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Florida 2022 Recap – Day 7 – Hollywood Studios with Grandma and Grandpa

It was Hollywood Studios Day!  This was probably my most frustrating day using the new Genie+.
We woke up and got around and I jumped on my phone to grab what I could over on the app.  We knew we wanted Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog, Smuggler’s Run and Tower of Terror (my in-laws number one choice while visiting HS was Tower of Terror).  Knowing what I now know I would’ve done soooo many things differently.
We introduced the kids to Star Wars a couple of months before heading to HS.  We wanted them to understand the rides, especially considering the new Galaxy’s Edge!  I was told that if we made it to the seventh movie then the kids would know pretty much all the characters.  I had only ever seen movies, 4, 5 and 6, so it was mostly all new to me, too.  We loved snuggling at night/naptime and watching Star Wars – so fun!
Eliza requested Rey’s dress and I found a cute Chewbacca shirt for Henry from Taylor Joelle…

Eliza’s hair took me literally seconds to put up – thank goodness!  It turned out so cute!

As for our rides, this particular morning began with me grabbing attempting to grab an ILL for RoR – but the app just…stopped.  It.just.stopped.working.  It was a thirty seconds of a Disney nightmare!  I can laugh about it now, but believe me, I wasn’t laughing about it then.  Eek.
I grabbed Jon’s phone in a panic…nothing.
I managed to grab a LL for Smuggler’s Run but not until the afternoon.
Slinky Dog was gone for the day at this point…not even a minute after 7:00 a.m.
I spent our entire commute to HS refreshing the app.  Several times I’d find ILLs for RoR, but then poof…they’d be taken.
We were Rope Dropping, so we made the decision to “fast walk” back to RoR.  All while in route I was refreshing my app.  Talk about frustrating.  I just didn’t know what to expect.  We got in line for RoR and the line was moving along swimmingly.  As we were deep in the line, I managed to finally grab a spot for Rise of Resistance for later in the evening.  At this point we could have hopped out of line to get in line over at Slinky Dog or head over to Tower or Terror.  I wasn’t sure what to do.  Then after giving it some thought, I said aloud, “Hey everyone!  Who wants to ride this again tonight?”  It would cost us $90.00 to ride again and the fact that I already paid meant that it was a done deal.  Everyone agreed that we stay in line and ride again rather than jumping out of line for another ride.
Anyhoo, I’m so happy we did exactly that, because Slinky Dog ended up being out of commission for the entire morning!
We walked through the entire line of RoR and were on in a matter of minutes.  Not long after, the wait time climbed to over 2 1/2 hours.

I gotta say – that was one AMAZING RIDE!
We made sure to take advantage of our Memory Maker…
We quickly walked though Galaxy’s Edge in order to get to Toy Story Land.  I wish we would have spent more time exploring Galaxy’s Edge…  It was really, really cool!
We had to get in the 40 minute Standby line for Toy Story Mania due to my still not being able to Genie+ anything.
The line moved quickly though and the kids were entertained.  It ended up being closer to 30/35 minutes of wait time.  Not terrible.
My FIL thought it’d be funny if the kids pretended to be the ones drawing these pictures on the wall…
Next up, we HAD to take Jane to the Frozen Sing-Along!  I’m not going to lie, I loved the storytellers.  I loved their energy and their jokes were pretty dang funny.
At one point all three kids were singing along, too!
This is also where the boy next to me dropped his Magic Band as he was leaving.  I couldn’t pick it up fast enough in order to hand it over to his mom!
We found a shaded spot and ate lunch that we had brought in with us and met Chip and Dale while on the way!
Beauty and the Beast is ALWAYS a must for me.  ALWAYS!
I still couldn’t get anything on Genie+.  It was frustrating to say the least.  We swallowed our pride and got in the 90 MINUTE Standby line for Tower of Terror.  Another mom and I shared our frustration over Genie+ for the duration of the 90 minute wait.  Hahaha!  She was my line buddy!
Goofy came to visit us while in line…
Jane was a hot mess…
As we stepped up to get on the ride, Jane was measured.  It was a 40 inch height restriction, just like the majority of the other rides with height restrictions.
A cast member literally took a piece of paper and slipped it between her head and the height post – no good.  She couldn’t ride.
I was reaaaally frustrated at first, but then I thought to myself, “these are the rules, she’s not tall enough and maybe this is truly the best for her safety.”  I also reminded myself that George and Terri had been looking forward to this ride and I didn’t want to mess up their excitement with my frustration.
I swiftly picked up Jane and told everyone to have a great time and we sat and waited for them to get off the ride.  Waiting that entire time to only be turned away was a hard pill to swallow.  Most other rides they measured at the start of the Standby lines, but that didn’t exist until the very end for Tower of Terror AND she had been on every other 40 inch height restricted ride there was.  Now, I could have done the Rider Switch option, but we had to be across the park for our one and only LL, Smuggler’s Run 20 minutes later, so I gave up the opportunity.  
I took a deep breath and we carried on!
Jon, the kids and the in-laws had a great time and that mattered more to me…
We had made it over to Smuggler’s Run and the scenery was literally out of this world cool!
Henry rode with Grandma and Grandpa and Jon, Eliza, Jane and I rode together.  It was really fun!
Jane cracked me up as she just pressed a bunch of random buttons.  Haha!
Somehow it was time to check in over at 50’s Prime Time Diner.  My MIL saw this place the last time they went to Disney with us and I think she wanted to eat inside so very badly back in 2018, so I made sure to get reservations for Prime Time for this time around.  She was thrilled to be inside – it was nostalgic to her.
Jon and I ordered some yummy drinks.  It was much needed for me, as poor Jane was once again pooped out of her mind.  Girly was sooo tired.

