Disney Hollywood Studios 2025

Our final day of the music department trip had us visiting Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. We rode buses to the park and walked right in.

Park entrance

Most of the park is set up like a backlot of a movie studio, with fake neighborhood streets reminiscent of a city.

...that city being Hollywood!

Portal to another area

The big attraction here (for me, at least) is Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. It's a neighborhood that has two main rides and a lot of flavor. The main ride is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It had a long line. When I got on, an older couple was behind me and a large red-shirted family (though their shirts had a "HP" with a lightening bolt underneath, so Harry Potter fans). Another red shirt showed up with a little girl (also in a red shirt) and they hopped in line with the rest of their group. The fellow in the elderly couple made a comment about line-cutting and his wife asked him to be quiet rather forcefully. He responded with, "Is that how we are going to start the day?" She made a rude comment and asked him to shut up. He said he didn't like attitude. She made another biting comment. Then she asked him to shut up again. He said, "Why are you trying to emasculate me?" They had a few more words and then there was silence. After I few minutes, I looked back and saw they were gone. I mentioned it to the dad in the red shirt and he said, "I guess they don't like us." I said, "I don't think they like each other." It was the most awkward part of the trip.

Anyway, back to the ride. There was not "single rider" shortcut here so I had to wait over an hour. Then we were loaded onto a transport to go get rebel/resistance training. The transport was captured by a star destroyer and we were forced into the bay where we were divided up for interrogation. 

Flavor decoration on the line

BB-88 giving some advice

Last bit of flavor before the ride

Interrogation transport

No way to escape the bay

A nifty Tie Fighter

On the way to interrogation

I don't want to spoil all the secrets and fun of the ride. It was amazing and well worth the wait. Back outside at the end I saw another X-Wing.

Let me ride!

The area has lots of shops and places to eat, along with characters for photo ops. The line of the Mandalorian was too long, so I took a picture with some other people in it.

I hope they don't mind!

Further in is the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride, with a life-size Falcon! This ride does have a single-rider line, so I was able to get on in less than ten minutes (which included the long Disney line hidden inside the building). 

You came here in that?

Let me ride!

The ride puts a group of five or six people in the cockpit of the Falcon on a smuggling run. The crew is two pilots, two gunners, and one or two engineers. Since I was single, I was paired up with a group of four and put in the engineer task. All I did was push buttons when lights started flashing. And I pushed a button to shoot the harpoon to grab the contraband. It was a relatively boring job. It looked like the pilots and gunners had more fun. The pilot used the main control panel with its steering mechanism and the levers to go into hyperspace. That looked like more fun. We wound up getting two pieces of contraband and fighting our way through an asteroid field.

Since the line was so short for singles, I went again...and wound up as an engineer again! This run was less successful, with only one bit of contraband snatched. The pilots and gunners were less skillful, so we did not do as much. It was still fun.

Wait, is that a companion cube?

Disappointed I couldn't take the ladder to exit

I walked around outside some more, taking in the amazing Star Wars atmosphere. 

Authentic to the (fake) world of Star Wars

Further in, I discovered a show in progress where a First Order lieutenant was trying to get information out of the crowd about the Resistance. She was unsuccessful. Kylo Renn showed up to make more trouble.

Trying to get troopers to do their job

Bad news when the boss shows up

Walking the streets looking for trouble

I decided to ride the Star Tours attraction (which was here when I visited over twenty years ago). On the way I saw a Coke stand.

I bet they were serving Coke Classic from a long time ago

Star Tours entrance

The ride was very much as I remembered it, a fun motion simulator and story. I was hungry for lunch and near the Muppets section, so I went to the PizzeRizzo.

Finally, a slice of pizza!

Like the other park, I had a voucher for a full meal, so I got a pepperoni and sausage pizza, a caesar salad, a cannoli, and a lemonade. The family in front of me in line had a six-year old boy who, when asked what he wanted to drink, said, "beer!" We all had a laugh at that.

A full meal

After lunch, I went to the Muppet*Vision 3D show across the street. It was a lot of fun.

Exit from the show, not the way to go in!

One of the doors...or is it?

The waiting room/backstage area

The only other priority for me was to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror on the other side of the park. I walked through a lot of interesting areas along the way. 

Grauman's Chinese Theater

Another California-style street?

The tower was set up as an old Hollywood hotel that is now haunted, or at least its elevator is. The ride had a lot more than I was expecting, so I was very satisfied.

Hotel lobby

Advertising dancing

Nearby is the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster which I would have ridden if there was time but the line was too long. A virtual geocache was based in the area, so I gathered some information and claimed the find.

Picture is not a spoiler for the geocache

A picture with the Tower of Terror

The park has a lot of golden statues of famous animated characters. 

The hero we needed on a 85 degree day!

My last attraction was the Mickey and Minnie original animated cartoon which was very entertaining (and in an air-conditioned theater!).

