Disney Day 4: Hollywood Studios and Daytona Beach

Our last day at Disney was altered in my plans at the last minute.  When talking with my travel agent (the amazing Deb Chambers with The Magic for Less), I originally ordered a 3-day park pass.  A few days prior to our trip, I got a confirmation e-mail from Deb stating that we had a 4-day pass.  I replied to her e-mail and notified her of the error--just to learn that it was not error at all!  Disney ran a special, and it was about $150 cheaper for us to get the additional day!  So, while I had planned to surprise the kids with a day trip to the beach on the way home, we decided to spend the morning at the only major park we had not visited:  Hollywood Studios.  And boy, am I glad we did.  HS may have been our favorite park!

We followed the directions I had read many times in my research and made a bee-line for Toy Story Midway Mania.  The hubs got in the standby line with the kids, while I got in line to get us FastPasses.  I got our FastPasses at 8:55 (which is actually 5 minutes before the park even opens) and our return time was 11:20!!!  DISNEY TIP #8:  Run (or speed walk) to Toy Story Midway Mania as soon as the park opens.  FastPasses are usually gone by 2:00 and the stand by line can get VERY long!  So we were able to ride Toy Story Midway Mania twice!  Awesome.  I think this ride probably ranks as the family favorite overall.  B loved 'the Goofy ride' at the Magic Kingdom, but this Toy Story ride is a true crowd pleaser.  After riding it the first time we got in line to meet Buzz Lightyear and Woody.  The line was 50 minutes long, but really worth it.  The queue has tons of great photo spots!  The kids were ecstatic to meet two of their favorite characters, and C actually cried when we had to leave the room!  We went straight to the Disney Jr. Live on Stage show and were one of the last people they let into the first show at 10:30.  My kids absolutely LOVED this show.  It is fun, interactive, and has all of the Disney Jr. favorites--the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and a couple of the newbies like Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First.  It was a hit.  A few minutes after the show started, the hubs made a quiet exit to go get FastPasses for Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster.  We met him outside once the show was over and got in line to meet Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).  Then it was time to redeem our FastPasses for Toy Story Midway Mania so we headed back for round 2 on one of our favorite rides.

 This is one of my favorite pics from the whole trip.  B is quoting the aliens from the movie:  "The claaaaww."

After a pretty yummy lunch at Pizza Planet (and a couple of arcade games for B), the kids and I headed to more character Meet n Greets while the hubs headed to the Tower of Terror.  We saw Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater, and C met Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. but B stayed in the stroller--I am pretty sure he was a little afraid of the monsters.  We met up with the hubs and used up the last of our snack credits on cupcakes and an ice cream sandwich made with homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Yummo!  Then it was time for the hubs to ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster.  This was the only FastPassed ride that any of us had to actually wait in line for.  And from what the hubs said, part of understanding the story of the ride involves taking in the queue.  But we only waited about 20 minutes for him to finish riding it.  Then it was time to say goodbye to our last Disney park.  We hopped a bus back to Pop Century, got in the car and headed to Daytona.

There was a good bit of traffic, but we got to our hotel around 4:30.  And that's when 'the norm' struck again.  The room they assigned to us had not been cleaned, so 3 rooms later, we were finally put in our home for the night.  We spent about an hour down at the beach playing in the icy cold water and digging in the sand where 'the norm' hit us again when the hubs' phone wouldn't take any pics!!  We showered, dressed, and went to dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Factory which proved to be a fun and yummy place to eat.  We went back to the room where I surprised the kids with their final Disney surprise--new jammies!  They were pretty excited.  Our Disney trip was so much fun, and I am literally already trying to figure out when we can go back!!!  Until next time, Disney World!