If you've read my blog this year, you know Asa and I are on a quest to see every attraction, watch all the entertainment, meet all the characters, and ride every ride at Disney on these annual passes. (I believe them to be our 10th annual pass, so it seems fitting). Anyway, these passes are 'theme park select', meaning our blackout dates vary park to park instead of date by date. This is awesome for us since date varying blackout passes usually black you out of going the entire summer, where as the theme park select only blacked us out of Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Basically we've spent our summer at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. And I have loved every minute of it. BUT, I am totally excited to hit MK and AK again for sure.
Star Wars Galaxy Edge opens in just a couple weeks (August 29th to be exact) and while we have three days of overlap, after those three days we won't be able to go to Hollywood Studios until 2020. It's not my favorite park, so that's ok. And we aren't counting Galaxy's Edge on our list because those three days are on call and work days for Asa, so he couldn't go even if he wanted to. I am trying to get someone on board to go with me those first three days. Calib said he would if he didn't have to work, and when I asked how long he would wait to get into Galaxy's Edge, he said 'maybe two hours' and that, my friends, is not going to cut it. So, we'll see what happens, but Galaxy's Edge is looking more promising for the next set of passes, not these.
And since we won't be able to go to Hollywood Studios too many more days, it was time to finish it up and complete everything on our list for HS. Calib came back on Sunday, so Saturday was our day to go- but rain was forecast ALL. DAY. I mean I am a Floridian through and through, so I know how to dodge an afternoon thunderstorms, but rain all day is a little trickier. Luckily, per usual, the forecast was wrong and we only got rained on some.
When we first started this list, and I tried to get everyone on board, the boys first of all opted out immediately, especially when they heard it involved meeting characters. But right after that, they were like 'really, mom? You're going to go on the Tower of Terror?' and admittedly it was the ride I was least looking forward to. In our ten years of having passes, it's one of the only rides I had never been on. So I put it off FOREVER. We had Fastpasses to it on our anniversary but I opted not to do it then. But, lately that Fastpass has been impossible to get and the line is always over an hour long. Luckily, the night before I was able to nab and 11 am Fastpass, so we flew through the line.
When I thought of the Tower of Terror, I thought of the Power Tower. Which, I have ridden, but not for at least 20 years (I know this because it was pre-Calib). I googled drops and found it to be much shorter, but still bigger than the Demon Drop, which I also hated. I was nervous about doing it, but I like to check every item off my list. No asterisks for this girl! So, I just kept telling myself it'd be over before I knew it.
Heres the thing, though, turns out it is less like the Power Tower or the Demon Drop than I anticipated. You know those 'Frog Hopper' rides for kids at festivals and fairs and such? Basically the Tower of Terror is that, but for bigger kids (and grown ups). You never really drop all that far, and it does it up and down over and over again- like 5 times or something. I wouldn't even put it in the same category as Power Tower or Demon Drop. There's no free falling really. And you float a little in your seat, but it's more silly than scary. I highly recommend. I even tried to tell Hayden he could do it, but he still declined.
But either way, the big one is checked off my list. And I would totally do it again.
#33 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Hollywood Studios is a park in transition, so there's a couple of new things that got added to the list while we were in the middle of it, like the whole new cars area between Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. We stopped by for a dance party and our picture with DJ. There's two cars out for meet and greets, but Cruz Ramirez had a longer line.
#34 DJ’s Ready! Set! Party Time!
In the same courtyard you'll find
#35 Lightning McQueen Racing Academy
This one wasn't very descriptive, so I didn't know exactly what we were getting into. Turns out it's a show where you go on a 'simulator' with Lightning McQueen (you don't actually move, but that's the premise of the show). It's ok, I suppose. I was less impressed and entertained by the show than I was by how real Lightning McQueen looked and moved. Seriously, it's worth the 15 minutes just to see it.
Next up we headed on over to another attraction we hadn't done before, and weren't quite sure what we were getting into.
#36 First Time in Forever Frozen Sing-a-long
And, while Hollywood Studios may have made me forever mad by getting rid of the Christmas lights, at least they brought back in the snow in the Frozen theater!
After Frozen we had to navigate our way through the 'show dump' (as their called in the theme park world) and make our way right next door to
#37 Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
I will say, those show dumps are something. And once Galaxy's Edge opens it's going to be even worse. Hollywood Studios always seem to be the most crowded park. I think especially with Galaxy's Edge being closed off the park has zero circularity to it, making nearly everything a dead end. But, once Batuu is open for business I presume this gate will swing open and there will at least be better flow!
