This was a long day. We started by getting up early for extra magic hours at Hollywood Studios and ended by closing down Animal Kingdom without having dinner. Kids finally ate around 10, John and I at Midnight.
We got to Hollywood Studios right as they opened.
Slinky Dog Dash is the hot attraction and we knew it wasn’t supposed to open until the park opened, so we figured we could get in line during extra magic hours and… Nope. When we got there at 8:00, the line was literally through the park. I asked a cast member about it and she said that it usually slows down to about a 60-minute wait mid-morning. We decided to do some other stuff in Toy Story Land and test her theory out. Even though Toy Story Land was INSANE, we managed to get right on to Toy Story Mania, which was a lot of fun and then Levi wanted to do the Spinning Alien Saucer ride.
I don’t know how long the line said it was, but it felt like forever! It was SO hot, and the line was completely outside. There was a couple in front of us with their 4 sons and they weren’t particularly social. I leaned over to John and said, “He is definitely a doctor, he just has that look. He looks like the kind that has a specialty. She looks like a doctor also.” But they weren’t really social enough to ask. About half way through our wait time, John threw his phone at me as a man yelled, “HELP! I NEED HELP!” His wife had just collapsed and John was able to help the man catch her and lay her down gently. I had no idea what to do in the middle of this line and John started yelling, “MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC!” Guess who calmly and expertly sprang right into action? Dr. 1 and Dr. 2. This time, I knew exactly what to do. They went to her and I rounded up the kids – all of theirs and both of mine. Their little guy started crying, so I picked him up and engaged the kids to distract them from what was going on. Soon, park employees were with the woman, she was trying to stand up and they were advising her to stay seated. It was so freaking hot, it is no surprise and we found out from the Anesthesiologist (him) and Urgent Care Dr. (her) that the woman was also pregnant. We saw a similar situation later in the day. We were very intentional about making sure everyone in our party drank lots of water!
After the alien ride, I took Levi to the bathroom. He went and it seemed like his shorts pulled up too easily. I went to assist since sometimes it is hard to get underwear pulled up and then shorts and there is bunching. I said, “Buddy, where are your underwear?”
“I don’t have any underwear because Dad didn’t get me any!!” (Levi can’t work the lift and pull drawers that we have in the RV. I knew that Trista had gotten his clothes out and never thought another thing about it)!
Oops!
Now it was about 10:00 and the wait for Slinky Dog was 60 minutes! Our plan worked! We still had to wait outside in the hot sun for an hour, but the ride was really fun and Trista made friends with a girl about her age. At one point, a not-so-little green army man drum line came and played near us!
From there we went over to do the Star Tours ride. I remember doing this ride years ago in California and it is a lot of fun. We got all strapped into the ride and the screen opens up to show the characters and the ride starts moving to look like we are flying. Darth Vader comes and stops our craft and says, “You have a rebel spy onboard and we want him. He looks like this…” and they put a picture of Levi sitting in his seat (hands folded in his “ride pose”) up on the screen! That made the ride even more fun and Levi has loved telling everyone, “I was a rebel spy! Darth Vader tried to get me!” John had fun explaining to Levi that a Rebel Spy was actually a good guy and I know nothing about any of it, but thought that Levi looked adorable up on the screen!
From there, Trista and I left the boys to go do a ride that Levi was not quite tall enough for. We left them next to a man eating the biggest chili dog I have ever seen! He went to cut it to share and a bunch of us said we were disappointed that we weren’t going to get a picture of him going in for it. He was nice enough to oblige and pose for a pic!
We would like to have a word with our friend Raegan about this next ride!! I heard that Raegan likes this ride and it was my understanding that Space Mountain was the wildest ride in the Disney sphere, so I happily agreed to go on this ride with Trista. We waited for the Rockin’ Roller Coaster and when we finally got to where you board the ride, we saw people getting into a stretched car that was super cool looking. The car then pulled around, out of the way of the loading dock and stopped for a minute before taking off at about 100 mph. Probably more like 60, but I looked over at Trista and said, “What have you gotten us into?”
Nevertheless we boarded the ride.
Once it pulled around the corner, I looked over at her and said, “Keep smiling, so we get a good picture!” This picture was taken about 5 seconds after I made that statement!
I am ok with most rides, but I generally avoid things that go upside down or roller coasters that are too wild. Somehow, I have been designated as the parent to do these rides with the kids. It was wild. It was fun. I am pretty sure we went upside down more than once. It was dark, so I really don’t know, but they played Aerosmith the whole time so at least there was that!
As we started to navigate this dining thing, we decided that rather than taking the time in the morning for breakfast or dinner at the end of the day when we are trying to get to as much stuff as we can, it would be nice to have our table service meal in the middle of the day to cool off and rest our feet. Today, I made a reservation at Hollywood and Vine for a Character dining lunch. It was a buffet and there were Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy in their Halloween costumes! We were able to go get food and they all came to our table while we ate and signed autographs and took pictures.
After lunch we walked out as the Storm Troopers were marching through the street. Trista had been upset that we missed it earlier and was excited to have a front row view as they marched again. Kind of creepy if you ask me and since I know more about brain surgery than I do about Star Wars, I never know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys!
