It's all about the mouse - 2nd August 2018 day 2 HS, Epcot and DS

[Goldia]

Welcome to the It’s all about the mouse trip report. We are a family of four and this is our 4th trip to Orlando. I'm Abby, my DH is Dave and our children are Max (13 at the time of the trip) and Kate (11). This trip is all WDW and we stay inside the Disney bubble for the entirety of our holiday.

If you haven't read the previous day it can be found here

The phone alarm call rang at 5.30am and it was Mr Incredible telling us to hurry up and get ready for our day. Dave nearly had a heart attack when the phone went off! We wanted to be up so early to get to HS for 7am EMH. I know this is a crazy time to get up, yes it is earlier than we would get up for work, but we were not going to repeat the mistake of yesterday! I was determined to be at the park for rope drop and make the most of a quiet park. My plan was to NOT go to Toy Story Land but to have a quick ride on anything else that had a short wait. This was supposed to only be a flying visit as the main park of the morning was Epcot which had EMH from 8am.

Here is the little card plan for the day.

We made it out of the room by 6.15am and it was still dark. The bus arrived at 6.26am, it was kind of surreal to be going to the park in the dark. We arrived at 6.55am and scanned magic bands, by the time we had got to the park it was daylight.

Minor interlude here, I am massively self indulgent and I love looking back at our old photos at WDW to see how much the kids have grown. As this is my trip report I guess I am allowed to do what I want and so here is the sight that used to greet you when you entered HS.

I really miss the hat, this photo was taken on our first trip in 2014. Am I the only person who misses it? The Chinese Theatre just isn't the same.

We headed off towards TOT and RnR. Unfortunately RnR was closed due to technical difficulties.

We rode TOT with a 13 minute wait! I was very excited to see this wait time. This basically means there is no waiting.

We were in the front row, which I don’t like so much I much prefer to be in the back row as this feels safer to me!

I was holding on as tight as I could, Max is trying his best to look as cool as a cucumber. He’s not quite as laid back as the cool guy across from us – he looks so relaxed in these photos.

We hadn’t had done any photopass at MK the day before so I was determined to make up for that this morning. We had a brilliant photo shoot with TOT behind us.

We also got a magic shot I’d been hoping for – the balloons! We had to hold Kate down so she didn’t fly away.

Then we decided we may as well head over to TSL as RnR was still down. This was so cute.

Obviously the reason everywhere else was empty was because all the people had gone to queue up for Slinky Dog. The wait time said 45 minutes and as we had a FP for later in the trip we didn’t bother waiting, plus this was quick visit to HS.

The Alien swirling saucers line was short so we went on that. It’s a fun little ride and we enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I’d wait much more than 20 minutes for it.

I tried to take a ride selfie of me with Kate.

On the way out of TSL the photopass line at the entrance was non-existent so we got a couple of photos there too.

We thought we’d try our luck with RnR and fortunately this was open now!

The photopass photographer who had taken our photos in front of TOT was now in his regular spot at the entrance to the RnR area and we thought it would be rude not to say hello again.

It said it was 5 minute wait, but that was a lie as it was actually a zero wait. They weren’t even letting people wait to watch the pre-show the cast members were just ushering us through to the ride.

Hurrah, 3 rides done in just under an hour, plus a bunch of photos.

That was enough for us and so we left to see if there was an Epcot bus waiting, I was hoping there wouldn’t be as I wanted to do the walk to Epcot via Boardwalk. The kids and Dave were a bit worried that this was not a clever plan and thought it would take ages, plus the kids were of course starving!

Once we made it past the new bus depot area and around to the waterway it was a pleasant walk and we enjoyed it. Kate got a bit hot, maybe we were walking a little too fast! We saw a little bit of wildlife on the way.

Epcot had EMH from 8am and we arrived at about 8.20am, not bad really given we’d already done 1 EMH and had then walked to the park! I was promising breakfast when we got to Epcot and planned for us to go to Les Halles…but apparently this is not open in EMH and wouldn’t be opening until 9am. Oops, planning failure! If I’d known that we would have stopped at Boardwalk Bakery.