Anyway, onto the show, which also isn't my favorite. I saw this one in November with Hayden, but Asa wasn't there, so I couldn't check it off our list. And, we've seen it a few times over the years. They basically take you through a couple stunts- but between all of that the sets have to move and it kind of drags. (It is like a half hour show, too). But this time it was particularly bad because one of those sets got stuck in place, and there was like a ten minute lull in the show where they couldn't do anything (so then it became like a 40 minute time investment.)
Eventually they got it moving again and went on with the show. But, it is a serious time investment in your day, and I don't feel like the pay off is that good. It's a skip for me.
After the show we were off to do Toy Story Mania. We've done this one like a million times this summer (or at minimum at least twice every time we've visited). It's a tier one fastpass like everything else in Toy Story Land, but it's also the easiest to get- especially day of, if you just keep refreshing the app. Now, that might change once Galaxy's Edge opens. Those days of having Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, and Toy Story Mania as your three fastpasses are gone, because come August 29th, they will all be tier one and you'll have to choose just one. But for now, we got our Fastpass and got in line. Turns out someone had puked in the line though and we got redirected 'backstage' to get on the ride.
Per usual, Asa beat me by more than twice my score and was the best in cart.
I think I'll miss Toy Story Land most of all, with not going to Hollywood Studios for so long.
We decided we would just snack throughout the day instead of having any big meals at Disney. This is usually the way to go, because Disney has some great snacks, and if you're going to be walking around that much you'll want to keep yourself fed and watered!
We noticed while we were eating that the Green Army Patrol was walking through. We had kind of seen them before, but we had only caught the tail end of them, so in an effort to be thorough we went over to check them out.
#38 Green Army Patrol & Drumline in Toystory Land
And with that we had only one thing left to do at Hollywood Studios. But, it was the night time show and didn't start until 9:05, so we had some time to kill on our hands. We decided to take the boat over to Epcot and try and knock some more things off our list over there. Epcot is for sure the park we are blacked out of the least, but there is a whole lot on that list. We have actually completed 50 of the 70 items on that one, so we're really getting there. Now, I've compiled this list through the 'attractions' and 'entertainment' listed on both the Disney World Website and the app. And they do vary slightly. And listed somewhere is the modes of transportation to get to each park. So, time to check off
#52 Friendship Boats (via Hollywood Studios)
When you take the boat or walk the trail between Epcot and Hollywood Studios, it's kind of hidden. But, I suspect with the new Skyliner coming at the end of September, and with more traffic heading between Epcot and Hollywood Studios (since the opening of Galaxy's Edge coincides with the start of the Food and Wine Festival). They're even totally redoing in the back entrance of Epcot to handle more traffic. Not everyone knows about the entrance between France and the UK, but it's there.
So, there's all this talk about Millennial going to Disney without kids. I even saw a bunch of people wearing shirts that said 'Childless Millennial'. Technically, I am a millennial you know, being born in 1981 and all I just squeak in under that generation. Obviously, I'm not childless. But, I do go to Disney childless rather frequently and I think Disney is one of the best places to go with or without them. Saturday we made a whole day at Epcot out of meeting characters, eating food, and listening to bands. Who wouldn't want to do that?
First up we headed to Canada where we saw
#53 Entertainment at Canada Mill Stage
Now, I think this entertainment changes up regularly since it isn't listed as a band or anything, rather just 'entertainment at the Canada Mill Stage'. I wasn't so much a fan of the fiddling though. I mean, they were good, but fiddling gives me a headache.
We had intended on hitting up the O!Canada show in Canada as well, but it abruptly shut down for refurbishment and won't be back until 2020. So, we took it off the list. It is an ever changing one, since so many things at Disney (especially entertainment) comes and goes without much warning. We did, however, add a meet and greet with Aurora in France. While she isn't listed anyway, she has a gazebo with times, so I think she should count. We didn't get to her this time, so it's on our remaining list.
We did however make our way over to Mexico to
#54 Meet Donald Duck in Mexico
where he is dressed accordingly.
I've told Asa once we're done we should make a giant collage of all the pictures with characters. Funny enough I think I'll be wearing the same outfit in 99 percent of them. I actually call this my 'theme park outfit', because I wear it almost exclusively at the parks (and bike rides). It's just ok to sweat in, and holy geez did we sweat this weekend. The rain was not as advertised. Really the biggest downpour came while we were on the boat from Epcot to Hollywood Studios. But it was so very humid. I live in Florida, I know humidity. And there are days when it's rough. But this was the worst we've had in a long time. It was SWAMPY. You just felt like you were constantly wet, it was so gross. And, as a total wife fail I didn't pack the cooling towels (it was supposed to rain all day!)
Onward we went to China, to wait in maybe the longest character line to date.
