This morning the girls actually had their first lie in of the holiday and didn’t wake up until 7.45am. We had a steady get ready before a leisurely walk to Hollywood Studios to spend a ride-free morning exploring Batuu. This land really is spectacular and so immersive. Characters wander freely and interact with you constantly which is so much fun (although I find it odd that they allow adult guests in fully dressed as the characters as it can really confuse the children when they don’t interact with them. I had a Han wannabe come up to me and comment on my t-shirt, after which Winnie asked if I thought he was the real Han Solo! I suppose he was the right age, and the boots were authentic looking, but he was no Harrison Ford!)
As soon as we entered we saw Rey who was working on fixing a ship. She then walked into the crowd where people started pushing to get photos, so the girls were getting further and further back. However, Rey saw this and stopped taking pictures to go and pull the girls out of the crowd before taking them for a walk and a chat. It honestly made the girls’ day (although Winnie wanted to know why Rey has more make up on in real life than in the films!)
We then walked around the corner and bumped into the Stormtroopers with Kylo Ren, who Winnie was initially scared of but by the end of the morning found her feet. We also met a member of the resistance who asked the girls to hide her from the stormtroopers and also gave them a message to pass on to Rey (which they did when they saw her again which was lucky. It was also lucky that they didn’t notice that she looked slightly different. Maybe it was a make-up thing!)
We’d not even been in the park half an hour by this point when who should start heading our way but Chewie! You should have seen the girls’ faces. They were so excited! Chewie spent ages with them, and by this point their day had completely been made. The icing on the cake was when he walked past a little later and swiftly kissed Polly on the top of her head! Just beautiful!
Anyway, aside from the never-ending character interactions (including a Stormtrooper telling me to behave or he’s wipe Winnie’s memory! I was a stuttering mess!!) we also had reservations at Oga’s Cantina and Droid Depot.
We actually almost cancelled Oga’s Cantina after reading a lot of negative reviews, especially from people with children, but I’m so glad we didn’t. It really is an incredible place and we didn’t think the prices were bad at all ($5 for a latte…no guesses who that was for, $7.50 for a Carbon Freeze non-alcoholic cocktail which was essentially Powerade with popping pearls that arrived bubbling like crazy and Winnie loved it, and $13 for blue milk which came with a cookie which was a good job as we didn’t rate the milk itself (but obviously drank it because, well, $13!!) We loved the loud bar-like vibe and the music playing, and although we were stood up we didn’t feel squashed at all.
After another wander we decided to check whether we could build our droids earlier than our scheduled time. They let us straight into the queue which was great. This place is amazing (although much smaller than I envisaged). I love the way it’s set up so that you can choose your droid parts before heading to an available assembly station so you don’t feel under pressure to hurry (although incredibly, Winnie had hers planned out in her head beforehand so no indecision was evident!)
There’s a CM close at hand to help with the build-up, should you need it, and the girls absolutely loved it when the droids were activated. They had said they’d share one to save money (bless their hearts) but I’m glad they had one each as they’ve loved playing with them. The rucksacks are a bit of a hefty cost, but we wanted to be able to carry them safely onto the plane and struggling with the big boxes didn’t seem the best idea.
Before we left the park Polly decided that even though it was a non-ride day there was one attraction we couldn’t leave without visiting. Now I know what you’re thinking. Slinky Dog? Toy Story Mania? Tower of Terror? Well, you’d be wrong because apparently, the one must see attraction is actually The Muppets! Polly has clearly inherited the muppet chunk of Pop-Pops’ DNA!!! As an aside, the show was absolutely packed, which shows just how busy the park was!
We headed back to the hotel and decided to make the most of the glorious sunshine by having some pool time. Winnie wasn’t keen on the ducks, even with Polly on duck patrol, so we headed for the quiet pool instead. We were the only people there, so it was essentially our own private pool and the girls had a great time.
We were all flagging this evening so decided to stay around the hotel and have an early night.
Off to the Expo tomorrow to collect our Disney bibs then, aside from the actual runs, we are winging the last few days depending on tiredness levels, which is not something I’m used to! Dining potluck will be coming into force to use those remaining credits!
Oh, Polly also wanted me to make sure that I included the fact that she finally finished writing her 9-chapter novel, The Bread Thief (the musical version is already in production and they practise the choreography every time we walk anywhere much to the onlooker’s amusement!) Apparently now it’s Winnie’s time to put the hard work in and create the cover illustration!
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 