Studios and the lady says that we don't have park reservations. The confusing part is that if Disney knew that I was coming on this specific date, why didn't I get an email from them that I didn't in fact have a park reservation? To me, this is how Disney needs to improve their system. 

But, apparently the parks also have some leeway with their own capacity at the gate and the kind worker made us reservations and we were allowed to enter. They were also able to make us a reservation for the next day at Animal Kingdom, but the big issue was that our tickets were good for five days and there were no available reservations for the Magic Kingdom. Ugh. We traveled all this way and might miss out on the one park where we were meeting family.

But off to our park adventure! Hollywood Studios was a fun day despite the masks. The most shocking part of the day was how many of the shops were closed. Due to distancing issues, it seems that the small merchandise shops were mostly closed. 

The highlight of the park is the new StarWars land. We hadn't seen the Florida version yet, but it's nearly identical to the California version. The big new feature is the Rise of the Resistance which we haven't ridden in California. The ride is so new that it has a reservation system as well - oh joy. Since we didn't know that it opened at 7am, when the park didn't actually open until 9am, we are late to the party for reservations before 1pm. Luckily there is another window that opens at 1pm and Katie was on the app and ready to get in the virtual queue. 

We were like number 150 or something and amazingly our number was up around 7:30pm just before the park closed. The ride is an awesome mix of simulation with guest experience. You board a ship and are taken hostage. After being taken to another room and "interrogated" someone from the resistance frees you and you join the resistance to battle against the First Order. 

There were plenty of other rides like Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and of course the Toy Story land has a few rides that you can't find in California Adventure. Plenty of fun to be had!

We took plenty of funny photos throughout the day and as it heated up we indulged in some slurpies to cool off. We even got some blue milk to end the day as we walked around and begged to get into the Cantina - that place is always so busy! Something to save for the next trip!

I fretted and worried all day about how we were going to get into the Magic Kingdom and went to bed that night worrying that all of this was for nought. Since we left the park with tummies expecting some food, we ordered online at the Cheesecake Factory, which was two minutes from our hotel, and picked up a delicious dinner. Spaghetti with meatballs was actually a big bland, but the caesar salad and lettuce wraps were a hit, as was the flatbread pizza. Happy stomachs ready for another busy day at the park. Good news on those park tickets to come!