#girlstrip - Day 1 Part 1 (Bring It On)

[wilma-bride]

Sunday 25th November

Normally, the first morning in Florida consists of me waking up ridiculously early, trying (and failing) to get back to sleep, reading for a bit, scrolling through Facebook for a bit and then sighing loudly, turning the bathroom light on and off, opening and closing doors, bouncing in and out of bed and generally making as much noise as possible until Gary reluctantly agrees to crawl from his pit and get ready for the first day of excitement.

This morning was nothing like that at all! I woke up, went to the toilet, got back into bed, tried (and failed) to get back to sleep and then I heard a voice from the pull out say “Are you awake?” After we realised we were both awake, we decided to get up and go out to explore the resort. I love vacationing with my daughter!
I got into the shower first, then attempted to dry my hair with the somewhat pitiful hair dryer. It was big and looked powerful but when I turned it on, a pathetically weak stream of hot air wafted out. It was so hot it was burning my head but wasn’t drying my hair. I joked to Rea that it was the equivalent of one of those big dogs that has a really pitiful bark. Eventually, I managed to finish drying my hair, which was no mean feat given the combination of the crappy hairdryer and my frozen shoulder.

By the time we’d showered and dressed, it was nearly 6am – haha. We left the room and decided we would walk up to the main building. As we walked past the bust stop, we could see a bus was due in just a couple of minutes - interesting for those wondering how early the buses start running.

15 minutes later, having walked more or less around in circles, we realised we were heading towards the Treehouse Villas, which was probably not the right way. We bumped into a lady, who told us we were going in completely the wrong direction. She was heading to Carriage House herself, so said she would show us the way. I got no satisfaction whatsoever, when she led us past the pool and up the path that I had suggested taking at least 20 minutes previously, from pointing that fact out to Rhiannon.

At Carriage House, we had a nosy around the reception area and took a couple of pictures of the massive Christmas tree and the kids waiting area - I loved all the pictures of the different Disney horses.

We were disappointed to find that Artist Palette was closed and didn’t open until 7am - so much for grabbing a bit of breakfast and a drink. Seriously, this has to be the only Quick Service/Food Court that doesn’t open at 6 or 6.30. So we decided to explore the pool area, except we couldn’t get in as the gate was locked.

So we went to the Senses Spa to have a look in there. It was beautiful inside, really tranquil and elegant. I would love to come back here and have a treatment one day.

After wandering around a bit more and taking some photos, we decided to head back to the room and pick up our things for the day, then catch the bus over to Hollywood Studios where we were meeting Linda and Philip for Extra Magic Hours. As we walked past the car park, we saw an RV in the car park and a very large family piling out of the RV. There was at least 4 adults and several children. Now I’m sure that they weren’t ALL staying in that RV, but I did wonder whether it was a very creative way of staying onsite with a large family, to get all the benefits, while only forking out the points (or cash) for a studio.

The bus stop was a very short walk from our building and we were soon among a few people boarding the bus to Hollywood Studios. This was the first time I realised we were actually very lucky we were at Grandstand and not Paddock, since the bus was full to bursting by the time we got to the third stop, so much so that the driver didn’t stop at the next stop. Luckily there was another Hollywood Studios bus right behind us.

When we arrived, we could tell it was going to be a busy day. There seemed to be hundreds of people here already. I had no hope of spotting Linda, although I messaged her to say we were here. Her and Philip were already in the line for bag check. She told me to wave my arm, although Rhiannon pointed out that Linda and I trying to wave to each other was pretty pointless with so many people around, given we are both so short. Cheek!

Eventually Rea and I made it through bag check and went to wait for Linda and Philip. I spotted Philip more or less immediately, resplendent in a very loud shirt! After hugs all round we made our way into the park and made a beeline for Toy Story Land. We joined the (already massive) line for Slinky Dog, which began right outside the Toy Story Land area. Philip was stuffing his face with a banana. As he finished, he turned to me and said “can you hold that a second” and held out the banana peel. Ever obliging, I took it from him. “Thanks” he said and turned his back on me leaving me standing there holding the peel like a right…’nana….

As we inched forward and got to Woody welcoming us, there was a Photopass photographer right there and no line! Of course, we had to jump out of the line for a quick snap. Philip then wouldn’t let us back into the line and started shouting really loudly about queue jumpers

Linda spotted a guy, Brett, who she follows on Instagram – The Guy Behind the Magic – and had to have a picture with him. He was very pleasant and chatted with us for a while.

The rest of the time in the queue passed quickly, although it’s fair to say we did wait almost an hour.

This was the first time I had ridden at the back and it was brilliant, a totally different experience to the front. I think, from now on, I would always try to get the back if possible.

None of us were bothered about riding Alien Swirling Saucers so we just wandered around taking a few pictures. We were loving all the Holiday touches in the area.

Linda wanted to try the Cinnamon Cran-Apple Lunch Box Tart from Woody’s Lunchbox, so she went and got one and we split it between the four of us. It was really tasty. Philip was joking about how he couldn’t eat another thing, he was so full up after that massive tart

We all had Fast Passes for Tower of Terror next but no amount of begging and pleading could persuade Rhiannon to ride – it is the one ride that she is insistent she won’t do.

