An Ideal Day at Hollywood Studios

Storm Troopers in the Rise of the Resistance Ride at Hollywood StudiosMegan Moves/YouTube

Oh, how I miss Disney! Its been weeks since I have been able to go due to the closure of all Disney Parks because of the Coronavirus. I am apart of NUMEROUS Disney Facebook pages and follow multiple accounts on Instagram. Anytime I’m on social media, I’m bound to be reminded of Disney! Ever since I became an annual passholder, I have become obsessed! Disney definitely has me hooked.

I have been thinking about Disney a lot recently. When thinking about all my Disney memories, there is always one particular day that comes to mind. This day is by far my favorite Disney memory. Not only that, but it was probably the best day anyone could have had when visiting Hollywood Studios!

One of my good friends from high school came down one weekend to visit me in Florida. We wanted to go to Disney and had planned on going to Hollywood Studios since she hadn’t had the opportunity to visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

We wanted to make the most of the day. I live about an hour away from Disney World, so we woke up around 5:30 AM to get ready and head to the park. Quick side note, you know I enjoy something if I’m willing to wake up early ON A SATURDAY to go somewhere. Those are my sleep-in days and I cherish those extra hours!

Anyway, we planned on getting to the park early that day not only to make the most of the day, but to also secure a spot in the virtual queue to ride the Rise of the Resistance. We got to the park an hour before rope drop. As soon as we got into the park, we rushed over to Toy Story Land to get a spot in line for Slinky Dog Dash.

Right at 8 AM, I got on to the My Disney Experience app and secured a spot for us to ride the Rise of the Resistance ride. In my opinion, this ride is one of Disney’s best and definitely worth trying to ride. We were given our boarding group that most likely would have been called early that afternoon, so we had time to explore the park until then.

Getting into the park before it opens provides many benefits. It is especially good to get there early to get on rides quick that typically have long wait times. This is the case with Slinky Dog Dash. This ride is one of my favorites, but ALWAYS has an incredibly long wait time. We played it smart by riding Slinky Dog first thing so we had the opportunity to ride, but didn’t have spend time in line waiting later. We got on and off the ride within 15 minutes.

Until it was our time to ride Rise of the Resistance, we took advantage of some of the Fastpasses we were able to get for the day. We had Fastpasses for the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours! Getting Fastpasses for some of Disney’s popular rides will greatly impact your time in the park. These Fastpasses can significantly cut down on the amount of time waiting in lines!

Our boarding group for Rise of the Resistance was called and we finally got to ride. Even though I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, this ride is without a doubt my favorite. However, the Rebel Force will always intimidate me! When we were waiting to be detained by Kylo Ren, a Rebel cast member walked over and started interrogating me! I knew in my mind that it wasn’t real, but my body was telling me otherwise. They do a great job of making you feel immersed in the situation!

While we thought that was going to be the highlight of the day, it actually wasn’t! What we did next seemed like something that could never happen at a Disney park. We went to ride the Millennium Falcon-Smuggler’s Run. At the time, the wait time for the ride was 125 minutes long! We weren’t excited about waiting in line, but I really wanted my friend to experience the new ride. We went to get in the Stand-by line when my friend noticed there was a Single Riders line!

The Single Riders line is obviously great for single riders, but can cut down on wait times for a group as well. The group is just not guaranteed to ride together every time. We decided to go in the Single Riders line in hopes it would cut the wait time down a little. I remember walking through saying to my friend “how great would it be if we could still ride together even though we are in the Single Riders line?” It sounded great, but we for sure didn’t expect that to happen. Until it did!

This is a simulator ride where every rider plays a role. The ride seats six passengers where there are two of each pilot, gunner, and engineer role. When we got to the front of the line, we were both handed engineer cards for the same ride! We tried not to act too excited around the cast member, but as soon as we passed, we freaked out!

We got on and off the ride in 15 minutes and were still so caught off guard! We had no idea that would happen! For fun, we decided to do that again when the same thing happened. Again, we passed the cast member, playing it cool, and then freaked out again!

We decided to try riding again a third time, this is when things got interesting. When we got to the front of the Single Riders line, we were both handed two pilot cards. Again excited, but as soon as we rounded the corner to get to the holding area before getting on the ride, the area was empty of guests. There were only cast members in the holding area.

We looked around confused, but were soon directed to get on the ride anyhow. As though we weren’t already thrilled with how things were going, we got to ride the ride BY OURSELVES. Just the two of us! It was crazy and I can’t even find the words to describe the feeling. Just imagine yourself riding one of your favorite rides at Disney World. Only you get the ride to yourself with your best friend! That’s how it felt if you can imagine that.

After getting the ride to ourselves, we rode two more times. I challenged us to keep riding until we didn’t get to ride the ride together. That never happened, and the only reason we stopped riding continuously, was because we had a Fastpass that would be ending soon after.

I know it seems like I am making a big deal about this, but its important to note that we rode that ride five times TOGETHER in an hour. We were able to ride the ride 5 times in the time we wouldn’t have even made it through the Stand-by line! This was a crazy experience I will always remember and shows the significance of the Single Riders line.

We ended the day with the Fantasmic firework show and ice cream, and left the park exhausted. We were able to do all we wanted and more! This was one of the greatest days I’ve had at a Disney park and I know it will be hard to beat.