A Far More Successful Day At Hollywood Studios

I know, I know, I'm a little behind on blogging our trip.  We've been home for a few days now, and I'm just now getting around to our last day in the parks.  In our defense, it was a super long day, and then things were a little chaotic getting back home and adjusting to reality once again.  I know I'm just making excuses, but it's the truth!

So, if you read about our first day in Hollywood Studios, you'll know that it was definitely a disappointment.  Our second day, however, was definitely an improvement, although the crowds were still ridiculous.  Like I said a million times in my first Hollywood Studios blog post, that park simply isn't built for crowds.  Thankfully, we spent most of our day in Galaxy's Edge, which is far more equipped to handle crowds than Toy Story Land.

Our day started far earlier than our other days in the park because we wanted to get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.  Our travel agent suggested we splurge for the Minnie Van, which goes through its own entrance to the park and won't get backed up with all the other Ubers and Lyfts (it's run through Lyft but only goes to Disney locations for a flat rate no matter the distance or how many people).  There was a lot of back and forth between Bryan and I about how to get to the park.  He wanted to take the skyliner without a bag, go through the no bag line, then go back to the hotel for our bag.  The skyliner doesn't open until 7:15, and even with the no bag line, we would potentially be cutting it close.  In his defense, when I suggested the Minnie Van, he misunderstood me and thought we would be renting a car for the day, which wasn't true.  Once he understood what I was talking about, he was perfectly fine with it.

Unfortunately, things were far easier said than done.  We had a lot of problems getting the Minnie Van, it kept cancelling on us, and I started getting extremely stressed the morning of.  We were about to call an Uber and hope for the best when I got an alert on my phone saying my Minnie Van had arrived.  Great.  Apparently in all the chaos and sleep deprivation, we had done something correct.  We shared the ride with another guy, and we were off.

I will say this, despite its faults, Hollywood Studios does one thing correctly: it's super efficient at getting people through the gate.  It probably has the most turnstiles to get into the park that we saw, and, despite the crowds, we were through the gate in record time.

Once we got inside the park, most people ran towards Galaxy's Edge to get in line for Smuggler's Run.  It was pretty much like what we saw at Epcot for Frozen Ever After and Animal Kingdom for Flight of Passage.  We didn't run, we just accepted that we'd be in a long line for that at some point during the day, but more about that later.  We were going to head towards Toy Story Land to rope drop meeting Woody and Bo Peep, but a cast member said we wouldn't be able to get Rise of the Resistance boarding groups if we were in that part of the park, which didn't make sense to us at all.  Another cast member said that that wasn't true, and his best advice was to have someone completely close out of the app at about 7:55, then open it up right at 8 AM, while another member of the group open it at about 7:59 and start pressing "Join Boarding Group" right then, so that's what we did.  I closed out of the app, and Bryan had his open.  I'm going to be honest with you, that was the most stressful minute and a half of my life.  I was so afraid if we didn't get a boarding group, Bryan would get a little grumpy because we'd gotten up early, bickered with each other about how to get to the park and went through all this trouble for nothing.  It would just start off our last day in the parks on the wrong foot, especially in a park we already had a sour taste in our mouths about.

Well, all that stress was for nothing, we got boarding group 36 (or something close to that), and we could finally relax.  It was hilarious watching other people get boarding groups, there was cheering and high fiving all around us.  With our boarding group in hand, we could finally relax and enjoy our last day in the park.

The park technically didn't open for another hour, but there were a few things open.  We headed over to the Star Wars Launch Bay, which isn't in Galaxy's Edge to meet our first character of the day, Chewbacca.  Unfortunately, many of the characters we met on this day didn't do autographs, so our Hollywood Studios frame looks a little empty.  Now, Chewbacca wasn't a big fan of Bryan because he had Darth Vader on his shirt; he tried to kick him out.  What threw me about Chewbacca was how tall he was, I even commented on it.  It was a little intimidating.  It's one thing to see how tall he is in a movie, it's another thing to stand next to someone in a Chewbacca costume and experience it for yourself.  Meeting him was a great way to start off the day.

After meeting Chewbacca, we got some popcorn.  It didn't matter to me that it was something like 8:30 in the morning, popcorn is one of my favorite foods, and when I'm on vacation, I'm allowed to have popcorn for breakfast if I want.

We then headed into Toy Story Land to try and rope drop meeting Woody and Bo Peep.  We wanted to do this sooner rather than later because the line for them can get extremely long throughout the day.  As we were waiting, we actually found out from someone in line that it was Bo Peep's last day, she's retiring, along with Mike from Monster's, Inc.  When I made a comment about this to Bo, I asked her what she was doing.  For the first time in our trip, I honestly couldn't figure out what the character was trying to say (or make an educated guess that they just go with, but, honestly, they're pretty good about getting their message across).  I actually said to her, "I have no idea what you're saying."  Finally, I figured out that she's going to look for her sheep.  I was actually a little embarrassed that I couldn't figure that out sooner.

Having met Bo Peep and Woody, we had a little bit of time before our first FastPass for the day, so we decided to get breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox, which was just as crowded as when we went there for lunch the previous weekend.  A Disney vlogger I like said the breakfast bowl there is amazing, so I decided to try it out.  Honestly, I didn't like it at all.  It had tater tots, scrambled eggs, brisket and gravy.  I ate a little bit of it, but Bryan ended up eating most of it.  I didn't mind, I had my popcorn for breakfast earlier.

By now, it was time for our first FastPass for the day, Slinky Dog Dash.  This is an adorable roller coaster where you ride in Slinky from Toy Story.  It's supposed to be a roller coaster that Andy built in his backyard with his toys.  I'm so glad we got FastPasses for it, as it had a three hour wait but 9:45 in the morning, which was absolutely ridiculous.  I mean, it was a fun roller coaster, but it wasn't anything amazing.  Disney's definitely trying to make some smaller scale roller coasters that will appeal more to children, and this is one of them.  Still, it was fun, and the line was adorable.  There were little drawings by Andy and his toys scattered all over the place.

At this point, we were done with Toy Story Land; it's crowded, has little shade and is loud.  It really isn't built to hold any type of crowds.  On our way out, we noticed that Buzz was supposed to come out in a minute or two, so we stuck around to see him again.  Unfortunately, this would be the last signature on our Hollywood Studios frame.  Yes, it looks very empty when compared to the others (especially Magic Kingdom), but am I going to let that get me upset?  No.  It is what it is.  If anything I've definitely learned to go with the flow more with this trip, which is a miracle.

On our way to Galaxy's Edge, we decided to meet Mike and Sulley, especially since it was Mike's last day.  They were a lot of fun to meet, but I was a little upset.  I was prepared to meet them the first day in Hollywood Studios, complete with a clean sock to present to them.  This time, however, we didn't plan on meeting them, so I didn't have a sock.  Okay, there were socks in our backpack, but I took my socks off at some point in Epcot the day before and stuff them in the bag.  I think they're still in Bryan's backpack, oops.  There was no way I was going to give them my smelly socks from the day before, so we just met with them.  I asked Sulley if he'd seen Boo lately, as they were standing in front of Boo's door, and he said they had.  He seemed pretty excited about that.  Mike and Sulley had sculpted hands that they couldn't move, so we couldn't get an autograph from them, but we still got some great pictures.

By now, we'd gotten the exciting news: our boarding group was called for Rise of the Resistance!  I couldn't wait.  We had two hours, so we weren't in a huge rush to get to Galaxy's Edge, so we took our time to explore the area a little bit.  Unlike Toy Story Land, Galaxy's Edge is a completely immersive experience.  Nothing in the area says "Star Wars" on it, you're supposed to be on the planet Batuu.  This includes Storm Troopers wandering around, along with Kylo Ren every once in a while, along with Chewbacca and members of both the First Order and the Resistance.  It was unlike any other part of Disney World I've been in before, you actually felt like you were there.

