more recap, more lessons

so, ok, i have a confession to make...i am horrible at unpacking after a trip. and by horrible, i mean there's still a suitcase left to unpack (jordan's) & a bag of stuff left to empty more than a week after our return home! now, with that said, i can squeeze in a bit more vacation recap before heading out for the events of the day.

magic kingdom was our first disney park & while we had a good time there & rode lots of rides, 15 hours makes for a very long day! so we chose to sleep in & got a later start to our day at the next park, which was hollywood studios. this was the park i figured stephen would enjoy the most because of the stars attractions & him being such a big star wars fan. and in the end, i was right, he did have a better day at this park and of course, we learned some valuable lessons along the way.

~the toy story ride really is the most popular & fast passes must be gotten early! we made a bee line for that ride to get the fast passes as soon we got to the park a little after 12pm, they were already running low with a return time of 9:25-10 (the park was closing at 10pm)! the actual line wait time was over an hour! 

~this was the day we learned that some of fast passes have more than an hour wait before getting another one for any other rides. so always check the time stamp on the bottom of the ticket!

part of the "jedi training" show

~we also learned that participation in the jedi training class (the show they put on by the star tours ride) needs to be arranged in advance of arriving at the park. i really was hoping that the kids could do that & we would be able to just sign up when we got there, sadly, that was not the case. all show times were already closed for sign-ups on the day we were there. and so, now i know that i need to call at least a day (or more) in advance of our arrival at that park. the kids still enjoyed watching the show, but i know that stephen would've have really loved to be a part of it and i felt bad for not thinking ahead on that one.

~hollywood studios is one of the disney parks that sells alcoholic beverages, not just beer! that was a very nice surprise and something that we took advantage of, but only once since the drinks weren't cheap! and, yes, i will admit that after mine i did have a much more relaxed outlook on the remainder of the day!

~the honey, i shrunk the kids play area was a great place for the kids to run around & for us parents to sit and relax for a bit! there was a bit of a line to get in, but once inside we let the kids roam around for a good 20 minutes and they could've spent more time in there if we had let them!

buzz lightyear above the counters @ pizza planet

~we grabbed lunch at pizza planet & learned that the kids size pizza was way too small for our kids! luckily, we found that out before actually ordering the kids meal! and so, this was the first place that i used the "no sides" option when ordering our food.

~stephen did not like the tower of terror ride...he's a coaster kid, but doesn't like the rides that go straight up & down! jordan, on the other hand, loved it & the other coasters as well!

part of the car stunt show

~we all liked the car stunt show & the indiana jones one, we missed out on beauty & the beast & the little mermaid ones. with these we learned that there's no rush to try & leave the stands when the shows are over...it's better to let the crowd thin out before trying to join the herd!



~we missed out on fast passes for the rock 'n roll coaster & had to wait in the line for that one. it wasn't terrible, but it was another lesson for us & reminder that we should've brought along their nintendos to keep them occupied...since by the time we chose to ride this ride our phones were already nearly dead.

not a great pic, but this is above the entrance for the aerosmith coaster

~no fireworks show here, but there is the mickey's spectacular (or something like that) that had a couple show times. we had heard that most people start to line up for that 90 minutes before the actual show...we skipped it for that exact reason!


~so the toy story ride was our last ride of the evening & even with the fast passes there was a line with about a 10-15 minutes wait! i was nervous that the kids wouldn't be able to get their souvenirs since we save that for the end of the park day!

outside the star tours ride

~and that brings me to our final lesson...stores will stay open past the park closing! as luke said, "they are not going to say no to making more money!" and therefore the kids were able to make their own light sabers & explore the star wars store a bit before we finally headed out of the park a little after 10pm.

it was a much shorter day for us & i was pleasantly surprised at the lack of traffic both arriving at the park & leaving from the park. we never had a wait for the trams, so that was really nice! our only problems would come when trying to get back to the hotel & the roundabout way that the gps was taking us! but i'll have to get to that another day when i have more time & haven't rambled on for way longer than i intended! 


  for now it is off to get dressed (yet another sign of my laziness, the fact that i'm still in my pj's as i type this up) & get ready for the day! still to come...animal kingdom, universal, disney quest, & legoland!