Disneyworld - Day 5 - Hollywood Studios

We started off our day heading to the big hat. Where else? How cool is that big sorcerer's hat? 

We had two interpreted shows that morning back to back for Jedi training and were hoping hoping hoping that N would get picked for one of them. I sent Don off to get fast passes for tower of terror. When we got over to the Star Tours/Jedi training area there was no wait for Star Tours. N had never been able to ride it before and was finally tall enough so I decided to take them on it before the Jedi show. N was thrilled. He was jumping up and down as we got closer to the front of the queue. The ride itself...eh...I hadn't gone on it in a long time so I can't remember if I liked it before or not. Kids liked it though. We got out with minutes to spare to see the Jedi show. Don was there holding space for us and was being pressured to "show us a family" or move back. We arrived in time and the kids got to see the show up close. The interpreter was really pretty good and seemed to be having a great time interpreting the show. N did not get called for the first show and was so bummed. He still enjoyed watching the show. We puttered around a bit waiting for the next show and the interpreter went back and talked to the Jedi Master and pulled a few strings...I'll take them where I can get them. N got called for this second show! He was on top of the world. So thrilled. It was all he had been talking about for months. I was relieved for him. He is such a huge Star Wars fan. The last time we went to Disneyland, H got picked to be in Jedi Training and N did not and he sat in my lap and sobbed for the entire show. It was really that important to him. So..yep...perfectly alright with the interpreter pulling a few strings in this situation. 

N was a natural. He was swinging away with his light saber...I think the Jedi Master was a little nervous. Ha ha ha.

Next was an interpreted High School Musical 3 performance. This was just for H. She is the fan. She got called up to participate and was so excited. Then Don got pulled up to participate. Weird! Our family never gets called up to do this kind of stuff so it was just that kind of day I guess.

After the show we thought we'd get in some characters. Should have gotten fast passes for Toy Story. Definitely do the fast passes for Toy Story Mania or go there first if you are going to Hollywood Studios. We missed the ride because the line kept fluctuating between 50 minutes and 110 minutes and fast passes got used up early that morning. I wasn't going to stand in line that long. The ride is at California Adventure so I guess we'll catch it there on our next trip.

We saw some Playhouse Disney characters. First up were some Little Einsteins. The line for the Little Einsteins took forever. Lesson learned. Any of the characters that are geared primarily to the preschool set...skip them. They take forever because the kids are just learning to walk and they toddle over, drool a bit, hug the characters, mom and dad take a zillion photos and video.... Definitely not respecting the "others are waiting in line" rule. Maybe that is just my rule. We never try to monopolize the characters because I know they are out for a short time and there are lots of other kids who want to have a chance too. My kids just wanted a quick photo and autograph. Way too long to wait. 

And another...Don and I split the lines. He stood in line for Einsteins with H and I stood in line with N for Handy Manny. Even doing this the lines still took forever. 

We finished in time to putter around a bit more and then went to our lunch reservation at Hollywood and Vine with ... some other Playhouse Disney characters. Again...i'd skip this lunch unless your kids are very little and really into these characters. We were trying to sample as many character meals as we could. The food wasn't that great and we saw two of the four characters because it took FOREVER for them to make their way around between the toddlers and their dancing in front of the buffets. We barely got out in time for the interpreted show of Beauty and the Beast.

I was really disappointed in the Beauty and the Beast Show. I thought the acting was really bad and the way they abbreviated the show was very very choppy and didn't flow well at all. If you ever go to California Adventure park you MUST see the Aladdin show there. It is phenomenal. Super fantastic. The costumes in this show were great but that is the best that I can say for it. H was mesmerized but she is with any drama related thing. 

After the show we used our Tower of Terror fast passes. I never went on this ride at CA Adventure park because my kids were too small so I always did something else with them while Don rode it. Holy cow! I was not prepared. This ride...you really do need those seat belts. My lanyard came up over my head when we dropped. I came up out of my seat! Fun ride. H will never go on it again. N....maybe.

