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40. One Day Park Strategies - Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom · Mom Street USA

• 0:00
  Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
• 0:01
  My name is Kate aka Disney Cicerone and with me as always,
• 0:05
  is my lovely cohost Jackie, aka Wishes Mama.
• 0:09
  And tonight we get to talk about.
• 0:11
  We're continuing our series on one day park strategies in the
• 0:15
  Disney park. So if you only have one day in
• 0:17
  each park, what How do you do that?
• 0:20
  What do you prioritize? And we're doing it with Genie
• 0:22
  Plus and without Genie Plus. So depending on your budget and
• 0:25
  what you'd like to spend, we give you some options on how to
• 0:28
  move through your day in the most efficient manner.
• 0:31
  So tonight we're going to talk about this is our last episode
• 0:34
  in this series, and we're going to talk about Hollywood Studios
• 0:38
  and Disney's Animal Kingdom. So where are we headed?
• 0:41
  First, Jackie I. Think we're going to tackle
• 0:44
  Hollywood Studios, which in my opinion ever is one of the
• 0:49
  hardest parks, if not the hardest park of all six that
• 0:54
  we're talking about because we did start over on the West Coast
• 0:57
  and now we're on East Coast. But I think this one may be the
• 1:01
  hardest one to navigate both on both with Genie Plus and
• 1:05
  without. So I'm hoping that we can give
• 1:09
  you some insight and some things to think about on a trip maybe
• 1:12
  that you're planning or you know in the future.
• 1:14
  So I think, yeah, we'll start with Studios and then end it.
• 1:18
  Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom is just so.
• 1:22
  So such a relaxing way to end this series.
• 1:24
  It's going to be a walk in the park.
• 1:25
  I forget the pun, but it would be so much easier than all the
• 1:29
  other ones we've done. Yes, just as a reminder of what
• 1:32
  where we've been already, we did an episode that was on
• 1:35
  Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.
• 1:37
  We did another episode on Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and now we're
• 1:41
  finishing the series with these last two US parks.
• 1:45
  So if you missed any of those other ones, we do Podcast Mom
• 1:47
  St. USA.
• 1:49
  You can listen to that on the podcast or it's also up at
• 1:51
  YouTube Mom St. USA.
• 1:53
  So we need to make sure you go back and check those out,
• 1:56
  especially if you're at Disney World and you need that Magic
• 1:59
  Kingdom and Epcot episode. Yes, absolutely.
• 2:03
  Absolutely. OK, so let's talk about
• 2:05
  Hollywood studios, the very first thing that I always want
• 2:10
  to stress to people about Hollywood studios for.
• 2:14
  All of the parks, This is the one that getting there as early
• 2:18
  as you can is actually really, really, really helpful because
• 2:22
  they tend to, for whatever reason, open the park earlier
• 2:26
  than even the early entry time, just randomly.
• 2:30
  Sometimes up to 1/2 hour earlier than the posted time.
• 2:33
  I've I've seen and experienced and heard of other people
• 2:37
  experiencing. It's it's completely random.
• 2:40
  You don't know if it's going to happen.
• 2:41
  You can hope that it's going to happen, but I would say to get
• 2:44
  there probably an hour earlier than your entry posted time if
• 2:51
  you're able to, to put yourself in the best case scenario
• 2:54
  situation to be able to get the most out of your day, especially
• 2:58
  because you're only doing one day.
• 3:00
  There's a lot of big eticket rides.
• 3:03
  So we have our good friend tour guide Barbie is in the chat and
• 3:06
  she's saying 7:00 AM always for Hollywood studios is the way to
• 3:10
  go. Yeah, so.
• 3:12
  You just you just got to do it and we've we've talked in
• 3:15
  previous episodes about alternating your days so that
• 3:19
  you don't have a bunch of super earlier or super late days
• 3:22
  back-to-back to back. So definitely planning out what
• 3:25
  makes sense, park to park and which days you're going where
• 3:29
  has a lot to do with that. So I would not suggest going to
• 3:33
  Hollywood Studios after being out until you know 11 or
• 3:37
  midnight at a park the night before.
• 3:39
  Definitely want to take that into consideration as well.
• 3:43
  I mean Blake is asking a good question on my side.
• 3:45
  He said What time do buses start running from the resorts?
• 3:50
  What Disney technically says is they run about an hour before
• 3:54
  park open. It can be more, yeah.
• 3:59
  You know, it's it really depends.
• 4:01
  If it's an hour busy, an hour before different when the resort
• 4:06
  guests can get in too. So not necessarily the park
• 4:09
  opening time, but the extra, the extra.
• 4:11
  Magic hours, early magic hours. I can't.
• 4:13
  Early morning morning hours. They know they keep changing it.
• 4:17
  I don't know. The extra time you get in the
• 4:19
  morning, about half hour, like do an hour before that is
• 4:24
  technically when they start running.
• 4:26
  I've seen them start running a little a bit before that and
• 4:29
  there usually is kind of a rush around that time too, so just
• 4:32
  keep that in mind. You might have to wait for one
• 4:35
  or two buses, depending on your resort and how many buses they
• 4:38
  have running. Yes, exactly.
• 4:41
  So again, I would highly suggest arriving early to give yourself
• 4:44
  time for security and be ready for that early, early entry,
• 4:48
  because this is really the only park that doesn't let you tap in
• 4:55
  ahead of time. From my experience, they may
• 4:58
  have shifted that, but Epcot will let you tap in and then
• 5:01
  they will hold you, right? Kind of at Spaceship Earth.
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  Magic Kingdom, we know, lets you tap in when we get to Animal
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  Kingdom, they let you tap in early and just they cue you up
• 5:09
  kind of in that right Plaza area.
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  So this is the only park that I feel like is a true like rope
• 5:16
  drop situation where you can't tap in until time.
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  And that I think has something to do with they don't want
• 5:22
  people congregating out there. They are trying to keep the
• 5:24
  crowds moving and that may determine whether or not they
• 5:27
  open that extra early, early time.
• 5:31
  Again, it it varies from day-to-day and you may you may
• 5:34
  have that happen, you may not. But putting yourself in the best
• 5:38
  circumstances to allow for that extra time can be really, really
• 5:42
  helpful. I have a question from Chris
• 5:46
  saying how early should we get there for doing a Universal
• 5:49
  Studio strip of the single day ticket to Hollywood Studios.
• 5:52
  I'm guessing, Chris, you're asking how long, how much time
• 5:55
  you should take to get from from Universal area over.
• 5:59
  You can maybe clarify that for us.
• 6:02
  Yeah, yeah. That's how.
• 6:03
  That's how I interpret it as well.
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  But as I I honestly have not stayed at Universal and then
• 6:10
  gone to Disney, so I don't know. Haven't either.
• 6:15
  And I I mean, I know what like the map tells you as far as
• 6:18
  drive time, but traffic can be somewhat unpredictable depending
• 6:21
  okay it says yes and without having extra magic hours.
• 6:24
  So if the question is what time you should arrive without extra
• 6:27
  magic hours, we would say. I would say still 45 minutes to
• 6:35
  an hour ahead of time just because they because of the way
• 6:40
  that they cue you up outside. And I believe it's about 30
• 6:45
  minutes of travel. Travel time like via car from
• 6:50
  the Universal resort area to Hollywood studios.
• 6:53
  Yeah. And tour guide Barbie is
• 6:54
  confirming allow 30 minutes to travel to Universal.
• 6:57
  Thank you, Barbie. So it just really depends.
• 7:01
  And the other thing about Hollywood studios is they do
• 7:04
  have some pretty significant fluctuations in their opening
• 7:07
  time. Some days it's 8:00 AM, some
• 7:09
  days it's 830-9930, so you always want to double check that
• 7:13
  as well. It fluctuates a lot more often
• 7:15
  than the other parks do. From what I have seen, they have
• 7:18
  changed it like the night before, too.
• 7:21
  And really surprised by it. Yeah, like that happened to, I
• 7:24
  think, when Kirk and I were meeting up one morning and like,
• 7:28
  Lem got there like an hour before we did.
• 7:30
  And we're like, wait a minute, why are you here so early?
• 7:32
  And he's like, well, if the park's like, opening it this
• 7:34
  time, we're like, Oh my goodness, it changed.
• 7:36
  Like both of us had checked it and it still changed.
• 7:39
  So check it before you go to bed.
• 7:41
  Just double check. But they haven't just bumped the
• 7:43
  time out because they'll do that sometimes.
• 7:45
  If they're expecting a larger crowd, we'll expand the hours of
• 7:48
  the resort. So just because it says that,
• 7:50
  you know, 10 days before your trip, it's not set in stone.
• 7:53
  It can definitely change. So just double check just to be
• 7:55
  sure. Yes, absolutely.
• 7:57
  Absolutely. Okay.
• 7:59
  So let's talk about using Genie Plus at Hollywood Studios.
• 8:03
  This is a bear and I'm going to give you the best advice I
• 8:06
  possibly can. And we can all hope for the
• 8:10
  best. So Hollywood Studios is the
• 8:12
  hardest part to manipulate using Genie.
• 8:15
  Plus, because there are so many big ticket attractions at this
• 8:18
  park that makes it really, really hard.
• 8:21
  Two devices are are almost necessary in the morning if you
• 8:26
  are booking both individual lightning lanes and regular
• 8:29
  lightning lanes, and I'll talk about that in just a moment.
• 8:32
  Your individual lightning lane option at Hollywood Studios is
• 8:35
  Rise of the Resistance. It will typically run you 20 to
• 8:39
  $25 per person, so it is one of the more expensive options for
• 8:45
  individual lightning lanes. So take that into consideration
• 8:48
  when you are debating about that.
• 8:51
  The other thing, and I listed this later on, but I'm just
• 8:53
  going to touch on it now, Rise of the Resistance is very
• 8:57
  fickle. So, so to speak.
• 9:00
  Some mornings it will open right on time.
• 9:02
  It will be good to go. You can rope, drop it, get in
• 9:05
  line, get in and out, get done. Perfect.
• 9:07
  Move on with your day. The majority of the mornings,
• 9:12
  sometime within at least the first hour of the park being
• 9:15
  open, it will go down. There's too many won't open up
• 9:20
  right? Exactly.
• 9:21
  It'll just take a while. To start, or whatever it may be,
• 9:24
  it's tired in the morning guys just needs a little.
• 9:38
  Nope. It needs a little caffeine.
• 9:28
  It needs a little time. It needs a little like just
• 9:31
  needs to wake up a little. And sometimes when it does get
• 9:34
  up, it's like a false start needs to go late back down.
• 9:37
  So it just. Not ready.
• 9:38
  Wrong. We got to the bed.
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  Roll back over. That's how you have to think
• 9:42
  about rise every time. Disneyland and Disney World?
• 9:45
  Same thing. Yes, so.
• 9:48
  Just really consider whether or not you want to risk that.
• 9:52
  Yeah, it's like Radiator Springs Racers is that same way too.
• 10:01
  It's computers and moving pieces and different, you know if
• 10:05
  you've been on Rise of the Resistance, spoiler free.
• 9:57
  Like sometimes there's so many moving pieces in there, like one
• 10:00
  thing out. I won't give anything away if
• 10:08
  you haven't, but there's just multiple rooms you have to go
• 10:11
  through before you get to the final attraction that you load.
• 10:14
  And so all of those moving pieces.
• 10:17
  It's a lot to coordinate and it doesn't always coordinate well,
• 10:20
  so keep that in mind. Do keep in mind though, if you
• 10:25
  have an individual lightning lane and the ride goes down, it
• 10:29
  will give you a pass to be able to return to the ride at any
• 10:33
  point in time throughout the rest of the day if for some
• 10:36
  reason your individual lightning lane time.
• 10:39
  It is like the towards the end of the night, let's say you have
• 10:41
  a 7:00 to 8:00 time on your individual lightning lane.
• 10:44
  Rise goes down at 6:30 and never comes back up again.
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  Go see Guest Services so that way they can refund you.
• 10:50
  A lot of the times it happens automatically, but I always
• 10:53
  suggested going to Guest services just be like, hey, this
• 10:57
  happened and they'll have you fill out a thing and you'll get
• 11:00
  that refund. So do keep that in mind.
• 11:02
  Especially with Rise of the Resistance.
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  A lot of the other individual lightning lanes are not quite as
• 11:06
  finicky with that. But rather, the resistance does
• 11:10
  tend to have that happen more often than the others.
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  And can I just put a little note?
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  I know this is this, I'm going to talk Disneyland for just a
• 11:19
  second because I was just there, but I don't think we, I'm not
• 11:21
  sure we ever touched on this. The fact that Disneyland and
• 11:24
  Disney World have a different policy for how they handle
• 11:29
  individual lighting lanes, which is what I found out so that you
• 11:34
  can't select a time to return for individual lightning lanes
• 11:37
  at Disneyland. Really.
• 11:40
  No, I found that out. So it's like I went to go try
• 11:43
  it. I'm like, it only lets me pick
• 11:44
  the next available for individual lightning lanes and
• 11:47
  lightning lanes too. But yeah, so you can't.
• 11:49
  Choose your returning time. I had no idea.
• 11:54
  Yeah. So if you're going to
• 11:56
  Disneyland, don't expect that you can schedule your lightning
• 11:59
  lane, a specific individual lightning lane, a specific time
• 12:02
  like you can in Disney World. Because they don't back in the
• 12:05
  same way. And I asked guest services
• 12:06
  because I was like, this has to be like a glitch in my app or
• 12:08
  something, right? Because I'm so used to Disney
• 12:10
  World system and they they said no, we hope to get that feature
• 12:15
  sometime but we don't. I am like, mind blown.
• 12:19
  I'm shocked. I had no idea that that was
• 12:23
  different. I mean, doing it.
• 12:24
  I haven't been. I have.
• 12:26
  I've never booked an individual lightning lane through the
• 12:28
  Disneyland app for myself or anyone else that I'm assisting.
• 12:32
  That is crazy. Yeah, so now you know.
• 12:35
  So here we are. Yeah, Barbie just said yes.
• 12:37
  I just learned that I couldn't buy Radiator Swings Racers
• 12:41
  because I was in Disneyland and it wasn't late enough.
• 12:43
  And then an hour later it sold out.
• 12:46
  Wow. Yeah, it's.
• 12:47
  Well, that's kind of OK. It's silly when you pay that
• 12:50
  much money, but it is what it is, you know, it's like, it's,
• 12:53
  yeah, I bet they'll change that eventually to be more like
• 12:56
  Disney World, if I had to guess. Because if you're going to pay
• 12:59
  for this, really, like elite line passing service, that's
• 13:03
  really expensive. You should really just get to
• 13:05
  choose what time you come back. Right.
• 13:06
  Oh, my goodness. OK, well anyway, just thought I
• 13:10
  would. Good to know.
• 13:11
  Yeah, we should, we should maybe put some content out about that,
• 13:14
  because I feel like that is a that is something people need to
• 13:17
  know, OK, definitely for sure. Bookmark that.
• 13:21
  OK, let's hop back over to the East Coast.
• 13:24
  Let's talk about Genie plus Hollywood Studios.
• 13:28
  So 7:00 AM. Two things that you're going to
• 13:31
  book if you want to book an individual lightning lane for
• 13:34
  Rise of the Resistance book that at 7:00 AM.
• 13:37
  I will mention this is the most difficult individual lightning
• 13:43
  lane to book at 7:00 AM because the times fly.
• 13:47
  They move so fast. My suggestion is really think
• 13:52
  about what time you want. Based on where you're going to
• 13:57
  be and where that that lies on your list.
• 13:59
  After we talk about all of this, and I would not, I would
• 14:04
  recommend selecting a return time when you book at 7,
• 14:09
  selecting a return time that is like 10:00 AM or after because
• 14:12
  there's a less likely chance that it's going to.
• 14:15
  That time is going to disappear and sell out because what will
• 14:18
  happen? And those of you who have
• 14:20
  experienced this know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 14:22
  You'll go to select like a 9:00 AM or a 9:30.
• 14:26
  Go through the first couple pages and then it'll say like,
• 14:28
  sorry, this time is no longer available and it literally kicks
• 14:31
  you all the way out of the system and you have to enter
• 14:33
  back and start from square 1. So frustrating.
• 14:36
  Yeah, very frustrating. So if you're OK and you're
• 14:40
  flexible and your plan works to have a later time, I would
• 14:45
  recommend that. Just so you're not having that
• 14:47
  frustration in the morning of trying to book that?
• 14:50
  If you really need an early time, you just got to be ready
• 14:52
  and you got to click it and know what you're doing and go as
• 14:55
  quickly as you possibly can. So one way or the other.
• 15:00
  And now I will say Rise typically doesn't sell out
• 15:03
  immediately. But those early morning times
• 15:07
  will be gone almost immediately. So it's not like you run the
• 15:11
  risk of not getting a time at all.
• 15:13
  If that happens, you just may not get the time that you want
• 15:16
  or you may be stuck with a later time in the afternoon that you,
• 15:19
  you know. So it's not going to sell out
• 15:22
  completely. I don't know that anymore.
• 15:24
  I've ever seen it sell out. Even within the first hour or
• 15:27
  two after it becomes live, typically at Park Open, there
• 15:30
  are still a few times left for that individual lightning lane.
• 15:34
  Yeah. And I hope saying someone needs
• 15:37
  to make a simulator app so we can practice.
• 15:40
  And I was thinking I was like, can you practice?