I think what I liked most about Rise of the Resistance was the line didn't feel like a line.  You had all the pre-ride stuff, which is really just more of the line, but it didn't feel like it very much.  You first go into this room where you're given a mission to get information to the Resistance from Rey and Poe.  You're then put on a shuttle with an insanely realistic looking animatronic of Admiral Ackbar, where, unfortunately, you are captured by the First Order.  Even though you're standing, the shuttle shakes, moves back and forth and feels like you're caught in a tractorbeam.  I have to say, however, my favorite part was getting captured by the First Order.  You're taken into this large room with a bunch of Stormtroopers in it, and if you look close enough, they move ever so slightly every once in a while to give the impression that they are real people instead of animatronics; if they stood completely still the entire time, they wouldn't look realistic.  We were allowed to take pictures to "Document the greatness of the First Order" according to the cast members.  You could definitely tell they had fun with their jobs.  You were given colored groups to determine which group you would be "interrogated in", and then you had to stand in a line on that color.  I know this is all part of the line for the ride still, but, honestly, it didn't feel like it at all.  Unlike rides like Mission: Space, where it's just waiting around and getting talked to, you feel like you're actually there and there are exciting things happening around you, so you don't really mind waiting.  Anyway, while waiting in line, apparently I was slightly out of step with the rest of our line, and a First Order member came up to me and said, "Does the concept of a straight line escape you?"  I actually felt like I was in trouble!

We were then taken to another room where Kylo Ren appeared and said that we would be interrogated for information about where the Resistance is located, but, thankfully, then the Resistance showed up to rescue us.  Since they're trying to make it seem like we have to hurry to get away from the First Order, people were quick to load up into the actual cars for the ride.  That's right, everything leading up to this wasn't part of the ride.  You're sent off speeding through the starship, including underneath Imperial Walkers, all the while dodging shots from Stormtroopers (don't worry, since they're Stormtroopers, they don't actually hit anything).  At one point, you make it to the bridge where you see Kylo Ren yelling at General Hux for allowing us to escape.  I have to say, that's probably one of the best animatronics I've seen next to the Shaman on Na'vi River Journey; he spins around and throws his cape back, it looks like a real person!  We finally make it to an escape pod where we drop down and fly through an epic space battle before crash landing.

I have to say, everything about that ride was absolutely amazing, and, in my mind, it was totally worth getting to the park early.  Bryan said he didn't feel like all the staging ahead of time was necessary, but I personally loved it, and it definitely made it feel like it was an experience not a ride.  If this is the trajectory of future Disney rides, we're definitely in for some wonderful and amazing experiences in the years to come.

After Rise of the Resistance, we temporarily left Galaxy's Edge to ride Star Tours, which isn't part of Galaxy's Edge because it doesn't fit with the timeline of when Galaxy's Edge exists, and it has been a part of the park for many years.  It was a fun ride, but it was also a little forgettable.  Bryan had a good point, it definitely felt dated, and when compared to the other Star Wars rides, it just didn't live up to the hype.  Disney's going to have to do some major reconfiguring of that ride if they want it to live up to the expectations of the other Star Wars rides and attractions.

When we were done with Star Tours, we went back to Galaxy's Edge where we made our big mistake of the day: believing the time on the Disney app saying the wait for Smuggler's Run was 90 minutes, which would give us some down time between that and our reservation at Oga's Cantina.  We waited two hours.  Towards the end, I was extremely cranky and stressed that we wouldn't get out in time for our reservation.  The cast member I talked to was also extremely not helpful and unsympathetic.  I asked him how long the wait was from where we were, as it said an hour and a half, and it was two hours at this point, and we had reservations at Oga's coming up.  All he said was, "Well, those are estimates anyway."  Since he wasn't being helpful, I said, "If your estimate is that far off, there's a problem."  I totally get that they're not going to be 100% correct, but to be that far off is a problem, especially when you have people like us who think that they'll have enough time to get to a FastPass, reservation, etc.  People base a lot of their decisions on those estimates, so they should be somewhat accurate.

Someone told us the line for Smuggler's Run was really interesting with all sorts of weapons, machinery, etc., but it really wasn't.  Once you got inside, it was just some machines making a bunch of noise and the same announcements coming over the PA system.  I've definitely seen more interesting standby lines in Disney World.  It's somewhat worth noting that they do have a bar in line where you can buy drinks, but it's also worth noting that a glass of beer is $14.  That's right, that's a ridiculous price even for Disney.  The horrifying part was the fact that people were actually buying the beers!  That's supply and demand for you.  Bryan and I were going to get beers, but when we heard how expensive they were, it was a hard no.  Besides, once we got off the ride, we had reservations as Oga's.

As much as I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed Smuggler's Run, despite the two hour wait.  Would I wait in line for two hours to ride it?  Definitely not, but once I was on it, I enjoyed myself.  Unlike Mission: Space where the same thing happens every single time, regardless of if you press the correct buttons or not, what you do on Smuggler's Run actually makes a difference.  Bryan and I were pilots, which meant we were completely screwed.  It wasn't Bryan's capabilities I doubted, it was my own.  I'm terrible at steering when it comes to video games and such.  He took care of the up and down steering, while I handled the left and right.  In a way, it makes it easier since you're only in charge of one lever, but it also means you have to communicate a lot.  The premise is simple, you're flying the Millenium Falcon to deliver some smuggled goods you're stealing from the First Order for Hondo Ohnaka, who's apparently a character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is something I've never watched.  You have to work as a team of six to find the goods, steal them and deliver them without getting caught.  It's far more challenging than it sounds, especially with me steering.  We actually only ended up getting 38% of the proposed profits because we damaged the ship so much.  Oh well, it was a lot of fun, and the fact that it was so interactive distracted me from the stress of waiting in line for it for two hours.

Finally done with Smuggler's Run, we headed over to Oga's Cantina for our reservation, making it right on time.  As of right now, you really can only go into the cantina if you have a reservation, and then they limit you to a 45 minute visit so as many people can get in as possible.  It's a shame, because this place was a blast!  Definitely one of the more exciting places we ate on vacation.  We stood at the bar and had a wonderful bartender.  The first drink I got was the Yub Nub, which was alright, it just tasted like a typical tropical drink.  My second drink, however, was a Fuzzy Tauntaun, and it was absolutely amazing!  Now, I don't really drink fuzzy navels, but this sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot.  The "Buzz Button Tingling" foam on top was the strangest thing ever, it made my lips and tongue tingle as I drank, which definitely made the experience better.  I would seriously drink that all the time if I could get my hands on it; I've never experienced a drink like that in my life.  For my last drink, I decided to step way out of my comfort zone and get a Rodian Ration, which was pretty much a large jello shot in a petri dish.  Now, I can't stand jello, but this had bobas and pop rocks, so how bad could it be?  What a game changer!  I'm thoroughly convinced that all jello shots should come with bobas in the bottom and pop rocks on top; I couldn't get enough of it.  I actually want to make some jello shots now and try out some fun mixtures of jello, bobas and pop rocks.  I know it sounds crazy and like I'm back in college, but you should definitely try it out.  You could definitely tell the mixologists had a blast making the drinks for that place.

Not only did the mixologists have fun, but the bartenders were a blast.  They taught people drinking songs, chest bumped each other, got people to chant when they ordered different drinks.  This is all on top of the robot DJ playing music in the background (including the famous/annoying song from the cantina scene in A New Hope).  It felt like we were in a tough and tumble bar somewhere in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, not in Disney World.  Disney definitely did a fantastic job creating an immersive experience there.

Even though we left Galaxy's Edge for the time being at this point, we kept with the Star Wars theme by meeting Darth Vader.  Me being me (and still on a mission to trip up a character in some capacity), I greeted with with the biggest smile in the world and said in the happiest voice I could come up with, "Hi Anakin!"  Yeah, I was that person.  This is where I got in trouble for the second time today, this time by Darth Vader's handler, who said, "He prefers Darth Vader."  I regret none of my decisions; it was so worth it.  I did decide to not ask for a hug, although the temptation certainly was there.  As to be expected, he was curt with us, didn't stand near us for the picture and pretty much told us to get out.  Bryan thinks he has pre-recorded sayings that just come out at random, which would make a lot of sense.

At this point, the plan had been to head down to our last FastPass/ride in Disney, but instead we opted to meet BB-8 instead.  I have to say, it was a little weird meeting BB-8, since it was just a little robot that's probably controlled by a person backstage.  I don't think he was an animatronic in the sense that he repeated the same little movements over and over again, as he did react to what we said.  Bryan asked him if he preferred Rey or Poe, and he let out a sad little beep and seemed to shake his head back and forth as if to say he wouldn't pick.  Had he not done that, I would have thought he was just an animatronic.  Despite the slight awkwardness, he was still fun to meet, and he had an actual PhotoPass photographer, not one of the machines like they had with Chewbacca and Darth Vader.

Sadly, once we met BB-8, that was our last character we met, which I'm sure Bryan was happy about, but I wasn't.  We also headed back down to Rock'n'Roller Coaster for our last ride in the park.  This time, we were equipped with a FastPass, so we didn't have to experience the nightmare that had been the first time we tried to ride.

