I woke up on our last day at Disney not feeling very well. I was so sad too! I felt like I had done a good job of keeping up and was really looking forward to going out with a bang. Apparently, Rives thought I needed to slow down and made it crystal clear to me Thursday morning.
Good thing we were headed to Hollywood Studios that day! The day was full of shows and sitting.
We got to Hollywood Studios as soon as it opened and it was already CROWDED! We never had to wait to get into a park until we got to Hollywood Studios. We did not realize it was so popular.
While the girls and I went and waited in line for Playhouse Disney Live, Matthew ran over to get a Fast Pass for the most popular ride in all of Disney (or so we heard), Toy Story Mania. He got to the Fast Pass line at 9:15 and received a pass for 12:40. By 11:00 all of the Fast Passes were gone and the shortest standby line was 80 minutes!
We were at the front of the line, which is usually a great thing, but in this case, it wasn’t the best. The girls and Matthew sat at the very front of the audience and had a difficult time seeing the characters. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. (I sat in the back, on a bench…it would have taken me just as much time to get down to the floor and back up again that the show took-ha!)
We got to see…Handy Manny and his tools-
The Little Einstein's-
Jake the Pirate (I have never seen this one)-
The girls dancing-
And of course, Mickey Mouse and his clubhouse!
After Disney Playhouse Live (Elyn LOVED this one!), we met up with my mom and went to The Little Mermaid show. We had read that this show fills up quickly, there is even a Fast Pass line for it. Maybe it has lost a little of its popularity because we walked right in and I don’t think there was a line all day for it. Or maybe it was just an off day…who knows. No pictures of this one though. It was ok…the beginning of it was the best.
We headed to the Beauty and the Beast show. We were pretty excited about seeing this one. We saw the performance at a local high school last year and both girls remember it. The auditorium is HUGE and there was a very nice breeze blowing in from the back.
After the show, we took pictures of the girls outside the theater…Nora was quite the poser!
Then, it was off to the much anticipated Toy Story Mania ride! While we were waiting we saw a few of Woody’s friends…
Green Army Men! They were hilarious! When he signed Nora’s autograph book, he signed it “green army man”-ha ha!
Sadly, when it was time to redeem our Fast Pass, I was feeling awful! I decided to sit this ride out and prop my swollen feet up in the hopes that I would feel better after a breather. I have no idea about these pictures:
Apparently it was the BEST ride of the vacation. Awesome. My mom and Matthew came out praising it and saying over and over that they would gladly stand in the standby line for 80 minutes to ride it again…of all the rides to sit out, I chose this one. Good news, I did feel better after my hiatus and was ready to go again.
It was time to head to our lunch reservation after THE BEST RIDE IN THE WORLD. Here are some of the sights on the way to the diner:
San Francisco skyline:
New York skyline and subway station:
We ate lunch at The Prime Time Café and it was fun, fun, fun! Everything in the place is from the 50’s and 60’s era. My mom loved walking around it saying, “We had that at our house, my friend had that at her house, etc.” The waitresses were pretty funny too. They called everyone “kids” and treated us like we were children. They had rules: no elbows on the tables, say please and thank you and eat all your vegetables.
At the kitchen when you walk in…sigh, my face is SO BIG! (Swallowing pride…)
One of the living rooms
An old t.v. and radio
One of the tables that you can eat at…the one was actually in the same room we were eating in…
Our waitress brought out the plates, napkins and silverware and told us to set the table. Thankfully, that is one of Nora’s favorite things to do, so she jumped right up to do it!
The girls drew pictures on their napkins and the waitress went and put them on the refrigerator…so cute! Nora’s is an actual picture and Elyn’s is just her practicing writing her name-ha!
After lunch, we watched another parade. This one was probably the girls favorite parade. And let me say, I am amazed at how the people who work for Disney can dance and move when they are wearing those costumes and it is close to 90 degrees outside…I am pretty sure I would be PASSED OUT if I was one of them!
The Incredibles
A Bugs Life
Ratatouille
Monsters, Inc..
Up
Toy Story
Watching the parade…they were so hot!
Matthew and the girls “singing in the rain”
Playing at the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” playground
We left Hollywood Studios around 5 and headed back to our hotel. We had not let the girls swim in the resort pool (actually, the resort we were staying at had 18 pools!) because the days had been so busy. We wanted to be sure and let them swim! So, we left the park early (no nap this day!) and went back to swim.
I stayed in the hotel and put my feet up…do you see how swollen my right foot is?
And here are some pictures of our room…I didn’t think to take pictures until the night before we were leaving. I am in the process of packing up everything and you will see, the girls are sound asleep.
This is the main bedroom, looking from the sliding door that lead to the balcony…(if you look carefully, you will see how Nora laid her clothes out to wear the next day)
Our bedroom from the tub…
The bathroom, you can’t see the shower, but again, look carefully, and you can see a big pregnant woman taking pictures…
the kitchen and washer/dryer…the only thing that was ever “cooked” in this kitchen was instant oatmeal-ha!
The kitchen table…we never sat here.
The living room/bedroom for the girls
View of room from the front door…
We had purchased a week at a timeshare about a year and a half ago. We had the option to use it at any of their locations (Branson, Las Vegas, Gulf Shores, and a whole lot more!). We chose Orlando, obviously, and even though we did not utilize the resort AT ALL, we are really glad we used our time share week there. We would have liked to have had another day in Orlando to use the resort and all the amenities (water park, all the pools, miniature golf, paddle boats, game room, etc.) but, we could only do so much.
Staying “off site” was not an issue either! We drove to the parks each day, paid to park (and we were able to use the parking pass at any of the parks on the day we purchased it) and walked or caught a tram to the entrance. It was nice to come and go as we pleased and having a kitchen and more living area made it feel more like a home.
We really enjoyed our time in Orlando! But 4 parks in 4 days is no vacation-ha! It was definitely a vacation where we had to work! But, I wouldn’t change a minute of it…we got to do everything on our list and I think the girls came away with some good memories.
I know we will return one day, when Rives is finally at the age to enjoy Disney World. I am excited to see how different that Disney experience will be from this one.
Okay, one more spring break post to come…our journey home.