• 15:42
  I'm like, no. I think can you could probably
• 15:44
  practice from home the process of trying to get an individual
• 15:47
  lightning lane without actually physically purchasing it.
• 15:49
  Right. It's just Genie Plus you have to
• 15:51
  purchase in order to go through it.
• 15:53
  Yes. So you could potentially.
• 15:56
  Yeah, you can even do like the first step.
• 16:01
  But like, yeah, but like after the first or second step, it's
• 16:04
  not like you're without paying for it.
• 16:06
  You need a ticket. Yeah, yeah, so.
• 16:09
  But you can also, like you do a Google search for individual
• 16:13
  lightning lanes. Lots of people have done
• 16:14
  screenshots of what it looks like and move through that.
• 16:17
  And I have some videos on my personal TikTok.
• 16:20
  My wishes Mama TikTok that I did a live talking about Genie Plus
• 16:25
  and how to manipulate different things and answered questions
• 16:28
  and stuff like that a couple months back.
• 16:31
  And then I took that live and posted videos on it on my
• 16:34
  TikTok. So if you Scroll down on my
• 16:36
  page, there's a bunch of Genie Plus content.
• 16:38
  And our friend tour guide Barbie, who has been in both
• 16:40
  sides of our chat tonight, has a ton of Genie Plus content on her
• 16:43
  page as well. So if you're looking for more
• 16:46
  that, those can be two resources for you as well.
• 16:51
  Okay. So that's individual lightning
• 16:52
  lane now, your regular lightning lane for Genie Plus.
• 16:57
  The first one that you're going to want to book is Slinky Dog
• 17:00
  and that is almost non negotiable.
• 17:02
  Like if you want to ride Slinky Dog, that pretty much has to be
• 17:05
  the first one that you book because it will sell out and it
• 17:09
  will sell out within the first. Sometimes within the first 2-3
• 17:13
  minutes, it being, yeah, of it being available.
• 17:18
  Occasionally you may have a little bit more time, but that's
• 17:20
  why those two devices are so important.
• 17:22
  And we joked and talked about setting up your command Center
• 17:25
  for your 7th AM. But you really have to, and
• 17:28
  Hollywood Studios is one of the hardest.
• 17:30
  You've just got to be quick and you've got to really know
• 17:33
  exactly what you're doing, and whatever time on Slinky Dog
• 17:37
  comes up first, book it if it's not just.
• 17:42
  You cannot hesitate, just book it and then go back in and
• 17:47
  immediately try to modify it and see if you get lucky and if
• 17:50
  times will pop up. I have had it happen before with
• 17:53
  other rides and other attractions where I booked it
• 17:56
  right away. It was like a noon time and I
• 17:58
  was like, oh, that's so late. I don't want to wait that long.
• 18:00
  And I went immediately right back in and started modifying
• 18:03
  and click clacking and all of that.
• 18:05
  And within about 20 minutes I was able to get like a 9:00 AM
• 18:08
  time. Yeah, so it doesn't happen every
• 18:10
  time, but the chances are good you're at least going to get
• 18:12
  somewhat something a little bit earlier than what you have.
• 18:17
  But the rule is always book it first and then you can go modify
• 18:22
  it so that even if you can't find something to modify it to,
• 18:25
  you have something booked because otherwise you might not
• 18:28
  get Slinky dog and you'd be waiting in that line.
• 18:30
  So hold on, Aaron says, hear me out, get in line for Slinky a
• 18:34
  couple minutes for Park close. I mean you can do that strategy
• 18:38
  and that might be part of what's coming up here as as we move
• 18:42
  through this. But if you want to get that
• 18:45
  lightning lane, make sure that you're just get it.
• 18:48
  Just go for it first first thing the day.
• 18:50
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that's my suggestion for 7:00
• 18:55
  AM That's what you're going to want to do when it first comes
• 18:58
  to that. And again, if you don't want to
• 18:59
  buy Rise of the Resistance and you're not interested in doing
• 19:02
  that, then don't buy it and just book your your Genie plus in the
• 19:05
  morning. So rope drop.
• 19:09
  There are so many different little areas in Hollywood
• 19:12
  studios that rope drop becomes fairly difficult.
• 19:15
  So my biggest suggestion is always just to head to the area
• 19:17
  of the park that is the most of the most interest to you.
• 19:20
  If you want to do the Toy Story stuff, if you want to do
• 19:23
  Galaxies, Edge and Star Wars if you want to do.
• 19:26
  You know if Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is your thing or
• 19:29
  Sunset Blvd. if you're going to Rock and Roller Coaster and
• 19:32
  Tower of Terror. So one of those four areas is
• 19:35
  where you're going to want a rope drop again, keeping in mind
• 19:37
  that, right. So the resistance is not a
• 19:40
  guarantee. I I really don't suggest rope
• 19:43
  dropping it unless you're willing to risk that because
• 19:47
  you're maybe your list is shorter or you know that you.
• 19:52
  That's like your top ride and you want to make sure that you
• 19:54
  get on it, or you want to try to do it twice.
• 19:56
  If you bought an individual lightning lane and you want to
• 19:58
  try to rope, drop it too. Well and.
• 20:02
  Go for it. But one can be really long in
• 20:05
  the mornings too, So you're facing losing all that.
• 20:09
  You got up early, you know, and you're losing all that early
• 20:12
  time. Standing in one line and less
• 20:15
  rise is like the only thing you want to do in the day.
• 20:18
  Just like if you're getting an individual Lightning Lightning.
• 20:22
  I would say don't bother, go do some other stuff.
• 20:24
  But I I would not waste those golden morning hours in a Rise
• 20:28
  of Resistance Lion. Nope.
• 20:29
  Unless I absolutely had to, yeah.
• 20:32
  I would not either. I completely agree with you, but
• 20:34
  I do know people that are like, Nope, it's worth it.
• 20:36
  It's my favorite, right? Or Nope, you know, Star Wars is
• 20:38
  my thing. Like, OK, more power to you.
• 20:41
  Just understand the sacrifice that you're making by going that
• 20:46
  way with rope drop. So I'll just put that out there.
• 20:50
  So basically whatever area like I said that you have the most
• 20:53
  interest in is where you're going to want to go.
• 20:56
  Again, Slinky Dog is pretty much non negotiable for your first
• 21:00
  ride that time, and your return time may determine where you end
• 21:06
  up. If you get an early morning
• 21:08
  time, you may just go to Toy Story first.
• 21:11
  Go to Slinky Dog and try to do it twice.
• 21:13
  Go to Toy Story Mania, hit Mickey and Minnie on Railway on
• 21:17
  your way there. You know, there's lots of
• 21:18
  different options depending on that, if you ended up with a
• 21:22
  later time and you weren't able to modify it earlier.
• 21:25
  Then save Toy Story and maybe go down and do Sunset Blvd. and do
• 21:29
  Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, you know, so
• 21:32
  there's lots of different variations on which direction
• 21:35
  you can go. And it's really hard to like
• 21:37
  pinpoint. I feel like the other parks we
• 21:38
  can pretty much pinpoint. Now you should do this, You
• 21:40
  should do that, you should do that.
• 21:42
  This park is it it, it all branches off.
• 21:44
  So it's kind of hard to determine.
• 21:47
  It really depends to on your who you're traveling with, what
• 21:50
  their interests are. You know, like if you are with a
• 21:53
  whole bunch of small children, you might not want to go unless
• 21:57
  they love Star Wars, which is possibility.
• 21:58
  But like you might lean more towards Toy Storyland than any
• 22:02
  and Mickey and Money than any of the other ones.
• 22:04
  You're probably not going to head to Tower of Terror and Rock
• 22:07
  and Roller Coaster because they won't be able to go on it, you
• 22:10
  know, or won't want to go on it either way, you know.
• 22:13
  But if you're traveling with teenagers or a mixed crowd, that
• 22:16
  might be where you want to go first because those are more of
• 22:18
  the thrill rides down there, you know?
• 22:19
  And it just it depends on your party mix and everybody's
• 22:22
  interest. So it's almost impossible to
• 22:25
  predict which way you should go. Right.
• 22:27
  Well, and like, even with my family.
• 22:29
  So my kids are four and six, and it wasn't until this last trip
• 22:33
  and they've been three or four times.
• 22:36
  It wasn't until this last trip that we even made it down to
• 22:38
  Tower of Terror. We didn't even go down that
• 22:41
  pool, don't bother no. And because Nick but Fantastic
• 22:44
  wasn't open yet. Oh yeah, there you go.
• 22:47
  And I think we did go down there, maybe to grab like a
• 22:50
  snack or something at one point in time.
• 22:52
  Beauty and the beast is down there.
• 22:54
  I could see. Yeah, and that was one that,
• 22:55
  like, we debated about and like also the Lightning McQueen
• 22:58
  Racing Academy is on there, which is a really cute show if
• 23:01
  your kids haven't actually been to that confession time.
• 23:04
  I should probably. Try it.
• 23:05
  I haven't been in person, but I've seen it all the lives.
• 23:08
  Does that count? I've seen it on the lives that
• 23:11
  counts. And we've we've seen it.
• 23:13
  So we didn't even go down Sunset Blvd. for multiple trips in a
• 23:18
  row because there wasn't anything down there that my kids
• 23:20
  wanted to do. Yeah, so exactly.
• 23:23
  It really just depends on what's on your list.
• 23:25
  And again, I will stress and I will mention again that Kate and
• 23:29
  I both highly suggest you make your priority list of what rides
• 23:32
  are the most important to everybody in your travel party.
• 23:35
  And you hit those first, because then everything after that is
• 23:38
  just a bonus 100%. Yes, OK.
• 23:41
  So wherever you decide to rope drop will determine kind of your
• 23:48
  morning so to speak. I am just going to mention, I
• 23:51
  know you haven't really. We haven't dived in, dived,
• 23:56
  delved into. However that is supposed to be
• 23:59
  stated the need of of GD plus but.
• 24:03
  I do just want to mention before I forget and before I get ahead
• 24:05
  of myself that we do always suggest mobile ordering when it
• 24:08
  comes to lunch and dinner. So some lunch spots that you
• 24:13
  have the option to check out here at Hollywood Studios, ABC
• 24:16
  Commissary, Docking, Bay 7, Back Lot Express, Pizza, Rizzo and
• 24:21
  Woody's Lunch Box. So those are all kind of
• 24:23
  scattered throughout the park. So again, that may be something
• 24:26
  that also helps you determine your plan if you know that you
• 24:29
  want to eat lunch at Woody's. You know you want to eat lunch
• 24:31
  around 11:00 AM. You can kind of finangle your
• 24:35
  plans based on that. You can even put your lightning
• 24:38
  lanes for Toy Story Land, kind of ideally in that time frame
• 24:41
  too as well, so that way you're not hopping back and forth and
• 24:44
  crisscrossing. So again, Mobile order is your
• 24:48
  best friend, especially when you've only got one day in the
• 24:50
  park and you're trying to get as many things done as you possibly
• 24:52
  can. And I would say if you're trying
• 24:55
  to get out of the heat and looking for something that's
• 24:58
  family friendly, I feel like ABC Commissary is probably your best
• 25:02
  bet, followed by Docking Bay 7 because that you can also sit in
• 25:05
  the air conditioning in there. But Docking Bay 7, the food can
• 25:08
  look a little strange because it's meant to look that way.
• 25:11
  So if you have kids that are picky eaters, ABC Commissary
• 25:13
  might be a safer bet for that. Woody's lunch box is good, but
• 25:17
  it there's like hardly any seating and it's outside in the
• 25:20
  sun most of the time, so it's like it's not a great place to
• 25:24
  have a relaxing lunch. It's a great place for maybe a
• 25:26
  snack. Yeah, a quick lunch if you can
• 25:30
  find a seat. They do have those little pop
• 25:32
  Tarts at Woody's lunch box that are fun.
• 25:36
  That's, you know, just a fun if you if you want a fun little mid
• 25:39
  morning snack maybe. I have never advocated for Pizza
• 25:44
  Rizzo just because I don't like Disney's pizza most of the time,
• 25:48
  but I have heard it's acceptable.
• 25:50
  It just has weird hours, right? Yes, they close at 5:00, which
• 25:53
  is really unfortunate and I'm maybe I I don't know.
• 25:57
  I'm hopeful that that will someday change because the food
• 26:00
  is actually like you. I mean, it's theme park pizza,
• 26:03
  but if you're someone who likes like Pinocchio Village House
• 26:07
  that we talked about it at Magic Kingdom.
• 26:10
  This I think is better than that.
• 26:11
  Personally, in my opinion, they don't have as many options as
• 26:15
  Pinocchio Village House does, but I also haven't looked at the
• 26:17
  menu for Pizza Rizzo to see if anything has changed recently.
• 26:21
  The atmosphere in there is super fun.
• 26:23
  It's a really good spot for lunch just because it is inside.
• 26:27
  Especially if you go upstairs at Pizza Rizzo, it's fairly empty
• 26:30
  up there most of the time. Nobody really realizes there's a
• 26:33
  whole seating area. On the 2nd floor, so that's
• 26:38
  something to keep in mind. And as far as the food at
• 26:40
  Docking Bay 7, my kids love the Mac and cheese there.
• 26:43
  It looks a little different because it also comes with like
• 26:46
  a big chicken nugget cube, the tip tip.
• 26:51
  Yeah, yeah, so. But once I told my kids, like,
• 26:55
  no, it's just a chicken nugget and Mac and cheese and broccoli,
• 26:58
  they're like, OK, that's cool. So like oh gosh, you know just
• 27:02
  prep them ahead of time, let them see some pictures or
• 27:05
  something. Robbie and Aaron over here are
• 27:07
  saying that back lot is their go to and their favorite.
• 27:10
  So that that's another one that has a lot of good options and
• 27:13
  there is some significant amount of seating in there so.
• 27:16
  And I will say though, indoor seating at back lot can be
• 27:19
  really hard to find. They have a lot of outdoor
• 27:22
  seating as well. They do have some nice umbrellas
• 27:24
  and it's typically not as hot as Woody's.
• 27:27
  Yeah, but. Indoor seating can be a little
• 27:30
  harder to find, but again, it also depends on what time you're
• 27:33
  eating. I would say if you're someone
• 27:34
  who's getting to the park at 7:00 or 7:30, you may want an
• 27:38
  earlier lunch and you may beat some of the lunch crowds and
• 27:41
  that may not matter. So you may just kind of have to
• 27:44
  scope it out and see, you know, and and and go from there.
• 27:49
  I don't love. Love any of these options at
• 27:52
  Hollywood Studios and I typically don't in terms of
• 27:56
  food. And I typically don't eat in the
• 27:59
  park. So we have eaten at Docking Bay
• 28:03
  seven, I've grabbed a couple, we've eaten at Pizza Rizzo.
• 28:07
  And other than that, it's just been like snacks here and there
• 28:09
  from some of the other places. So yeah, I think my favorite
• 28:12
  place to go if it's hot out especially is ABC Commissary
• 28:15
  because it's just there's it's almost, it's easier to find
• 28:19
  seating, it's really great A/C and there's a pretty wide
• 28:22
  variety menu for almost everybody.
• 28:24
  So that's the seat, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:26
  And I will mention, as we've mentioned before in previous
• 28:29
  episodes that if you're someone that's just like, no, I don't
• 28:31
  want to sit down and eat a full meal.
• 28:34
  I'd rather just like snack throughout the day as I go.
• 28:37
  We have done whole episodes on snacks at each park and what our
• 28:41
  suggestions are and our one for. Hollywood Studios is episode 22,
• 28:46
  so if that's one that you're looking for that you're like, I
• 28:48
  need snack suggestions, you can find them there.
• 28:51
  You can also find graphics of those on our Instagram page.
• 28:54
  So yeah, head to there if you're looking for that.
• 28:58
  Alrighty. So we've had lunch.
• 29:00
  What do we do afterwards? Yes.
• 29:02
  So let's talk about Genie plus a little bit more indepthly.
• 29:07
  This park with Genie Plus is heavily dependent on what rides
• 29:09
  are on your priority list. And there may be entire sections
• 29:13
  of this park like we talked about before that you skip if
• 29:15
  they're not even on your list at all.
• 29:18
  So keep that in mind. I'm just going to kind of run
• 29:21
  down the order in which I would suggest you book.
• 29:24
  And again this is not A and all be all you have to do this list
• 29:28
  this is hey here's the framework.
• 29:31
  Pull out the ones that you want and create your own kind of
• 29:34
  thing. So this is your your.
• 29:36
  General Guide. Like I mentioned, Slinky Dog
• 29:39
  would always be the one that I do first.
• 29:42
  After Slinky Dog I would Book Smugglers Run and then Runaway
• 29:46
  Railway. And again, these are mostly in
• 29:48
  order of what sells out the quickest and or what has the
• 29:52
  latest return times the quickest, if that makes sense,
• 29:55
  because you're wanting to put as many rides in the day as
• 29:58
  possible, so you want to get those early return times.
• 30:01
  So Slinky Dog Smugglers run Runaway Railway, then Rock and
• 30:05
  Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.
• 30:06
  Those are interchangeable depending on the day.
• 30:08
  Some days one is more than the other or one has a longer wait
• 30:12
  than the other. After that, then Toy Story
• 30:15
  Mania, and then the last three on this list that are included
• 30:18
  on Genie +9 times out of 10 if not ten times out of 10.
• 30:23
  They're not going to need a Genie plus return time.
• 30:26
  So Star tours, alien swirling saucers and Muppet vision very
• 30:30
  rarely. Do you need a return time?
