A Whole New (Disney) World Trip Report - January 2017! *UPDATED - 3/1*

[cosmicmommy]

For those of you have read my Pre-trip report, you know the background. For those that haven't, you can catch up here. This was the first time I had been back to Disney World since 1998 and the first time for my three boys.

The basics:
Who - Me (33), Orion (8), Apollo (7) and Phoenix (4)
What - First Disney trip for the kids, first in 18 years for me
Where - WDW
When - January 22-January 28, 2017
Why - Because it was time

Other players - My MIL (Angelia) -I am divorced, but still consider the whole family in-laws - and BIL (Spencer)

Table of Contents:
Pre-Trip Report
Day One - Arrival, Disney Springs and the Weather
Day Two - Magic Kingdom (Adventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square)
Part One
Part Two
Day Three - Hollywood Studios
Part One
Part Two
Day Four - Animal Kingdom
Part One
Part Two
Day Five - Magic Kingdom (Fantasyland/Tomorrowland)
Day Six - Epcot
Day Seven - Departure, Disney Springs and Bibbiddi Bobbidi Boutique (and a big Uh Oh)
Day Eight - Getting Home

 

[cosmicmommy]

Picture it. January 21, 2017. The day began with a bang, literally. We were awoken by very severe weather and the tornado sirens blaring – there was a tornado on the ground in our County and it was quickly spiraling in our direction. I should preface this by saying that my kids are terrified of bad weather – especially that or the tornadic type. We live in an area that sees its fair share of tornadoes and my oldest son was born smack in the middle of Dixie Alley, which is surprisingly the most active tornado alley in the WORLD, right there in a little swath through Northern Mississippi, Northern Alabama and the whole of Middle Tennessee. It extends Northward a bit from there as well, but we’re getting off topic (Which I do frequently, don’t say I didn’t warn you!). Anyway, the sirens went off at about 7 AM and I rolled out of bed to collect the kids into the bathroom. Within minutes, the danger had passed and we slumped off to try to get in a little bit more sleep.

A couple hours later, we started our day, preparing for the older two boys’ final basketball game of the season. By the time we arrived at their game at 11:30, the skies were blue and clear and the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees. The kids played a hard-fought game. That was the most aggressive basketball game I have ever seen – numerous injuries on both teams and I all I could think of was, “Please do NOT get hurt the day we leave for Disney!” The kids wrapped up their game and hung around with their teammates for their goodbye party, then we were off to home for a *hopefully* quiet evening. After finalizing our plans and packing up the car, I went back to bed around 5PM to try to get in a little bit more sleep before our planned departure at midnight. With three kids, I had planned to leave out overnight and let them sleep most of the 9 hour trip in order to try to preserve some of my sanity. For this reason, my parents kept the kids up until it was time to leave. With everything sitting on go, it should have been a low-key night with me getting in a good final nap before embarking on the craziest adventure I’ve ever attempted with the kids. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Around 7 PM, a loud crack dazed me out of my nap just in time to hear the wail of… tornado sirens – again. Yes, the beautiful, clear blue sky had given way to green and angry skies with winds whipping all around us. The second tornado warning of the day had me up and nervous and checking the weather constantly to insure our departure window was still open – it was, but had closed to just two hours of time in which there wasn’t supposed to be any heavy rains.

Once the warnings had been cancelled and the rain outside had settled into heavy instead of torrential, I went back to sleep, hoping to get the rest I knew I would need. We were able get on the road in the middle of the calmest night I have seen in a while. Did I mention the weather is wild where I live? All along I-10 (the first half of our trip!), I kept running into patches of dense rain that would force me to pull over to a rest stop and check the weather to be sure we weren’t running into the nasty and that it wasn’t catching up to us. I am all for “beating the clock” when taking long trips, but not when it runs me straight into a pseudo-typhoon. Once we hit Lake City, Florida, the sun started to come up, the clouds parted, the kids woke up and the rest of the trip down to Orlando proved fairly uneventful. As we pulled past the Welcome gates, the boys finally started to get excited to be in the most Magical Place on Earth! Finding Pop Century was fairly easy and I received my ‘Room Ready’ email just as we pulled into the parking lots – great timing Disney! We found our room finally (after walking around confused as heck for twenty minutes!) and got our stuff settled in, then we picked up our stroller at Luggage Services and headed for Disney Springs, where we were meeting a very special guest on our trip – Grandma and Uncle Spencer! (My ex-husband’s former stepmother – longest story ever – and brother) They were already in town for something else and wanted to meet up with us while were down there.

After finally figuring out the stroller and getting to Disney Springs, we messaged that we were there and headed off to PhotoPass Studios to take full advantage of Memory Maker.

We had some pictures done there and went off to meet Grandma and Uncle Spencer at T-Rex for “A Prehistoric Family Adventure.” While waiting, my phone died – apparently my weather APP is a big time battery drain. All the checking on the way down had killed my phone! Thankfully, Grandma and Uncle Spencer found us and we proceeded inside to enjoy a sit down lunch together. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures because dead phone… in my rush to get to Disney Springs, I had left BOTH of my cameras in the hotel room! The boys thought the meteor shower was kinda neat, but it lost its appeal after the first two times and it was just “loud” to them after that. The food here was pretty good! I had only eaten at Rainforest Café once before, so I didn’t have a lot of experience with Landry’s restaurants, but was overall happy with the experience. I had a Bronto Burger (onion ring and all, it was tasty!) and Grandma and Uncle Spencer both had Pork-a-Saurus sandwiches. The waffle fries were great and the burger was pretty good too. I guess theirs was okay too, because there wasn’t much left around the table. The little kids had pizza (Phoenix and Apollo) and, as I predicted, my oldest got Shrimpkens – he enjoyed it, but it looked a little cheap. Very Tyson value bag, but he ate it, so no complaints. Grandma caught sight of the Chocolate Extinction and decided we needed one. It was SO good The cake was so fudgy, it hardly tasted like cake at all – more like a brownie drowned in caramel with ice cream on the side. The Butterfinger bits were a nice touch and my kids each ate almost a full slice of cake, while the adults shared a little over one slice – it was rich and we were full! To me, the lunch food was fine but nothing to write home to mom about. Next time, I think I would eat somewhere else, but go there for that dessert again!

After eating, we wandered around Disney Springs for a bit. We had planned to head over to Fort Wilderness for the Chip and Dale Campfire that evening, but it wasn’t looking like that was going to happen – the nasty weather followed us to Orlando and we had decided we should probably be getting back to our rooms before 7 and that the campfire would likely be cancelled due to thunderstorms. Come to think of it, I never did confirm if it was cancelled, but with the weather that came through that night, I can’t imagine they still held it… (although they DID still do Wishes in MK in the middle of the crazy…) We got some souvenirs and I went ahead and got the boys their Mickey Ears, then went over to PhotoPass Studios AGAIN to document their first ears. Little dude wasn’t having it until he watched his brothers take more pictures, then he wanted some too. That’s why they’re separated. After browsing through Once Upon A Toy and the Lego Store, we realized that the rain was upon us and the skies were threatening to spill any moment, so we headed out to meet back up at Pop. We made it about halfway to the bus stop before the bottom fell out – and the wheels popped off the stroller. Yes… the wheels popped off the stroller and went rolling in different directions in a downpour with one kid screaming that he was getting wet, one kid chasing down a wheel and two complete strangers chasing down the other. And of course, we found out the hard way that you can’t board the buses at the drop-off – you have to walk 500 miles to the pickup location on the other side of the world… I hope that bus driver realizes I wasn’t griping at her. She ended up being out bus driver when all was said and done and was so apologetic, but I know I wasn’t as gracious as she told us we couldn’t board there. I wasn’t talking to her though – I was griping at the STROLLER because in the same minute as her telling us we couldn’t board there is when the rain picked up and the stroller wheels went on their adventure. It was an early lesson in both preparedness and going with the flow. The latter came in handy later in the week when we got soaked unexpectedly at Magic Kingdom. It seemed like an eternity, but within 10 minutes we were on the bus and headed back to Pop.

Once back at Pop, I dropped into the lobby to inquire about our room for the next day. Orignally, I had booked Jan 23-28, but with Grandma and Uncle Spencer’s surprise visit, I had booked a room-only for the night before too. I was hoping to be able to stay in the same room for the duration of the trip, but our room in the 70s building was on the list for refurbishment starting the next day. Boo. The Castmember worked some magic and moved us into the 60s section in a preferred room with a pool view and minutes from the food court. Pixie Dust! Yay! We stayed in what my 4 year old affectionately began calling “The yellow building.” That is how he remembers his vacation – we stayed in the yellow building with the yo-yo. The room was small, but comfortable. We weren’t planning on having a party there, so it was perfect for a place to sleep and shower. It was starting to get late, so we walked down to the food court/shopping center and picked up a couple small souvenirs. Shout out to the Castmember that let me buy the castle blanket for $20 with my receipt from the Mickey Ears – I totally forgot to grab it while at Disney Springs. It was getting to be dinner time and the kids were getting hungry, so Grandma ordered a food court pizza and we sat there and chowed down on what might have been some of the best pizza we’ve ever had! One slice filled up each kid! Then we sadly said goodbye to Grandma and Uncle Spencer – they had to get back to their room before the storm unleashed its fury – and we headed back to our room to get settled in and ready for the very first day in parks. The boys were out in no time and it was a good thing – that storm came roaring in like a hurricane.

 

[cosmicmommy]

DAY TWO - MAGIC KINGDOM - JANUARY 23

I am an overplanner by nature and this Disney trip was no different. Months before we ever left home, I had planned out each of our days into segmented blocks of time. The list was so detailed, it included every snack I had planned for, every meal we would eat and every *planned* attraction, how long each should take and any height restrictions. While the plan wasn’t foolproof and I knew we would be changing it on the fly as things actually happened, it served as a goal of what everyone had chosen/wanted to do, along with a gentle reminder of where we should be at any given time to stay on track. I must say that overall, we stayed pretty closely within the guidelines I had set forth before our trip began. Yes, some things got changed. In fact, we ended up skipping some things completely and added others, but nearly always within the allotted timeframe. The biggest thing that tripped us up was Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire in one way or another. We did eventually get to see it though! I am going to include the final version of our itinerary along with my own commentary of what actually happened….

Parades: Festival of Fantasy – 3 PM, Move It! Shake It ! Dance It! Play It! – 11:00 AM

Shows: Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial – 12:30 PM, Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire – 10:30 AM

Fireworks: N/A

FastPass: Pirates of the Caribbean (11:25 AM), Haunted Mansion (3:30 PM), Big Thunder Mountain (5:40 PM)

8:00 AM – Arrive at Magic Kingdom – Obtain DAS pass at Guest Relations (Main Street)

[ This part went off without a hitch. We were able to get up, get dressed and grab a quick breakfast for the kids in the room. We were on one of the first buses out that morning and arrived to Magic Kingdom just minutes after 8 AM. This was the first REAL hint of excitement from the kids. As they saw Space Mountain and the Castle, things started to click that were really at that place they saw on TV and we were really going to do this. By 8:10, we were through security and on Main Street. Although I knew we needed to secure Apollo’s DAS pass sooner rather than later, we stopped first for the obligatory family picture in front of the castle. I don’t think I even have one of these as a kid and it was certainly our first (although far from last) family picture in front of the world famous icon.

