I know what we're going to do today... Day 2

[mickeysgirls]

Day 2 - Nightmares of Toy Story Mania!

Index


Me! Tracey, your tour guide for this trip! if you are easily offended by poor use of the English language, you may choose to step away from this report!
Darren, my devoted husband who works tirelessly to fund our Florida addiction and critical of my poor grammar which I ignore.
Charlie, age 7 lover of Angry Birds and smarter than the average bear!
Ellie, age 3, trainee princesses and tryer of our patience!
Grandad Roy, total push over with the grandchildren and master of the coaster walk!
Nanny Sandra, lover of having bags thrown at her whilst we do aforementioned coaster walk to the rides!
Nicky AKA Whitney age 23, attached to her iPhone & Facebook and lover of Jersey Shore [not sure what this is but she watched it A LOT]

I'd love to start this by saying I'd drifted off into a deep slumber once my head hit the pillow and slept like a baby until 8.00am, however this was not the case. I managed to fall asleep around 10.30 but woke every 30 minutes in a hot sweat after having nightmare upon nightmare on how we were going to secure our fast passes for flipping Toy Story Mania! Why oh why was my brain choosing the dead of night to play out this crazy scenario of how we were going to tackle the bulging crowds of pushchairs, over excited mothers, and fathers with that look in their eyes….you know the one, it's the same look they have at the dad's race at school sports day! Now I know this is completely unreasonable behaviour. I can hear you saying 'Tracey, Why are you so worried about this when there are far worst things happening in the world, Simon Cowell has just been outed for shacking up with Dannii Minogue!' But I'd read so many tales of how people had had to literally manhandle small children to get to those fast pass machines that I'd become obsessed!

I finally gave in, deciding enough was enough and by 5.am I woke Darren in the same way any loving wife wakes her husband……..by giving him a good old elbow in the ribs!
"Aaaaarrrrrrgggggggggggg! "
Me: "Darren…….Darren……are you awake? "
Darren: "Well I am now! and suffering from flipping' broken ribs!"

Now Darren has hit that time in his life where he's taken on a "hobby" [Please feel free to use air quotes!]. We've had the guitar [which is now gathering dust after being played with for all of a week as it made his fingers hurt], and the idea of living the 'Good Life' with his own veg patch ["Trace, we'll never have to buy that supermarket rubbish again, it'll save us a fortune! " - "but Darren, I can't feed a family of four on 28 broad beans and a bunch of oriental style basil!" Anyway, the "new" thing is running and as I painful as it is for me to say, he's got really good at it. He'd talked longingly about how he would run around the lake every morning and as there was not much chance he was going to be getting any other sort of exercise that morning, he was donning his trainers and off out the door.


What a beautiful morning

He returned about 30 minutes later saying what a wonderful time he'd had and how I should really get into running as it's so good at clearing the mind [I know, I know, too easy isn't it!]. However, whilst he'd been gone I had had a shower, cleared my mind and dragged the children's bums out of bed. Everyone was now up and we were sampling the delights of a healthy nutritious breakfast…




All packed up and out of the door by 8.15, we pulled into the car park at Hollywood Studios by 8.35! We grabbed the children by the hand and power walked to bag check. After politely passing the time with Chuck from Arizona we were in the scrum for rope drop. The air was thick with whispers of Toy Story Mania, it was like a war cry! I started to panic!
Me: "Darren, Dad, Do you remember the plan? ! '
Grandad Roy: "The same plan you've had us go over & over for the last 4 hours?"
Me: " But look how busy it is!"
Darren: "Will you get a bloody grip woman!"
Then Nanny Sandra shouts "Roy, Darren, Over here…!"
A wonderful Cast member had opened a new line to the left of the scrum! We belt it to the front like olympic athletes and quick as a flash, we were in! With all 7 tickets in hand, Darren & Grandad Roy started [what can only be described as fast mince], towards TSM and we leisurely strolled over to the meet & greet area to wait patiently for them and bumped into……


Donald & Daisy


And the lovely Minnie, ahhhhhhh




Darren & my dad returned a few minutes later with these bad boys and I could finally start to relax!


