It's a much smaller park than the others, which was kinda nice. But its layout made it weird to navigate, which was kinda annoying.
I loved the Pixar section - I really think they should make it bigger. Look at those monkeys!
We got lucky and saw this toy soldier from Toy Story. He kept "hiding" - it was really fun.
We were even able to get a picture before he had to get back in the "toy closet".
We decided to go on Toy Story Midway Mania first. We didn't have a FastPass for this one, and it was the first really long line we had to wait in the entire trip. (I think we waited around 45-55 minutes.) Not bad for a full week at Disney!
It was a long wait, but the kids were pretty good overall. There were lots of fun things to look at while we waited - like giant crayons, Tinker Toys, and even Chutes and Ladders on the ceiling!
An animatronic Mr. Potato Head kept us entertained about halfway through. Spencer really liked him.
I pulled out some temporary tattoos and the kids had fun doing those, and then we played Head's Up on my phone for a while, which was pretty fun.
You wear 3-D glasses for this ride. If there's one thing I learned that week it's that Disney really loves 3-D glasses and making you sit in the dark on their rides. I can't remember the number of times I dealt with both - sometimes at the same time!
The long wait was totally worth it - what a fun ride! You ride in these little carts that zip you around to these huge screens and you shoot a gun to play fun digital midway games, like shooting balls at ducks and ring tosses and such. It really was really fun.
We wandered a bit after the ride - I was impressed with all of the "scenery".
I think we went on Star Tours sometime around here. It was pretty great - they've made it so much better since Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars. You gotta love C-3PO and 3-D glasses!
Finally learning from past mistakes, we had lunch a little early. It was excellent, made all the better because we didn't have to deal with crazy lines and crowding. The only weird thing was that the adult lunches came with desserts but the kid lunches didn't. What the what? Fortunately, our children are very lucky to have loving, kind, and willing-to-share adults in their lives. Several of us had these special flowerpot cupcakes, which were pretty tasty. I think Josh ate 2-3 of those frosting filled chocolate flower pots on top!
And then we did something awful. Torturous. Against the Geneva Code. (At least according to Spencer, Josh, and Cole.) We made them go to the FROZEN SING-A-LONG!!!
But first we waited in line a bit and watched this sky writer. We didn't get to see him finish, but we're pretty sure it was going to say "Jesus 4 gives". You speak the truth, anonymous skywriter. Which is why we still forced our boys into the sing-a-long. We knew we'd be forgiven eventually.
Spencer slouched and pouted the entire time, but I caught Josh and Cole singing along more than once. (Cole actually really enjoys the Frozen music but would NEVER admit to it. Ever.)
This girl, though... this girl LOVED IT. She sang and clapped and ooohed and aaahhd and it was magical in only that way that Disney can make things magical.
It was actually quite a cute show; they did a brief synopsis of the movie, as told by two historians of Arendelle. Lots of jokes for the grown-ups, which made it even more fun.
We got to see Anna and Kristoff and even Elsa, who made it SNOW at the end! Magic!
Tess was so cute. "It's snowing! Elsa made it snow!" Totally worth all the effort and expense, right there!
Grandma Susie enjoyed it so much she went a second time with Tess. (Okay, she thought she might get Tess to fall asleep the second time and take a little nap. How wrong she was!)
After that we went on The Great Movie Ride, in which we sat in this big, open bench-wagon-train thing and saw animatronic versions of classic movies, and our tour guide interacted with them and it was all very, very Disney.
Then we split up for a while to ride some of the big rides. I have no idea why, but Josh and Cole were very, very chummy. It was darling.
Why can't they be like this all the time?
Seriously. This morning I had to forcibly remove Josh from their bedroom because he and Cole kept fist fighting while getting ready for church. For church. *sigh* Must've been the magic of Disney.
We had a FastPass for the Tower of Terror, and since the line was decent we went on it twice. It was really, really fun!
One cool dude, waiting in the "lobby".
...but waaay better in the front. And you know what I loved best about the ride? Cole giggling maniacally as were bounced and dropped sporadically. (You go way high in the "elevator" and then you plummet, only to be pulled up and dropped again and again - it's different each time you ride.) That kid loved it. At the end of the ride he said, "Hahahaha! That was fun." Meanwhile, there was some punk teenager behind him (The one right behind Kyle) who kept saying "Holy $#!!" What a wuss.