A few quick snaps later and we headed off to City Hall, figuring this step would take a few minutes. Surprisingly, the Castmember working that morning was super-efficient and didn’t grill us on why Apollo needed the pass. I was nervous about this part. I know he needs the pass, but how was I going to convince a total stranger as to why this little boy that looks totally normal needed a pass to not stand in traditional lines? Thankfully, my simple statement was enough and by 8:20, we were on Main Street, free and clear until rope drop. We milled around and took in the castle, then made our way over to the Adventureland rope to prepare for our day to begin. The number of people here was VERY sparse, even during/after the welcome show. Maybe 50 people followed the Castmembers back into Adventureland with small groups peeling off at various points. ]

8:55 AM – Welcome Show

9:00 AM – Jungle Cruise *8 Minutes*

[We followed along behind the skipper we had been chatting with and got straight onto the first boat of the morning to leave out. Our skipper’s name was Mandy and she was funny. I didn’t remember much about Jungle Cruise from riding it as a kid, which was a good thing because it was like it was new to me. I do remember riding it, just didn’t remember the jokes. They were definitely corny, but the kids even got a laugh or two out of it. My oldest did NOT like the cave portion as he HATES spiders and doesn’t care for snakes either, but overall it was a great start to our day and they loved seeing the Elephants and Monkeys. It did rain while we were on the ride, but nothing too bad and thankfully, it wasn’t particularly warm this morning, so we weren’t bombarded by steam the moment we got back to the dock.]

9:20 AM - Magic Carpets of Aladdin *1.5 Minutes*

9:30 AM - Agrabah Character Experience (Aladdin/Jasmine)

[We hopped over onto Magic Carpets without a wait and were onboard within minutes of returning to the Jungle Cruise dock. The seats were wet from the mini-rainstorm that had hit while we were on Jungle Cruise, but other than a wet butt, it didn’t affect us much. We slipped across into the Agrabah Bazaar just as Aladdin and Jasmine came out to begin their first set of the morning. Phoenix kept trying to pocket the jewels laid into the ground here and was unimpressed with Jasmine and Aladdin at first, but quickly warmed up to them when Aladdin started trying to call Genie on Phoenix’s MagicBand. The other two boys had shorter interactions with them, but while Apollo seemed fine and overall decently interested in meeting Jasmine/Aladdin, Orion seemed completely indifferent. I don’t know if he was still overwhelmed (his character interaction got better as the week went on) or if these two just weren’t his jam. They’ve all seen Aladdin, but not nearly as many times as other movies that are current. Orion is definitely on the cusp of the magic changing for him, so I am glad I had as many character meets as we did. While he knows (and has told me) that the characters are just people in suits, there were a few times he lost himself in the interaction and I think he forgot his “big boy” knowledge and just enjoyed the magic. Aladdin/Jasmine was not one of those interactions, sadly.]

10:00 AM – Breakfast at Sleepy Hollow (Main Street USA)

2 Funnel Cake with Cinnamon/Sugar - $6.49 ea = $12.98 – 2 Snack Credits

Total: 2 Snack Credits = $12.98 value

10:30 AM – Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire @ The Hub *15 Minutes*

[This entire section ended up being much later than I had planned and we nearly got off track because of it. We finished Aladdin/Jasmine incredibly ahead of schedule, so we decided to walk over to Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain to see if we could get in a quick ride and free up some time later in the day. To our surprise (and later delight), Splash Mountain was a WALK-ON, so on we went. The kids walked off raving about how awesome it was! Though a little terrified-looking in the Chick-a-Pin picture (Apollo ducked!), all three immediately declared it to be one of their favorites.

5 minutes later and we were weaving our way through the predicted 15 minute wait for Big Thunder. About midway through the queue is when things started to go South. Apollo had to pee. At this point, it was 10 minutes until Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire was supposed to start and we were still only halfway through the line. I told him to hold it and we’d go after the ride, but he kept insisting and finally froze into place with his legs crossed and that deer-in-the-headlights look of “Oh, I really do have to go really bad…” Thankfully, the lady behind me in the queue handed me an old coffee cup and told me to do what I had to do, so we dropped trou right there in the Big Thunder line while his brothers stood in front of him and the lady and her family behind to form a little human wall and with a little coaxing, he took care of business, we popped the lid on the coffee cup and tossed away the evidence into a trash can. Once we got past the big bend in the queue where it splits, we quickly got on through the line and before I knew it, we were in the corral to get on next. The Castmembers working had assured me that the three boys could ride in the seat in front of me while I rode solo behind them. This eased my mind a little because I am WAY bigger than my four year old and this was his first big coaster. On we went and the second we hit the first drop, down Phoenix went nearly into the floorboard! That lap bar was in place and locked in, but he must have sucked it in because when I lurched over the seat to snag him, the bar was against his chest. Needless to say, that was not an enjoyable ride for any of us. For being touted as a good “beginner coaster,” all three of my kids hated it! We exited off and headed for the castle to try to catch the show, but quickly realized it was over halfway through! I checked the times guide and saw it was due to repeat at 11:30 after the parade, so we went ahead and got our snacks – 1 funnel cake and 1 waffle - and snagged a seat on the curb between the Forecourt Stage and the Hub. While the waffle was decent, it wasn’t anything amazing. The funnel cake was really good but SUPER messy. I likely wouldn’t get either in the future. By the time we got through the long line at Sleepy Hollow, the show had ended and the crowds had thinned, so we were able to get unobstructed view pictures of the castle, so that was a bonus.]

11:00 AM – Move It! Shake It! Dance It! Play It! Parade @ The Hub *15 Minutes*

[Within no time, the parade has begun and with a little encouragement, the boys truly lost themselves in the Disney spirit. They were singing and dancing along and even joined both Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps in the street to dance. This was definitely their favorite parade of the trip and the only one we actually ended up dedicating our full attention to watching.

When the parade finished, we literally just turned around and walked RIGHT up to the ropes at the Forecourt Stage for the Friendship Faire. Sadly, this viewing wasn’t meant to be either. Literally during Tiana’s set, dark clouds rolled in and smack dab in the middle of Rapunzel’s bit, those clouds opened up and dumped 1.5 minutes of rain on everyone – just enough to cancel the performance! Disappointed, but not defeated, I realized that our FastPass window for Pirates of the Caribbean had opened, so off we went to sail with some scoundrels.]

11:45 AM – Pirates of the Caribbean (11:25 AM FastPass) *7.5 Minutes*

[The wait time for this one had actually gotten up into the neighborhood of 35+ minutes by the time we ventured over, so I was thankful for the FastPass+ We still had a small wait, but nothing that set Apollo off, so it was doable. The Big Thunder line from earlier had definitely been an indicator of how far he could be pushed – and 15 minutes was his limit. After less than 10 minutes, we were onboard a boat and sailing off into the turbulent seas ahead. The water sloshing around on the bottom of the boat should have been an indicator. Having most of the adults seated on the right side of the boat should have been another warning sign. None of us were prepared for the “little” drop that literally sent a wave crashing over the front three rows of the boat. My pants went from light green to dark in a matter of seconds. The rest of the ride was enjoyable enough once I got over my shock of getting THAT wet on Pirates. I wasn’t upset by it since I knew it could be a possibility, but I wasn’t prepared to get wetter on Pirates than on Splash Mountain! Otherwise, the ride was just as I remembered it from my childhood. This is one that stuck out the most in my memories, especially the smell! I have never forgotten how Pirates smelled and it still smells the same. It was cute seeing the addition of Barbossa, Davy Jones and Jack Sparrow everywhere, especially since it was something new for me. All three kids thoroughly enjoyed the ride and clapped when it was over, then immediately begged for every single pirate souvenir they could get their grubby little hands on!]

12:30 PM – Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial *25 Minutes*

[While waiting for this show, we sidled up to the PhotoPass photographer and fought the sun to get what ended up being pretty cute pictures. Later on, I realized the magic was missing from my oldest’s photo and had the correct it, but upon later inspection, his ended up having Iago in it while the other two had Pascal. They don’t seem too fazed by it, but being right over by Pirates, I’d think Iago makes more sense, but I have never seen Iago before whereas I have seen Pascal a lot. The Pirate’s Tutorial was a funny, interesting show. I think I got more out of it than the kids did though, because they haven’t seen the Johnny Depp movies. Their pirate knowledge is based more on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. My oldest was very disappointed however when he didn’t get picked to participate in the show, but he got over it when he was allowed to come up on stage and declare his pirate allegiance. All three of my boys made it up there to take the pirate oath.

With pirate training under our belts, we (I) decided we would skip A Pirate’s Adventure in order to try to see Royal Friendship Faire a third time. Thankfully, we were able to see the full show, albeit from a little further back than our previous spots. Apparently the 1 PM performance is super popular! The kids enjoyed it, but their attitudes were starting to show and relations between the kids were starting to fall apart. I knew it could (and likely would) happen, but this was the beginning of a huge downward spiral on which all other days of our lives will be based. “Let’s not have a Magic Kingdom attitude kind of day,” has become a mainstay phrase in our home now. Just to put things into perspective. ]

1:00 PM – A Pirate’s Adventure – Treasure of the Seven Seas

1:30 PM – Swiss Family Treehouse

[I somewhat remember doing this as a kid, but I don’t think we did it every time. I read the book as a kid, so it as enjoyable, but I think it was a one and done type thing and it likely will be for our family too. The boys enjoyed it, but they’ve never read the book or seen the Disney movie, so it didn’t spark a special interest in them. And they complained about the amount of the steps THE.ENTIRE.TIME. My oldest got the most out of it, but that didn’t surprise me as he is my details kid. The others can have things waved in front of their face and they still won’t see them sometimes, wheras he picks out the minute details of everything. ]

2:30 PM – Lunch at Casey’s Corner

4 Foot Long Chili Cheese Dogs with Fries - $12.29 ea = 49.16 – 4 Quick Service Credits

4 Drinks - $3.69 ea = $14.76 – Included

Total: 4 Quick Service Credits = $63.92 value

[15 minutes early, we headed into Casey’s Corner to order lunch. I had originally planned to get everyone foot long chili cheese dogs, but that quickly changed once we were inside. My oldest said he wanted a plain hot dog, and the two little ones were slapping each other in the line, so I just ordered 2 Mac and Cheese Hot Dogs since they were the special, a plain hot dog for my oldest who wanted to douse it in mayonnaise, a foot long chili cheese dog for me and 4 Odwalla lemonades. Surprisingly, they came with Mickey Straws, so that was actually a free souvenir. However, imagine my surprise when the Mac and Cheese hot dogs were actually foot longs! Plus they came with a whole container of fries, not a side like I was expecting! Next time, two would be enough for everyone and now that I know that, I would save the credits for something else! We ate what we could once we finally found a table. Note to anyone planning to eat here: the trays come seriously loaded down. I had two I had to figure out how to carry along with herding three kids to a table. NOT a good place to eat right before the parade because it was packed! The food itself was decent, but again, the foot longs there are more akin to two normal foot longs and a regular would be big enough for just about anyone. I’m not even sure my dad could finish a whole one. The chili was pretty bland and I definitely would NOT get it again. When one is accustomed to eating chili dogs like Krystal or Skyline, the chili there was just… no. The mac and cheese dog was infinitely better-tasting albeit humongous. All in all, WAY TOO MUCH FOOD!]

