Lucy & Nick // The Superfan and the Skeptic // Day 12 - HS, Trails End & HEA

[Lucyjane45xxx]

Trip Index can be found here

Day 11 can be found here

Day 12 - Hollywood Studios, Trails End & Happily Ever After

After a late night, we slept in until 9.30 as our first fastpass wasn’t booked until 11am. I know people probably think we are crazy as these are our last few days so we should be making the most of it, but by now we had done everything that we had wanted to so slowed the pace down as we didn’t want to go home absolutely exhausted and not feeling like we had had a break. I actually really enjoyed the last few days going at a slower pace and will probably be building some more relaxed days into our next trip.

Today was a Saturday, and for some reason I had planned in Hollywood Studios, which looking back now was a big mistake due to there only being a few attractions.

We got to Hollywood Studios for 11am and headed straight to Rock N Rollercoaster for our first fastpass. The standby queue was 110 minutes already, and it was at this point we knew today was going to be horrific and we may need to rethink our plans. Even the fastpass queue moved pretty slowly. After we came off, we looked at Tower of Terror but the queue was 85 minutes, so we decided not to bother.



Instead we decided to get lunch as we had a super early ADR for this evening and wanted to be hungry for it. Nick had been eyeing up menus in the lead up to the holiday and already knew where he wanted to go - Backlot Express. Nick ordered the Chicken and Waffles, which he really enjoyed, and I had the chicken nuggets (what a shock, I know!). We both thought the meals were just okay. They didn’t have the normal honey mustard here and the one they had just wasn’t as good. I love Hollywood Studios, even though it is under a huge amount of construction, but I do really hope that the new lands bring some better meal options as currently it is severely lacking. In 2014 we ate at Fairfax Fare, when it did speciality hot dogs and had the mac & cheese with bacon and truffle one and it was incredible, I really wish they still sold that now. I know you can still get it at Casey’s but as I say, HS needs some better options. I don;t have any photos of this meal - sorry!

It was now 12:20 and our fastpass for Indiana Jones didn’t open until 12:50 (or so I thought) and the only thing with a short queue was the Olaf meet and greet so we headed there for the air con (oh and because I LOVE OLAF!). Nick was not thrilled but as it was only 15 minutes he said he would wait. I loved this meet, Olaf is so cute and gave us big hugs!

After this it was 12:40 but we headed over to Indiana Jones anyway and we saw that they were already letting people in so we joined the queue. This was a great call as I love the queue for this - not only is it in the shade but there are also loads of fans and mist sprays, heaven! It was so hot and humid today so it was so nice to be out of the heat.

I have seen the Indy show quite a few times now and while I am not really an Indy fan, I really enjoy it every time anyway as it is just really different and fun to watch. Nick really enjoyed it too and had obviously never seen it before so thought the bit with the stunt guy was really funny.

The show ended at 1:50 and the original plan had been to head to the 2pm showing of Beauty and the Beast but we knew by then time we got out of the theatre we would be too late. Our next fastapss wasn’t until 2:55 and then we wouldn’t need to set off for our ADR until 4:30pm and we knew that with the crowd levels and the insane heat there was no way we could cope until then. Instead, we decided to cut out losses and head back to the hotel instead. On the way out of the park we used a couple of snack credits on some frozen cokes, Nick was all coke and mine was a mixture of coke and cherry which was amazing. While we were in the queue an extremely rude woman pushed in front of us. We tried to say something to her, however she completely ignored us and the proceeded to take over 10 minutes for her order - very annoying!

We got to the bus stop for AKL and the bus stops at HS have next to no shade, so a group of us were all trying to cram into the shady part as much as possible. It was so hot and although it was probably no more than 5 minutes, it felt like we were waiting forever for a bus. Never have I been so glad for the insanely cold air con on the bus before!

Once back, I caught up with some trip report notes and then had a little nap as I had a headache and I can only presume that Nick was continuing to catch up on any missed football as I didn’t actually ask him what he did.

