Toarin' - August 2015. Day 15 - Hollywood Studios

Scruffette · 13 Mar 16, 06:19 PM

Day 15 – Hollywood Studios.

Lunch at Sassagoula Floatworks, Dinner at California Grill

This morning we woke up around 7am, replacing our normal pop tart filled breakfast with a cinnamon roll from Gaston’s Tavern and a smores square.

Ollie popped the cinnamon roll in the microwave, which was a genius move. These are pretty much identical to the old ones from Main Street Bakery and I loved this!

The smores square was fine, but I’m sure the Karamel Kuche versions would have been superior (add caramel to anything and it automatically becomes better)

This is what the FPS looked like originally:

However, a couple of days before we switched the Star Tours FP for the Frozen Singalong! This proved to be a good move. Who doesn’t love a frozen singalong?

This morning Hollywood Studios opened at 9am, and we arrived around opening time. Following the same plan as last time, we headed straight to Toy Story Midway Mania, although we had FPs booked for later, to get in two rides.

Ollie won again. I stopped taking note of the scores by this point, clearly too defeated!

After this we headed to Tower of Terror, which was pretty much a walk on. I managed to keep my hands up on the ride, which is a first. I normally like to be clinging on for dear life!

We headed over to Star Tours next. Originally we had fastpases booked, but had them. Star Tours only had a short wait.

One thing I noticed in the queue was the scene where the luggage was being scanned by the small robot who is chatting to guests and doing his job very badly. One of the items being scanned was wall-e! I’m pretty sure there were also mickey ears and a sorcerer’s hat.

We caught the Voyage of the Little Mermaid next, only having to wait a few minutes for the next show, although we were some of the last to be let it. I enjoy the show, but it could maybe do with a little bit of a refresh.

Our FPs were now open for Tower of Terror, so we walked over that way. The FP line seemed to be really long. Eventually we were told that only one side of the tower was operating. After lots of waiting, it became clear that we would miss our next Fastpass, as the Frozen Singalong only has a return window of 15 minutes. We explained this to a cast member, who gave us old paper style fastpasses to come back later. What was even better is they were valid until the end of the month, meaning we could use them on our return from the cruise.

En route to the Frozen Singalong, we stopped at Sweet Spells and picked up a Goofy’s Glacier to share. The Cast member offered to layer 3 different flavours – strawberry, blue raspberry and lemon.

We refrained from all the yummy treats!

We also passed the *ahem* stage.

We were allowed to take the drink into the waiting area for the singalong, just not into the theatre. This was fine, it was so hot we would drink it quickly!

I enjoyed the singalong again. The historians weren’t quite as ‘together’ as the previous pair, but I still sang along. I’m pretty sure the Kristoff was the same as he was a bit wooden both times.

On the way out we found Walt.

And the wonderful Angela Lansbury.

It was back to Toy Story for another go, where Ollie won again. I do love this ride, but I’m very competitive!

The one final thing we wanted to do was to watch the film at the end of One Man’s Dream, as we hadn’t had time a few days previously. This gave us more time to admire some of the things on display.

I hadn’t realised that the film was narrated by Julie Andrews! Sound of Music is probably my favourite film of all time. (I know it’s not Disney!) Anyway, the film was suitably emotional. I know I’ve said it before, but I really hope they don’t just get rid of this attraction. Find another place for it, it should always have a home.

We went to check out the Great Movie Ride, but the lines were crazy long!

Our minds turned to food (as usual) and we were debating what to do for lunch. Having stayed at French Quarter last trip (and for me a few times before that) we thought we’d visit the food court for lunch and have some beignets.

We caught a bus over to French Quarter, and loved the feeling of walking into the lobby, having the door opened for us by the greeter there. It felt like ‘home’ walking in.

I really like the food court at French Quarter (and at Riverside for that matter). Artist’s Pallette at Saratoga Springs just doesn’t have the variety, in my opinion.

