Lunch at Disney Studios

We had originally booked early morning flights through Washington, D.C. but American Airlines decided to change those to a later flight with a tight connection at Reagan National. We called the day before and managed to get a direct flight leaving Chicago, which worked out perfectly (although it required multiple calls to AA to get the flights rebooked and ticketed). On New Year's Eve, we awoke early and piled the luggage and six people in the the Highlander and took off for O'Hare. Security lines were light and the flight was uneventful and we landed in Orlando on time. Disney's Magical Express claimed our luggage and we rode the bus to Caribbean Beach, where we would be staying for the week. On arrival at Custom House, our room was not ready so we checked our backpacks, took the internal bus to Martinique and then a Disney bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Our first priority was lunch, since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we walked to the ABC Commissary for chicken fingers, burgers and fried fish and shrimp.

Disney Studios

The wait for Star Tours wasn't too long so we got into the standby line. Disney had reworked the ride so it visited scenes from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi as opposed to the randomized ride scenes from our last trip, which was not as much fun. Janie was selected as the 'spy' on our first ride, which was cool.

New Year's Eve

After that, we stood in the 90 minute line for Toy Story Movie Mania, which isn't worth the long wait. We are not sure why this ride is so popular, except it is one of the only rides in the park younger children can ride. Needing to sit down, we picked up our New Year's Eve hats and noise makers and went to watch Muppets 3D. We had FastPass for Star Tours at 7:35 and went through the same scenes as before. Tower of Terror lines were not too bad, so the kids took a spin through there while J. R. and Janie shared some empanadas and Janie got a bourbon-spiked drink. Next it was off to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, where sadly Bethany lost her mouse ears getting off the ride. Everyone except J. R. rode Tower of Terror again at 11PM and then we all gathered in front of the Chinese theater for the countdown to 2018. Champagne was $18 a glass for a small glass and the lines were long so we skipped the booze and just passed our time blowing our noise makers at Rebecca until the countdown started and we cheered in the New Year. This was followed by the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular, which was okay, but hard to see.

Caribbean Beach Less Than "Magic"

We followed the crowd out of the Studios and took a bus back to Caribbean Beach. We checked into our room while Bethany and Alex headed to Custom House to get her room sorted out. Bethany is a Disney Cruise cast member (which is where she and Alex met, when he was a CM on the Fantasy) and, as a result, apparently they did not give her an advance room assignment. They ended up putting her in Trindad South instead of Martinique like we were, even though we had requested the same building. To make matters worse, when she and Rebecca went to her room, Bethany's Magic Band did not work. She texted Alex, who had returned to our room, and we called the front desk to have someone come to Trinidad South to unlock the room. Not the most 'magical' start to the trip.