• 30:32
  Unless it's like, okay, I'm over here, why don't I go ahead and
• 30:36
  just book it and get it done and then move on and do my next
• 30:39
  right after that kind of deal. But most of those, if you wait,
• 30:43
  either if you do them early or you catch them right in the
• 30:46
  middle of the day or you do them towards the end of the night,
• 30:49
  you're looking at 20 or less for all of those in the last two
• 30:53
  hours of the park. Most of the time, yeah.
• 30:56
  Unless it's like a really, you know, it's a really, really busy
• 30:59
  day at Hollywood Studios. If Muppets and Star Tours have
• 31:03
  like a really long line, like, you know, it's crowded.
• 31:07
  Yeah. And you will see alien swirling
• 31:10
  saucers getting up to like a 30 or 40 minute wait at certain
• 31:14
  points throughout the day. Just wait.
• 31:17
  Keep an eye on it or like I said, if it's one that like
• 31:20
  that's going to most of. And the other thing is those
• 31:23
  three are going to have pretty much immediate return times.
• 31:26
  So if you get off of Slinky, dog.
• 31:30
  Or, you know, you tap into your slinky dog and you're like,
• 31:31
  well, I'm already over here. Aliens Throwing Saucers is
• 31:34
  available. Now let me go ahead and book it
• 31:36
  and we'll just hop over there and get it done.
• 31:38
  That is something that I would suggest doing if that works with
• 31:40
  your group and where you are and location wise and all of that.
• 31:45
  But like I said, nine times out of 10, you're not going to need
• 31:47
  a return time for those. I have a question from Hope.
• 31:51
  Does Star Tours make you sick? It can if you're prone to motion
• 31:55
  sickness. I I am prone to motion sickness
• 31:58
  usually. I'm okay with it, writing one
• 32:00
  time only, but everybody's different in how their bodies
• 32:04
  handle it. So if you are very sensitive to
• 32:08
  motion sickness, it's either take something for it or maybe
• 32:11
  just skip it because it's not worth it to ruin your park day
• 32:14
  by feeling queasy and sick afterwards.
• 32:16
  And I am not prone to motion sickness.
• 32:19
  And that is the only ride on Disney property that has ever
• 32:21
  made me feel motion sick. No, Mission space is the one I
• 32:26
  can't do like. Yeah.
• 32:28
  Oh, no. Well, yeah, I can do green on
• 32:29
  Mission Space. I just choose not to.
• 32:34
  But with with Star Tours, I I love the ride.
• 32:37
  It's super fun. But I've ridden it twice where
• 32:39
  it like, I came off of it like, oh, and it could have been that
• 32:42
  I was tired, it could have been I hadn't eaten, you know, who
• 32:45
  knows? But like, it's the only ride on
• 32:47
  Disney property that has ever made me feel that way.
• 32:50
  So again, like Kate said, everybody is different.
• 32:53
  Well it's it's interesting. So we're for history tomorrow,
• 32:58
  cats out of the bag. We're going to be talking about
• 32:59
  Body Wars. So I don't know if anybody
• 33:01
  remembers body Wars, but it had the same ride vehicle as Star
• 33:03
  Tours. And so I was reading about what
• 33:05
  makes people sick on that attraction.
• 33:08
  And sometimes the the way it can just get knocked out of
• 33:13
  alignment like a little bit, if it's not perfectly synced with
• 33:16
  the movement that they have animated with the video on the
• 33:19
  screen, it does that thing where your brain like what you're
• 33:23
  seeing doesn't match up with your but what your body's doing.
• 33:25
  And that discombobulation is what makes you really sick.
• 33:30
  So interestingly enough, on Mission Space, it's the
• 33:34
  opposite, because what you're seeing is you're just floating,
• 33:37
  floating or you're barely moving, but your body is
• 33:39
  actually spinning. So it's that disconnect between
• 33:42
  what your body's doing versus what you're seeing, but in the
• 33:45
  opposite direction for mission space.
• 33:46
  But both of them can make you really, really sick.
• 33:49
  Yeah, yeah. I mean, that totally makes
• 33:51
  sense. Yeah.
• 33:51
  So very interesting. I'm interested to hear this tree
• 33:55
  tomorrow. Now.
• 33:58
  Yes, and Body Wars made people even more sick than Star Tours.
• 34:02
  And we'll tell you why tomorrow. So that'll be.
• 34:05
  Stay tuned. You can find this tree at 8:30
• 34:09
  Eastern on Friday nights, typically with our.
• 34:13
  Wonderful. My wonderful cohost Kate and our
• 34:15
  friend Kirk at Walrus Carp. So check it out.
• 34:17
  It's a good one anyway. Sorry.
• 34:20
  Little plug for history? Yeah, but that's good to know.
• 34:22
  Yeah, absolutely. So again, like we were
• 34:25
  mentioning Star Tours, Aliens throwing saucers, and Muppets,
• 34:28
  you're probably not going to need to book.
• 34:30
  So while the list is short of rides that you will need to
• 34:35
  book, I mean Slinky, Smugglers are on Runaway Roadway, Rock,
• 34:38
  Roller Coaster, Tire Terror, Toy Story Mania.
• 34:42
  You've only got 6 rides, it's going to take you all day.
• 34:47
  So yeah, if you're wanting to do all tickets, like a lot of them
• 34:52
  are E tickets attractions. They're big attractions and
• 34:54
  they're not ones like. And yeah, and you have to move
• 34:57
  through each of them. And often the return times have
• 35:00
  they jump up, they're not like, you know, we can just hop from
• 35:03
  one to the other to the other necessarily.
• 35:05
  And that's what takes you all day.
• 35:07
  Yes, whereas like in Magic Kingdom, you can get through so
• 35:10
  much more there because you do have the ability of close
• 35:13
  proximity and quick return times on Genie Plus so you can go from
• 35:18
  one to the next to the next. This is not that way and
• 35:21
  Hollywood studios is one that you can manipulate using click
• 35:27
  click methods and refreshing methods on Genie Plus.
• 35:30
  But it's a lot more extensive and it takes a lot longer
• 35:32
  typically for those times to pop up for you depending on the
• 35:37
  attraction. If you're looking at something
• 35:39
  for like Toy Story, Mania or even Tower of Terror, a lot of
• 35:41
  the times those are a lot easier to manipulate.
• 35:44
  But Slinky Dog, Runaway Railway, some of those, they're they're
• 35:47
  just not as easy, not as many times available.
• 35:51
  You know, limited limited capacities with their GD Plus
• 35:54
  program. Just because they they they
• 35:57
  can't. Allow endless return times when
• 36:00
  you've only got that much space and that many attractions to use
• 36:04
  for your Genie Plus, right it says it, the park is on, on.
• 36:10
  I want to I don't want to say it's on the small side it it is,
• 36:13
  it's smaller than Epcot and things like that.
• 36:15
  But it's just it just it has a lot of shows.
• 36:18
  It's very show heavy park, but there's like not a lot to do
• 36:22
  outside of it's like E tickets or shows with a couple of other
• 36:26
  small rides but not many like that's.
• 36:28
  It's a very strange park in that way where there usually there's
• 36:31
  this kind of spread between kind of like you know rides that
• 36:35
  hardly ever have lions plus shows plus kind of like medium
• 36:38
  attractions plus E ticket attractions which are the big
• 36:41
  coasters and things like that. And this park just doesn't have
• 36:43
  that mix. So it's awkward.
• 36:45
  You can find yourself having downtime where you're like I my
• 36:50
  return time hasn't come up yet, but I've already done everything
• 36:53
  else that I need to do and I guess I'll go see a show cuz
• 36:57
  that's all I got. Yeah.
• 36:59
  Now I will say there are some really good shows.
• 37:01
  So let's talk about Perfect Safe Way the shows.
• 37:05
  So there are several other things that are shows, shows or
• 37:09
  show like things that are included on Genie Plus.
• 37:12
  Do I think you need Genie Plus for any of these?
• 37:15
  No, not at all. If you just pay attention to
• 37:18
  showtimes and get there a little bit early, you'll be fine, but
• 37:21
  these are included on your genie.
• 37:23
  Plus, if you choose to do that, Beauty and the Beast Live, the
• 37:27
  Disney Junior Dance and Play Show, The Frozen Sing Along
• 37:30
  Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and also the Olaf
• 37:35
  character meet and greet. So those five are also included.
• 37:39
  I will say you could use it for Olaf.
• 37:41
  His time typically isn't too long because he his line moves
• 37:45
  pretty quick so you don't typically see super long waits
• 37:48
  for him, but he is the only character meet and greet that is
• 37:51
  on Genie. Plus, for Hollywood students,
• 37:54
  there's a bunch of other characters, Mickey and Minnie, a
• 37:57
  bunch of Incredibles characters that meet live action.
• 38:01
  Ariel, I'll get to that list here in a little bit, but he is
• 38:05
  the only one that is on Genie Plus.
• 38:07
  Again, those shows are fantastic and wonderful and great to do in
• 38:11
  between, but do you need a Genie Plus time for them?
• 38:16
  No, and I honestly wouldn't because that's going to limit
• 38:20
  and push out the other times that you're going to want to be
• 38:23
  booking with your Genie Plus. So again, like we said, it's
• 38:26
  only 6 attractions, but those six attractions with waiting for
• 38:29
  those return times to become. Now you're gonna take all day?
• 38:35
  Pretty much, yeah. And with the shows, you really,
• 38:38
  as long as you get there early enough, you don't.
• 38:41
  You don't really need a lightning lane for any of them.
• 38:44
  You just can't expect to get there 5 minutes before the show
• 38:47
  and always be able to get in, especially if it's busy in the
• 38:49
  park. They just will turn you away
• 38:51
  because there's not enough space.
• 38:52
  So if you really want to see a show, try to get there.
• 38:56
  I'd say no later than 1520 minutes before.
• 39:00
  It's the absolute cutoff to make sure that you get in that show
• 39:03
  and get a decent seat. And my, I I really want to throw
• 39:07
  out there that the Frozen Sing Along is hilarious no matter who
• 39:11
  you are. Even if you're not like a huge
• 39:13
  Frozen fan, that there's comedy in there that is for adults and
• 39:17
  there's comedy, there's great stuff for kids.
• 39:19
  It's like an all around a magical, hilarious time.
• 39:23
  So that's my plug, Frozen Sing along just I.
• 39:27
  Remember. Yeah.
• 39:28
  I remember dragging my husband to that on one of our first
• 39:33
  trips, like right after it opened.
• 39:35
  And he was like, OK, like he, he, he liked Frozen.
• 39:39
  But it was, he was like, do we really need to?
• 39:41
  And I was like, no, because I had gone to it a solo trip
• 39:44
  before with my best friend when she was a cast member and we
• 39:46
  were like, yeah, we're going to do this.
• 39:47
  And then I took him with me. And now it's like, no, we have
• 39:50
  to do it every trip because he loves it too.
• 39:53
  It's so good. And I will say the nice thing
• 39:55
  about. About that show is it's one of
• 40:00
  two that's inside. Like Kate mentioned, nice seats
• 40:03
  inside Disney Junior. Dance and play is also inside,
• 40:07
  but it is open floor like you sit on the floor.
• 40:10
  There's no benches, there's no chairs any of that type of.
• 40:13
  Stuff not comfortable. Yes, not not super comfy, but
• 40:17
  they do that so the kids exactly.
• 40:19
  Kids have space to dance and all of that.
• 40:22
  Beauty and the Beast Live is an outdoor covered amphitheater.
• 40:25
  And as is. Indiana Jones is an outdoor,
• 40:28
  very massive. Indiana Jones is one that you
• 40:30
  probably could walk up last minute and still get into.
• 40:34
  You just may not have a great seat because it is a massive
• 40:37
  amphitheater. They've got tons of seating in
• 40:39
  there, so keep that in mind. Depending on if you're wanting
• 40:43
  to alternate inside and outside, that may determine which
• 40:49
  direction you head for. Which show in between and
• 40:52
  Hollywood Studios does not have a ton of shade.
• 40:54
  Like there's a lot of areas in there that, like Batu, doesn't
• 40:57
  have a ton of shade. Toy Story definitely doesn't
• 41:00
  have any shade. Walking around between the
• 41:02
  lands, there's no shade. Even Sunset Blvd.
• 41:05
  Not a lot of shade. It's just it's like a park of no
• 41:08
  shade. So keep that in mind as you're
• 41:10
  planning your day that you definitely want to include times
• 41:13
  when you get out of the sun, especially if it's in the summer
• 41:16
  months and it is Florida. So just in general, just.
• 41:19
  Try to get the sun for a little bit, just to.
• 41:22
  Especially with Littles, they need to get out of that heat and
• 41:25
  out of the sun. For sure, and especially even
• 41:28
  you know, sitting in the shade is one thing, but like eating
• 41:30
  inside, air conditioning is a really good idea at Hollywood
• 41:33
  Studios just because of that lack of shade.
• 41:36
  And utilizing indoor attractions and luckily there are several
• 41:39
  attractions that are completely indoors that help to star Toys
• 41:44
  is completely indoors. Toy Story Mania is completely
• 41:47
  indoor. Smugglers Run is completely
• 41:48
  indoors. Rise of the Resistance is 98%
• 41:51
  indoors. So you know that's helpful as
• 41:55
  well. But yeah, definitely thinking
• 41:58
  about all of that for sure, Aaron says.
• 42:00
  Epcot levels of shade? Yeah, same.
• 42:02
  Yes. And Hope says reminder to put on
• 42:06
  your sunscreen even on rainy days.
• 42:07
  Yes, if it's overcast rainy, it can still burn you like, so make
• 42:11
  sure you wear your sunscreen friends.
• 42:13
  Always a good reminder. Absolutely.
• 42:15
  So let's talk about non genie plus things that you can do in
• 42:19
  Hollywood studios. So depending on your list again.
• 42:25
  6G plus attractions plus Rise of the Resistance, so 7 main
• 42:29
  attractions that you're looking at.
• 42:31
  So if you're fitting things in between or your list is shorter
• 42:34
  than seven because some of those you don't want to go on, these
• 42:36
  are different things that you can do.
• 42:38
  They do have a theater that shows the Mickey cartoon shorts
• 42:41
  called Vacation Fun, which is a really good way to get out of
• 42:44
  the heat as well. Very rarely is there any wait
• 42:47
  for that unless the park is like insanely busy and even then it's
• 42:51
  like usually 5 or 10 at the most.
• 42:53
  You wait till the show's over exactly.
• 42:55
  Go and see the next show. Exactly, exactly.
• 42:59
  So that's a super fun one. We talked earlier a little bit
• 43:01
  about the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy that is down all
• 43:05
  the way at the end past rock and roller coaster in that space.
• 43:09
  That is a really, really cute show.
• 43:12
  For kiddos who like cars, and even if they're just like cars,
• 43:14
  is OK, really, really fun. Because the Lightning McQueen, I
• 43:18
  guess you would call it an animatronic, is really, really
• 43:23
  cool. Like I don't know what else to
• 43:24
  get car probably with. An animatronic, I guess?
• 43:28
  Yeah, probably so. Anyway, whatever you want to
• 43:31
  call it. That is a super fun one.
• 43:34
  And then they do have the Star Wars character meet and greets
• 43:37
  inside of Launch Bay, which, don't be confused, is not
• 43:41
  located in Galaxy's Edge. It is completely separate from
• 43:44
  Galaxy's Edge, so it is over. As you're looking at the Chinese
• 43:48
  Theater on the right hand side over by the Disney Junior area
• 43:52
  so you can meet BB8, Darth Vader and Chewbacca inside there other
• 43:57
  characters that they have as available and again none of
• 43:59
  these are Genie. Plus this is all you're you're
• 44:02
  going to stand by and wait for these.
• 44:05
  The live action version of Little Mermaid of Ariel is there
• 44:09
  meeting currently inside the One Man's Dream building area where
• 44:14
  Sully used to be but he got. He got the boot when she when
• 44:18
  she showed up. You can also find Buzz
• 44:22
  Chippendale Disney Junior characters meet right outside of
• 44:25
  their building so Doc Mcstuffins, Fancy Nancy
• 44:27
  Vampirina and often Pluto is over there as well.
• 44:30
  Daisy and Donald and a mode frozone Goofy Sully, Jesse Power
• 44:34
  line Max is meeting over across from Muppet courtyard before you
• 44:38
  enter into Galaxies edge. That's a newer character meet
• 44:41
  that I feel like not everybody knows is there.
• 44:44
  So that's a fun one if you get to see that Mickey and Minnie,
• 44:47
  Mr. and Missus, Incredible and Woody.
• 44:49
  So lots of lots of character options if that's something that
• 44:53
  you really enjoy and want to kind of fill that in between
• 44:57
  Lightning Lane times with. And then they also have roving
• 44:59
  characters in Galaxies Edge, Kylo Ren and the stormtroopers
• 45:02
  and the Mandalorian and Grogu and Vimerati also do Rome in
• 45:07
  Galaxy's Edge. If that is something that you're
• 45:09
  looking for as well. Yeah.
• 45:11
  And I'll you kind of touched on it.
• 45:14
  But one man stream maybe not the greatest exhibit for little
• 45:17
  little kids. Like it's not it's it's But if
• 45:21
  you have any maybe older kids that are interested in Disney
• 45:24
  history or interested in Walt Disney, it's a really great
• 45:27
  exhibit. Has some really wonderful models
• 45:30
  that for me as a Disney historian are like gold.
