~#~ The one the kids don't know about... Day 16 ~#~

[Reetser]

The one the kids don't know about! Day 16. 18th August 2009

Need to catch up?

"Pre-trip report"
"The Big Reveal"
"Day 1" "Day 2" "Day 3" "Day 4"
"Day 5" "Day 6" "Day 7" "Day 8"
"Day 9" "Day 10" "Day 11" "Day 12"
"Day 13" "Day 14" "Day 15"

Well hello there! Thanks for stopping by.

DAY 16

After the relatively early night last night and the nice chilled out day, today was marked down as an early start with a Hollywood Studios rope drop on the agenda.

The alarm was set for 7am but Karen was up and in the shower before the bells had time to chime! The kids were up quite sprightly this morning as well as they showed the benefit of last night's early curtain call.

We were dressed and car bound before 8am with an arrival time into the Hollywood Studios car park of around 8.15am. We were actually ultra organised this morning as the rope drop wasn't scheduled until 9am so with the short tram journey to the park dealt with we had about a 30 minute wait ahead of us! We needn't have worried too much because before 9 they moved us into the park and let us a little way up Hollywood Boulevard where there were a few street entertainers to keep us amused.

The plan this morning was for me to 'march' ahead of the gang to obtain 4 fast passes to Toy Story Mania whilst the others would head at their pace to join the main line. It always amazes me how many people also do the same and for the next hour or so I see all the same faces! I see the dads in the fast pass queue waiting to secure tickets, I see them and their families again moments later in the main line and then I see them all over again as we ride for a second time on our passes! In fact I see lots of people repeatedly throughout the day as we all seem to have the same schedule!

The fastpass distribution line at rope drop was initially looking like an alarming length but fortunately it passed by in around 10 minutes. The stand by line by the time the kids and Karen arrived was already posting a 30 minute time but we entered anyway because I was determined to see the queuing area. I love the idea of fast pass on all rides and we use it very strategically but I also believe that every queue line has to be experienced fully at least once to see what the imagineers have designed. I had heard good things about the Toy Story queuing area and when we came at Christmas we only rode on fastpass.

We weren't disappointed and a great deal of effort has gone into this 'themed' area. Of course it is all topped off by the great Audio-Animatronic Mr Potato head who interacts superbly with the guests!



The standby line turned out to be only 15 minutes so half the time posted on entry. We all thoroughly loved this ride. Rees, Karen and I have ridden it twice before but this was Katie's first time but she came off with a huge grin and a big thumbs up to do it again.

As the family are all a little competitive on these types of rides and they all read through the trip reports I will refrain from embarrassing them with their pitiful scores and my all too frequent winning score! I love the fact that I come off with the first signs of tennis elbow appearing in my arm because I pull the trigger cord so fast and hard!

The way I see it is every win counts! They have to taste defeat to make them more determined to win in the future. That said I am sure they thought me buying and presenting myself with a trophy was a little OTT?

So, with the first ride of TSMWM out of the way comfortably by 9.30 it was time to move onwards and get a few things done before revisiting on our fastpass tickets at 10.55. We decided to head into see Voyage of the Little Mermaid next as the clouds were rolling in overhead.

I did take lots of photos in here but I wasn't particularly impressed with the quality of any of them. Low lighting, no flash, slow shutter speed and movement do not make good photos (unless your name is Ben!)

I post a couple just to show you we were there!





From Ariel we decided to head over to Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollin' Rollercoaster. The intention was to fast pass one and ride the other on child swap. On the way there we grabbed a coffee and pastry to share from 'Starring Rolls Cafe' on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard.

With the little refuel/breakfast snack on board we made our way to eventually deciding to get afternoon fastpasses for ToT whilst joining the line for RnR. We secured our child swap ticket and Rees and I joined the regular line. Although it was a cloudy day and even under the tented line area the heat was really starting to pick up a degree or two now. We couldn't wait to get ourselves into the building to find the air conditioning!

The queue overall was around 20 minutes which was just about acceptable in this heat.

Rees loves this ride and could spend all day on it if we let him! The exciting thing for him now was that he could go and do it all again with his mum!

To his disappointment Karen had decided it wasn't fair on Katie sitting round for another warm spell and reminded us that our time slot for revisiting Toy Story was now upon us. We mooched on back to the ride (seeing the same families yet again) and once again I dealt out a punishing lesson of pin point accuracy (well more like scatter gun approach!)

With another trophy presentation out of the way we decided to set up base camp in the eating area by the Honey I Shrunk the kids playground. The sky by now was looking very wild and I didn't fancy wandering too far. The kids went off to play for 10 minutes whilst we grabbed a table and chairs and set out our sandwiches. In no time at all the thunder and lightning had rolled into town and its performance wouldn't have gone a miss on any film stage set!

I went to grab the kids (because Karen didn't fancy getting wet) and we set to into our sandwiches. In a very short time indeed we were completely surrounded by what felt like the entire park as everyone ran for cover from the amazingly big spots of rain!