I thought it was really clever of them to have this sign at the end of the ride where you looked at your pictures. (It's the Twlight Zome Tower of Terror...)
This is where the PhotoPass got fancy and made a video of the ride for us! (They made one for the Mine Train, too, but I didn't think that was as fun.) You can actually see us on the ride! Although several questions must be asked: Why do I look so frightened? I was not. (Really.) Why does Cole only cover one eye? And what in the world is my Dad doing with his bag?!
We got some pictures to commemorate the event.
Although now that I think about it, I think this was before the ride. Oh well.
Gosh, I love these men!
Then we hit the Rock n Roller Coaster. This was extra special because this is the first REAL roller coaster that my boys have been on. There was a loop and a corkscrew and it was super fast and all indoors and awesome.
We all decided to make these rock n roll faces. We look pretty great. But just look at that look of pure joy on Cole's face - that kid has a need for speed. (How do I channel and use this penchant for danger into something good and productive?)
Nice one, Dad! Spence was pretty stoked, too.
We all would've liked to have gone on it again, but the line was long and it was snack time. My last ice cream Mickey. So tasty.
We met up with Tess and Susie at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids park.
We watched the Indiana Jones stunt show, which was pretty impressive, but it was hot and muggy and Cole was a super grouch. He was mollified once Indy started dodging spikes, giant stone balls, and bursts of flame, though.
Then we went to see Muppet Vision 3D, which fulfilled a childhood wish of mine: to be in the Muppets Theater. I was one happy girl!
Yes, it was cheesy and silly, but that's expected with the Muppets.
We ended the day with some souvenir shopping (notice all the Perry the Platypusses) and some pictures because, for some inexplicable reason, we didn't get any on the way in that morning!
They made us do a cheesy pose. It actually turned out kind of well with Tess right there!
That night we ate at O'hana, the big restaurant at the Polynesian Resort. We had to wait quite a while, but it was so worth it.
You could see Cinderella's Castle off in the distance.
So. Much. Food. And all so delicious! I think it was probably the best meal of the trip, and that's saying something.
During the evening they had the coconut race for the kids, where they each got a coconut and pushed them along with little brooms. It was pretty cute. Everyone got a lei.
By the end of the meal, though, Tess had had enough! I loved that the servers didn't even bat an eye when they saw her. I'm sure hiding under the table like this is probably pretty tame compared to what they've seen!
We had planned on taking the monorail home, but it had problems and so we just took a shuttle. Poor Cole - he was hot and very tired and worked up. He cried and cried and wailed about not being able to go on the monorail. I tried to be comforting, but he refused to be comforted. Plus, I was hot and tired, too, and I knew we had to get home and back for an early morning. Yuck.
And that's what we did. We were out the door the next morning by 6:45 to make our 10am flight back home. And, miracle of miracles, the tram at the airport passed for a monorail to Cole, and all was right with the world. (Also, kudos to our Disney resort. They had airline baggage check at the resort, so we were picked up at our room, dropped off at the front, turned in our luggage, and didn't have to deal with it until we got to Indy. So easy.)
So, all said and done, it was a GREAT trip. We all had our moments, sure, and it wasn't magical the entire time. But the majority was still AWESOME. Our kids loved it, and that's really who this trip was for. (Unlike next year when I plan to drag them all to the Grand Canyon. That trip will be for me!)
Are we now Disney fanatics? Will we be going every year? No way. I mean, I love Disney - they are great at what they do. But I just can't see our family doing the same thing every year. Our kids would probably love it, but Lance and I both like trying and doing new things. Plus, this was a pretty pricey trip. We saved for it for quite a while, and if we wanted to do this every year I don't know that we'd be able to do it at the same level. (We'd probably have to drive, stay at a less fancy resort, and have a shorter stay.) And now that we've done it like this, well, how could we do anything less, right? My thinking is, if we're going to spend that sort of money, let's go to Europe. Or on a cruise. Okay, apparently my thinking is really, let's spend that sort of money on a trip for Lance or myself, because I'm not taking my young children to Europe or on a cruise!
Okay, back on track.
We were so blessed to have Dad and Susie and Kyle come along with us. Seriously, it would've been A LOT less fun without Dad and Susie there to help entertain/corral/feed/distract/threaten the kids. We owe you guys. Big time.
It was an AWESOME, once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip, and I'm so glad we went. Not to get all sappy, but it truly was magical!
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