• 45:33
  Like I love. I spend way too much time in
• 45:35
  there. They probably know me pretty
• 45:37
  well on the security cameras by now but but they have like the
• 45:41
  model of of Cinderella Castle. They have a model, the original
• 45:44
  model of Jungle Cruise and one the original model for Main
• 45:47
  Street US 1/2 of Main Street USA.
• 45:49
  They have a pre audio animatronic in there.
• 45:53
  There's some amazing things. So if you are interested in
• 45:55
  Disney history, make keep it. Get a little time for that that
• 45:59
  spot because it's worth it and it's air conditioned in there so
• 46:01
  it's a good way to get out of the heat as well so.
• 46:04
  Just a little. And if you'd have little kids
• 46:06
  that don't want to and maybe they're doing character meet and
• 46:09
  greets down. Where I don't even know what
• 46:12
  they call it now, The Incredibles area that they just
• 46:14
  reopened, maybe just 10 area. Yeah, like the old Toy Story,
• 46:18
  old entrance to Mania. But anyway, maybe they're maybe
• 46:22
  they're going down there and you can just pop into one man's
• 46:25
  stream and and get a little bit of time there.
• 46:27
  So yes, it is a good one. And I I didn't put it on the
• 46:30
  list just because we're more focused on like families and
• 46:33
  kids and all that and like you mentioned.
• 46:35
  Depending on the age of the kids, yeah, if you had older
• 46:39
  kids to teenagers they might find it interesting, but it is a
• 46:43
  lot of like signs you read. There's a couple videos in there
• 46:45
  to watch but definitely and they have a multi playing camera that
• 46:48
  shows how it works. So if you have older kids, maybe
• 46:51
  that you're doing home school or you want them to learn a little
• 46:54
  educational things about how film works and animation, this
• 46:57
  is a really great exhibit for that as well.
• 47:00
  And again, lots of different things that you can do outside
• 47:03
  of your Genie plus ones dinner. Same suggestions as we talked
• 47:08
  about as well. And then in the evening you're
• 47:11
  gonna look to finish any lightning lanes or rides that
• 47:14
  you haven't done yet. And I will say if you.
• 47:20
  Missed an attraction and you're you don't have Like Genie Plus
• 47:24
  is sold out for that attraction for the day.
• 47:26
  Riding it during phantasmic is a good way to get a lot of those
• 47:29
  rides in. Things like Slinky Dog and Rise
• 47:32
  of the Resistance their their wait times get get drastically
• 47:36
  reduced during phantasmic. So if you're someone who has
• 47:39
  seen phantasmic or isn't planning to go to phantasmic,
• 47:43
  then definitely consider that. The other thing I will caution
• 47:46
  you is phantasmic. Initially when it reopened had
• 47:49
  two showtimes. It does not anymore.
• 47:50
  It is only one and it is very crowded.
• 47:54
  So if you are planning phantasmic, you're going to want
• 47:56
  to plan to be done with your rides an hour before Showtime to
• 48:01
  give yourself time to get to that part of the park, get
• 48:05
  yourself all situated and get inside the theater and find your
• 48:08
  spot. So yeah, keep that in mind as
• 48:11
  well because it will fill up and they'll close it and you won't
• 48:14
  get in and that won't that can happen like 1/2 hour before the
• 48:17
  show. So don't anticipate getting in
• 48:19
  there a few minutes before the show and having a place to go.
• 48:22
  Cuz that happened to me and Elliot before the world changed
• 48:27
  and we were trying to go to fantastic and that was and we
• 48:31
  were just we were literally sitting across and eating food
• 48:34
  and watching people go in and we're just like we probably
• 48:36
  should go soon. And then as soon as we finish
• 48:38
  our food, we got up and walked up and they closed it right
• 48:40
  before we got up And I'm like, no.
• 48:43
  So yeah, so definitely don't miss out.
• 48:47
  If you really want to see it, you've never seen it.
• 48:50
  You definitely want to don't miss fantastic if you've never
• 48:54
  seen it. It's worth going to see.
• 48:57
  I agree. I agree.
• 48:58
  If you if this is your first time at Hollywood Studios,
• 49:00
  you've only got one day there. I would put that fairly high up
• 49:03
  on my list. Yeah, if I were you.
• 49:05
  So even though it's not a Genie Plus attraction, it's not, you
• 49:09
  know, that type of thing. It that show is amazing.
• 49:13
  Yeah, it's a question. Is it at close?
• 49:16
  I feel like it's. It varies.
• 49:19
  It is sometimes at close. It is sometimes 1/2 hour after
• 49:23
  close. So right now we've seen that
• 49:25
  Hollywood Studios has been closing typically at 9:00 PM and
• 49:29
  Fantastic Showtime has been 930. Yeah, so.
• 49:34
  Those those wait times will start to drop around 8:30.
• 49:39
  But your best bet if you're wanting to get in line for
• 49:41
  something like Rise of the Resistance or Slinky Dog and
• 49:44
  those are typically the two that people are going to want to try
• 49:46
  to get in the end of the night. I would get in line, I don't
• 49:50
  know, maybe 10 minutes before park closes, because then as
• 49:54
  we've stated before, you're not going to have a rush of a ton of
• 49:57
  individual lightning lanes coming through.
• 49:59
  So your your wait time isn't going to be offset by those that
• 50:02
  other line kind of taking precedent.
• 50:04
  So it will move a lot quicker and your wait time will be a lot
• 50:07
  shorter most of the time. Not always a guarantee, but most
• 50:10
  of the time, Yep, I agree. The other.
• 50:13
  Thing I will say is, especially at this park, I highly, highly
• 50:17
  advise against waiting to ride those in in the evening if you
• 50:24
  haven't already ridden them, like if it's your first time
• 50:27
  going to the park. Don't wait to ride Rise of the
• 50:30
  Resistance if it's a really important or Slinky Dog if it's
• 50:33
  a really important ride to you, especially Rise.
• 50:35
  We've talked about how finicky it is.
• 50:37
  I've seen it go down at 8:00 PM and not open again.
• 50:41
  Slinky Dog. Less likely Slinky dog though in
• 50:43
  the rain does not run and it will close for a while if it's
• 50:47
  raining or if they think it's going to start raining, so
• 50:50
  definitely. Get those done early and use
• 50:53
  fireworks time for a second ride.
• 50:55
  That way if that happens, you're not disappointed at how you
• 50:58
  ended your evening because those two rides are they do have the
• 51:03
  the the higher ability of of being shut down towards close,
• 51:09
  unfortunately. So yeah, so it is a little
• 51:12
  awkward with fantastic because the park closes at 9, you can't
• 51:16
  get in line for anything past 859.
• 51:20
  But phantasmic isn't until 9:30. But don't think like Kate said,
• 51:23
  that you have that whole half hour to get to phantasmic.
• 51:27
  No, especially with one show. If there's two shows, you have
• 51:30
  more of a chance of being able to get in because people will
• 51:33
  wait till the 2nd show to go see it, which is usually what I
• 51:36
  choose to do because it's less crowded.
• 51:39
  But if there's only one show, everybody's trying to get into
• 51:42
  that one show. The entire park, not the entire
• 51:45
  park. Most of the park.
• 51:46
  Very close and people will park hop to to Hollywood Studios just
• 51:50
  for fantastic. Especially right now, because I
• 51:54
  mean right now Animal Kingdom doesn't have a nighttime show.
• 51:57
  Epcot has Epcot forever, which is like a massive let down.
• 52:01
  After after Harmonious, but we're, you know in the fall
• 52:06
  they're getting a new show. So we'll see.
• 52:08
  Yeah. So that'll that'll get.
• 52:09
  People, yeah, when people are ending their evenings at the
• 52:13
  parks. It's either happily ever after
• 52:16
  or phantasmic. So like it's going to be busy.
• 52:21
  Yeah. Hope ask is it worth?
• 52:24
  Doing the dining package with phantasmic.
• 52:29
  If you're going to eat there anyway, then yes.
• 52:35
  Would I spend extra money to eat somewhere just for a reserved
• 52:40
  seat to phantasmic? No, if that makes sense.
• 52:43
  I probably just wouldn't. I would probably just plan to
• 52:46
  get in there a little bit on the early side because you'll get a
• 52:49
  good seat closer to the middle as long as you get there early
• 52:53
  and it's not that much better than the reserve seats, quite
• 52:57
  honestly. And I will say too, once you're
• 53:00
  inside the amphitheater for phantasmic, if you're thinking
• 53:03
  about like, oh, I got to sit in there with my kids.
• 53:04
  There are concession stands and bathrooms, both located like
• 53:08
  right at the top of the amphitheater seats.
• 53:10
  So that is helpful. I mean those concession lines
• 53:12
  are definitely long because a lot of people are in there and a
• 53:15
  lot of people are wanting to grab a snack before the show,
• 53:17
  but they do have that option And there are bathrooms like right
• 53:20
  as you enter the amphitheater area as well.
• 53:22
  So that is also helpful because it is quite a walk and the
• 53:26
  stroller parking is not super close to where you end up
• 53:30
  sitting. So keep that in mind, but it is
• 53:33
  nice that they have that option as well.
• 53:35
  If you're concerned about waiting that long with your
• 53:37
  kiddos, I feel like quite a walk is the understatement.
• 53:42
  It's a legit hike to the fantastic theater.
• 53:46
  Like the first time I did it, I was like, this keeps going.
• 53:49
  Like, Edward, where are we going?
• 53:50
  Are we hiking to another park? Like what?
• 53:52
  What are we doing? If we're walking that far, it's
• 53:56
  so far like especially cuz I'm I was so used to Disneyland where
• 54:00
  it just happened down the rivers of America.
• 54:02
  Which is also has its downsides cuz it's just a nightmare to you
• 54:05
  and you have to stand the whole time and it's terrible but.
• 54:09
  Um, hidden back away all. It is way back because you
• 54:12
  basically have to walk out and around the whole Beauty and the
• 54:17
  Beast Amphitheater and then go a little bit further to actually
• 54:20
  get to fantastic. I just so far, I'm just Erin's.
• 54:24
  Where's the skylighter? We should take the skylighter to
• 54:27
  it. They should add that it's a
• 54:28
  little little. Drop you right.
• 54:30
  Drop. Drop you right at fantastic.
• 54:33
  I would have, Especially at the end of the night when you're
• 54:35
  tired anyway. It just feels like a punishment
• 54:37
  and it's just like, OK, I'll. Just sit.
• 54:41
  At least there's seats. Yes, there's seats.
• 54:43
  I do. I'm not trying to be negative
• 54:45
  because I do love fantastic and I'm so grateful we get to sit
• 54:48
  there for sure. And the theater is really lovely
• 54:50
  in terms of, like, how they've set it up.
• 54:52
  And I think really great pre show music they do.
• 54:55
  It's a dance party. I will also say, for people who
• 55:01
  are the introverts among us who struggle with loud noises or if
• 55:07
  you have a sensory issue with loud noises.
• 55:09
  If you see a large group in all matching shirts and a lot of
• 55:13
  them seem to be closer to teenage age, they're going to be
• 55:17
  really loud during that show, before the show, during the
• 55:19
  show, after the show. They're going to do probably the
• 55:22
  wave and do a lot of shouting and screaming.
• 55:24
  And that's great and I'm so glad they're doing that.
• 55:26
  But just keep that in mind for where you sit.
• 55:28
  If you have any control over it, you know, maybe try to get a
• 55:31
  section off. The other thing to note, and
• 55:35
  this is just straight fantastic talk, regardless of when you are
• 55:38
  going to phantasmic, the bottom rows are splash zones because
• 55:44
  there is water that water effects that happen.
• 55:48
  And also if you've got kiddos that, like my oldest, has
• 55:52
  serious sensory issues when it comes to fire, which sounds
• 55:56
  crazy, but like bonfires, campfires, those types of
• 55:59
  things. Not his thing, he really really
• 56:02
  doesn't like it. So there are also fire effects
• 56:06
  in the show, and it can get very, very hot in the bottom 5
• 56:11
  rows at least. Intense.
• 56:12
  Yeah, yeah, for sure. So if you've got a kiddo that is
• 56:15
  a little bit sensory borderline like my oldest is.
• 56:19
  Prep them ahead of time because we have watched it several times
• 56:22
  because my kids have not seen fantastic in person and then
• 56:26
  we're they'll be able to see it in November when we go.
• 56:28
  I know I'm so excited for them and so we've watched it several
• 56:31
  times and had several discussions about it.
• 56:33
  But even still we're going to have to sit back at least
• 56:35
  probably 5 to 10 rows, so that way that the the feeling of the
• 56:41
  water and the heat doesn't catch him off guard.
• 56:43
  So it is a very sensory involved show.
• 56:47
  It's a wonderful amazing. Fabulous show, but just that's
• 56:52
  my warning from a Mama who has a kiddo who has some of those
• 56:56
  concerns. There are some pyrotechnics and
• 56:59
  firework effects too that can get a little little bit loud.
• 57:02
  So just keep that in mind for maybe that your protection for
• 57:05
  kiddos. And while we're on this, I
• 57:09
  remember sitting in a row with with Kirk in like the front row
• 57:12
  and he's like, oh, don't worry, this section doesn't get wet.
• 57:16
  Well, the wind was windy. You might get wet.
• 57:20
  So because we all know, we also sat in that same section, May
• 57:24
  and Becca and Kirk and I the night and we went to Moonlight
• 57:27
  Magic and the wind shifted and we got misted on the entire show
• 57:32
  that I was like, this is not a guarantee that this is a dry.
• 57:35
  Place. The good thing is, it's the end
• 57:37
  of the night, so if you do happen to accidentally sit in a
• 57:40
  splash zone, chances are good that you're pretty much headed
• 57:42
  directly back to your room anyway, So.
• 57:46
  Yeah, could be worse. I definitely gave him like a big
• 57:49
  look after that. I was not a wet.
• 57:52
  I was like, I was so my everything was wet and I was
• 57:54
  like, OK, and it was cold out. I was like, OK, Yep.
• 57:59
  Anyway, Yep. So yeah, so all of that said
• 58:01
  about fantastic and whether or not you choose to end your day
• 58:04
  there, just keep all of those things in mind, arriving early,
• 58:08
  thinking about where you want to sit, all of all of that.
• 58:11
  So that will wrap up the end of your day with Genie Plus.
• 58:16
  Let's talk about without Genie Plus.
• 58:18
  This is where things get really, really interesting.
• 58:21
  So without Genie Plus, you do still have the 7:00 AM option to
• 58:24
  book that individual lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance.
• 58:27
  Again, same thing. It will be a difficult 1 to get
• 58:30
  in early time. They will sell out and restart
• 58:33
  you. All of those types of things if
• 58:36
  you're not doing Genie Plus. And you're not planning on doing
• 58:42
  an individual Lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance?
• 58:45
  Chances are very slim that you will be able to ride it, unless
• 58:49
  it's like your top priority ride and that's the one thing that
• 58:52
  you're going for that day. It just.
• 58:55
  Typically doesn't have those wait times unless you can time
• 58:58
  it where it's gone down and you happen to be in the right place,
• 59:01
  the right time, and it goes back up and you can get in line and
• 59:03
  have a short wait then. Or you ride it at the end of the
• 59:06
  night like we talked about. But that's going to be possibly
• 59:09
  sacrificing something else, depending on your list that
• 59:12
  you've made. Yeah, it was just so sad.
• 59:15
  It's like because it's such an amazing ride.
• 59:17
  So it might be what you just want to think about budgeting in
• 59:22
  for. I hate to say that.
• 59:23
  Like. Yeah, well, like what my family
• 59:26
  does. Like we budget in for my husband
• 59:30
  and my son to go on it. I've been on it.
• 59:32
  I don't need to go on it again. My daughter's not interested in
• 59:36
  going on it. Yeah, at all.
• 59:39
  So we budget for the two of them to go on it and they have their
• 59:42
  time. And my daughter and I usually go
• 59:44
  and walk through the marketplace and look at all the cute stuff,
• 59:46
  animals and you know, all of that type of stuff, so.
• 59:49
  It just you know if you want to budget for a few of you to or
• 59:53
  you know kind of just make your decisions based on that.
• 59:57
  But like I said, typically 20 to $25 per person is that
• 1:00:01
  individual lightning lane cost. So much.
• 1:00:04
  Yes. OK, so your rope drop strategy
• 1:00:07
  is going to be the same suggestion.
• 1:00:09
  Unfortunately, I don't have any really great tips for rope drop
• 1:00:12
  because unlike like Magic Kingdom, there are certain
• 1:00:15
  parks, parts of the park that don't open for early entry.
• 1:00:19
  So you can kind of manipulate the system a little bit that
• 1:00:22
  way. With Hollywood studios, it all
• 1:00:25
  opens for early entry and then it is all open for everyone for
• 1:00:28
  rope drops. So you can stand outside if you
• 1:00:32
  don't have early entry and watch the wait times and make your
• 1:00:35
  plan, you know, a contingency plan based on that.
• 1:00:38
  If you're doing early entry, again, get there early.
• 1:00:42
  An hour before early entry is really my suggestion to make the
• 1:00:45
  most of that morning time. And again, do the area that's
• 1:00:48
  the most important to you hit Toy Story, go to Galaxy's Edge,
• 1:00:52
  that type of thing? Again, Galaxy's Edge.
• 1:00:55
  Rope dropping. Rise of the Resistance may or
• 1:00:57
  may not be a great way to spend your morning.
