Day 6: Hollywood Studios
It’s EMM day!!! Yay!!! I had gotten onto the kids to get to bed early last night and reminded them how early I’d be waking them up today. Well…we were watching the Super Bowl late so they went to bed about as soon as they could.
I woke up around 4:45 and got showered and dressed. I made a cup of coffee and grabbed my overnight oats to enjoy on the patio quickly around 5:42 before waking the kids up. Everyone woke up pretty easily and quickly. Got dressed and out the door at 6:25 (had hoped for 6:20 but not bad!)! DD2 was really cute. I got her dressed before she really woke up but she stumbled into my parents’ room and collapsed in my mom’s arms afterward.
We got to the bus stop at 6:29. There were already several families there waiting to go to EMM also. The bus arrived at 6:36, we were out the of Poly at 6:42 and off of the bus at HS at 6:52. We got through bag check at 7:05. In between bag check and taps we had to wait in two lines. The first line was to check in to EMM with a CM and the second to get our wristbands. This seemed a little long in the tooth but didn’t really take all that long. We were through taps at 7:09.
We walked up towards TSL but were directed to The Commissary. There was a small group already in line for TSL but we all wanted a small bite. I was regretting not grabbing jackets. It was chilly and overcast and DD8 and DD4 were saying they were cold. Grabbed a couple pastries and coffees and I hustled everyone out of there around 7:25. They had already let everyone in to TSL.
Here’s what I got done:
Slinky: 7:42 (with DS, DD4 and DH)
DH and DS rode Slinky again
Saucers: 7:49 (with DD2)
Saucers: 7:58 (with DS)
Slinky: 8:16 (with DS)
Slinky: 8:25 (with DS)
Another Slinky (my mom, DS and my dad)
Slinky: 8:44 (with DS, my dad and DH)
TSM: 8:52 (with everyone)
I definitely could’ve ridden Slinky 2-4 more times but we had some time waiting around trying to find everyone and figuring out who was going on what. 4 times was great for me (you can see DS ended up riding it 6 times)!
DD4 was hesitantly agreeable to ride Slinky the first ride but tried to chicken out before we loaded onto the ride. We kind of forced her on at that point. She cried and cowered into DH’s arm the whole time but as soon as it was over she was grinning ear to ear and said she liked it (although she didn’t care to ride it again).
My dad and DD8 rode TSMM four times in a row before even considering doing anything else. I had to pull my dad out of the line so he’d have a chance to ride Slinky. Lol. Couldn’t convince DD8 to ride Slinky. She said it looked fun but was too nervous for the first little hill/turn.
My mom hesitantly agreed to ride it once with DS and my dad. She was nervous but kept saying how fun it looked so we nudged her on.
Never considered waiting in line to meet the characters. Lines were long the whole time (wouldn’t have been if we had gone to TSL before Commissary I bet).
After our last ride on Slinky we all rode TSMM all together before the RD crowd came in. I played with DD2 and she was so cute and excited to play with her glasses and kept saying “I got thousand points!!” When we came out the crowds had arrived. Slinky line was out past the entry to TSL and posted 90 minutes. I was so thankful to be leaving
Headed to the Commissary to get a more hearty breakfast. Ate the avocado toast and some pastries and yogurt. Great spread plus the ride access made me feel like the price we paid ($79/adult and $69/child) was well worth it!
After breakfast we caught the 10:00 March of the first Order and headed down Sunset Blvd to use our RnRC FP. Standby was posted at 120 minute and the FP line was fairly long as well. We still ended up getting in and out within 20 minutes I think so we were happy! It was DH’s first ride on it and he thought it was a fun ride.
Grabbed the girls and made the lonnnngggg walk to the bus stop. Made sure to offer everyone a chance to use the restroom before getting on the bus. Waited maybe 4 minutes for a bus to arrive and were back at the Poly by 11:20 for a nice, long break.
Grabbed some snacks and put Toy Story 3 on for the kids. I caught up on emails, confirmed our Kid’s Nite Out reservation for Wednesday and had some snacks.
After the kids watched the movie for a bit they were asking to turn it off and play on their iPads. We decided that’d be fine, but for 30 minutes only.
While they finished up, we asked my mom if we could take a walk (daddy was enjoying a swing on the beach) and she said sure. DH and I walked over to Pineapple Lanai and grabbed a couple of Dole Whips w/ Rum and walked the path to the Grand Floridian. It was such a lovely afternoon. We stopped halfway and sat on a bench and watched the boats go by. Then we walked to the GF, heard them playing bingo out by the pool and saw a girl having quincenera pictures taken just off of the lobby. Mainly walked in just to show DH the main lobby. What a beautiful hotel.