After this, we both got ready and headed out of our room at around 4.30pm. A bus to MK arrived at 4.37, so again we were really lucky with buses. We pulled into MK at 5pm and as we were queuing for bag check, I could see that a boat to Fort Wilderness had pulled in. We were due at the restaurant at 5.30pm, so I knew that if we missed this boat we would definitely be late, so I was praying we made it. Thankfully, we got through bag check quickly and ran over to the boat dock and made it onto the boat in good time before it set off. On the boat ride over we could see the new Wilderness lodge DVC huts and they looked really cool, although they are crazy points values like the Polynesian water bungalows. Nick really liked the look of Wilderness Lodge and we both agreed we would like to stay there one day. I do think though, for the price of Wilderness Lodge I would rather stay at either a monorail loop hotel or the Beach Club.

We got to Fort Wilderness boat dock at 5.25 and made the short walk over to Trails End to check in where we were given a pager. We had a little wander around while we were waiting for our table, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes before our pager went off and we were seated. I can’t remember our servers name tonight but he was really lovely.
I had been to Trails End before and remembered it being really great, and it lived up to my expectations and was just as good as I had remembered. This had been one of the meals that Nick had been most looking forward to as he loves all things BBQ and Fried Chicken and again he really enjoyed the meal.

We had all sorts of food, but rather than just type out all of the things that we had, instead I will just post the photos I have of the plates we had. I don’t think this was all of the plates we had though so we must have forgotten to take photos of all of it:

I really wanted some ice cream from their ice cream machine, but I also really wanted to try an ice cream cookie sandwich from the ice cream parlour on Main Street after hearing rave reviews about them, so I decided not to have any at Trails End and save myself for that after the fireworks this evening.

The bill would have come to about $75 but we paid with 2TS credits and left our lovely server a 20% tip.

We wandered back down to the boat dock and were chatting to a few other people in the queue which was really nice. By the time a boat arrived the queue was huge and one of the cast members had to count how many people there were and let some people know they would be waiting for the next boat. The boat was absolutely packed by the time it set off, it wasn’t enjoyable at all, I wouldn’t want to be doing that everyday! The boat was supposed to be direct to MK, but a family with an ECV Scooter has apparently got on the wrong boat and actually wanted to go to Wilderness Lodge rather than MK. Instead of making them go to MK and then go back to WL, the driver pulled into Wilderness Lodge to let them off. Kind of annoying as it delayed us by a while but it wasn’t the end of the world. There were a few people on the boat who were on their way to ADRs though and you could tell they weren’t particularly happy about the detour.

Once we got to MK we headed over to tomorrowland. I had managed to get a fastpass for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor which was now open. This is a nice break in the air con, but I actually think it is quite funny too! It is a good change of pace and Nick was really skeptical that it was going to be rubbish, but he actually enjoyed it. We must have timed it quite badly though as we waited for ages for a showing, putting us behind the time schedule that I had all planned out! At some point we must have gotten some photopass pictures taken - I hate the cheesy kissing photos but nonetheless here is one:

By this point we desperately needed to get back to the hub so we could find somewhere to watch Happily Ever After. Nick wasn’t thrilled to have to find a spot so early but I told him that it was definitely necessary, especially as it was only a few days after the first showing. It was already insanely packed, and we were struggling to find somewhere. I spotted a section where we could just about fit within the tape that was on the floor so we jumped in. The cast members must have been getting really annoyed though as so many people were completely ignoring the tape on the floor and were just stopping anywhere in the middle of the walk ways so they spent their time walking around moving people on. At about 8.50, the announcement came on that everyone had to stand up due to the lights going off shortly, so at this point, everyone moved forward to fill the space and luckily we ended up right in the centre, it was the absolute perfect spot!

