I realized after a reader commented yesterday that I never mentioned where we stayed during this trip! (If you missed yesterday’s post about our first day at Disney, you can find it here.) Please mind you I’m running on fumes. I also left the girls’ backpacks at home today so I had to run to the store to buy lunchables for them for lunch. I’ll get it together at some point this week.
We stayed at the All Star Sports Resort. We had originally planned to stay at All Star Movies, but it ended up not being included in the free dining offer, so our Disney agent, Alicia, moved us to All-Star Sports so we could get free dining! (More on her and why you should book with her in a later post!)
We enjoyed All Star Sports. We’ve stayed there before, and it’s very basic as far as your room and amenities goes. There is a food court with plenty of seating to eat breakfast, a gift shop, an arcade area, and two pools (it was too cold for us to swim). We were perfectly fine with saving the money and staying in a value resort since we knew we’d only be there to sleep. It had all we needed.
| My sister made these adorable Minnie and Mickey outfits for the girls. The colors and the vintage cars were perfect for the Hollywood Studios feel. |We decided before we left that we would forego eating breakfast in the food court each morning since we knew it would add at least an extra 30 minutes to our time getting ready. We packed plenty of snacks and quick breakfast items that we could all take with us and eat in the car on the way to the parks. This allowed us to let the girls sleep a little bit longer.
Day 2 – Hollywood Studios
Day two was Hollywood Studios! Hollywood Studios has never been a big favorite of mine. There are a few rides that I enjoy there, but it’s always the one I’m least excited about visiting, for some reason. This year, though, it really was magical! One of my favorite moments from the entire trip happened here at Hollywood Studios, and I’ll get to that in a minute.
When we first arrived, we went straight to Toy Story Land….along with every other person in the park apparently. Toy Story Land was SO crowded! I don’t think they made the walkways wide enough in this area because it was so congested with people everywhere! We had a fast pass for Alien Swirling Saucers for later in the day, so the first ride we decided to get in line for was Toy Story Mania. I believe it said a 40 minute wait when we got in line, but it definitely took longer than that. The girls did decently well waiting in line, although Raley was sure to complain about it enough for the both of them. (ha!) She kept asking to ride Slinky Dog Dash, so we promised her we would get to do that later.
The girls both enjoyed riding Toy Story Mania, so I do think it was worth the wait. My parents had no interest in riding Slinky Dog Dash, and Audrey was too small to ride, so David, Raley, and I got rider switch passes to come back and ride later (a little trick to get an extra FastPass 😉 ).
In the meantime, while we were waiting for our time to ride Slinky, we went to watch the Frozen sing along show, which was awesome (and had some jokes for the adults in there too).
We made our way back to Toy Story Land to ride Slinky Dog. While we rode Slinky, my parents and Audrey got in line to meet Woody and Jessie. Raley was so excited to hop on Slinky, and also felt like such a big girl because this was something she got to do that Audrey couldn’t. But once it started she was going “I do not like this!!!” “Is it going to go fast again?” She kept leaning her head forward and at one point I thought she passed out on me, but I think she was just leaning to anticipate the movement. Bless her heart.
She never cried though, and we told her how brave she was. Although she wouldn’t admit that she felt brave, I think she was proud of herself for riding. She kept looking at it every time we’d walk by it and say “I rode Slinky, but I don’t want to do it again.” She asked at one point “Why is anyone still riding Slinky Dog?”
What happened next is my favorite part of the entire trip – meeting Woody and Jessie. They were the very first characters that the girls had met and when it was their turn neither of them knew what to do. Raley walked up and gave them a hug, but Audrey was just jumping around in excitement. She ran up and gave Woody a hug, then hopped back to me. Woody and Jessie started hopping around with her and dancing. Oh my goodness, it was the sweetest thing. At one point the girls just hugged each other out of excitement.
We finally reigned them in for a picture, then a Cast Member asked if they wanted to hold their hands and walk with them because it was time for them to take a break. They walked (and hopped) with them through the crowd and to where they go back stage. The looks on their faces was absolutely priceless when that was over. I hope I never forget that moment.
| Pure happiness |We had hoped to meet Buzz, but he was coming out as Woody and Jessie were going in, and the line was already long. We figured we’d better go ahead and find some lunch. Our next FastPass was for Tower of Terror, so we walked down Sunset Boulevard and grabbed some lunch at Rosie’s All American Cafe. David and I got an Onion Straw Cheeseburger, which was SO GOOD!
My mom and dad had brought a ton of quarters and pennies with them so that the girls could press pennies. They even got them a little book to store them in ahead of time. The girls enjoyed looking at the different designs and helping turn the crank. We pressed a few pennies before it was time to go to the next FP.
My parents rode Tower of Terror first, while David and I took them to get some ice cream.
| Raley chose a Violet doll to buy with her birthday gift card. This is not what I would have guessed she would have picked, but I love that about her. |David and I hopped on to ride when they were done. After Tower of Terror, David and I had a FP for Rock-n-Roller coaster, and Mom, Dad, and the girls had a FP for the Beauty and the Beast show.
| Photo courtesy of Disney |Audrey gets to sitting still at these shows and tends to get very sleepy. She fell asleep during the show, and ended up missing out on riding Alien Swirling Saucers. I thought about waking her up, because I felt bad that she’d have to miss out, but some wise men (David and my dad) convinced me that she won’t even know what she missed. It was better to let her sleep than to wake her up and be cranky.
Raley said that she like Alien Swirling Saucers much better than Slinky Dog. (ha!)
Once we were done with Aliens, it was time to start walking toward our dinner reservation at Hollywood and Vine. On our way over there Raley spotted some Storm Troopers and said she wanted to “give them a hug.” David was pushing her in the stroller, and as they started walking toward them, the Storm Troopers walked away (they weren’t stationed to take pictures, they were just walking back inside.) She happened to see Sofia the First off to the side, and asked if she could take a picture with Sofia. There was basically no line, so he hopped over there to meet her. I think this made Raley’s day! She was adorable meeting her, smiling as big as she could. She kept batting her eyes when it was time to take pictures, and it was too sweet. Raley wanted to keep it a secret from Audrey that she met Sofia so that Audrey wouldn’t be upset that she didn’t get to see her.
Audrey woke up just as we were about to go inside to eat at Hollywood and Vine. For dinner, they do a seasonal character meal, so we got to meet Minnie, Mickey, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy, all dressed in their best Holiday Party wear (and Goofy dressed as Santa)
This was a buffet, with a delicious assortment of foods. The flank steak was my favorite. The gingerbread cupcake was very good as well!
The girls were too sweet with the characters. Minnie and Daisy were giving them kisses. Mickey was playing peek-a-boo and hopping up and down with Audrey. So so sweet!
Once we were finished with dinner, we walked around a bit to look at some of the Christmas decorations at night, grabbed some coffee and some watered down hot chocolate (not good!), then made our way to Fantasmic! Our original dinner reservation was at 7:20 so we would have missed Fantasmic! so Alicia made sure to be on the look out for an earlier dinner time if one opened up so that we could make it to the show (thank you, Alicia!!)
The girls enjoyed Fantasmic!, although they were a little scared of the villains portion of the show. It had gotten a bit chilly after the sun went down, so it was nice to bundle up under a blanket and watch the show together. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day!
In case you missed it: Day1 – Animal Kingdom
Tomorrow – Magic Kingdom
Day 4 – Ohana + Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
Day 5 – Epcot
You may also enjoy these Disney World tips and tricks!
Question – On big roller coasters, are you a hands up or a clinch the seat kind of person? David usually has his hands up, but I’m usually holding onto my seat/harness for dear life. What about you?
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