 

[cosmicmommy]

3:00 PM – Festival of Fantasy Parade *25 Minutes*

3:30 PM – Dessert @ The Plaza Ice Cream Parlour

1 “Plaza” Ice Cream Sundae - $5.39 ea = $5.39 – 1 Snack Credit

1 Mickey’s Kitchen Sink Sundae - $14.99 - Charge to MagicBand

Total: 1 Snack Credits = $5.39 value; $14.99 to MagicBand

[By the time we decided that our seats at Casey’s weren’t good viewing spots for the parade, it was too late to find a good spot anywhere along Main Street, plus we were stuffed full with no room for ice cream. We crossed the street and walked along Main Street, trying to find a decent spot to view the parade, but everything was crammed full of people and Apollo doesn’t do well in crowds, so we cut across The Hub and dashed through Liberty Square, scurrying across the street just ahead of the first floats. We decided to skip the parade completely *gasp* and move on with our itinerary! However, our FastPass window for Haunted Mansion wasn’t open yet and the line was a cool 30 minutes, which I knew was impossible for Apollo to handle, especially in his current moodiness. The Castmember asked when our FastPass window was and told us she would “Green Us” so we walked off to park the stroller and realized we could somewhat see the parade from our current vantage point, so we scooted over inside of the white tape line and watched the parade from afar. It wasn't the best view, but we did get to see the whole thing, then we parked the stroller and headed off to funniest haunted place on Earth.]

4:15 PM – Haunted Mansion (3:30 FP) *10 Minutes* - Skip Stretching Room

[As promised, the Castmember turned our early FastPass green and let us into the queue which we walked through in a small hurry as there was a line of people coming in behind us and we didn’t want to get caught up in a crowd, especially since I knew we would have a special request when we got to the front. I will admit, I gigglesnorted a little at all the dead jokes when they were asking everyone to move forward, but thankfully I was able to create a brother shield around Apollo. I waved down a Castmember and explained our situation that Apollo would likely have a meltdown inside the stretching room and without skipping a beat, they waved us over to another Castmember who handed us a card and instructed us to go out the emergency exit doors and meet up with another Castmember down the hall and to give him the card when we got there. Turns out, they sent us in through the exit. I don’t know where we joined back up with other guests, but it was slightly crowded on the entry platform. Again, I was able to temporarily shield Apollo and thankfully, this part moved quickly but by now Apollo was starting to freak out a little and refusing to not ride with me. I had planned for him and Orion to ride in one Doombuggy and for Phoenix and I to ride in the next, but he wasn’t having it. We took a chance and squished into one Doombuggy. We just barely fit, but we FIT. Apollo was trembling slightly as the ride began, but once I got him to realize that it was funny scary, he settled down and enjoyed the ride. He was even laughing by the end. So was Phoenix, though it took half the ride to convince him that it wasn't that scary. This ended up being one of their favorite overall rides. Once we exited back to the side of the living, we took some PhotoPass photos outside and it turns out that the ghost that was hanging out on top of our Doombuggy hitchhiked right on out of there with us!]

4:45 PM – The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History *15 Minutes*

5:15 PM – Liberty Square Riverboat *16 Minutes*

[The next few steps got a bit discombobulated, but we managed to complete them (and ahead of schedule.) When we got out of Haunted Mansion, everyone had to use the facilities, so we wandered up into the edge of Fantasyland to use the Rapunzel bathrooms and headed up to Princess Fairytale Hall to secure a return time for Elena which was a big must-do on every one of the boys’ lists. The bathrooms were cute, but the boys were fighting, so I didn’t pay as much attention to them as I would have liked. Without too much explanation, I directed everyone down through Fantasyland over to Princess Fairytale Hall and secured a return time for 30 minutes from the present. Then we looped back around what was probably the longest way we could have chosen and decided to catch the 4:15 performance of Muppets since it was starting then. We saw the Declaration of Independence one and though most of the humor went over the boys’ heads, they enjoyed it and laughed along while following the prompts from the Town Crier. Once the show had wrapped up, we took some obligatory photos in the stocks, but I wish they had benches or stools available for the little ones there since only my oldest could actually pretend to be “in” the stocks. The other two were just “hanging out.” I guess it will be a cute picture to take each time as they grow until they can finally fit.

When I was originally planning this trip, doing the Riverboat had never even crossed my mind as something my kids would legitimately want to do, but Orion surprised me by picking it in his Top 5. I had already explained at the beginning of the day that we may skip things if time constraints dictated it to be necessary, but we were more than 30 minutes ahead of schedule, so off we went to wait for the Liberty Belle to wind her way around the river to us. I will admit, it was a nice and welcome break, even if the little one was whining about being bored by the end. I had never realized you could see so much aboard the Riverboat and since the railroad was down for refurbishment, it was nice to be able to see some of its scenery. We rotated between all three decks – what a gorgeous view from the top deck!

Once we had disembarked, we wandered back to up to Fantasyland to see Elena and I thought I was going to leave my kids right there with the princesses. Their behavior completely tanked out while waiting to see Elena – even with a return time, we had to wait almost 20 minutes because the place was simply packed out. I probably employed every tired parent tactic known to man in that line! “We will go home right now if you hit your brother again!” “Do you want to sit to the side while your brothers meet Elena?” “Do not make me find a corner and put you in it. Yes, at Disney!” For the record, the corner thing totally happened and that is where Cinderella found my youngest – with his nose in a corner. Thankfully, she was able to pull him out of his funk and put a smile on face, if only briefly. The boys enjoyed Cinderella and she even taught them how to bow like gentlemen, then she asked if they liked jokes, because Elena LOVED them. My boys are obsessed with jokes! She gave my oldest one to ask Elena, which I thought was a nice touch, since the line had gotten held up between Cinderella and Elena. Cinderella was interacting so much with my boys that her handler had to pull her away. Once they got up to Elena, I let my oldest go first since this was HIS princess. He told her the joke, which she guessed, but they laughed together and I got a truly great picture of them together. (For the record, the joke was, "Why can't a nose be 12 inches long? Because then it'd be a foot!") Apollo told her his own joke and got a chuckle out of her. Phoenix… that little rat. He tried to cop an attitude with Elena, crossing his arms and being pouty and she gave it right back to him! One of my favorite pictures from the day is Elena pouting right back at him with her arms crossed, followed by the picture of him slapping his forehead when he realized he had been out-attitude’d.]

5:45 PM – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (5:40 PM FastPass) *7 Minutes* - 40” – Tap Into Splash

6:15 PM – Splash Mountain *18 Minutes* - 40”

6:45 PM – Country Bear Jamboree *10 Minutes*

7:15 PM – Princess Fairytale Hall (Cinderella/Elena)

[As we exited our encounter with Cinderella and Elena, we snapped a quick set of pictures at Cinderella’s fountain, then walked leisurely across Magic Kingdom back up into Frontierland with the intention of exploring the possibility of another ride on Splash Mountain since the boys had enjoyed it so much. Again, it was a complete walk on and we added a second ride to our repertoire. However, since our FastPass window was now open, we hopped over to Big Thunder to try it again, this time with Phoenix firmly planted beside me and everything tangled up that I could possibly get around him. The second ride was more enjoyable and Phoenix and I were cruising in the very front! However, while he came off the ride grinning and giggling, Apollo had a complete and utter meltdown on the ride. He literally screeched with his hands over his ears from the moment we pulled out of the station to the moment they released his lap bar. Saying that Apollo hated Big Thunder Mountain is the understatement of the year. He declared to me that he will never ride it – ever again, no never. He hated it THAT much. Orion agreed that it was ridiculously loud and he would rather do something else, so back to Splash Mountain we went! As we went over Chick-a-Pin hill for the third time that day, Apollo loosened up and relaxed a bit, but he’s still completely MIA in all of Splash Mountain pictures from the first day. And I STILL got wetter on Pirates than I did on Splash Mountain all 3 times combined!

With an hour to kill before our Be Our Guest reservation, we checked in at Country Bears only to find it closed at 6! Lesson learned! Orion was disappointed, but not devastated. We slipped into the bathrooms across from the FastPass stands and everyone used the bathroom while I secured another set of Fastpasses for Pirates of the Caribbean. 15 minutes later, my oldest FINALLY came out of there and I was like “Are you okay?” He just shrugged and smirked and I told him, “One does not poop at Disney! That happens at the hotel!” Finally, we made it over to Pirates and the wait time was 5 minutes so we skipped the FastPass line and just went through the regular queue so we could see it. This time, it was Orion that got a drenching, so it is my conclusion that the right side of the boat gets wet. I was little mad at myself for having placed the backpack on the floor of the boat, because it was soaked too, but I stayed mostly dry. Upon exiting, we scooped up some pirate souvenirs including a pirate Stitch for the youngest and off we were into the grand adventure of “We have time to kill, so what do we do?” We had almost settled on venturing into Enchanted Tiki Room when I suggested a nighttime ride on Jungle Cruise, which was met with a resounding YES! So off we went onto a nighttime cruise. The jokes were mostly the same, but our skipper Shon was funny enough. The kids didn’t appreciate the jokes as much the second time around, but they enjoyed looking at the scenery more and began pointing out things that they had missed that morning, so it was a worthy venture.]

7:55 PM– Dessert at Be Our Guest

2 The “Grey” Stuff - $5.00 ea = $10 – Charge to MagicBand

[Because of Apollo’s sometimes unpredictable sensitivities to fireworks, we had planned to avoid Wishes by eating dessert inside the castle at Be Our Guest – plus it was a great way to meet the Beast. We were seated inside the Rose Gallery and it was interesting to see all the “outtakes” from the movie and the music box was pretty, but even inside the castle, the booming from the fireworks was intense. It didn’t set him off, but I was SO glad to not be outside. I had planned to order a couple of Grey Stuffs, but they only had one left, so we got a Strawberry Cupcake and a Grey Stuff and split them amongst us. The Grey Stuff was really good – kinda like a white chocolate cheesecake type filling in a chocolate shell with the ubiquitous grey stuff on top. The strawberry cupcake blew it out of the water though and was hands down everyone’s favorite.

