Our first park day had finally arrived! Everyone was bright
eyed and bushy tailed. Today was HS’s Extra Magic Hour morning so the plan was
for us to leave the resort shortly after 7AM. Caleb made the trek to get
himself and Alaina coffee and the girls some sweet tea in our resort mugs. When
he returned it was time to head to the bus stop. POR has 4 different bus stop locations. When I put in a room request, I asked for a
building basically halfway between a bus stop and the main building. Our actual room assignment was not in the
area I requested. I wasn’t sure I was happy with the change at first, but the
location ended up being a good one. We
were about 2 minutes away from the West Depot…which happens to be the first
pick up and drop off location for POR. We never waited more than 10 minutes for
a bus and it was always nice to be one of the first families to get off when we
returned each day. Our only complaint with our room was the fact it was on the
2nd floor. Handling a massive
double stroller up and down stairs wasn’t fun for Caleb, but he survived.
We caught the bus to HS. The girls made friends basically
every bus ride. They were very sociable.
When we were about 5 minutes away from the park, Hattie spilled her
resort mug in the floor. Caleb and
Alaina cleaned it up the best they could. The very nice bus driver said she
would finish after we got off. This was the last day we took our resort mugs
with us to the park…there’s a reason the buses say no food or drink. We arrived
at the gate just before park opening.
Everyone scanned their magicbands and selected their finger for
fingerprint recognition. We had trouble getting Lydia’s finger to scan almost
every time we entered the parks because her fingers were so small. We were thankful for patient cast members.
Because this was an EMH morning, the place looked packed. We
walked into the park and took a couple pictures in front of the Chinese
Theater. Our first stop of the morning was for Alaina to ride Aerosmith’s
Rockin Rollercoster. This was the ride she was most excited about riding. We
chose to do rider swap so Caleb could ride it later. The line moved fairly quickly, but there were
a lot of people in line. Alaina LOVED
the ride. In total, it took about 45 minutes from the time we walked through
the gates to the end of the ride. The
girls were getting restless, so we decided Caleb would come back later to use
his rider swap fast pass. Our next ride was Toy Story Midway Mania. The posted
wait time was at 50 minutes, I think. We only waited about 25 minutes. While we were in line, Lydia’s glasses
broke. We didn’t have a way to repair
them, so she went without them for the rest of the trip. Hattie refused to wear
hers for most of the trip since Lydia didn’t have to wear hers. After this ride we went over to the Great
Movie Ride. This was probably the longest wait we had for the whole trip. I
think we waited about 45 minutes total, but it was worth it…especially since
the ride is closed now. The girls loved
the Wizard of Oz scene. Our next stop was our fast pass for the Frozen
Sing-Along show. We had some time to
kill so the girls got to experience their first Mickey ice cream bar. They made
a big mess, but they loved them. When it
was time for us to check in for the fast pass, Alaina realized the wrong time had
been added to the touring plan. We had actually missed our fast past. Again, a
very nice cast member was understanding and allowed us to enter the fast pass
entrance anyway. We had to wait a few
minutes before entering the theater. Once we were allowed in we were able to
get seats directly in the middle…perfect seats!
This show was hands down the best show we saw on the trip. The
“historians” kept Caleb and Alaina rolling.
The girls sang every word and thoroughly enjoyed the snow at the end.
After Frozen we walked over to the Star Wars Launch Bay. Hattie was freaked out by the people in
costume so she and Alaina went shopping in the nearby gift shop. Because we
have a Disney Chase Visa, Caleb and Lydia got a fast past to meet Kylo Ren.
Lydia was not a fan. While Hattie and
Alaina were shopping, Hattie found a Doc McStuffins doll that she just had to
have. Alaina said no because Hattie had
spent a lot of her souvenir money the night before at DS. Instead, they bought Nolan a baby Goofy toy
and Sam a baby Mickey toy. We met back
up to find something for lunch. We
decided on the ABC Commissary. We were
lucky to find a table outside the restaurant…again there were people
everywhere. Lunch was good. The girls
had chicken nuggets and fries. Alaina had a cheese burger. Caleb had the rib
combo. Other than Caleb throwing everything away while Alaina took the girls to
the bathroom, we had a good experience there. Hattie continued to whine about
the Doc McStuffins doll for the remainder of the afternoon. Alaina offered to watch the girls while Caleb
rode Rockin Rollercoaster, but he declined. On the way out of the park Donald
and Daisy were doing a meet and greet at the park entrance. Daisy is one of
Lydia’s favorite characters. The line was pretty short, so we decided to wait.