After much debating, and looking at all the stations, we decided to get a few things to share.

We got a shrimp po’boy with house made potato chips.

There was a massive amount of shrimp in this, which had been cooked fresh.

Mushroom Swiss Burger with fries.

I hadn’t had a Disney burger yet this trip, they were as good as I remembered. Again, the burgers were being cooked fresh.

To drink we got one fountain drink (which could be filled 3 times) and a cookie dough milkshake. I love how these can be included as a drink on the dining plan (last trip we tried almost every flavour!)

We got our receipt stamped so we could pick up dessert later. Between courses, we went for a walk round the resort. It was at that point that I remembered how much I loved French Quarter and its layout. It feels a bit more ‘Disney’ to me, even though it’s not specifically Disney theming. I also like how you don’t need to walk through car parks to get to each building!

For desert we split beignets. These are a firm favourite of ours. They were cooked fresh and we fought over the extra one! Just be careful breathing in whilst eating them with all the icing sugar!

We also split an ice cream cookie sandwich. One scoop cookie dough, one scoop cookies and cream. One cookie was chocolate chip and one had m and ms in. This was amazing and huge!

It was bigger than Ollie’s hand!

At this point, I was worrying about being hungry for dinner at California Grill later! (However, having read how much we can eat, it’s no surprise we still managed plenty).

Ollie had a bit of restroom entertainment when he went to the toilet. He was in the only cubicle in the gents’, when a young boy came in and started talking to him through the door (imagine the next bit in a quaint southern accent). “Hey mister, are you gona’ be long in there? I really gotta go!”

A few seconds later the boy’s father came in. “I gotta do a number 3 real bad!” His Dad asked what a number 3 was. “It’s when you need a number 1 and number 2 at the same time”

I’m not quite sure how Ollie maintained his composure during this. I found it hilarious when he came out and told me.

We caught two buses back (I can’t remember via where) and stopped at Carriage House to pick up all our shopping from a few days ago. This meant we had to walk back to the room with about 6 or 7 full bags! It didn’t seem that much at the time.

This was our only towel creation of our stay….

Scruffette · 13 Mar 16, 06:20 PM

With the weather looking reasonably ok, we headed out for a swim. This was our last day at Saratoga Springs and we’d only made it to the pool once! We had a splash about until it started raining with lightning. I had to convince Ollie we should get out at this point!

Anyway, back at the room we got ready to head out for dinner whilst consuming the last of the rose wine in the fridge. Ollie, who had a full blown cold now, sat and folded about 20 tissues to take out with us for dinner.

It was still raining when we headed out (as standard) so we had ponchos on over our nice signature restaurant clothes. We got a bus to MK and then the monorail across to the Contemporary. I also took a few minutes to remove and fold up the poncho into my bag. I didn’t want to be walking into a nice restaurant in a poncho looking like a drowned rat.

We checked in and took the lift up to the contemporary and were shown to the table pretty quickly.

We were given bread, but the photo came out a bit blurry. Despite the fact that we probably should have been pacing ourselves given the large late lunch, we made a pretty good dent in this.

To drink I had a Monte Ray ($9.50) Mount Gay Rum, Pineapple Juice, and Licor 43 with a splash of Sweet-and-Sour

Mine was a little different to my usual cocktail selection. It was a little less fruity and a bit sharper, but still nice.

Ollie had a Santa Monica Cider ($11.00) Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime Cider, Hendrick’s Gin with Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, and Micro Basil

Ollie was toying with the idea of just having a Rekorderlig cider by itself, but figured he could have one easily at home, so should try something different.

We were ID’ed here, for a change.

We payed OOP for an appetiser to share, which was a Merquez flatbread.

I’m not normally a big lamb fan, but have had Merquez sausages before so I knew I liked them. I think I would struggle to eat a whole flatbread by myself as an appetiser!