I have to say, I absolutely love Rock'n'Roller Coaster, it's definitely one of my favorite rides in all the parks.  You're completely surrounded by music and it's an actual inverted roller coaster with loops and corkscrews, which none of the other roller coasters in the park are.  My head did bang from side to side the entire time, which wasn't particularly pleasant with earrings on, but it was still a blast.  Let's not forget it's also a launch roller coaster, which is my favorite time.

Of course after riding Rock'n'Roller Coaster, we had to get more of that amazing chili mac and cheese from the stand right outside the exit.  I have no idea what Disney puts in its mac and cheese, but I could eat it all day every day.  Seriously, when you go to Disney you need to get your hands on some of it; you won't regret it.

Food in hand, we doubled back to Galaxy's Edge.  We'd heard it's wonderful getting pictures in front of the Millennium Falcon at night.  Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought that, as it's the perfect opportunity for people who got lightsabers to turn them on and get some amazing photos.  The PhotoPass photographer went above and beyond with the lightsaber photos, but it also took an incredibly long time, especially for people like us who didn't have lightsabers and just wanted some nice, generic pictures.  Thankfully, we were entertained while in line.  Like I said before, there were different characters wandering around Galaxy's Edge in character, including some Stormtroopers.  We watched them wandering around in front of Smuggler's Run from our perch when all of a sudden they cut to the right and went into the fenced off area around the Millennium Falcon.  At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on until I saw Chewbacca go running out another gate on the other side of the starship, and the Stormtroopers went running after him and the Resistance member with him.  They tried running all over the place and hiding behind people.  At one point the Resistance member and Stormtroopers came up where we were, so I did the logical thing and got in the way of the Stormtroopers (others were doing the same thing).  It was a lot of fun, kept us entertained and helped create that immersive experience I talked about earlier.

Once we got our photos, we were going to watch the Star Wars fireworks at the Chinese Theater, but we were both tired, so we decided to call it a night.  It was a wonderful, somewhat relaxing way to end our amazing trip.  Plus, we got to sleep in the next day, which was amazing and much needed.

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Our Continued Journey Around the World at Epcot

So the past two nights, Bryan and I have been so exhausted that we came back to the hotel and immediately went to bed, which is why I haven't been blogging and am a little behind.  Since we're officially done with the parks, though, I can play a little bit of catch up and blog about our time at Epcot two days ago.

First of all, it was so cold!  Okay, maybe it wasn't too cold, it was only in the upper 50s, but since it had been in the mid-80s the day before, and we'd gotten used to the warm weather, we were freezing.  Had this been the temperature our first day, we would have been find.  Also, if it hadn't been so horrendously windy, it really wouldn't have been so bad.  The wind made the trip on the skyliner absolutely miserable, and it didn't help that we stopped twice, causing me to lose my cool a little.  Bryan said he couldn't figure out why I was freaking out, because there was a day we rode the skyliner just the two of us where it seemed to rock a little bit more.  I told him that the wind whistling by made it seem worse than it actually was.

Regardless, we made it to Epcot alive and in time for rope drop.  We had 9 AM FastPasses for Soarin', but they were good until 10, so we decided to head to another ride first.  Bryan picked Mission: Space, having really enjoyed that one.  It was funny seeing all the people rush into the park, as they were all rushing towards Frozen Ever After, just like when we were in Animal Kingdom and everyone was running towards Flight of Passage.  We didn't care, as that meant the line for the other rides would be significantly shorter.

The problem with riding Soarin' after Flight of Passage, is it seems significantly less impressive.  Soarin' really is the precursor to Flight of Passage if you think about it.  That doesn't mean it's not amazing, but it just not as terrifying and thrilling.  Okay, scratch that, it is a little more terrifying if you're afraid of heights and are in the front row, like me, which means you're 79 feet in the air.  Yes, it was nice not having people's feet hanging above us, but it was also absolutely terrifying.  We were also on the very end of the row, so we had this weird fish eye thing going on.  It was still a lot of fun to ride, and I hadn't been on it since they updated it to be Soarin' Around the World, so it was pretty awesome to see all the changes.  Before, it was just locations over the United States, now it's all over the world, and, of course, you end in Epcot by flying through the fireworks.

After Soarin', we were supposed to be able to use our FastPasses for The Seas with Nemo and Friends, but, of course, it was broken down.  For the record, this has happened at each park, but the only time the ride didn't get back up and running was Pirates of the Caribbean.

While waiting, we decided to check out the aquarium, which, honestly, I'd never done before.  Let me just say, if you haven't done the aquarium at Epcot, you're seriously missing out!  There's so much to see there.  They had all the types of fish from Finding Nemo (which made all the little kids happy as they ran around exclaiming, "Nemo!" and "Dory!" while scurrying from tank to tank.  There were plenty of interactive aspects for children, not to mention a lot of emphasis on conservation efforts and how to help the ocean.  In addition to little fish, they had two manatees who are part of a rescue operation.  One was missing most of his tail and the other had been orphaned.  Apparently both had been released into the ocean before but neither one thrived, so they were brought back in the hopes that in a little while, they'll be able to take care of themselves in the wild.

There are also dolphins in the aquarium, and while we were there, we saw them playing a little game.  The dolphin was shown a hand signal on one screen, and then there was a series of three hand signals, and he had to identify the one shown on the first screen.  If he got it right, then he got a snack.  It's a way for them to test their intelligence and show off what they know.  It looked like he was having a blast doing it, and whenever he got the answer correct, everyone would cheer, which would only encourage him to keep going.

By now, Nemo was up and running, so that's what we checked out.  I thought it was a trip through the aquariums with Nemo and his friends projected onto the glass teaching you about the different types of fish.  Apparently I was wrong.  In this little ride, Marlin and Dory are looking for Nemo...again, who is swimming through different scenes of the movie, including Bruce the shark, the jellyfish and Crush the turtle (that was the trippiest part, as it didn't really feel like you're moving since the bubbles around you are moving at about the same speed).  It was a cute ride, but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

Afterwards, we decided to check out Turtle Talk with Crush, which, once again, I thought was Crush being projected on an aquarium.  Instead, it's a small theater that uses the same technology as Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, where there's a cast member behind the scenes talking into a mic that changes it into Crush's voice, so he can interact with the audience, answer their questions, etc.  It's much more entertaining than a prerecorded little movie.

Once we were done, we went to meet Goofy, who we saw last time were at Epcot but didn't actually visit.  The line was relatively short.  What I like about most of the characters in Epcot is that they're in their regular outfits, so when you meet Minnie, she's in her red polka dotted dress, and Mickey's in his regular little outfit.  This is the only park where that's a thing, the rest of the parks, they had different outfits on.  Goofy was very silly, and just like the Goofy in Animal Kingdom, he tried to sign the middle of our photo frame, so we had to gently remind him that he might want to try again on the edge.

By the time we finished with Goofy, it was time for our third FastPass of the day, Spaceship Earth.  It was important to me to do this, as I've heard they're going to close it down and completely update it.  There have been some small updates here and there, but the animatronics have stayed the same.  While they are nostalgic, it's definitely time for some new, much more lifelike animatronics.  This ride focused on the history of knowledge and technology as you move up the "big golf ball" that Epcot is famous for.  On your way back down is a new aspect that was fun to play with.  You got to answer some questions based on your likes and dislikes, and it gave you a preview of your future.  Mine talked about self-packing bags for trips, ways to check in on my dogs while I was gone, etc.  It was super cute.  It also made me wonder what they used to do for people on their way back down or if people just sat there riding backwards for a few minutes.  I honestly can't remember, it's been so long since I've been on that ride.

After riding Spaceship Earth, I was a woman on a mission.  I'd heard about these things called "handimals", which was an art piece part of the Festival of the Arts.  Whoever I asked about it, however, knew absolutely nothing about it.  Finally, however, at the marbleized scarf booth, someone knew what I was talking about, and they told me it was near the Thomas Kinkade booth.  The thing is, we walked right by there, and I even commented on how much I love Thomas Kinkade art, but we didn't stop to check it out.

How a handimal works is you paint your hand and put it on a piece of paper.  Then, the artist turns your handprint into an animal.  At first, I wanted flamingos, but the artist suggested we each pick our favorite animal, so I picked a giraffe, and Bryan picked a stegosaurus.  We put our handprints on the paper and were told to come back in about half an hour to pick up the final product.

