Disney Day 1: Hollywood Studios

Blogging about Disney has not exactly gone how I envisioned it. 3 weeks after our trip and I haven't managed to do more than the one post about traveling down to Florida. I'm so afraid all the memories of all the cute thing the kids said and did will fade away before I even get a chance to write them down.  In fact, I know they are. So even though I'm not in the peachiest of peachy moods, I guess I better buckle down and get to writing.

Day 1 – Hollywood Studios...and away we go!!!

The first words out of Will’s mouth this morning when he opens his eyes: “We have a really nice hotel.” Like he has any point of reference!!!!

Of course I did tons of research on this trip and scoured crowd calendars and the like, trying to find the most optimal and enjoyable vacation. So one of the first lessons quickly learned was to ride Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios first thing.  Oh, and to be at the park for opening every morning!! 

We let the kids pick one character meal a piece and Will chose dining with some of the Disney Junior characters. So bright and early that first morning, we had a really good (really!!) buffet breakfast with Handy Manny, Oso, Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates) and June (from Little Einsteins). The kids were in love! Lots of hugs, autographs and pictures! They even got to participate in a few dances and a parade around the restaurant. I think I'll do a whole post just on dining with the Disney characters.

This breakfast worked out great because we were already in the park at opening and away we went to Toy Story Mania!  After finally making it through the maze of line queues, our actual standing still wait time was probably 30 seconds.  For the record, when we got off the ride probably 10 mins later, the wait was already at 40 mins!!  Will and I rode together first and had SO MUCH FUN, although I did think the ride was unnecessarily jerky. Which Avery didn’t like. 

After TSM, we raced across the park to Star Tours. Maybe I should have done my research more. Or maybe I should have thought about Avery’s temperament more, but she did not like this ride. At all. AT ALL. She screamed and cried, bless her heart. And it was one of those rides were you sit in your own seat and you are strapped in so she couldn’t even get in our laps. I felt really bad! Kind of set the stage for the whole day for her.

A few pics around the park that morning....

Avery and Will are huge Phineas and Ferb fans so this was a fun time for Avery.

She did enjoy the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” playground, although they have no reference as to what the playground is about! Matt and I did not like this playground, mainly because we couldn’t keep track of Will!!!!  He was “lost” more than once. 

The boys utilized Fast Pass and rode TSM again while Avery and I took a stroll. Soon after this we saw the Disney Jr. Playhouse and I finally got a smile out of her as she sang along with Mickey and Friends. 

While we were in the show, a shower passed by so we had to break out the ponchos for a few mins after the show was over. We made our way over to the big Sorcerer’s hat and had a picnic lunch under the shelter of the hat. 

We walked around a bit after lunch and then decided to head back to the hotel. The kids both took a nap and we headed to the pool.  Will was IN LOVE with the pool area. The kiddie area featured an interactive pirate ship and he had so much fun splashing around and going down the slides. Avery, on the other hand, was not a fan of the commotion. She did swim a little in the big pool and went down one of the big slides with Matt. But she was not a fan of that slide either!  

She and I eventually headed back to the beach by our building and she had a lot of fun playing in the sand. 

It was off to bed at fairly close to their normal bed time.  Day 2: Epcot! Stay tuned!!!!