Walked back to the room to get the kids and my mom and took them for Dole Whips of their own (they all tried the swirl and it was delicious). It was about 1:50 and we decided we wanted to head back to the bus around 2:45.
Ended up leaving the room at 2:47 after much protest from DH that I was cutting into his relaxing time. Longest wait for a bus yet. Didn’t arrive until 3:08. No worries as it felt really nice outside and we just played while we waited. Staring contests mainly. I really suck at the no smiling ones.
We pulled into HS around 3:24 or so and made the long walk up to the gate (man that walk is long with all the Skyliner construction)! No lines at bag check or taps so we breezed right in. Got back to Sci-Fi around 3:50 for our 4:05 reservation. Received our table ready text within 5 minutes (later I would be glad for our early reservation time as there were tons of people waiting outside to be seated when we walked back by around 6:30).
They sat us in a 6 person car which was a tad cramped but ok. I wish the table space had been a bit deeper. They set up DD2’s high chair to the side of one row. Then the other 3 sat together in the front, DH and I sat in the middle and my parents sat together in the back. They really got a kick out of the whole place and reminisced about their younger days going to the show at the drive-ins. They even commented on how the speakers they have set up in there are exactly like the ones they used to have and how similar the commercials were.
All in all, fantastic atmosphere. Kids enjoyed the movie clips and found them hilarious, not scary in the least. Service was a touch slow toward the end of our meal but otherwise good. Food was ok. I ordered the falafel burger which had decent flavor but wasn’t crunchy enough for my taste. Had an ice cream sundae for dessert and it brought back memories of my mom taking us to Sonic after school on Fridays for sundaes. Delicious!
After dinner, I had booked ToT and ST FPs split. Both with windows from 5-6. In hindsight, I should’ve spaced these out a bit since we needed to RS both of them and they are on opposite ends of the park. Ended up working out ok as DS had asked me on the walk in if he could pass on Tower of Terror today anyway. So, we skipped ToT and just popped over to ST. I had booked FPs for DD8, DD4, my mom and myself so we went over and got RS on my dad, DH and DS’ bands and went on through. As soon as we got to where the line goes inside DD8 makes a face and tells me she needs to go to the bathroom. No problem. Call my dad and switch DS and DD8 out so she can go.
![image|666x500](upload://m9Kan2508ABPBmOWisFIuultXeJ.jpeg)
DD4 ends up being terrified the whole time. Asks me if we’re really going into space before we load. Cried during the preshow and loading instructions. Kind of clutches at me the whole time but says she had fun at the end. She was picked as the rebel spy (again!) and we had a different flight pattern this time which was neat. Didn’t realize the had so many different ones. We waited and watched Jedi Training while DD8, DH and my dad rode. Then we headed into TSL for our last two FPs of the day. DD4, DD2, my mom and DD8 were going to ride Saucers. The rest of us, Slinky.
As we were walking I realized it may be impossible for my mom to take all 3 girls by herself so I determined to talk with the CM at Saucers to see what we needed to do. I explained to him, nicely, the situation and he said they could all ride at the same time but that DD8 would have to ride in her own car while the little girls rode with my mom. DD8 was way pumped about this!! I hung out to make sure they all tapped in ok and the CM started motioning for me to come talk to him. He told me he’d go ahead and let all 8 of us go through the FP line together if we wanted! How kind!!! I told him thank you but I was concerned about missing our Slinky window (it was 6:45 and our window ended at 7). He then offered to let us all come back after Slinky! Wow!! I genuinely thanked him for being so kind but doubted we’d take him up on the offer as everyone was tired from our early morning.
We all left the girls to ride and we went to Slinky. DH and I rode together!! Hooray!! That was fun and DH was being so silly on the ride. He screamed the whole way and I just died laughing. My dad said “Ethan mama’s screaming!” It was DH! Lol! He’s the best.
After we got off we met up with the gals and talked about plans for the rest of the night. I had planned on Fantasmic but we all just wanted to get home so we walked out to the bus and made it home by 7:45. DD4 crashed before we made it to the bus stop. We laid her down when we got back and she never made a sound.
My parents and DD8 went and watched the MK fireworks from the boat dock and DD2, DS, DH and I watched from our balcony.
Settled everyone down early and all were asleep by 9:30. Listening to the Water Pageant as we laid in our beds. Such a peaceful way to end the day.
Steps: 20,621