Here is the point in our day when we were pretty pooped. We sat and had some snacks and watched the Block Party Bash go by. We've seen it at CA Adventure several times so seeing it down at the end of the block was just fine. After snacks we went and rode the Little Mermaid ride. That was interesting. Don fell asleep. I was nodding. Felt good to sit and rest my feet. After the show, Don and N went off to do a bit of stuff while H wanted to go see more characters. 

and even though he was one of the featured characters at our lunch, we never got to see him...

We stood in line FOREVER to see Buzz and Woody. I'm not kidding. It must have been an hour. I don't know why it took so long because it really shouldn't have.

We ended our day with me getting the photos from Jedi training added to our photopass card while Don went to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster. He said it was alright. 

We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary so we had to head out of the park. It was at this point that I realized that N was not feeling well. He was lethargic and grumpy. Felt a bit warm too. Drat! He pretty much sat on my lap for most of dinner and rested against me. I can't give you a real honest assessment of Chef Mickey's because I told Don to go pick anything for me he thought I might like because I was staying with N not feeling well. Poor little guy. It was crowded and noisy. That is for sure. Lots of people. We asked to move because there were two tables near us with people just clearly not enforcing any kind of courtesy on their children. They were loud and screaming and I wasn't up for that during dinner -- N certainly was not.

Donald Duck is also at this dinner but N was just fading so we had to leave.

Here is some food porn. Cute little desserts. I adore the little "Mickey Mousse". Sooooo cute!!!

Back to the hotel. A woman and her son took pity on my kids and gave up their seats on the bus back to POP so they could sit. (I thanked her profusely.) When we got back, I sent Don off in search of a thermometer. He found one in the gift shop for a couple bucks (the forehead strip kind)... Poor little guy was right around 101-102. Ugh. 

He fell right to sleep. I had to send an email to two pals who were supposed to meet up with us the next day to warn them we might have to miss out. Huge bummer.

Lights out. Sleep.

Disneyworld - Day 4 - Animal Kingdom

Looking back on the trip, I think this was one of my favorite parks. We missed quite a bit so I could have gone for another day to finish up. 

We got there before rope drop and mosied our way in past some of the exhibits. Didn't dilly dally because I wasn't sure where everyone was rushing off to...they were going to get their fast passes apparently. I sent Don off to go ride Expedition Everest. H didn't want to and N was not tall enough. We all got stuck anyway as we waited to get in for the rope to drop. Minnie and crew came out and entertained us with a little show in their safari bus. Mickey was up by the Tree of Life. I can't remember the whole story now. I was focused on getting to Kilimanjaro for fast passes. 

On our way to Africa we got delayed because Hr saw Terk and needed to get an autograph. 

Next we were back on our way to to Kilimanjaro to get our fast passes for the safari ride. After getting the passes, we had some time to kill before Don would return so I decided to let the kids get their faces painted. H wanted a bird of some type. My son...oh my beautiful boy...wanted a rainbow bird or butterfly. I told him I didn't think daddy would go for it too well. Don is already sensitive on the whole rainbow issue (N is obsessed with rainbows) so we had to negotiate on something a little more "boyish" but still in the rainbow theme. We decided on a rainbow light saber. Cool, huh?

Don paged me to say he was at Camp Minnie and Mickey waiting for us and that he was hanging out with Pocahontas and no one was there at all. We hurried on over because we wanted to see the characters there anyway. When we got there, sure enough...not a single person waiting to see Pocahontas. We got lots of time to chat with her.

Now here is the part you will all want to pay attention to. Her character assistant guy told us that if we were first in line at the lines for the characters...the line closest to the bathrooms...there are four line ups so be sure you go to the one closest to the bathrooms... He said if we got in that line and were first, they often will take your family up and you can meet all 4 characters at once. No standing in each individual line. So...we got in line and waited. Here's what you get for doing that:

We also got a certificate signed by all the characters. This was the BEST thing ever. The line was getting quite long behind us when the character assistants came to open the ropes and asked me how many in my party...I told them three ... Don had gone off to get more fast passes so he missed the whole thing. They opened it just for our three and then closed off the rope again. I'm sure the jealousy must have been oozing from everyone. We walked up to the little character greeting area and here comes Mickey Mouse to greet our family. He was followed by Minnie and Donald. Goofy joined a few minutes later. Kids got to get autographs, play with the characters a bit, and then we did a big group shot with all four characters. WAY COOL!!! I would so recommend that you do this. Get there around 9:30 or 9:40 to be first in line. Worth the wait. 