• 1:01:00
  Same thing that we already talked about, but just again
• 1:01:03
  those same same things about rise being slow to rise in the
• 1:01:08
  morning. So lunch.
• 1:01:16
  Same options as above. Now your afternoon is really
• 1:01:22
  going to depend on when and where you rope dropped and what
• 1:01:27
  you have accomplished in the morning.
• 1:01:29
  Most of your afternoon is going to be spent checking the wait
• 1:01:32
  times and pivoting depending on what the wait times are doing.
• 1:01:35
  It's really unfortunate but. That's just the way that this
• 1:01:38
  park functions. There's no great trends.
• 1:01:42
  There's no. Knowing exactly what's going to
• 1:01:45
  happen, because Rise, so the Resistance could go up or down
• 1:01:47
  at any point in time. Rock and Roller Coaster can go
• 1:01:49
  down. Tower of Terror is fairly
• 1:01:51
  consistent. Mickey Minnie's fairly
• 1:01:53
  consistent. If weather hits, you've got that
• 1:01:55
  aspect as well. So it's one tire.
• 1:01:58
  There's. So many variables if they're
• 1:02:00
  only operating it like one elevator.
• 1:02:02
  If they're working on the other elevator shaft, that will make
• 1:02:05
  those wait times go sky high and it'll be like why is even if the
• 1:02:09
  park's not that? The wait times will be
• 1:02:11
  ridiculously high. Yeah, it was that way for six
• 1:02:14
  months. I mean, they were working on the
• 1:02:16
  one elevator Shafter, Tower Terror, for six months, and they
• 1:02:18
  were only running one. And those wait times were crazy.
• 1:02:21
  And then all of a sudden they opened both elevators and we're
• 1:02:23
  like, what do you mean, Tower Terror is only 25 minutes?
• 1:02:25
  Like, no, We're just like, what? We're not used to that.
• 1:02:28
  Yeah, and it's like, oh, they finally fixed it.
• 1:02:30
  Woohoo. Yay.
• 1:02:31
  So Aaron says that Hollywood Studios is the wild, Wild West
• 1:02:35
  of Walt Disney World. I think that's an actor.
• 1:02:37
  It is. Oh my gosh.
• 1:02:41
  So this is what I'm going to present to you all.
• 1:02:45
  As my advice, here are your typical wait times, typical in
• 1:02:53
  Hollywood studios from high to low.
• 1:02:56
  Again, these vary a lot. But Rise and Slinky are going to
• 1:03:00
  be your top to the majority of the time.
• 1:03:03
  So those are your ones that you're going to want to bookend
• 1:03:07
  your day with because they typically have the longest wait
• 1:03:10
  and they're going to take up the most of your time just standing
• 1:03:13
  and waiting in line. Shortly after that Tower of
• 1:03:17
  Terror. Again dependent on the elevator
• 1:03:19
  shaft situation, they typically have two running.
• 1:03:21
  If only one is running then it may be the highest weight in the
• 1:03:24
  park. Yeah, Toy Story Mania.
• 1:03:27
  Because it's such a family friendly ride and there's not
• 1:03:30
  not every ride is super family friendly in Hollywood Studios.
• 1:03:33
  The wait for that can be upwards of an hour.
• 1:03:35
  Fairly soon after Park Open, Smugglers Run comes after that
• 1:03:40
  Smugglers Run does have a single rider line it.
• 1:03:45
  Can be really, really good. Kate has shared with us
• 1:03:47
  previously that she's had hot and cold experiences in the
• 1:03:52
  Smugglers run Single rider line. But the majority of the time it
• 1:03:55
  is a fairly good single rider line because that ride vehicle
• 1:04:00
  is a six person ride vehicle and you get a lot of parties at
• 1:04:03
  four. And sometimes it'll just throw
• 1:04:05
  two single riders in with those parties.
• 1:04:07
  They will always be engineers. You will be an engineer if
• 1:04:10
  you're a single rider. Always.
• 1:04:11
  Yes. You'll never get to be a pilot.
• 1:04:15
  Yes, unfortunately. So if you want to be a pilot you
• 1:04:19
  got, you got to wait in in standby.
• 1:04:21
  And even then, unless you have a party of like 4-5 six, you may
• 1:04:27
  get paired with other people and then still not end up being a
• 1:04:30
  pilot. You can always ask the cast
• 1:04:32
  member if you've waited in standby.
• 1:04:34
  Don't ask if you're in the single rider line because
• 1:04:36
  they're going to tell you no. It's just the way it is.
• 1:04:38
  But if you waited in the standby line, you can always ask the
• 1:04:41
  cast member. Hey, is it possible that I could
• 1:04:43
  wait and be a pilot? Depending on circumstances, you
• 1:04:48
  may get lucky. Always the engineer, never the
• 1:04:51
  pilot. Like never the bride.
• 1:04:55
  So true. Yes, yes.
• 1:04:58
  Well, yeah, and I will. I will say single rider line can
• 1:05:03
  be great if you're just trying to knock that out.
• 1:05:04
  If there's only a couple people in your party that want to do it
• 1:05:07
  anyway, it is like iPods. It's always awkward being the
• 1:05:11
  single writer with a family. Like, you know you're for your
• 1:05:14
  family of five or a family of four and they're like having the
• 1:05:16
  time of their life and you're like.
• 1:05:18
  And then there's me. Hey, what's up?
• 1:05:20
  I enjoying your family. I do kind of miss the time when
• 1:05:26
  they would they would only have one family per thing.
• 1:05:29
  That was a really fun time. I remember I piloted the
• 1:05:32
  Millennium Falcon by myself at that point and that was so weird
• 1:05:35
  to be by myself. And Anna makes a good point, she
• 1:05:39
  said. Because I asked last time and
• 1:05:41
  now I never want to be pilot again, so you may not want to
• 1:05:44
  have that. It's a lot of pressure.
• 1:05:46
  It is a lot of pressure. You got to fly that ship man.
• 1:05:49
  OK, so yeah, so after Smokers Run, then Runaway Railway and
• 1:05:53
  Rock and Roller Coaster are going to be next and then down
• 1:05:55
  at the bottom Aliens Rolling Saucers, Star Wars and Muppets.
• 1:05:58
  So again, those are just typical wait times high to low.
• 1:06:02
  So my suggestion to you would be book End your day with Rise and
• 1:06:06
  Slinky Dog. And then hit as many of those
• 1:06:09
  long wait attractions during early entry and rope drop time
• 1:06:12
  as you possibly can because that's going to set you up for
• 1:06:16
  success. And I will say this park, it's
• 1:06:19
  very easy to backtrack and you're going to end up
• 1:06:21
  backtracking depending on your list.
• 1:06:24
  The worst is if you can get Tower terror and Rock and Roller
• 1:06:28
  coaster close together and be able to ride them kind of in one
• 1:06:32
  swoop. That is your to your best.
• 1:06:35
  You know, when it comes to walking across the park, the
• 1:06:38
  other areas are a little easier to get between.
• 1:06:41
  If you're working between Runaway Railway, Toy Story, and
• 1:06:44
  Galaxies Edge areas, those are a little bit easier to maneuver
• 1:06:47
  between. But if you throw rock and roller
• 1:06:50
  coaster or tower or tear in the middle of all of that, it's a
• 1:06:52
  lot of walking. Yeah, Sunset Boulevard's It's
• 1:06:56
  beautiful. It's a great walk.
• 1:06:57
  It's a lovely vibe. It's it's especially in the
• 1:07:00
  evening, the sunset and the twilight.
• 1:07:02
  It's lovely, but it's a long walk.
• 1:07:04
  So yes. Yes, absolutely.
• 1:07:07
  And the other thing that I will also say is this plan, most
• 1:07:12
  likely you're going to be able to hit four or five attractions
• 1:07:16
  in the morning. Your whole afternoon is probably
• 1:07:19
  going to be shows, character meets.
• 1:07:21
  Experiences, those types of things.
• 1:07:23
  And then the evening will be your time to really get through
• 1:07:26
  the other three or four attractions, depending on timing
• 1:07:29
  and the crowds in the park for that day.
• 1:07:33
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't waste your time in the
• 1:07:36
  afternoon standing at this massive, massive lines.
• 1:07:38
  Just don't don't do it. There's other things you can do
• 1:07:41
  while you wait for the lines to go down.
• 1:07:43
  Once dinner time hits and the show times hit, everybody starts
• 1:07:46
  doing those things that makes the the wait time go down.
• 1:07:49
  And that's pretty consistent in most of the parks.
• 1:07:52
  Right around 10:30 eleven all the crowds come in, it gets busy
• 1:07:56
  until the late afternoon and then it's you start to see it go
• 1:08:00
  down in general as a park rule, so.
• 1:08:02
  Yeah, and I will say if you are someone trying to navigate
• 1:08:06
  Hollywood studios without using Genie plus meal times are a
• 1:08:08
  really good time to do some of those like mid level attractions
• 1:08:13
  because you'll see from like 11:30 to 1:00.
• 1:08:16
  Some of those times will drop down like 20 minutes or so and
• 1:08:20
  the same thing from like 5:00 to 6:00, six Thirtyish.
• 1:08:23
  You'll see that too. I'm not talking the big name
• 1:08:26
  attractions. That's not really going to be
• 1:08:28
  consistent or happening with some of those, but some of those
• 1:08:30
  midlevel ones in the middle of that list, you may be able to
• 1:08:34
  kind of time it the right way with that.
• 1:08:37
  And again, you're unfortunately at Hollywood Studios.
• 1:08:39
  You've really just got to keep your eye on those wait times.
• 1:08:42
  On your phone, on your app, they've got the boards
• 1:08:45
  throughout the park. You know, just really pay
• 1:08:47
  attention and keep an eye on those because if you see
• 1:08:49
  something drop and you've been waiting on it to drop, you gotta
• 1:08:52
  go like Yep, 5 minutes ago. Yeah.
• 1:08:57
  I feel like Hollywood Studios sometimes is the most stressful
• 1:09:00
  park for me because there's so many things to hit in such a
• 1:09:03
  short period of time and it's like everything.
• 1:09:06
  Everything is a big ride and it's just like, how do I do all
• 1:09:09
  of this? So yeah, you know, in that way,
• 1:09:12
  if you're feeling stressed out about it, maybe just make some
• 1:09:15
  decisions about like what's most important to us, and then have a
• 1:09:19
  more relaxed day from that point on saying, OK, these are the
• 1:09:22
  main things we're going to hit. And after that, we're just going
• 1:09:25
  to enjoy ourselves and just enjoy our time here because it
• 1:09:29
  really is not worth it to stress yourself out trying to get to
• 1:09:32
  everything. It's not right to make your
• 1:09:33
  vacation that much more enjoyable.
• 1:09:35
  It might actually go the opposite if you're trying to get
• 1:09:38
  to everything and it's stressful for you.
• 1:09:40
  Yeah. And like we said, the shows and
• 1:09:43
  all of that are so good at Hollywood studios.
• 1:09:46
  Yeah. So sometimes, I mean that's the
• 1:09:48
  majority of. Up until this last trip, that
• 1:09:51
  was the majority of what we were doing in Hollywood studios
• 1:09:54
  because my kids were little. They didn't weren't big enough
• 1:09:56
  for Rock and Roller Coaster, didn't want to do Tower of
• 1:09:58
  Terror. So it was like we would hit Toy
• 1:10:01
  Story Land and maybe Rise and Mickey Minnie's Runaway Railway
• 1:10:05
  and then it was like shows from there.
• 1:10:07
  So it really is a good park for shows if that's the way that you
• 1:10:12
  want to gear your day to. I agree yes.
• 1:10:17
  So just rounding out that day dinner options, we talked about
• 1:10:21
  the food and the quick service options there and then again in
• 1:10:24
  the evening Phantasmic can be a good time to kind of book end
• 1:10:26
  with another one of those E ticket attractions again without
• 1:10:30
  Genie. Plus it's going to be Rise or
• 1:10:32
  Slinky Dog for the the the best use of that time.
• 1:10:37
  Yep, that's that's Hollywood. We did it.
• 1:10:39
  That's Hollywood. Whoo Hoo.
• 1:10:43
  It's a lot and it's a lot to about it.
• 1:10:46
  We weren't even running around the park, but I'd be like
• 1:10:49
  mentally we were running. Around park, right.
• 1:10:52
  And I will say the thing with Hollywood Studios is even with
• 1:10:54
  using Genie Plus when I help people book or I help Barbie and
• 1:10:59
  her clients or I do itineraries, it is the hardest park.
• 1:11:04
  It is the hardest park. So like, don't beat yourself up
• 1:11:07
  if it doesn't work out and if you struggle through it.
• 1:11:10
  It's so hard, So hard. Well, there's so many, there's
• 1:11:14
  so many different things that can happen, like with Rise not
• 1:11:17
  warming up enough or with the rides going, certain rides going
• 1:11:21
  down because of lightning or rain or whatever.
• 1:11:24
  There's just like unpredictable things that happen there that
• 1:11:26
  you really can't anticipate. So, you know, again, try to make
• 1:11:31
  your list of things that you really enjoy and try to get to
• 1:11:34
  those and make that your priority and be there on that.
• 1:11:36
  Just enjoy your day because it really is a lovely park to just
• 1:11:39
  walk around and enjoy. Yeah, and and shopping is great
• 1:11:43
  there too. Like Elliott loves to shop in
• 1:11:45
  Hollywood Studios. And there's so many great little
• 1:11:47
  areas that you can just kind of like hang out and enjoy.
• 1:11:50
  Like in Toy Story Land, the green army men will walk through
• 1:11:54
  and you can see that, and you see the characters walking
• 1:11:56
  around a lot. Same with Galaxy's Edge.
• 1:11:58
  I mean you can find spots to sit in the around in the marketplace
• 1:12:01
  in that area and and watch for Ray to come by or the
• 1:12:05
  Stormtroopers or Mandalorian. You know, there's lots of really
• 1:12:08
  good, good places you can kind of hang out if you're just
• 1:12:12
  wanting some vibes. Very different from like Magic
• 1:12:15
  Kingdom vibes, but also very good vibes, yes, for sure 100%.
• 1:12:20
  Let's let's go to animal Kingdom, shall we?
• 1:12:22
  Let's do it. Let's have a a relaxed time in
• 1:12:25
  Animal Kingdom because it's so much less complicated than
• 1:12:28
  Hollywood Studios. It's just such a wonderful park.
• 1:12:34
  It's just such a wonderful park. Okay, a couple general notes
• 1:12:38
  about Animal Kingdom. You will also hear Animal
• 1:12:40
  Kingdom be referred to as DAK. Disney's Animal Kingdom DAK,
• 1:12:44
  just the abbreviation. So if we talk, if we you hear us
• 1:12:47
  say that that's what it stands for.
• 1:12:49
  Something to keep in mind is it does have the shortest operating
• 1:12:52
  hours of all of the Walt Disney World Parks due to the animals
• 1:12:55
  that they have and that they have to take care of.
• 1:12:58
  So definitely checking your park times.
• 1:13:01
  They also typically are the earliest opening park them in
• 1:13:05
  Hollywood Studios typically have the earliest opening times,
• 1:13:09
  depending. On what else is happening across
• 1:13:12
  the resort, so do keep that in mind as well that early entry
• 1:13:16
  there is typically like as early as 7:30.
• 1:13:19
  So that is again one of those really, really early.
• 1:13:24
  So but the nice thing about Animal Kingdom is there's not as
• 1:13:30
  many attractions and rides. So it is one that you can
• 1:13:35
  definitely still. Get away with finishing
• 1:13:38
  everything and taking a break in the afternoon, yeah.
• 1:13:42
  So keeping that in mind or you can I I sometimes will sleep in
• 1:13:48
  and even only do it like you know noon to like close because
• 1:13:52
  I I know, I know you don't but I do that so do that it's.
• 1:14:00
  So much better in the morning. Oh, something.
• 1:14:04
  Yeah, you're right, the animals are better in the morning.
• 1:14:06
  But I will do that. I will just say you can get away
• 1:14:08
  with that if you need to. If you had a really late night,
• 1:14:12
  it's not going to be like I've ruined my day at Animal Kingdom.
• 1:14:16
  I won't be able to get to things if I sleep in so.
• 1:14:18
  No, no. If you're talking about being
• 1:14:21
  able to accomplish your list and your tasks and things that you
• 1:14:24
  want to do, that is definitely true.
• 1:14:26
  But my suggestion is to be there as early as possible because of
• 1:14:33
  the animals in the morning in are way more active and way more
• 1:14:38
  out and about when you get into the afternoon hours and that
• 1:14:41
  Florida heat they you don't see them a lot of times.
• 1:14:46
  So depending on your what you're what you're going for, I think I
• 1:14:51
  just everybody's like, I'm stressing you out.
• 1:14:55
  I always do that on and I will say, I will say not gonna
• 1:14:59
  happen. I will say that the main reason
• 1:15:02
  is the animals, but you can also get a very similar experience if
• 1:15:06
  you go very end of the operating hours of the safari and The
• 1:15:11
  Walking trails and things like that.
• 1:15:12
  That's what I'm saying. You can enjoy the evening hours
• 1:15:14
  sometimes the animals will come out in the evening when it's
• 1:15:17
  cooled off a little bit. Just make sure you don't go too
• 1:15:19
  late and miss the safari because they do close that.
• 1:15:21
  But yeah, I yes I agree and the morning to to be fair, if it's
• 1:15:26
  really hot out, that part does get released.
