Whirlwind WDW Trip Day 3
Friday June 6 is our last full day at Walt Disney World. The original plan was to go to Animal Kingdom in the morning, then Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. We made a change the night before, deciding that since Star Wars Weekends started today Alex and I would spend our day at Hollywood Studios. We had our Fantasmic! dinner reservations for 4:50 that evening.
Alex and I got up early because we wanted to be at Hollywood Studios at opening. We actually got there at 8:30 and they were letting people in already. We stopped to get the collectable pins for Star Wars Weekends but they were already gone – and the park would not open for 30 minutes! I was just a bit shocked.
We could enter and go left to get fastpasses to meet the three actors who would be there. I decided against this. The line was several hundred people long and I felt that Alex wouldn’t care about meeting the actors. He would rather meet the characters. Once that decision was made we made our way back to the main street and went as far as we could before we ran into the crowd waiting for rope drop.
At 9:00 they opened the park and we made our way, along with everyone else, over to Toy Story Mania for fastpasses. I didn’t ask for a third, knowing Andy would not be there until later and with my early return time I knew we could grab two more later in the day. Once I grabbed these fastpasses we started heading back to Star Tours to check out what was happening there.
On the way we ran into Daisy Duck. We have never been able to see her at Disneyland so there was no doubt that we would stop. We got really lucky because she had just come out and we were the first in line to see her. Pictures and autographing were quickly taken care of and again we made our way to Star Tours.
Once in the general area the crowds multiplied by the thousands. I would estimate about 100 thousand people in that area for Star Wars Weekends. The queue for Star Tours was over 1 hour long, and that one is never long! We saw Chewbacca out for pictures and autographs so immediately got in line. Because of the once again incredibly hot temperatures and a very high humidity, the big guy in the costume of fur could only stay out for a few minutes at a time. Alex enjoyed the wait while playing with the children in line around us. It really was amazing to see all of those people, especially the kids who love Star Wars as much as Alex.
Finally after a 40 minute wait, we got to meet Chewbacca. He towered over Alex so much it was incredible. Being the good guy he is though, he got down so that we could have a picture taken. After leaving Chewbacca we encountered a line for Leia so we got in that one. This queue was much quicker. She doesn’t wear a fur costume! Alex and I were done with that within 10 minutes or so. We ran into Luke, but didn’t get an autograph. Instead I took a picture of him as he walked away.
It was about 10:15 by this time, so Alex and I went toward the parade route. We stopped at a cart and looked at the merchandise. I picked up a SWW shirt for Alex but decided not to wait in line. Instead we went to the Indy cart so he could buy a toy to play with while waiting for the parade.
Finally it was time to find seats. We ended up with front row seats that had a great view of the stage. The parade was due to start in about 75 minutes. The people next to us were a party of 4. Two adult children (married) and the parents. The five of us talked and talked while waiting and really became good friends. At about 11:30 we saw a new area being roped off, even closer to the stage. I left Alex with our friends and went to check on seats. I was told we could indeed sit there so I went to grab Alex and our new ‘family’. We were let into the roped off area, got all comfortable and were then told we could not sit there! Our previous seats were gone, the parade was ready to start and now all of us had lost our good seats. Adrienne, the married daughter found that unacceptable. Alex and I went to squeeze into another area while Adrienne and her family waited to talk with a Manager.
Amazingly Adrienne was helped and they took care of us as only Disney can. They waved Alex and me over so we joined them and followed them around. We were led to the VIP section and were seated behind the families of the actors! Warwick Davis who was an Ewok, played in Willow and Harry Potter, was the leader of Star Wars Weekends. We sat with his family and had prime seats! The only disappointment was that I didn’t have enough knowledge of how to use our video recorder, so I got none of this taped.
Alex was in heaven. He wanted to see R2D2 so badly! I was standing next to Adrienne for a better picture vantage point. Her mom was next to Alex. She helped him watch for R2, and when he got close she grabbed him and pointed him out. Alex had the biggest smile on his face! Because of where we were sitting, everyone in the parade turned to us as they went past and into the backstage area.
Once the parade was over they opened up our roped off area so we could go to the stage. We had a view from the side instead of the front but it was still a great view. Warwick Davis spoke for a few minutes, introduced the other actors and then it was over. Alex and I said goodbye to our next best friends, and thanked them for including our family with theirs when it was time to be seated in the VIP section.
At this point we decided to head over to Toy Story Mania for two more fastpasses before doing anything else. With that accomplished it was time to find something to eat. Alex had only eaten fruit and I wanted him to get something more substantial so we went back toward Star Tours and into the Backlot area. Here we found Pizza Planet and decided to eat there. We went inside and it was packed. There were about 20 people ahead of us because the car stunt show had just ended. We planned on eating, then going to see High School Musical at 1:10.