With some time to kill, we went over to The Deconstructed Dish, which had the rainboba drink I wanted.  It was alright, it was just seltzer water, bobas and some passion fruit foam on top.  I've decided that I'm completely in love with bobas, but the drink as a whole was alright.  We did get cute little cups that said Festival of the Arts on one side and had Figment on the other.

We also walked around the Canada Pavilion a little, but we didn't want to go too far, as the handimals would be done soon.  Let me just say, the Canada Pavilion is absolutely stunning.  It's so underappreciated because there's not much to do there, but the setup is amazing.  I loved the little garden with the cottage and bridge near Le Cellier.  Had it not been on the main pathway to the circlevision theatre, it would be the perfect place for a PhotoPass photographer.

Finally, our handimals were done, so we went to pick them up.  Let me just say, they're absolutely adorable and so worth wandering all over Future World asking cast members where we could do them.  I'm so excited to get this home and hang it up.  This wasn't the only thing I wanted from the Festival of the Arts, though, there was a print I saw the last time we were at Epcot that I wanted as well.

Done with Future World for right now, we continued on our trek into the international pavilions with a visit to the UK pavilion.  We spent quite a bit of time there, as there were three characters I wanted to meet, a live performance and some shopping to do.

We started with meeting Alice, even though we met her two days earlier at Magic Kingdom.  Since it was the Festival of the Arts, some, but not all, of the characters had little paintings made by either them or someone else from their movie.  Alice's was a drawing of the White Rabbit.  When I complimented her on it, she said the Mad Hatter had done the drawing, and she just colored it in, so she supposed she should write his name on it super small to give him some proper credit.  While we were talking, there was a leaf in Alice's hair, and I was surprised she didn't stop me when I went to get it for her, as it was a wig that I could have pulled off (not that I would do something so terrible).  I guess she figured since I was an adult, not a small child, I wouldn't do something dumb.

Right across from where you meet Alice is the Crown and Rose pub, so we headed inside.  That place was absolutely packed, it was ridiculous.  Luckily, if you just wanted a drink they had an outdoor tap, so that's where we headed.  As soon as I saw they had pear cider, I was beyond excited.  I had pear cider in Oxford, and I've been on a mission in the 8 or so years since for a decent glass.  Let me just say, the only place that's come close is an English pub in DC called Elephant and Castle.  The pear cider I got at the UK pavilion was delicious, and I was beyond excited to get it.  Bryan got some sort of beer, I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I know I didn't like it.

After meeting Alice and getting a drink, we went back to meet Winnie the Pooh, who has a little setup in the back of the pavilion.  There was only one family in front of us, which was awesome and a huge change from when we met Pooh in Magic Kingdom.  I commented about Christopher Robin's room and asked Pooh where he slept (my mind was saying, "he's one of Christopher Robin's stuffed animals, so we stays in here", and he had to remind me that he slept outside.  I redeemed myself, however, by saying, "Even in the cold?  He won't let you come inside then?"  Nope, apparently not.  I need to learn to really think about my questions before talking to characters.

We also took this opportunity to sit and listen to the British Invasion, a British cover band that performs in the rear of the pavilion, near where you can meet Winnie the Pooh and Mary Poppins.  They were a lot of fun, very high energy, and it was the perfect opportunity to just sit and relax a little bit.  There was a lot more of that today than our first day in Epcot.

We had some time to kill before meeting our last character in the UK pavilion, Mary Poppins, so we got a drink in the French Pavilion.  Since we were in France, we went with wine, of course.  I also got some braised short ribs in a hollowed out tomato while Bryan got some brie in a bread bowl.  As we walked to find a place to eat, we heard a teenager girl say about the bread bowl, "It just tastes like bread and cheese".  I had to resist the urge to burst out laughing right then and there.  Of course it does!  It's brie.  When I told Bryan, he thought it was hilarious as well.

Done with our wine for right now, we went back to the UK Pavilion to meet Mary Poppins.  I have to say, I think this would be one of the hardest characters to play because she's so strict.  One of the families in front of us had a little girl who was super excited (she was about two) and kept running around.  Mary Poppins kept giving her firm stares and saying to the parents, "I don't appreciate this sort of behavior, please get her under control."  In the end, however, she gave the girl a quick wink that I don't think a lot of people saw.  Like I said, this has to be a hard character to play, because of course the kids are going to be hyper and excited, they're in Disney World.  You have to be strict to stay in character, but you don't want to be so strict and mean that you get the kids upset.  It's a fine line to walk.

When it was our turn to talk to Mary Poppins, I asked her for advise for getting children in line.  She said to reward them frequently when they do what they're supposed to with a spoonful of sugar or a trip to the park.  We also talked about tea.  She said her favorite type is English Breakfast Tea, which is mine as well.  She asked me how I took it, and I said with sugar.  She asked, "A spoonful of sugar?" and I responded, "Usually more than that."  When I asked her how she takes hers, she said, "A spoonful of sugar and some cream, not too much or not too little, just the practically perfect amount."  Towards the end, we talked about the weather and how it was the perfect weather to fly a kite.  She said that when she had tea with Bert that morning, he said the same thing, which is worrisome, because that meant he was right about something.  I told her that it's best not to tell him that.

Mostly done with the UK Pavilion (we went back at night for something I'll talk about later), we went back to the France Pavilion where we met Aurora and Belle.  Aurora's painting was of her dancing, and her dress was both blue and pink.  Flora originally signed her name, but then Merryweather crossed it out and signed her own name.  I asked Aurora about this, asking who really painted the painting, and she said Flora started it, but Merryweather went and added to it, including the blue color.  I pointed out that since she's wearing pink, she must prefer Flora's coloring than Merryweather's, and she said that she actually prefers green.  I told her that green's my favorite color as well, and she said she'd be sure to tell Fauna.  She said Fauna tends to stay out of the bickering between Flora and Merryweather, as she's far more laid back than the other two.

After Aurora, I continued on my quest to stump a character, this time with Belle.  When we met her, I asked her how Prince Adam was doing.  She didn't miss a beat and said he had been making her pancakes up at the castle that morning and was getting pretty good at cooking.  I was incredibly upset about this and the fact that I didn't stump her.  Bryan still doesn't get why this upset me, and he said if that stumped Belle, he wouldn't be impressed by me but instead disappointed in the lack of knowledge that that Belle had about her character.  I guess that's a little true, but it's still upsetting.

While with Belle, I also told her that we saw Gaston the other day.  She rolled her eyes and made a comment about how he was undoubtedly looking at his reflection in the mirror.  I said he was, along with acting like he was God's gift to mankind.  None of this seemed to surprise her, and it didn't surprise us either when we met him at Magic Kingdom.

On our way out of the French Pavilion, we stopped for one more glass of wine.  I have to say, the wine at the French Pavilion was alright; my favorite was definitely the chianti we had at the Italy Pavilion.  It's not that it was bad wine, it just wasn't the best wine.  We didn't go into the wine shop there, so that might be where the better wine is hidden away; we just stopped at the little stand along the pathway.

From France, we headed to the Morocco Pavilion.  This pavilion has a completely different vibe from the rest of the pavilions, as it was sponsored by the Moroccan king.  Because of this, he was given freedom to do whatever he wanted, as they couldn't exactly find a way to say no to a king.  The pavilion is stunning, with hand painted mosaic tiles all over the place.  The fact that it's so narrow lends itself so well to this pavilion, as it's supposed to feel like a Moroccan marketplace, which are known for being crowded and narrow. 

While waiting in line to meet Jasmine, Bryan got us some Moroccan wine, which was a first for us.  It was pretty good, it had a peppery taste, which I'm not a fan of when it comes to wine, but it wasn't terrible.  It was definitely a different taste than what we're used to in wine, but I would definitely have Moroccan wine again.

When we met Jasmine, I commented on the lamps on the shelves in her line.  I asked if there were genies inside, and she said I'd have to rub them and find out.  She reminded me to stay away from black or red lamps, as that's where Jafar is.  She also complimented Bryan on his beard.  Apparently in order to become sultan, Aladdin has to grow a big, white beard, but he's struggling.  They've tried using monkey spit and camel spit to get the beard to grow, but neither one have worked.  Bryan suggested he just think really hard about it, and Jasmine said she would pass that piece of advice along to him.

