Day 2 Part 1 Hollywood Studios

I'm not sure what we had for a breakfast snack that morning but we kept some fruit and granola bars in the room so after getting dressed (and making our daily stop in the Food court so hubby and daughter could get their coffee ) we headed to Hollywood Studios! I know everyone has complained about the lack of rides at HS to participate in. But I was excited because we would be riding the Toy Story Mania for the first time.  Amazingly we had a Fastpass for this ride so our plan was to hit one of the other attractions first and then head to Toy Story Mania at 9:30.

Us just before hitting the gates into HS. Originally we had planned to catch the Great Movie Ride before hitting Toy Story Mania, but they closed this ride our first day in the parks and the lines were insane so we never made it over to say goodbye. We decide to check out Star Tours even though we had a Fastpass for it. We were able to get in the Stand by line with hardly any waiting! It was also the first time we had seen the changes inside of Star Tours since they have updated it. 

Goodbye Great Movie Ride! You will be missed!!! 

I feel at home every time I enter a Disney park! Especially when I see familiar landmarks! 

After checking the park app we noticed that Olaf did not have a long wait at all, and since we had never officially met him we decided to "stop" there before heading to our 9:30 fastpass.

Needless to say Olaf is hilarious, considering the fact that he doesn't talk it was still a great interaction. He made a big deal over my daughter after seeing her birthday button (which would become a big deal over the course of our trip). 

I can't recall now if we headed straight into Toy Story Mania or if we stopped for popcorn first. But my daughter smelled the popcorn from where we were standing (right outside of the ride) and decided to get some popcorn to tide her over until lunch time. The server saw her Birthday button and gave it to her for free! Needless to say it was a treat we all enjoyed the rest of the trip (especially since refills were so cheap).

Now getting back to Toy Story Mania! I have to say I wasn't sure how I would feel about this ride. I didn't have anything to compare it to with the exception of Buzz Lightyear and because I hadn't done a lot of research I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I'm partially kicking myself now for not video taping it (Granted, I'm kicking myself months later for a lot of things I didn't tape, but plan to remedy on the next trip).

Let's just say I really loved this ride after trying it for the first time and I see why its soo popular! I would recommend it to anyone. Just be prepared to have an arm work out! LOL

After Tour Story Mania we had a little bit of time on our hands and were trying to figure out what to see next (our Fastpass for Frozen Sing A Long was not until 12 PM).

While still trying to decide we started to hear some music (which I knew from seeing other people's video's was Star War's themed). I know there is a name for this, but I don't remember it. And even though I am not a big Star Wars fan (although I do like the Star Tours ride) I do recommend seeing it at least once.

There wasn't a long line for The Voyage of The Little Mermaid so we headed there!

We decided after seeing The Little Mermaid that we would catch The Beauty and the Beast Show before the weather got to hot for us to bare, so we headed back to the front of the park. I am not a thrill ride person but I always love seeing the Tower of Terror building. Don't ask me why. LOL

Beauty and The Beast is never disappointing, and the music is timeless! Considering the fact that the show was so close to starting we actually got pretty good seats!

I did not know it at the time, but the Frozen Sing-Along would become the highlight of the day for me (next to riding Toy Story Mania for the first time). I may even have to a separate post highlighting this show just because I enjoyed it so much. The reviews I had seen were mixed. People either loved it, or considered it a waste of their time! My daughter and I were on the "love it" team. Not sure about the hubby.LOL

I love the details at all of the Disney parks! 

By one o'clock we were ready to leave the park for a break and intended to grab some food outside of the parks (until we got a call from my girlfriend who's daughter is one of the cast members at Walt Disney World).

Our second morning in the parks went pretty good and we checked off most of the boxes for Hollywood Studio that day. Not bad if I say so myself! You will have to stay tuned next week for Part 2 of our second day at the park (and the mad dash to Magic Kingdom to catch a princess before she took a lunch break)!