Look at the time!

We took Ellie to see Playhouse Disney which she adored. Charlie said there was no way he was going to see it as he was far too grown up [even though he'd been singing along to Jake & the Neverland Pirates all morning!] so Darren took him for a walk around the Magic of Disney Animation. I really like it in there, it feels like its hidden away so it's very quite and a great place to take a break from the hustle of the park.


I love this shot of Ellie

Next we made our way towards the Tower Of Terror! This has to be one of my favourite rides, I love the apprehension you feel waiting for that lift to drop! I love it even more if you've got a first timer with you, which luckily for us, we had! Nicky has been to Orlando many times but has NEVER been on TOT. She had a real fear about it so always gave it a miss - until today! We took full advantage of this and by the time we'd boarded the lift, she was a nervous wreck! [I know this sounds cruel (it was) but to get the full effect of this ride you have to be scared or else you might as well just go up and down in a lift!] Well what can I say, it was just brilliant as always and Nicky loved it! We are far too tight to buy the 'official photo' so did what so many others do and took a picture of the screen:


More Cheese Gromit! [look at the women at the front, what are they talking about? ]

Off to TSM next to use our Golden Tickets! We'd never done this ride before so we were really looking forward to it. The Standby lane was up to 60 minutes :O, I was so happy! I love having a FP and smugly passing those waiting . We all really enjoyed this ride, such good fun and the themeing was just fantastic! I don't seem to have kept a note of the scores ….. so we'll assume I won [well you have to prove I didn't ]





Blue Steel

We were all starting to feel hungry by now so we headed over to that huge eatery by the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area [I think its called Studio Catering Company?]. Darren & I shared a Buffalo Chicken sandwich with fries...



and the children had the Kids meal [Burger, fries and some grapes]. The meal was very average and like most food in the states, it was served luke warm. I'm not sure why you can never get a hot meal out there, we've been to restaurants and the server has had a tea towel wrapped around their hand whilst holding a plate screeching 'it's hot, HOOOOOOOOTTTTT, let me put it down for you' as I've gone to grab said plate from their hands - it's never hot. Ever. Anyways, we sat and pondered the map, deciding what to do next when we spotted this beauty! I was in fanny pack heaven!


How many carabiners does one need at Disney?


Feeling very underprepared, we headed off to the horror that is Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. I absolutely HATED every minute of it in here. It was rammed and so sooo hot! we managed to loose Charlie within about 20 seconds! he went onto a slide but never came down! We found him sat on top of a giant pile of plastic mud about 12 foot off the ground a few minutes later and that was it for me, I'd had enough. We let them take their photo's on top of Anty [to be honest I did this as there was a huge group of teenagers p***ing about around it and weren't letting the kiddies on] and that was it, we were out of there never to return!




Muppet Theatre next! My two just love the Muppets so this was a must for them [even though it's older than the hills and is really in need of an update!]. They adored it, Charlie was in hysterics when Fozzy got hit in the face with the banana cream pie [the old ones are still the best!] and then we headed into the shop. Ellie wanted a Miss Piggy toy but they only had Kermit [rubbish 'eh!] so she settled for Minnie Mouse dressed as Rapunzel. Charlie picked up a pencil he said he wanted, then he checked the price and in true yorkshire man style said "$6 for a pencil? I don't think so" and swiftly put it back

I feel I need to tell you a little about Charlie. Recently he's taken on a bit of a love of money and we have been teaching him about the value of it and how to make it. He decided he'd quite like to make some more money and with his mad obsession for Angry Birds [more about this later] he chose to make a magazine. Now I know I'm his mum so I'm bound to say this but what he did next was pure genius! He sold copies of 'The only Angry Bird Magazine in the World EVER' to family for £1.00, but told them that if they let anyone else read it, they too would have to pay £1.00! Brilliant 'eh! so with this money, some birthday money and together with his pocket money he'd saved over £250 to take on holiday! Such a little star, watch out Richard Branson!