• 1:15:29
  If especially if it rains, it gets very steamy and hot in the
• 1:15:31
  afternoon. So if it's a if it's a summer
• 1:15:34
  time, you probably do want to try to do those morning hours is
• 1:15:38
  the better option. I just personally sometimes.
• 1:15:42
  Go in the afternoon and I agree that you can do and I agree with
• 1:15:46
  you. It's just not my preference.
• 1:15:50
  I don't advocate for everybody to do that.
• 1:15:52
  I just think sometimes I do. And it's not the end of the
• 1:15:54
  world because it's a shorter agenda of things you have to do.
• 1:15:58
  That's all. Yes, that's what I was getting
• 1:15:59
  at. So Speaking of the shorter
• 1:16:02
  agenda, let's talk about Genie Plus at Animal Kingdom.
• 1:16:06
  This park is very easy to accomplish using Genie Plus most
• 1:16:09
  days. Honestly, Genie Plus is not
• 1:16:11
  necessary if the crowds aren't insane and you do rope.
• 1:16:15
  Drop in early entry if you are wanting to sleep in.
• 1:16:20
  I would suggest doing Genie Plus.
• 1:16:22
  See, when I go by myself and I just he's like single writer.
• 1:16:25
  Right. Not a big deal, but if you're
• 1:16:27
  with a family, for sure, yeah, If you were doing that, yeah,
• 1:16:30
  you. See and and then so then what
• 1:16:32
  you would do if you were wanting to utilize a Kate schedule and
• 1:16:36
  go in the afternoon and evening? Wake up at 7, book your first
• 1:16:41
  ride, go back to sleep, set an alarm to for two hours after,
• 1:16:44
  Park Open to be able to book your next ride, and then just
• 1:16:47
  continue to modify them to later times.
• 1:16:49
  And we've talked about stacking and how that works in our Genie
• 1:16:51
  Plus episode. So if you need more info on how
• 1:16:54
  that whole process works, go listen to our Genie Plus episode
• 1:16:57
  and then if you still have questions, send us a message so
• 1:17:01
  for. Animal Kingdom I would suggest
• 1:17:04
  arriving about 30 minutes before early entry for a rope drop.
• 1:17:08
  Early entry is not typically crazy packed busy when it comes
• 1:17:11
  to animal Kingdom because it is so early.
• 1:17:14
  A lot of families don't. They just doesn't got to get up
• 1:17:17
  at like 4:30 in the morning. Everybody ready to go?
• 1:17:20
  Like who wants to do that? I don't know.
• 1:17:22
  Yeah, like I said, early entry can start as early as 7:30 there
• 1:17:26
  and that's fairly normal for early entry for Animal Kingdom.
• 1:17:30
  A couple options for what they have for Genie Plus and
• 1:17:33
  Lightning Lanes. Your individual lightning lane
• 1:17:35
  option ride is Flight of Passage which is one of the Avatar
• 1:17:38
  rides. It is one of my personal
• 1:17:40
  favorite rides when it comes to Disney World.
• 1:17:44
  It is typically 14 to $16.00 per person.
• 1:17:47
  So kind of midrange when it comes to price point with that
• 1:17:50
  one. If you are doing just one day in
• 1:17:55
  animal Kingdom and are planning on not being there, open to
• 1:17:58
  close. I would highly suggest the
• 1:18:01
  individual lightning lane for a flight of passage because that
• 1:18:04
  line is consistently long and your chances are are 5050
• 1:18:10
  whether or not it drops enough at park close for you to be able
• 1:18:13
  to do it. And I honestly don't suggest
• 1:18:15
  rope dropping it because everybody rope drops it.
• 1:18:19
  And even though it'll move fairly quickly, that line will
• 1:18:22
  still take you way too long and it's not worth wasting those
• 1:18:25
  morning hours in the flight of passage line.
• 1:18:27
  I agree. I I'd much rather do it at the
• 1:18:29
  end of the day as like a final thing you do.
• 1:18:33
  Especially because that area is so picturesque in Pandora, in
• 1:18:38
  the evening early twilight hours into night, night time.
• 1:18:41
  It's actually like a crime that you don't get to see it at night
• 1:18:44
  fairly often because it's it's the most beautiful at night.
• 1:18:48
  Everything glows and comes to life and they have the different
• 1:18:50
  sounds at night. It's so amazing.
• 1:18:53
  It's very sad that they don't, it's not often open for that.
• 1:18:56
  So yeah. So a couple different ways that
• 1:18:58
  you can work your morning, keeping in mind that the
• 1:19:03
  Kilimanjaro Safari, which is one of the big attractions at Animal
• 1:19:07
  Kingdom 99% of the time, is not open during early entry.
• 1:19:14
  So do not plan to use your early entry time riding the safari
• 1:19:18
  because like I said it, I don't know that I've ever seen it.
• 1:19:22
  I won't say never, but I don't know that I've ever seen it open
• 1:19:25
  during early entry. Occasionally they may open the
• 1:19:28
  queue like 5 minutes before park open occasionally, but even then
• 1:19:33
  sometimes it has a delayed start by 15 or 30 minutes after the
• 1:19:38
  park is opened because it depends on.
• 1:19:40
  They've got to get the feeding stuff ready to go and get the
• 1:19:43
  animals all situated. You know, there's a lot of
• 1:19:46
  behind the scenes work that those cast members do for the
• 1:19:49
  safari in the morning, so keep that in mind.
• 1:19:53
  I would suggest booking Flight of passage and.
• 1:19:59
  You can do what Kate said and you can book it at the end of
• 1:20:02
  your day or you can book it at the beginning of your day.
• 1:20:04
  Either way, you're going to want to circle back to Pandora in the
• 1:20:07
  evening regardless of even if you're just walking through to
• 1:20:09
  enjoy it or if you're going to an attraction there.
• 1:20:12
  But I would suggest booking flight of passage early and then
• 1:20:15
  doing your Genie plus ride to be Navi river first so then you can
• 1:20:20
  rope drop and enjoy whatever you choose to rope drop and then
• 1:20:24
  once the park open time kind of starts do Navi river.
• 1:20:28
  And Pandora and then the Safari directly after that would be my
• 1:20:31
  suggestion. You can also kind of flip that
• 1:20:35
  and push your Pandora times a little bit later morning if you
• 1:20:38
  choose to and do Safari first. But again, if you're rope
• 1:20:42
  dropping early entry, you're not going to be able to do the
• 1:20:45
  Safari. So you really just have to kind
• 1:20:48
  of decide what you want to do. And crystals, as my favorite is
• 1:20:51
  getting Starbucks while everyone is running to Flight of Passage.
• 1:20:57
  And you know what? Of all of the parts, Animal
• 1:20:59
  Kingdom is probably one that like it's not a it's not totally
• 1:21:03
  awful if you go to Starbucks. Get away with that.
• 1:21:05
  I know. It's just like I I definitely
• 1:21:08
  told my husband. Like I I've always had this like
• 1:21:11
  pet peeve. And this is nothing against
• 1:21:12
  anybody who does Starbucks first.
• 1:21:14
  But I have like a huge pet peeve for like I don't want to wait in
• 1:21:17
  line at Starbucks during those golden hours because I had to
• 1:21:20
  get up early and I hate getting up early.
• 1:21:22
  So if I had to get up early, I am not waiting in line at
• 1:21:24
  Starbucks for that time that I got up early.
• 1:21:27
  For it. So like.
• 1:21:28
  And of course like when we went to Magic Kingdom, my husband was
• 1:21:31
  like, I just want to get Starbucks and walk down Main
• 1:21:34
  Street. And I was like, I look at it,
• 1:21:35
  but I was like, we are not doing that until later.
• 1:21:39
  It's like you could do that later today, not now.
• 1:21:43
  Well, and it doesn't help that you don't drink coffee and
• 1:21:46
  caffeine. So like.
• 1:21:48
  So it's like, for me, I'm like, it's pointless.
• 1:21:50
  So yeah, but yeah, exactly. Eventually, just to be fair.
• 1:21:54
  And it was, he's great and he enjoyed it, but it was like I
• 1:21:56
  was like. We are not doing that.
• 1:22:00
  So I will say that Animal Kingdom this is the suggestion,
• 1:22:05
  these are the suggestions that I have as far as the attractions
• 1:22:08
  in the order that you should book them.
• 1:22:10
  Again, this is not your end. I'll be a list pick and choose
• 1:22:12
  the ones that you want and plan accordingly depending on where
• 1:22:16
  you want to go. And probably I would say
• 1:22:19
  honestly with animal Kingdom kind of planning a little bit on
• 1:22:22
  like where you want to be towards lunchtime and dinner
• 1:22:25
  time is helpful because the food options here are really good.
• 1:22:28
  So kind of having a game plan to cover the park in a certain way
• 1:22:32
  so that you end up nearby those places is helpful.
• 1:22:35
  But the order that I would book your genie plus attractions
• 1:22:38
  would be Navi river then the safari.
• 1:22:41
  But again, I would almost rope drop Safari at park open and
• 1:22:46
  then use your Genie Plus to do a second ride because the Safari
• 1:22:51
  is something that is different every single time you ride it.
• 1:22:54
  So it's super fun to be able to do it more than once.
• 1:22:56
  If you're able to swing that after that, then Expedition
• 1:22:59
  Everest. Everest does have a single rider
• 1:23:01
  line, so keep that in mind as well.
• 1:23:04
  And then Cali River Rapids and then Dinosaur and then this is a
• 1:23:07
  good park to actually utilize. One of the character meet and
• 1:23:10
  greets Mickey and Minnie meet here in their little adventure
• 1:23:14
  like adventure guide safari outfits and they're super cute
• 1:23:18
  and it's a good option to book through your Genie Plus.
• 1:23:21
  So I would suggest if that's something that you haven't done
• 1:23:24
  any characters and you're wanting to like debating about,
• 1:23:26
  if you want to do it, I would do it at Animal Kingdom.
• 1:23:28
  Because I think that's a good use of one of your later in the
• 1:23:31
  day Genie Plus times. And then the shows that are on
• 1:23:36
  there, The Finding Nemo musical and the Festival The Lion King,
• 1:23:42
  both absolutely incredible, amazing shows that I highly,
• 1:23:46
  highly, highly suggest you go see both of them.
• 1:23:48
  But they do not need a genie plus time at all.
• 1:23:53
  Because The thing is, with the Genie plus return time, you
• 1:23:55
  still have to get there 20 minutes early to be within your
• 1:23:58
  window of your genie plus return time.
• 1:24:00
  So really in the end it it truly doesn't matter when it comes to
• 1:24:04
  reserving that for both of those shows.
• 1:24:07
  Lion King is a smaller theater than Finding Nemo and the the
• 1:24:12
  morning shows and the shows in like mid afternoon can be busy
• 1:24:16
  or depending on the day and the crowds and those types of
• 1:24:19
  things. Finding Nemo I do suggest
• 1:24:22
  getting there early so that you can get a seat down closer to
• 1:24:25
  the stage because there are characters that and performers
• 1:24:29
  that interact with different parts and aisle ways and things
• 1:24:32
  like that. So the closer to the stage you
• 1:24:34
  are the better. But then also it's tough to be a
• 1:24:36
  bug which is a 4D attraction, doesn't need a genie plus return
• 1:24:42
  time. It very rarely goes over 10 / 10
• 1:24:45
  minutes. I was waiting to see what you
• 1:24:46
  work. So again, go to it.
• 1:24:50
  But I yeah, I will close my eyes during the spiders every time,
• 1:24:54
  right? Yeah, so we talked about these
• 1:24:56
  these parks being having shorter lists.
• 1:24:58
  You know, we talked about that with Hollywood Studios.
• 1:25:00
  Hollywood Studios has a really short list, but it's going to
• 1:25:02
  take you all day. Animal Kingdom also has a short
• 1:25:05
  list, Navi River Safari, Everest, Cali River Rapids,
• 1:25:08
  Dinosaur. Even if we throw the meet and
• 1:25:11
  greet in there, you really only have six attractions that you're
• 1:25:15
  going to use your Genie Plus for.
• 1:25:17
  Which is why I say that on days that crowds are low, you may not
• 1:25:21
  need Genie Plus. Or, chances are very good you
• 1:25:24
  won't need Genie Plus and you can just buy that individual
• 1:25:26
  lightning lane for Flight of Passage and just work your way
• 1:25:29
  around the park. See what the difference is like
• 1:25:31
  even though there was kind of like 6 in Hollywood studios and
• 1:25:34
  six here, the difference is that they're these are not all E
• 1:25:37
  ticket attractions necessarily or like people don't treat them
• 1:25:40
  like that. There's kind of some that are
• 1:25:42
  more. Moderate and some that are more
• 1:25:44
  eticket and and it's just less crowded in general in this park
• 1:25:49
  and there's a little bit more to do.
• 1:25:50
  That's not not just these big attractions, there's a lot of
• 1:25:54
  walking trails and animals and other stuff to go to go do and
• 1:25:58
  see. And so it won't take you all
• 1:26:01
  day, especially because those return times don't fly by really
• 1:26:04
  fast like in Hollywood studios. So you can book one after the
• 1:26:08
  other pretty much and just knock them all out really quickly.
• 1:26:11
  Yeah, you might have a few in the morning that you have to
• 1:26:13
  wait on an animal Kingdom because Navi River can get late
• 1:26:18
  fairly quickly because a lot of people try to piggyback it with
• 1:26:21
  flight of passage in the morning.
• 1:26:22
  So they try to book both of those in the morning.
• 1:26:26
  The safaris hit or miss and Everest is hit or miss as far as
• 1:26:29
  how quickly they get pushed out. But Navi River for sure, which
• 1:26:33
  is why I have you booking it first, because you don't want to
• 1:26:36
  miss out on going on that attraction.
• 1:26:38
  I love Navi River Journey. I think it's a beautiful,
• 1:26:41
  amazing attraction, but a lot of people are just like, it's just
• 1:26:44
  a boat right in the dark. But like for me, I love that
• 1:26:47
  ride. I think it's so pretty.
• 1:26:48
  So I think it's something that that a lot of people may be
• 1:26:51
  right off that I think you should do.
• 1:26:55
  I think with kids it's worthwhile because it's not like
• 1:26:58
  a ton of things, like, you know, there's only so much you can do
• 1:27:00
  with small children anyway. And so I think it's definitely a
• 1:27:03
  really. Beautiful design.
• 1:27:05
  I think it's a little short and gosh, the last time I was on it,
• 1:27:09
  the audio animatronic wasn't working and it was just very
• 1:27:12
  mode. And I've never seen B mode
• 1:27:14
  before because you were alive. And we were as part of the ride,
• 1:27:17
  right? Yes, cuz that audio animatronic
• 1:27:20
  is absolutely amazing. But yeah, you've got B mode and
• 1:27:23
  I was like. It's just a screen.
• 1:27:25
  Yeah, it's happening. Right.
• 1:27:27
  It was weird. Yeah.
• 1:27:28
  So yes, I mean, I think, I think if you ran out of time and you
• 1:27:32
  had to skip something, I think Navi River is something you
• 1:27:34
  could skip. And it's not like not the end of
• 1:27:37
  the world. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't skip
• 1:27:39
  the safaris. I wouldn't skip Everest.
• 1:27:42
  If your party wants to go on Everest and definitely not, what
• 1:27:46
  was that third one? There was a third one, quite a
• 1:27:49
  passage. Like those are like if you did
• 1:27:51
  those 3. And maybe ate some good food and
• 1:27:54
  walked some animal trails. You'd have a great day in Animal
• 1:27:56
  Kingdom. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:27:59
  So Speaking of food, Kate, do you want to chat about Animal
• 1:28:01
  Kingdom food? Yes, so my husband is a huge
• 1:28:06
  foodie. My husband Elliott, for all
• 1:28:08
  those of you don't know and Animal Kingdom is his favorite
• 1:28:10
  place to be. So we've eaten a lot of things
• 1:28:11
  in Animal Kingdom. I think it's a toss up for our
• 1:28:15
  favorite between Satule Canteen for quick service for between
• 1:28:19
  Satule Canteen and Flame Tree BBQ.
• 1:28:21
  Which if you eat a Flame tree BBQ, the eating area is kind of
• 1:28:25
  like around the back of the place you pick up your food.
• 1:28:29
  Go sit down by the water because the views are gorgeous of
• 1:28:33
  Everest and everything across the water, and it's one of the
• 1:28:36
  quieter places in the parks. There are a couple of birds, so
• 1:28:39
  if you're bird phobic, keep that in mind.
• 1:28:42
  Who could that be? The eating area is themed as
• 1:28:48
  predator and prey, so it's actually kind of a fun place to
• 1:28:51
  discuss with your kids about like you know the circle of life
• 1:28:54
  so to speak and like these animals that are.
• 1:28:57
  So it's got an animal theme in that way that's really neat.
• 1:29:00
  Sotuli Canteen is great. It's a little bit leans more
• 1:29:02
  like healthier food, whereas Flame Tree BBQ leans more
• 1:29:05
  towards BBQ. So, you know, a chicken in.
• 1:29:08
  And I really like the. The place the thing I get at
• 1:29:12
  Flame Tree BBQ is the Mac and cheese with pulled pork.
• 1:29:15
  Barbecue pulled pork on top with an onion ring, and it's like my
• 1:29:18
  favorite thing. That's the popular one there.
• 1:29:21
  It's so good, something about that and it has a little bit of
• 1:29:24
  coleslaw on it too. So it's like something with a
• 1:29:25
  combination of it is just really good.
