Day 19: Epcot & Hollywood Studios

Summary: parked at Hollywood, got the Skyliner to Epcot to do Guardians and then got the Skyliner back to do Hollywood for the rest of the day. Skyliner broke down like a cheap ScotRail train to Queen St and had to get a boat back to Hollywood so we lost a few hours. All the Star Wars rides again and the Beauty & The Beast Show as well as the Aerosmith coaster that we tried for the first ever time, then finally grabbed some fish tacos for dinner before we headed home to pack.

Early start today, we got Guardians at Epcot which we’ll do first then spend the rest of the day at Hollywood Studios for the final time in both parks.

En route, Siobhan had us stop half a mile from Hollywood, in the middle of a random road, even though she taken us there multiple times. Just so random! Oh Siobhan.

The most magical flight on earth

So we parked at Hollywood but only popped into the park for 5 minutes so we could get a return time for Rise of the Resistance. I left my camera bag in the car so it was good not to go through bag search for once! The plan was to get the Skyliner over to Epcot, do Guardians then get the Skyliner back to spend the rest of the day in Hollywood to finish off Galaxy’s Edge and any other rides we want to do.

The Skyliner is great, really smooth, transferring you to different hotels and parks and lets you see just how big the land owned by Disney is. So the Skyliner after a little transfer takes you into the back of Epcot World Showcase right at the France Pavilion l. We didn’t ride the Ratatouille Adventure but we did check just on the off chance they had any shoulder Remy’s and they did! Patrick was happy but conveniently left his wallet in the room (not the first time thats happened I may add) so the bank of mum and dad were at the rescue again.

On the route from France to Guardians we pass through Canada and you can’t go to Canada without getting Maple popcorn! I swear it gets eaten faster and faster eat time! Now me and Robert have been telling ~~terrible~~ great improvised dad jokes all holiday and one that I’ve told a more than once in Canada mimics our Siobhan when she tells us to go left or right. She’ll use bear left or bear right so this is a great opportunity to warn them about these bears when we pass them. Right? 😛

Had 30 mins to go until our call for Guardians but wait times for rides were a little more than that so we just stopped for a Starbucks to pass the time and fuel up. And I opted for a tea :shocked pikachu face: - yes me, Gerard Gaffney did not order coffee at Starbucks - I mean it was an energy drink with tea in it but I think I’ve now lost my membership to the secret coffee club now.

We’re the Guardians of the frickin’ Galaxy!

And then Guardians for the absolute last time. Disco Inferno again but I can live with that. I went on with Ann for the first time too. Just an amazing ride already looking forward to the next time I ride this in a few years time 😉

Not the most magical flight on earth

Skyliner back to Hollywood and we have Rise of the Resistance ready to board. And then disaster, the Skyliner stopped operating while we were making our way back to Hollywood. We weren’t trapped in a gondola which was good but after a while of no movement one of the cast members suggested we could wait and get a bus or go back to Epcot and take the boat to Hollywood. Not wanting to wait any more so we headed back to Epcot (for the final final time) to get the boat. Got the Friendship boat to Hollywood and it was a pleasant journey we but the delay set us back a few hours of time in the park which was unfortunate.

So after entering Hollywood Studios (this time with my camera bag which I had to have checked) we headed straight to Rise of the Resistance. Ok so we’ve done this a few times but like some of the other top rides, doing them over and over again isn’t really a bad thing. We were the only ones in the carriage on the Star Destroyer this time which was first time that had happened and even though we’ve been on this several times now there’s loads of detail so you see something new every time. Like today I seen the walkway Obi Wan used in A New Hope to shut down the tractor beam and BB-8 in Poe’s X-wing outside the transport.

And you cant do Rise without doing Smuggler’s Run (just because they’re in the same area really but also Star Wars - pew pew pew). Me and Ann went gunners, the boys were the pilots and Grace went the engineer which is the only role she hadn’t done before. She got 100%, the boys kept us in the air and Ann shot down more Tie Fighters than me (I mean I was filming everything at the time so that’s probably the reason right?). We got another high score of 7949 too whilst collecting two canisters again. Definitely getting better and ae’ll be able to make the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs in no time! 😛

Cookie and a show

A quick lunch after that and the star of the show was the Wookie Cookie which Grace wanted to try and was on our snack shortlist. If Chewie was a cookie, this would be it, it was big!

The last showing of Beauty & The Beast was soon after we bought lunch so we had to eat it on the go to get across to the other side of the park. We made it with a few minutes to spare and the kids polished off the cookie before the show started. Really good show, just like we remembered though having people come in to the show after it starts and sit right in front of you isn’t the best.

- Gerry: 7
- Ann: 7
- Patrick: 7.5
- Robert: 7
- Grace: 7

I don’t want to miss a thing

Now on to one that has been here for a long time but none of us have ever been on - Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. It was down the last two times we’d been here and has been down for the last few weeks too but it finished its refurb early and was opened back up this week, so we had to try it! Ann was a little apprehensive but we all went on it and it’s a nice coaster, similar to the Mummy but a wee bit faster and has some great theming. Robert got some branded drumsticks and a few plectrums in the Rock n Roller gift shop and I’m hoping those drum sticks are not a sign of things to come!

- Gerry: 8
- Ann: 4
- Patrick: 8
- Robert: 8
- Grace: 8

Another trip on Star Tours after that, Vader tried to stop us with a no show from Boba Fett this time. We jumped to Hoth for the first scenario which was my favourite one, love flying underneath the big At-Ats. Then received a transmission from Admiral Akbar before jumping again and fighting amongst the space whales with Ahsoka.

And for our final ride it had to be Rise one final time. Again seen some stuff we had seen before though at this point we’re pretty well versed and can hit the timings for each part of the ride on cue so we’re first into most of the lines throughout. Rise is also the ride we have now been on the most times this holiday but will provide a full rundown on Sunday.

And that was it, Hollywood was done! We headed to Bahama Breeze for dinner which was one on the shortlist and is Jamaican/Caribbean cuisine - lots of fish dishes and for me, not one but two types of fish tacos on the menu! Food was great, it was really busy though. Wee trip to Walmart to stock up on some supplies to bring home on Sunday and then back to the hotel to pack more cases. One full day left tomorrow and the plan is Magic Kingdom and a trip to Disney Springs on the cards.

Todays Stats

- Step Count: 18.2k
- Starred Rides: G.uardians, Rise, Smugglers
- Total steps: 328.4k
- Total miles: 142.6 miles