Day 4 - Hollywood Studios: Star Wars from (Twin) Sunrise to (Twin) Sunset As many have noted, DHS can be hard to plan if you have aspiring Jedis in your midst. Our kids are pretty into Star Wars, and after seeing Jedi Training on YouTube, they both wanted a chance to fight Darth Vader. This can involve long lines, some possibility of disappointment, or a combination of early rising and careful planning. We picked the last option. We arrived at 7:45 for a 9:00 park open. Eyes were sleepy but we had pastries and Star Wars hairstyles in full effect:
First at the tapstiles, the kids and I quickly made it to the front of the sign-up line and within 5 minutes, we had them signed up for the first show of the day. Yay! I took a long rest on a bench in the shade to bask in this triumph. We met DH for a ride on Star Tours. With 20 minutes to go before their Jedi report time, we chanced another ST ride. Big mistake!
Sidenote 5 - Don’t Push It! I started to see a pattern - trying to be “fun Mom” instead of “uber planning mom,” I kept saying yes to things we didn’t really have time for. Then, I’d rush the kids to the next planned thing with a chip on my shoulder. All the good we did waiting around at the tapstiles was out the window if we were late to our JTA show. It is part of my job as parent/trip planner/whatever to say no when there is no time for something. I did manage to check them in, and they even got to fight Vader (“Psst, kids, go stand in those two spots, NO NOT THOSE TWO SPOTS!”), but it was all way more stressful than I would have liked. We could have ridden ST later (and, in fact, did),
It was darn cool watching them fight Darth Vader, though, and the Photopass photos are awesome If you have kids this age (4-12?) and don’t mind getting out of bed early (or waiting a while at the sign up later in the morning), it is really fun and well done.
After the show, we rode ST again, then built custom lightsabers in a long line that had sprung up out of nowhere since our earlier trips through the gift shop. Realizing we had missed our Frozen Sing Along FPP, we bolted to the standby entrance and just made it. Cute! Lunch ADR at 50s Prime Time followed. We liked the kitsch and the food - we LOVED the milkshakes and desserts! FPP for TSMM (I love but I stink!), standby for Muppets, FPP for Tower of Terror for two brave souls (my DH and DD saw her bag hover in the air in front of them!). We headed out for an afternoon break before the Star Wars dessert party. We also hoped to ride RnR before the party, but then something funky happened with Fast Pass. . .
Sidenote 6 - Something Funky Happens with FPP Sooo, we rode our Tier 1 (TSMM). Two of us used one of our Tier 2s on ToT, and we all missed our other Tier 2. All Tier 2s time had expired. Although I had read that you could pick up another Tier 1 (in our case, we wanted RnR) once your original 3 were used or expired, that was not the case. The app said "You cannot experience another of these [Tier 1] attractions until you have used your original 3 FPP. Same if I canceled the Frozen FPP. It seems you have to actually use them. It stunk, especially because we did go to the very Frozen show we had FPP for, just didn’t think to tap the pass. I found out from Chat that night that I could have changed the unused FPP to something else, used that, and been able to book another Tier 1. But break was calling and we decided to try our chances with standby for RnR when we returned that evening.
We had a nice rest at the pool and dressed for our Star Wars evening, the dessert party at the Launch Bay. First, both kids mustered the requisite courage to ride Rock and Roller Coaster. And they LOVED it! Of course, we celebrated with another ride on ST, and of course, that made us late for yet another thing!
The Star Wars Fireworks Dessert Party seemed cool, but being 15 minutes late made it feel like it was over before it started. The Launch Bay is huge! Lots to explore here under normal circumstances, and 2 separate lines to meet characters. Add in food and drink and roaming Jawas and Storm Troopers (swoon!), and it is way too much to do in the 30 min we had left. In hindsight, being early for this would have made much more sense than being late for it. 
We enjoyed it, got some pics, and grabbed some extra desserts for the fireworks.
The show was amazing. DD, a real SW nut, said it made her cry. We were in a great viewing location, and dessert party kids ten and under had a roped off (supervised) area of their own for the fireworks. Still, it was hard to justify the cost of the party, esp for DD, who, at 11 years and 1 month, had to pay full price for an open bar event, and could not sit in the kids viewing location. I suppose on a Disney scale, it was probably worth it, especially since being late was on us! And our “free” Chewbacca beer steins will live on in our basement!
We were tired from the day and kind of fried from all the hurrying around to things. DHS took a lot out of us!
But first, a proof of concept before I jump in. Here is a pic of the kids back in reality (more specifically, in our back yard).
We had rented a car so that that “all” could include water parks and DS without relying on buses. And we had rented a Nemo suite at AoA for more space (and a second bathroom) on this longer stay.
