AgentC
07-18-2012, 01:07 AM
Day 3 was going to be a busy day. Our plans were to hit Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the morning, then Epcot as my friends had 1:30 reservations at Akerhaus. We were not doing Akerhaus with them because we had just eaten there in April for my daughter’s birthday. After Epcot, they were going to finish up with the Pirate & Pals cruise while we hit Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom. Quite the ambitious plan especially taking into consideration I would be doing the EMH alone with a 4 and 6 year old.
Our original plan was to get to DHS prior to park open, but everyone was dragging a bit. My friend decided she would finish packing up the room with her son who was a little under the weather. I think the FL sun was wiping him out. :sun: She would go over to Epcot and meet our other friends while her husband and daughter would come to DHS with me in my car.
My kids really, really did not want to get up. I tried to convince them to stay at the hotel with my husband for some pool time since he would be heading home that afternoon, but they did not want to miss any park time.
:alarm:
We arrived at the DHS right around 9. The bag check line was slightly congested due to tour groups but not horrible. We had three must dos for my friends: Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock N Roller Coaster and The Tower of Terror (my personal favorite). By the time we were through the bag check and the gate, it was already 9:20 maybe even a little later. We headed to TSMM to check out the wait and the Fast Pass times. FPs were already out to 11:30 which could make it difficult to get everything done since we needed to be out of DHS by 1 at the latest.
Wait time was listed at 50 minutes but it didn’t look right. The extended outside was empty and the inside queue was not even back to the door. As we approached the cast members was telling people the wait time was more like 30 minutes. We went in and the line moved fairly rapidly. Part of the inside queue was not open plus they did not have anyone waiting on the stairs. The wait time ended up being about 25 minutes. Fun was had by all. DD (4) was very excited that she finally made it to Bunny level.
If you get to TSMM and the wait time seems long early in the morning but the queue is not outside, I would definitely check it out. When we got up to the fast pass merge there were only a few people starting to come back with their fast passes so it was much shorter than it would be later in the day. :thumbsup:
We had not eaten breakfast, so we headed over to my favorite DHS quick serve- Starring Rolls. Everyone said they were not that hungry but DD came in with me to choose food and insisted we get something for everyone. Since I was much more familiar with the parks, I left my kids with my friend’s husband and daughter and went to get them fast passes for TOT and RnRC. I came back to find the “not very hungry” crew enjoying the cinnamon rolls, muffins and croissants. DD tried to convince me to buy another croissant to feed the birds because “they looked hungry”. :chick:
At this point, we hit a bit of an impasse. FH wanted to go do Star Tours. FD was not enthused. She wanted to do The Great Movie ride but we were not sure that was the right choice for any of the kids. We wouldn’t have time to do any shows since they could not be late for lunch.
I suggested we head over to Animation Academy. We got there just as a full group was going in. The kids considered get in line for a character but only Sorcerer Mickey and Pooh were out and the lines were long. Instead the kids played with the color character screens. I’m not sure what they are really called, but all three kids loved picking out the colors for their characters. After that we went to wait in the holding area for the Academy to make sure we had a spot. The next group was at 11:30 so we were just going to make their fast passes for TOT. The kids had a lot of fun playing the game in the waiting area. Characters are drawn on a screen and you guess who they are. Our character for our session was Tigger. The animator was great and everyone had fun. FH did a really nice Tigger and gave it to my DD.
We then split up.
They went to do TOT and RnRC .We went to see the Muppets. :beaker: My kids had never really been into the Muppets until I bought the new movie. My son has watched the move at least 8 times and couldn’t wait to see the show. I don’t think I had been in several years. The last time I had been the movie was looking rather worn. It was great to see how clear and vivid it is now.
We met our friends and rushed off to Epcot. My kids were feeling a bit tired so we decided we would drop our friends at Epcot and then return to Caribbean Beach for lunch and some quiet time before meeting them after their lunch. Lunch at the food court at CBR was okay. The kids got pasta with butter again and I had the chili dog. Nothing exciting but adequate.
We headed back to Epcot around 4 to meet back up with everyone. As we walked in, my son was starting to complain about walking in the heat. I normally don’t use a stroller for him, but it was really hot, so I stopped and rented a double. I had my single stroller for my daughter with me. The cast member there offered to check my personal stroller. I didn’t know they did that. It was a nice bonus.
My friends were finishing up in Mexico. We registered for Agent P’s Adventure and started over toward Mexico to meet them. They has finished the ride in Mexico and were heading for Captain EO and Journey into Imagination. We decided to meet up with them there since I had no interest in Captain EO and my kids really dislike Journey into the Imagination.
We like playing Agent P in Mexico. We are big Phineas and Ferb fans in our house. The update made it much more interesting to my son. We didn’t have time to play more but definitely will on our next trip. We were going to try the Highland Games that were set up for Brave but the long was moving very slowly and was in the sun so we skipped it in favor of a short time in the playground. It was too hot to spend much time there so we headed up to the fountains at the Imagination Pavilion.
I thought the kids could get a little wet and a little misted by the fountains. That turned out to be a huge understatement. My son quickly figured out the leaping fountain time and position himself to get soaked. My friends came out of EO and their kids soon joined in the fun. After a bit they went to the ride and we waited for them in the “play” area. There is really so little in there to do but the kids managed to have fun doing pictures of Figment. While we were inside, it started to pour. My friends did not want to get wet, so we hung out for a while. Of course, my ponchos, as usual, were in the car!
