Disney Parks Challenge: Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Intro

As an Annual Passholder at Universal Orlando Resort, I was able to go to the previews for Epic Universe, the new Universal park, back in April, right after my Italy trip. You can see a complete report of this 3 day trip here:

• My 3-Day Adventure at Universal’s Epic Universe: Travel Log
• A Complete Guide to Universal’s Epic Universe

Now, the park was finally open for all guests, and my initial planned trip to Epic Universe was here. The Park had officially opened on May 22, and I was coming a week after, only that this time I would include Walt Disney World at the beginning. It had been a minute since I had not been in this bubble, and I was so excited to ride my favorite attractions, but also eat some new food, and enjoy a Disney water park for the first time ever. Let’s get the magic started!

A start in Disney Springs

I flew from New York City into Orlando, and went straight to my hotel, Wyndham Lake Buena Vista – Disney Springs Area. I had stayed here before many times, mostly because how close it is to Disney Springs, just a few steps away. The hotel itself is very clean and convenient with a little store at the lobby, and a gym that I used during my stay.

During my stay at the hotel, I went to Disney Springs a couple of times, to get food, coffee and just do a stroll, feeling the nice vibe of what they call the 5th Disney Park in Orlando. Since it was almost June, some Pride Month art was displayed at some spots.

Walking around Disney Springs just feels nice. I love getting cookies and Peanut Butter Cold Brew from Gideon’s Bakehouse, and then some real food, this time some chicken salad from Chicken Guy! It was very late at night, so I think that was just good enough haha.

As I left Disney Springs, I had to see the volcano erupt at Rainforest Cafe. Even though I have never been to this restaurant, I always find it fascinating.

Disney’s All-Star Music Resort

Believe it or not, this was my first time staying at a proper Disney Resort in Orlando. I had stayed a couple of times in one in Disneyland Paris, but I never felt it was worthy to stay at hotels in the Disney bubble in Orlando. They are usually way more expensive, and since I do not spend much time at the hotels anyways, I did not think it would make any difference. Until now.

Since Walt Disney World is offering the free water park option on check in date, I felt it was a great opportunity to finally go one of the Disney owned water parks for the first time. Yeah, I had visited every single Disney Park in the entire world, except for the 2 water parks in Orlando (people usually do not count them anyways).

I opted to go to the cheapest one available, and I booked a night in Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. I would not only give me access to the water park, but also free transportation to the other parks, and Disney Springs, and Early Entry on my Park Hop Day the next day. The room was simple but nice.

And the view of the guitar-shaped pool was amazing. You would never see me at a pool in a hotel, but I like having the chance to go lol.

At night, the hotel was cute too. After my long day at the water parks, I went to the cafeteria and got myself another salad. I was really healthy during this trip, just because I was about to eat so much at the parks.

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon

The morning of my check in at the hotel, I left my suitcase, and made sure to pack my swim trunks. I was a little bit for the water park, and even though both of them were opened I picked Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. I felt Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park was more kids oriented, so maybe next time I would go there, and that way I would complete all Disney parks now for real. Anyways, I waited for the bus to take me to the water park.

The bus dropped us off at Disney Springs, and from there we had to walk to take the next bus to Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon, so do not expect to be a straight ride all the time. Once we were at the park, the bus driver said that it was closed due to the lighting in the area. I was not about to go back to Disney Springs, so I got off, and thankfully because once at the gate, they let me in just showing my hotel card.

But yes, all of the park attractions were closed due to the lighting in the area, and there was no word on when they would come back online. So, we just had to wait until the weather would improve. I used the lockers so much during this visit, just putting stuff in and out all the time, like my cellphone, hat, wallet. Every ride allows different stuff on them or nothing really, so you gotta be putting them away.

I took this time to just walk around and explore this new park, at least for me. Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon is a tropical-themed water park, designed to look like a storm-ravaged island paradise. At its heart is Miss Tilly, a shrimp boat perched atop Mount Mayday, which erupts with a dramatic geyser every half hour. The park features a giant wave pool with six-foot swells, a lazy river, thrilling water slides, and family-friendly attractions, all surrounded by lush landscaping and beachy vibes.

Once the weather started improving, I looked up and saw this rare phenomenon in the sky. Not too long after, all the rides were open for business, and I was able to get in some of them.

After doing some of the slides, I adventured into the Castaway Creek lazy river. I think the last time I did one was in Universal’s Volcano Bay, many years ago. I kinda liked the experience of just floating around.

Going around the entire park made me realized it was not as small as I was thinking, but in the meantime I saw some places I would visit later, like the Leaning Palms restaurant.