It was simply THAT good. After we paid, we wandered over to the study to meet Beast and it was nearly the coffin in our trip. Beast had to go on break and the kids about melted in puddles in the queue. Thankfully, we ran into another family whose kids were done with the day and they played together while the mom and I chatted. It was welcome adult conversation in a day where I had been pushed to my single-parent limits. She wasn’t a single mom, but her husband was somewhere else in the castle, so it was fun to let the kids play. And even though she was a foreign national, she recognized my Alabama accent because her husband is from Alabama! Very near where I went to college in fact, so when he returned, he and I chatted about school until it was finally time to meet the master of the castle! What a relief when we made it through the queue and over to the bathroom (Yes, my kids apparently have pea-sized bladders while in Disney!)

We walked outside well after the last of the fireworks and took our time walking through an almost empty Fantasyland to find a nearly deserted castle again, so we snapped a couple more pictures with my cell phone singing its death knell. I think we were able to get 3 pictures before it collapsed for the day, but I got a reminder from another plus sized lady to “Love the skin you’re in and get in the pictures.” That was a helpful reminder for me later in the week – I may not like the pictures, but if I don’t take any how will I know? Once we made it down to Main Street, I was happy to see that there were still PhotoPass photographers out and got some pictures in front of the castle again which I love. We also got to see the Kiss Goodnight, which was a high note to end an otherwise stressful day. ]

8:00 PM – Park Close, Take Bus to Art of Animation

9:00 PM – Dinner at Landscape of Flavors (Art of Animation)

Ginger: Cheesy Pesto Bread - $5.29; Drink Refill

Orion: Cheesy Pesto Bread - $5.29; Drink Refill

Apollo: Cheesy Pesto Bread - $5.29; Drink Refill

Phoenix: Cheesy Pesto Bread - $5.29; Drink Refill

4 Snack Credits - $21.16

10:00 PM – Walk to POP Century

[We were so exhausted by the end of the day that we didn’t bother with Art of Animation. We were after 9:30 getting back to Pop as it was and we just got our refillable mugs, got some drinks and headed to the hotel room to head to bed. The boys were so tired, they didn’t even need their Melatonin to sleep and were out in 5 minutes. ]

 

[cosmicmommy]

*tap tap* Is this thing on? If you're reading along, check in and let me know you're here!

DAY THREE – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Parades: March of the First Order

Shows: Disney Junior Live On Stage – 10:30 AM; For The First Time In Forever –A Frozen Sing A Long – 1:30 PM; Jedi Academy: Trials of the Temple – 4:10 PM

Fireworks: Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular- 7:45 PM

FastPass+: Tower of Terror (1:55 PM), Toy Story Midway Mania (9:25 AM), Star Tours (3:10 PM)

Additional FastPass+:

6:00 AM – Wake up Call, Get Dressed

[Originally, I had only planned to get cocoa in our refillable mugs to hold us over for breakfast because we had an early lunch reservation, but since we didn’t eat the night before, we were going to have four extra snack credits, so down to the food court we went. All four of us got Make-Your-Own yogurt parfaits – I had Strawberries, granola and sunflower seeds. Phoenix had banana chips and strawberries. Orion had blueberries, granola and golden raisins. Apollo had blueberries, strawberries and granola. All in all, they were a great, quick and easy start to our morning, but I found out firsthand on this morning that Disney coffee is DISGUSTING. As in drinking liquefied asphalt disgusting. I’m not usually one for Coke in the early morning, but I needed caffeine somehow and I was not drinking that coffee.]

7:30 AM – Take bus to Hollywood Studios (Ask for Transportation Cards)

8:00 AM: Get in Line (Far Left for Jedi Training Academy)

9:00 AM: Park Opens – Go to Jedi Training Academy Sign-Ups

[We boarded the bus and made it to Hollywood pretty quickly. Upon seeing the Tower of Terror up close and personal, the reality that we were riding it THAT day settled into the kids and they got nervous about it. Orion has never been one for big drop rides of any sort, but I KNEW he’d enjoy the theming of the hotel itself and I really wanted to ride it. We all made concessions to ride things we didn’t want to and this was my one request. We got to the park, through security and settled into line before 8:15 and whittled away the time with a lengthy lecture that today was NOT going to be a repeat of attitudes from the previous day and a stern reminder of who was in charge and there may have been a thinly veiled threat that if they didn’t behave, they would NOT be getting lightsabers. Maybe the lecture worked, but I suspect it was the latter threat that made their behavior do a 180 from the previous night. They actually let us in by 8:45 and we were done with signups for Jedi Training Academy before 9. In fact, we passed by One Man’s Dream on our way to Toy Story at 8:58 AM. I regret not stopping into One Man’s Dream then… we did however find a PhotoPass photographer and snag a couple family photos, plus we ran into a Green Army Man and the kids DEMANDED a picture. They usually humor me and allow me to take their pictures, but anytime they WANT one, I happily oblige.]

9:30 AM: Toy Story Midway Mania (9:25 FastPass)*6.5 Minutes*

10:00 AM: Toy Story Friends (Woody/Buzz)

[Since were already ahead of schedule, our FastPass window was not yet open for Toy Story, but the wait was already up to a posted time of 20 minutes. I don’t think it was actually that long, but we opted to slip over to meet Buzz and Woody while we waited for our window to open for our FastPass. The line took a few minutes, but there were lots of photo opportunities, so it didn’t seem to be too long of a wait. Phoenix tried to quip a snotty attitude, but the rebellion was quickly quashed and we didn’t have a single other behavior problem the whole day aside from normal sibling bickering that was over with as it started. Once we rounded the corner into the room where Buzz and Woody were waiting, I saw my oldest give them the side-eye and then his resistance to the magic melted a little. He walked on up and got a Woody hug and when he turned to Buzz Lightyear, I saw the rest of the resistance fade – he was sold. He may not have believed all the characters were real, but in that moment, he completely forgot his hesitance and he believed. As we walked back into the bright sunshine, it was still to early for our FastPass window, but when we checked with the Castmembers, they put us through and off we went to what would quickly become another favorite. Phoenix thoroughly enjoyed this ride and I am guessing the big boys did too, because they asked to ride it a second time, but we didn’t have time and the wait was a definite 45 minutes by then.

Still ahead of schedule, we decided to drop in and visit with Moana before our scheduled Disney Jr show as it would wrap up that side of the park and eliminate the need to backtrack later. Unfortunately, the 15 minute posted wait time turned into 25 minutes and wouldn’t you know it… a kid having to pee in the MIDDLE of a line. For the first time in my life, I left Orion and Apollo there in the line under the supervision of another pair of parents (two different families offered to keep an eye on them). Since it was stifling hot in there and Phoenix was on the verge of tears, I ran him outside to the bathroom and got back in under 3 minutes. By the time we returned, the line had sped up exponentially and we were soon in to see the newest Disney princess. We even got a Maiu flyby. As we walked outside from One Man’s Dream, we had to snag the stroller and make a mad dash up to the Disney Jr show where they were loaded in the final guests. We slipped in just under the wire and were the last family let in.]

10:30 AM: Disney Jr LIVE On Stage *24 Minutes*

11:00 AM: Lunch @ Hollywood & Vine Fantasmic Dining Package (Disney Jr Characters)

Ginger: Buffet - $40.47

Orion: Buffet - $26.63

Apollo: Buffet - $26.63

Phoenix: Buffet - $26.63

4 Table Service Credits - $120.36 ($22 Tip)

[We had the worst seats for this show – way off to the right side and near the very back, but they weren’t completely awful. We could see and hear the show and the boys, especially Phoenix, really enjoyed this one. I was glad to see him so happy, because I picked this one especially for him as a way to make it up to him for the more mature/scary/fast rides he was “being forced”to ride. He sang along to every song and happily gathered up every gold doubloon he could find. It’s not likely something I would repeat, but he enjoyed it enough to make it worth it – and it was a cute show.

Once we were out of the show, we checked into Hollywood and Vine for our lunch reservation with the Disney Junior characters. I had planned for an early lunch reservation, but when we were seated, there were still a few breakfast items out and we had a serving of those before the good stuff appeared. And I do mean good stuff. Peach BBQ glazed pork tenderloin, Shrimp macaroni and cheese, BBQ meatballs, Buffalo baked chicken, beef stew and all the fixings. The kids all managed to find plenty they liked and eat ate two plates of food, plus desserts. The desserts were adorably small, but thankfully so because it allowed for more variety – I had a chocolate cupcake, key lime tart, apple tart and the best cheesecake I’ve ever had with little passion fruit bubbles on top. Just the meal would have been enough, but then there were the characters – Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Jake and Handy Manny, the latter of which my oldest was thrilled to see because it’s a show he watched a lot as a toddler and it doesn’t come on regularly anymore. The boys got to see each character at least twice and hugs all around every time. For the record, we had the Fantasmic! dining package, but completely forgot to get our vouchers! Our plans had changed after I made the reservation and we weren’t going to make Fantasmic! but I had wanted to give the vouchers to another family to pass along a little Disney magic. Lesson learned.

Stepping outside, we caught the last bit of the March of the First Order and I assured the kids we would see it better later, so on we moved to get some PhotoPass pictures and then we headed off to the Muppet Courtyard.]

12:30 PM: MuppetVision 3D *15 Minutes*

1:00 PM: Celebrity Spotlight (Olaf)

[After watching Rizzo goof off for several minutes, we were let into the Muppets theatre and it was just as I remembered it. It seriously seemed like absolutely nothing had changed! We found a seat in the middle of a row about halfway back and settled in to enjoy the show. The boys laughed at the antics of the Muppets and tried to grab the 3D effects, so I know they were enjoying the little things that this show has to offer. They laughed out loud when Shnookums came out into the theatre looking for the little guy that went missing – I can’t remember his name, but the little bunny guy. Apollo wasn’t super fond of the fireworks, but they all thought the cannonball busting through the back wall was hilarious. This has always been on my list of those things I will never forget and will always be classic Disney to me.

We headed out of the Muppet courtyard and decided to make our way over to Celebrity Spotlight to try to meet Olaf, but his line was posted at 25 minutes and I still had a bitter taste from the prior day’s wait for Cinderella/Elena, so we opted instead to head up towards the Frozen Sing a Long queue early, but we stopped on our way outside of Sci-Fi Drive In for a quick snap in the car that was outside. We didn’t eat here this trip, but it is on our must-dos for future trips as this is one of the only meals in Hollywood Studios that I remember. It was MGM back then, but I remember doing this and 50s Prime Time Café. I don’t remember the FOOD, but I remember the ambiance. However, I felt like with this trip that most of that would go over the kids’ heads and would be better suited for when they were older and ( all things willing) more observant.

