Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Disney We Go - Day 14 - Pool Morning and Hollywood Studios

[caitlinsmummy]

Day 14 – Pool Morning and Hollywood Studios

This morning I woke at 8.15am and enjoyed a cuppa in bed. The kids helped themselves to pop tarts and cereal then we had a little dip in the pool.

Noah took a huge shine to this giant tiger in the villa, if he could have snook it in our case, he would have done

After the pool we all got showered, dressed and snacks sorted ... We actually remembered to take them time I tidied round and sorted the washing out whilst Chris made a quick early lunch of eggs and toast for the kids and off we headed to Hollywood Studios at 11.30 for our 12-1pm DAS return pass for Tower of Terror

Caitlin sat this one out as she doesn't like it at all, she also bagged us a return for RoTR for 2hrs time!

We went to ride our DAS Pass for Toy Story Mania which we all really enjoyed as usual. Chris and I had pre-ordered our lunch from Woody’s Lunchbox before we left the villa as the other day the wait time at lunch was over 1 ½ hours! I’m glad we actually did as on this day it was 2 hours!

Early Lunch

Chris and I shared:

Totchos, Beef Brisket, Cheese Sauce and Raspberry Lunch Box Tart. We really enjoyed all of this, my fave is still the Totcho’s, even the boys dug into some (without the sour cream ) We didn’t mind the Lunch Box Tart, but definitely won’t bother again, the kids much preferred pop tarts Chris said the brisket sandwich was ok but he wouldn’t get it again

Next we headed out of Toy Story Land and got a photo at the entrance. We found this photographer very pushy, he was constantly asked us to do different poses. Noah doesn’t like having photos at the best of times, he did comply to a few then I could see he was getting annoyed so we said we were done. Yes having staged photos are great but I would have thought the photographer could see he clearly wasn’t happy and uncomfortable with the requests? When we were doing the poses he kept saying things such as come on you can do better than that and he was very animated. Maybe we should have spoke to him before the photos but never mind we still got a few.

It was pretty warm so we popped into Walt Disney presents and watched a preview of Turning Red in the theatre. We really enjoyed it and obviously watched it as soon as we got home!

It was almost time for our RoTR return time so we snacked on our pop tart on our way round to Star Wars, we also grabbed the novelty coke, expensive but a nice little souvenir

We paid 6 credits for this

This was our first time visiting Galaxy’s Edge as it was still being built on our 2019 visit. Neither of us are Star Wars fans but we could really appreciate the attention to detail. As with all Disney parks when you enter a certain ‘land’ it just transforms you. It doesn’t feel like a theme park, it’s amazing.

We enjoyed RoTR but think it's wasted on me as I'm just not a Star Wars fan and didn't fully appreciate it. People say it’s the best ride ever, but I just wasn’t that fussed on it (I’m prepared to be lynched for that comment Thomas and Chris really enjoyed it though.)

On the way out of Galaxy’s Edge we grabbed a blue milk, it was nice to try it but don't think we'd try it again. Noah liked it then decided he didn’t this will happen again today but with a different family member.

Next up we headed to Slinky Dog for our 4.14pm return time and stopped on the way for the kids to have their sandwiches/dinner. The kids were so excited for this. Whilst waiting we got a notification that a Slinky Dog was down and we could use a LL on another ride the kids were devastated. We decided to use the pass on Smugglers Run instead. So we had a walk back into Galaxy’s Edge. When checking in at Smugglers Run the LL wouldn’t work! We weren’t entirely sure why as Smugglers Run was listed on there as a ride you could use it for, I showed the CM it on my phone and they overrode it

We all really enjoyed this, in fact, myself Caitlin and Noah preferred this the RoTR, it’s more interactive for the kids, oh and Chris made us crash which the kid’s found hilarious

I'd secured a return time for Mickey and Minnie's Railway before we rode Smugglers run. We then went to ride Micky and Minnie's Train at 4.45pm and grabbed some photos as the queue was low.

Noah had been doing well today so we decided to leave his pushchair outside. Big mistake! There was a lot going on in the queue line and Noah just wanted to run around and climb everything, he kept trying to hurt Thomas too. We tried to keep him calm and distract him with eye spy but he was just getting worse. I was just about ready to leave the queue with him when we got to the front and he calmed a little as he really wanted to go on. We know he struggles with queue lines but it does seem generally having the pushchair in the lines really helps keep him calm and grounded.

We all really enjoyed this too, although Caitlin and Thomas declared it boring! Teenagers. I'd grabbed a return time as we checked in for RnR, but first we headed off to Backlot Express as it was dinner time.

Dinner

After looking at my snack list I knew there was a 50th anniversary blondie I wanted to try from Backlot Express so Chris and I grabbed a bacon cheeseburger and the blondie to share. The kids ate their packed lunches. For some reason I really enjoyed this burger even though it’s just a normal theme park burger

The blondie was nice but sickly, I did have to laugh at Chris though. He took a bite and said it was lovely, after a few chews I said I’m surprised you like that it has coconut in it. He suddenly decided he didn’t like it he claimed it’s because it took a few bites for him to get the texture. He’s just done the vlog for this day last week and he’d actually deleted the video of his review of it he had then recorded another saying he didn’t like it

Whilst we were eating the parade went by which was nice to see.

We then went over to our RnR return time. We all enjoyed this again, even Caitlin rode again! Somehow we missed getting Chris’s pic though ☹

I got a return time for Mickey and Minnie again. When checking the app I seen the LL pass was still available from earlier when Slinky Dog closed (which was now open again) so we decided to see if we could give it a try. We'd decided to head on out after these as all the kids were getting a bit restless. We managed to ride Slinky Dog so ended up with a bonus LL.

