Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Day 1

[HakunaMatata]

Day 1

Woke up a few times in the night, but managed to stay in bed until a reasonable 7am. Think because of how tired we were last night we managed to beat the jet lag! We were heading to Hollywood studios in the afternoon, but had a morning free so me and Chris thought it would be a good chance to go for breakfast and get some snacks etc from a supermarket.

We messaged the others, but they weren’t bothered about leaving the hotel. So we go an Uber to IHOP about 8:30. We both went for the pancake combo (choice of 2 pancakes, 2 bacon/sausages, eggs and hash browns). I went for the double chocolate chip pancakes and Chris went for strawberry and banana. Mine was washed down with unlimited coffee refills and Chris had lemonade. Both were delicious and the service was very quick and efficient. It came to a reasonable $24.90 and we both left feeling stuffed.

We then headed across the road to Walmart. I love this place, it’s huge! We wandered around for quite a while and both ended up with Disney tops and then a snack haul! It came to $98.20 which considering we got the tops and some beer was pretty good!

Got an Uber back to the hotel which cost around $7 and then unpacked our bounty!

We met up with the others and got on the bus to Hollywood studios just before 12.

First up was Star tours. Not a huge Star Wars fan, but thought the simulation and theming was really good on this one.

We next headed to Muppets 3D which I must admit is pretty outdated and is perhaps better for kids than adults. We managed to catch part of the Star Wars show on the way out which was more of a parade of the characters and a montage of clips from the recent films. Again I loved the classic characters aka Chewie and R2D2, but think the new ‘first order’ ones from the recent films were lost on me.

It was getting pretty hot and we were in need of some air con so ventured to Voyage of little mermaid. We couldn’t work out whether they were all lip syncing or just some of them? But it was a fun version of the little mermaid in only 17 minutes.

Our first FP+ of the day was for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. This show was always one of my favourites and again it didn’t disappoint. The stunts are fab and the audience chosen to be extras was a lot of fun! You realise how reserved us brits are when you see how loud and brash the American volunteers were in comparison, but I do find them funny!

We headed into Toy Story land ready for our fastpass on toy story mania. The theming in this area is absolutely brilliant! One of the best areas in the park by far! TSM was good fun and we all ended up getting pretty competitive. I managed to beat Chris, but his brother Jamie beat us all.

Again the sun seemed its hottest around 4pm
When we came out of TSM, so we opted to go and get a drink and sit in the shade until our final booked FP of the day. Me and the boys opted for beer- I’ll never understand how they can charge $8 plus tax for bud light, but you don’t really have a choice unfortunately. After cooling down we headed over to Rock and Roller coaster. I remember loving this ride the last time I came. The pre-coaster film seems to have changed a bit, but the ride itself is just as fast and thrilling! One of the best this park has to offer.

We had pre-booked the fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood brown derby. For $65 each you get unlimited refills of soft drinks, an entree and a trio of desserts. Jane, Rob and Jamie went for the fillet beef, Chris the pork chops and I had the Cioppino. Mine was huge and lovelyyyyy- it had scallops, lobster and another seasoned fish on a bed of pasta and broth (sorry, we were starving so no photos). Chris enjoyed the pork, but the portion size was pretty small compared to the others, so think he was rather jealous! Everyone was happy with the steaks!

The trio of desserts included grapefruit cake, cappuccino creme brûlée and a Dark Chocolate Crémeux. The grapefruit cake was very tart and the creme brûlée a bit runny, but the chocolate part was amazing!

Feeling suitably full we wandered over to fantasmic and were allowed into the FP area with some tickets we had been given at dinner. We arrived at 8:15pm which was a bit too early really considering how uncomfortable those benches are! However the show more than made up for it and was an amazing end to our first park day.

We caught the bus back which all went pretty smoothly and were back at the hotel just after 10. We went for a quick swim and sit in the jacuzzi before we were kicked out at 11 and then went to bed. Lovely first day and tomorrow we are up early for the big one- Magic Kingdom!

Steps: 19,922

[katebush95]

Great first day 😄 Love the token oranges amongst all the junk food from Walmart 😆

[Dizzny Momma]

My thoughts exactly about the fresh fruit part of the shopping, very healthy good full day again, looking forward to reading more
Margaret