After meeting Jasmine, we got something to eat in Morocco.  I'd heard the food was amazing, and it definitely didn't disappoint.  We both got another glass of Moroccan wine, and then we got some food.  I got a chicken wrap, which came with lentils and couscous on the side.  The wrap was delicious, but the lentils were cold and dry.  I would definitely get Moroccan food again, and if you're looking for somewhere to get delicious food in Epcot, the quick service restaurant in Morocco should not be missed.

At this point, it was getting dark, and we were three countries away from drinking around the world, so we kept going to the Japanese Pavilion.  I wish we had been able to stop by there during the day, as it looked stunning and huge.  Since it was so cold, we went inside to eat some more, this time getting teriyaki chicken and beef.  Bryan also got hot sake, while I got another glass of plum wine.  It was the same type I got at the China Pavilion a few days earlier.  It was also wonderful getting the opportunity to stay inside and out of the wind.  Now that the sun had gone down, it was definitely cold, and Bryan definitely regretted wearing shorts (I told him he should wear pants, but he insisted he'd be fine; at least he brought his hoodie like I suggested). 

Since it's the Festival of the Arts, they had Disney on Broadway concerts going on.  I'd never heard of whoever was performing, but the woman sang "My Strongest Suit" from Aida, so, of course, we had to stop to listen.  The entire time, I kept going on and on about how much I love Aida and the fact that it's completely underrated.  I was so glad they included that in their set, as I figured they'd just focus on musicals that were also Disney movies since those are the ones people have heard about.

In order to keep up with our drinking around the world quest, I got strawberry apple cider at American Adventure.  All I can say is wow.  That drink was absolutely delicious, and, just like the chianti, I'm on a mission to find it at home as well.  I'd never had anything like it before.  If you ever come across it, it's definitely worth getting.

From American Adventure, we doubled back to the UK Pavilion to do a new nighttime PhotoPass location.  Right next to the Alice meeting location is a beautiful little garden with an archway and fairy lights hanging from it.  At night, they have a lantern with Tinkerbell inside, and I wanted to do that (although not nearly as bad as the Tangled one).  The photos came out gorgeous, and I loved the extra fairy lights hanging from the top.

We were one country away from drinking around the world, so we stopped to get a beer in Canada.  It was pretty good, nice and light and delicious.  And with that beer, we drank around the world.  Okay, we drank around the world over two days, but we still did it, and that's all that mattered. 

By now, we were pretty much done with Epcot.  We stopped to get a few pictures of us in front of Spaceship Earth at night, including some awesome slow exposure shots.  How they did this was they had a cast member take the picture while another ran behind you with a huge stick with a bunch of lights on it.  While the slow exposure, it looked like swirling lights behind you.  It's definitely one of my favorite pictures from this trip.

When we first got to Epcot that day, we planned on staying late to see the fireworks.  By the time it was time for the fireworks to start, however, we were both exhausted and cold, so we opted to head back to the hotel.  We were able to see some of the fireworks from the skyliner, so that was pretty cool.

It was an awesome day, but I realized if there's a festival going on, you need at least three days to properly explore all the pavilions, plus the festival booths; there's simply so much to do there.  Epcot and Animal Kingdom are my favorite parks because there's so much to do, you can't really get bored there.  It was a wonderful day, and we got so much done; I was sad to leave the park.

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My Dad

This is a blog post I've been putting off for a while.  In my head, I was going to write one shortly after my dad died, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  Even now, this is incredibly difficult and emotional, but I wanted to write something about the amazing father I had.

To say my dad and I had a complicated relationship at times would be an understatement.  A lot of that stemmed from the fact that we have strong, similar personalities that would often clash as we both tried to understand each other and navigate life.  I can't hold that against him, as everything he did, he did out of complete love and devotion to his family.

Nearly every single person I've met or talked to since my dad's passing has said the same thing, "He loved you guys so much and was so proud of you guys."  This meant more to me than anyone who said, "I'm so sorry for your loss" or "Let me know if you need anything."  That's not to say I didn't appreciate such kind words and the outpouring of support, but it was so wonderful to hear from others that my dad often bragged about this.  A lot of that comes from the fact that my dad didn't always show his love for us in conventional ways, and, unfortunately, it took until he was gone for me to realize that.

Instead of saying, "I love you," my dad would say, "I went to Sam's Club and bought new tires for your car.  Just show up with this piece of paper, and you're all set."  I would write him a check for the amount I owed him, show up at Sam's Club, and tires would be put on my car.  I never realized until it was too late that my dad's way of showing his love for us was always taking care of us.  Now that he's gone, we're realizing just how much he did.  It was the little things: picking up dog food from the vet, cleaning the fish tank (it still looks fine, and we've only had one fish die, so we're calling that a huge win), going to Sam's Club for groceries, etc.  All of these are things he took care of, he really was the person who kept our house running by doing all of the "behind the scenes" things we never realized were going on, even though we lived there.  It's been a difficult adjustment as we take on this new responsibility, and it's huge shoes we're filling.

The past six weeks have definitely been a challenge.  There are good days and bad days, but I remind myself that he wouldn't want us to wallow in sadness; Dad would want us to hit the ground running every day and be productive (he's probably rolling in his grave knowing I took seven days off work when he died).  Part of the difficulties stem from the suddenness of everything.  We knew Dad was sick, and we had a feeling he didn't have much longer, but we always thought we had more time than we actually did.  He fought the cancer for as long as he could and gave us an extra two years with him, and we're grateful for that so much.  He and Mom did a fair amount of traveling last spring, which was wonderful as well.  We're looking back at all the happy moments and still sharing silly stories about him.  We're also continuing his love for pink flamingos, those definitely aren't going anywhere.

I want to end with an anecdote from Dr. Phil.  He says that grief isn't a mental illness, it isn't something you're "cured" of, you simply learn to live with it.  And that's exactly what we've been doing.  We're learning to live with our new reality and how to take care of ourselves without Dad there doing all the heavy lifting without us even realizing it.

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Another Magical Day in Magic Kingdom

Once again, we are completely exhausted.  There were some pitfalls today, but we still managed to get the most out of our time in Magic Kingdom.  Like I said yesterday, we divided the park in half, and today we focused on Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland, although we did stray a little bit.

Even though we left the hotel at about the same time, there was practically no line at security, which was awesome.  We hoped this would continue throughout the day, but, alas, crowds did pick up over time.  Since there wasn't really a line at the entrance, we were able to get some nice photos of us in front of the train station before heading inside.  We were then able to see the rope drop ceremony, which was a wonderful surprise.  It was a cute little show where Mickey comes out, welcomes everyone and then all the other characters come out to say hello to everyone before scattering for the day.  Of course, the show ended with fireworks.

Once the rope drop was over, we rushed over to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise, as lines are ridiculous, and we didn't have a FastPass for it.  We waited in line for about 20 minutes.  Bryan hadn't been on it before, so all the horrible dad jokes and puns were new to him.  I think that's what makes Jungle Cruise so endearing, it doesn't take itself seriously at all, especially now that Animal Kingdom is open, and people can see real animals.  Although, that was what Walt Disney originally wanted for the Jungle Cruise, real animals, but it just wasn't feasible at the time.

Done with Jungle Cruise, we headed to our first FastPass for the day, Haunted Mansion.  Even though we rode the ride last night before leaving, we still rode it again and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.  The ballroom scene is my absolute favorite.  There's so much to see and take in, I could spend ages in that scene and still not see everything.  I also love Haunted Mansion because it's the only haunted attraction I'll ever do; I hate jump scares.  One guy behind us in line was surprised, as he thought it was an actual haunted house you walk through, like the ones at the beach or at the fair.  Hopefully he wasn't looking to actually be scared.

After riding Haunted Mansion again, we went back to Adventureland to meet Aladdin and Jasmine.  They were so adorable.  The showed up talking about something (I couldn't hear what), and when they went to greet each guest, they always held hands.  It was so cute.  I was determined to stump Aladdin, so I asked him if he'd heard from his father lately.  Right away, his face lit up, and he said, "Kaseem!?  I actually brought him to the palace yesterday, he's around here with Iago, probably near the pirates because he knows they have lots of treasure.  The two of them are actually working at exploring ruins on the outskirts of Agrabah in search of treasure.  Apparently the jewels are bigger than the ones in the Cave of Wonders.  You'll be able to hear Iago, he won't stop talking about the time he got to hold the Hand of Midas."  I have to admit, I was incredibly impressed.  I also don't think Aladdin gets to talk about his dad a lot, so this was his chance to show off some seldom-used knowledge.  Don't worry, though, I have a plan to stump Belle tomorrow.

