The very last day of our vacation was fabulous because we were a whole family again. Trek flew back to FL after his class ended on Friday afternoon. He arrived at our house at midnight & I was SO glad to have him back. I'm just not whole without him.
For our last day, we went to Hollywood Studios. We didn't know anything about it except that it had a Toy Story land & a Star Wars area, both of which my kids love, so we were excited.
Everyone told us to go an hour early & to race to Slinky Dog Dash as fast as we could because that line was HORRIBLE 99% of the time. There aren't a lot of rides at Hollywood Studios & we wanted to ride everything in the park, so we got up early & did what everyone recommended.
I highly do NOT recommend going to Disney over Spring Break. We arrived a whole hour early & it was wall to wall - shoulder to shoulder people. AN HOUR EARLY. We raced to Slinky Dog Dash (just like EVERYONE else) & got in line.
Where we entered the line, there was a sweet cast member there holding a sign that read "100 minutes from this point." The park didn't even open for an hour & we were already going to wait a hour & 40 minutes in line. Whew. Within 5 minutes, this poor girl trying to do her job was getting ripped apart by guests. Everyone was furious that the line was already that long (like she had anything to do with that.) People were yelling at her, swearing, insulting her. It made me very sad.
So, I struck up a friendly conversation with her. I asked her what all the rides in the park were. I asked her what her favorite ride was. I asked her what characters were in this park & where they were. I asked her what her favorite show & favorite snack here was. We talked for a good half hour just about Disney, the park, food, fun. . . it was great. When 9:00 am finally hit & they "officially" opened the park, I thanked her for being kind & for all her advice & then I thanked her for being the true hero of the park. I feel for those poor cast members that have to deal with the lines & deal with the angry parents. I hugged her & told her to have a magical day.
She looked at me & smiled & asked "How many people are in your group? Come with me!" She grabbed our entire family & walked us all the way up to the VERY front of the line. THE FRONT. We were one of the first people to ride Slinky Dog Dash that day. And it gets better. . . when we got off the ride, she was standing there with some of her cast member friends & told us to follow her again. Then she proceeded to program our tickets/magic bands to have fast pass plus passes all day where we could ride any ride at any time in the fast pass lines. It was amazing. Then she turned to us & smiled & said "Now YOU have a magical day!"
This sweet girl made our day the best day ever. It's amazing what happens when you share a little kindness. All week long my family had been teasing me for talking to strangers like they were my best friend. Trek always laughs at me because I do talk to everyone. I love it. It makes me happy. After that, I found that my whole family was chatting it up with others throughout the day. Sometimes all it takes is a smile & simple hello to make someone's day absolutely magical.
SHARE KINDNESS!
even if it's not returned. It is never wasted.
After riding Slinky Dog Dash, everyone was in the best mood ever, so we went & waited in line to meet Buzz Lightyear.
We even got to watch an adorable parade with the toy soldiers from Toy Story. I loved Toy Story land. It made you feel like you were a toy with your favorite characters.
After Toy Story Land, we decided to head over to the BIG KID rides to use our newly programed fast passes. On our way we got to watch a really cool Star Wars show. The kids LOVED seeing their favorite Star Wars characters.
My parents took the younger kiddos shopping in the shops while the bravest kids & adults made our way to the Tower of Terror.
(One of my very favorite rides at Disney.)
It was SO much fun. I loved our picture because all 4 adults are taking care of the 4 kids that would get scared. And then there's Cadence, Lorien, & Korbyn who are "super cool" screaming their heads off. I love this ride.
After Tower of Terror, we headed straight over to the Rockin Roller Coaster. The fast pass line makes it seem like you are barely in line. It made it SO nice. I didn't know anything about this roller coaster before riding it.
I'm not going to lie, it freaked me out a little bit, but I loved it. It's like Space Mountain, but going upside down . . . A LOT. It was super fast, super dark, & super awesome.
After the 2 grown up rides, we met up with everyone again & decided to go visit Canyon's favorite character, Olaf.
Oh my goodness, he was SO happy. I love that kid.
We ate lunch in some shade & Trek got a HUGE funnel cake for us to share. It was Disney Delicious.
Then we shopped a little bit & Bladen finally picked out some awesome Star Wars Mickey Ears. I have never seen anything like them. You flip the on switch & they glow & move like a cartoon. The ships shoot & fly through the ears. It's really really amazing. We love them.
We took a short stop in the Incredibles City. We saw Frozone & Edna Mode & took some cute pics with the scenery. It's a small area of the park, but super cute.
Next we headed over to one of my favorite Disney rides, Toy Story Mania. I LOVE this ride because you shoot little guns at targets & try to beat your partner's score. We rode this more than once! (Yay fast passes.) We kept wanting higher scores. It's REALLY fun.
We also rode the Alien ride (for the littles). In the line, Craiger managed to lose a tooth. How does that even happen?
The kids loved it.
After the Alien ride, we had ridden every ride in the park. Now it was time to enjoy some of the amazing shows. We watched the Beauty & the Beast Broadway show, the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, the Star Wars apprentice show, & the Frozen Show. All of them were fantastic.
Some of the bigger kids didn't want to go see Frozen, so they went to visit their favorite Star Wars characters. They saw some Storm Troopers & tried to sneak a photo in, but they were the ones that got snuck up on instead.
Then they got to see Chewbacca, BB8, & Kylo Ren.
At the end of the day, my friend Valerie came back with her sweet husband (a good friend of Trek's), & mother other friends from Germany came too. It was like a mini-Germany friend reunion. I love being in the military. I've met so many wonderful people & have friends all over the world. I love seeing them again & picking up right where we left off. I love them all so much.
Once it was over, my kids were SO sad to leave their cousins. They only have 3 cousins on that side of the family & we do not see them enough. We are going to miss them.
And finally, as it got late, we watched the sun set on a perfect vacation.
BEST SPRING BREAK EVER!
