Disney Trip: Day Five

Alright, y’all.  Get ready for photo overload.  There’s just so much to share with you that I can’t help but post all of these pics.  Just narrowing them down to these was hard enough!

Our first stop at Hollywood Studios was the Adventures Outpost.  If you’re interested in signing up your child for Jedi Training, then do this first thing.  We were the first ones there, but when we turned around a long line had already formed.  When you walk into the park, head to the left toward the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.  It’ll be on your left, right past Prime Time Cafe.  If you sign up early, there are lots of time slots available.  We went ahead and signed up for the first one to knock it out and were so happy we did!

While we waited, we popped into the 50s Primetime Cafe for a quick bathroom break.  The kids loved seeing this space and couldn’t believe kitchens (and tvs) used to look like this.

Starting their Jedi Training.  I thought maybe the girls were too old for this, but they loved it just as much as the boys.  Such concentration on Vaughn’s face.  Haha.

Love Vaughn eyeing Darth Vader behind his Jedi trainer.

This was obviously their favorite part.  Getting to fight Darth Vader!  They’d seen so many Disney commercials about this experience that they couldn’t believe it was actually happening.  If you have a Star Wars fan, this was really neat!

After fighting off Darth Vader, we popped in to meet Olaf.  Lots of warm hugs all around.

By the end of the year, Hollywood Studios will be opening an entirely new section of the park which will feature everything themed Star Wars!  Until then, we got a chance to see lots of the characters in action throughout the day.  This was the procession of the Stormtroopers led by Captain Phasma called the March of the First Order.  After watching, we headed to Star Wars Launch Bay to meet some of the characters.  We loved the Storm Troopers throughout the area that would approach park goers randomly and talk to them.

Chewy!

Vaughn was super nervous/excited about meeting his favorite character, Kylo Ren!  And boy, did Kylo Ren play the part!  No hugs were given out and he walked up to each one of them and talked to them, asking them to come to the dark side with him, telling them they had the force, etc.  It was great!

As soon as we walked in to meet BB-8, Vaughn held up his hands to make heart hands.  It was the sweetest thing!

Each of these characters had a separate line to wait in, but the lines were only about five people long in each area, so we were in and out of this area within 20 minutes.  I think this was the sweetest smile Vaughn had all trip.  While he’ll tell you Kylo Ren is his favorite character, I think it’s a front.  I’m almost positive BB-8 is.  😉

While walking into Mickey Live! we looked up and saw this!  ‘I LOVE JESUS’  The kids were so excited to have noticed it!

Effie getting her dance fix.

The Frozen show was great.  If you’re a fan, this wasn’t too long and they have snow (soap) fall at the end.

We finally made our way over to the newest section of the park, Toy Story Land.  As we were taking a break and enjoying a snack, the green army men came up to us and Effie was chosen to be a part of the act.  She was so excited and still talks about it!  She got to train to be an army man with a few others.  It was cute.

In Toy Story Land, there are three rides, but you can only use one of your fast passes for this area.  Since the Slinky Dog Ride had no times available when we were looking it up before our trip, we chose the Alien Saucers ride.  The kids loved it.  Every time we walked by and checked, the Slinky Dog ride had at least a two-hour wait time.  Not happening.

My forever favorite at Hollywood Studios will always be the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.  And it was just as awesome this time as it always is.  They haven’t changed a single thing which I love!  The boys loved the truck flipping over and blowing up.  So fun to experience this show with my own kids.  I can vividly remember watching this one with my parents growing up.  Oh, and there’s a well around the area with a sign that reads “Warning: Do Not Pull Rope”.  Ignore it.  Pull the rope.  Your kids will love it!  Or they might be alarmed.  When you pull it, you’ll hear a man that sounds like he’s stuck at the bottom of the well.

You know our love for Jeopardy.  Loved seeing this outside of the Beauty and the Beast show.  If you haven’t noticed yet, Hollywood Studios has lots of shows to see.  A lot of people say if you have to skip one park, this would be the one to skip.  Lanier said he’d agree too.  But I know how much the kids love their shows and most of them were short so it was fun to see so many different ones all in the same day.  All of the shows have lots of show times, so it’s pretty easy to be able to see all of them in one day.

If you had a Fast Pass for a ride, like we did for the Rock ‘N Roller Coaster, your name would show up on signs throughout your wait through the line.  We didn’t know this at first and then started noticing them at other parks and rides where we had Fast Passes.  The kids got a kick out of this one above.  Since there usually wasn’t much of a wait for most of the lines with Fast Passes, we didn’t have time to see all of their names on the different signs, but it was still neat nonetheless.  Also, another thing to note.  The minimum height for most rides was 48″.  Thankfully, Vaughn was just that.  Had he been any shorter, he wouldn’t have been able to rider on many of them.  We didn’t know this before the trip, but we got lucky!

The kids absolutely LOVED A Galaxy Far, Far Away!  Basically, each Star Wars character came out individually and did a little show, usually ending with them shooting off their gun or some other kind of pyrotechnics.  And at the end, they all walked out together.

Before dinner, we went back to Star Tours since there was only a 5 minute wait time.  Almost every time you ride this simulator, it’s a different ride/story.  We ended up going on it a few more times without having to wait.

After a day of shows and rides, we’d worked up quite the appetite.  We were more than ready to head to Hollywood & Vine to meet Mickey and his friends and enjoy a yummy dinner!  Goofy was definitely being goofy.

Vaughn said he kept stepping on his foot too.

Vaughn said he loved feeling all of their costumes.

The girls said they loved Minnie’s outfit best.

We had soft serve ice cream at LEAST once day.

Mickey!  My phone died so I don’t have photos, but after dinner we stayed on to watch the Fantasmic Show followed by the Star Wars Laser and Fireworks show.  They were awesome!  Effie hates fireworks and she didn’t even seem to mind them.  A great way to end our day at Hollywood Studios.

Y’all may have read this before, but my kids usually go to bed between 6:30/7.  I was so worried that we were going to push them too much on our trip and by Day 5 that they’d be exhausted, but they were awesome!  Loved every minute of it!  Even when they’d go to bed and have to wake up early, they rallied.  They’ve always been early risers so we knew getting up wouldn’t be the problem, we just worried they’d get run down.  But I guess that’s just part of the magic of Disney.  And I think a down day in the middle, like we did the day before was key too.

It was Valentine’s Day so we all wore our pink!  I wore this super comfy top and these sunnies.  The boys wore these polos and the girls wore these skirts.  Unfortunately, the girls’ cute tees by Crewcuts have sold out.  I got them on the sale rack at my local J.Crew, so you may have luck checking out your store!  Their little Minnie ears are from here (only $6 for both!) and they continued to love wearing them throughout the week!

On Day 6, we were so excited for Disney’s Animal Kingdom!  It was a first park visit for all of us!  Sharing pics with you soon!