Back to HS. We walked over to Rock'n'Roller Coaster as this was one of the first 'coasters Charlie wanted to try [now he was over that magic 48" mark!]. The standby queue was 20 mins so we decided to split. Darren, Grandad Roy, Nicky & Charlie would wait and Nanny Sandra & I grabbed a child swap and took Ellie to see Beauty & the Beast. I really enjoy this show and it has me in tears at the end every time! After a quick Ice cream stop, we moseyed back to RnR to meet up with the 'coaster gang! Charlie absolutely LOVED it [Phew!] but said he wasn't bothered about doing it again so Mum & I went on. I hate the holding room for this ride, It feels a bit tacky ['We can't leave our fans here like this!' 'Ok Get me a Limo….Better make it a stretch' Ugh] but I'm happy to put up with it for the start of that ride! It's like getting an Essex facelift, Brilliant!




We'd decided by now we'd had enough so headed back home for a swim & we needed to pop to Wallmart for a BBQ [Yes I know you can never just pop to Wallmart, I can't even just pop to the corner shop!]. Grandad Roys 'dogs were barking' so he stopped home with Ellie and the rest of us bundled into the car and headed on the back route to Wallmart. We were all happily chatting and singing along to 'We built this city on Rock and Rooooollllll' when I spotted a cop car behind us with it's lights flashing.
Me: "Darren, I think he's flashing us!"
Darren: "Ok, I'll pull over here"
Me: "Don't get out of the car, he might shoot you! '
Darren: "Don't be bloody stupid woman!"
Officer Goodbody swaggered over to Darren's open window:
"Hello Sir, Ma'am, Are you local?"
Darren: "Nope, we're tourists"
Officer: "Did you not see that school bus…….? "
Darren: "ermmm……."
Officer: "Can I take your licence please" and headed off back to his car. We were left spending the next five minutes speculating what we'd done wrong and playing out what was going to happen next…
Me: "Oh My GOD! What are we going to do? You're going to have to pay him off Darren"
Darren: "Will you calm down, I'm not paying anyone off!"
It turned out that we'd passed a school bus that was on the opposite side of the road with it's red lights on & stop sign out. There is a Huge fine for doing this [$271.00], but thankfully, because we really didn't know the rules regarding busses on the other side of the highway, we were let off with just a stern talking too and a lesson on the 'rules of the road'.

Feeling very relieved we set off again and picked up the BBQ, a fishing rod and an Angry Bird [random!]

Back home we re-lived our brush with the law with my Dad [who's feet had calmed down by now], had a lovely swim in the pool and enjoyed dinner washed down with plenty of beer and a piece of Key Lime Pie - Yum!




Tomorrow: Its Because I Don't Like his Big Face!

[shamu1]

OOOOOO you's were very lucky when you got stopped by the police you must have got a really nice policeman that day. Looking forward to hearing more on your trip.

[anniebee65]

You are cracking me up! I'm hooked on this trip pie already!

[MOUSEMARSH]

Great so far! Looking forward to the next installment

[ayles300]

Another great read, omg i would of pooped myself if i got stopped by the law.
Look forward to the rest.x

[voddygirl]

Hee hee we got pulled over once, many moons ago, still say it was because we were 2 young uns driving a convertible the police mans face was a picture when Dov pulled out this huge paper driving licence though
Fab day at HS its my fav Disney park .. lovely pics your kids are so cute

[Milner]

Another great installment and great photos.

[k l is excited]

Glad to hear you got your fast passes for TSM, hope this put an end to your nightmares. How scarey being pulled over by the police, I bet they see quite alot of tourist doing this as not everybody knows about stopping for the school buses.

[boo2]

Loving this already and it's only day 2

What is the rule about school buses on the opposite side of the road?

[tootsie rolls]

Really looking forward to your next update