The girls were so excited about today as my parents had decided to do a park day with us. For some reason my dad had 3 Disney profiles linked to my Friends and Family list and my mum had 2, so after a bit of faffing yesterday where dad managed to change their avatars so I knew which ones to keep (I’m sure him choosing Darth Vader for my mum wasn’t deliberate!) I managed to get them tickets and we were all set.
We decided to meet up outside Hollywood Studios around 7.30 ready for early hours at 8am. They actually got a bus at 6.50 so we’re there even earlier than us! But we were in the queue to go in at 7.20 and through the turnstiles as soon as they opened, after the girls had come up with a plan of what we should do.
It was actually pretty quiet early on, so we managed to do Rise, Slinky, Toy Story Mania and Mickey and Minnie’s Railway, which were the only rides everyone wanted to do today. We then did Muppets (my dad’s favourite- we always take a photo of the girls next to the fountain for him but this year they got one together),Indiana Jones, Frozen and (because Polly apparently saved the best for last), One Man’s Dream! We also got a walk up to Oga’s Cantina.
By this point heat and tiredness were kicking in. We knew my parents wouldn’t want to do a park open to park close day (and nor did we!) so decided to head back to our respective hotels for a bit and meet up again later to head back to the park and watch Fantasmic if we felt like it. There is so much pressure to fit everything in when you’re here, but we’ve learnt that it’s much better to adapt to match how you feel rather than forcing things.
The bus took a good 45 minutes to arrive, by which time we were absolutely melting, but we’ve been spending a lot of time talking with the girls about how things often happen for a reason, and that even though something seems annoying/ bad, it may lead to something good that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Well, the late bus turned out to be a perfect example of this because as we walked up to the lobby after being dropped off we saw the 100th bus parked up meaning the characters were inside in their 100th outfits. Now, you all know how much the girls love Donald & Daisy, and as we are going to California for Steve’s 50th later in the year I’d made them 100th outfits. However, we forgot it would be Halloween season, and they’d likely not be wearing them, so put it down to one of those things until we saw that the characters were randomly meeting at hotels in their outfits. We knew the odds weren’t high with us spending so much time at the parks, but had the outfits in our bag that we took to the pool just in case. This particular morning we put them in the park bag, so had them with us. Anyway, a mild panic change later the girls were so excited to meet Donald & co. I was frantically trying to sort my camera settings and text Jade to let her know they were there, whilst also watching Goofy torment Donald (he was so funny and kept saying Donald was number 2!!)
The lady who was with the characters asked if the girls would like to walk them back to the bus, which they did and loved. Goofy was putting an excessive amount of hand sanitiser on everyone and gave them the giggles. They then had a few photos before saying goodbye to their favourites. It honestly made their trip and was so special. And now Steve doesn’t have to lug the outfits around any more, so he’s definitely happy!
We had a few hours in the pool where Arlo played with the girls, before heading to the room to get ready for the evening. We had planned on Epcot for tea, but it had given rain out so decided on a snack at Shula’s Lounge at the Dolphin instead. I’d heard great things about the food there but it’s rather pricey, and we didn’t know how fancy it would be, so decided to suss it out in the lounge first. I have to say that although the food is definitely on the pricey side, it was absolutely amazing. Polly had French onion soup (again!), Winnie had a kids burger which was huge, I had swordfish and Steve had steak. Service was amazing and it was a lovely setting. We could have stayed there all night (although may have had to sell a kidney to fund it!!)
About 7.45 we decided to head into Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic. We got on the boat and we’re just about to walk into the park when we all looked at each other and decided we were just too exhausted. The cruise really did wipe us out, and we haven’t exactly taken it slowly since, and my parents felt the same, so we decided that after a lovely day we’d call it a night. We got the bus home and the girls fell asleep within minutes, so it was definitely the right call.
We’ve decided on a slower start tomorrow as we’re doing Epcot and there are only a handful of rides we want to do, along with a few food booths.
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 