disney

I’m recapping our trip to Disney World! We’re on Day 3. If you’ve missed Day 1 and Day 2, just click on the links below in our Vacation Schedule to read those posts.

Our Vacation Schedule

Day 1: Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Day 2: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Day 3: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Day 4: Epcot

Day 5: Epcot

Day 6: Magic Kingdom

Day 7: Magic Kingdom

Day 8: No parks. We checked out of our resort and tried to make it to our reservation at Chef Mickey’s. It was not meant to be…I’ll share the details as to ‘why’ in my Day 8 post. 🙁

Day Three 

As you can see from our schedule, day three was another exciting day of exploring Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We spent two days at Hollywood Studios and still didn’t see and experience everything we wanted to, however, we made the most of the time we spent there.

When we got up that morning, we tried to get to the park as soon as we could, so we didn’t really eat breakfast (unless leftover Disney desserts count? ;)) and instead decided to have an early lunch at the park. We knew from previous experience that if we wanted to have a comfortable lunch at the park and be able to sit down as a family of seven, that we needed to have lunch early, if possible.

JEDI TRAINING

After we entered the park, we headed straight for the location where we could sign Breanna up for the Jedi Training Academy. This is a neat show where kids get to be Padawans in training and put on a show for people in the audience. We got in line and found out that she’d be part of the show that started around 1:20pm.

TIP: If your child wants to be a Padawan-in-training, make sure to sign them up right after you enter the park. Otherwise, they may miss their chance. Slots gets filled up very quickly.

LUNCH

After we had gone through the process to get Breanna signed up to be a young jedi, we separated, and Ruben took the three oldest kids to ride Star Tours. I took our two youngest kids to the Backlot Express, where we’d have lunch after Ruben and the other kids joined us.

DID YOU KNOW? The Backlot Express has a ton of seating, so it’s a great option for large groups or families to sit down and eat, especially during the busy season at Disney. There’s also neat areas in the restaurant where you can take fun pictures of your kids.

I’m glad we decided to eat at the Backlot Express. While we waited for Ruben and the kids to meet us there, my two youngest and I explored the restaurant and took pictures.

David absolutely loved this part of our trip.

 We had lunch using our Quick Service Disney dining plan, which is one meal per person (except for Elisabeth because she’s under 3 years old), one drink, and one dessert. It was a little chilly and rainy this day, so we opted to make some of our drinks hot chocolate.

After lunch, we decided to get in line to meet Woody and Buzz Lightyear!

The line was a little long, but it didn’t matter because it went quickly and there were lots of great photo opportunities while waiting.

Disney is so creative. I love how they can even make waiting in line fun and memorable.

As we continued to wait in line, I started to think we might not make it back in time for Breanna’s jedi training appointment, so we decided to split up again. Ruben stayed in line with the boys, and the girls and I went to check Breanna in for her star wars training.

THE JEDI TRAINING THAT WASN’T MEANT TO BE

There had been a light misty rain coming down for almost the entire day, so I wasn’t sure if the training was going to take place or be cancelled. I didn’t want to disappoint Breanna, though, so we went through the motions to see if it would be a go.

Now, here’s where I’m going to say that Disney kind of disappointed us. We got back to the place where we needed to be for the training. There were LOTS of other parents and kids there, too. Just picture a bunch of parents wanting to make their kids’ day, and a bunch of kids happily and anxiously awaiting to become young padawans-in-training.

GOOF UP

We were all there for the same training time, and instead of the Disney cast members telling us that training had been cancelled due to the rain and tell us to all go on our merry ways, they did something quite different. They had us go through ALL the motions (picture kids getting a fun pep talk while getting all excited) and act like the show was going to be taking place.

Then we walked over to the stage area in Hollywood Studios where the show takes place…still no one says that the show has been cancelled…we’re told that one parent was allowed to get in a line with their child while the other parent waited a short distance away (to look on as the show would be performed on stage).

As we waited in line and as this whole process went on, my ears were listening, trying to overhear the talk between cast members. I was catching parts of what they were saying, which is why I was not thrilled, because it seemed like they were pretty certain the show was not going to go on.