Passing by the falls was really an experience, as I was hoping not to get wet, but unluckily, I got stuck right below the heaviest drop of water and got all soaked. I could not but just laugh after this. I was like are you kidding me.

After I did a full circuit on the lazy river, I now was enjoying the surf pool, and the big waves that would come every few minutes. I was in shocked seeing how big these waves were. I am surprised not more people get hurt here lol.

Did Miss Adventure Falls with a family from UK, and then some other slides. Then got a coffee from the Joffrey’s post, and walked around the park just basically exploring at this point.

Then I went to Leaning Palms for an afternoon snack…

…and it was so hot during this water park day, that I had to get a Dole whip float.

I only spent like 4 hours at the park, but I think it was enough. I did the Crush ‘n’ Gusher water coaster and it was fun. I would highly recommend it.

I will be back to use this promotion of the free water park later in 2025, but I think it is a good addition to your Disney vacation.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

The next day was my 4-park day Extravaganza. My plan was to do all 4 Disney Parks with a Park Hop ticket, and to do that I had planned a full day. I created a schedule on my Notes app, and added times with the Lighting Lanes that I had booked in advance, including the 3 LL Multipass and 2 Single Pass rides.

7:25 AM: Animal Kingdom

Navi river journey

Expedition Everest – Single Rider

Dinosaur

8:30-9:30 Avatar Flight of Passage (Single Pass)

Pork Egg Roll (Yak and Yeti) Did not do

Barbecue (Flame Tree Barbecue) Did not do

9:30 AM START PARK HOP TO HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

10:10 – 11:10 Star Tours (Lighting Lane Multipass)

Black caf

Muppet vision 3D

Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run – Single Rider

10:35-11:35 The Twilight Tower of Terror (Lighting Lane Multipass)

10:50 Roundup Rodeo – brisket, ribs, biscuits: Reservation done 60 days in advance.

11:20 Woody Lunchbox (totchos) (Mobile Order)

Star Wars – Rise of the Resistance – Single Rider

Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After – Sunset Boulevard (Did not do)

1:30 PM START PARK HOP TO EPCOT

2:10-3:10 Soarin’ (Lighting Lane Multipass)

Farmer Feast: Grilled Beef Strip Loin

3:30 ¡Celebración Encanto! – CommuniCore Hall and Plaza

3:55-4:55 Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind (Single Pass)

4:30 GO BACK TO HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

5:05-6:05 Slinky Dog Dash (Lighting Lane Multipass)

Rock n Roller Coaster – Single Rider (Did not do it)

5:30 START PARK HOP TO MAGIC KINGDOM

6:10-7:10 Space Mountain (Lighting Lane Multipass)

7:25-8:25 Pirates of the Caribbean (Lighting Lane Multipass)

Magnolia Terrace: Gumbo

8:10-9:10 Haunted Mansion (Lighting Lane Multipass)

Westward Ho – Candied Bacon Skewer

Sleepy Hollow: Chicken and waffles

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (Lighting Lane Multipass)

9:15 Happily Ever After

Tron Lightcycle Run

10:00 Park Closes

I knew it was going to be a very long day, and very, very ambitious, but I was hoping that the 60-day in advance reservations, plus Early Entry, plus the Single and Multi Pass Lighting Lanes, plus the Single Rider lines, would help me go through all of this quick.

For now, I was getting to Animal Kingdom, using the free transportation from the hotel, and it was already when I arrived. I had here only my Single Pass Lighting Lane for Flight of Passage, and some food to try, so let’s see…

Since it was Early Entry for Hotel Guests, plus a rainy morning, there were not too many people in this park yet.

It was not time yet for my Lighting Lanes, so I rushed to the Dinoland USA part of the park to get on Dinosaur, not without passing by the construction of Pueblo Esperanza, which will fully replace this land with the Tropical Americas theming, including rides from Encanto and Indiana Jones.

With umbrella in hand I made into Dinosaur, and this would probably be the last time I ride it before it closes forever to turn into an Indiana Jones ride, like the one in Disneyland California.

Time to go to Pandora, the World of Avatar, and Na’vi River Journey surprisingly had a short wait, so I got in line and I was on by 8:30 AM. I know, very productive morning so far. But right now, early entry had come to an end, and regular guests were getting into the park.

But I did not mind because next up, I had a Lighting Lane Single Pass for Avatar Flight of Passage. Love doing all these attractions inside while the rain is happening.