From here we decided that we had done all that we wanted to do at Hollywood Studios and opted to head over to Animal Kingdom. Before we left, Levi saw a BB-8 cup that he really wanted and it was hot and we were thirsty…
We boarded the wrong bus (second time, both my fault, apparently I have a better understanding of the Washington DC transit system than the Disney World system). We went to a resort named Animal Kingdom, not a park named Animal Kingdom. The other time, we went to the Trading post, not the Settlement or the Outpost, even though as soon as we got off there was a Trading Post sign, but apparently that was a different trading post… and Fort Wilderness is both a lodge and a campground, but there are different busses for each. Dear Disney – Switch up yer names just a bit! Anyway, we visited with a nice family from very near where I grew up and got off of that bus and onto the right bus and made our way to Animal Kingdom.
When we arrived at Animal Kingdom, we notice that this river ride that my friend told me about had a very short wait time and we were so hot that we decided it might feel good to get a little wet. They even had lockers for your stuff. We stashed our things and the kids played in this little water fountain and got wet before we even got to the ride.
The ride was a walk on and we rode it three times until we were completely soaked to our undies.. well, except Levi!
After that it was getting to be evening, but still a long time until the lighting of the big tree of life and we really wanted to see that. We went over to Africa and decided to take a Safari! We got on these big trucks and headed out to see animals. It was evening and the animals were so active and there were really cool cloud formations and the sun was starting to set and the colors were amazing, we couldn’t have picked a better time! It started to pour down rain as we set out, but the trucks were covered and the rain was short-lived. We got delayed because giraffes were playing in the road and we had to wait. They had Lions and Rhinos and Hippos and Wildebeest and all kinds of other animals. As we were passing the lions, the male stood on the edge of a cliff and started roaring! I have never seen that before. John took a lot of pictures, and our phone batteries were already low, but it was too cool not to take the pictures.
After we got off, I asked the kids if they loved the safari! Trista said, “YES!” and Levi said, “NO!”
I watched him during the ride, so I knew he liked it. I asked, “You didn’t like seeing the rhinos or the lions or the giraffes?”
“No. No. I didn’t like seeing the animals at all. I liked the TRUCK!”
From there we made our way around to see the show at the Tree of Life. This thing is so gorgeous and the show with the lights and the movement of the animals in the trunk was really something to see! We stayed until the end and realized we had not fed the kids. We decided to take the bus back to Fort Wilderness and get a quick service dinner at P and J’s.
Having closed down the park, we figured it would be a crowded bus ride back, but it ended up being a private Carkeet Coach all the way back. Our driver, Scott, was excellent. He told us stories and trivia and jokes all the way home. He even prepared a flight attendant like safety speech at the start of our trip! He was so much fun and we appreciated the ride!
Q1. What do you call a unicorn when he becomes a dad?
Q2. What is the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?
(Answers below)
Here is where it becomes a struggle to keep up the happiest place on earth façade. I will hit the high points. We stopped in at the quick service restaurant to get dinner. We encountered Bev, who was working the cash register. It isn’t even worth re-hashing, but I would fire Bev in a heartbeat. She positively does not meet the criteria for people who work at Disney. Full stop. All I wanted to do was feed my children and get them to bed. She would not or could not answer any of my questions. I realize it is a challenge when we have a special diet and she went to get the chef to discuss what foods were safe for us, but would not explain to me what constituted a quick service meal on the dining plan. I decided to order for the kids (they do not have food sensitivities) just to get them fed. She starts, rudely, asking me what sides. I am reading the menu and there are no choices. It says the meal comes with x and y and choice of drink. She treated me like I was stupid and I got mad. John was busy with the chef and missed it, but tuned back in when I told him that I did not care what I ate, I just wanted to be done with Bev and feed my children. Then I stepped outside to wait with the food pager. The woman behind me had also had a less than enchanted evening and when she came out with her food pager, told me that she also let Bev know that she wasn’t very nice to me. Bev apparently said something about having to come and apologize, which prompted the woman’s comment. Bev did come out with the sorriest apology I’ve ever received and of course, explained why she wasn’t wrong. John took a picture of the menu to show her that she was.
Anyway, while we were waiting, Trista was holding the food pager and Levi wanted a turn. I told her to let him have a turn and then realized if the pager goes off while he is holding it a new fight will ensue (100 degree day, out since before 8am, it is 10pm no one has had dinner). I tell them to play hot potato with the pager to keep it fair. Trista agrees and says, “Hot Potato” as she passes it to Levi. Levi moves the pager away from Trista and yells, “Hot Potato! KEEP Potato!” Trista and I burst into laughter as he held the pager behind his back. I don’t know who was holding it when it finally went off.
We got our food and boarded the bus. We got back to our RV and I fed the kids. John opened our dinners and they were all wrong. Back to Bev! John went, while I put the kids to bed. He finally got it all straightened out and they comped our meal, which isn’t noteworthy until later in our stay when we had lots of meal credits left on our plan! John told me that Bev said she would like to wait on us personally if we came back for breakfast. HA! Guess where I’m not fixin’ to break my fast?
John and I sat down and picked at our midnight meal before heading off to bed. So excited to finally get to the Magic Kingdom with two whole days to explore!
A1. Popcorn
A2. A hippo is very heavy and a Zippo is a little lighter.