We didn’t leave for Hollywood Studios until 10am. Anyone might think we’d done something stupid last night like stay out past 1am drinking. Rest assured I felt great and was my usual ray of sunshine as we drove over to pick Mum and Dad up.
It must have been a morning for things that never happen. Not only did I have a mild hangover for the first time since I had hair, but by some strange alignment of the Gods, we parked at the very bottom of the row. This never happens to us…oh apart from EVERY OTHER TIME WE HAVE VISITED A PARK….EVER!!
I wouldn’t have minded so much but we were poised to be put at the very top of a row but the evil and vindictive cast member chose the line of traffic I was in, rather than the one at the side of me to make the long journey to the Mordor of the car park.
We slowly, very slowly, made our way back to civilisation.
Oh I never did show you a photo of our hire car did I? This is what happens when you refuse all the upgrade hard sell.
We were parked in…
by the way. I didn’t take that photo to remind me where we had parked. I took it to identify the evil cast member responsible for our six-mile walk so I could exact painful revenge.
We boarded the next tram to arrive only having to man handled half a dozen small children out of our way. Maybe this is why I don’t drink very often?
As we flashed our bands though the entrance Dad made his way to the garage to hire himself an ECV. When I had made our first FastPass of the day some sixty odd days ago, I had not taken into account spending the previous evening out with Oliver Reed and Richard Harris resulting in such a late start, and so I was a little tense as the process of hiring said ECV was taking an age and the end of our FastPass slot for the most popular ride in the park was approaching more quickly than my need to buy some elasticated trousers for work.
Once Dad was in his vehicle we mowed down anyone silly enough to be in the way as we headed up to Toy Story Mania.
In the end we made it with a few minutes to spare and we barged our way past the ever-present entrance loiterers (why do you do it people, why? Either go in or get out of the way!!) and made our way through the queue.
I scored a bang average 137,000 but that was enough to shame all other family members which is, let’s face it, more important.
My natural talent for planning was demonstrated once again now as we had to walk all the way to the Tower of Terror for our next FastPass. Dad cared not one jot as his machine was fully charged and he sped off looking like Richard Hammond before his next hospital visit.
Even though he absolutely should not have done so Dad rode with us, but Mum sat out.
This is one of those rides that, no matter how many times you do it, every time you leave, your love for it is reaffirmed and increased. The theming is just incredible and the ride is just a load of fun.
We had a walk over to Rock n Rollercoaster next to see what the standby queue was like. Mum & Dad were not riding so we three joined the half hour standby line. It took a little less than that and as ever much of our waiting time was spent stroking the beady door. Just us?
With adrenaline pumping, the ladies needed a restroom as we exited. I took the chance to capture the same photo as I have on every previous trip.
Feeling the need for a snack we stopped at the fruit stall thing opposite Beauty and The Beast. We didn’t buy any fruit of course, we’re not monsters. Instead we had some hummus, well I didn’t, I had a huge pretzel with some cheese that I’m pretty sure didn’t contain any actual cheese, but it tasted great. I was to be thirsty now until the end of July.
Nothing is more nutritious than a cheese flavoured pasteurised cheese snack.
Full of stuff that is produced with genetic engineering, we made our way into the 1pm Beauty and The Beast show. With Dad in his ECV we were directed to a special area of the theatre, which turned out to be the front row. With this in mind I Facebook Lived the whole thing, mainly for the benefit of Rebecca back home.
The show begins these days with a chat from this chap before he mortifies some teenage girl on stage by singing at them.
Emily spent her time appreciating the sentiment of the pre-show but thanking her lucky stars she was not picked for it.
The show was great of course, all the better for our unfettered view.
You should appreciate the talent it takes to both Facebook live with one hand and take photos with the other.
With Dad keen to test the top speed of his ride we decided to motor on over to the Great Movie Ride next.
There was a show in progress as we walked past the “bit where the hat was” and these were waiting to go on…
It was a twenty-minute wait to ride, which we could have avoided if Dad hadn’t parked up outside and walked in. ECVs were being directed to the front of the queue. I don’t know which idiot told him he’d have to leave his outside.
The ride has been a favourite of ours since we first started the trips with the girls. Rebecca especially always wanted to ride this. I don’t think I knew it was closing as we rode for what would be our last time but my notes do record that I thought it was looking a little tired. The standard of the acting seems to have gone downhill in recent times or that could just be the fog of nostalgia from when I first rode it as a child.
With no regard for my own safety, we walked across to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid next. As long as we sat the back where Ariel couldn’t see me, we should be OK. She gets upset looking at what she could have won.
Luckily ECVs were being directed to the very rear of the theatre.
As ever some absolute knob took some flash photos during the opening puppetry scenes. I imagine they also did not move all the way down to the end of their row.
As we exited I noticed that the March of the First Order was imminent so we took up a position to view it.
Feeling all Star Warsy now, Emily and I went to ride Star Tours. Louise, Mum and Dad opted to sit out in the sunshine and have a drink.
The wait was the full half hour promised but we were rewarded with a new (to us) story line.
It was 4.15 now and time to head out of the park to eat.
Bahama Breeze was on the plan, one of our absolute favourites.
We arrived and were seated without delay around 5pm. Our server had a hint of headmistress about her and we found the service to be a little rushed even though the place was fairly quiet.
To start we ordered some cheese bites and chips and guacamole.
It might just be us, but we find it really annoying when entrees turn up with your appetisers still on the go. They did.
We had –
Me, Louise and Emily – Jerk Chicken Pasta
Mum – Burger
Dad – Steak
I was a little late with the camera!
As is the law here, desserts must be had and it must be Rebecca’s Key Lime Pie. We were, it has to be said, missing her today.
The bill was $180 including a good tip. We headed straight back to Hollywood Studios and parked in Stage, yep, right at the bottom of the row.
We trammed again and wandered the shops for a while.
I say again, dusk is just a fabulous time to be in a theme park at WDW.
Dad not only had a means of getting about but also his very own personal seat to be in as everyone else walked around the shops.
Having got several gifts, mainly for Rebecca and Tom, we made our way over to the Muppets, and I don’t mean the gimps taking flash photos of the Little Mermaid show earlier.
Of course, much of this park is a building site currently.
Next, the long trek all the way across the park to take our seats for Fantasmic. Mum and Dad stayed at the back with the ECV, but we three made our way as far down as we could, mainly so that Emily could see as she had forgotten both her contacts and glasses.
It goes dark quickly in Florida.
As ever I took some awesome photos.
I threw my camera into that fire.
We had a moment of rare disappointment as the show ended. For reasons best known to Disney, the Star Wars firework show we really wanted to watch started the precise second Fantasmic ended. This of course meant that we were shuffling our way out of the show instead of being stood watching it. We could see the odd firework in the sky above us, but this seemed a very strange bit of timing. Maybe Disney think it will make you visit the park twice?
It was a long walk out…
We met Mum & Dad at the stroller/ECV return and then stood admiring the view as Louise had a long meeting with the porcelain. There are worse places to wait.
The tram took us back to the car and we dropped off Mum & Dad before getting back at home just after ten.
A lovely day in one of our favourite places.
Mkingdon's Blog 
Superb. My favourite too. And BB for grub. I’m booking that flight now.
Thank you.
Nope – my hands are all over the beady door too! Until I think about the germs……..😀😀😀