#55 Meet Mulan in China
Mulan was pretty good as far as face characters go. I still don't know how her makeup looked so impeccable on a swampy day like it was. But, besides Mickey on our anniversary, Daisy took a real liking to us, and was one of my favorite and in a year of a lot of character meet-and-greets, one of the most memorable. She gave us good hugs, and asked (you know in a charade type of way) if we were together, and I told her we had been married 9 years, so she looked at my ring, clapped a bunch...
And then posed us for a cute heart shaped picture.
But we were also the last people to see her before she went in for a quick minute. My theory is that there are two of every character- one goes in while the other comes out so there's never one of them that has to be out in the heat too long. It was time for a Daisy change (or as the cast handlers say 'time for Pluto to find his bone' or 'Daisy to check on Donald' or 'Snow White to check on the Dwarfs'), so she took our hands and started walking back to wherever it is that the other Daisy was waiting.
When we were chatting with Daisy, for some reason we mentioned iced coffee across the way. So Daisy took us over there and tried to get Asa a free one, but the Joffrey's guy wasn't having it. He told Daisy he couldn't cut the line even for her. Disappointment. Kind of weird too, it was the first time anything like that had ever happened at Disney. We've often gotten free things like that. But, at least Daisy tried.
That's a check on #56 Meet Daisy near World Showcase Plaza
With no iced coffee in hand, we decided to stop by Club Cool, where you can get free drinks from around the world. This is closing September 8th, so it might be the last time we get to go to it. They have said it will reopen in a 'new capacity' in the future. But, I almost wonder if that means it'll be like the Coke Shop at Disney Springs where you have to pay for the drink flight. I could be wrong, but I worry the days of a free Club Cool might be coming to an end.
After Club Cool we headed over to the area where Figment and the Short Film Festival are located. There's a ton of construction over there, though, and you can't use the walkway from next to Canada, instead you have to walk all the way around. I'm hoping they finish that project up soon, because it was rather annoying.
Speaking of annoying, so we get in line for
#57 Meet Ralph and Vanellope Inside Image Works
and it's a medium length line for a character. There's a lot of five, maybe six person families in front of us, though, so I think the line will move pretty fast. But you guys EVERY. SINGLE. GROUP. in front of us insisted on doing five combinations of people with Ralph and Vanellope. It would be like 'ok, one with just the kids, ok and then one with just the baby, now one with just the girls, now the parents and the kids, now the parents and the grandparents. Oh, and twice I saw a mom argue with a dad about who should be in the picture. It was nuts, and I don't get it. Do you need that many combinations of pictures? It just seemed weird to me, and it was like one family did it and then everyone else thought it was the norm. I don't care if a character takes a long time with a kid. If their interacting with a character they love it's super fun to see. And I know little kids are amazed at meeting this characters, and I know sometimes it takes a minute to get little kids situated for a picture. I'm in line, I know what I'm getting into. But, to take five minutes just taking pictures of different family members with them seems weird. Shouldn't it be less about the pictureS and more about the interaction if it truely is one of their favorites? I don't know. I was annoyed. The medium line took like half an hour because of this. Thats the end of my rant. By the time we got up there I gave Ralph a quick fist bump, and took a picture and we were done in under 30 seconds.
After that we went on our way and nosed around some of the stores in the United Kingdom.
We were hanging around for a couple minutes to see
#58 British Revolution Band
These guys were much more my speed than the fiddlers in Canada. They played good stuff too. Queen, the Who, the Beatles. They are worth the stop, and if you are there when they are playing, you'll know it. I'm pretty sure the sound carries like two countries over.
By now we were headed over to France and ready to grab a bite to eat. I'm telling you, Disney on a budget and Les Halles is the place to go. We got everything on our tray for $13 and it kept us full for awhile.
We continued on our way, and walked through Italy, where Asa apparently noticed this tower for the first time. There's only one 'attraction' in Italy and the guy isn't there on Saturdays, so it's going to have to be on a Sunday trip for us (which is about to barely happen with football season quickly approaching).
Another one that was a little difficult to check off our list thanks to limited times was
#59 Meet Snow White in Germany
She only meets a few times a day, and her line gets long, so we decided to wait. We did learn Grumpy makes a mean gooseberry pie, though.
After Snow White we were headed over to the theater in the American Pavilion for
#60 Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Live
This one is only here for the summer before the Food and Wine Festival Eat to the Beat Series, but we put it on the list anyway. Asa plays Guardians of the Galaxy music with his Google Home good morning routine, so the music is pretty popular around here. They singers were really good too.
Even the birds came to watch this one!
That was it for our Epcot adventures this go around. By my calculations we have completed 60 of 70 items on the Epcot list. Thats 85.7% But, things remaining on the list include transportation outside the park (coming to Epcot on the monorail), and the Rose N Crown Pub Musician, which I'm not sure if you can see if you're not eating at the Rose N Crown, so that might come off the list. It also includes Epcot Forever, the new night time show which premieres October 1st. I believe our passes expire that first week of October, so we might not be able to make it on these passes with Asa's work schedule.
