House of Estrogen

Disney World 2013 Trip Report, Day 3, Disney's Hollywood Studios

Our Hollywood Studios day was the one day I was absolutely determined to get to the park by rope drop. We were NOT going to have a repeat of the morning before. We set the alarm, got up early, ate cereal in the room, and were at the bus stop right on time. We arrived at Hollywood Studios around 8:25 for an official park opening time of 9:00. 

Rope drop happened about 8:35... excellent. I told J.C. he was going to be our runner for Toy Story Mania fastpasses, "As soon as we get through the turnstiles, you run for fastpasses, we'll meet you there."  He said, "I don't know where it is though."  I just said, "Follow all the other people running who look like they know where they are going, and you'll find it."  Those instructions worked quite well... much simpler than pulling out a map. We met him at the stand-by line and walked right in... maybe a 10 minute wait. I love this ride. In fact, I think I may spend tonight playing the Wii game just to reminisce.

We hopped off and got right back in line.

At this point, I think the posted wait time was about 25 minutes. By the time we had ridden it a second time, the posted wait time was closer to an hour... gotta love rope drop happening 25 minutes before the official park opening time. We had already ridden it twice before most people thought the park had even opened!

With slightly sore arms from playing Toy Story Mania twice in a row, JC and Elise headed over to Tower of Terror while I took the younger two to get pictures with Buzz and Woody. Nina had so much fun in the queue.

We actually remembered to bring the autograph books this day too! Score!  Is Buzz the only character who rubber stamps his autograph? I've never seen any other character do that.

After that, it was a few more photo ops and then back to Toy Story Mania with our fastpasses!

Then we were off to lunch at Hollywood and Vine. Poor Hollywood and Vine gets a bad rap. No, it isn't 'Ohana or Boma in terms of food quality, but it serves a perfectly tasty buffet lunch. It filled us up, and we had no complaints.

Plus, you aren't there for an extraordinary culinary experience. You are there because your five year old is a HUGE fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. All Addie could talk about in the weeks leading up to our trip was the Dumbo ride and getting to meet Jake. She didn't care about Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Woody, Cinderella, or Mary Poppins. She was all about Jake. Unfortunately, this lunch was scheduled early enough in the week that Addie hadn't quite warmed up to the characters yet. Jake got to the table, and Addie froze. She wasn't about to get in a picture with him. Jake was great though. Addie had her stuffed Izzy (Jake's pal) with her, and Jake played a little hide and seek with Izzy.

Addie laughed hysterically.

That broke the ice, but she was still hesitant about a picture.  We knew she would regret it later if she didn't get a picture with Jake though, so JC grabbed her and hopped in the picture.

After lunch, we talked to a few of the "movie stars" who were out and about. They were hysterical!! We've never talked to any of them on previous trips, but they were so much fun!  They really cracked me up.

I think characters like these are part of what makes Disney World such a fun, unique, magical place!

We then hit up the Disney Jr. show for a little more time with Jake and Izzy before JC and Addie headed back to the resort for naps.

The rest of the afternoon, Elise, Nina, and I rode Tower of Terror (fun!!),

bumped into Stitch,

watched the Beauty and the Beast show (beautiful),

had a little chat with Chip,

went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (great show... even Elise thought so after declaring with her tween tone and rolled eyes on the way in, "This is SO not going to be worth it."),

saw the Disney Channel Rocks Show,

and rode Rock n' Rollercoaster.  I hated that... shut my eyes through almost the whole thing. I won't be going on that again!  Elise didn't like it either. Nina loved it though. She'll have to convince JC to go on it with her for our next trip!

We got back to the room about the time JC and Addie were getting up from their naps. We were treated to a cute towel turtle from mousekeeping sitting on the bed next to Elise's turtle.

For dinner, we just went to the food court at the resort. I have to say that Riverside began to redeem itself at that meal. They have a design-your-own pasta bar that is fantastic. That was probably the best counter service meal of the trip. I got penne pasta with shrimp, fresh spinach, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and pesto, all prepared fresh in front of me.  Delish! 

Day three was a busy day, but so much fun - Toy Story Mania three times, lots of other new rides and shows, Addie getting to meet Jake, and a great dinner.  After such a rough start the day before, it was wonderful to have everything go according to plan!

