Here Now! first WDW family holiday - Day 20, Hollywood Studios, House of Blues at DTD

[scottishnellie]

I slept until 8:15 this morning, Unheard of. We decided to have a lazy morning and do a park in the afternoon and then have dinner. I still wanted to do the art class in HS and Hannah was quite interested in doing it too so we agreed on HS. I went onto MDE and booked a couple of fastpasses for RnR at 3:35pm and ToT for 4:45pm.

Kevin packed another couple of suitcases (boo!), It was a gorgeous hot sunny morning so we spent the rest of the morning in or around the pool. The Eastons dropped by to confirm they were off to Universal as that was the last park they had tickets left for. We had not fancied Universal without the FOLP as it would be so busy, but the Eastons messaged us later to say they had got the assistance pass for Matthew, so were able to walk on most rides.

We had lunch in the villa then headed out arriving at HS at 2:15pm. We headed straight to the Animation Courtyard and through to queue for the art class. We just missed the cut for the 2.30 class and were signed up for the 3pm class.

We did not get to choose or vote for the character to draw as they announced there was a special birthday request to draw Minnie. Who better anyway eh? I absolutely loved this and am so glad we got to do it. I can not draw to save myself so was determined to follow the instructions to the letter and was really chuffed with how it turned out. What do you think of my Minnie Mouse?

When we left a cast member pointed out to us there was no line to meet Minnie Mouse if we wanted them signed. It was really funny. She made a big fuss over the pictures signing them and clapping her hands. I was ridiculously chuffed at this and am carefully rolling it up to take home with me.

Kevins

Kierans

Hannahs

Minnie signing mine

We left here at 3:40 and headed to our FP for Rock N Roller. Still love this and we did rock hands for the ride photo

Came off and went over to see the 4:15 Beauty and the Beast show. Kevin was not fussed but the kids and I enjoyed it.

Came off and the boys headed for ToT. Hannah said she did not want to go on it which is really unlike her but when I looked at her she was as white as a sheet so I agreed a seat in the shade with an ice cream probably made more sense. We picked up a Mickey Ice Cream sandwich and walked round to the ToT exit and found a seat in the shade. When the boys came off we swapped Magic Bands so they could go on again using our FPs this time.

We left the park at 5:15 and drove to Downtown Disney, parking at the House of Blues end which thankfully meant we turned in before the worst of the parking chaos we could see up ahead.

We went into House of Blues and asked for a table, being given a 5m wait. When our server arrived I asked if we were ok to use the $50 Restaurant.com voucher I had, to which he said no problem.

If you go here take a cardi ladies. The aircon is fierce. Other than that the place is really inviting. I had grilled Salmon, Kevin had a Juicy Lucy burger and sweet potato fries, Hannah and Kieran had kids menu pizza. Kevin had a beer, I had a Malibu and Cranberry, Hannah had sprite (free refills) and Kieran had chocolate milk.

As Hannah and I finished our mains we decided to nip to the loo. When we came back we could hear some sort of commotion and Kevin laughing away. Turned out just after we left the table Kieran announced to Kevin he was bursting so Kevin took him to the loo. When he cam back to the table it had been cleared and reset, even though Hannahs handbag was still on the bench! The server thought we had done a runner! We sat back down, he replaced Kevins beer which had been almost finished, Gave me another Malibu (which I had finished) and gave the kids a sprite each then took our desert order.

I had Key Lime Pie, Hannah had triple chocolate cheesecake and Kevin had the Bourbon and banana Bread Pudding, which Kieran immediately swapped him for his own Kids sundae as soon as he saw it had bananas in it.

Food was all lovely and the server brought our bill over with the $50 voucher already off it, so it was very reasonable indeed. Would definitely look for a restaurant.com for them again next year. And remember to take a cardi.

We came out and popped in Disney Quest across the road which we had as part of our ticket package. I knew this was not up to much and was more nosing than anything else. We scanned our MBs just like you do to enter a park, were put into a lift and up we went. We had a browse around all the old 80s arcade games playing a few, then went on some mad Buzz lightyear thing that was like closed in dodgems but you shoot cannon balls at the other folk. Rubbish! Came out and walked a bit into DTD, stopping to get Kieran some Darth Maul Sweetie thing and Hannah a milkshake.

