Because I am an uber-planner (at least when it comes to fun things like Disney World), I had our whole vacation mapped out. I used two different crowd calendar sites to map out which parks to go to on which days. We had a slight snafu where our rest day and Epcot day got swapped, but otherwise we managed to stay on schedule. Friday morning, Thomas was geared and ready to go. We had bought a bandage for his ankle and the swelling had gone down considerably. He was still limping, but not as badly. So, off we all went. In addition to planning where to go on what day, I had also planned out which attractions to see first (last time, I planned out entire days, this time I was a little more lax). Our Hollywood Studios plan called on us to split upon entering the park, with one of us racing to get fast passes for Toy Story Mania (TSM) and the other taking the kids to register for the Training Academy. Then, depending on wait time, we would head back to TSM. I got the fast pass at 9:05 and our return time was 1130-1230. Then, I raced back to meet Thomas and the kids. They were in the middle of the line, and got registered for the 3pm show (we needed one with 3 available slots, or it could have been earlier). We headed back to TSM, but the wait was 40 minutes, at 9:30! That is by far the most bottle- necked ride in all of Disney World. They say it is their most popular, but I don't think that's accurate, it just has a really low rider capacity so the wait is always extreme (and, they often run out of fast passes by late morning).
We decided to just wait until our fastpass time and did Star Tours instead. Kara was too scared to ride (sensing a theme with Kara this trip???) so I waited outside with her. After they came out, we bribed Kara into riding by saying we would get her a special surprise if she did. So, we all went on. There was no wait, so it was a good time to ride. From there, we saw the Muppet Show and then went to do the Back Lot tour, but something was wrong and after waiting 20 minutes, we decided to go get lunch. We had lunch at Pizza Planet, which had pretty good food.
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| Hanging out on a speeder bike, waiting for the others to ride Star Tours. |
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| They were setting up for Star Wars weekend and had random stuff set up around the park. |
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| At Pizza Planet |
Next, we were off to TSM. The posted wait was 70 minutes! With the fastpasses, we waited less than 10. When we got to the front of the line, they asked me how old the kids were. I wanted to be able to play, so I lied and said Jack was 7 (he was calling out, "I'm 5 and my sister is 4,"). They told me he could ride alone, but not with Kara. Jack and Kara had been planning on riding together and I felt some guilt at my lie (fortunately, none of the kids had heard), so I backtracked and said I would ride with the two of them. That meant I got to sit in the middle and not have a gun (it's not really a gun, but I don't know what to call it). I was glad we hadn't waited 70 minutes.
From there we went to see Disney Jr. It was just okay. We met our friends, Marta and Elizabeth there. They were going to spend the night with us Friday and then go to Animal Kingdom with us on Saturday (another yay for a big rental house!). After that we went on the Great Movie Ride and then Thomas and Elizabeth took off for Rockin' Roller Coaster and Marta and I took the kids to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset. We agreed to meet at the Jedi Training area at 2:30.
The kids LOVED the play area. It was pretty cool, with giant ants and netted spider webs and slides made from giant blades of grass and a roll of film (whatever that is).
Unfortunately, Thomas realized he had the tickets for the Jedi Training and he didn't have a cell phone, so he didn't get to ride the roller coaster and was waiting for us when we got to the Jedi area. They sat all prospective Jedis down and asked them questions about the movies (i.e. what color is Mace Windu's sword, what planet is Queen Amidala from, etc.). Jack did great! Anna did pretty well and Kara got a few right too. Anything the kids couldn't answer (there weren't too many), they asked the parents. Thomas got everything right (what was Anakin's mother's name, who uttered the famous line, "it's a trap", what species is Admiral Ackbar, etc.)? Then, they asked the kids if any of their parents could do the Wookie call. Jack's was the only hand that shot up in the air, so Thomas did that for everyone. He was in geek Heaven and I was sooooo proud (well, I was soooooo something). :) Truthfully, it was very fun and it was air conditioned and the whole experience was definitely the highlight of the day, if not the trip.
From there, they gave the kids their Padawan robes and presented Thomas with a special certificate. Everyone went outside and the kids were taught their Jedi moves. The trainer was very funny and it was entertaining for both the kids and the audience. Then, Darth Vader came out! One by one, the kids were brought to do a light-saber battle with him. All our kids did fine and were very excited. Since Darth Vader couldn't turn any of the Padawans to the dark side, he was forced to leave and the kids were all given certificates declaring them Padawans (Jack now thinks he is a Jedi). It was great!
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| We took video during the show, so I don't have any pictures. I am sure if I was the least bit technologically savy, I could freeze from the video, but this will have to be enough (plus, we have the pictures from photopass coming at some point). |
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| The kids really liked these lego characters |
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| Jack racing the car he built at the lego store. |
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