When we left, the characters went to each of their individual greeting areas so people had to queue up for each character they wanted to see. Not us. Tee hee. Felt like royaltly.

As we came out, there was Koda and Kenai. Had to get in some bear hugs.

A little further over were Chip and Dale. This was a great spot to get in characters. 

After the characters we headed back up to Kilimanjaro for our safari. This was my favorite ride. I loved this. I'd definitely ride it more than once if my family would tolerate it. Ha ha!

We saw so many animals. Fantastic!

After the safari we had to dash back over to Camp Minnie and Mickey for the interpreted show of The Festival of the Lion King. Another fantastic show. Definitely would recommend it. My camera takes lousy photos in dark areas so I didn't get great shots. This is one of my favorites though of the monkey acrobats. 

When we were done with the show we stopped to see Lilo and Stitch who have a queue near one of the shops across from the tree of life...just outside the entrance to go into Camp Minnie and Mickey (along the path heading up to Africa).

Lunch was at the bbq place. We had ribs and the kids had hot dogs. Good food...not fabulous...but good. We got a table all the way down the path near the water. Could see Expedition Everest as we ate. Very nice view. Ducks walking around the tables stalking us for food though. 

Then we headed to Dinoland. Don went on Primeval Whirl (H didn't want to and N was too short) and I took the kids on the Triceratops Spin. It's just Dumbo with horns. No biggie. The kids LOVED the Boneyard -- a play area. I sent Don in there with them while I found a nice shady bench...awwww....Did I mention how hot it was while we were in Florida??? Holy moly!

Our next stop was Dinosaur. I've heard mixed things about the ride but my kids aren't scaredy cats so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Wow....the photo they snapped during the ride of us was priceless (well...$18 anyway). I'll try to scan it later and add it in here. N was ducked down and you can only see his eye. H is cowering against me. I look surprised as does Don. Pretty funny. My son informed me very loudly when the ride was done, "I HATED THAT!!!" So, keep in mind...not all kids are gonna like having dinos jumping out at them. Here's H's rating of the ride:

Next we headed to our spot for the interpreted section for the parade. Great parade. Wow! So colorful. People on stilts. Really fantastic parade. 

When this was all done I think we were all pretty tired. We decided to leave a bit early and head to Downtown Disney. We had dinner reservations at Planet Hollywood. N was begging to go to the Lego store. 

Before we left, we stopped off as close as we could get to the Tree of Life and took some photos. The carvings are just amazing. I wish we had been able to get closer. Apparently you have to do the Bug's Life show and then when you come out the Tree is right there. My kids did not want to do the show - we have done it before at CA Adventure and they hated all the stinky stuff and effects. I thought it was great. Oh well. 

Lego store was a big hit, as usual. I loved the sea monster in the lake. 

Then dinner at Planet Hollywood. Holy cow. I think I am too old for that restaurant. TOOOOOOOOO loud in there. Had to climb stairs to get in. Then we had to climb two more flights to get to the level our table was on. Ugh. After all day at the park...my feet were not happy. Then we were subjected to some horrible singer wannabe that someone at Planet Hollywood had taken pity on and tried to help her start her career. She announced she had just turned 14. Her name was Little Italy. Horrible horrible horrible. Ugh! Clearly someone who's mom had never told her she was not perfect. Ugh. 

Food was alright but hurried through it to escape Little Italy. Grrrrrr....