For mains we both had the Oak Fired filet of beef with a corn risotto.

Although I’m never quite convinced about risotto with steak (Le Cellier, I’m looking at you!) this was an excellent dish. We both had our fillets cooked medium rare.

It was bigger than it looks in the photo.

Between mains and dessert we went outside to watch wishes. It was still raining quite a lot, so we put on our ponchos. We know how to be classy in a signature restaurant! It wasn’t very crowded as most people decided to stay indoors. Although the rain wasn’t ideal, and watching fireworks in the rain wasn’t quite as magical as I’d hoped, I still enjoyed watching Wishes from this viewpoint. (Last time I tried was 6 years ago. It poured with rain again then too!)

For dessert we were uninteresting again and both ordered the same. The sundae sampler ($13). I’m fairly sure what each dessert was, they change it seasonally and it was a long time ago.

On the right was something blueberry flavoured, with a pipette filled with something lemony to add to the dessert. In the middle was a Shirley temple. On the left (I think) was something fruity and coconut-y. My favourite was the Shirley Temple, but Ollie thought this one was the least interesting.

It was past 11pm by the time we settled up, we took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and got a bus back to the hotel.

However, the night didn’t end there. There was the glorious task of packing! This wasn’t too difficult fortunately – we had lots of space between us. I’d packed pretty light on the way out and hadn’t bought nearly as much as I thought I would (although, you wouldn’t believe it with all the shopping I’d picked up earlier!)

We had two cabin size cases between us, so decided to put all the breakables or delicates in one of them, and then just didn’t open it until we got home. The other cabin bag had some things we would need for the cruise tomorrow (!) and 3 bottles of prosecco to carry on with us.

Our main cases were to be collected by Disney anytime from 8am. This was earlier than I had realised, so my plan for a lie in had disappeared.

Eventually we made it to bed, excited for boarding the Dream tomorrow!

Day 16 - Boarding the Dream

**Redrach1903** · 1 Apr 16, 07:32 AM

Another fab day! I LOL'd at Ollie's toilet story! Hahahaha! How bizarre!

Looks like really good food all round today

We are staying at POR, so will def be popping down to FQ for Beignets! Yummmmmy!

Great read again x

Scruffette · 3 Apr 16, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Another fab day! I LOL'd at Ollie's toilet story! Hahahaha! How bizarre!

Looks like really good food all round today

We are staying at POR, so will def be popping down to FQ for Beignets! Yummmmmy!

Great read again x

Beignets are compulsory! I love the foodcourt at POR as well

collybird · 12 May 16, 09:38 PM

The burgers at French Quarter are amazing, definitely worth the wait for them to cook it.

I know what you mean about returning to an 'old' resort, you feel right at home.

Dinner looks incredible, California Grill is our final meal this year before we do the cruise too

Scruffette · 13 May 16, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by collybird

The burgers at French Quarter are amazing, definitely worth the wait for them to cook it.

I know what you mean about returning to an 'old' resort, you feel right at home.

Dinner looks incredible, California Grill is our final meal this year before we do the cruise too

I missed French Quarter so much!

Great minds think alike!

Enchanted · 15 May 16, 06:08 PM

Great day, I love POFQ!
Fantastic food day too...love the look of that ice cream cookie sandwich

juliab · 17 May 16, 03:44 PM

I didn't realise you could get your receipt stamped and go back for a dessert later. Thank you for this great tip

Another great read

Lol kids say the funniest things

All your food today looked so good.

Scruffette · 22 May 16, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Enchanted

Great day, I love POFQ!
Fantastic food day too...love the look of that ice cream cookie sandwich

I missed POFQ so much this trip! It feels like 'home'. Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by juliab

I didn't realise you could get your receipt stamped and go back for a dessert later. Thank you for this great tip

Another great read

Lol kids say the funniest things

All your food today looked so good.

It was a particularly good food day! We still joke about the toilet incident now! Thanks for reading