The line completely dragged and by the time we got our food it was 1pm. No way were we going to make the High School Musical show. Unfortunately it was the last one we had a chance to see. Our pizza was good, and Alex ate all of his. We decided to go into the backlot area from here. Saw the almost 2 hour line to meet Darth Vadar, watched a live band – Mulch something something. J They are a rock band and are actually very good. I video taped it and the band members kept coming out to perform for the camera.
When the band was done Alex and I were miserably hot and ready to go inside for a bit. We grabbed three fastpasses for Star Tours (a cast member gave me the third one for Andy) and then headed to the Great Movie Ride. We ran into our Star Wars friends here, so talked some more. The line was just about 25 minutes before we were loaded into our ride vehicle. The first time we rode this we loved it. Our guide and the other cast member doing the skit were fantastic. During this ride neither the guide nor the other cast member were very good. It was amazing how that changed the ride. We still liked it of course. I absolutely love the video montage at the end of the ride, and it was real nice to be cool and sitting down.
Alex and I left the ride and headed toward the animation area. Here we saw Leo, Quincy, Manny, JoJo and Goliath walking around. We were on our way to laceType w:st="on">TowerlaceType> of laceName w:st="on">TerrorlaceName> for fastpasses and realized that this area was a dead end. At laceType w:st="on">TowerlaceType> of laceName w:st="on">TerrorlaceName> I encountered our first very unhelpful cast member. He absolutely refused to give me a Fastpass for Andy. I was a bit shocked but there was nothing we could do. Fortunately Andy called a few minutes later. He was there! I sent him to Tower to get himself a Fastpass and headed to Hollywood and Vine for dinner.
We all met there and were soon inside the wonderfully cool restaurant. We were told we had to use the buffet on the right and that they were the same buffet. Well ours had no children’s food so Andy and Alex went to the other side. They came back with mac and cheese and some fruit. The mac and cheese looked dreadful. I tasted it and about died. We did not even make Alex taste it. This was the worst buffet I have ever seen in my life. The choices for salad were minimal, only one item that was beef, the pork was overcooked, salmon was dreadful. Our service was excruciatingly slow. The dessert buffet had a whole 5 desserts. Woo Hoo – NOT. We were not pleased at all with this meal and will never be able to recommend it.
After dinner I took the boys over to Star Tours. I wanted Andy to see it. The place was still packed. We got very lucky though. I line had formed with no character in site. I checked, and the character coming out was R2D2! No doubt about it, we waited in line. All day long I had been told he would not appear, yet here he was and we were thrilled. When it was Alex’s turn he gave R2 a bit kiss and hug. It was priceless.
Next the boys rode Star Tours while I went to get Alex the Star Wars Weekends shirt. I found out to my horror that they were sold out! I was very sad about this. No shirt for my little man. We all met in the Star Wars store at the ride exit so we could move on.
We headed over to Pixar Place to use our Toy Story fastpasses. I rode with a single rider. He was from Parker – not far from us at all! Talk about a coincidence.
When we left Toyland we decided to do laceType w:st="on">TowerlaceType> of laceName w:st="on">TerrorlaceName>. The queue was quiet different. There was no upstairs like at Disneyland. The cast members here were not very effective either. Instead of being stern and kind of scary they were laughing and smiling. Hmmm. The beginning of this ride is vastly different from the one at Disneyland. The moving forward and around portion doesn’t exist there. At WDW we also noticed that you don’t wave goodbye to yourself. The story here was not so complete. We give Disneyland the win on this attraction. And ohhhhhh it made me sick. I was in real bad shape after that!
We had decided to skip Fantasmic! and head to laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType>. We got there at 8:35 and the boys headed toward Tomorrowland while I headed toward First Aide. I got Dramamine and hurried to get across Main Street before SpectroMagic started. I made it and found a great spot by Tomorrowland Terrace to rest. Andy and Alex were doing Stitch, Buzz and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor while I recovered. From here I could lean on the wall, catch bits of SpectroMagic, and I had a great view of laceName w:st="on">SleepinglaceName> laceName w:st="on">BeautylaceName> laceType w:st="on">CastlelaceType>. It took forever for the Dramamine to work. The fireworks started before the Dramamine did, but we had a great seat for them.
Finally the meds kicked in so we went into Fantasyland to do Mickey’s Philharmagic. I do love this show! Afterwards we got Alex a Daisy plush. He finally has one now. Lol By this time the laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType> was closing so we waited in a very long line for wrist bands. Mine was put on for me. Andy had to put his and Alex’s on and he sure got his too tight!
We found that Toontown was closed during Extra Magic Hours so decided to ride laceName w:st="on">HauntedlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MansionlaceType>. Alex fell asleep on the way. We woke him to ride but he didn’t want to so we headed back to the hotel to pack. It worked out great because we wanted an early night, but it was too bad we couldn’t ride more while there.
Today was a fantastic day. Alex and I had a ton of fun at the Star Wars Weekends. It was amazing to be in those crowds and to see all of the characters.
Up next: Our last day, Tears and Sickness, Gay Days