Back to the hotel. zzzzzzzz

My morning started with calls to lost and found and the monorail station to try to recover our packet of lost autographs. Nothing. I was promised a monorail manager would call me back in 20 minutes. No call. I called back later that afternoon and the news was good. Yippee!!!  

When we got to Epcot...could the bus stop for POP Century be any further away? Geez! You start the day with a substantial hike and then just thinking about doing it at the end of the day. Sigh. Oh well. My feet are recovered now. They were in bad shape that day. So sore.  

As we came in I kept telling the kids that Spaceship Earth (hereafter referred to as "the ball") looked like a giant golf ball and that their Zade (grandpa) would love to have a go at it. If we could do it again we would have played a bit more with the ball in photos. I've seen people pose like they were balancing the ball on their finger or with their arms up and curved like they were holding the ball on their back. Very very fun ideas. Next time, huh?  

While I did these photos and my phone call, Don was supposed to go get Soarin' fast passes. He misunderstood me and went to get Test Track fast passes. Opposite sides of the park. Oh well. It worked out in the end. It was not too crowded. But when you go, get your Soarin' passes first. They go like crazy. We headed over to ride Test Track (I assumed Don had the Soarin' fast passes) and when we got there he told me no he had Test Track fast passes. Urgh... As long as we were there he and H rode on Mission Space. N is an inch too short so I agreed to be his non-ride buddy. He was interested in the water area just outside the two rides. He had a great time. Took of his crocs and kept putting them on different water spouts and screaming, "Take a picture mommy!" This is my favorite:

I got tired of waiting on Don and H so I told N we could go over and ride Nemo and get in line for Soarin'. By the time I got there the standby line was already over an hour for Soarin'. I was not interested. Told Don to meet us there and get the Fast Passes. N and I walked right onto Nemo with no wait. Not bad. Again, Disneyland does the ride better. You board a submarine there and feel like you go under the water and see basically the same things you do while you ride in the clamshells at Epcot.  

 

Lots of fun things to see when we got out. The favorite was the shark play area. We can't have a vacation in our family without goofy statue or goofy prop photos:  

 

N was also quite interested in the Manatees. By the time Don and H got over to us we had missed the only interpreted show of Turtle Talk with Crush -- kids weren't interested anyway (it is a favorite of mine though). He did catch a tiny bit of the interpreted talk on the manatees. We did ride Nemo again with Don and H though.

A huge favorite for the kids at Epcot were all the Kidcot stops. I had planned to skip them in my "hurry up and have fun" attitude because each one is a craft that requires you to take time out to color something or whatever. It really ended up being a very fun time for them. They got these cool lanyards to attach all the pieces they collected at each stop. Our first place was in The Seas.  

 

By Day 3, I was realizing we needed to get busy using up our snack credits on the dining plan. We were already behind. So...I let the kids have these gigantic popsicles which neither could finish even though they both swore they could. They had fun looking at each others' tongues to see the colors they turned.  

Next, we went back to ride Test Track with our fast passes. Great ride. H does not like the fast rides. I told her the whole time during the ride, "It feels just like how daddy drives!" (I was joking...well, a little). At the end, she said, "That wasn't so bad." See? Just had to put the ride in perspective for her.  

We had lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Loads of great choices. I had a Ahi tuna salad there...a bit overcooked for my preferences but good overall. The kids loved using snack credits at their bakery section -- loads of dessert choices there.  

Next we headed off to World Showcase. As you enter on the left side near Mexico, there is a spot where you can sign up to do the Kim Possible missions. We did this. Had no idea it would have our tired feet running us back and forth all over World Showcase. I just thought it would allow us to do something as we got into each new land. Ugh. Made Don return those puppies. Mean mom. Tired feet.  

First stop was Mexico. Probably my favorite land. I loved the Mariachi band playing in the street. Loved the art on sale. Way overpriced but beautiful.  

 

Kids got a kick out of seeing Caballero Donald.