After we had seen the fireworks from Narcoossees the other night, I was so excited to see them from inside MK and see the projections alongside the fireworks this evening. I was not disappointed - WOW is all I can say. I absolutely love Wishes, and it will always have a place in my heart as it holds so much sentimental value, but Happily Ever After is so incredible - it is on a whole new level! I can’t even explain it to you, but even if you are skeptical, go and watch because it is so worth it.
In the soundtrack there is the most beautiful cover of Love Is An Open Door from Frozen, and I would have absolutely loved to have it as my wedding song next April, however I cannot find it anywhere and Disney won’t tell me who sings it (I emailed haha!). I have a feeling that there isn’t a full version anyway and that was recorded specifically for the show. Sad times!
Nick loved Happily Ever After. He liked Wishes but it doesn’t have the same sentimental value to him so he thought HEA was a million times better. I will TRY not to post too many photos! I have tried to pick some of my favourites

We decided to wait it out a bit before we went to get a bus back to let the crowds and mad rush die down a bit so we headed into the shops on main street to avoid the crowds. I decided this was the perfect time to look at my spirit jersey again. They were low in sizes again and only had XS and M in all of the colours. The M was absolutely HUGE and the XS was too tight, so I was going to accept defeat and accept that the jumper just wasn’t for me, and just as we were leaving I spotted it - the mint green spirit jersey in a size S. I grabbed it, tried it on and it fit perfectly. This was obviously fate so I convinced myself (and Nick) that I absolutely had to have it. It was $59.99 before tax. I don’t have a photo of me wearing the jumper, so here are some photos I found.

We wandered back down to the ice cream parlour so that I could get the ice cream cookie sandwich that I had been after, but the queue was absolutely insane, and feeling extremely sad about it, I decided not to bother. We wandered through the art shop next door to the confectioners and there were some really cool prints, paintings, models and signs in there. We literally could have spent a fortune! We both love the Haunted Mansion (tightrope lady is my absolute fave!) and they had figures of all the paintings in the store which were super cool. They also had Nightmare Before Christmas versions of all of the Haunted Mansion paintings which were awesome - I would have loved to have bought these but we had already bought quite a few prints by this point!

The queue in the confectioners was really long too so I sadly accepted defeat and headed out of the park to the bus stops. There was barely any queue left, so waiting out the crowds definitely does pay off and we were soon on a bus home - we even got a seat!
We got back to AKL and I really needed something sweet after being let down at MK, so I had to settle for a Toll House Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich. It was nice but it just wasn’t as good as the ones from MK look so I was sad I hadn’t managed to get one!
After eating the ice cream, we both decided it was time to sleep!

[yellowrose78]

Fab day! HEA looks amazing, can't wait! Love your dress

[Palm trees]

I've just updated on your newly posted reports (backwards from your last day!). Great writing and photos.

[Lucyjane45xxx]

Originally Posted by yellowrose78

Fab day! HEA looks amazing, can't wait! Love your dress

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Thank you! I got a few of this style from amazon - they were so comfortable to wear!
HEA is absolutely amazing - I even get emotional listening to the song for it! It is so much better than any fireworks display I have seen!

Originally Posted by Palm trees

I've just updated on your newly posted reports (backwards from your last day!). Great writing and photos.

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Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!

[loldis]

What a perfect view of HEA! Fab pics, you can post more!

[Lucyjane45xxx]

Originally Posted by loldis

What a perfect view of HEA! Fab pics, you can post more!

See more...

It really was a good spot, we were very lucky! And thankfully not too many phones / ipads up in the air either! It really is amazing i got so emotional haha!

[Goldia]

Sounds like a nice chilled out day, although you did manage to fit in 2 parks and a dinner at Trails End... isn't funny how when we think of laid back days at Disney in real life the same type of day would be considered manic?

[Enchanted]

Another fab day, you really must get an ice cream sandwich next time...they’re incredible !

[collybird]

I love Trail’s End, what a great idea to hop over to MK afterwards.

That’s a lovely picture of you guys in front of the Castle the colour of the sky looks great next to your outfits.

Great firework shots!

Glad you got your spirit jersey, I want one, but I can’t decide which colour.

[mick]

Great day and fantastic photos of HEA


Joan