We had never been to Hollywood and Vine for lunch, but wed had breakfast here on our previous trip. Its a fun meal, but it gets mixed reviews. We got there with about 5 minutes to spare and met a long line.
Ds wanted to go and look at the water, so I let him and dd go while I waited to check in.
We got checked in and waited probably another 10 minutes before we were called in. June came to see us first but we did have a chance to get food before she came over. Ds love Little Einsteins. He watches it while Im getting dressed.
Agent Oso came over next. Ds loves him. He gave him a big hug. Afterwards he kept saying, mom, he soft.
Next there was some dancing fun with Jake. The children were more outgoing with Jake this year it. Last year, during the Sharky and Bones song they asked dd to come up first to help the little ones feel more comfortable, but they just sat and watched her and clapped. She was glad to do it last year, but I think she was just as glad not to do it this year.
2012
2013
Jake was also the next to visit us at our table.
Next we had the first Disney character to get ds heart. Even before Mickey ds loved Handy Manny. Here we are with him in 2010. We stood in line for this one in Animation Courtyard.
He still loves him.
After lunch, it was time to use our Toy Story Mania Fast passes. This was ride #2. I tried to get a decent picture of Mr. Potato head, but his bright eyes messed it up every time. I tried with the flash and with the flash off. I guess I dont have the right camera.
Heres ds checking him out.
Using the fast passes got us there super-fast. We had a great time. I got the same chorus at the end as the last time. I want to do it again. I decided to try to get in another first and hit up an attraction based on an awesome show from my childhood.
Six thumbs up on this one. Dd hadnt wanted to see it on our first trip, but she absolutely fell in love with it. We laughed so hard and I was amazed at how the theater actually looked like it had blown up. After the show, we hit another meet and greet. It wasnt Phineas and Ferb even though they were nearby. It was another pair of best buddies: Lightening McQueen and Mater. Here are dd and ds waiting.
Heres our Photopass shot. Ds thought they were a little loud.
After that, dd asked to go back and see the Muppets again. When we got there, they were about to close off the line for that show. In a hurry, I went against one of my lessons learned from the first trip: If it if cloudy, make sure to cover the stroller. In my haste, I parked it under a shelter instead and we went inside. When we came out, it was pouring. There was a large covered area outside the show so we hung out there for a while. After about 20 minutes, it had calmed down some, so I put dd and ds under a shelter in sight of where Id left it and ran to get the stroller. Id left our rain gear in it. I got there and someone had moved it out from under the shelter to get their own stroller under there. It was soaked.
I ran back to the children and we all put on our rain gear. I used the stroller cover to cover the seat, but ds preferred to walk. Thankfully he had a raincoat. We ducked into a store near where Id picked up the stroller. We love this hat, but I certainly would not buy it, knowing it would get tossed to the side once we got home, so we did the next best thing.
After a break, we walked back through
Pixar Place and the rain continued. Dd said she wanted to ride Toy Story Mania again but it was an hour wait. She said, Well, its raining anyway. Maybe it will stop while we are in there. So we parked the stroller, took off our rain gear and went in for ride #3. It was actually more like 45 minutes. We each scored a personal best. The only other thing we wanted to do was the Beauty and the Beast Live show, but the next one was over 90 minutes away, so we agreed wed just see it next trip.
At this point I really regretted by passing the Photopass guys that morning to get to TSM faster. Dd was wearing flip flops and was getting cold so we made our way to the bus stop as quickly as we could. Turned out to be a long walk because I went the wrong way when we came out. We only had to go to stop 1, but with the rain and trying to hurry, I took us the wrong way. We ended up going the long way around, but we got there. Everyone was huddled under the tiny shelter trying to stay out of the rain. Thankfully it wasn't long before the bus showed up. Everyone was grateful the bus driver had the foresight to turn down the AC.
As we sat, I asked the usual questions: "Did you enjoy yourselves?" Dd said, "Yes, but I'm so ready to get back and get some socks on right now." Ds said, "It was fun mom! I saw Manny. I saw Buzz. I saw Woody. I saw Oso." He went on and on, but then got quiet. Then, ds tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Mom, I want to sit on your lap." Why not, right?
Up next, "May Day! May Day! Preschooler going down!"
I love that you have a sort of schedule and that you built in plenty of time to just relax!!