Before the show started

By that point, it was time to rendezvous with the buses out in the parking lot. The only thing I didn't do that I would have liked to is the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. The timing did not work out. I'm sure I will be back again someday!

Walt Disney World 2025

Part of the music department trip to Orlando was a visit to Walt Disney World and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The first day was just at the Magic Kingdom. From the parking lot, visitors need to take either the monorail or a ferry to the park. I chose the ferry since it was less awkward to put on sun screen (I always try to wait till the last minute).

Disney ferry

At the iconic spot

I made a beeline for the Tron Lightcycle/Run attraction, one of the newest rides in the park. The line was an 80-minute wait but well worth it for an exciting ride that feels like a more elaborate Space Mountain. It's fast and fun, riding on a light cycle with some indoor racing of other teams.

Tron entrance

Riders on the outdoor bit of the track

Cycles waiting for riders

Since Space Mountain was not far away, I road that as well. Interestingly enough, one of the chaperones and his daughter were in line about five to ten minutes behind me on the Tron ride. Then they showed up on the Space Mountain ride line!

On the line to the coaster

Others riding

A bit of Martian tourism

Space Mountain is not as exciting as Tron but they both have an indoor, in the dark experience that is exciting. Space Mountain is still a lot of fun.

Next, I headed over to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which had another long line. I lost my stalkers there, which was probably good. The line winds around outside, featuring some gem carts and other entertainment. When I was inside, almost at the front, they made the dreaded announcement: "The ride is temporarily closed. We invite you to wait in line if you want or to ask an attendant how to leave the line." As always, they made no promises on how soon the ride would be back on. I stuck it out and they were running again in fifteen minutes, so not too bad. Definitely worth not getting out of line to get back in another hour-plus queue.

Entrance to the mine

The dwarfs' house at the end of the ride

My next ride was the Haunted Mansion, a classic that I enjoy every time I visit. The walk was not too far, passing the famous It's a Small World ride (a classic that I don't enjoy every time I visit).

Walking through Fantasyland

The Haunted Mansion gift shop

The Haunted Mansion and the hearse

The best of five photos I took while on the ride

The mansion is part of the Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square neighborhood. They have a riverboat that visitors can ride but it did not look like it had chairs, so I did not choose to ride it. 

Looks relaxing

I went to Columbia Harbour House for lunch since I had a trip voucher for a meal. The deal was good--an entree with drink and dessert. I ordered shrimp skewers with rice and green beans, lemonade, and Boston Cream Pie (which was actually a cup but still delicious).

Ordering at the Harbour

A delightful meal that actually seemed healthy!

Once done, I decided to ride a gentler ride while I digested. I walked over to Adventureland and rode the classic Pirates of the Caribbean. It's fun with some updates (Jack Sparrow has been added in!).

Pirates of the Caribbean entrance

Much easier to get an in-ride picture

It was time for the afternoon check-in for students and chaperones, so I headed over to the Walt and Mickey statue by Cinderella's castle. A parade was going on, so I got some pictures of amazing floats.

Mechanical dragon

A nice assortment

Minnie and Mickey

The castle by itself

A virtual geocache has visitors take a picture from a certain spot, so I wandered over to get credit.

Proof I was there

My next ride objective was the new Tiana's Bayou Adventure. I had to go back through Liberty Square to Frontierland for the ride.

Copy of the famous bell

Tiana's Bayou Adventure

The ride is a re-theming of Splash Mountain, with the same basic course but all-new decorations. I was in the front seat all by myself, which means I took all the splashes from the front, left, and right.

Me, soaked

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for repairs. I could see new track being craned in!

Flying train track!

Being soaked, I went on the Jungle Cruise ride, figuring I could not get any wetter. It was fun, full of all sorts of bad puns and other horrible jokes that I enjoyed. After that, I decided to ride Tron again, making me walk past the castle again.

Now a pick with Walt and Mickey

Going back to Tomorrowland

Since the show was starting in two minutes, I ducked into the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor for their show. All the monsters are animated but they also interact with the crowd, an amazing feat. It was enjoyable and a chance to be out of the sun for a bit.

Turning laughter into power!

The Tron ride was as excellent as before. After that, I decided to have a lighter dinner since I felt like I was eating a lot more than usual. I tried the black garlic, truffle, and parmesan fries at Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. They were unsatisfactory, unfortunately.

Fries and a lemonade

At least there was a show!

I walked out and saw the Tea Cup ride which I did not try. I was bushed so I headed back to Main Street for the evening fireworks and the meet-up to go back to the hotel.

Tea cup ride

Castle lit up at night

Main Street lit up

The combo shot

We had a little trouble with the meet-up because the Mickey Rose Garden was roped off on one side by Disney Security which did not allow anyone inside. The other side was not roped off and the security was letting people in. We worked things out.

Back at the hotel, I took a snap of the nighttime view from my room.

A bit of the Universal resort