During this time I noticed a family of 4 pass by and I had one of those moments when you see someone but can't quite place them. I realised I recognised the dad but wasn't sure why and where from. It came to me later that it was someone from back home (although I don't know him personally) but I had seen him around town over the years. Anyway, the moment had passed before I could confirm it but it made me think about how small the world really is!

After lunch and after the rain had passed by we decided to make the short skip up to the Backlot Tour. The weather was still hit and miss with the rain spitting but at least the brutal bit of the storm had eased allowing us to enjoy the tour without hiccup.











We took our time after the Backlot tour to wander slowly over to the Tower of Terror making sure that we grabbed more fast passes to Rockin Roller Coaster for even later in the day! With the family swap tickets still in the wallet and now another 4 fastpasses Rees was determined to get a good few goes on this one today!

Karen & Rees took the first ride on ToT whilst I took Katie back to the shop by Ariel where I had promised to spend some of her allowance on an Ariel doll! She was delighted with her new addition and this kept her quite for a while allowing for Rees and I to ride ToT straight after.



With the time now around 3.30, I offered to take Katie into the Beauty and The Beast theatre to grab 4 seats for the 4 pm showing whilst Karen took Rees back on to RnR to use up the child swap tickets from earlier. They just about got back to us to see the start of show.







I have never actually seen the show before as Rees and I have always gone and done boys things *grunt* whilst Karen has always taken Katie in to do the *pink* things. I am glad I did go in because although the story line doesn't excite me, Disney production does and I think once again it is a great example of how professional the shows really are.

We had a wander over via Star Tours to get a Latte and some amazing Carrot cake Cookies! I am not at liberty to declare to all on a public forum where you can find this little gem of a place serving amazing cookies while the whole world walks by without knowing. I have to keep it a secret so that you don't all pile in there making it busy! Hollywood Studios best kept secret remains in tact

We actually spent around 3/4 hour in here as the rain closed in again but we were so comfy sat in our sofa watching cartoons that we didn't care too much!

Relaxed, fed and watered we decided next to split up for a bit. Karen was up for a bit of shopping, looking in particular for a watch to replace a Disney one she had stolen from the swimming baths last year. I agreed on the other hand to go and take Rees back on RnR for his 3rd trip! Karen had already decided that she wasn't going back on so despite the negotiation of Rees to do it again I decided to find a lucky couple to hand 2 fastpasses too.

In fairness, I love the fact that he wants to do these rides continuously because I do to and he gives me the excuse but time was pushing on in the day!

We met back up with the girls as agreed in the shops on Hollywood Boulevard where Karen declared that we had to go over to World of Disney at Downtown Disney. The reason being, the watch she had had stolen was a bracelet style watch that you added links into as you collected them. There was no sign of anything similar in here but as she bought it from DTD, it was recommended to her that she might find it for sale there!

With this in mind we decided to call it a day at HS and head there. On the way out, without the kids looking, Karen found a family coming in and handed not only our stroller but the two balloons with Mickey heads inside that we had had all holiday. They were still fully blown up and floating just like the day they were purchased representing very good value for money. We were away and back to the car before the kids realised and could protest!

In the end, we couldn't find the watch and Karen settled for a different one that wasn't too expensive and could become an everyday watch. The kids were tired now and although they shared a cookie around 5pm it was quite a time since the butties at 12pm. For speed and convenience we hit McDonalds for a burger an fries before heading back to the apartment around 10pm.

We were all shattered from another full day on the go and were looking forward to a chilled start tomorrow before heading off to Blizzard Beach for our last full day of fun!

As I close and realise no one is looking I think I best finally humiliate them with their Toy Story scores, Ssshh!

Go 1: Karen 101k, Rees 42k, Katie 13k and DAD 136k!
G0 2: Karen 114k, Rees 74k, Katie 21k and DAD 155k!

SEE YOU REAL SOON!

Day 17 can be found here

[orlandosgr8]

A great day

[walt4it]

Great to read day 16 at last! Toy story always brings out the competative edge in our family too!

[scotsprincess]

another great day

lovely pics

[pepsicube]

Great stuff, busy day.

[Ariel's Mum]

Brilliant day...

We love Toy Story too.

Brill scores

[Porgie]

Trip report back by popular demand! Thanks Reetser am a big fan. You have a beautiful family and the photos are great to look at. Anyway enough praise where is the rest of the trip?

[Guest]

Sounds like a great day but do tell us where it is that you get the lovely cookies from!

[Reetser]

Ok, just for you and no one else

It's a little place called "writers Stop' on Commissary Lane. It just lookes like a little shop selling pens and such but in the back they have this little gem. It's not on any map and they don't advertise it for some reason. So many people (including us) have walked passed it so many times without even knowing it exists!

From the outside it looks very non descript and they don't even tell you what's in there!



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[Guest]

Originally Posted by Reetser

Ok, just for you and no one else

It's a little place called "writers Stop' on Commissary Lane. It just lookes like a little shop selling pens and such but in the back they have this little gem. It's not on any map and they don't advertise it for some reason. So many people (including us) have walked passed it so many times without even knowing it exists!

From the outside it looks very non descript and they don't even tell you what's in there!



This message will self destruct in 10 minutes!

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Thanks I won't tell anyone the cookies sound fab