By the time we finished with Aladdin and Jasmine, it was about 10:45, so we did the logical thing and got ice cream from Aloha Isle.  Rather than get a dole whip, however, I got the Kakamora float, which had coconut dole whip, pineapple juice, blue caracao and a chocolate cake pop.  It was delicious, although it melted really quickly, so I had to rush to eat it.

Having some time to kill, I subjected Bryan to the Enchanted Tiki Room.  Just alking about it right now, I have the song stuck in my head.  I know it's a fairly low key show and is fairly dated, but I wanted to see it because I've heard rumors that Disney might replace it with something else at some point, so I wanted to see it one more time, just in case.  If Disney doesn't get rid of it, oh well, we got to sit in the air conditioning for ten minutes and relax.

With still a little bit of time to kill, we decided to check out the Swiss Family Treehouse.  I'd been to Disney three times before this, and I'd never done this attraction before.  It's pretty much a life size model of the treehouse from The Swiss Family Robinson, which I'd read a children's version of about twenty years ago, but never the real version.  It was pretty cool to walk through and see everything, although I feel like I would have appreciated it more had I brushed up on the book or even the movie.  This wasn't an attraction we planned on visiting, so we didn't watch the movie ahead of time.

After finishing up a the Enchanted Tiki Room and Swiss Family Treehouse, we headed over towards Pirates of the Caribbean to meet Captain Jack Sparrow.  We'd actually gone up there a little bit earlier and asked a cast member where Jack would be. She said, "Sometimes he's over by the stage, sometimes he's in front of the ride, sometimes he's in a little cave between Adventureland and Frontierland.  We can't really keep him in one place."  For some reason, I found this absolutely hilarious.  Now, however, they're trying hard to keep him contained to the stage across from Pirates of the Caribbean.

We had a wonderful time meeting Jack.  He was weary of me because I had on my Aztec gold necklace that I bought for Pirate Weekend at the Renn Faire.  He asked me if I had been in the moonlight yet, and when I said no, he said, "Then you're in for a real surprise later."  To be honest, Jack wasn't entirely thrilled with Bryan, as he didn't like his shirt.  He blamed him for his lack of rum and said, "If I had rum, do you think I'd be here right now?"  I then said, "Jack, what's the best advice for getting a crew in line?"  He said, "Well, I didn't do a very good job because there was a mutiny."  Then, he continued by saying, "There are two best places for a captain, at the top of the ship where you can see everything or the first one on the longboat."  It was great, and he definitely looked and acted the part.  I feel like Jack Sparrow is a difficult character to play, because there's way more when it comes to tiny little movements than you get with some of the other face characters.  I have to admit, however, I am a little disappointed, as I didn't refer to him as "Captain", and he didn't say anything.  Bryan said it's fine, but it bothered me because it's so important to him in the movie that that's what he's focusing on when he has a noose around his neck at the gallows.

At this point, we had a FastPass for Pirates of the Caribbean, but it was down, so Disney gave us a FastPass for pretty much any other ride with a FastPass other than Seven Dwarfs, meeting Mickey and Peter Pan's Flight.  Having had the same problem with Dinosaur and Toy Story Mania, we decided to just keep that FastPass in our back pocket until the ride got up and running again.  Unfortunately, this never happened, but more about that later.

Today there was a lot of down time for us.  Although we were in the park, we spent a lot of time sitting (and yet, we still got in 20,000 steps because we zig zagged across the park in the end).  I wanted to get spring rolls from the entrance to Adventureland.  According to Bryan, the guy in front of us in line asked the cast member how often Tim Tracker came around, and he said whenever there's a new spring roll, he normally shows up.  I got the pepperoni pizza spring roll, while Bryan got one pepperoni and one cheeseburger.  I thought they were delicious and surprisingly filling for something so small.  Bryan said he liked the cheeseburger one better.

With our food in hand, we headed over to Tortuga Tavern, hoping and praying Pirates of the Caribbean would open up again soon.  It was also significantly cooler in there, so we kept getting more food and just relaxing there until it was time to find a spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade.  We purposefully picked today to watch the parade since it starts in Frontierland.  We didn't care about seeing the parade on Main Street or with the castle in the background, we simply wanted a spot that wasn't very crowded and was in the shade.  If that's what you're looking for, outside the Christmas shop in Liberty Square is the perfect spot.  We hung out there for about an hour, eating and relaxing while waiting for the parade to start.

The parade was wonderful and so much fun.  A lot of the face characters in the parade were the same cast members we met yesterday, so that was pretty cool.  I think my favorite part was the Maleficent dragon.  That thing was absolutely huge!  I definitely wasn't expecting it to be a little smaller.  It had this cool steampunk look to it and breathed fire.  Added bonus: it didn't catch on fire (it had done so in the past).  The costumes and floats were absolutely stunning, and it was a lot of fun seeing some characters not available to meet go by (such as Captain Hook, Wendy, Flynn Rider and Prince Phillip).  Our spot was perfect for the parade, and I can't recommend it enough.  We simply sat on the wall right along where the handicap section was until it was time for the parade, and since we were right along the handicap section, there weren't any tall people standing in front of us.

Once the parade was done, we knew to avoid Main Street for a little while, as that was where the parade officially ended, and it was still going on for a while, so we wandered over into Fantasyland to see if the mice from Cinderella were out (as someone mentioned they saw them there on Tuesday).  When we asked a cast member, however, he said it was the Fairy Godmother, Anastasia and Drizella again, who we saw the day before.  Instead, we figured the parade was over (we'd spent a little time just wandering) and saw that Mickey only had a 15 minute wait down on Main Street, so that's where we went.

Of all the Mickeys we met (and we met Mickey in each park), this one was my favorite interaction; we had a lot of wonderful conversations.  It's important to note that this Mickey is dressed like a magician.  I noticed his sorcerer's hat up on a shelf and asked him if that's how he did his magic.  He said he used his magician's top hat, which was on another shelf.  I also asked him about the crystal ball, which said "Leotta Crystal" on the side.  Madam Leotta is the fortune teller in the crystal ball on Haunted Mansion.  I asked him if he got that up at Haunted Mansion.  He said it was scary and asked us if we went.  When we said yes, he asked if we'd picked up any hitchhiking ghosts.  I said yes, but we left them with Donald, which he thought was hilarious.  When we gave him the frame to sign, we were running out of room.  Mickey said he was up for the challenge of finding space and seemed relieved when he found a little bit of room to sing near the top.  This was supposed to be our last character encounter.  The key word there is "supposed".

Done with Mickey, it was time to use our FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  You'll notice at this point we're just zig zagging across the park with no real plan.  Personally, I like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad more than Space Mountain, but that's just me.  I think the scenery is better (because it actually has some), and it's a much smoother ride.  We were worried because the FastPass line was incredibly long, but they got us on and off the ride in about 20 minutes, which was quite impressive.  I swore there was a ride photo for this, but the photo is off the ride in front of the mountain, not on the actual ride.  It was still a great photo if you ask me.

With Pirates still being down, we decided to head back down to Main Street to get something to eat.  I desperately wanted the mermaid cupcake at the Confectionary, but they don't make it anymore (they rotate through their cupcakes), so that was upsetting.  Instead, we headed up to  Casey's Corner for a bacon mac and cheese hot dog.  I don't know what Disney does to its mac and cheese, but it's absolutely amazing every time I eat it.  Bryan liked the bacon mac and cheese tots from Friar's Nook yesterday better, and I have to agree, but the hot dog was still delicious.  While we ate, the Move It! Shake It! MouseKe Dance It! Dance Party happened on the hub.  They do this twice a day where they bring out about half a dozen brightly colored floats with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, etc. on them, and they play some songs with the words on a screen on the side of the floats.  They ride up Main Street then stop on the hub where kids can dance and sing along to the music.  It was a lot of fun to watch from a distance, and there were some characters, such as Goofy's son, Max, who we were surprised to see.  I didn't even know they had a costume for Max, but I guess they do.

We sat at Casey's Corner for at least half an hour, probably even longer, just eating and relaxing in the shade.  Our feet were killing us.  When I looked at the app, however, I noticed that meeting Daisy and Minnie up in Pete's Silly Sideshow was only half an hour, and they were the only two characters we were missing on our frame.  Since we didn't have anything else really going on (Pirates was still closed), we went up there. 