We had a complete meltdown from Noah in the queue as the CM who scanned us in forgot to ask us to remove the balloon (we didn’t even think) so in the queue a CM approached us and very abruptly told us we needed to remove the balloon immediately and collect it as we left the ride. Noah didn’t want to leave the balloon again (think Animal Kingdom day again) He kept trying to hit out at myself saying it was my fault. Chris tried to calm him and he laid on the floor of the queue line. I tried to talk to him and he lashed out at me so we decided it was best for Chris to deal with him. Noah wouldn’t respond to him either. By this point we were holding up quite a queue now, Caitlin asked Noah if he wanted to go on the ride with her and he jumped up, ran to her side and turned his back on the rest of us. As he wasn’t lashing out or hurting anyone we left him walk with Caitlin. When we got to the front of the queue he went and sat with Caitlin.

We forgot just how much we enjoyed this ride and it was great to ride it again, although the boys said it wasn’t fast enough, I suppose that’s what you get after just riding Rock N Rollercoaster By the time we’d got off the ride Noah was ok, he wasn’t speaking to myself but he was speaking to Chris (I wasn’t allowed to push the pushchair either, I was thankful of the break )

We had our final ride of Mickey and Minnie, we stopped outside and asked Noah if he wanted to do it or not as he’d struggled with the rides recently, he was adamant he still wanted to do it and he compromised with us bringing the pushchair (he didn’t want to, but given last time and Slinky Dog) it was a sensible decision. Noah did use the pushchair until we got to the front of the queue, I caught him rubbing the tags on his mask a couple of times so I could tell he was either tired or anxious. I didn’t want to bring it up with him as sometimes this can make him worse, so I didn’t say anything. Again we enjoyed the ride and liked how sitting in a different part of the car gives you a slightly different view.

As we were leaving the park we decided to grab a popcorn refill, but they just gave us a cardboard cartoon of popcorn rather than filling the bucket which I didn’t complain about as we kept the carton as a souvenir

We had a little mooch around the shops on our way out and grabbed some more photos as Noah was in a better mood.

We did find today much quieter but ToT was constantly 110 minutes or more (we later found out only 2 of the 4 elevators were working.

We popped to Target on the way back to the villa where Chris and Noah bought my birthday cards as he forgot to get them at home can tell who's the organised one of us. The one who organised Thomas's birthday basket, cards, money etc and Chris's birthday cards (he got presents at Universal and Disney ) we also grabbed a few bits for the villa and Noah was beyond excited to see fish fingers! At home that's his staple meal, fish fingers and chips. He couldn’t wait to try them! I think we’ve said before but we much prefer Target, so much less chaotic and not as overwhelming as Walmart

We got back to the villa around 8.30pm, Chris put Noah to bed, Caitlin and Thomas folded the washing for me, I put another load in and made some late night snacks of chicken, mini pizzas, bread sticks and mash odd but we all enjoyed it

Chris, Thomas and I decided to watch the Saturday before’s Saturday Night Takeaway and chilled with a cuppa. Chris commented that we'd done over 18,000 steps today

[mick]

A good day lots of rides done

Joan

[WIGGYSMUM]

Kelly what a great day !
I really cannot wait to see Toy Story Land
I love that fish fingers can cause so much excitement 😂
Emma x

[Goldia]

A nice lazy start to the day at the villa pool. You managed to get round lots of rides today, but a shame poor Noah became overwhelmed. At least he was able to ride with Caitlin and enjoy it in the end. Some tasty 50th treats today, I remembered that Blondie from the food report, but forgotten it had coconut in. I love a bounty, but Kate doesn't, I might see if she will do a Chris and like it at first. Some great photopass as well today in front of the Chinese theatre.

[caitlinsmummy]

Originally Posted by mick

A good day lots of rides done

Joan

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Thank you x

Originally Posted by WIGGYSMUM

Kelly what a great day !
I really cannot wait to see Toy Story Land
I love that fish fingers can cause so much excitement 😂
Emma x

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I think you'll love it, they're all amazingly themed!

Sadly that excitement was short lived as they weren't like the ones at home x

Originally Posted by Goldia

A nice lazy start to the day at the villa pool. You managed to get round lots of rides today, but a shame poor Noah became overwhelmed. At least he was able to ride with Caitlin and enjoy it in the end. Some tasty 50th treats today, I remembered that Blondie from the food report, but forgotten it had coconut in. I love a bounty, but Kate doesn't, I might see if she will do a Chris and like it at first. Some great photopass as well today in front of the Chinese theatre.

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That's one thing we loved about having a villa, being able to have more chilled mornings just lazing in the pool and showering when we were ready etc.

It was and like you say at least he did get to ride it.

let me know how you get on with Kate and the blondie. Those are definitely some of my favourite photos from the trip! X

[jothp]

Poor Noah having to leave his balloon again and how lovely that he chose to ride with his sister. You got loads done at HS. It seems the lazy morning followed by an afternoon evening in the park is really working well for you.

[caitlinsmummy]

Originally Posted by jothp

Poor Noah having to leave his balloon again and how lovely that he chose to ride with his sister. You got loads done at HS. It seems the lazy morning followed by an afternoon evening in the park is really working well for you.

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Those pesky balloons caused most of Noah's crisis moments on this holiday

It really was, we loved it, particularly later in the holiday x