We continued to wait in line…

Then, finally, we are told that the show isn’t going to go on. A loud recorded voice is heard making the announcement that the show has been cancelled.

Children are completely devastated.

Okay, not really, but they were disappointed. Parents were definitely not happy. Some even voiced how disappointed they were at how the whole situation was handled to a Disney cast member.

There was a bit of consolation, though. The kids didn’t get to be padawans-in-training, but they did get to be ushered into a very dark area where they got to meet Darth Vadar, another jedi, and some storm troopers. We got a few pictures. Breanna was handed a certificate, and that was that.

She didn’t get to be a young jedi that day, but at least we tried. We went on with our day and had fun exploring the rest of the park. 🙂

By the time the whole jedi training situation was over, Ruben and the kids had made their way back to where we were in the park. I was happy to hear that they enjoyed meeting Woody and Buzz!

Since we were so close to Star Tours (a favorite ride for some people in our family), Ruben took the three oldest kids to ride it again.

We uploaded a movie to YouTube with part of their experience. 🙂

After that, we explored the park some more.

We met more characters…Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope.

Characters from The Incredibles

Green Army Soldier from Toy Story

We packed a lot into this day, and one of the highlights was definitely getting to ride Toy Story Mania! again. We’d gotten fast passes for it earlier in the day.

But the highlight that really made my jaw drop, literally, was the AMAZING light show that we saw as we got ready to leave Hollywood Studios. At some point in the near future, we’re going to upload a video to YouTube so that you can see what I’m talking about, but for now, I have this picture.

The lights and the show were spectacular. Seriously, spectacular. I wasn’t expecting to see something like this, and, well, it makes me want to book another trip to Disney right now.

Oh, how I wish I could…

Anyway, we wrapped up our day by taking more pictures as we made our way out of Hollywood Studios.

All in all, it was a terrific day, and we can’t wait to go back!

I can’t remember now, but I’m pretty sure we had dinner back at the resort that night. I don’t have any pictures to verify, though. 😉

Writing these posts makes me really miss Disney, but they also bring back a flood of happy memories.

Have you ever been to Disney’s Hollywood Studios? If you have any Disney tips, be sure to share those, too!

Stay tuned for Day 4 at Epcot! I promise to try to get that post up sooner than later.

I’m recapping our trip to Disney World! In case you missed Day 1, you can read all about it here.

Today, I’m moving onto Day 2! Get ready for lots of exclamation points. I can’t help but use exclamation points in my posts about Disney World.

It’s Disney World. I love writing about it, and it makes me very happy! So let’s get started!

On day 2 we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and while we could have easily spent three days touring this park, we were only able to spend two days of our trip there.

Actually, before I jump into the details, for those who are going to be following my entire trip report (hopefully, all of you ;)), I think it would be helpful to let you know what to look forward to and which parks we visited on each day of our trip.

Our Vacation “Schedule”

Day 1: Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Day 2: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Day 3: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Day 4: Epcot

Day 5: Epcot

Day 6: Magic Kingdom

Day 7: Magic Kingdom

Day 8: No parks. We checked out of our resort and tried to make it to our reservation at Chef Mickey’s. It was not meant to be…I’ll share the details as to ‘why’ in my Day 8 post. 🙁

Okay, now that you know what to look forward to, I’ll jump right in! We tried to get wake up bright and early every day of our trip, because we knew that the earlier we got to the parks, the better.

TIP: If at all possible, it’s best to get to the parks early. Not only will you avoid waiting in long lines to ride rides and see attractions, but you’ll get to catch opening ceremonies that the characters perform to welcome guests to the park. It’s a wonderful experience. If you can only get to the park when it opens one time during your trip, it’ll be worth it.

After we got through the turnstiles, we started following the touring plan from my favorite Disney book, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. This book includes a two-day plan that was right for our family. And while we never stuck to the touring plans exactly, they were a great guide, and I wouldn’t leave home without them. Ever.

We didn’t get to the park right when it opened for three reasons:

1. Our bodies were still in shock from all the walking we did on Day 1 of our trip. I decided not to wear flip-flops on Day 2, and that made a huge difference.