Now, we'd never met Daisy before, so this was a completely new character to us.  We asked her to tell us our future, and she said there were fireworks in our future, which was adorable until the cast member pointed out that the fireworks started shortly.  I also made the mistake of referring to Donald as Daisy's husband, and she got upset, pointing out that she didn't have a ring.  Oops.

Like Mickey, this was the fourth time we'd met Minnie.  She had a little dog show set up, and I complimented her on how well trained her dogs are.  She laughed when I told her that my dogs don't even sit on command.  When we handed her the frame, we told her that it was going to be a tight fit, but there was a little bit of space near Mickey.  She kissed Mickey's name and then managed to somehow fit her signature right next to him.

After meeting Minnie, we were done with characters.  In a whirlwind of two days, we managed to meet 25 characters and fit all of them on our frame.  I honestly don't know what's more impressive, the fact that we met 25 characters or the fact that all 25 of them fit their signatures on our frame mat.

With Pirates still down, we sat in Pete's Silly Sideshow for a while and watched the children play in the splash pad.  It was adorable to watch them play, and wonderful to just sit down for a little while.  People watching wasn't something we'd spent a lot of time doing in the parks, and Disney is honestly the perfect place to do that.  We were also in no rush to see the fireworks today, as we weren't watching them from Main Street.  I'd heard on Tim Tracker that one of the best places to watch the fireworks from is Fantasyland.  It's important to note you won't see the projections on the castle, but you're surrounded by fireworks.  In all honesty, I loved watching the fireworks from here was better than Main Street.  We watched from the bridge to Gaston's Tavern, looking between Be Our Guest and Gaston's.  It was perfect.  The fireworks were practically on top of us, and there was no one around.  I filmed the beginning and the end, but a lot of it, Bryan and I watched together, enjoying each other's company.  This may sound mushy, but it was so romantic and perfect.  It's probably one of my favorite moments from the entire trip.

Before going to the fireworks, Bryan and I had talked, and we figured even if Pirates of the Caribbean got up and running at this point, they probably wouldn't open it, as it would create a mad rush, and as long as you're in line for a ride by 9 PM, they have to let you ride it.  I'm not going to lie, I was super disappointed, but that's how life is.  We still had our FastPass to use, and we decided to use it on Space Mountain, which is Bryan's favorite ride at Magic Kingdom.  I honestly liked riding it the second time around, since I was prepared for all the jerkiness this time.  I really don't like where the camera is for Space Mountain, it's right after you go through the launch sequence.  I feel there are some much better place with sudden drops and turns that will get a better reaction out of riders, but that's just me.

By the time we finished Space Mountain, the park was closed. We stopped at the Emporium to buy a shirt I wanted, and then we headed back to the hotel for the night.  Overall, with the exception of Pirates of the Caribbean, I'd call Magic Kingdom a success, and we're now three quarters of the way through our trip.

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A Long, Productive Day in Magic Kingdom

Wow, what a day.  With the help of Extra Magic Hours, we managed to see 19 characters and 9 attractions.  Yes, you read those numbers correctly.  Needless to say, we're absolutely exhausted, and our feet our killing us.  When planning for Magic Kingdom, we split the park, and, with the exception of the last ride of the night, we stuck to that plan.  We also aimed to only stand in line for thirty minutes, and we, mostly, kept to that plan as well.

Our day started out in Tomorrowland where we rope dropped Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.  My competitive side came out, and I had to redeem myself for the dismal score I suffered on Toy Story Mania.  My goal was to max out the score at 999,999.  I'm so angry, because I only scored 93,000.  At least I beat Bryan, so that's all that mattered to me.

After finishing up on Buzz Lightyear, we had FastPasses for Space Mountain, but the ride was down.  This was unfortunate, but they gave us a free FastPass to use for whatever we wanted, including Space Mountain, if it got up and running.  We went through a similar experience with Dinosaur and Toy Story Mania, so we decided to just keep an eye on the ride and see when it got up and running again.

Instead, we went to meet Stitch, which I was absolutely over the moon about (no pun intended).  I adore Stitch, he's my favorite Disney character.  Not only did I have a Stitch shirt to wear today, but I also had a Stitch headband.  He was wonderful and hilarious.  One of the families in front of us had a stack of autograph books for him to sign, so he laid down on the floor with his feet up in the air as he signed them.  Once he signed the first one he slid it across the floor to the dad, and the dad kicked it back; Stitch wasn't happy.  Since it was a big group, Stitch decided the best way to take a photo was gather them together while he lounged on the floor in front of them.  When we met him, I kept giving him big hugs.  I forgot to ask him if he'd come home with me.  I'm not entirely sure how my dogs would react to him though, as he can be a little high maintenance.

After meeting Stitch, we went to see Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, which is a comedy show.  This is unlike many shows in Disney, however, as there are actors backstage using motion capture so they can interact with the audience and react to what they say.  We even got to see Mike's little nephew, who was so adorable, I just wanted to take him home (along with Stitch).  It was a lot of fun, and a great place to sit around and relax in some air conditioning.

Done with Tomorrowland for the time being (Space Mountain wasn't running still), we headed towards Fantasyland.  On our way, we ran into Alice.  While I'm not a big Alice in Wonderland fan, we still stopped to talk.  We had a wonderful conversation about proper manners and how to greet people properly.  I asked her what her favorite part of Wonderland is, and she said the flowers, even though they called her a weed, they still sang her a beautiful song.  That was definitely an interesting part of the movie.

From Alice, we kept the character parade going with Ariel, as her wait time wasn't that bad.  It was a very short encounter, but it was a lot of fun.  She was very bubbly (again, no pun intended) and full of personality.  She asked us if we liked bubbles, then drew plenty around her signature on our photo mat.

At this point, Space Mountain was up and running, so we headed down there to go on it.  This was Bryan's favorite ride of the day.  I liked it, but I don't remember it being so jerky and all over the place.  I know it's a roller coaster, but it wasn't smooth and easy going like other roller coasters.  It was a lot of fun though, and it's impressive that all of it is contained in that one building.  It was a little bit of a tight fit on the ride, but not nearly as bad as our next ride: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

I'd heard Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was a tight fit, and I was worried we would have some issues, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.  This is a new ride for me at Disney World, and I'd heard amazing things about it.  It's definitely a step down in terms of thrills when compared to Space Mountain, but it was still exciting.  You're zipping through the mines as the seven dwarfs head home from work.  You even slow down to see them digging for gems.  That part was absolutely amazing, as everything glittered and sparkled around you.  As a whole, however, we thought the ride was alright.  It was fun, but definitely not worth the three hour wait in the stand-by line.  We waited no more than 15 minutes.  I said I'd wait up to 40 minutes for it, but Bryan said he'd only wait 20.

After Seven Dwarfs Mine train, we stuck around this part of Fantasyland for a while.  There was a forty minute wait to meet Pooh and Tigger, which broke our rule of 30 minutes, but we went for it.  While waiting in line, Bryan made friends with the 2 year old in front of us.  They spent forever giving high fives and fist bumps, then we looked at our markers and picked our favorite colors.  He was so adorable, and you could definitely tell the parents were grateful for the break.

Tigger and Pooh were so much fun.  My favorite part was when we asked them how we should pose.  This has seriously become my favorite thing to ask, because you get some hilarious poses.  Tigger suggested we should pose dramatically, and the results were amazing and hilarious.  When Tigger gave me a hug, I told him he gave me the best hugs.  The photographer called me out on this, as he remembered us from meeting Stitch that morning, who I kept hugging because Stitch is the best, and he said that I told Stitch he gave the best hugs.  Tigger got mad at me, until I pointed out that I said he gave better hugs than Stitch, so then I was in his good graces.

Keeping in the theme, we then bounced over (get it, bounced?) over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was our last FastPass that we had scheduled.  This ride is absolutely adorable as you go through the story of Winnie the Pooh.  This included bouncing with Tigger and escaping Heffalumps and Woozles, which are very terrifying creatures.  It was a cute ride, and while we waited in line, we were able to pick up FastPasses at 7:15 for Journey Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid. 

I really wanted to ride more rides, such as It's a Small World, but all the lines were ridiculous, so instead we got something to eat.  I'd been looking forward to the Peter Pan float from Storybook Treats and the loaded tots from Friar's Nook for weeks, and we were in the area, so that's where we went.  The float was delicious and perfect on a hot, sunny day.  It was key lime soft serve with Sprite and a little chocolate feather to look like Peter Pan's hat.  It was adorable.  The loaded tots were bacon mac and cheese, and they were delicious.  There's something about the mac and cheese at Disney World that is absolutely amazing, I can't quite figure out what they do to make it taste significantly better.

