Disney: Day 1 @ Hollywood

Because we knew we were going back to Magic Kingdom with my family on Thursday, we headed over at lunchtime to Hollywood Studios.

Our #1 priority at Hollywood was Toy Story Mania. Well, it was down for maintenance, fast passes were out, and when it got fixed there was a 2 hour wait! So we did everything else we could in hopes of the wait going down. And in hopes of our marriage being repaired because there was definitely tension with my hopes for a perfect day being dashed by the second! (Kidding, of course, but I am being honest that it was not as magical as I had imagined!)

At least the kids didn't know the plans were being changed and they were along for the ride!

OF COURSE we had to go straight to Mater and McQueen! Gavin couldn't take his eyes off of them:

One thing I didn't know about Disney was that Characters (including Mater and McQueen) weren't just out and about greeting everyone or that you were able to go up to them as you please. You had to stand in line to see them! This really shocked me. So we waited about 20 minutes to see these guys for a total of 2 minutes, but Gavin obviously LOVED it!

LOVE this:

Gavin wore his Cars shirt just for this moment!

Then it was time for a snack. Gavin had birthday money so we couldn't say no to sweet treats! Mickey Ears of course!

So this is another way the Lord just seriously worked out timing for us. I had a list of rides/shows I wanted to do at each park on my phone, and this was not on the list, but I'm so glad we did it! There was a Disney Junior show with Mickey Mouse, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates (all shows that the kids have seen and love but we don't watch often because we don't have cable). We got there as they were shutting the doors and the kids LOVED it. This is a terrible picture, but I'll include it anyway. It was interactive and just perfect for their age:

Right before we went into the show, we got to hug Handy Manny with no wait because all the kiddos were inside to watch the Disney Junior show! It was seriously perfect timing.

Typical Hollywood backdrop picture:

We absolutely and unashamedly brought their "lovies" into the park with us to try to get them to nap in the stroller in between rides. It at least worked for Henley! And Ryan and I were able to watch a street comedy show that was hilarious.

We were running out of time, so we (sadly and to my regret because we later found out it was all the Pixar characters) decided to skip the parade and see Beauty and the Beast. This was my VERY FAVORITE part of the day. Henley loves loves loves Beauty and the Beast, so we had this as #1 for her.

We were on the first row behind the special seating! I was FREAKING OUT and totally singing along the whole time. :)

It was a 30 minutes fast-paced summary of the movie and was seriously well done.

Then it was back to Pixar Ave, and we ran into the Green Army Man from Toy Story! Gavin got his autograph! (By the way--we bought Disney notebooks at the $1 Spot at Target before we left that worked great for our autograph books!)

Gavin still talks about him. Love this:

Then we decided to grin and bear it--we waited 75 minutes for Toy Story Mania. Whew.

 Thankfully the wait area was really cool and had tons of stuff for the kids to look at (and climb on illegally!). The animated Mr. Potato Head was really cool!

Gavin was exhausted and fell asleep for at least 45 minutes of the wait time on Ryan's shoulder. And we found out it rained while we were inside waiting. Again--perfect timing!

It was a really neat ride and I am glad we waited. 3D arcade like shooting canons at targets. We had a blast! (Pun intended! :) )

 Gavin said this was his favorite from Day 1!

By this time it was dinnertime, so we took a bus back to Magic Kingdom (can we say WHEW!), then drove to Downtown Disney to eat at Rainforest Cafe, do some shopping, and of course stop at the Lego Store for Gavin! No pictures of any of this because we were EXHAUSTED!! We woke up at 6:30 am to get ready, pack lunch, and leave, and walked into my Aunt's house at 10:45 pm! Go big or go home, right? :)