The World Showcase was empty and I wanted some photos here, the kids were not impressed at all, have I mentioned they were starving?

So onwards to Mission Space...but again this was closed and not due to open until 9am with normal park opening. This was a bit frustrating really and we would have spent longer at HS if we'd known. There was a man having an argument with the cast member at the front of Mission Space. He was moaning that EMH was a waste of time as why did they bother to open the park and then not actually open the rides. I felt sorry for the poor cast member, but I do agree that the EMH felt a bit pointless as not everything was open.

We had a look at the wait time for Test Track but decided not to bother as it was long already plus we had a FP for 9.30am anyway. I thought for a half a second of going over to see if Soarin had a short line but the kids were still wanting food and I didn’t want to trek over there and then not get on the ride.

We went to the Joffrey stand in front of Ellen’s Energy Adventure which is now all boarded up and had breakfast.

The kids shared a chocolate donut and had iced water.

Dave and myself had a pink donut.

Plus an espresso for him and vanilla latte for me.

The donuts are tasty and we had been looking forward to having these for a while.

We hung about eating our breakfast waiting for Mission Space to open up. Dave and myself wanted to do the new green mission but the kids wouldn’t let us and we ended up back on the orange mission to Mars. Max and Kate were organising us on the spots so that we all had the correct job. Max wanted to be the Commander, Kate wanted to be the Engineer and so Dave ended up with Navigator and I was the Pilot.

We used our FP for test track and the kids designed their car and Dave and me designed a car, but I forgot to tap my magic band before getting on the ride so our car didn’t even make it round the track! Unsurprisingly the kids won! Also the ride photo hasn’t come through which is a bit odd.

While in line I brought our Figment fast pass forward so we headed straight over there. I LOVE this ride. It was Kate’s favourite on our first trip and it is cute. I am also one of those really annoying people who sings the song!

I think the only reason Max tolerates this ride is the play area at the end. Both of them love the little interactive games.

In the shop Kate spotted a pillow pet of Figment and fell in love! She decided to wait though as she wanted a proper look around World of Disney before she committed herself to a purchase. We give the kids $50 each to spend on souvenirs. We find this then means they don’t beg us to buy them something in every shop we go to as they have a budget and know how much money they’ve got. Plus as it’s their money they are spending they are more careful about what they buy because once it’s gone it’s gone! This makes popping into shops just to browse a much more pleasurable experience for all of us as we don’t have to constantly tell them no.

I really like the area outside Figment near the fountains and the pathway to World Showcase. Stupidly I didn’t get a photo of us here this year and so I will have to grab one from yesteryear…this was taken on our first day in 2016. We’d just had lunch at our favourite QS, hence the massive cup Kate is holding. Anyone care to guess which QS I am thinking of? All will be revealed below as it’s where we ended up for lunch. Well I say ended up like it was all down to luck and not meticulously planned!

The kids were keen for a drink and there is only one place to stop off at in Epcot. Club Cool.

The kids tried to trick Dave into trying the Beverly, but unfortunately he quite liked it (or so he said).

Then they tried it themselves and absolutely hated it. I managed to get some great photos of their faces.

We headed on over to the Character Spot as we had a FP for Mickey and pals, but we decided to see Joy and Sadness first. Max had a little sit down in the line.

Kate spotted a hidden Mickey in the carpet and tried to take a photo of it.

We had a moment to try and get a magic band photo, Max was not interested though and just wanted a rest.

It was a cute meet and greet and we only waited 15 minutes.

This was great as we have never met these 2 before.

Joy was really trying to make Max smile and pointed out his sad face to Sadness. So Sadness took care of him.

He was trying hard not to smile.

We didn’t wait for Baymax today as his line looked quite long. Our FP for Character Spot was open and we met Mickey, Goofy and Minnie!