When the rain lightened up we walked them down to the exit. It was almost 7. They had to be at the Contemporary for the cruise by 8. Three days had gone by so fast! I was sad to say good bye so soon. :( After they left we decided to head back to the resort to get some rest (and dry clothes) before attempting Magic Kingdom and EMH.
Our original plan was to get to DHS prior to park open, but everyone was dragging a bit. My friend decided she would finish packing up the room with her son who was a little under the weather. I think the FL sun was wiping him out. :sun: She would go over to Epcot and meet our other friends while her husband and daughter would come to DHS with me in my car.
My kids really, really did not want to get up. I tried to convince them to stay at the hotel with my husband for some pool time since he would be heading home that afternoon, but they did not want to miss any park time.
:alarm:
We arrived at the DHS right around 9. The bag check line was slightly congested due to tour groups but not horrible. We had three must dos for my friends: Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock N Roller Coaster and The Tower of Terror (my personal favorite). By the time we were through the bag check and the gate, it was already 9:20 maybe even a little later. We headed to TSMM to check out the wait and the Fast Pass times. FPs were already out to 11:30 which could make it difficult to get everything done since we needed to be out of DHS by 1 at the latest.
Wait time was listed at 50 minutes but it didn’t look right. The extended outside was empty and the inside queue was not even back to the door. As we approached the cast members was telling people the wait time was more like 30 minutes. We went in and the line moved fairly rapidly. Part of the inside queue was not open plus they did not have anyone waiting on the stairs. The wait time ended up being about 25 minutes. Fun was had by all. DD (4) was very excited that she finally made it to Bunny level.
If you get to TSMM and the wait time seems long early in the morning but the queue is not outside, I would definitely check it out. When we got up to the fast pass merge there were only a few people starting to come back with their fast passes so it was much shorter than it would be later in the day. :thumbsup:
We had not eaten breakfast, so we headed over to my favorite DHS quick serve- Starring Rolls. Everyone said they were not that hungry but DD came in with me to choose food and insisted we get something for everyone. Since I was much more familiar with the parks, I left my kids with my friend’s husband and daughter and went to get them fast passes for TOT and RnRC. I came back to find the “not very hungry” crew enjoying the cinnamon rolls, muffins and croissants. DD tried to convince me to buy another croissant to feed the birds because “they looked hungry”. :chick:
At this point, we hit a bit of an impasse. FH wanted to go do Star Tours. FD was not enthused. She wanted to do The Great Movie ride but we were not sure that was the right choice for any of the kids. We wouldn’t have time to do any shows since they could not be late for lunch.
I suggested we head over to Animation Academy. We got there just as a full group was going in. The kids considered get in line for a character but only Sorcerer Mickey and Pooh were out and the lines were long. Instead the kids played with the color character screens. I’m not sure what they are really called, but all three kids loved picking out the colors for their characters. After that we went to wait in the holding area for the Academy to make sure we had a spot. The next group was at 11:30 so we were just going to make their fast passes for TOT. The kids had a lot of fun playing the game in the waiting area. Characters are drawn on a screen and you guess who they are. Our character for our session was Tigger. The animator was great and everyone had fun. FH did a really nice Tigger and gave it to my DD.
We then split up.
They went to do TOT and RnRC .We went to see the Muppets. :beaker: My kids had never really been into the Muppets until I bought the new movie. My son has watched the move at least 8 times and couldn’t wait to see the show. I don’t think I had been in several years. The last time I had been the movie was looking rather worn. It was great to see how clear and vivid it is now.
We met our friends and rushed off to Epcot. My kids were feeling a bit tired so we decided we would drop our friends at Epcot and then return to Caribbean Beach for lunch and some quiet time before meeting them after their lunch. Lunch at the food court at CBR was okay. The kids got pasta with butter again and I had the chili dog. Nothing exciting but adequate.
We headed back to Epcot around 4 to meet back up with everyone. As we walked in, my son was starting to complain about walking in the heat. I normally don’t use a stroller for him, but it was really hot, so I stopped and rented a double. I had my single stroller for my daughter with me. The cast member there offered to check my personal stroller. I didn’t know they did that. It was a nice bonus.
My friends were finishing up in Mexico. We registered for Agent P’s Adventure and started over toward Mexico to meet them. They has finished the ride in Mexico and were heading for Captain EO and Journey into Imagination. We decided to meet up with them there since I had no interest in Captain EO and my kids really dislike Journey into the Imagination.
We like playing Agent P in Mexico. We are big Phineas and Ferb fans in our house. The update made it much more interesting to my son. We didn’t have time to play more but definitely will on our next trip. We were going to try the Highland Games that were set up for Brave but the long was moving very slowly and was in the sun so we skipped it in favor of a short time in the playground. It was too hot to spend much time there so we headed up to the fountains at the Imagination Pavilion.
I thought the kids could get a little wet and a little misted by the fountains. That turned out to be a huge understatement. My son quickly figured out the leaping fountain time and position himself to get soaked. My friends came out of EO and their kids soon joined in the fun. After a bit they went to the ride and we waited for them in the “play” area. There is really so little in there to do but the kids managed to have fun doing pictures of Figment. While we were inside, it started to pour. My friends did not want to get wet, so we hung out for a while. Of course, my ponchos, as usual, were in the car!
When the rain lightened up we walked them down to the exit. It was almost 7. They had to be at the Contemporary for the cruise by 8. Three days had gone by so fast! I was sad to say good bye so soon. :( After they left we decided to head back to the resort to get some rest (and dry clothes) before attempting Magic Kingdom and EMH.