2. One of the kids was now starting to get sick. We caught colds while we were at Disney, and that did slow us down. I was prepared, though. I had Zicam, throat drops, and tissues…which we were out of by the end of our trip as the cold virus spread to the rest of us.

TIP: It’s a good idea to pack medicine on your Disney trip, just in case. There are a lot of germs at Disney, and you want to try to be as prepared as possible. Oh, and if you’re not used to eating out a lot but know that you will be while you are on vacation, then be sure to pack medicine for possible upset tummies, too. I brought tummy medicine along, but thankfully, I never had to use it. Whew!

3. I have five kids. There was little chance we were ever going to be up, ready, and at the park when it opened. I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to do that on our next trip when the kids are older.

Because we didn’t get to the park right when it opened, we had to get fast passes for Toy Story Mania! We didn’t mind, but our fast pass return time was for that evening. I think the return time was actually after 6:00 pm, which says something about how crazy-fun the Toy Story Mania! ride truly is.

DID YOU KNOW? Fast passes are amazing. They’re completely free, and they’ll save you hours of standing in line. You simply insert your ticket into the fast pass machine and out comes your fast pass to a particular attraction. With your fast pass in hand, you can go on and enjoy other areas of the park and skip the long lines. You simply return to that ride or show during your fast pass return time, and you get ushered into a shorter, faster moving line. Genius. Thank you, Disney.

After we snagged our fast passes, we started touring the park. It wasn’t long before we were in line to meet a character. The kids had their autograph books ready for signing.

After we had spent a few hours in the park, we needed snacks. We ended up using our snacks credits on Mickey Mouse pretzels and delicious super thick chocolate shakes.

I love how Disney goes the extra mile and adds cute little touches to regular snacks. We noticed this over and over with meals and snacks both in the parks and at our resort. It was great, and pretty much anything that can be turned into Mickey, well, it’s either turned into Mickey or given a special Mickey touch.

The kids loved the chocolate shakes. We shared two of them, because each person did not need their own and I wanted to be the best steward possible of our snacks credits. (If you want to find a huge list of snack credit options, be sure to check out this list. Trust me, it’s amazing!)

After our snacks, we went back to touring the park! If you’re wondering how in the world we made it through Disney World with five kids, well, we had a double stroller (I recommend bringing your own stroller, if you can, to avoid the fees associated with renting a stroller at Disney).

I also purchased a baby carrier for our trip. It worked great when Elisabeth was happy. When Elisabeth was not happy, I looked a little crazy pushing a double stroller with a sometimes-very-wild-three-year-old and a screaming baby attached to me — who no longer wanted to be attached to me. I only had to do that a few times when Ruben had taken the bigger kids to ride Star Tours or some other ride. It wasn’t pleasant, but for the most part Elisabeth was a happy girl in her carrier.

I know this post is getting long, so I’m going to try to give you the quick version of the rest of our day — with pictures!

We had lunch at the ABC Commissary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Because of its ample seating, the ABC Commissary is a great place to eat if you have a lot of people in your family/party and you’re visiting Disney during a busy season. We were there just after New Year’s, and for the first few days of our trip, the crowds were heavier due to people still being off of work and school and spending their vacation time at Disney World. The second half of our trip was much better crowd-wise when school was back in session. Being able to go to Disney World without worrying about our kids missing school is definitely one of the perks of homeschooling.

Anyway, our quick service dining plan included desserts, so we opted for cupcakes!

We had tried to have lunch at Pizza Planet but couldn’t find enough seating for our family. Instead, we just took pictures there after lunch at the ABC Commissary.

We took more pictures around the park.

We finished touring the park and then headed back to the resort. We left shortly before the park closed, and we were exhausted. But it was a great day.

We had a late dinner at the resort (we did that often during our trip) and then got to bed late so that we could get up early and do it all over again the next day.

And we did. 🙂

Stay tuned for Day 3 and see what we did on our second day of touring Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

Have you been to Disney World? Do you have any tips to share? I’d love to read them in the comments!