December 2018 Disney World Trip Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

Day four of our December Disney World trip dawned, and we finally would have an opportunity to see the new Toy Story Land that opened in the summer of 2018. We originally had plans to do a breakfast at a resort, but we canceled those and decided to go ahead and rope drop Slinky Dog Dash, the more popular of the two new rides in the Toy Story Land.

The line wasn't too awful; about thirty minutes from walking into Toy Story Land till we rode.

There was a very nice family in front of us in line (the lady with the camera out in the above picture) and she offered to take our picture in front of the coaster.

The queue was really fun, with oversized toy boxes and packaging. We ended up kind of glad we didn't get a fast pass for this ride, since it would have meant missing parts of this fun queue. The ride itself was smooth and fun, not too scary, but not too wimpy either. I feel like a roller coaster Goldilocks saying it, but it really was just right.

Breakfast was at Andy's Toy Box, and was pretty decent for Disney quick service. The new Toy Story Land is small, but there's so much to see! I loved this giant sugar cookie of Hamm.

And of course, being a fan of the Luxo Ball, I had to get my picture with this GINORMOUS ONE.

My favorite new Instagram wall is the Popsicle Wall at the new exit to Toy Story Mania.

And I got to meet The Guy Behind the Magic (he, until very recently, had a very popular Instagram account about the magic of working for Disney)

Tom and I loved this little angel kitty ornament in Toy Story That Time Forgot, so it was delightful to see her here:

We were quite happy as well to meet the Wayts World family, whose YouTube channel we greatly enjoy.

And then we had one final meet up that day, with my parents, who were staying in their RV at Fort Wilderness at the time. A one-in-a-million opportunity to get photos with my mom and dad at Disney World.

Mom and dad had a few fast passes to get to, and so did we. We went back to Toy Story Land to ride Alien Swirling Saucers, which was perfectly fine, but not anything I'd wait super long for.

But there was a great photopass photographer right in front of it, and we couldn't resist.

  Alien Swirling Saucers:

After the ride, I had what was, believe it or not, my first Mickey ice cream sandwich of the trip.

Tom wanted to go over to Launch Bay afterward, and we got some pictures in the cantina with our blue milk.

More pictures at Echo Lake on our way to our Star Tours fast pass:

This evening was our last opportunity to make our way over to Disney Springs during the trip. We had a late lunch/early supper at Maria & Enzo's. We had heard that on week days, they offer a whopping 40% off sale on lunch. And we were very pleased with the result. I do worry that this particular new restaurant might not survive, because it seems every time we see videos in there, it's very empty, and it was when we were there too. But the food was delicious, our waiter was very nice, and we would totally do it again on a future trip.

We went to check out the newly renovated World of Disney Store, which underwent so extreme a renovation, people seem very torn on whether they like it or not. Tom and I, after seeing it in person, definitely fall in the "we like this" camp.

The checkout counters have doodles on them, replicated from the work of Disney animators.

We greatly enjoyed walking the Christmas tree trail, and took pictures at some of our favorites.

Beauty and the Beast, of course:

Haunted Mansion, the coolest, most striking tree:

Robin Hood:

Disney Villains:

As we walked by the big Christmas tree at Disney Springs, there was a Photopass photographer there too, so sure, why not.

And we ended our evening by swinging by the three-story Coke store, where I got my required BEVERLY FLOAT:

Back at the resort, I tried on my new Disney World hoodie I got that evening at the World of Disney store. Tom liked it so much, he got one too. And we've worn them constantly since then. They are extremely warm, as they are double-layered sweatshirt material, we love the color, and they're cozy soft.

Giant Baymax approved of my photo in our resort room.

And then we packed up our little home-for-the-week so that we could check our luggage the next morning, before our last day at the parks.