Beach Club Babe
10-08-2013, 09:43 AM
Cast:
Heather (Me)
Ron (DH)
Matt (DS)
Emily (DD#3)
Hallie (DD#4)
Monday, 9/16/13
Since we had changed our plans yesterday, it was necessary to do so again today to avoid too much time at certain parks and not enough time at the others. So last night I had once again changed our FP+'s to ones at Hollywood Studios.
We were up bright and early this morning. It is so nice to have two bathrooms. It makes things so much smoother and the wake up calls don't have to come as early. It was off to Landscape of Flavors with our new mugs to get a quick breakfast using snack credits.
A bus was waiting for us for DHS and we arrived just a few minutes after 8:00. I have to say it wasn't even close to a full bus and there were no crowds here at all once we got to the park this morning. First up was our FP+ at Star Tours which was totally unnecessary. It almost looked like that side of the park wasn't even open yet. There was literally not a soul in sight. We were joined by another family, but we were the only ones on the ride. This was another first for Hallie and again she loved it. Since I was told I could collect regular fastpasses using our hard tickets. I went to see if this were true and indeed got 3 fp's for Tower of Terror and 1 for Rockin Rollercoaster. Next it was time for our FP+ at Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I'm so glad I scheduled that one as I do not like waiting inside that "pre-show" room. It makes me too claustrophobic. The FP+ allowed us to only have to wait about 1 minute. There was a little misunderstanding here with a CM though. When we first entered, we held up our bands and Mickey glowed green allowing us entry. Then as we moved up to the front and we held up our bands for the second time they also glowed green permitting us to enter. However, just as we actually entered a CM came running from the front and told us no, we were at the wrong FP+ location. She told us we were supposed to be at Beauty & The Beast. I told her no, I did not even make a FP+ reservation for that show since we did not plan to see it at all on our trip. The 2nd CM had us hold up our bands yet again and again it was green. Also he could read on his screen that we were indeed at the right location. However, the female CM was insistent we were not and should get out of line. But the male, said come right on in you are in the right. Enjoy the show! I think they continued to bicker after we entered. When we exited, Hallie immediately spotted Jake and Sophia coming out so of course we had to meet them. Hallie LOVES Sophia so she was especially excited to meet her.
It was now time for our paper fastpasses at Tower of Terror, so Matt, Emily, and I rode. Ron always sits this one out, and even though Hallie is tall enough, I thought this might be too much for her right now. Ron and Hallie went to visit some more characters inside the Animation building. When we were finished, Matt used the single fp for RNR, while Emily and I went to meet up with Ron and Hallie. They had already met Minnie and Sorcerer Mickey, and were in line for Ralph and Vanellope. Matt met us near the Great Movie Ride and we rode. This was probably the worst ride we've ever taken on GMR. Our gangster was one of the msot dreadful actresses ever. For the majority of her spiel, we could not understand her at all. She had a very thick accent and combined with trying to talk like a gangster it was a hot mess. People riding for the first time had no idea what was going on and the others were either laughing or being annoyed. It was just really strange.
Afterwards, as it has become tradition we split some Mickey Pretzels from the cart near the exit of the ride. Matt had a wardrobe malfunction, so we checked the mens store to see if we could get him a new belt, but they did not have his size. Moving on, everybody was still hungry so we had some lunch at ABC Commissary on Ron's suggestion. It was OK but for QS in this park I prefer Backlot Express.
Now it was time for our FP+ at Toy Story Mania. I really liked the idea of FP+ for this attraction. We did not have to sprint over to the FP kiosks first thing in the morning and fight the crowds gathering their own fps. It was already made for us and at a reasonable return time as well. After that we went to see Muppetvision 3-D before heading back to AoA for a short rest before heading to Epcot for dinner, which turned out to be much shorter than expected due to a long wait for a bus.
Before we knew it, it was already time to catch a bus to Epcot. Our dinner reservation was at La Hacienda tonight. This was a first for us, and may possibly be a last as well. Matt really enjoyed his shrimp tacos, and I believe Emily's taco was fairly good, but Ron and I shared an entree for two and that was just not good at all. It had strip steak, cocktail weenies, rice, beans, and another meat that I cannot remember. You would think that it would be pretty good, but we did not care for it at all. Our desserts were much better. Matt and I had caramel empanadas and ice cream, while Ron had Corn Ice Cream with popcorn on top. I thought that sounded disgusting, but he really enjoyed it. Matt and I both enjoyed our desserts. As for Hallie, well she slept all through dinner. She was talking one minute walking to the WS and the next she was out like a light in her stroller. Afterwards, we just relaxed for a while on a bench in Mexico as for some reason Ron's arch in his foot was hurting.
When were ready to move on we started towards Canada and made it through when Hallie decided to wake up. I was hoping to get her a qs dinner from UK, but they only had fish n chips and she did not want that. Ron did not want to walk much further because of his foot. Instead Hallie had a very non-nutritious dinner from a pastry cart. Then we staked out a spot to watch Illuminations and just did some people watching, waiting for it to begin. Again crowds were fairly light even for Illuminations, so it didn't take very long for it to clear out. We hung back a while anyway, and then stopped at Mousegears for a little browsing before boarding a bus back to AoA.