As we sat outside Friar's Nook to eat, we saw the Fairy Godmother walk by, so I got super excited; she's not an easy character to get.  I also saw the Evil Stepsisters walk by.  We finished eating and set out to find the stepsisters.  By the time we got in line for them, however, we learned they would be leaving shortly, and it would be the Fairy Godmother who came out, but Anastasia and Drizella would be back at 3:30.  We stayed in line for the Fairy Godmother, who was an alright character, nothing to really write home about, then hung around in the shade nearby for the stepsisters to come back.

I have to say right now, Anastasia and Drizella were by far my favorite character experience of the day.  They are a riot!  First, I handed Drizella my markers and told her she could pick a color.  She wanted green of course.  As soon as Anastasia heard this, she ran over and snatched all the colors except the pinks and purples, causing Drizella to go crazy.  Drizella's throwing a temper tantrum while Anastasia's mocking her, so eventually I have to step in and take back all the green markers to stop the fighting.  As Drizella's signing (using all 3 shades of green of course), Anastasia has the other colors, and she's drawing a face on the side of her hand.  I ask if it's a self portrait, and she says it's her sister, who she proceeds to mock.  Meeting them was an exhausting production.  They definitely take their time with each person and make it a memorable experience.  It was hilarious.

Having finally escaped the stepsisters, we doubled back slightly to meet Merida.  We walked right past her setup before.  While waiting in line, we struck up a conversation with the mom and three year old in front of us.  The three year old, Harper, was absolutely adorable, and I quickly started playing with her.  This eventually culminated with her practically sitting in my lap on the ground, looking at all my Disney photos, while her mom and Bryan talked.  Her mom was so grateful for the break, and Harper seemed to be entertained.

Meeting Merida was wonderful.  She told us she got up early to go see to the sunrise with Angus, but it was too cloudy.  Then, we talked about her little brothers.  Bryan joked that he was the youngest of three boys too, and Merida commented that he must have been the one to come up with all the ridiculous ideas, because her youngest brother, Hubert, is the one who does that.  She also said that her brothers have turned back into bears, but they don't seem to mind because that means they get out of their chores and responsibilities for the day.

At this point, we needed a drink, so we headed up to Gaston's Tavern at the top end of Fantasyland.  Here, we found out the most horrible news: Magic Kingdom is a dry park (the rest of the parks are not).  So, we settled for LeFou's Brew, which was frozen apple juice with toasted marshmallow and fruit flavored foam on top.  We also stuck around because the Gaston character meet and greet was nearby, and he always seemed like fun.

While our meeting with Gaston wasn't anything too spectacular, the girl in front of us is my hero.  She was with two other friends, but she asked for a solo picture with Gaston.  When posing for the picture, she said she was on a journey to find the biggest fool in the land, and her journey was no over.  It wasn't what she said that was so hilarious, but how Gaston reacted.  His face went blank, and you could see the wheels turning as he tried to think of something to say.  She actually stumped him, and it was amazing.  Gaston was an awesome character though, always in character.  Between meet ups, he would turn around and preen in the mirror.  He also kept talking about how our day was getting better now that he was in his presence.  Just like the evil stepsisters, he seemed like a blast to play.

From Gaston, we headed into uncharted territory in Fantasyland to meet Peter Pan.  We were probably the last people he met for the night.  He told us that he was signing in dark green and that when we met Tinkerbell, we were to tell her to sign in light green, it was an order from him.  He was very insistent on this, ask Tinkerbell isn't the best at listening to his order, such as when she told the Lost Boys to shoot Wendy because she was a bird.  He also said that it was partially Wendy's fault, as she shouldn't fly like a bird.

After meeting Peter Pan, we didn't want to stray far, as the Tangled lanterns photos were in the same place, and this is what I wanted to do more than anything.  So, we ate at Pinocchio's Village Haus, where they have decent flatbreads.  It was cool though, because you could see the loading area for It's a Small World, and they had little signs you could hold up with suggestions for people in line to do (sing the alphabet, clap their hands, dance, etc.).  It was super cute.

The Tangled lanterns were amazing.  The line was long and somewhat slow moving, but it was what I wanted to do on this trip more than anything else.  They're in the same place where you meet Peter Pan for right now because they're doing something underneath the actual lanterns, but they're right across the way from each other.  These are definitely some of my favorite pictures from the entire trip; they're absolutely stunning.

We finished with the lanterns just in time to go ride Journey of the Little Mermaid.  It was a cute little ride; very similar to Frozen Ever After or the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where you're riding through the story as Scuttle tells you how Ariel met Prince Eric.  It was very bright and colorful, but I wouldn't wait an hour in line for it like some people were.  I guess if you have a small child who loves The Little Mermaid, it's perfect.

Now, at this point in our day, this is where I messed up.  The all-knowing internet told me that the fireworks didn't start until 9:15.  The internet lied.  We thought we had an hour until an announcement came on saying we had 10 minutes.  We were all the way back by the Teacups, and we had to get to Main Street, USA, along with everyone else.  It was a production and very stressful, but we eventually got decent spots near the Confectionary at the very end of Main Street.  I had hoped they would dim the lights on Main Street, but they didn't.  We also struggled to see the projections on the castle, but it wasn't the worst place to see the fireworks.

Once the fireworks were over, the line to meet Tinkerbell was only 15 minutes, so we went right there to meet her.  We passed along the message from Peter Pan, she said that she was only trying to protect the Lost Boys, as Wendy flew like a Dodo bird, which she heard are very dangerous, so she thought they were in danger.

By the time we finished with Tinkerbell, the park was pretty much closed for the night.  Luckily, we had Extra Magic Hours, and a plan.  We went back to meet Tiana and Rapunzel, as the wait was supposed to be about 20 minutes (it was probably closer to 15).

Tiana was delightful.  We talked about how Mardi Gras is coming up soon.  She said Lottie is in charge of the decorations for her restaurant.  She has a feeling Lottie is going to want to decorate everything in pink, but she hopes she'll stick to the more traditional Mardi Gras colors.  Tiana was also shocked to hear we'd never been to New Orleans before.  She told us when we visited to make sure we visited her restaurant; all we had to do was follow our noses, and we'd be sure to find her restaurant.

Rapunzel was incredibly hyper.  She was impressed by the number of signatures on our photo mat.  I asked how Flynn was doing, and she said he's getting ready for a talent show at the Snuggly Duckling.  Normally he won't sing, but she can get him to sing (she was quite proud of that).  She taught us how to do the smolder, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at it.  It doesn't matter, because it was still a lot of fun to learn how to do it.

We were going to stop there for the night for characters, but there wasn't any line for Cinderella and Elena of Avalor.  I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about Elena, so I just let her lead the conversation.  I complimented her on her dress, and she said it's her coronation dress, and she loved it so much, she wears it every day now.  Cinderella was a quick meet and greet.  We told her we met her stepsisters and that they're quite characters.  She was so sweet and said that they've definitely calmed down a little and have gotten better at their singing now; she's heard them in the halls of her castle every once in a while.

After finish up our 19 character whirlwind, we headed over to It's a Small World, which said it had a 20 minute wait, but it was probably closer to 15.  The ride was just as adorable, and annoying, as I remembered.  I was a little disappointed because at some point Disney added in characters from the movies to the ride.  So, Alice would be with the British dolls, Lilo with the Polynesian, Aladdin and Jasmine with the Middle Eastern, etc, but they weren't there.  I guess they removed them, which was a little disappointing to me, but it was still a fun ride, and a wonderful opportunity to sit down.

This was going to be the end of our night, but Haunted Mansion only had a 20 minute wait.  So, we headed over there even though we have 9 AM FastPasses for it on Thursday.  It was a little creepier than I remembered, but it's still fun and perfect if you don't like jump scares.  The ballroom scene is my favorite, and not because there are portraits of Hamilton and Burr that come alive and duel.  I just love the technology and all the dancing ghosts.

I wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, but Bryan was exhausted and done for the night.  As we walked through Liberty Square, we saw the PhotoPass location for Cinderella's slipper.  Like the Tangled lantern, you get to hold the physical slipper.  There was practically no line for it, so it was perfect.  I honestly think I might like these pictures more than the Tangled lanterns.

On our way our the door, we took a few pictures in front of the castle, which was absolutely stunning.  We did a PhotoPass (we didn't do many of those today), and we had some people take some as well.  It was the perfect end to a very long day.

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