Time for 1 last photo from days of yore.

This is from 2014, the kids look so small and cute. This is back when Max knew how to smile.

First up of course is Mickey.

Then Goofy.

And finally Minnie.

So, cute and such a pain that this is now tier 1 as well... We were lucky as our FP were made a couple of days before this meet and greet was moved out of tier 2 and into tier 1, just in case anyone was wondering how we got both Test Track and Character Spot.

We wandered around to the World Showcase as we knew we wanted to have lunch at our favourite QS. Before that though we had some more characters to meet. We have also never met Alice or Mary Poppins and these were in my plan for today.

In the UK Kate and myself got in line to meet Alice. The boys weren’t so bothered with meeting her and I had promised Max that I wouldn’t force him to be in photos of face characters or Princesses! So they went off to get some photos.

Alice had a nice chat with Kate about her dress and whether or not it was good for twirling.

Dave came and told us that Cruella DeVil was around the back. We had planned to go and meet Mary Poppins first and so I told Dave to get in line for Cruella and that we would join him when we were done with Alice, but he didn’t want us to ‘push in’. Unfortunately the line for Cruella closed before we could get there. I was just a tiny bit cross with him.

We watched some of her meet and greets and she was brilliantly mean to people. We waited for Mary, who was lovely. Mary asked Kate if the dress she was wearing was her favourite dress for dancing in. Kate told Mary that her favourite colour for a dress was blue.

So our favourite QS restaurant is the Tangierine Cafe in the Morocco pavilion in World Showcase. Of course we were headed there!

We shared 3 QS meals between us, I was feeling kind and let the kids order a drink each and DH had a beer (don't worry the kindness didn't last long).

Max had fanta, we're always amazed at how orange it is.

Kate had coke.

Dave's beer was in a glass bottle and so the server poured it into a cup.

We shared 2 chicken platters and a meat platter.

I like the hummous and salads and the kids like the meats and tzatziki with pita. It doesn't look like much food now, but it was easily enough and although we ate all the meat and pita we didn't finish everything.

It was a very hot day so we headed back to the resort for a break. We waited at bus stop number 9 in the shade by the trees as Kate was feeling a bit icky. But we’d barely sat down before the bus appeared.

We made it back to the room at 1.20pm. Kate had a lie down in bed, Max played on his tablet. We had an hour’s rest before heading to the main pool.

Max and myself went into the shop and he spent his money on a beach ball and some goggles.

$28 for those two items which we probably could have got from poundland at home for less than £10.

The kids had a great time in the pool and I enjoyed relaxing on a sunbed. Max played one of the pool games throwing a ball around and got a rubber duck for joining in.

We both had a margarita, one blood orange and one watermelon.

Both were tasty both were $12 each.

We dragged ourselves away from the pool and back to the room to get changed for dinner at Raglan Road.

There had been no rain all day so we thought we’d try the boat to Disney Springs.

I managed to get a photo of our room from the boat, it's the ground floor corner room on the left.

It still felt really hot on the boat, but it was a lovely trip.

We arrived at the restaurant at about 6.40pm and our ADR was for 7pm.

We checked in and the lady in front of me was making a bit of a fuss at the podium about having had to wait for a long time. I asked if we could get a table with a good view of the stage, the cast member explained this would mean a longer wait but we were happy to go to the bar.

Dave had a Sam Adams and I had a ginger cocktail that I have forgotten the name of! But I do have a copy of the receipt and menu it looks like it was a ginger mojito.

The kids were not impressed that I made them have water and wait to order sodas with the meal...This lead to a bit of a strop! The buzzer went off within 10 minutes of us arriving, which was still 5 or so minutes before our ADR time.

We had a high table, this had a great view of the stage and we really enjoyed the show.

Both kids were able to order their drinks! A coke and a sprite.

And of course DH and myself had another too! He repeated his beer choice, I had a maple and rosemary whiskey sour.

This was fab.