• 1:29:28
  Other places you can eat include Pizzafari, which I only went in
• 1:29:33
  there for the first time the other day.
• 1:29:35
  And their rooms are also themed by the way.
• 1:29:37
  So some of the rooms have like animals that like to hide,
• 1:29:40
  animals that hang upside down so you can like go in the room and
• 1:29:44
  see that they super cute decor inside.
• 1:29:47
  I love like all the murals and the painted walls and everything
• 1:29:50
  in there. Super fun.
• 1:29:52
  I've probably never been in in there because I just don't do
• 1:29:54
  Disney pizza usually, so that's probably, but the theming was
• 1:29:57
  really cute. And then Yak and Yeti quick
• 1:29:59
  service and I have to say Elliott and I ate at Yak and
• 1:30:03
  Yeti as a table service for the first time.
• 1:30:05
  This pastor and that table service was phenomenal.
• 1:30:08
  Like that food was really, really good.
• 1:30:10
  So if you like anything that's more Asian, Thai, Chinese, kind
• 1:30:16
  of themed like that, that food is really, really amazing.
• 1:30:20
  So big. I'm going to advocate for that
• 1:30:22
  as well, but for families I'd say Satule Canteen in Pandora or
• 1:30:26
  Flametree BBQ are probably your best bet for quick service.
• 1:30:29
  Satule Canteen is air conditioned on the inside so you
• 1:30:33
  can actually sit down and and you can refill your water
• 1:30:36
  bottles with their fountain drinks and stuff too.
• 1:30:39
  So, but if you need to get out of heat, do satule canteen.
• 1:30:43
  And a lot of people don't realize, because it does have a
• 1:30:45
  fairly large outdoor seating area as well, like out front,
• 1:30:49
  but there's a bunch of seating inside.
• 1:30:51
  You don't have to sit outside. And I feel like a lot of people
• 1:30:53
  don't realize that because they get tunnel vision, because the
• 1:30:57
  way that you walk in, if you're not looking around, like you
• 1:31:02
  don't see all the tables and a lot of like they've got some
• 1:31:04
  really pretty decor up top. So like, I feel like people get
• 1:31:07
  distracted and then they don't even realize there are a ton of
• 1:31:10
  tables. Inside.
• 1:31:12
  Yes. Yes.
• 1:31:13
  So keep that in mind. Now again, if you're someone who
• 1:31:15
  wants to snack your way through Animal Kingdom, there are so
• 1:31:18
  many really good snack options as well.
• 1:31:20
  If you hit episode 19 of our Mom St.
• 1:31:23
  USA podcast, you will find all of our suggestions for snacks in
• 1:31:28
  Animal Kingdom and some of the places that we just mentioned
• 1:31:31
  have some of those snacks. So again, keep that in mind.
• 1:31:34
  The other thing I will say is similar to what we talked about
• 1:31:36
  in some of the other parks, a lot of these quick service
• 1:31:40
  locations are kind of spread out throughout the park.
• 1:31:42
  So you may, like I said want to kind of figure out your route
• 1:31:47
  for the day based on at least lunch I would suggest and then
• 1:31:52
  after that you would be able to, you know plan accordingly for
• 1:31:57
  dinner. And Kelly is asking what about
• 1:31:59
  Nomad Lounge, is that a good A/C break to eat out.
• 1:32:02
  So the thing about Nomad Lounge is it is just all walk up for
• 1:32:05
  the lounge, isn't it? So it's you don't know how long
• 1:32:08
  you're going to have to wait, and it's not a guarantee.
• 1:32:10
  So if you're only having one day in animal Kingdom and you're
• 1:32:14
  trying to get through as many things as you possibly can in
• 1:32:16
  the shortest period of time, maybe not ideal.
• 1:32:20
  I think it's better for older families too and couples versus
• 1:32:25
  children. Like it's it's a great place to
• 1:32:27
  sit and relax and and chill, but it's not.
• 1:32:30
  It's more, it's got the vibes for more older ages, I would
• 1:32:35
  say, than children, Yeah, personally, definitely a good
• 1:32:39
  option. They've definitely got good food
• 1:32:42
  in there that you can order and all of that, you know.
• 1:32:45
  So by all means, if if there's something on the menu there that
• 1:32:48
  you want to try, I know that churros there are always one
• 1:32:50
  that people talk about because they're quote UN quote, the best
• 1:32:53
  churros in Disney World. Yeah, I'll say they're good.
• 1:32:58
  They're not Disneyland churros, but they're good for what they
• 1:33:00
  are. So I do know a lot of people you
• 1:33:03
  choose to do Nomad as well. So that is another option if
• 1:33:07
  that's something that you're interested in.
• 1:33:09
  So then after food, I mean it really just depends on how your
• 1:33:13
  day has gone. Again, this is one that I don't
• 1:33:15
  say like, OK, you should be able to get through this and this and
• 1:33:17
  this in the morning and then do lunch because it's really just
• 1:33:19
  dependent on what time you get to the park and what your list
• 1:33:22
  is for the day based on that. So the only other things that I
• 1:33:27
  would suggest is non genie plus related things that I do think
• 1:33:31
  you will have time to do because of just the way that animal
• 1:33:34
  Kingdom is situated with its genie plus and its attractions.
• 1:33:38
  There are two different walking trails that they have.
• 1:33:40
  They have the Gorilla falls exploration trail which is found
• 1:33:43
  right at the exit of the Kilimanjaro Safari.
• 1:33:46
  So there's that walking trail and then over by Cali river they
• 1:33:51
  have the Maharaja jungle trek which is where tiger, the tigers
• 1:33:55
  are over there. So those two walking trails are
• 1:33:57
  super, super fun. But I would suggest, like we
• 1:34:00
  talked about before, either earlier in the morning or later
• 1:34:03
  in the evening midday, your chances of seeing a tiger are
• 1:34:07
  slim to none because they just hide up top in their little
• 1:34:12
  enclosures and you're not going to be able to see them.
• 1:34:13
  So keep that in mind as you are planning for those walking
• 1:34:17
  trails. And the other thing that you can
• 1:34:20
  do is take the train out to Rafiki's Planet watch, which is
• 1:34:24
  a whole area of animal Kingdom that I feel like not a lot of
• 1:34:26
  people take the venture out there.
• 1:34:30
  But there is that is where the animation experience drawing
• 1:34:33
  class is an animal Kingdom. If that's something that if
• 1:34:35
  you've got kiddos that are interested in that and that's
• 1:34:38
  something they want to do, you can head out there to do that.
• 1:34:41
  It is at set Showtime. So definitely check your app to
• 1:34:44
  make sure you give yourself enough time to travel there
• 1:34:46
  because you do have to take the train to get there.
• 1:34:49
  And they also have the petting zoo out there with the goats.
• 1:34:52
  And I don't know what other animals I know there are goats
• 1:34:54
  out there. Yeah, there's a couple animals.
• 1:34:59
  I can't remember what I'm saying as the goats are the main
• 1:35:01
  feature. Yeah.
• 1:35:03
  Like, yes. And so, and I'll keep that in
• 1:35:05
  mind as well. Advocate.
• 1:35:08
  Jackie won't advocate for this, but the bird show is really good
• 1:35:11
  at Animal. I didn't even put, I did not
• 1:35:13
  intentionally leave that off of this list.
• 1:35:17
  I got well. Live entertainment was the next
• 1:35:19
  thing I was gonna talk about. So we can we can put it under
• 1:35:22
  there. They'll say that, yeah, the bird
• 1:35:24
  show is phenomenal, especially if you if you like wildlife.
• 1:35:27
  And they they have, the birds are trained to do certain things
• 1:35:30
  to set their animals too, but the birds will fly right over
• 1:35:33
  your head. It's actually quite a lovely
• 1:35:35
  show and they have all kinds of exotic birds that I had never
• 1:35:38
  even seen before until I saw that and they also have the one.
• 1:35:42
  Yeah, that's the one that's over kind of near like Yak and Yeti
• 1:35:44
  and Asia. There's a theater there for
• 1:35:47
  that. And then there's the one that is
• 1:35:49
  the where it's at, the tree of life and all the birds kind of
• 1:35:51
  like fly over your head there and that's a really short one
• 1:35:54
  that doesn't take very long because I think the the show
• 1:35:58
  show is feathered friends in flight I believe.
• 1:36:01
  And then Winged Encounter is the one at the Tree of Life, I
• 1:36:06
  believe. Yeah, I think I know those are
• 1:36:07
  the two names and hopefully I didn't swap them, but.
• 1:36:11
  For those of you who don't know, our good friend Jackie is bird
• 1:36:13
  phobic, so she doesn't lean towards the bird thing.
• 1:36:17
  So I I'll tell you about the bird things.
• 1:36:19
  So Jackie cringes. And I will also say that if you
• 1:36:23
  are a friend who is also bird phobic like I am, that there are
• 1:36:26
  aviaries and I also don't like bats just because they freaked
• 1:36:29
  me out. Similar reasons.
• 1:36:32
  There's also bat enclosures on some of The Walking trails.
• 1:36:35
  So just you know I I just avert and and and walk around the best
• 1:36:42
  I can. But there is also a ton of other
• 1:36:46
  live entertainment that is just all across the parks that is
• 1:36:52
  super super fun. They have the drummers in
• 1:36:54
  Africa. They have a live band over kind
• 1:36:57
  of near the entrance ish area as you go towards like Dino Land in
• 1:37:02
  Asia. So there's there's tons of live
• 1:37:05
  entertainment that you can just kind of happen upon which is
• 1:37:08
  super fun. And I would suggest stopping for
• 1:37:10
  even if it's just a couple minutes to just experience it
• 1:37:13
  because they are some really, really talented performers that
• 1:37:16
  they've got in Animal Kingdom when it comes to those types of
• 1:37:18
  things. And you can find Kevin, Kate's
• 1:37:21
  friend Kevin walking around with her handlers as well if you are
• 1:37:26
  someone who wants to look for her.
• 1:37:28
  And there is also the character Divine which is a beautiful Ivy
• 1:37:35
  clad woman on stilts that hides throughout animal Kingdom that
• 1:37:39
  you have to find her. So she's a fun one to try to
• 1:37:43
  hunt down if you can find her while you're there.
• 1:37:46
  Well, Elliot didn't know that she existed, and I forgot to
• 1:37:49
  tell him about her. And so I was walking by and I
• 1:37:52
  saw her and I kind of didn't say anything.
• 1:37:53
  And I kept walking and he's like, there's a woman in the
• 1:37:55
  bushes, like. That's just divine.
• 1:38:02
  I'm like, I'm like it's no big deal.
• 1:38:04
  And he's like, no, that's so cool.
• 1:38:05
  And he was like obsessed. And I was like, oh gosh, if you
• 1:38:08
  have never seen it before, it is really neat.
• 1:38:09
  So I have seen photos and I've never seen her in person before.
• 1:38:13
  So yeah, one of these. One of these days I'm gonna
• 1:38:16
  spend because I've been to animal Kingdom so many times and
• 1:38:19
  I have experienced it all. One of these mornings I'm just
• 1:38:21
  gonna spend my whole morning. I'll ride the safari and then go
• 1:38:24
  find Divine and just wait until I find her and then move on with
• 1:38:27
  my day. She was like in the.
• 1:38:30
  When we went, she was in the area where you're walking in,
• 1:38:34
  like in that jungle area, before you get to the tree of Life.
• 1:38:37
  She was that far out. She was.
• 1:38:39
  I usually, from the entrance, see her further down in the park
• 1:38:43
  a little bit so. Yeah, so keep your eye out in
• 1:38:46
  the entrance and exit area cuz you go be there.
• 1:38:49
  So yeah, so, and honestly, that's pretty much your list in
• 1:38:54
  Animal Kingdom. Before we move on to the without
• 1:38:56
  Genie Plus, which shouldn't take very long, but I have a couple
• 1:39:00
  of questions that I wrote down from people.
• 1:39:02
  Someone asked where you do see Kevin.
• 1:39:05
  Kevin, Sorry, jump scared, Jackie.
• 1:39:09
  So Kevin is out and about quite often actually at Animal
• 1:39:13
  Kingdom. The places I've seen him the
• 1:39:16
  most, I've seen him walking over that bridge to like Asia.
• 1:39:19
  I've seen him like a couple times there.
• 1:39:20
  And then also kind of where they do the, the drumming across from
• 1:39:25
  Flametree BBQ, that's another place I've seen him hang out a
• 1:39:28
  lot. I don't believe you have any
• 1:39:29
  other places. He does come out to like the
• 1:39:32
  front Plaza right in front of the Tree of Life too.
• 1:39:35
  But I think like he, I think that's like his normal route is
• 1:39:39
  he'll walk from she sorry, Kevin is a girl, she will walk.
• 1:39:44
  She will walk from like this, the shops area, I think there
• 1:39:48
  must be access there for her and then walk kind of, yeah back
• 1:39:53
  towards Asia and back and forth and that kind of general route
• 1:39:56
  is where I usually have come across her and then walked the
• 1:39:59
  other way. Yeah, yeah she's just real tall.
• 1:40:03
  She's real very large. And be really cautious with your
• 1:40:06
  small children too that you don't get.
• 1:40:08
  Like usually the handlers will help with that, but like don't
• 1:40:11
  send your kids into like Rush, Kevin, cuz Kevin, her eyes are
• 1:40:16
  really high up. It's harder to see.
• 1:40:18
  She has a very round body and it can be very difficult to make
• 1:40:23
  that little and they we don't want anybody to get stepped on
• 1:40:26
  or hurt by accident, so just be real careful, you know standing
• 1:40:28
  apart and waving to Kevin is a good option for your kiddo and.
• 1:40:32
  She will come and interact with you.
• 1:40:33
  If you acknowledge her, she will come and interact with you.
• 1:40:36
  My, I will say my favorite is when I have seen Kevin over by
• 1:40:40
  the live music over towards that area you were talking about and
• 1:40:44
  she will like, I'm like, OK. I like that.
• 1:40:50
  I will approve of that. From a distance, she's just a
• 1:40:52
  bird and too tall. Like, I'm not scared of her as a
• 1:40:55
  bird. Like that doesn't bother me.
• 1:40:57
  She's not, You know what I mean? Like, she's Because the thing
• 1:41:00
  that I don't like about birds is when birds can fly over top of
• 1:41:03
  my head. That's what really, truly gets
• 1:41:05
  me. Which is why those bird shows at
• 1:41:06
  Animal Kingdom are like a massive no go for me.
• 1:41:09
  Hi, Kevin. Listening to this podcast, Kate
• 1:41:15
  is making Kevin peek at me from her side of the camera and you
• 1:41:19
  should really go to our YouTube to see what she's currently
• 1:41:23
  doing. But yes, she's just very tall
• 1:41:27
  and I don't like it. So you know, it's fine.
• 1:41:30
  Oh gosh, if we wrap up this the Animal Kingdom without Genie
• 1:41:35
  Plus strategy. So let's talk about without
• 1:41:39
  Genie. Plus, it's going to sound.
• 1:41:41
  Very similar to what we just talked about, arrive at least 30
• 1:41:45
  minutes before park open for rope drop.
• 1:41:46
  So the way that they do rope drop and early entry at Animal
• 1:41:50
  Kingdom is they will let you tap in and then typically when you
• 1:41:53
  walk in, if you go to the left, that is your early entry where
• 1:41:56
  they will scan your magic, band your past your phone, whatever
• 1:41:58
  you're using for your entry and let you go on.
• 1:42:01
  They will then queue up everyone that doesn't have early entry to
• 1:42:04
  the right because when you enter you have to go around the like
• 1:42:07
  planter and the little. There's an animal enclosure of
• 1:42:10
  some sort there that I can't remember what's there right now,
• 1:42:13
  but they'll have you go out and around to then meet again in the
• 1:42:16
  middle as you approach where like the tree of life is and
• 1:42:18
  everything. So I think kind of bird.
• 1:42:21
  Probably. That's probably why I don't know
• 1:42:23
  what's in there, because it's probably birds.
• 1:42:27
  Oh goodness. So.
• 1:42:30
  That is the way that will work. Before entering the park at 7:00
• 1:42:33
  AM, I do still highly suggest booking that individual
• 1:42:35
  lightning lane for a flight of passage, especially if you're
• 1:42:38
  not using Genie Plus. That will just help reduce your
• 1:42:41
  wait times that you will possibly have throughout the
• 1:42:43
  day. If you're not worried about it
• 1:42:45
  and you're like Nah, I got time to wait an hour or so for flight
• 1:42:47
  of passage, then maybe you don't need to buy.
• 1:42:49
  It just depends on your day, who you're traveling with, who's
• 1:42:51
  writing what, all of those good things.
• 1:42:53
  Yeah, I I, I don't often buy Genie Plus for Doc, so I tend to
• 1:43:00
  do quite a passage in Pandora as the last thing of the day, so
• 1:43:04
  right before park closed. So that way those individual
• 1:43:07
  lightning lanes can't pour in in front of you and it makes it go
• 1:43:09
  really fast, well, faster than it would earlier the day.
• 1:43:14
  Yes. So again, buying the individual
• 1:43:17
  lightning lane is most likely the only way to experience this
• 1:43:19
  attraction without waiting well over an hour.
• 1:43:21
  You may get lucky at Park close if the crowds are light like
• 1:43:23
  Kate was just saying. So my suggestion would be to
• 1:43:26
  ride in this order. Again, this is not including
• 1:43:30
  flight of passage in this because you're going to have to
• 1:43:32
  just plan separately for what you're doing for that
• 1:43:34
  attraction. But I would go to Navi River and
• 1:43:38
  now this would be more early entry.
