A Magical Vacation - Day 3

Day 3

We had another busy day planned on Monday. We were up and out the door by 7:45 again.

Taylor and Liam were less enthused about being up at this hour today.

We got on the bus to Hollywood Studios and got there well before the opening of the park.

They let everyone in the park but stopped us at this point to wait until 9am. While it was no fun to wait, it also gave us a chance to let everyone go to the potty before we started the day. Will had to fight off a little old lady in a motorized cart the whole time we were standing there. She kept inching up and inching up onto his heels like she was going to try to get in front of him. It was hilarious. He was not going to allow her to sneak in front of him!

They let the rope drop and everyone raced off. We were heading to the first showing of The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. And it seemed like every other single person was headed in the same direction. We were very confused as to why everyone would want to go that show first!

We got to the entrance of Little Mermaid and realized that no one was going into it, they were all going right past it. We asked the lady at the entrance what everyone was trying to get to and she said they were all going to get fast passes for the Toy Story Mania ride. I told Will he better go on and get fast passes for us too then!

Me and the kids went on in to wait on the Little Mermaid show and Will took off. He said the line for fast passes was ridiculous, but he was able to get us all fast passes and still get back in time for the show. He said that little woman on the motorized cart was there in line for fast passes for Toy Story...so she made it where she was trying to go!

We all really enjoyed the Little Mermaid show. The actors were all really good and the kids realy like it.

After Little Mermaid we headed straight out the door and across the street to Disney Junior Live on Stage. They were just fixing to start the first showing.

The kids really enjoyed getting to see all their favorite TV characters on the stage.

They really got into the singing and dancing and playing along. Liam especially liked it when gold doubloons fell from the air and he got to gather them up and stuff them in his pockets!

After Disney Junior it was almost time for our fast passes for Toy Story Mania so we headed over that way.

We still had about 5 minutes before our time, but the lady at the front let us go on in. This was seriously one of the best rides I have seen. I would have rode it many more times if we could have!

The kids really liked it too!

Liam was not wanting his picture made here and Will tricked him and snapped a picture! He is adorable!

After the carnival games in Toy Story Mania it was time for us to go to our Lunch at Hollywood and Vine for the Disney Junior Play 'n Dine

We got there about 10:45 and our reservations weren't until 11 so we had to wait just a few minutes. But it gave the kids a chance to be out of the stroller and run around and chase birds while we waited.

We were seated right at 11am and were one of the first ones in there for lunch.

We immediately saw Handy Manny. And of course, the kids wanted nothing to do with him.

And then we saw June from the Little Einsteins. And they wanted nothing to do with her either.

They were much more interested in eating than talking to the characters or having their pictures made.

The food was pretty good though. The kids ate macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets.



Even Special Agent Oso couldn't convince the kids to get their picture made.

We finally ended up having to tell Taylor that the characters are just people dressed up in costumes. That they aren't really cartoons who have come to life. Once she heard this, she was willing to have her picture made with June. So we ruined the magic of characters for Taylor, but that was the only way she would have her picture made!

After we were done eating the line for lunch outside was ridiculous! There were people everywhere and we were so glad that our reservations were for 11 and not 12!

We left the restaurant and headed over to get fast passes for the Rock 'n Rollercoaster. Then we headed over to get seats for Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.



This is one of my favorite shows. I love Beauty and the Beast and the dancers did a great job. The kids really enjoyed the show too.

After the show was over it was time to use our fast passes for Rock 'n Rollercoaster. The kids weren't tall enough to ride this one, so I waited while Will rode and then Will watched the kids while I rode. It is a little weird riding roller coasters by yourself, but I guess that is the only way to do it when you have little ones to watch! I am sure the man I rode next to thought I was about to die the way I was screaming though!

After this ride we decided that we had had enough of Hollywood Studios. We were going to get in line to let the kids see the Toy Story characters, but seeing how they acted at lunch, I was not going to stand in line for them to be scared. So we just decided to leave and head to Epcot.

We caught a bus to Epcot and got there around 2pm. After the world's longest walk to the entrance we were in!

We decided that Will would go get fast passes for Misson Space and we would wait under Spaceship Earth for him to get back. It took what seemed like forever for him to get back, but he finally returned with fast passes. He said that the line was so short we should have just rode Spaceship Earth and then went on over to Mission Space and walked right on. Oh well.