There was some lovely soda bread (much better than the horrid stuff on the Aer Lingus flight) and an oil/vinegar dipping sauce.

Kate ordered the steak, which was lovely but she couldn't finish it so DH helped her out. I think she managed half the steak and one of the onion rings.

Max ordered a burger, he loved it, but couldn't quite finish the chips.

Dave had the gammon ham, which he liked.

I had the lamb. This was delicious and I really enjoyed it, much better than the lamb I had a couple of days ago at Premier Inn.

For pudding the kids both had the chocolates option. The both loved it.

I had a lemon tart. It was ok, tasty enough, but I was quite full already.

Dave had the Raglan delight. I believe he liked it.

This was 4 TS credits.

Sorry that the photos are so poor, it was quite dark in there. We really enjoyed the food and the dancers and band were fab. Definitely glad I didn't cancel this as I have before! It was great.

We were all a bit tired after dinner and caught the boat back to the resort. It was just gone 9pm but the kids were ready to climb into bed and so was I! I think that Dave read a little bit before falling asleep.

Statistics for the day:

Credits used

4 snack credits used at breakfast...what is wrong with us! 2 of these were for the coffees as well! Come on people we need to eat more.
3 QS credits used at lunch, not too bad really.
4 TS credits used...These are easy to use!

Credits Remaining

106 snacks remaining (we get through some snacks on day 3 in MK at the plaza ice cream parlor)
49 QS
48 TS

Parks: 2
Rides: 6
FP: 3
Characters: 7
Steps: 26,924

A fab day for rides early morning, character meets and yummy food, with a swim in the middle.

The alarm was set for 6am for the morning – off to MK again with EMH from 8am.

[Cinderella]

Great day👍

[MrsSilverStar]

What a fab, busy day - so impressed that you managed TWO early park visits!
Some more classic photos of Max...bless teenagers! Have to say Dave’s screaming faces on the rides is hilarious too!

[Fuellady]

5.30am! So early

I'm another who misses the hat at HS. The Chinese Theater is a lovely building, but not imposing enough from the entrance to be an immediate focal point. In my opinion anyway

So glad you enjoyed Raglan Road, we found the food there amazing. Did you find it loud? We did a bit, but still enjoyed the atmosphere and particularly the food.

Another busy but fab day Abby, really enjoying reading along

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Great day👍

See more...

Thanks. I nearly said at the end of the post that this was one of my favourite days...But I decided I'd end up saying that for every day if I wasn't careful.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

What a fab, busy day - so impressed that you managed TWO early park visits!
Some more classic photos of Max...bless teenagers! Have to say Dave’s screaming faces on the rides is hilarious too!

See more...

Ha I don't think I'd bother with 2 emh again. This was just chance. The day was supposed to be about epcot and then at the last minute Disney extended the 7am emh for hs into August. Well the kids live tot and rnr do I couldn't resist.

Dave does manage to do some great faces. I can't decide if he's enjoying or not.

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

5.30am! So early

I'm another who misses the hat at HS. The Chinese Theater is a lovely building, but not imposing enough from the entrance to be an immediate focal point. In my opinion anyway

So glad you enjoyed Raglan Road, we found the food there amazing. Did you find it loud? We did a bit, but still enjoyed the atmosphere and particularly the food.

Another busy but fab day Abby, really enjoying reading along

See more...

I knew there'd be someone who misses the hat. Especially now there is no movie ride so the whole theatre is redundant plus for much of the day there is a stage on front where they do the star wars show and you can't see it anyway.

Yes raglan road was very nosy you're right. But we did enjoy it and actually our high top table was in a really good position and we had a fab view without having to peer around other people's heads.

[disneywiseowl]

Great day & terrific photos but I have to ask. Did you know the character from ‘The Grudge’ was sat behind you on the ToT ride?

[mick]

A busy day I guess your son thinks he is too old to meet characters


Joan

[walden64]

Really enjoying your trip report and look forward to day 3

Michelle