While walking towards the Hyperion Theatre, I noticed that Red Carpet Dreams was showing a 5 minute wait. I actually did a double take here – was it really going to be that quick to meet Mickey and Minnie at the same time? Sold! Sure enough, we wound our way through the empty queue in less than a minute and found 3 families in front of us. Then the weirdest thing happened! A little girl waved at my son and said, “Hey Apollo!” I was standing there thinking, ‘How does this kid know mine?” I smiled at the girl and asked her, “Oh, do you go to school with Apollo?” She grinned and nodded. What are the odds? Out of all days, all attractions, we happened to be there at the same time as one of his classmates? It was like something out of the twilight zone… oh wait, that was later… but it was definitely an unexpected surprise. He was chatty with her and within minutes, we were in the room meeting Minnie Mouse. Even momma took a picture with her and got hugs! Then it was down the hall and to the left to see the main man, -er Mouse. Phoenix absolutely lit up upon meeting Mickey Mouse and everyone got pictures and hugs. We all got individual pictures with both Mickey and Minnie, so I will likely have to make a collage in order to frame them for our Disney wall. Yes, I am making a Disney wall in our house. ]

1:30 PM: For The First Time In Forever – A Frozen Sing-Along *25 Minutes*

[While the queue took less than 10 minutes as promise, meeting the mice took a bit longer as they really took time to interact with kids (and me!) and when we walked back outside and retrieved our stroller, time was ticking on making the Frozen show in time! Plus, we got turned around and lost even more time and just shy of rushing to get there. We cut it SO close in fact that they closed the doors for the show behind us! I would say that our terrible timing for the shows in Hollywood Studios proved the point that a FastPass really isn’t necessary for a show though, since we were able to get in every time, even last minute … VERY last minute in fact. The show was adorable, but the seats were not very plus-size friendly. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I fit… but it was tight and I couldn’t squirm around the seat as my butt started to fall asleep. I let my Disney Side free during this show and unabashedly belted out all the songs from Frozen. To be honest, I don’t think the kids even noticed – their little eyes (and hopefully ears! I am tone deaf) were glued to scenery and especially Anna every time she was onstage. I think they love her because she’s goofy and clumsy like they are. I’m not sure what Disney uses for “snow” but my kids were delighted by the sprinkling of it throughout the theatre at the end of the show, but I will say this – if the snow is important to you, be there on time so you can sit near the front. The seats where we sat were on the very back row – great for watching, but very little snow made it to us.]

2:00 PM – Tower of Terror (1:55 FastPass)*15 Minutes* - 40”

2:45 PM: Character-Palooza/ One Man’s Dream (Moana)

[After the Frozen sing-a-long, we glanced at Olaf’s wait time and it was still posted at over 20 minutes with more people streaming from the Frozen show directly into his queue, so we chalked it up to a missed opportunity and headed on down to Sunset Boulevard – and this is when the panic settled over the kids. It was finally time to face their fears. It was finally time to walk into a deserted hotel with rumors swirling of disappearances and ghosts! It was time for their less-looked forward to attraction and one that Orion was truly apprehensive about. See, this kid doesn’t do heights – he freaks out on a second story balcony. Probably my fault – I am an adrenaline junkie with a fear of heights. I love drop rides though – I once rode Tower of Terror 23 times back to back to back when Hollywood Studios was still MGM Studios. This ride was a MUST-DO for me, at the expense of any other ride in any other park. The kids knew they had to do this for me – but I promised that they only had to do it once and they could close their eyes and cover their ears if they wanted. We stopped for pre-ride PhotoPass pictures and into the queue we went.

It was a little more difficult to pass over the Pre-show at this ride, but we were accommodated and we directed to just slip through the library and follow the last group out. It cut a little time off our wait, but it saved Apollo from a meltdown, even if it meant they went into the ride with no backstory whatsoever. Next time we go, I will have them watch the Pre-show video on Youtube so that the ride makes a little more sense to them. I gave them the Cliff’s Notes, but it was still somewhat confusing. “Lightning did WHAT? We’re gonna do WHAT?” Needless to say, I put the little one by me and Apollo on the other side, while Orion rode on the outside (and what ended up being basically in the middle where my favorite seat is. He must have had an awesome, unobstructed view – if he didn’t have his eyes closed that is. I know he covered his ears from the ride photo, so he probably closed his eyes too – bummer. The last time I rode it, they dropped everyone from 13 stories, back up and then dropped from 7 stories. Now, it is randomized with anywhere from 3-8 drops from any number of floors. Of course, on the kids’ first ride, with them terrified of the unknown and totally trusting me that this wasn’t gonna be that bad, our number came up to be 7 drops – with 2 of them from the full 13 stories, 1 of them from 11 and least 2 more of them from within the top portion of the shaft because I could see daylight. Phoenix was screaming and digging his nails into me, but once it stopped and the elevator dinged, all three were like “Hey, that was kinda fun… let’s do it again!” Leave it to MY kids to go from absolutely terrified to absolutely enamored in 3.5 seconds. We were on the back row, so you can really only see me and Orion in the ride photo – me because I’m tall and Orion because he ended up in the middle of the back row. Next time, we will request and wait for the front so everyone can be seen. This ride is now somehow on their Top 10 in Disney World… I swear I have the weirdest children!]

 

[Graciegirl5]

I just saw your report and am enjoying it. Your boys are absolutely adorable! Looking forward to the rest of the trip.

 

[Stasieki]

I'm here... enjoying your report!

 

[ariane37]

Nice detailed report! So far looks like a good trip, even though the first MK day was a little stressful TOT is my absolute most favorite ride in all of WDW and luckily my DH and oldest DS14 happily ride it with me! When younger DS11 was 10 we bribed him to ride it and he was a mess lol. Last Nov. he and I went down a few days before DH and DS14, and younger DS felt bad I couldn't ride our first day in HS so he sucked it up and rode again with me

 

[cosmicmommy]

Many magical memories (and not so great moments) coming up! I still have 3.5 days of parks to cover, plus the disaster that was getting home. Welcome to everyone reading! I knew somebody had to be reading because of the views, but wasn't sure who!

 

[pooksma]

Reading along and remembering our first few trips with DS. Thanks for bring back some great memories!

 

[GlassAct]

Lovely family!

 

[amberdc1987]

I'm here! All caught up now. Your boys are precious! And there is no denying the 3 of them are related. I'm sure you've heard that before. I can't wait to read more.

 

[lw4486]

I'm here and enjoying this review! As the mom of two boys I feel I can relate to so many moments! I am going to HS for the first time in many years and determined to get my 4 year old into JTA! It was great to read about your experience.

 

[cosmicmommy]

3:30 PM: Star Tours (3:10 FastPass) *5 Minutes* - 40”

4:10 PM: Jedi Training Academy *20 Minutes*

[After we’d made our trip to the Twilight Zone, it was just shy of the reported time for Character-Palooza to start, so we got another set of PhotoPass pictures under the Rock N Rollercoaster logo and lamented about we couldn’t ride it. Littlest man was still too short to ride it and since I had no other adult with me, I wouldn’t be able to ride it. My kids refused to ride ANYTHING that went upside down without me, so we walked on by it, hoping to catch some rare characters out and about. To our disappointment, we found nothing, nor any sign of anything happened, so we got a Joffrey’s tea and headed on out to go check in for our Jedi Training Academy session, which was scheduled for 3:40 with a 3:10 checkin. I had hoped to get into Star Tours ahead of doing the Jedi Training, but once we made it back to the main drag, they were starting the March of the First Order and I knew we’d never make Star Tours, so I shifted our FastPass later and we watched the Stormtroopers march past. My oldest was starstruck by the Stormtroopers, but more on that later. My youngest was NOT having all the loudness and was thoroughly pouting at them as they went by. Thankfully, we avoided any scolding and once it was over, we walked on over to check in for Jedi training and I crossed my fingers and my toes and anything else I could that Phoenix would cooperate.

Describing my youngest as difficult would be an understatement. He says he doesn’t want to do things that he does, and then demands that he does want to do things that I know he doesn’t. I always know when not to trust his answers – he just gets an air about him of defiance. However, before our trip during moments of clarity (or serenity maybe?), I had asked him if he wanted to learn to be a Jedi and fight a bad guy and he had decidedly said yes every time, so we had signed up all three boys to do the Jedi training. The moment they helped him into that robe, I knew we were going to be in for a fight. He would squint at me and throw the robe off, then cross his arms and project attitude. The Castmembers would put it back on and 2 minutes later, he’d throw it off again. Along with his defiance issues, he has some sensory complications like my middle son, so I don’t know if he was just being a pain or if the robe was itching him, but after the third time, I apologized to the Castmember and explained that he really did want to do it, so they buttoned his robe and that took care of most of his issues. I guess he got it in his head that since he COULDN’T have it buttoned (since the guy said that the buttons were just for holding them on the hanger), that he MUST have his buttoned. Raising that one has been a challenge thus far. As the littlest guy there, they let him hold the banner as the marched to the stage and once he was up on the stage, he was fine and lost in the magic of the show. But it was a tough road getting there, so my props to the Castmembers for realizing his issues and helping him overcome them. Had they let him quit like he was demanding to do 5 seconds before showtime, he would have been devastated. I must say I AM genuinely surprised he didn’t throw down his lightsaber and declare his allegiance to Darth Vader right then and there though. I guess he was saving his allegiance for someone else…

After the three boys had fought and defeated Darth Vader and Kylo Ren, we retrieved our stroller and… can you guess? Went to the bathroom! Again! Then we walked back over to Star Tours and checked in for our FastPass. Just as we rounding the corner in the queue, we ran into the Jedi training staff from their show and they declared loudly to everyone, “These are MY little Jedi!” That made my oldest smile that she remembered him. Yes, it had only been 30 minutes, but I know they see dozens of kids a day. As we wound our way through the queue (I do NOT miss waiting in that queue. Last time I went to Disney, there was no such thing as FastPass and everyone just waited in the queue…and waited… and waited… Orion made sure to point out every little detail along the way and as we boarded our “flight,” Apollo was handed a special boarding pass. I knew what that meant, but he didn’t, so it was a funny surprise when his brother was the Rebel spy! I didn’t pay the best attention to our storyline – I know we did something underweater, because Phoenix was having a fit over it being “too loud” and trying to slip under his seatbelt. It did seem much longer than I remembered – like they added another minute or so onto the ride compared to how it used to be, but that could be because I was wrangling a kid back into his seat. My older two boys LOVE motion simulators… Phoenix? Not so much apparently!

