Disney during the holiday season is by far my favorite time to visit. Looking at all the decorated Christmas trees alone is entertaining and fun, add in the food, fun and fireworks and you’re talking about an amazing time with family in Florida.
Yes we love Disney! Yes, we think it’s magical and yes we will be back again next year! Here are the highlights of our most recent trip!
We stayed at the Disney Swan resort. This resort is the PERFECT place for anyone visiting parks each day as the location is prime! We walked to Epcot and Hollywood!
Day 1 – EPCOT
My personal favorite park. I LOVE exploring the lands and eating all the food! It’s the next best thing to visiting countries without the plane ride! 🙂
Being our 7th visit to Epcot, I now feel I have a good grasp on the restaurants. We experienced Biergarten for lunch and loved it! The food was delicious and the entertainment was fun to watch. I highly recommend it!
For Dinner we went to the restaurant in France, Chefs de France, a fancy sit down restaurant. It was also a nice much needed meal and break while we waited to ride the new Remy Ratatouille ride in France. Tip: expect to have some delays for this ride if you get a pass to get on. It goes down multiple times a day…just expect it.
Day 2 we went to Magic Kingdom! The most magical park to visit during the holidays. The decorations alone are worth the entry!
The new nighttime fireworks display for the 50th Anniversary was memorable for sure. I’m so glad we went when the fireworks were happening again!
We spent one whole day at Disney Springs. We did the Christmas Tree hunt, which I loved more than my kids. And we ate at some of the yummy restaurants!
You can see the highlights of the Christas Tree scavenger hunt here:
The last day in the parks we went to Hollywood studios to ride the new Rise of the Resistance. Now here’s the tips you came to hear!
HOW TO RIDE THE RISE OF RESISTANCE FREE AND FAST
Getting in line for Rise is #1 priority first thing in the morning. If you’re staying at a Disney resort make sure you go on a day when you get in early for being an on-site guest. Get there 30 min before the gates open and start waiting to walk to rise! (Have your route ready….know exactly where you’re walking before you start!).
Once the park opens, RUN to that ride. Otherwise expect a 200+ minute wait all day.
Now, IF you’re doing the ride/parent swap, with another adult who is waiting with young kids this tip is for you.
If the park closes at 9pm, head to the Rise line at 8:30. Tell them you’re doing the ride swap. The cast member will send you down the lightening lane line. You can bring 1 child with you (who is tall enough). My husband finished at 8:55 and I got in line for my turn down the lightening lane with 1 child in tow. We both went on the ride with minimum to no wait! The cast member we spoke with issued us they won’t stop the ride at 9pm. They will let everyone go though the lane as long as they’re in line by 9pm. (so this rule works 30 minutes before the park closes. 9pm as being the example).
The only time they will tell you to leave the line is if the ride goes down, and know…it does go “down” often. I guess it overheats and they have to let it cool down for at least an hour.
SO there you have it! There’s my tip for riding the Rise of the Resistance with no wait, FREE!
Now share this tip with your friends and family only….lol. Or everyone online like I just did! :).