Disney–Day 2

Since we bought the Fla-Resident 3-day deal for Disney, we decided to use one day at Hollywood Studios (which we all still call MGM…We like to think it’s because we’re “old Florida”). :)
There wasn’t an awful lot to do there, but the shows AB watches are on playhouse Disney, and those characters are at MGM, so we thought it would be fun to do something different.
That’s also where the Toy Story ride is, which is one of AB’s favorite movies, so while there wasn’t a whole-whole lot to do, we knew there’d be a several things that she’d like.
After sleeping in and taking our time back at the hotel, we finally made it to the park around 10. The girls wore their matching Minnie Mouse shirts that Grammy got them.
We were just in time for a little street party…
We’d read that the Toy Story ride runs out of Fast Passes early and that the line is always really long, so we went there first to get a fast pass. The wait for the ride was already 120 minutes AND the FPs were only available for the time between 6:15-7:15!!!! CRAZY. We went ahead and got them just in case we decided to stay that late…
While were in the Pixar area, we ran into a Green Army Man…
We decided to check out the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set playground…






Both the girls loved it.
DW and I were a nervous wreck though with AB running around. He stayed right with her except while she was on the web, but her hat made her easy to spot…
We do love a dump truck around here, so a picture with this one was a must..even if Mamie didn’t think so! :)

We walked down the Streets of America and then decided to do the Muppets 3D show. We introduced AB to the Muppets one Friday-movie-night this summer and she loved them. The 3-D show was cute… But, I was wishing the man who sat right beside me would have left a seat between us and I bet he was too when Mamie kept rubbing his arm the ENTIRE show. Shameful. She’s usually really cautious with strangers, and the only thing I can figure is that maybe she thought he was her Pappy, since he had black hair?
When we came out of the Muppets, Phineas and Ferb were outside waiting to take pictures and sign autographs…
We grabbed some lunch at the ABC Commissary and then went over to the PlayHouse Disney area to see some characters… We hated that the live show had been cancelled and we REALLY HATED to find out why… They’re redoing the PlayHouse Disney show and characters and will reopen it in February…new characters include Sophia the First & Doc McStuffins (which happen to be AB’s two most favorite shows right now)! If we’d known that, we would have waited to do our day at MGM until our next trip. That’s how they keep people coming back though. :)
We did get to see Jake & Handy Manny though…


Up next, was the live Broadway style show of Beauty & the Beast. Mames made it for the opening song, but then I had to take her out to ride in her stroller and catch a nap.
While DW & AB were at the rest of the show, I ran into the Bentons--- I was just going to walk over to Star Tours with them so that Mamie could keep strolling, but then Nolan talked me into riding the ride with him while Charon sat with sleeping Mamie. I’ve never been a sci-fi fan, so I’ve never seen the movies, but the simulator ride was fun- and I had my own professional tour guide- who was right when he said that the spies would be in the 5th row! He should know because he’s ridden on it “5 billion” times. (That’s a direct quote). :) I know for a fact, he rode it THREE times on Saturday, because
when we came out, DW and AB had made their way over to us and Nolan talked DW into riding it again with him. DW enjoyed getting to ride a more boy-ish ride for sure. :)
We had a little time to kill before the parade so we grabbed a snack and then got a good spot to watch it. Charon had texted to see if we’d save them a spot, and there was plenty of room, so we did. The parade was short, but cute…just not nearly as good as Magic Kingdom’s… it could have been that I nearly lost my witness on a lady who tried to take my man’s spot while he was in the restroom, though, that made it not as good as the other parade. I don’t know when I’ve been that mad in a REALLY long time. The highlight of the parade was definitely the finale which was the Toy Story gang… Mr Potato head was even there! After the parade we said goodbye to Cecil, Charon & the boys and went to stand in line to see Woody & Buzz…I stayed with AB while DW waited with Mamie.

We did lots of trading off with Mames…Taking two to Disney is way different than taking one, that’s for sure. But we wouldn’t trade it for anything…it was more work, but also “more fun than a barrel of monkeys” – even a giant barrel!

We watched the Little Mermaid Live Show, which was really good…except for Ursula…she’s pretty scary. AB  leaned over during it and said, “I don’t like the sea witch, Momma” (which makes me laugh because she calls her that). She did love the special water effects during the show and the bubbles, though.
We got her picture made with “Wreck it Ralph” & “Vanellope von Schweetz”…
With some more time to kill (since we were so close to making it to 6 to use our fastpasses for Toy Story) we decided to do the “Great Movie Ride”… There was no height requirement, so we figured it was fine for kids…but right before we get on, we saw the sign that it may be scary for young children…

We assumed it was because it got dark and went ahead with the ride… But then when there turned out to be a gun fight, a fire, a Sigourney Weaver alien-predator encounter AND our tram was hi-jacked, we knew it wasn’t just because the ride got dark that might be scary to kids. Pretty sure the Alien part was scarier for me than them. Of course we were covering their eyes and praying that the alien didn’t drop down in front of us. The Wizard of Oz part was cute, though…and Praise the Lord nobody’s had nightmares since we rode it…not even me.

The “We survived it” picture…

and Mamie’s “That was so stressful I need some gold fish and my sippy cup stat” shot…
We saw the stars of Cars… and the pictures to prove it are awful. We’ve never had a bad photographer at Disney and they’re always so happy to take pictures with our own cameras, but this guy was terrible. He took ONE picture. Anybody with kids knows you take SEVERAL. I’m betting he didn’t have kids.

We took another break and let AB shop a little more. She picked out a Lotso for herself…and he even smells like Strawberries, just like the real one. She also got another charm for her bracelet. She picked out the Mickey Mouse head with the blue sorcerer’s hat, since that’s the Mickey for MGM.

She was so precious wanting to buy a prize for everyone. I love that she’s so thoughtful. We told her we couldn’t buy something for everyone, but we did take a picture of this:
It’s a men’s Mickey Mouse ring with a “W” on it and a women’s Mickey Mouse necklace that say’s “Lauren”… they were hanging right next to each other. A total Mickey Mouse sign of approval that Uncle Adam & Aunt Nen are meant to be together. As if we ever doubted. :)
Finally, it was 6:15, so we could use our Fast Passes on the Toy Story ride…

AB LOVED it. She wanted to ride it again as soon as we got off!

We ended the night with a bus ride back to the hotel to get the truck and head home.
We were even gifted a full moon, which was gorgeous over the park and on the road home that evening. The “oon” is very special to us, especially when it’s full.
We hit the chick-fil-a drive thru on the way home that night and an exhausted DW said, “well, we did & saw it all…” 
After seeing a giant cow making it’s way down I-4, I agreed.

Yep, we saw it all…

~amw~