Day 3 Favorites:

Addie: Disney Jr. Show and buying Izzy

Nina: Rock n' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, stunt show

Elise: Tower of Terror, stunt show

Ann: Watching Addie laughing with Jake at lunch, Toy Story Mania

JC: Watching Addie with Jake at lunch, Tower of Terror

 

Disney World Trip Report, Day 4

Day four took us to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Like every day, I had our itinerary mapped out and knew our plan of attack (using Tour Guide Mike's expertise). This day was the one day of the entire trip that I knew we absolutely, positively had to be at the park at rope drop. We wouldn't have a chance at two rides on Toy Story Mania unless we got there right at opening. The plan was to have J.C. run ahead of us to pick up fastpasses. Then, we would all get in line to ride the ride stand-by. Then we could use the fastpasses to ride again later. I rushed everybody around in the morning to eat a quick meal in the room, get dressed quickly, and get out to the bus stop in plenty of time to make rope drop. We were on schedule, ready to go, and at the bus stop at the right time. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. We kept debating whether to walk to the ticket and transportation center to catch a bus there, but there was always that thought that the second we walked away, the bus would arrive. We kept waiting. Finally, someone got mad enough about the wait that they walked over to the valet and asked him to call transportation. At this point, there wasn't a chance we were going to make rope drop. Every minute we stood there waiting for the bus was another 50 people in line for Toy Story Mania. So much for best laid plans. We finally caught a bus, and J.C. ran off to obtain fastpasses. The stand-by line was already way too long for our taste though, so we spent the morning running around doing other things.

Actually, the next item on the agenda was buying a new memory stick for my camera. This was our forgetful day. I pulled my camera out of my pocket to take a picture only to see "no memory card" flashing on the back. Ugh... there's nothing like paying Disney prices for something as basic as a memory stick to get your day off to a rocky start (especially coupled with the bus fiasco). I suppose I should be thankful they sell things like memory sticks though. Otherwise we would have no pictures from Hollywood Studios.

We went to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid Show, and watched the Disney Channel Rocks show. We met Handy Manny. Addie was thrilled about meeting him. She actually insisted that we go see him a second time later in the day too.

 

We met Quincy and June, and this was the first time Addie gave one of the characters a hug. She was definitely warming up to the whole character thing.

 

J.C. insisted on taking this oh-so-lovely picture of me in front of the Modern Family sign. I have a bit of a thing for Modern Family.

 

We had lunch at the ABC Commissary. Once again, food was sort of "meh". Do any of the parks have really great counter service places?  My Asian salad was pretty good, but J.C.'s burger didn't look appealing at all.

 

Nina was still using Addison's stroller some of the time because of her foot, so Addison decided to turn it into a double. Clever, eh?

 

After lunch, our fastpass time had arrived, so we were off to Toy Story Mania. We all had a blast. J.C. came away with the highest score in our family, but I was a close second.

 

Then we headed back to the room for naps because we knew we would have a late night. After naps, it was back to Hollywood Studios where our first goal was to find Buzz and Woody.

They weren't in here...

 

Or here...

 

Found them!

 

The green army men made Addie a little nervous. Can you blame her? He is a bit creepy.

 

As the sun started going down, we discovered our second forgetful moment of the day. We had only brought a thin windbreaker for Addie, no fleece jacket, no down vest, nothing. Due to that mistake, Addie is now the proud owner of a new Mickey sweatshirt. I'm betting Disney sold a record number of Mickey sweatshirts, hats, gloves, and blankets that week.

For dinner, we had reservations at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. The food was good and the schtick was cute, but I don't think we would go back. My children are completely incapable of speaking, eating, hearing, or communicating in any way when TV's are on. It is a most-irritating zombie-like behavior, but that's how they are. Instead of enjoying our pot roast and meatloaf, J.C. and I found ourselves saying, "Nina, take a bite!", "Elise, chew your food!", "Earth to Nina!", and "Elise! Wake up!" through the entire meal. I think I would enjoy it another time without kids, or possibly with somebody else's kids, but I won't go back anytime soon with my own children.

 

After dinner, we were off to the Osborne Family Lights. I absolutely loved this. It got me completely into the Christmas spirit! It was really magical and so much fun. I love the story behind it too. In 1986, a man named Jennings Osborne started putting out Christmas lights for his daughter around their home in Arkansas. Each year, he added more and more. He eventually bought the two properties next to him to expand the display. By 1993, his display used over 3 million lights. In 1994, Osborne's neighbors, tired of the traffic and congestion, sued to get the lights turned off. They won their case, and Osborne had to shut down his display. Disney offered to host the display at Hollywood Studios, and Osborne accepted. Now, the display is comprised of more than 5 million lights. The light ropes stretch 10 miles long, and 30 miles of extension cords are used. It takes 20,000 man hours to set them up each holiday season. It is really a sight to behold. Photos couldn't do it justice, so I took a video.

 

Day 4 Favorites

J.C. - Toy Story Mania

Ann - Toy Story Mania and the Osborne Lights

Elise - Toy Story Mania

Nina - Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Addison - meeting Handy Manny