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!