Tuesday, January 4, 2011

WDW Day 2 (Hollywood Studios) Part 1

We had an 8:35a call time at the Hollywood and Vine character breakfast in Hollywood Studios on our first day. When we left the hotel, I feel like there might have been some discussion as to whether or not we should take the umbrella stroller as we left the room, but I think we decided to leave it because he can walk, he likes walking, and he's NOT fond of being stuck in a stroller. So, we loaded onto the bus, and headed out around 7:45a. Now, Hollywood Studios the park, does not open until 9a, but because we were eating breakfast we were allowed to enter the park. Now, remember, this is our FIRST time ever to anything Disney related. We have these cards that not only get you into your hotel room, but they serve as your park tickets too. I watch Dennis pass through the turnstyle by slipping his card into this reader and then sticking his thumb on a scanner (I swear it felt like Mission: Impossible), and going through. Now, honestly, in hindsight I understand how stupid I am, but at the time I was completely under the impression that my ticket as well as Lex's ticket were on Dennis' ticket. So, I try to walk through the turnstyle, and a lady gets HELLA shitty with me. "Ma'am, you MUST stick your card in!" So, par for me, I got hella shitty back with her, "I'm SORRY. You'll have to excuse me because this is my FIRST time here." Anyway, I'm Mission: Impossible'd in, and we're off to breakfast.

Now, let me tell you something. When you use a travel agent, they (you can do this too on your own) can get you reservations for meals. I would suggest this because not unlike 'stand-by' for rides, the lines for sit down meals are HOURS long. HOURS. This would be our first character breakfast. I had no idea what to expect and neither did Lex. Hollywood and Vine is a buffet, and the characters kind of, as it was described to me, ping-pong around the restaurant. About every 15 minutes or so, the characters take a break from interacting with the tables to dance and sing. A-fucking-dorable. I wish I would've thought to video this, but it never crossed my mind. So, while we conned Lex into eating (he was really weird on vacation...it was like pulling teeth to get him to eat ANYTHING), the characters walked around, signed autographs, and generally interacted with everyone.

After breakfast, we decided to hit the park. Now, again, these places are HUGE...and we really had no idea where to start. The sole purpose of WDW, for us, was for Lex to see Mater and Lightning McQueen. We had NO CLUE where to find them, and the map isn't exactly helpful. So, we decided to walk through the Pixar studios portion. Unfortunately, the only really cool thing that Lex was into were the stairs. At this point, we're starting to realize that forgetting (or leaving) the stroller behind was a bad idea. Now, both Dennis and I realize that we expect entirely too much from our preschooler. While he wants to run up and down the stairs doing something that he can do at home, we want to look around. So, we start to lose our patience, but we've paid something like $240 for all of us to go in to this park, and god damn it, we want to see something other than the stairs inside the Pixar area. So, thus 'the dragging of the Lex' starts. Which, of course, turns into a fight. I'll leave out the gory details, but eventually we were able to con him out of the gift shop.



So, in order to appease both Lex and parents, we go to a backlot tour. Now, this was super cool. They just kind of give you a behind the scenes look at how special effects/stunts are done on a movie set. Lex's favorite part (and mine too!) was when they blew stuff up. And then there was FIRE. ON WATER. He LOVED it. Then we got to ride a little tram around the studio, saw the famous Mouse ear water tower, a bunch of Star Wars props , and a multitude of other wicked cool movie props. We watched an Indiana Jones stunt show, and after that we headed over to our main reason for Disney World: Lightning McQueen and Mater. We stood in line for about 15 minutes for about 4 minutes of what we wanted. Which is fine. That's kind of what it's like in WDW. A lot of standing around for just a few minutes of joy. Now what you don't get to see is the epic meltdown that we had to contend with AFTER the family photo was taken. In order to get Lex to relax, one of the theaters was showing Mickey's Christmas Carol, so we sat in a warm theater (again, FL? You're south, start acting like it!) and watched the movie. It was cool seeing on a huge screen.

After the movie, we had lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. This was actually attached to the restaurant we went to in the morning. It was set up like a 50s style house. Think "Leave it to Beaver" and that's exactly what the waiting room was like. I couldn't take any pictures because like everything in WDW, it was packed wall to wall with people. When we were finally seated, our server was HILARIOUS! As one kid was being carried out screaming, she proceeds to yell after the family, "Hey!!! I have some Nyquil in my cabinet if you need it!" The idea of the restaurant was to have the 'servers' be moms. And if you didn't finish your plate you were teased. One little girl was made to get her own refills, we sang Happy Birthday (off key intentionally)to another little girl at a table near us, and our server threw straws at us when we asked for some. . We got a massive kick out this restaurant, and I would definitely go back again!

After lunch, it was time to take Lex back to the hotel for his nap, so back on the bus and back to the Star Hotel. The rest of the afternoon was spent by Lex napping, me sitting by the pool watching the dumbasses swimming (It was 63 degrees), and Dennis watching TV.

I'm going to finish up Day 2 tomorrow. I'm tired of typing...

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