We were all up and by the pool in the sunshine relatively early today. It was to be another chilled morning relaxing readying ourselves for our first Jollywood Night party at Hollywood Studios later.
Karen finished her book in-between using the facilities to do some final washing. I finished reading my third book of the trip whilst Neil laid with his headphones on possibly listening to Talk Sport.
The biggest excitement of the morning came when I spied quite a large gator in the Lake that we overlook. It was about 60 feet away and for a while seemed to be watching me watching it. Eventually it glided away to the side and we lost sight of it.
By 3pm we were in the car heading out for a very early dinner to The Cheesecake Factory. We hoped we would be able to secure a table without a wait and although it was still busy that was the case. We all ordered off either the lunch or breakfast menu and still ended up with large plates of food. As had been the plan, both Karen & Neil followed their meals with cheesecakes which looked and tasted fabulous.
It was then time to drive the short distance to Hollywood Studios. We were able to park close enough that we didn’t need to catch the parking tram to the entrance. Even more pleasingly although our tickets didn’t allow entrance until 4pm, along with everyone queuing for the event we were allowed in at 3.30pm.
The park looked so pretty decorated for Christmas. As darkness started to fall it looked even better as all the lights came on. It was also noticeable straight away that the attendees for this Christmas event had a different feel about them than Mickey’s party at Magic Kingdom. There were much fewer children (and their annoying pushchairs) for a start. Some people were wearing their festive pyjamas and many were wearing festive T Shirts and Jumpers. There were though many who had taken the Hollywood theme to heart and were wearing sequins and formal dress. It was quite an eclectic mix.
We headed for Star Wars land to the ‘Rise of the Resistance’. I think I have only ever bothered to queue for this once in the past. The time for this was showing at 20 minutes which is my limit these days and so we went in. Neil was annoyed that there was no pre-show and again by my questioning of who were the goodies and baddies.
There seemed to be a lot of shouting by the cast members at everyone getting onto the ride but I was assured that was because they were in ‘character’. It is an enormous ride and very clever. For a Star Wars officiardo it must be amazing. For me I was just amazed by the sheer size of it and the technology involved.
Continuing the Star Wars theme, we rode Millennium Falcon. This had no queue at all. Our ride caught one ‘thing’ which Neil was not impressed with. It was lovely walking around the land in the dark, in the early evening heat and with what seemed like very few people around us.
After hanging around the Star War land for a while we walked to Star Tours and completed the trilogy of Star Wars rides. There was no queue again for this and they were waiting for us to walk straight on. It was like having the park open just for us.
The Muppet 3D show we walked to just as it was about to start and watched it with just a handful of other people. The star of this is my favourite Fozzie who I still don’t understand why he isn’t brought back and given his own show on Disney +.
Mickeys Runaway Railway was the next ride where we just walked straight to the pre-show. I enjoyed the ride but am still not sure about the new drawing style of Mickey & Minnie and would like to understand the thinking behind it.
Then we headed to the first special show of the evening with proper singers and dancers. Mickey & Minnie also appeared but the real stars were Kermit & Miss Piggy who we got to see perform in the ‘flesh’. I definitely think the world is ready for a modern-day remake of the Muppet Show. The Christmas show itself I felt was performed well but not outstanding.
It was another walk straight through to get immediately into a lift for the Tower of Terror. They just filled the front row and sent us off. The ride was made most memorable for when it ended and the lift door opened again, the cast member in character that jumped through the door and pounced on Karen asking what she had done with the back two rows. It was quite funny.
At the exit of the ride, we found ourself at the ‘Tip Top Club Twilight Soiree’ where there was a live band playing. They were very good. A couple of dancers were getting the crowd involved and it was a lovely atmosphere. Karen & I got ourselves a cup of tea from the Joffrey’s stall to drink whilst we were watching This turned out to far more complicated than it should have been as the servers obviously weren’t used to requests for hot tea.
We walked round to Rock n Roller Coaster. We were told to walk straight through the pre-show in the studio which was a first ever as the ‘cars’ were waiting. There was no queue at all and we were straight on. This was good as although Karen loves the ride, she always gets nervous waiting. The only disappointment was that I was not keen on the random soundtrack we were allocated. I do think Aerosmith should have recorded a festive track for the season.
Karen & I waited on the wall outside whilst Neil went back and rode again. I swear he was back with us within 5 minutes. This time he got the track ‘Walk this way’ which was much better.
It was then time for the firework show ‘Jingle Bell Jingle Bam’ and we found a good spot, with only had a couple of minutes to wait. We have seen this show before when it was not only performed at party nights. I loved it as you feel you are in the show with fireworks and music all around you. Well done Mr Disney or whoever put it together.
Then we went to Toy Story land and rode Slinky Dog which did have a short queue. I had some American ladies in front of me that made me laugh with their screaming and shouts of ‘Holy F*** – who said this was a children’s ride?’ as we went around. It is a very enjoyable experience.
Then came our last ride of the night in Toy Story Mania which Neil narrowly won. I really do need to read up the ‘hidden’ secrets of this ride to find out how some people many to score many times what any of us manage.
With that we wandered slowly back through the park. We stopped to admire the beautiful tree in the lake and watched the ice skating show on the way out.
I think this is the prettiest decorated park in my opinion and I really enjoyed our time here. It all felt very exclusive and I have always dreamed of being able to literally walk straight onto the rides. It was great not having to fight for position to see things or take photos. A really good end to our park days for this trip.
With that we had an easy drive back to the villa and by the time we were got there it was already tomorrow again. We all went straight to bed (apart from Karen who had to have her usual hot drink whatever time we get home).