I decided to play gooseberry and tagged along with Linda and Philip, so arranged to find Rea afterwards (she was wanting to buy a Pixar ornament she’d had her eye on). After Tower of Terror, we went to find Rea, who was in Once Upon A Time looking at the Christmas stuff. She tried on a few of the hats and we oohed and aahed over all the Christmas decorations we wanted but didn’t have the luggage space for and couldn’t afford. Linda decided she absolutely had to have a mug in an old fashioned Christmas design, but Philip said that apparently 84 mugs was enough. It was really lovely and I’m not sure if she ever did buy it but she looked at it longingly in nearly every shop we went into for the rest of the trip.

At this point, we parted ways with Philip and Linda because, frankly, I’d had enough of holding his banana skins and other rubbish Seriously, they had a Fast Pass for Rock n Roller Coaster - Rea and I had one for later that day – and we were meeting them again later, for our Toy Story Mania Fast Pass. We stopped for a little while to watch Streetmosphere, who were offering free advice, you just had to ring the bell. Of course, there was no bell so you had to walk up to them and make a bell noise lol. They were very funny but nobody was really asking for advice and I wasn’t brave enough to go up there.

We crossed over the street to Reel Vogue (is it still called it that now it’s the Pixar shop?) to look for the ornament that Rea wanted. While I was looking for the ornament, she kept picking up these adorable little Monsters Inc outfits with Boo on them (Rea is obsessed with Boo from Monsters Inc!) and I kept telling her they were too small for her. She eventually joined me and we found the ornament. A young Cast Member came over to see if we needed any help and we told him that we were fine. While we were chatting with him, he noticed the Aliens (from Toy Story) ‘Magic Bandit’ Rea had on her Magic Band and asked her where she’d got it. She admitted to him that she had found it when we were here in August and he told her he collected Aliens stuff He showed us some photos of his collection on his phone – really impressive! Rea took the Bandit off and gave it to him and he protested, but she insisted he have it. He was so grateful, it was really sweet. We chatted a little longer and then he went to help another guest. A couple of minutes later, we walked up to the till to pay for the ornament and he came over to serve us. He thanked Rea again for the Bandit and asked where we were from and how long we were staying as he wrapped the ornament. Rea handed her card to him and he handed her the bag and wished her a Happy Christmas. Not quite realising what was going on, she wished him a Happy Christmas back and held her card out again. Again, he wished us a Happy Christmas and told us to enjoy the rest of our day. What a lovely gesture, we were so touched.

We hadn’t really got any idea what to do next. We were going to go on Voyage of the Little Mermaid but, when we got over there, the wait was really long and it was boiling so we decided to go in search of a drink and snack. It was then we remembered that NOTHING OPENS IN HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS BEFORE 11! We couldn’t find anywhere to get a drink or a snack (bar Starbucks which had a line out of the door) so we just ended up walking around the lake and taking some photos.

Then we headed back to Toy Story Land to meet Linda and Philip for Toy Story Mania. Rea completely whooped my butt!

Next up was Baseline Taphouse. Linda had been dying to try this place and originally we were going to go in August, but since Philip wasn’t there and she wanted to experience Toy Story Land with him for the first time, she didn’t come to DHS with us then. So this was the first opportunity we had and we were going to take full advantage. We got some drinks (finally! ) – I had the California Sunset cocktail and Rea had the Wild Strawberry Lemonade with a shot of rum (I think) in it. We also got the holiday popcorn. Meanwhile, Linda got a beer flight and a pretzel. The popcorn was really good - caramel corn with sugared pecans, M&Ms and chocolate chips but the pretzel was the winner. It was delicious!

It was lovely sitting there in the sunshine, and it was so warm I felt my arms starting to burn so we moved into the shade. After a while, we figured we ought to go and find Philip – he had gone off to have a smoke elsewhere in the park. We found him and decided we would leave the park at this point, as we were coming back later for the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam Dessert Party.

As we were walking back past Baseline Taphouse, we spotted Santa Goofy and ran over for a picture, even though we were going to be seeing him later tonight.

Finally, at about 1.30, we left the park and parted ways with Linda and Philip, arranging to meet them back here later. Rea and I took the looooooong walk back to the bus stop, where luckily there was a bus waiting for us.

Back at Saratoga Springs, we got off the bus at Springs and walked over to Carriage House, so Rea could buy the Christmas refillable mug. We saw a cute little turtle in the water and we finally got a look at the pool. I think I had honestly forgotten what a beautiful resort that Saratoga Springs is.

After Rea got her mug, we walked back to the room to rest up before tonight's adventures.

[BevS97]

Sounds like s good day. I have to admit your hashtag had me a little concerned. #girl strip!

[Jockey]

Fab day...that was so kind of Rae and lovely of the CM too! Oh we loved watching the turtles at SSR !

[Palm trees]

Great first day with some nice pixie dust sharing between your daughter and the cast member

[Cinderella]

Great day👍

[Dogwalker]

I'm glad you are doing a trippie as I'd forgotten half of this!
What a fab morning we had 😊 I can't wait until we can do it again!
Having known Philip for over 30 years, I don't fall for his "hold this a second" comments anymore so it was great for him to have a new victim 😂

[mick]

A good first day

Joan

[dixonsontour]

Good first day.

[caitlinsmummy]

Fab first day sounds like you had a lot of laughs. I have to ask where did you get your long shorts from? I'm desperate for some but can't find them anywhere 😔 xx

[Lola]

Great report. I love going to WDW with DD. Our trip a few months before her wedding was brilliant. You clearly had a great first day