Hattie had a come apart. She insisted to stay in the stroller. She absolutely
had no intention of meeting Daisy and had no shame in admitting it. Caleb,
Alaina and Lydia met Daisy while Hattie was faced the other direction in the stroller.
This was to be the pattern for every masked character meet and greet.
It was time to head back to the resort for a nap. While
Alaina and the girls rested, Caleb explored the resort. We headed back to HS in
time to see the 4:30PM showing of the Beauty and the Beast show. We sat on the bleachers on the outside of the
theater. We were pretty far away from the stage. The show was ok…but it definitely needs an
update. At the very beginning some guy
affiliated with the show did a special presentation for a dad and daughter…it
was extremely cheesy. We decided this show was a one-time thing for us until
it’s updated. After a quick restroom
break we walked back over to the Launch Bay area to buy that stinkin doll for
Hattie. She was thrilled. Lydia picked out a Doc McStuffins play set while were
there. With new toys in hand, we walked
over to Walt Disney Presents – One Man’s Dream.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for Caleb and Alaina because
we enjoy Disney history. The girls loved seeing all the models. Belle’s yellow
dress from the new live action Beauty and the Beast was on display here. Instead of showing the film “One Man’s Dream”
they were showing a sneak peak for “Beauty and the Beast.” There was a wait for the next showing so we
didn’t watch it. It was almost time for
our Star Tours fast pass so we headed that way. We watched Muppet Vision while
we waited. Alaina and the girls really enjoyed this show. Caleb thought it was
really dated…it was, but still enjoyable.
We checked in at Star Tours. As
luck would have it, Lydia was chosen as the Rebel spy! She was not at all
amused. In fact, she cried and swore she would never ride that ride again.
Hattie on the other than hand loved it.
ST is Caleb’s favorite ride at Disney.
It was finally time for our anticipated supper at the Sci
Fyi Drive In. We all enjoyed this meal.
The girls loved all the movie clips that played while we ate. The girls had chicken nuggets. Alaina had a
pasta dish and Caleb had a burger. We left extremely full. After supper we checked in for our fast pass
at TSMM. The girls again loved this ride.
After we finished, we took a few pictures. We saw some green army men
and posed with them. We waited in line
to meet Buzz and Woody for a little while. The girls met another new friend in
line. After wasting about 20 minutes in
line, we bailed. We decided we had better find our place for the Star Wars
Firework Spectacular. We were able to
find a really good spot. We really
enjoyed the show, but it was a little underwhelming for Caleb. At this point it’s about 9:30PM and time for
us to make our way through the mass of people to exit the park. The ride home was uneventful. After baths we all got to bed quickly. It was
probably close to 11:00PM.
Notes for the day:
Doing a park with EMH in the morning was probably not the
best decision for our very first park day. It was a little intimidating walking in with
the crowd. Caleb and Alaina both immediately had fears the whole week would be
this way. It wasn’t. When we figured out
what we were doing, the rest of the trip went much smoother. The actual crowd
level for the day was actually higher than predicted (7 predicted, actual 8).
It took us a little bit to get oriented. This was also the only day we did
rider swap…which ended up being a waste. We should have chosen a park with
normal hours for our first day. I don’t think it would have been as crowded in
one of the other parks. Also, there
isn’t a ton to do in HS so the crowds seemed worse than they actually were. We
should have pushed this park to another day after we hit our groove.
Alaina should have allowed Hattie to buy the doll she wanted
when she first saw it. This lead to a
half day of whining. This was the only
day we had this issue.
We did a lot of backtracking on this day. This was mostly due to the fact of having a
stroller and not knowing the park layout very well. Our plan for the next visit eliminates a lot
of backtracking.
Hattie is not into meeting characters. No amount of
preparation could change her mind in the moment. She is all about face
characters, but masked characters freak her out. Today’s Daisy interaction was a good
indication of Hattie’s behavior for the rest of the week. Lydia loves all
characters.
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