• 1:43:40
  I would hit Navi River first because then once the safari
• 1:43:43
  opens you'll be in good. A good place to get on the
• 1:43:47
  safari right when it opens. So Nabi River hit that first in
• 1:43:51
  your first half hour. And the nice thing is you don't
• 1:43:53
  have to rush between those two. You can enjoy your time in Nabi
• 1:43:57
  River. You can walk through Pandora.
• 1:43:58
  I like to take the back walkway from Pandora to Africa.
• 1:44:05
  So if you're not familiar with it, it is the walkway that it It
• 1:44:10
  doesn't go back towards the center of the park, towards the
• 1:44:13
  tree of life you pass, kind of. Sotuli Canteen and kind of wind
• 1:44:17
  around a little bit and it takes you by the river where the
• 1:44:20
  flotillas which are the character little floats come out
• 1:44:23
  and it'll walk you right by the theater for festival of The Lion
• 1:44:27
  King. Yeah, the back walkway is really
• 1:44:30
  lovely walk and it's very scenic and you really get a very good
• 1:44:35
  view of what Harambe which means we all pull together.
• 1:44:40
  If you didn't know, that's what the the word in Swahili means.
• 1:44:43
  So really lovely view of Harami as you walk in there and their
• 1:44:48
  design of all of those very boxy buildings that they wanted it to
• 1:44:52
  be kind of the anti nature so to speak.
• 1:44:55
  I like, I like there's there's one area right by there that if
• 1:45:00
  you stand, you can stand in the shade.
• 1:45:02
  There's like a, I don't know what it is, it goes above you
• 1:45:05
  now that I think about it, but there's like a bridge that you
• 1:45:07
  go underneath when you walk through that area.
• 1:45:10
  And if you time it right, which I just found out the other day
• 1:45:14
  that the times for the flotillas are on the My Disney Experience
• 1:45:18
  app, which I didn't know they were on there until literally
• 1:45:21
  last week. I didn't know that either.
• 1:45:23
  No, that's funny. I was literally doing research
• 1:45:27
  for these episodes of Mom St. and I was looking at because I
• 1:45:31
  was like, I want to make sure that I include all of the, like,
• 1:45:34
  entertainment options and Animal Kingdom because there's so many
• 1:45:36
  great ones. And I pulled up the list of
• 1:45:39
  characters. And right at the top is the
• 1:45:42
  flotilla at times. And I was like I was thought
• 1:45:44
  this is. Random.
• 1:45:46
  Yes, you need to. It is not random.
• 1:45:48
  It is not random. Friends.
• 1:45:50
  The up one is on there, The Dino Bash one is on there, the
• 1:45:53
  Pocahontas one is on there. I was like, I'm sorry, I've been
• 1:45:58
  planning Disney trips and doing itineraries and Genie Plus for
• 1:46:03
  how long and I didn't know this. I felt really silly and I was
• 1:46:06
  like. Oh yeah, so I did a TikTok on
• 1:46:10
  it. That will I will be posting to
• 1:46:11
  my my feet soon. But yeah, so till the times are
• 1:46:15
  on there. Now I haven't done enough
• 1:46:17
  research to look at like how the times correspond with where they
• 1:46:22
  are at certain points, because like they come out by by
• 1:46:26
  festival of The Lion King and then go, you know, down the
• 1:46:29
  river into the big like. Pond Lake area, I don't know
• 1:46:34
  what you want to call it, where they used to do kite tails and
• 1:46:37
  all of the Rivers of Light default theater.
• 1:46:41
  Yes, like that area. But yes, I know Anna, they're on
• 1:46:45
  there. I'm.
• 1:46:45
  I was shocked when I saw that those wait times were on there.
• 1:46:48
  So anyway, there is a lovely spot right there that you can
• 1:46:50
  stand in the shade and get a really.
• 1:46:53
  Close view of the flotillas if you time it right.
• 1:46:55
  So I like to try to like kind of linger in that area.
• 1:46:58
  If I there's like, I know and they come fairly close in
• 1:47:02
  succession to each other. So if you stand there for less
• 1:47:04
  than 10 minutes, you're going to get to see like all four.
• 1:47:07
  Yeah, come by you, which is really fun.
• 1:47:09
  But I love that path. It's just such a lovely walking
• 1:47:11
  path to take from, and you don't have to go back into the busy
• 1:47:16
  crowds that are near the center of the park.
• 1:47:20
  Yeah, yeah, Smart. So then Navi River, and then to
• 1:47:24
  the Safari, and then Kali River Rapids and Exhibition Ever.
• 1:47:27
  So basically, you're just working your way clockwise
• 1:47:31
  around the park. Yeah.
• 1:47:33
  And then again, exhibition Everest does have that, a single
• 1:47:36
  rider line. It is a very good single rider
• 1:47:39
  line. So if your party doesn't mind
• 1:47:41
  splitting up or if you only have one person that wants to ride
• 1:47:44
  it, that single rider line is really good.
• 1:47:46
  It is not open the entire length of the operating hours.
• 1:47:50
  So it may not be open until like Tenish depending.
• 1:47:55
  So keep that in mind if that's something that you're wanting to
• 1:47:57
  do. So then after Everest Dinosaur
• 1:48:01
  and then hitting walking trails shows or if he keeps planet,
• 1:48:04
  watch those types of things depending and you can sprinkle
• 1:48:07
  those throughout. I've done it before where I did
• 1:48:10
  Navi and Navi River and the Safari and then before I went
• 1:48:17
  over towards Asia I went back and did Festival The Lion King.
• 1:48:20
  And then went over. So you can kind of time it
• 1:48:23
  depending on how that worked out.
• 1:48:25
  When I went, it was in May and I did that and it was perfect
• 1:48:29
  because when I went, I got in line a little bit earlier than I
• 1:48:32
  normally would for festival The Lion King, just because I didn't
• 1:48:35
  want to have to backtrack and come back to it.
• 1:48:37
  And I wanted to do the first Showtime.
• 1:48:38
  I had a front row seat and I was like in heaven because I love
• 1:48:44
  that show so much and I was just like.
• 1:48:49
  This is really great. It's amazing.
• 1:48:52
  You know, I I love that show because it was.
• 1:48:56
  I saw those floats when in Disneyland when I was 11 because
• 1:49:00
  they were originally from The Lion King Parade that was in
• 1:49:04
  Disneyland. And then they repurposed them
• 1:49:06
  because they were trying to save money because they went way over
• 1:49:09
  budget with Animal Kingdom. So that's where The Lion King
• 1:49:11
  show came from. Was essentially A stopgap
• 1:49:14
  because they didn't build Beastly Kingdom.
• 1:49:17
  So luckily it was a wonderful show.
• 1:49:20
  Very. Well, it's very well, yes.
• 1:49:23
  The longest running stage show in in the Disney park.
• 1:49:26
  So it's a it's really. Yeah.
• 1:49:29
  Yeah, so it's it's just a really great show and I just have such
• 1:49:32
  fond memories of like going with my husband and then like taking
• 1:49:35
  my oldest on his first trip. He's always been lying king
• 1:49:39
  obsessed since as since as long as we can remember, and he still
• 1:49:42
  loves The Lion King to this day. And so taking him there is
• 1:49:47
  really, really special. And now he's decided he's big
• 1:49:49
  into gymnastics. And he's decided that one of the
• 1:49:51
  many things he rotates through between what he wants to be when
• 1:49:54
  he grows up is a tumble monkey in The Lion King show at Animal
• 1:49:57
  Kingdom. Which like more power to your
• 1:50:00
  kid. Let's do it.
• 1:50:01
  We'll figure, we'll get you down there.
• 1:50:02
  We'll figure it out. I'll.
• 1:50:04
  I'll find some connections somehow.
• 1:50:06
  So it's just a really fun show. And I just.
• 1:50:08
  I cry every time I go and watch it because I just love it so
• 1:50:12
  much. It's really good, I agree.
• 1:50:15
  Yes. And then also as well as hitting
• 1:50:18
  the Finding Nemo show, which is also a very emotional show, but
• 1:50:21
  I haven't seen that one yet in person.
• 1:50:25
  I know I'm gonna put it on my like, November list.
• 1:50:27
  I'm gonna go, I'm gonna make, maybe I'll make.
• 1:50:31
  I was gonna say Kevin, I was gonna say make Kirkland go with
• 1:50:33
  me. Oh yeah.
• 1:50:35
  I have chatted a lot about the fact that we as parents, like we
• 1:50:40
  sob in that show every time. It's so good.
• 1:50:44
  I've seen it all alive, but I'm like, I know that it's always
• 1:50:47
  different in person. So yeah, it's.
• 1:50:48
  So good. And I also have just like
• 1:50:50
  connections to that show, because when I used to teach
• 1:50:53
  music one of my. Grade Levels was just very, very
• 1:50:57
  naturally talented musicians and we did an abridged version of
• 1:51:01
  that musical as like their final spring performance.
• 1:51:03
  So like it's very near and dear to my heart and I just love that
• 1:51:07
  show and the music is just amazing.
• 1:51:09
  Like, yeah, absolutely amazing. Yeah, it's so good.
• 1:51:13
  Sorry love Fest about the show. So yeah, that is basically your
• 1:51:19
  rundown again, fitting things in as it makes sense and just like
• 1:51:23
  I said. Go left.
• 1:51:25
  Left is right. Start left and work your way
• 1:51:27
  around and you should be in pretty good shape to be able to
• 1:51:30
  do those things. The only thing that may trip you
• 1:51:32
  up is if it's a really really hot day.
• 1:51:34
  Cali river can get long, so you may just have to make a decision
• 1:51:37
  about that one if you're a water right person.
• 1:51:39
  And then that exhibition Everest line can get long, but single
• 1:51:42
  rider is really the way to go. So again, if you don't mind
• 1:51:45
  splitting up, that would be my suggestion for that same options
• 1:51:49
  as we talked about earlier for lunch and dinner and food
• 1:51:51
  options as well. Just a really nice leisurely
• 1:51:56
  park to enjoy. I just there's just something so
• 1:52:01
  different about Animal Kingdom. It makes it so special.
• 1:52:03
  I feel like, I know I love getting like a coffee or tea or
• 1:52:07
  something from a Nanda purr tea company.
• 1:52:10
  And then there's some little spots that are kind of tucked by
• 1:52:12
  the water that are there that you can sit in that are just
• 1:52:14
  gorgeously themed. And I love they're giant Donuts
• 1:52:17
  that they have that are super fluffy.
• 1:52:19
  Like that's like a that's a snack for us as we get coffee or
• 1:52:22
  tea and then we get a big donut and we sit down and enjoy it by
• 1:52:24
  the water like such a lovely beautiful park, such well themed
• 1:52:29
  and very different than the rest of the Disney parks because it
• 1:52:34
  has it's all about succumbing to nature so everything in the park
• 1:52:40
  is succumbing to nature. So whereas in Magic Kingdom you
• 1:52:43
  would never see something that's being destroyed, right, Or that
• 1:52:46
  looks like it's falling apart what you could depending on the
• 1:52:48
  theme but like the in general you're not is everything
• 1:52:51
  supposed to look pristine, right.
• 1:52:53
  It's like the opposite in Animal Kingdom everything looks like
• 1:52:55
  it's old and falling apart and and nature is is winning the
• 1:53:00
  day. So it's very interesting park
• 1:53:03
  for that reason. Very different vibe, but
• 1:53:05
  beautiful, gorgeous park. Absolutely, absolutely So with
• 1:53:09
  that. That is all six US parks in a
• 1:53:15
  three-part series. If you missed any of the lovely
• 1:53:18
  information that we presented on any of these parks over the last
• 1:53:21
  three episodes, the previous two are already available on our You
• 1:53:25
  Tube and our podcast. This one will be available in
• 1:53:28
  the next week or so hopefully depending.
• 1:53:30
  Kate and I have been playing catch up a little since she was
• 1:53:32
  traveling and lives were busy with.
• 1:53:36
  All sorts of things happening, yes.
• 1:53:38
  So we will make sure that that information gets up.
• 1:53:42
  We have started working also on some graphics for you guys to
• 1:53:45
  organize the information as well that we will hopefully be
• 1:53:47
  finishing up here in the next couple weeks and we will post
• 1:53:51
  those on our most likely on our Instagram but then also in our
• 1:53:54
  Discord. So if you are not a part of the
• 1:53:57
  Walrus carp Pocket Fam Discord, you can find that link in both
• 1:54:00
  of our BIOS. We do have a Mom St. channel
• 1:54:02
  there that you can chat with us and.
• 1:54:06
  We'd love to hear from you. I did make a post there earlier
• 1:54:09
  this week that those of you who were here last week and are on
• 1:54:12
  our Discord have heard that we are going to be very, very soon
• 1:54:15
  joining the Chip and Co radio network and syndicating our
• 1:54:18
  podcast with them, which we are super, super excited about.
• 1:54:22
  But that even more so means that we want to be sure to hear from
• 1:54:26
  you and cater the show to what your needs are as our Mom St.
• 1:54:29
  community. Nothing changes on your end, but
• 1:54:32
  we just want to make sure that we are continuing to include you
• 1:54:35
  in our planning process. We have a short list of topics
• 1:54:40
  that we want to hit in the coming weeks, and then Kate's
• 1:54:42
  going to be traveling, so I'm going to be doing some different
• 1:54:45
  episodes kind of while she's traveling, which I'm still
• 1:54:47
  working out the kinks for, Kind of what I want to do.
• 1:54:49
  I've got some ideas, but we'll see kind of what happens with
• 1:54:51
  it. But we definitely want to hear
• 1:54:54
  from you. So if you've got other things
• 1:54:55
  that you're planning a trip coming up or you know, things
• 1:54:58
  that we haven't talked about that you need help on, send us a
• 1:55:01
  message on Discord post on our channel, send us an e-mail,
• 1:55:04
  momstusa@gmail.com, any of those good things to to get a hold of
• 1:55:08
  us. Because we definitely want to
• 1:55:10
  continue our wonderful community partnership with when expanding
• 1:55:15
  that into Chip and Co and kind of bringing it all together.
• 1:55:19
  Yeah, we're really excited about that partnership.
• 1:55:21
  I think it's going to be really fun.
• 1:55:22
  And the best part is that nothing changes from what we get
• 1:55:26
  to do really, and we just get to do it with more people and
• 1:55:29
  that's really exciting. So we get to help, help more
• 1:55:32
  people, have some magical vacations and that's really what
• 1:55:34
  we're all about here at Mom Street is helping you really
• 1:55:38
  enjoy your time with your family in the parks.
• 1:55:41
  I think Jackie probably agree, making it more easier for you
• 1:55:45
  guys more magical and also here to just be helpful as you guys
• 1:55:49
  need it. So we're absolutely.
• 1:55:52
  Yeah, and so looking ahead, next week is our last episode before
• 1:55:57
  Kate is off on her adventures in Europe.
• 1:56:01
  So next week's episode is going to be a little bit different.
• 1:56:04
  We're going to do kind of a one year anniversary special, so to
• 1:56:09
  speak. So come and join us next week
• 1:56:11
  for that and see what. Fun stuff we're going to share
• 1:56:15
  and reflect and reminisce on when it comes to the last year
• 1:56:21
  of Mom St. which is just absolutely insane to me that we
• 1:56:24
  are just weeks away from our one year anniversary.
• 1:56:28
  So and we'll have more information for you next week on
• 1:56:31
  what is to come the following weeks while Kate is.
• 1:56:35
  Adventuring around Europe and Disneyland, Paris and Disney
• 1:56:39
  Cruise and all of the fun things that she gets to do that we
• 1:56:42
  can't wait to hear all about whatever she has back.
• 1:56:45
  I know I'm like I'm feeling I'm in that pre packing stage where
• 1:56:49
  I'm sorry to like panic about it.
• 1:56:51
  So it's fine. Panic.
• 1:56:52
  Be fine, it'll be great. No panic.
• 1:56:54
  It's. Gonna be great.
• 1:56:55
  You're gonna have a wonderful time.
• 1:56:57
  So yeah. So as always, feel free to reach
• 1:57:00
  out to us if you have questions or need help, or just want to
• 1:57:03
  say hi. We'd love to hear from you.
• 1:57:06
  Yeah. Thank you guys.
• 1:57:07
  You guys are really are the we wouldn't be here without you and
• 1:57:11
  we really appreciate getting to help you walk you through how to
• 1:57:16
  plan a Disney trip better and also just general Disney
• 1:57:19
  chatting with you guys is just so much fun to be honest.
• 1:57:22
  So. Absolutely.
• 1:57:24
  Well, should we, should we wrap this up, Jackie?
• 1:57:27
  Yes, say good night. All right.
• 1:57:29
  Thank you everybody for joining us for this episode of Mom St.
• 1:57:32
  USA. We appreciate you all being with
• 1:57:34
  us on this one day Park strategy series where we hope that you
• 1:57:39
  have learned some ways to help your family have an easier, more
• 1:57:43
  magical vacation together. We'll see you next week as we
• 1:57:47
  celebrate our one year anniversary as Mom St.
• 1:57:50
  USA and our new wonderful partnership with the Chip and Co
• 1:57:53
  podcast Network. Till then, we will see you guys
• 1:57:57
  and have a wonderful rest of your week.
• 1:58:00
  Bye everyone. Bye everybody.