I guess though if we're talking ways to get to the parks, I could have added walking from Epcot to Hollywood Studios on the list. It is possible- and really isn't that terrible of a walk. We headed out International Gateway, and past Crescent Lake.
And if you're walking along the Boardwalk you might as well stop for ice cream at Ample Hills.
And of course if you're going to Ample Hills you're going to want to build your own ooey gooey cake sundae!
Then, of course, you'll want to cut through the lobby at the Boardwalk hotel where you'll see the sights and grab some water.
And then continue past the pool and along the river.
Where eventually you'll happen upon Hollywood Studios!
Since this was probably the last time we'll be at Hollywood Studios until 2020, I wanted to take our picture by the Toy Story Land sign. I was a little sad we won't be able to go for so long. (is this what people who visit Disney on vacation feel like?) And of course, one by the Pixar Ball too.
And since I was able to grab one last Fastpass, of course I picked Toy Story Mania one last time. I feel like we'll remember this summer fondly as the summer of Toy Story Mania. We won't be able to get Fastpasses like that anymore.
I would have opted for Alien Swirling Saucers, but Asa loves Toy Story Mania. And, as a bonus the line for Alien Swirling Saucers at the end of the night was only 10 minutes so we rode it anyway, just in the stand by line.
By the time we were off the ride we had just about 10 minutes until our final Hollywood Studios item:
#39 Wonderful World of Animation
It's a projection show they show on the Chinese Theater every night at 9:05. If you see Fantasmic, you miss it (which is why we hadn't gotten to it yet). But, I venture to say this is better than Fantasmic. If I could only see one, I would go with this. There's much better projects, music, storytelling and fireworks here. It was also a great way to wrap up our list. Perhaps we should always finish with the night time shows.
Once that's over there's about a 15 minute break until the Star Wars show, which is pretty much the same, just with Star Wars. We'd seen this before, but we were much further back, so Asa really wanted to watch it again. We'd come this far, so I didn't mind so much.
And that my friends is that. We hit 100% at our first park. 39 out of 39 complete.
We have 37/67 Magic Kingdom with plans to go the first day were unblacked out- the day after my birthday! We have quite a few characters and shows left on that list as well, so we'll see how big of a dent with can make in one trip. We can't go to MK on Saturdays, so that might be tough once we get to Football season- but we will also be there for the Not So Scary Halloween Party in September!
We currently sit at 33/76 at Animal Kingdom, but I'm going to have to revisit that list, because that park especially has things and characters and entertainment come and go and I'm not sure how much has changed over the summer when we weren't able to go. And a lot of those 'attractions' are animals along the trail in Asia we haven't been on yet, so it looks like we have a ton left there.
That along with our 60/70 at Epcot
Puts us as 169/252, or 67% complete
In other news, Calib is back from his trip to Ohio. He got back late Sunday night, so Monday when I was grabbing all his stuff to help him unpack he was annoyed with me wanting to take a picture. But you know, everyone's pretty excited to have their fourth player in Smash back.
Oh, and his Aunt Jane made him the coolest quilt. As a very, very novice quilter I can say it's super awesome, and I know a ton of work went into it.
Tonight is Anime Club, so Peyton and Hayden are off at the library. But, Hayden and I were also there yesterday for the last day of Community tile painting. They are going to make a wall out of all the tiles everyone painted this summer.
You might remember last year we made ceiling tiles (so if you're ever in the Land O Lakes library, look up! My tile is there!) Last year my tile was of the Pout Pout fish, Haydens favorite book when he was little. So this year, I went with one of Calib and Peyton's favorite books when they were little: Fox In Socks. I'm not the best artist in the world, but it's not terrible.
Hayden also finally got his resin magnet back too. This thing took weeks to dry, as the class was I think in the beginning of July.
Speaking of crafts, Hayden and I have been working on projects for the fair. He sewed this really cool sunflower pillow
And we made a skirt.
Then we went to town making felt flowers. We're going to use some on an art project.
Others we used for a wreath which we made out of a pool noodle, cut a little smaller, and duct taped together, and then wrapped in yarn.
Then we hot glued some of the felt flowers to it- and ta! da!
We're also working on a couple of fabric treatments. We will see how they turn out.
We took glue and made designs on the fabric, and then we sprayed it with watered down paint. The idea is when it is dry we scrub off the glue and have a cool effect.
So, we shall see.
In animal news, I had to wait for a snake to cross the road the other day- and we had two big deer and two baby deer at the end of our street.
And then of course, Calib came home so Etta is happy.
And for good measure, here's Dips in his cat tree.
That's it from here.
Next Up: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!!
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