Once we had returned safely from our adventure, we went into Tattooine Traders… and straight through to use the bathroom yet again. After that fiasco with my oldest on the verge of tears because he thought we weren’t making lightsabers, we went back in and I let each of them build their own. Momma instincts should have prevailed and I should have made Apollo get a green blade, but he was insisting he wanted blue, so I let it slide to avoid an argument. Now he wishes he had gotten green because green is his favorite color. Orion built his in blue and Phoenix (of course) chose a Sith blade, but no surprise there. We also each picked out a Star Wars Tsum Tsum and I paid and had everything sent back to the resort because I didn’t want to try to have the kids tote around three lightsabers that I would eventually end up carrying. The boys were not happy, but they got over it. After walking outside, we took some obligatory photos with the speeder bike and headed over to Backlot Express for dinner more than 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

4:30 PM: Dinner at Backlot Express

2 Dark Side Chicken and Waffles - $10.99 – 2 Quick Service

2 Iced Tea - $3.29 ea = $6.58 - Included

1 BB8 Cupcake - $5.99 – 1 Snack Credit

3 Darth Vader Cupcakes - $5.99 ea - $17.97 – 3 Snack Credits

2 Quick Service Credits, 4 Snack Credits - $52.52

Everyone sweared and declared they were “starving” so I went ahead and ordered 4 Dark Side Chicken and Waffles and 4 Darth Vader cupcakes. The cupcakes were delivered within 5 minutes and I took them back to the table, then returned to the counter to wait for ANOTHER 20 minutes before we got our meals. I don’t know if they had to go kill the chickens out back or what, but every person who had chicken and waffles was standing around waiting at the counter. Once we finally had our food (after a variety of bathroom trips from the kids) and several glasses of Orion’s new favorite “white tea with citrus,” we were finally seated to eat. I ate my meal even though the waffles were gross. They were hard and crispy, not fluffy and chewy like I was expecting. The chicken nuggets were fine and their barbeque sauce was pretty tasty, but I was wishing we had just gotten nuggets and fries since the waffles were VERY sub-par. Everyone ate most of their meal (except the waffles – even the kids wouldn’t eat them!) and laid into the cupcakes. They were decent enough cupcakes, but nothing like we had experienced at Be Our Guest and Hollywood & Vine. Very average – edible, but nothing special and I wouldn’t get them again. Especially not if paying cash for them – they were in no way worth anything near $6. Phoenix may beg to differ as he ate his entire cupcakes and half of his brother’s, but the kid eats stuff off the floor and occasionally dirt, so his opinion may be the best one to accept when it comes to food. Even with Sir-pig-a-lot eating more than his fair share of cupcake, we still threw away over a whole one between us. I should have gotten the BB8 I had originally planned for and two of the Vaders for the kids. Another lesson learned. ]

5:30 PM: Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away

6:00 PM: Launch Bay (Chewbacca/Kylo Ren)

[By the time we had finished dinner and gotten back across the park, we had already missed the final showing of Galaxy Far, Far Away, so we just proceeded to get some nighttime PhotoPass shots and continue on to Launch Bay, since I knew the boys wanted to meet Chewbacca and the Jawas. We walked into the room with the Jawas and tried to get the attention of the one nearest us, but to no avail, so we asked the nearest Castmember what we needed to do to meet with the Jawa. This experience was the only subpar experience as this Castmember was a bit rude and shot back, “Just ask him.” Well gee lady, I hadn’t thought of that. So we wandered around, chasing this Jawa for a good 5 minutes, trying to talk to him and finally the girl came over and got his attention. By the time he came back over, we had already gotten the attention of the other Jawa and was taking pictures with him. Oops?

Then I warned the kids about Kylo Ren and how he wouldn’t allow anyone to touch him, so not to try and they he would probably be blunt and a little rude, but to just go with the flow. Surprisingly, his posted wait time was only 10 minutes and as we walked in… we were handed this little beauty:

Sure enough, less than 10 minutes later, we were in and facing down an intimidating presence in the room. The kids were ordered to stand off to the side and they snapped a picture and we were done.

The boys were SO confused by that interaction, but it was what it was. Then we walked over to see Chewbacca and got handed ANOTHER red card. Since Orion had held onto the other one, Phoenix piped up that he wanted to hold this one!

5 minutes later, we were meeting a Wookie after handing in our red card. Such a different interaction! Lots of hugs and what I think was meaningful conversation between the kids and Chewie – there was a lot of grunts and groans on both sides.

As we walked out, we were stopped by Stormtroopers and Orion had a fangirl moment. He literally FREAKED out and got so excited!

Then we decided that since Kylo Ren’s line was short (the dessert party had started), we would slip into his line again and try for a better picture. While waiting in line, we had to go pee yet again, so I told Phoenix to “Use the force” and hold it… he took me literally as you can see below…

Then it happened. Little boy waited as long as he possibly could, but he just couldn’t hold it in any longer… no, he didn’t pee on himself. He threw caution to the wind and told Kylo Ren, “I am going to join you!” Leave it to my little bucket of stubborn to get what he wants. I don’t know if Kylo Ren was amused or what, but it took him a few seconds before he responded, “Approach.” He let Phoenix stand right beside him! It’s hard to tell in the picture below, but Phoenix was in awe of the giant hunk of mean and tried to emulate him, but he came off looking confused.

So what does one do after your little brother declares his affinity for the dark side? You go see Chewbacca again, of course! Plus, my middle son was about to have a cow if he didn’t get to tell Chewie that there were Stormtroopers snooping around outside. Of course Apollo also ratted Phoenix out to Chewie, who was NOT happy and wouldn’t let Phoenix near him without wailing until Phoenix agreed to be a spy. Needless to say, it was an interesting set of interactions with those two. Plus, momma got her some Wookie action and got a big ol hug!]

7:45 PM: Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular

[After wandering around a bit longer and a small nosebleed from Phoenix (nothing to worry about, he gets them all the time), we headed outside to get a spot for the Star Wars fireworks show. Knowing that Apollo does not like crowds, we were standing there, trying to figure out where would be the best place to view them from when we were approached by a Castmember. He advised us to stand right up, literally feet in front of the Chinese Theatre to watch the fireworks, but he advised it would be hot when the fire cannons went off. Sure enough, I think I got a tan during the show and Apollo didn’t like getting roasted one bit. Next time, I think we might take our chances with the crowds. It was amazing to be that close to the show though – like 50 feet in front of everyone else. But once was enough for me to forever appreciate it.]

8:00 PM: Park Close

[We milled around a bit once the show had finished to allow the crowds to thin a bit and then headed off for the bus. And as I’m trying to get all of the stuff out of the stroller to collapse it, Apollo drops the popcorn bucket, off pops the lid and the popcorn goes everywhere! And the kid starts eating it off the ground, while I’m trying to drag him along. And right as we’re boarding the bus and I’m yanking on the rip cord to collapse the stroller… off goes a wheel, rolling away… only to be stopped by the kind British boy in front of us. Somewhere on the verge of 16 or so, he was super sweet and got it put back on for us, then we chatted with him and his mum on the bus, which was the LONGEST bus ride ever. That bus was beyond capacity and I was still learning the stroller and I honestly think it was winning the battle of wills. Two people got up to let the kids sit down, so thank you kind people! Then a young man got up and told me to sit down with the stroller because I looked completely uncomfortable.

Once we got back to the resort, we were riding a bit of a high from having such a good day at the park that we decided to walk over to Art of Animation and check things out. I loved the theming, but our resort was just as well themed I think and I wouldn’t want to pay the extra rates at AoA. Of course the curse of the pea sized bladder caught up with all of us, so we walked back over to our resort to call it a night and prepare for the next day when we had a pre-open breakfast scheduled.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I am so loving your TR. Your boys are adorable.

 

[cosmicmommy]

Day 4 – Animal Kingdom (Wednesday 9 AM – 7:30 PM)

8:00 AM: Breakfast at Tusker House (Safari Donald/Mickey/Pluto/Minnie)

1 Adult Breakfast Buffet with Safari Pals - $34.08 ea – 1 Table Service Credit

3 Child Breakfast Buffets with Safari Pals - $20.24 ea = $60.72 – 3 Table Service Credits

Total: 4 Table Service Credits = $94.80 Value

[Tusker House was by far one of our favorite restaurant dining experiences for the week! But it almost didn’t happen! Something I ate at Hollywood Studios the night before (here’s looking at you Backlot Express) made me seriously ill, causing me to throw up a black liquid into my mouth numerous times throughout the night. Around 4 AM, I finally gave up on swallowing it back down (I know, ew) and went to the bathroom and let it fly. A good 20 minutes later, my stomach was finally settled but I fear I will never again eat at Backlot Express thanks to that experience. Fortunately, I am the only one who was affected and the boys slept well, but needless to say I was exhausted when we woke up for the day at 6 AM. And even though we had a breakfast reservation with Donald and Daisy (and Mickey and Pluto, but the kids were super excited to see Daisy), I nearly had to cancel. With some willpower I pulled from who-knows-where, I trudged through getting ready that morning, but the hair was not getting fixed. I hate how it looks in all the pictures, but it made the day possible, so it was what it was. Truthfully, my hair was also wet since I HAD to shower after the events of the night before.

Now on to the good stuff! We hopped aboard a bus and got into Animal Kingdom without a fuss, then had to get a move on because we were almost late for our reservation! Even though we got to Animal Kingdom with 10 minutes to spare, the kids wanted to stop and look at EVERYTHING, with me prodding them along, reminding them we had a breakfast reservation and that we had to hurry. Since this was our first pre-open breakfast, they weren’t used to being ushered past everything. We made it with 1 minute to spare and were seated in the first dining room, pretty near the exit. We all ordered jungle juice and I VERY hesitantly tried it. Thankfully, everything seemed to be settled, so I went up to the buffet and got some goodies. I had asked the boys that they all try something new and they had agreed. Phoenix tried the Coconut-Sweet Potato Casserole, Apollo tried the Beef Bobotie and Sweet Potatoes and Orion tried the Sweet Potatoes and the Curry Chicken. I tried the Bobotie, the Curry Chicken and the Mealie Pap/ Everyone liked everything they tried, so that was a major plus! Well, with the exception of the plantains – nobody cared for those. We are used to the super thin plantains that are made like banana chips, so we didn’t care for the chewiness of these. Phoenix ate 3 Mickey waffles and some meat in addition to the sweet potatoes, so even he found something he liked. There was plenty of basic breakfast fare to be had, with enough variety and “new” things to try to make it a bit of a culinary adventure. Every boy drank at least two cups of Jungle Juice too!