Magic Kingdom Day 1 Part 3

After lunch at Be Our Guest we headed to The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh ride where we had a fastpass reservation for 2:35. After a bit of peeking in the shops we headed out of Magic Kingdom to tale a break and do some shopping at the outlets. 

You can't come to Magic Kingdom and not take a picture in front of the Railroad Station. 

The Captain greeted my daughter with a Happy Birthday salute as we headed to the ferry to get back in the car. 

 It was extremely hot while we were there that day and a break at the hotel to cool off and a bit of shopping at the outlets was just what we needed before heading back into the parks for the evening (not to mention getting off our tired feet for a few minutes).

I never get tired of seeing the view from the water when coming from (or going to Magic Kingdom). It was actually easier on this trip to drive rather then take the Disney buses but that meant we really did not get to ride on the monorail other then that first morning in the park. 

Later that evening we headed back to Magic Kingdom. We grabbed some time with the Princess (lines seemed shorter in the evening to see them than during the day time). We got to see a lot of the characters on this trip (including a few new ones). You can see my report on my character experiences here. 

As we were leaving the meet and greet area we came outside just in time to see the fireworks go off. It hadn't been that long since the Happily Ever After Fireworks had debut after many years of Wishes which was a fan favorite. I must admit I still sing the songs in my head LOL. We got to see it from the backside of the castle which although doesn't show the projections is still pretty impressive! 

The famous lantern photo. Marc and I took a photo as well but it didn't turn out as I expected and Quisha didn't get a chance to take a photo of us like we did of her.

We actually got a chance to run over and ride Pirates of the Caribbean as well as the Jungle Cruise before catching the Kiss Goodnight show featuring the castle before closing (can you believe it was my first time seeing this after all of the years we have gone ?). Not bad for the first day in the parks! Next week Part 1 of our Hollywood Studios adventure begins! 

1st Day in Magic Kingdom Part 2

After hitting the Peter Pan ride we headed to Small World, before heading to our first fastpass ride which was a 9:45 appointment on the Mine Train ride. OMG!!! Nobody prepared me for how fast that thing went. I can't say it was my favorite ride but at least I can say I got on it once (just like I did with Splash Mountain all those years ago). Sidenote: If you missed part 1 of our first official day in the parks you can read it here. 

I finally got to see the famous bathroom area! LOL 

I did not realize until we got back home that there is a shadow behind the fountain. We went the back way through Fantasyland to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion (we had a 10:35 fastpass).

After riding the Mine train we saw an opportunity to catch the Little Mermaid ride while the lines were still fairly slow. I loved the way this area is themed. Wish I had gotten a chance to go back again but the clouds had come out and we were worried about rain. Since it was a while before our lunch reservations and we had got a pretty good head start on rides (the advantage to entering the parks early) we decided to head the back way to Tomorrowland to catch the people mover. Half way there we decided to stop and ride Dumbo (I love having the Disney app that lets you know how long the ride lines are. We knocked a lot of stuff off of our list by checking the app. Even changed some fastpass rides because we were able to get on them sooner then we expected).

This was our first time getting to see the area re-done.

One of those mountains I will never ride. LOL

The lines for the people mover was crazy so we headed to Carousel of Progress instead. It was starting to get extremely hot so this was a great way to cool off. After the carousel of Progress we headed back towards Fantasyland.

My first red tag of the week (but not the last). 

We decided to ride the tea cups before we got our meal. Good thing to because hubby went a little crazy with the spinning! Even after all of this we had time to sit a spell before our 1:50 reservation at Be Our Guest. I'm still amazed at how much we accomplished that morning! It was a great start to vacation! You can see our review of the Be Our Guest Restaurant here.

Snow Day

The holidays got the best of me and I have been neglecting all of my blogs. But its a new year and starting next week I am going to get back in the swing of things. Including finishing my trip report over the next few weeks. So stay tuned for some updates that are way later then they should be. LOL 

We had a big snowstorm roll in this week, and if you know me I figured out a way to incorporate some Disney into my day. LOL Granted, I wouldn't suggest Disney onesies as the best outfit for 8 plus inches of snow. LOL