I had told everyone we wanted to be in the car at 7am and set my phone alarm for 6am, but I was awake and up at 5:45 anyway. As I was standing in the kitchen at 6am, mine went off, Hannah's went off in her room, caitlins went off in her room. All systems go!
Kevin had made the sandwiches last night, put them in the fridge and selected which snacks he was taking. I made up salads for Caitlin and I then Kevin packed our trusty backpack coolbag. It had sandwiches, 2 salads, 11 bottles water, scooshy (Robinson's diluting stuff), pop tarts, crisps, cereal bars, Oreos. Plenty to keep us going.
We also packed a separate wee coolbag that goes in the coolbox between the front seats of the car.
we were in the car and away at 7:04. I've tried to calculate our timings for the campsite checkin then to Hollywood studios aiming to be there by 8:45 for opening at 9am to try to rope drop slinky dog. We will see if I get it right!
Easy drive along the 192 and under the magic arch by 7:30.
7:32 we stopped at the security booth and she took my passport as my photo ID to check in.
She told me to drive forward to checkin Lane 5. When we pulled up she checked our name, confirmed our booking was for 3 adults and 1 child for 1 night, gave us our magic bands and a map to our campground.
She then said to drive forward and go left if we were heading to the campsite, or right if we wanted to go straight to the park.
After turning right she said we could park here and get the bus to HS, or drive straight to the park.
She gave us our parking pass to display in the dash for free parking in the parks and said that was also registered on the magic bands.
We were out at 7:35! Off to the park
On the way we could see the new cable car things (can't remember their Disney name)
Arrived HS car park 7:47, and at the parking booth he scanned my magic band, confirmed we had parking and waved us through.
We parked in the very first row and had a 2min walk to security. Quick loo stop first.
At security kevin was complimented on his star wars T-shirt and his awesome packing of his coolbag. This made kevin very happy!
The big security guard that checked my Kipling multiple was oohing and ahhing over my accent saying how much he loved it. Lovely Cheery folk at Disney.
By 8:01 we were walking up Hollywood Boulevard to the rope at the top. Almost an hour ahead of schedule! Who knew the whole campsite thing would be such a doddle?!
I am really happy we did that. Well worth it for the 2 days free parking, 5 magic bands, and 2 days of 60 day Fastpass booking which secured us a Flight Of Passage ride tomorrow.
So the plan for the rest of our day was
As we waited I became glad we were that 1hr ahead of schedule. This was in front of us
this was behind us!
The cast members lined up and at 9am we started the walk through to Toy Story land. There was an awful lot of jumping about and ankles being bashed by strollers but not too bad as nobody could really run ahead.
Reached Slinky Dog at 9:04 and it said 65mins standby but the queue just kept moving and we were on the ride by 9:12 and off at 9:17.
Had a wee photo op with Forky.
Then onto Alien Swirling Saucers which was 10m wait.
We had a laugh at the Toy Soldiers and Kieran got picked as a recruit
then we used our FP for Toy Story Mania. Kevin won with 168000.
Off TSM at 10:16 and stopped for a wee snack n drink. Slinky was now a 90m wait.
Walked round to RnR for our FP opening at 10:35. Standby for this was 110mins
When in the queue I did open the MDE app to see if I could bring the ToT FP forward but there were no FP left. I wasn't surprised having seen the queue for ToT as we went to RnR! It's standby was 95m
We went over to Star Tours which was showing a 35m q on the app. Entered the q at 11:20 and got in the ride at 11:55 so it was bang on.
Came out of Star Tours and onto Muppets 3D vision which was pretty pants. I had forgotten how rubbish it was! Kevin wouldn't know. He slept through the whole thing.
Found a wee shady table around the corner and had our coolbag picnic
it was now 12:55 so we walked round to the Indiana Jones show for 1:15. It was mobbed and we only got a seat away at the far side. Kevin fell asleep again then nearly had a heart attack when the gunfire started. I was howling!
Loo breaks then bought some snacks before going into the 2:30 Frozen show. By this point we had drank the 11 bottles of water so kevin decided to walk back to the car and refill from the other coolbag. I'm not sure which urge was stronger. Not to have to watch Frozen, or not to have to get his wallet out if we needed more drinks.
I actually quite like this wee show as I love the film and the show is really very funny! We last did it in 2015. That's another bonus of having Caitlin here - we are stopping in to some things we wouldn't normally do as we did them once years ago. But it's actually nice to see them again.
Out at 3pm and kevin was waiting outside for us all watered up and chuffed with himself.
Next up was the Voyage of the Little Mermaid which was due to start at 3:30.
All day I had been checking the app to see if I could bring forward the Tower Of Terror fastpass but there were never any more FP available at all for it. Clearly one half of it being closed is having a big impact. The wait time was 125mins at 3:15pm.
Voyage of the little mermaid was ok. Nothing special. the girls voice was very nasal which put me off.
Loo breaks on our way to ToT and a stop for a photopass pic
Then in to use our fastpass. I still hate this thing. Every year I do it and every year I think I'm going to die. I just can't stand that falling feeling. The ride photo when we came off was shocking. It hasn't uploaded to my MDE yet but if it does I will share it. everyone else loved it of course!
It was now 5pm and having used all our fastpasses I checked the app to see what was available but nothing til 7pm and they were all rubbish - no big rides.
So we decided to call it a day. Caitlin said she had loved her first day at Disney. When we got back to the car it was 102 degrees. And you could tell.
We were all a hot sweaty mess so Hannah suggested a takeaway instead of sitting in. We wanted to try chillis this year so I started messing about trying to find one. After a slight detour (em, a 20 minute detour) we were heading for the one on the US27.
We stopped into Walmart first for more picnic supplies.
Then chillis
where we ordered a $25 meal for 2 with chips n salsa, chicken fajitas, chicken quesadillas and cheesecake for Kevin and I
Big mouth bites for Kieran
Honey chipotle crispers and waffles for Hannah
And Ancho Salmon for Caitlin
It came to $68. We ordered at 6:05 and the food was ready at 6:25.
It was all delicious and generous portions. Would definitely order from here again.
Cleared up from dinner and sorted the washings from today then Kevin and I sat at the pool watching the sunset and the wee rabbits running about.
Lovely day.