Then it was time for the characters to come around, so I closed out our bill and paid the tip on my gift card so that we would be ready to go once we had met everyone. Yes, I was hoping for an advantage to be able to get on the Safari first, but the point of the breakfast was to eat breakfast and meet the characters, so weren’t skipping out on any characters. This decision became the control on which I based every future breakfast and it caused some hiccups in our plan, but I felt like the boys should meet the characters we came to meet and learn a little bit of a lesson about commitment. First up was the Donald… no, not that one – the Duck! The kids loved meeting him and he had such great interactions with them! Orion and Apollo have been on a joke kick lately and Donald listened to their jokes and laughed along with the punchlines, even when they weren’t funny! In fact, their interaction with each character went about the same – they got hugs, a picture and told jokes, getting a chuckle out of each one. It may not have looked overly special to anyone else, but it was exactly what the boys wanted. Once we had met Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Daisy, we took a jungle juice to go and headed off to the Safari.]

9:00 AM: Kilimanjaro Safaris *20 Minutes*

[Even with staying to make sure we met every character, we were STILL on the first truck of the morning, so I call that a win! A lot of the animals were out and about and active, but most were pretty far from the truck, so the pictures aren’t the best. We got to see all of the boys’ favorites – Giraffes, Zebras, Elephants, Lions and Hippos! Plus, the Giraffes and Elephants had a special surprise – babies! Most Disneyphiles know about baby Stella and she was there in all her little miniature 300 pound glory, though she was super hard to get picture of this morning because she was being surrounded by the adults. She was definitely there though, flapping her little ears and enjoying the morning sunshine. The Giraffes also had a baby hanging out and he was fairly new to the Safari, so no stopping allowed. Since he was hanging out behind the trees, he was also hard to photograph, but even as a very young baby, he was still 7 feet tall. The kids weren’t too fond of the “old bridge,” but I seem to remember that the Safari used to have an adventure where you had to outrun and stop poachers?? Maybe that has changed since the last time I visited the House of Mouse though, because there was no crazy adventure – just a relaxing trip through the African Savannah. I would highly recommend a morning Safari – even the lions were awake and roaming around on their rocks. ]

10:00 AM: Festival of the Lion King (10:00 FastPass) *30 Minutes*

[After taking our trip through Africa, we headed through the Harambe Market to the Festival of the Lion King. Even though there were 50 people in front of us in the FastPass line, we were able to find a seat in the Lion section on the 2nd row, just behind the handicap section. I was even able to put Apollo on the outside of a row, so he wasn’t squished against anyone, which is how he prefers it. Overall, the kids thoroughly enjoyed the show, but NONE of them liked ‘Be Prepared’ because of the fire dancer – maybe a carryover from the night before at Hollywood Studios? That was HOT and even though the fire dancer was nowhere near us, still could have been a negative correlation. Everyone enjoyed the Tumble Monkeys, especially Phoenix since he LOVES everything monkey. I really enjoyed the Aerialist and since The Lion King is probably my favorite Disney movie of all time, this show hit me in a special way that nothing else could – it just made me smile all the way to my toes and will definitely be repeated next time we go, albeit without a FastPass since it didn’t appear to be necessary. There was even a PhotoPass photographer right outside, so we snagged a couple more photos for the album.]

10:45 AM: Wildlife Express Train *7 Minutes*

11:00 AM: Rafiki’s Planet Watch *30 Minutes* (Rafiki)

11:30 AM: Wildlife Express Train *7 Minutes*

[Once the show was over, we stopped off at the potty, and then boarded the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I had originally allowed 45 minutes for the journey, figuring we’d hit the high points and hightail it back to continue through our touring plan. Once we walked into the Conservation Station, I could immediately tell that my touring plan was out the window – there was no way the boys were going to be able to leave after just 30 minutes. So we met Chip and Dale and Rafiki, then earned all of the Wilderness Explorers badges available at Planet Watch. They even “had” to visit the petting zoo, because we had never seen one of those before and would never be able to do something like that again. (Yes, that was dripping with sarcasm – we visit petting zoos all the time.) But it was their vacation too and I told them that had 15 minutes to pet whatever they wanted and then we were heading back.]

11:45 AM: Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail *20 Minutes*

12:30 PM: Flights of Wonder *30 Minutes*

[Truthfully, we made it to Gorilla Falls just a little bit behind, but I could already tell that something was going to have to give somewhere. It was about 10 after noon, but with the boys’ insistence on collecting all of the Wilderness Explorer badges available on the Gorilla Falls Trail, I decided to dump Flights of Wonder. There was a chance the birds would have scared my youngest anyway, and there was no way we were going to collect all of those badges in under 15 minutes. So down went the first casualty of my touring plan that day. It ended up being fine and we found ourselves slightly AHEAD of schedule by dropping Flights of Wonder, so we were able to add in not one but TWO meet and greets. We stopped off at the Upcountry Landing to meet King Louie and Baloo, then wandered through the edge of Asia down to Adventurer’s Outpost. My plan had been to snag a return time and go on to do It’s Tough To Be A Bug, but we found Mickey and Minnie with NO wait, so we hopped in line and wouldn’t you know… we got another red card. So Apollo laid claim to that one , giving them each the opportunity to hold onto one. We started to have some behavior problems in the line, but the boys quickly straightened up when I told them that if we had another Magic Kingdom day, we were leaving. It took a little longer than 10 minutes to get to Mickey and Minnie, but the boys had some great interaction with them.]

1:00 PM: It’s Tough To Be A Bug!/ Discovery Island Trails *8 Minutes*

[By now, our schedule had just about caught up with us, so we made the long trek around to the entrance of It’s Tough To Be A Bug. The boys had actually JUST seen A Bug’s Life, so this was super relevant for them and they recognized everyone. It was a nice little reminder for me too since that show has been there since the beginning and I saw it originally when the park had first opened. It goes without saying that they did NOT like the spider part, but they giggled and clapped for all the other bugs and Boo’d for Hopper. I probably should have warned them about the wasps – I almost feel like a bad mom because I knew they were coming and had sat forward and stood off the seat slightly to avoid getting stung. Oops. Once we had finished playing with the bugs, we wound our way back up to Asia to attempt to conquer the looming mountain and let’s just say there were a lot of second thoughts when the boys spied Everest for the first time… but first, we had to make sure Phoenix could ride!]

 

[morrik5]

Love your blog. I was under the impression they closed Tower of Terror but glad to see you actually were there so hopefully it will still be running next April when we go. Keep up the good reporting.

*tap tap* Is this thing on? If you're reading along, check in and let me know you're here!

DAY THREE – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Parades: March of the First Order

Shows: Disney Junior Live On Stage – 10:30 AM; For The First Time In Forever –A Frozen Sing A Long – 1:30 PM; Jedi Academy: Trials of the Temple – 4:10 PM

Fireworks: Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular- 7:45 PM

FastPass+: Tower of Terror (1:55 PM), Toy Story Midway Mania (9:25 AM), Star Tours (3:10 PM)

Additional FastPass+:

6:00 AM – Wake up Call, Get Dressed

[Originally, I had only planned to get cocoa in our refillable mugs to hold us over for breakfast because we had an early lunch reservation, but since we didn’t eat the night before, we were going to have four extra snack credits, so down to the food court we went. All four of us got Make-Your-Own yogurt parfaits – I had Strawberries, granola and sunflower seeds. Phoenix had banana chips and strawberries. Orion had blueberries, granola and golden raisins. Apollo had blueberries, strawberries and granola. All in all, they were a great, quick and easy start to our morning, but I found out firsthand on this morning that Disney coffee is DISGUSTING. As in drinking liquefied asphalt disgusting. I’m not usually one for Coke in the early morning, but I needed caffeine somehow and I was not drinking that coffee.]

7:30 AM – Take bus to Hollywood Studios (Ask for Transportation Cards)

8:00 AM: Get in Line (Far Left for Jedi Training Academy)

9:00 AM: Park Opens – Go to Jedi Training Academy Sign-Ups

[We boarded the bus and made it to Hollywood pretty quickly. Upon seeing the Tower of Terror up close and personal, the reality that we were riding it THAT day settled into the kids and they got nervous about it. Orion has never been one for big drop rides of any sort, but I KNEW he’d enjoy the theming of the hotel itself and I really wanted to ride it. We all made concessions to ride things we didn’t want to and this was my one request. We got to the park, through security and settled into line before 8:15 and whittled away the time with a lengthy lecture that today was NOT going to be a repeat of attitudes from the previous day and a stern reminder of who was in charge and there may have been a thinly veiled threat that if they didn’t behave, they would NOT be getting lightsabers. Maybe the lecture worked, but I suspect it was the latter threat that made their behavior do a 180 from the previous night. They actually let us in by 8:45 and we were done with signups for Jedi Training Academy before 9. In fact, we passed by One Man’s Dream on our way to Toy Story at 8:58 AM. I regret not stopping into One Man’s Dream then… we did however find a PhotoPass photographer and snag a couple family photos, plus we ran into a Green Army Man and the kids DEMANDED a picture. They usually humor me and allow me to take their pictures, but anytime they WANT one, I happily oblige.]

9:30 AM: Toy Story Midway Mania (9:25 FastPass)*6.5 Minutes*

10:00 AM: Toy Story Friends (Woody/Buzz)

[Since were already ahead of schedule, our FastPass window was not yet open for Toy Story, but the wait was already up to a posted time of 20 minutes. I don’t think it was actually that long, but we opted to slip over to meet Buzz and Woody while we waited for our window to open for our FastPass. The line took a few minutes, but there were lots of photo opportunities, so it didn’t seem to be too long of a wait. Phoenix tried to quip a snotty attitude, but the rebellion was quickly quashed and we didn’t have a single other behavior problem the whole day aside from normal sibling bickering that was over with as it started. Once we rounded the corner into the room where Buzz and Woody were waiting, I saw my oldest give them the side-eye and then his resistance to the magic melted a little. He walked on up and got a Woody hug and when he turned to Buzz Lightyear, I saw the rest of the resistance fade – he was sold. He may not have believed all the characters were real, but in that moment, he completely forgot his hesitance and he believed. As we walked back into the bright sunshine, it was still to early for our FastPass window, but when we checked with the Castmembers, they put us through and off we went to what would quickly become another favorite. Phoenix thoroughly enjoyed this ride and I am guessing the big boys did too, because they asked to ride it a second time, but we didn’t have time and the wait was a definite 45 minutes by then.

Still ahead of schedule, we decided to drop in and visit with Moana before our scheduled Disney Jr show as it would wrap up that side of the park and eliminate the need to backtrack later. Unfortunately, the 15 minute posted wait time turned into 25 minutes and wouldn’t you know it… a kid having to pee in the MIDDLE of a line. For the first time in my life, I left Orion and Apollo there in the line under the supervision of another pair of parents (two different families offered to keep an eye on them). Since it was stifling hot in there and Phoenix was on the verge of tears, I ran him outside to the bathroom and got back in under 3 minutes. By the time we returned, the line had sped up exponentially and we were soon in to see the newest Disney princess. We even got a Maiu flyby. As we walked outside from One Man’s Dream, we had to snag the stroller and make a mad dash up to the Disney Jr show where they were loaded in the final guests. We slipped in just under the wire and were the last family let in.]

