Florida - Hollywood Studios

It was time to make the short trip back to Disney, but this time we decided to stay a few days in a hotel - it would be like a vacation!  When we were there a few years ago, we decided that if we ever went back we'd stay in a Disney resort, rather than off property, to make the trek to the parks much easier.  

We arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which we had explored on our last trip, and parked the truck.  

What we liked about this resort is that you can use the Skyliner to travel to two of the parks, Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

The main reason we wanted to go to Hollywood Studios was the new Star Wars, Rise of the Resistance attraction.  It had just opened a few weeks before we were there before so had no chance to get on the ride so this was a must.  As we were driving I logged on to the Disney app at 7:00 a.m. ON THE DOT to make a reservation (and give Disney more of our money) and the first time I could get was 1:40 p.m.  Seriously?  Okay, we were in!  So the first thing we did after getting inside the park was to walk to the attraction so we'd know where we were going, etc.  AND IT WAS CLOSED!!!  There were soldiers lined up in order to keep guests from getting into line.  We asked them if there was an ETA for it to open and were told no.  However, they did tell us that IF it re-opened we would be able to use our lightning lane pass at any time after our scheduled time.  

So we walked around and took in some of the sights.  The storm troopers must have been roasting in these uniforms.

Woody greeted guests into Toy Land.

We found some shade and watched this guy selling his wares.  It was amazing how many people stopped to buy some bubbles.

Next stop was Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Train.  I swear this was something like Grauman's Theater when we were there before.

Since young kids were eligible to get on the ride, I wasn't too worried.  

Fortunately, I was right and it was a tame ride.  When we came out, I was reminded about my thoughts about Grauman's Theater.  But after further research, I learned that while it was Grauman's Theater, the original ride was called The Great Movie Ride.

We made it on to Millenium Falcon - Smuggler's Run.  The special effects were incredible, even though I'm not much of a Star Wars fan.

And finally, the Rise to Resistance re-opened at about 12:15 so we were good for our 1:40 lightning lane admission.  

Ron waited patiently in line.

And just like that, we were on.  Unfortunately, pictures don't really do it justice.

By then it was time for our pre-arranged lunch/dinner at Mama Melrose's.

We made the reservations so late that we didn't really have a lot of choices but this turned out to be a gem!

Shrimp Campanelle

Mama's Italian Pasta with Chicken

And to top it off......

"Leave the gun, take the canollis"

Who knows what movie that's from????

And then it was back to the resort to get our room key.  We were in Aruba.

There are separate sections of the resort, all named after a Caribbean Island.  And each section had a small pool and a beach area.

Unfortunately, each beach area has it's own set of hazards.

But since we were exhausted (it's much easier to have long days like this when you're a kid), we didn't need to worry about the gators.

In the event you're planning to visit Disney World or Disneyland, the "fast pass" is no longer free.  If you want to use that service, you need to buy a Genie Plus pass which Disney has monetized.  It was about $15 per person, per day and can be used to make a reservation window for attractions.  And for the main attraction in each park (Rise of the Resistance at Holiday Studios), you need to buy an Individual Lightning Lane pass at a variable rate depending on the attraction and date/time.  So, our ride on Rise of the Resistance was another $15 per person.  Always getting in our pockets.  This was a new development since our last visit in late 2019.