Heather (Me)
Ron (DH)
Matt (DS)
Emily (DD#3)
Hallie (DD#4)
Monday, 9/16/13
Since we had changed our plans yesterday, it was necessary to do so again today to avoid too much time at certain parks and not enough time at the others. So last night I had once again changed our FP+'s to ones at Hollywood Studios.
We were up bright and early this morning. It is so nice to have two bathrooms. It makes things so much smoother and the wake up calls don't have to come as early. It was off to Landscape of Flavors with our new mugs to get a quick breakfast using snack credits.
A bus was waiting for us for DHS and we arrived just a few minutes after 8:00. I have to say it wasn't even close to a full bus and there were no crowds here at all once we got to the park this morning. First up was our FP+ at Star Tours which was totally unnecessary. It almost looked like that side of the park wasn't even open yet. There was literally not a soul in sight. We were joined by another family, but we were the only ones on the ride. This was another first for Hallie and again she loved it. Since I was told I could collect regular fastpasses using our hard tickets. I went to see if this were true and indeed got 3 fp's for Tower of Terror and 1 for Rockin Rollercoaster. Next it was time for our FP+ at Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I'm so glad I scheduled that one as I do not like waiting inside that "pre-show" room. It makes me too claustrophobic. The FP+ allowed us to only have to wait about 1 minute. There was a little misunderstanding here with a CM though. When we first entered, we held up our bands and Mickey glowed green allowing us entry. Then as we moved up to the front and we held up our bands for the second time they also glowed green permitting us to enter. However, just as we actually entered a CM came running from the front and told us no, we were at the wrong FP+ location. She told us we were supposed to be at Beauty & The Beast. I told her no, I did not even make a FP+ reservation for that show since we did not plan to see it at all on our trip. The 2nd CM had us hold up our bands yet again and again it was green. Also he could read on his screen that we were indeed at the right location. However, the female CM was insistent we were not and should get out of line. But the male, said come right on in you are in the right. Enjoy the show! I think they continued to bicker after we entered. When we exited, Hallie immediately spotted Jake and Sophia coming out so of course we had to meet them. Hallie LOVES Sophia so she was especially excited to meet her.
It was now time for our paper fastpasses at Tower of Terror, so Matt, Emily, and I rode. Ron always sits this one out, and even though Hallie is tall enough, I thought this might be too much for her right now. Ron and Hallie went to visit some more characters inside the Animation building. When we were finished, Matt used the single fp for RNR, while Emily and I went to meet up with Ron and Hallie. They had already met Minnie and Sorcerer Mickey, and were in line for Ralph and Vanellope. Matt met us near the Great Movie Ride and we rode. This was probably the worst ride we've ever taken on GMR. Our gangster was one of the msot dreadful actresses ever. For the majority of her spiel, we could not understand her at all. She had a very thick accent and combined with trying to talk like a gangster it was a hot mess. People riding for the first time had no idea what was going on and the others were either laughing or being annoyed. It was just really strange.
Afterwards, as it has become tradition we split some Mickey Pretzels from the cart near the exit of the ride. Matt had a wardrobe malfunction, so we checked the mens store to see if we could get him a new belt, but they did not have his size. Moving on, everybody was still hungry so we had some lunch at ABC Commissary on Ron's suggestion. It was OK but for QS in this park I prefer Backlot Express.
Now it was time for our FP+ at Toy Story Mania. I really liked the idea of FP+ for this attraction. We did not have to sprint over to the FP kiosks first thing in the morning and fight the crowds gathering their own fps. It was already made for us and at a reasonable return time as well. After that we went to see Muppetvision 3-D before heading back to AoA for a short rest before heading to Epcot for dinner, which turned out to be much shorter than expected due to a long wait for a bus.
Before we knew it, it was already time to catch a bus to Epcot. Our dinner reservation was at La Hacienda tonight. This was a first for us, and may possibly be a last as well. Matt really enjoyed his shrimp tacos, and I believe Emily's taco was fairly good, but Ron and I shared an entree for two and that was just not good at all. It had strip steak, cocktail weenies, rice, beans, and another meat that I cannot remember. You would think that it would be pretty good, but we did not care for it at all. Our desserts were much better. Matt and I had caramel empanadas and ice cream, while Ron had Corn Ice Cream with popcorn on top. I thought that sounded disgusting, but he really enjoyed it. Matt and I both enjoyed our desserts. As for Hallie, well she slept all through dinner. She was talking one minute walking to the WS and the next she was out like a light in her stroller. Afterwards, we just relaxed for a while on a bench in Mexico as for some reason Ron's arch in his foot was hurting.
When were ready to move on we started towards Canada and made it through when Hallie decided to wake up. I was hoping to get her a qs dinner from UK, but they only had fish n chips and she did not want that. Ron did not want to walk much further because of his foot. Instead Hallie had a very non-nutritious dinner from a pastry cart. Then we staked out a spot to watch Illuminations and just did some people watching, waiting for it to begin. Again crowds were fairly light even for Illuminations, so it didn't take very long for it to clear out. We hung back a while anyway, and then stopped at Mousegears for a little browsing before boarding a bus back to AoA.