Hollywood Studios is adorable. The main entrance is set up to look like an old-time Hollywood street (like how Main Street USA looks like an old timey Main Street), complete with the most awesomely named shop of all.
After that, you encounter the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, where you can wander past a 50s style drive-in and some other themed places. There's an Indiana Jones corner (that's where Jedi sign up was). In the center of everything is a reproduction of the Chinese Theater. To the left of that is Pixar Place, and to the right is the Animation Courtyard. This was our next stop. As we walked in, it was relatively empty. We saw Sofia the First lined up to give autographs, but Caroline passed. Next was Jake (of Neverland Pirate fame) and the kids were all in.
After that, we went to see Minnie Mouse, but it was three minutes until the start of the Disney Junior show, so we bailed out and went to see that, which was really quite good, for a puppet show. As we exited, we found that Grandma had already lined up to save us a spot for Minnie's autograph. Caroline was excited to wear her new Minnie glasses to meet her. As the girls in front of her stepped away from Ms. Mouse, Caroline ran up to say hi, only to be cautioned by the gatekeeper that it wasn't quite our turn yet. Caroline was startled and embarrassed and proceeded to cry - a lot. I tried to coax her into visiting with Minnie, but she cried through the whole thing. We don't have any pictures to share because when she saw them, she told me she was embarrassed and she didn't want me to show anyone. So I won't.
After that, we met the boys, Uncle, and Wendy at the front of the line to encounter Kylo Ren. When we got in the room, his presence really was a bit startling. Max walked up and quickly retreated. We sent Grandma over to him to show it was safe, and she may have briefly been turned to the Dark Side.
The kids said they'd only go if we all went together, so we did - but we kept a healthy distance between us and His Ren-ness. Spooky.
Next up was Chewbacca. They weren't as scared of Chewy, but they still needed a grown-up in the photo with them.
When we went back outside, we found Boppy waiting for us in the main square. We chatted for a while and got some snacks and then we were off to see a Frozen Sing-along. I had booked this specifically because we couldn't get in to the Anna and Elsa meet and greet (it's booked solid for months), and yet Caroline was NOT thrilled. It was cute, but not the highlight I'd hoped it would be. Then we got hopelessly lost looking for the big ride, Toy Story Midway Mania. We got sidetracked on "Streets of America", which is a really cute series of movie-set type scenes of different cities, including the Golden Gate Bridge. Sadly, we were in a rush and didn't get to see much of it. We found the ride and got in. It is a Haunted Mansion type ride where your car whips you around in different directions, only you're wearing 3D glasses and shooting at carnival-style games. Cute, but definitely not worth the advertised 60 minute wait time.
We left the Midway at about 12:32 and had to get back to Jedi Academy by 12;40. Uncle got directions and we RAN through the park to the other side, collecting Grandma and Boppy on the way. We were the last three kids to check in, but we made it. More specifics about that to come in a separate post.
After that, we took a bathroom break and then headed to Star Tours. We had a FastPass to get us past the bulk of the line and then apparently Boppy's cane got us to bypass the rest of it. With a party of 8, we would just fill one whole row on the transport, so we got in line and prepared for a calm, leisurely tour of the galaxy. At this point, Daniel realized that it's dark in space. And he doesn't like "dark" rides. Also, he was worried Grandma might get scared, so he offered to stay outside with her.
The rest of us filed into our second row seats and strapped in for take off. Everything seemed to be going fine until some Storm Troopers stopped us and asked if we'd seen a Rebel Spy they had been looking for. They showed us a picture and...IT WAS CAROLINE! Pretty sneaky, that Caroline! We had no idea! So our vessel had to take some pretty harrowing detours to evade capture. Luckily, we made it safely to our destination. And Daniel and Grandma were waiting for us when we got there! (I guess they teleported.)
After a not-nearly-brief-enough detour in the gift shop, we sat down to eat some of the best hamburgers we'd had in a while. I left the grandparents, Uncle, and the kids at the tables we snagged and went in, ordering 6 hamburgers, 6 drinks, and 6 desserts (Wendy got the other two meals). The folks in the restaurant very politely offered to help me carry the food out and I felt quite important leading the caravan of food back to the table. Everything went well, with the exception of both Max and Daniel dumping slushie drinks all over the ground. In Max's case, he also dumped it all over himself. And since it was cold outside, this basically brought our day to an end.
We waddled out to the exit and boarded the bus back to the hotel, where we said good bye to Boppy and settled in to rest for a bit before dinner. We entered our room to find that the maids had decorated our beds adorably with our assorted toys.
Dinner was back at Epcot, so that meant boarding a bus, going through security, and hoofing it through Future World and around the horn in the World Showcase to Morocco. In order to expedite things, we split up - Uncle went through the "no bags" entry with the boys and Grandma, while Wendy, Caroline, and I went through the security line to have our bags checked.
Uncle was selected (again) for additional screening and as a result, he ended up behind us when he finally got into the park. Grandma had peeled off to rent a scooter, so we ended up all turned around and confused. But finally we met up at the restaurant and sat down for dinner. The kids were not impressed by the belly dancer, compared to the one they've seen at the Moroccan restaurant at home, and even asked why she was wearing "so many clothes". During dinner, Daniel grabbed my phone to take some pictures of the group.
At about 8:30, Wendy checked on a Disney app and determined that the BB8 plush toy Max had identified as his chosen "gift" for the trip was only on sale at one store in the park that was set to close at 9pm. With the meal over and that news barely off Wendy's lips, Max practically bolted from the table, running to the door with me in hot pursuit. Uncle and the other two kids joined us and we ran a serpentine pattern through the park back down to the base of the lagoon and around the other side, getting to the store with just minutes to spare. We found the BB8 toy, along with Mickey dressed as Luke Skywalker and Goofy dressed as Darth Vader (but none of Minnie dressed as Princess Leia - darnit!).
Our purchases complete, we stepped outside and watched the fireworks show and then played some phone tag to meet up with Wendy. We tried in vain to get in touch with Grandma, who had left her phone in the hotel room and got separated from us, then got cold and decided it was in her best interest to get back to the room and warm up. So in spite of about forty-five minutes of worry, we all ended the evening safe and secure.
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