We headed home and were back at the villa for 9pm, but saw the massive queue of cars trying to get into DTD, stretching for miles. I would avoid DTD Fri-Sun unless you are going in early. I am assuming it is all the roadworks causing it as I do not know any different but can not imagine people would go very often if it were always like this.

Once home, we did yet more packing and weighing cases.

Tomorrow we leave the villa and check in to a hotel for our last night. This is because we originally booked return flights from Manchester as TC did not fly from Glasgow for our dates and Virgin were too expensive. Then I discovered that although the first flight from Glasgow was 1st May there were flights coming IN from Orlando to Glasgow on 1st and 3rd May so the aircraft would be in place for the outbounds. To cut a very long story short we changed our flights home to 3rd May to Glasgow instead of 2nd May to Manchester. As we live 5 mins from Glasgow airport we can fall into a taxi and be straight home. I am also thinking the flights may be very empty, given they had no corresponding outbound flights.

We could not get our villa for another night so we have utilised a 'free one night hotel stay' voucher we got with our park tickets to book into Champions World Resort for the night. We toyed with all sorts of options. I tried to rent DVC points to go luxury but no joy. I had no clue where to start with i-drive hotels. Although we are welcome to bunk at the Eastons it would be tight with one less bedroom than our villa has. So we plumped for this. It has mixed reviews but if we do not like the look of it at check in we can always fall back on plan B at the Eastons.

So we are out of here at 10am tomorrow and the loose plan is to go see if we can check into the hotel, have a look around, have lunch somewhere, visit some shops we have meant to drop into up there but have not made it to yet (TJ Maxx, Ross, Dollar Tree, Super Target), have dinner somewhere nice (considering Citywalk since we have not managed that yet) then bed for getting up the next day for the airport. I have no idea whether I will have wi-fi tomorrow night so there may be no more TRs until we are home.

So I will say ta-ta for now and will probably not catch up again for a few days. I have loved this holiday and hope you have enjoyed keeping up with us.

TTFN

[Wappum]

I've loved reading along with your holiday, thank you for taking the time to post it. Safe journey home

[debidee]

Love Minnie Mouse! What a great day - seems like you have been on holiday forever! Last days are never fun - but with that list of shops to visit I'm sure you will be fine ;-) looking forward to seeing the bargains you pick up!
Safe travels back xxx

[Graciesmummy]

Gosh Hannah did look pale didn't she! Glad you are having a brilliant time, I have really enjoyed reading this review, you have given me some great tips and ideas, I now plan to take my dd's to the Animation class on our trip.
Really looking forward to hearing about your trip to the shops, Ross and Target are 2 of my favourites, have a safe journey home x

[k l is excited]

I love your chilled out approach, you amaze me how you manage to get so much done. Your picture of Minnie is lovely, I think you should frame it.

Can I ask what was the deal to get your voucher from Resturants.com not heard of this before, sounds like an excellent bargain.

I'm going to miss reading your daily trip reports they have been lovely to read. Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous holiday with us. Enjoy your last day in Florida and have a safe and pleasant journey home.

Thanks again

[Guest]

Wonderful penultimate day and some superb Minnie Mouse drawings, even better you had them signed by her as well

Loved reading and seeing your pics over the last 3 weeks, thank you for sharing

[Megandllsmum]

Morning looks like another great day. . . . So glad you got to do the animation class, our first one was Minnie Mouse too . . . I'm the worlds worst artist and came out feeling like Picasso! Disney magic can make anyone look good over time we also got to draw Winnie the Pooh and grumpy. Had to laugh at the doing a runner bit in house of blues but a good way to get a freebie refill on the alcohol
Enjoy your last bit of time there and thanks ever so much for sharing , I learn so much from these trippies and it really does help to make choices for others for a brilliant holiday experience.
Look forward to reading the last instalments soon. Enjoy and a safe trip home xx

[Rob & Jan]

I've loved your live reports, thank you for taking the time to post each day. Enjoy your last day and have a safe journey home.

[jsl0801]

Have a safe Journey home, have loved reading your daily reports x

[Guest]

Love the drawings and that mini signed them!