Two happy in-laws right here…
Here’s a picture of my most favorite appetizer that I had on the entire trip.  It was Fried Herb and Garlic Cheese with a Raspberry Sauce and fresh fruit – it doesn’t look like much, but believe me, it was INCREDIBLE!
Some desserts…

Terri absolutely loooooooved this!

Next up, we finally used our ILL for RoR.  We had originally walked over before dinner, but the ride had broken down.  I actually breathed a sigh of relief.  Our timing was getting tight before dinner, so knowing we could come back afterwards ended up working out perfectly!
Even with a super long Standby line, we were basically the only ones on the entire ride – so weird, but so amazing!!!!!  Look how empty!

We didn’t regret AT ALL riding RoR twice.  I was sad that we never got on Slinky Dog OR Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but we’ll just have to go back again.  😉  Hopefully by then Genie+ will be working a little better at HS.  Heck, hopefully it’s working better now!
At some point in the day, Grandma and Grandpa bought the kids lightsabers and Jane a baby Yoda.  We were walking by a Photo Pass photographer and decided to get in line.  They took lots of time with us, it was incredible.  This Cast Member, John, was all about having fun with Henry and his new lightsaber!  Henry is still talking about these moments and asks to see these pictures frequently!  John had a Scottish accent and he made sure to let us know his favorite character was Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He was all about it!

I mean, this is AWESOME!!!
These family pictures turned out great, too!

At one point we decided that we were all completely exhausted, BUT we wanted to head back to the Grand Floridian to have a drink at the Enchanted Rose before George and Terri headed back to Michigan the next morning.
Jane was miraculously still awake and I finally gave in and gave her technology after not partaking in any since the start of the trip!
Henry and Eliza passed out.  We sat for a just a bit and I let the kids rest.  I finished up my adult beverage and then I woke up the kids and we gave hugs to Jon and Grandma and Grandpa and the kids and I headed back to our room.
The kids somehow woke up enough to shower and then off to bed they went.  I was showered and in bed by the time Jon came back to the room.
I love those little faces (Jane’s face, too – girlfriend is just the Energizer Bunny)!
Our next day, and last day, was Epcot.
I was really looking forward to visiting Epcot!
Stay tuned for our last day of our Disney 2022 trip!
Marie 🙂

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2 Comments

  1. Oh girl, I'm soooo nervous about Genie+ for HS!! B and I have been discussing strategies and all we can do is pray that it all works out! I cannot believe y'all had to wait in that long line for ToT only to be turned away at the last minute. You are such a good person for staying calm. I would have been soooo mad. Haha. Your posts have come at just the perfect time because this has all been soooo helpful!

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