Disney - Day 2 (Hollywood Studios)

On Sunday morning we were out of our room around 8:15 am and headed to Hollywood Studios.  We decided to drive to the parks each morning rather than take the bus.  First it would take 5 - 10 minutes to walk from our room to the buses at our hotel.  Plus it takes up to 20 minutes for a bus to arrive.  Since parking is free if you are staying at a Disney hotel, we decided it would be nice to have our car with a few more things we might during the day closer by.

Hollywood Studios opened about 10 minutes early that day (8:50 am) and we were in line by then.  We went straight to Toy Story Midway Mania!, which is the most popular ride in the park.  We still had a 20 minute wait but this was the first time we'd done this ride without a fast pass so we got to see some of the fun interactive things in line - like the talking Mr. Potato Head.

The boys both wanted to ride with Brian on every single ride.  We decided to make them switch every ride in an effort to squash complaining and bargaining.  On Toy Story, Rylan rode with Brian and Carter with me.

Carter took the ride very seriously trying to shoot as many targets as possible (he totally ignored me when I talked to him).

Brian said that Rylan was super funny and animated during the ride and loved it.

Next we did The Great Movie Ride since there was no wait.  It takes you through scenes of famous movies and is kind of boring (except for the Alien scene that is kind of scary) but the kids loved it.  As we were walking out, Rylan yelled, "That was cool!"

Then we headed over to Star Tours which we had a fast pass for.  You have to be 40" tall to ride that one and they measured Rylan at the entrance to the line.  We knew before leaving for Florida that Rylan was just shy of 40" (about 1/4") but we figured that was close enough and he'd still be able to get on all the rides with that height requirement.  We were wrong.  If there is even the slightest gap under the 40" arm, you can't ride.

Rylan was not happy but Carter and I went ahead and rode the ride.  Brian wasn't too disappointed to stay behind - the motion simulator rides give him motion sickness.

Carter with his cool 3-D glasses ...

Carter loved the ride and wanted to go back on immediately.  The line was short but we couldn't do that to Rylan so we moved on.  Both boys wanted their picture taken on this Star Wars speeder bike though.

Next we did the Muppet Vision 3-D show.  This was our first of many 3-D shows that had fun effects, like being sprayed with water.  Rylan seemed to really think some of the 3-D things were going to hit him - he'd scoot down in his seat to hide from them.  And he really wasn't a fan of things like water and air hitting him.  When sprinkled with water, Rylan yelled, "HEY!"

Lightning McQueen and Mater were right outside the show and the line was short so the boys got their picture taken with them.  They really weren't big on meeting characters on this trip but we encouraged/forced a few.

We hit up the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure.  It was fun but hot.  It got into the mid-80s that day and we definitely were not used to such warm temperatures,

Rylan barely missed getting soaked!  But he did get super sweaty hair that remained that way the rest of the day!

The boys played for 20 minutes and then we had lunch at the Studio Catering Co.  We generally had really good food while in the parks.  There were too many fries but we did have a lot of sandwiches and wraps that were good.

After lunch we got a 1 pm pass for the new show "The Legend of Jack Sparrow" and then headed over to The Magic of Disney Animation to kill a little time.  Inside there are characters to meet and some fun stations to visit.  At one (You're a Character) you answer a series of questions to determine which Disney character you are most like.  I'm not sure if you can only be Beauty and the Beast characters or not, but Rylan was Gaston and Carter was Cogsworth.  I think it was pretty accurate :)

Next we headed back to The Legend of Jack Sparrow.  It was a little scary to Rylan but he did fine and it was fun seeing something new.  

On the way out the boys got to meet the Toy Story Bucket o Soldiers guys.

Then we headed over to Tower of Terror which we had fast passes for.  The height requirement for that ride is 40".  Rylan really wanted to go on it (probably because we told him he was going to be too short) and he was too short.  Carter wasn't really sure if he wanted to do it.  But we eventually convinced him he did and Brian took him on the ride.  He did NOT like it.  He did fine in all the pre-ride scary setup but he didn't like when the ride dropped and you lift out of your seat.  But he was a trooper and did great (no crying or freaking out - just no desire to do it again!).

I had totally expected Rylan to be passed out by now but no luck.  He would not be taking a nap that day while we were still at the park.

After Tower of Terror we went to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!.  Somehow we were wrong on the start time and missed the first set of stunts.  But we still got good seats and the boys loved the fighting and explosions.  (Especially the fighting when the girl beats up when the guys.  And there has been a lot of imitating lately).

Then we headed over to watch Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage.  We'd never stopped here before so it was new to us.  It was good enough but really good to take a snack break in the shade!

We headed over to Disney Junior - Live on Stage next.  First though we stopped to visit Jake.  Carter had no interest and stayed with Brian but Rylan was excited to meet him.

When we went to Disney World two years ago, this show included Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Now the show has replaced Handy Manny and Little Einsteins with Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins.

The boys liked seeing characters they recognized but really liked the snow, bubbles, and gold doubloons that fell from the ceiling!

After the show we had one fast pass left for the day and it was for Toy Story Midway Mania!.  Rylan rode with me this time and loved the ride just as much.

We stopped to get a picture in front the magic hat after the ride and then headed out.

We left at 5 pm and I think Rylan was asleep within 2 minutes of getting into the car.

Since we wanted him to sleep, we picked up take-out at Chili's and took it back to our hotel room.  Rylan woke up once we got there and we ate dinner (I had food there for the boys).