10:30 AM: Disney Jr LIVE On Stage *24 Minutes*

11:00 AM: Lunch @ Hollywood & Vine Fantasmic Dining Package (Disney Jr Characters)

Ginger: Buffet - $40.47

Orion: Buffet - $26.63

Apollo: Buffet - $26.63

Phoenix: Buffet - $26.63

4 Table Service Credits - $120.36 ($22 Tip)

[We had the worst seats for this show – way off to the right side and near the very back, but they weren’t completely awful. We could see and hear the show and the boys, especially Phoenix, really enjoyed this one. I was glad to see him so happy, because I picked this one especially for him as a way to make it up to him for the more mature/scary/fast rides he was “being forced”to ride. He sang along to every song and happily gathered up every gold doubloon he could find. It’s not likely something I would repeat, but he enjoyed it enough to make it worth it – and it was a cute show.

Once we were out of the show, we checked into Hollywood and Vine for our lunch reservation with the Disney Junior characters. I had planned for an early lunch reservation, but when we were seated, there were still a few breakfast items out and we had a serving of those before the good stuff appeared. And I do mean good stuff. Peach BBQ glazed pork tenderloin, Shrimp macaroni and cheese, BBQ meatballs, Buffalo baked chicken, beef stew and all the fixings. The kids all managed to find plenty they liked and eat ate two plates of food, plus desserts. The desserts were adorably small, but thankfully so because it allowed for more variety – I had a chocolate cupcake, key lime tart, apple tart and the best cheesecake I’ve ever had with little passion fruit bubbles on top. Just the meal would have been enough, but then there were the characters – Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Jake and Handy Manny, the latter of which my oldest was thrilled to see because it’s a show he watched a lot as a toddler and it doesn’t come on regularly anymore. The boys got to see each character at least twice and hugs all around every time. For the record, we had the Fantasmic! dining package, but completely forgot to get our vouchers! Our plans had changed after I made the reservation and we weren’t going to make Fantasmic! but I had wanted to give the vouchers to another family to pass along a little Disney magic. Lesson learned.

Stepping outside, we caught the last bit of the March of the First Order and I assured the kids we would see it better later, so on we moved to get some PhotoPass pictures and then we headed off to the Muppet Courtyard.]

12:30 PM: MuppetVision 3D *15 Minutes*

1:00 PM: Celebrity Spotlight (Olaf)

[After watching Rizzo goof off for several minutes, we were let into the Muppets theatre and it was just as I remembered it. It seriously seemed like absolutely nothing had changed! We found a seat in the middle of a row about halfway back and settled in to enjoy the show. The boys laughed at the antics of the Muppets and tried to grab the 3D effects, so I know they were enjoying the little things that this show has to offer. They laughed out loud when Shnookums came out into the theatre looking for the little guy that went missing – I can’t remember his name, but the little bunny guy. Apollo wasn’t super fond of the fireworks, but they all thought the cannonball busting through the back wall was hilarious. This has always been on my list of those things I will never forget and will always be classic Disney to me.

We headed out of the Muppet courtyard and decided to make our way over to Celebrity Spotlight to try to meet Olaf, but his line was posted at 25 minutes and I still had a bitter taste from the prior day’s wait for Cinderella/Elena, so we opted instead to head up towards the Frozen Sing a Long queue early, but we stopped on our way outside of Sci-Fi Drive In for a quick snap in the car that was outside. We didn’t eat here this trip, but it is on our must-dos for future trips as this is one of the only meals in Hollywood Studios that I remember. It was MGM back then, but I remember doing this and 50s Prime Time Café. I don’t remember the FOOD, but I remember the ambiance. However, I felt like with this trip that most of that would go over the kids’ heads and would be better suited for when they were older and ( all things willing) more observant.

While walking towards the Hyperion Theatre, I noticed that Red Carpet Dreams was showing a 5 minute wait. I actually did a double take here – was it really going to be that quick to meet Mickey and Minnie at the same time? Sold! Sure enough, we wound our way through the empty queue in less than a minute and found 3 families in front of us. Then the weirdest thing happened! A little girl waved at my son and said, “Hey Apollo!” I was standing there thinking, ‘How does this kid know mine?” I smiled at the girl and asked her, “Oh, do you go to school with Apollo?” She grinned and nodded. What are the odds? Out of all days, all attractions, we happened to be there at the same time as one of his classmates? It was like something out of the twilight zone… oh wait, that was later… but it was definitely an unexpected surprise. He was chatty with her and within minutes, we were in the room meeting Minnie Mouse. Even momma took a picture with her and got hugs! Then it was down the hall and to the left to see the main man, -er Mouse. Phoenix absolutely lit up upon meeting Mickey Mouse and everyone got pictures and hugs. We all got individual pictures with both Mickey and Minnie, so I will likely have to make a collage in order to frame them for our Disney wall. Yes, I am making a Disney wall in our house. ]

1:30 PM: For The First Time In Forever – A Frozen Sing-Along *25 Minutes*

[While the queue took less than 10 minutes as promise, meeting the mice took a bit longer as they really took time to interact with kids (and me!) and when we walked back outside and retrieved our stroller, time was ticking on making the Frozen show in time! Plus, we got turned around and lost even more time and just shy of rushing to get there. We cut it SO close in fact that they closed the doors for the show behind us! I would say that our terrible timing for the shows in Hollywood Studios proved the point that a FastPass really isn’t necessary for a show though, since we were able to get in every time, even last minute … VERY last minute in fact. The show was adorable, but the seats were not very plus-size friendly. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I fit… but it was tight and I couldn’t squirm around the seat as my butt started to fall asleep. I let my Disney Side free during this show and unabashedly belted out all the songs from Frozen. To be honest, I don’t think the kids even noticed – their little eyes (and hopefully ears! I am tone deaf) were glued to scenery and especially Anna every time she was onstage. I think they love her because she’s goofy and clumsy like they are. I’m not sure what Disney uses for “snow” but my kids were delighted by the sprinkling of it throughout the theatre at the end of the show, but I will say this – if the snow is important to you, be there on time so you can sit near the front. The seats where we sat were on the very back row – great for watching, but very little snow made it to us.]

2:00 PM – Tower of Terror (1:55 FastPass)*15 Minutes* - 40”

2:45 PM: Character-Palooza/ One Man’s Dream (Moana)

[After the Frozen sing-a-long, we glanced at Olaf’s wait time and it was still posted at over 20 minutes with more people streaming from the Frozen show directly into his queue, so we chalked it up to a missed opportunity and headed on down to Sunset Boulevard – and this is when the panic settled over the kids. It was finally time to face their fears. It was finally time to walk into a deserted hotel with rumors swirling of disappearances and ghosts! It was time for their less-looked forward to attraction and one that Orion was truly apprehensive about. See, this kid doesn’t do heights – he freaks out on a second story balcony. Probably my fault – I am an adrenaline junkie with a fear of heights. I love drop rides though – I once rode Tower of Terror 23 times back to back to back when Hollywood Studios was still MGM Studios. This ride was a MUST-DO for me, at the expense of any other ride in any other park. The kids knew they had to do this for me – but I promised that they only had to do it once and they could close their eyes and cover their ears if they wanted. We stopped for pre-ride PhotoPass pictures and into the queue we went.

It was a little more difficult to pass over the Pre-show at this ride, but we were accommodated and we directed to just slip through the library and follow the last group out. It cut a little time off our wait, but it saved Apollo from a meltdown, even if it meant they went into the ride with no backstory whatsoever. Next time we go, I will have them watch the Pre-show video on Youtube so that the ride makes a little more sense to them. I gave them the Cliff’s Notes, but it was still somewhat confusing. “Lightning did WHAT? We’re gonna do WHAT?” Needless to say, I put the little one by me and Apollo on the other side, while Orion rode on the outside (and what ended up being basically in the middle where my favorite seat is. He must have had an awesome, unobstructed view – if he didn’t have his eyes closed that is. I know he covered his ears from the ride photo, so he probably closed his eyes too – bummer. The last time I rode it, they dropped everyone from 13 stories, back up and then dropped from 7 stories. Now, it is randomized with anywhere from 3-8 drops from any number of floors. Of course, on the kids’ first ride, with them terrified of the unknown and totally trusting me that this wasn’t gonna be that bad, our number came up to be 7 drops – with 2 of them from the full 13 stories, 1 of them from 11 and least 2 more of them from within the top portion of the shaft because I could see daylight. Phoenix was screaming and digging his nails into me, but once it stopped and the elevator dinged, all three were like “Hey, that was kinda fun… let’s do it again!” Leave it to MY kids to go from absolutely terrified to absolutely enamored in 3.5 seconds. We were on the back row, so you can really only see me and Orion in the ride photo – me because I’m tall and Orion because he ended up in the middle of the back row. Next time, we will request and wait for the front so everyone can be seen. This ride is now somehow on their Top 10 in Disney World… I swear I have the weirdest children!]

 

[cosmicmommy]

Love your blog. I was under the impression they closed Tower of Terror but glad to see you actually were there so hopefully it will still be running next April when we go. Keep up the good reporting.

They closed the one in California to retheme it. Florida's is still open with original concept.

 

[ariane37]

Oh man, so sorry you got sick That's happened to us twice in Disney: in 2015 I woke up on Thanksgiving with a horrendous stomach bug that ruined our plans that day and part of the next. Then back in 2014 after eating at the QS in Mexico (which we love) the boys woke up around 1am throwing up. By morning they were fine but the room was not lol! Still, looks like you rallied and showed the boys a great AK day!
Wanted to say also that unfortunately Characterpalooza is now right outside the entrance gates, which is why you didn't see anything going on. It's a shame they can't make that public knowledge but I understand why it needs to be rather hush-hush.

 

[cosmicmommy]

Oh man, so sorry you got sick That's happened to us twice in Disney: in 2015 I woke up on Thanksgiving with a horrendous stomach bug that ruined our plans that day and part of the next. Then back in 2014 after eating at the QS in Mexico (which we love) the boys woke up around 1am throwing up. By morning they were fine but the room was not lol! Still, looks like you rallied and showed the boys a great AK day!
Wanted to say also that unfortunately Characterpalooza is now right outside the entrance gates, which is why you didn't see anything going on. It's a shame they can't make that public knowledge but I understand why it needs to be rather hush-hush.

It wasn't too big a deal as we happened to be in the area. Is it a training thing too like at Epcot, or just hush-hush because it's Rares? The only thing that annoyed me a little is I subscribed to KtP Character Locator and it said RnR entrance except on days when there's Club Villain. There was no Club Villain that day, so one would assume... but yanno what assuming does. At least it wasn't something I promised to or had even mentioned to the boys. In fact, I went over there under the guise of wanting to see the RnR courtyard, even though we weren't going to ride.