3 rides so far, and my last one for Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest, which was surprisingly opened despite of the rain. I got on the Single Rider line, and was able to hit it real quick. The bummer part of Animal Kingdom, was that all the restaurants that I wanted to try opened at 11 AM, which was way to late for me to even wait, because I had 3 other parks to hit…

… so sadly I left without trying the food, and since the bus between parks were still not running this early, I had to wait for an Uber to come pick me up and take me to Disney’s Hollywood Studios… My next and main stop for today…

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The Skyliner was stopped at the entrance, probably due to the weather, and I was hoping that it would get fixed by the time I was done with this park, since I was going to take this transportation back to EPCOT in a few hours.

Made it to the entrance, and it is crazy to me how this looks like DCA in Disneyland California.

Apparently, the rain had deterred people from coming early this morning, but all the parks were now open to all guests. So I had to be more thorough from now on.

When I booked the Multipass Lighting Lanes 7 days in advance, I picked Hollywood Studios as my first park of the day, so I could be able to get one of the most difficult Lighting Lanes in the entire resort: Slinky Dog Dash. I was able to get this LL, BUT, the earliest available time was after 5 PM. Which means, I had to come and do the other 2 LLs, and then leave to EPCOT, and come back just for Slinky Dog Dash. It was a very risky move, but I was hoping that it would go well. Coming back to a park on a 4-park hop challenge is not the best idea. But I had no other choice. Also, having the first Lighting Lane this late in the day (10:22 AM) is not the best idea either. You want to choose them every early, so as soon as you tap the first one, you can start booking other ones.

Regardless, my first LL Multipass of the day was The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ and as always it was super fun.

Time for Toy Story Land, but not for any rides, since Slinky Dog Dash was not until after 5 PM, but for food.

I was finally able to book a Roundup Rodeo BBQ reservation 60 days in advance, and this was the first time I was trying this slightly new restaurant.

So, I was eating here, because as I have done before, I like to follow The Best eats from Keith Eats Everything, and this restaurant fell into that category. The thing is, I did not know this was a All you care to enjoy kinda situation. So this is a fixed price of $49 per adult, and they bring you basically everything from the menu. I was overwhelmed.

The service was amazing. Just look at all this food. I actually packed in some Ziploc bags a couple of things I would try later, but I left so much food anyways. Everything was amazing. If you are hungry, and are not planning to eat anything else, go for it. I had a long list of other things to try today, not only in this same land, but also in other lands of this park, and in EPCOT, and in Magic Kingdom…. so I did not know what to do. Hopefully, all the walking would help me digest this food. And, also I would probably save some other for later. This is why I pack my Ziploc bags, in case I feel hungry later or back at the hotel. Additional to what was on the menu, I asked for salmon and they brought it for me as well, so yeah, a pescatarian option, in case you do not want to only eat beef.

For dessert, I got the Cupcake à la Forky, a very tiny chocolate cupcake.

I was so full, but the list of food continued, after I got a Mobile Order of Totchos from Woody’s Lunch Box, also from the Keith Eats Everything list. I have to confess that I packed them, and when I opened them, they looked like the mess in this picture, but… it tasted really good. So, now I understand why they are so famous.

And to help digest all this food, nothing like some rides, right? Lol. My next Lighting Lane, even though it is not required, is Star Tours. And I finally got The Mandalorian scenes yay!

And talking about him, once I got in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, he was there with Grogu meeting and greeting. And by the way, the rain was almost over!

Right before noon, I got into Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, using the Single Rider line, kinda testing it for the first time, and oh boy, even though it skips the entire first part with the transport, it really moves very quick. I would definitely do it again. And this was the first time I did this ride without buying a Lighting Lane in a long time.

My plan was to park hop to EPCOT at 1:30 PM, and that time was coming real quick, but I of course had to do Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which I did using Lighting Lane, but I would definitely try the Single Rider line if you can, because it is free, and it is very quick, the only problem is that you would get the Engineer position, which does almost nothing lol.

Time for a pick me up, with my favorite coffee in probably the whole Walt Disney World, Black Caf from Kat Saka’s Kettle. The perfect texture with creaminess, sweetness, and you can taste the Cold Brew a lot.

And, to finish this park for now, since I had to return later for Slinky Dog Dash, I had to go to the closing and now Extinct Muppet-Vision 3D. I know, I had never been to this ride, and now it was weeks away to close, so I had to see it. I think it was good, but I could see how they demolishing this land to transform it into a Monster Inc inspired area. Personally, I do not care about either IP. I do not think that Monsters Inc is a big draw either. I would personally would have made it into Pixar in general or The Incredibles, not exclusively Monsters Inc. Anyways, it was past 1 PM, now so it meant that I had to go to EPCOT. 2 more parks were pending on this adventure, so stay tuned for that blog post, and the upcoming Universal related posts….