After dinner we headed out to Target in search of taller shoes for Rylan.  We got the ones that made him the tallest.  And I HATE them.  Light up Ninja Turtles!!!  It killed me a little to buy them but he was easily 40" tall for the rest of our trip!  And he LOVES them.  I was so worried about the battle to wear them when we got home (I can handle them with shorts but the look so bad with his skinnier jeans) but he hasn't really asked about them much.  He seems to think they were his shoes for Disney.  I'm sure I'll let him wear them more though once it stays warm, even if I hate them.

After Target we headed back to the hotel, got in baths and showers, and were in bed at 9 pm.

Disney - Day 1 (Travel)

We left on Saturday, February 22nd to drive to Orlando.  We got a little bit of a later start than we hoped but were on the road by 6:15 am.  Brian was feeling horrible that day so we took more breaks than normal and arrived at our hotel 12 hours later (7:15 pm with the different time zone).  The drive was pretty easy though with only one major traffic delay north of Atlanta which we found a detour around after sitting in traffic for a bit.

As we got into Orlando we picked up some food and took it to the hotel to eat after checking in.  We then unpacked the car and set up the room (mainly blowing up Rylan's inflatable bed).

The Art of Animation hotel has 4 main sections - Cars, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid.  The first three themes are only in the suites while all the standard rooms are decorated with the Little Mermaid.  I had prepared the boys for this and even tried to get them to watch the movie (they'd watched the cartoon several times on Disney Junior when they get up super early).  Somehow by the time we got to Disney, they were excited about the Little Mermaid and even wanted their picture with her outside of the reception area.

These pictures are from later in the week so the room is a bit messy, but they show the details in the room a little (and how small it is!).  I had to take them quick before the kids got in the room and started making a mess so I didn't get to turn all the lights on and they are pretty dark.

This octopus was above where we put Rylan's bed.

He thought it was looking at him so I had to cover it up every night.  Such high maintenance :)

Anyway, after we got settled in our room, we took a walk around the hotel grounds since the kids had been trapped in the car all day.  The boys asked to have their picture taken in front of everything!

The Little Mermaid Section:

The boys were trying to stand in a line with the fish, posed like them :)

The Lion King Section:

Finding Nemo Section:

Besides taking lots of pictures, the boys were obsessed with finding "Do Not Climb" signs.  They were by all the statues and the boys pointed out every one, very enthusiastically.  They can be so random :)

Finally we got back to the room and were in bed at 10 pm (about an hour late for the boys when you factor in the time difference).  We had a semi-rough night of sleep (we are not used to sharing one room!).  At 2 am Carter knocked everything off the nightstand when he turned over and his arm went flying.  And at 4 am, he fell out of bed.  He's never done this!  He's never even had rails on his bed.  Brian and I thought he landed on his feet, but in the morning he told us his head got stuck between the bed and nightstand.

I moved to Carter's bed because the fall freaked him out a little and he eventually fell asleep after an hour for about 30 minutes.  Rylan slept the latest he did the entire trip and was up at 6 am.  We never had trouble getting to the parks early!

Ice Storm

After being in warm (and mostly sunny) Florida for a week, we woke up to ice and no power this morning.

Luckily our power was only out for about 1 1/2 hours.  But school was cancelled today and is cancelled tomorrow in our county.  So far Carter has missed 4 days this year and Rylan has missed 3 days.  And they have both missed a lot of speech days since school has been closed on Mondays a few times too (when the boys don't have preschool/PDO).  Our preschool is supposed to make up one day for every three missed but it's up to the director to make the final decision.  I haven't heard anything yet about making any days up but I'm going to be asking this week!  Preschool/PDO is expensive!

Disney - Getting Ready to Leave

We have been to Disney World every 2 years since Carter was one (February 2010, April 2012, and now February 2014).  In the past we always stayed off property using some of Brian's hotel reward points for free nights.  Since Brian doesn't travel for work anymore, we don't have many banked points.  So we decided this year to stay at a Disney hotel.  This meant we had some special perks this year.

A few months before our trip we got this little box.

Inside was a flash drive that had a couple of videos using The Incredibles characters to explain the Magic Bands and Fast Pass +.

Then about a month before our trip, we got this box.

Inside were our Magic Bands.  We got to pick our colors before they were shipped.

And inside the band is each person's name.

Disney is in the process of converting everyone to these (I think) but right now they are testing them out with people staying at a Disney hotel.  The bands are your room key, pass into the park, used to pay for things in the park, and used for the Fast Pass lines.

The Fast Pass system is also changing.  Disney has removed all the machines in the park.  Now you can go online 60 days before your trip and pick your Fast Pass rides and times.  There are also stations in the park were you can sign up for your Fast Passes for the day.  There are restrictions on which rides you can do and you are limited to how many Fast Passes you can get (we could get 3 per day at this time of year).  And the most popular Fast Passes do run out if you wait too long to get them.  This meant I had to do a lot more planning before the trip.  I'm not sure I like the new system or not but it did work out okay for us.

This year we did 7 days in the park (plus 2 travel days).  We stayed at the newest Disney hotel - The Art of Animation - in a standard room (tiny!!!).  Because Rylan is still in a toddler bed with a rail I got him a toddler size air mattress with inflatable sides that would prevent him from rolling off of it.

As usual, we drove.  I got lots of new DVDs that the boys had never seen to hopefully make the drive a little easier - Planes, Despicable Me 2, Turbo, The Croods, & Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  The room also had a mini-fridge so I packed breakfast for each morning, snacks, and most of the boys lunch and dinner for the week.  Food is so expensive in the park and we wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible (as well as eat a little healthier).

Hopefully tomorrow I'll post about the first day or two of our trip!

We Are Home!

We got back home this afternoon from a week-long trip to Disney World.  More to come soon!!!