We rode Spaceship Earth and the kids surprisingly thought it was pretty cool.

I got in trouble for taking this picture with a flash...oh well!

After we rode Spaceship Earth we walked over to the Test Track to get fast passes and then we walked back over to Mission Space (luckily they are right next to each other).

Liam wasn't big enough to ride Mission Space, so I let him run around in the Training Area while Will and Taylor rode the ride. He had fun crawling through the tunnels and playing with me. He did get lost in the little tunnel at one point and about freaked out, but I led him back to the entrance with my voice and he got out. It was quite funny, but he didn't think so!

Taylor was not a fan of Mission Space. She said that she went into real space and it was really scary. After they got back, it was my turn to ride. They all played around while I rode.

By then our fast passes were good for the Test Track. The kids were excited!

Liam all buckled up and ready to go! He thought it was really fun to go fast!



 They also thought it was fun to play in the cars at the exit of the Test Track!

After the test track we headed over to The Land area.

We got fast passes for Soarin' and then rode Living with the Land.

The kids liked seeing all the different plants and animals they have on that ride.



After we rode Living with the Land we went and watched the Circle of Life with the Lion King characters. It was not something that the kids particularly enjoyed, but it was air conditioned and Liam took a quick nap during it. So it was worth watching!

After the Circle of Life it was time for our fast passes for Soarin'. They needed to measure Liam to make sure he was tall enough and since he had just been woke up from a nap, he was not too excited to be measured. But he finally perked up and let them measure him and then he got some stickers. As we were fixing to go in the entrance some man asked the lady working there how serious they were about the 40 inch height restriction. She just looked at him and said, "pretty strict." So funny. He was holding a little tiny 1-2 year old girl. Some people are just funny.

We got on the Soarin' ride and let's just say it wasn't Will's favorite ride. Me and the kids really liked it. They did a great job with even having you smell the pine trees in certain parts and smell the ocean in other parts. You really felt like you were in some of those places! All Will could think about was plummiting to the ground!

After we rode Soarin' we decided to take a little break and get some snacks. We hadn't used any of our snack credits yet so we thought we would enjoy!

The kids had been begging for some popcorn so we thought this would be a good time for it.

They really enjoyed the popcorn and we had powerade for them to drink. It was a nice break. Will had a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Sandwich and I had a Strawberry Fruit Popcicle. They were all very good!



After our snack we headed over to The Seas with Finding Nemo. There was no wait so we walked right onto the ride. 

We hopped into our "clamobiles" and enjoyed the ride! Pretty sure I got in trouble right after I snapped this picture too!



After the ride the kids played in a little play area while Will answered some questions about some sharks

So pretty!

By this point it was after 7pm and the Innoventions area was closed so we didn't get to do that today. But it wasn't a big deal because we knew we were coming back here on Wednesday. We walked over to the Imagination area to ride the Figment ride and it was closed too. So we decided to go eat a little supper and call it a night.

We decided we would eat in the Mexico area of Epcot. One, mexican sounded pretty good, and two, it was the closest country to the exit! So we walked over to the Mexico area and before we ate we decided to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour which is a little boat ride that has Donald the duck in it. The kids had fun on it. When we got out it was getting dark already so we got our food and found a seat. Of course both kids had to go to the bathroom multiple times during our dinner, and the closest bathroom was in Norway (right next to Mexico in Epcot!). We were all getting tired. After we finished eating our nachos we decided to just head back to the hotel. It was probably about 8:30 and we had already decided that we wouldn't stay to watch the fireworks and show that they were doing at 9pm. Me and Will have seen it before and I wasn't sure that the kids would like it enough to warrant staying in all that crowded mess at park closing. So we walked back to the busses and rode back to the hotel. After quick showers the kids were fast asleep in bed and ready to start another day!

I really enjoy Epcot and hope that when the kids are older and we go back that they will enjoy walking around the countries and learning more about each one. But right now we knew that they wouldn't like that at all and we were here for them this time!

I also really enjoy Hollywood Studios, but it seems to be geared more for older kids and we did about all that our kids would have liked this time. I think when we go back there will be more for us to do there. I still would have liked to have rode the Toy Story Mania ride one more time though! Maybe next time we go I can ride with Will and see if I can beat him at all those carnival games!