Next country was Norway. When we went in to do our Kidcot thing -- a mask -- I saw a giant troll statue. Lots of people were posing with him. My kids got in on the action, too. We also rode on Maelstrom. Of course, we get up to the front and H announces with urgency, "I have to go potty!" We had a HUGE potty talk as we raced to a bathroom. I had just asked them 15 minutes earlier when we were right at a bathroom. We (*I*) decided that when we are near a bathroom we should all give it a go because you just never know.  

 

After our second country and second mask activity I realized the kids could just collect a paper shape and have it stamped to attach to their Kidcot lanyard. We really didn't need 11 masks or have the time to make them either. They still did an occasional mask here and there but this was much quicker. I also had made passports for them in advance. Got the files from DISboards. This really kept them going in World Showcase which is not necessarily the most kid fun place at WDW. They loved finding the Kidcot table at each place and getting their passports stamped. The people who work in each country are from that country. Most of them wrote something in their native language, wrote the kids' names in Chinese/Japanese characters or Arabic or some fun facts for the kids. The only party poopers were America and France. They just dated and signed their name. Hmph. You can see N's passport in this picture on our stop in Germany.  

China - beautiful buildings. Too hard to see the acrobat shows. Too many people standing around. I caught a leg in the air here or there but that was it. We did see Mulan and Mushu. Here is where the Epcot character problem began for me. They bring out a face character (where you see their real face) with another costumed character. It is much easier to replace the non-costumed character with a fresh person than to replace the face character because you need someone who looks like the character. So...they would send the face character away for a 20-30 minute break and bring back the other costumed character right away. That meant if you wanted to see both characters you had to wait. Lots of people waiting. Big P.I.T.A. Anyway, here we are after Mulan finally came back from finishing her tea.

Remember what I was saying about the Kim Possible communicators? You don't pick them up until Italy (nearly halfway through World Showcase). Then they wanted us to go back to Germany and so forth and so on. Here we are picking up our communicators in Italy. We returned them one country later.

America was next along the way. Loved the street performers.  

 

Morocco -- very cool place. Great buildings. The Kidcot guys were a lot of fun. Good music playing (H and N busted a few moves right there in the gift shop -- not great moves, but moves nonetheless).

 

We also saw Genie, Aladdin and Jasmine. This was another case of waiting forever for Aladdin and Jasmine to return from their magic carpet ride to join the Genie. Had to feel bad for the Genie. He was doing his best to entertain the folks but no one wanted just his autograph when they knew the other two were coming back at any time.  

We worked our way through the remaining countries with the goal to get all of our passport stamps in time for our dinner reservation at the Garden Grill in The Land. We made it just in time! Here are the kids - victorious with completed passports - outside the gardens in Canada.

Next we rushed back to The Land for our dinner reservation at the Garden Grill. I would highly recommend this one. The food was great. Served family style. Veggies were fresh and perfect. Lots of selections. Great options for the kids, too. They were both very happy. You also see Mickey, Chip, Dale, and Pluto at dinner. The restaurant VERY slowly rotates as you eat. It is so slow that we only made it about half of the way on the turn during our dinner -- we were there quite some time. Kids got "build your own cupcakes" for dessert which they just loved. Really great meal. Only thing I didn't like was when we were sitting facing all the people outside waiting while we ate. I felt kinda like a zoo animal with all the people staring at us.  

Pluto balanced our autograph book on his nose. Later Don made him balance a chicken nugget on his nose. I'm sure the guy in the costume was less than thrilled.  

After dinner, we used our Soarin' fast passes. The ride is identical to the one at California Adventure park. The queue route getting in there was a bit more insanely long (especially for having fast passes). Kids liked the ride. We got out just in time to go find a spot to watch some of the Illuminations fireworks show. I wish we had been able to stake out a spot earlier because we didn't have great visibility. Oh well. We got there just as it started so really couldn't complain. One fireworks photo:  

We took the monorail to the ticket and transportation center -- where lost and found is located. Too bad for us...found out that they close at 7pm. Keep that in mind folks. Also, most resorts will send a runner to lost and found to retrieve your lost items and bring them to your room. That is what we ended up doing. Back on the monorail to get to a bus and back to our hotel.