WDW Girls Trip March 2018, Hollywood Studios and Epcot

WDW Girls Trip March 2018, Hollywood Studios and Epcot

A happy Disney World tour is, for me, a delicate balance of planning and serendipity.  I spent time before we arrived picking fast passes and one special meal per day.  In WDW people are nuts about food and reservations for sit down meals fill fast.  Character meals are especially in demand, so I booked those early.  This meant I had to pick the order we would visit the parks-a lot of responsibility! 

It worked great for our group-we had a little structure to each day, but enough free time to do almost anything that appealed in the moment.  We didn't optimize for rides or meeting all the characters but I check in with the group at the start of the day and get everybody's number one priority ride/character is-then make sure to do it!

It seems like a shame to leave a park to go to a special dinner at the resorts, so I put those on a non-park day.  On our first night I booked the special Luau dinner at the Polynesian.  The Polynesian is one of the original resorts and some folks have been working there since it opened!  It is beautiful and worth a trip just to check it out.

Landscaping is lovely!  Turns out my flight was delayed due to bad weather and I missed the dinner but the rest of the group adjusted and had a great experience.

Day 1 Hollywood Studios 
This park has fewer attractions so you may not need to spend the whole day...until they add Star Wars Land next year in which case it will be a mob scene!  I knew we would be a couple hours off because of light jet lag so gave us a lazy morning-no need to arrive at the park first thing.  This is the only day this happens!

We had just entered when it became clear it is All Star Wars All The Time in Hollywood land.  Storm Troopers right down main street to the plaza.

Storm Troopers, it turns out, troop through the land regularly and do a show at the plaza.  It's great because you don't need to plan for it and the view is pretty good from anywhere.

If you have a little one who wants to participate in Jedi Training, plan to go right away to the sign up area.  Kids used to just get picked out of the audience but it became too popular.  We got in line for Star Tours while a training was happening and after walking under the big At-At, you can see the show from the back.
We almost had a melt down after riding Star Tours. Turns out we left the BB-8 hat on Star Tours.  Luckily we were still in the gift shop, turned around and the helpful ride attendents found them super fast-phew!

Don't skip the 'museum' area-you can see artifacts from the movies while waiting (in air conditioned comfort) to meet Chewbacca,

It seems a little silly to play video games in the middle of a park...but if you never play the at home 10 minutes of this is pretty great!

Not Star Wars also happens at Hollywood Studios!

Beauty and the Beast musical

Lunch at the Italian place is out special treat today because it comes with good seating for Fantasmic!

Just outside is the Miss Piggy fountain.  Love The Muppets from watching the show as a kid and I'm so glad they haven't tried to replace them.

Inside the restaurants are photos of famous celebrities.  We had just been discussing our 'Gilligan' hats-and there he is!

Only I went on the Tower of Terror this trip.  I love the styling of the old hotel and am glad they haven't changed it up.

Finale of the evening is Fantasmic-it's huge!  I had no idea!  In Disneyland everyone tries to crowd around the Rivers of America area and I usually skip it because it is just too much.  Disney has figured out that people love it and built a set of bleacher for a few thousand people.  So smart!  We had a really lovely time.

Day 2 Epcot

First off we meet the nicest family on the bus.  The two moms totally bond and the kids are just trying to ignore each other. I pick The Slowest Security Line Ever.  ugg.  The day improves from there!

Our special meal is princess breakfast in the Norwegian house.  Princesses are not as popular in our little group as a few years ago.  Notice that the little one has already moved on to BB-8.  But still enough awe to really enjoy it.

Elsa and Anna topiary

The Epcot ride!  Super fun takes you on a history tour of human kind-and lets you pick your future!

Soarin' Around the World is an IMAX plus flying feeling-great ride.  I did love it more when it was California-themed but I understand that it is easier to put this up in more places.  I'll be keeping an eye out if they ever bring back the original film

A picture with The  Mouse is a must do and the lines are always long.  Since this group wasn't interested in the fast rides at Epcot, I used one of the fast passes to meet Mickey and Friends.

Figment of your Imagination-the youngling remembered this ride from our previous visit.  Between the ride and the gift shop are a ton of interactive play areas-don't skip them!  If you can get a bunch of people together in the music area it's impressive!

Last time her favorite ride was Living with the Land.  It is from the 70s and takes you past hydroponic and aquaculture gardens and everyone was able to just walk on.  This time we have to skip it because it is too popular-the wait time is over an hour!!!

It is super hot so we take a bit to cool off at the Coca-Cola tasting room.  Such a great idea-try a bunch of flavors from other countries.

We are here during the Flower Garden Festival so we get to visit the butterfly house.  One of the best set ups I've seen-love to just hang out here.

Countries of the World at the back of Epcot has some of the best stuff.

In 'Mexico' I would have purchased Coco merchandise but they only had kid size t-shirts, so we settled for stickers.  And rode The Three Amigos ride.  This one seems ready for a make over-it would be great to turn it over to Coco.

It is certainly cool to visit all the countries represented and try the food (crepe dinner in France!), hear the music, and learn the culture.  But irresistible to me is the scavenger hunt.  Last time was a Muppets themed hunt tied in with the movie.

This time we have two hunts-holiday bonus!  The first is associated with the Flower Festival and you hunt down Spike the Bee.

Like in the English Garden where you learn about tea.

The bonus is the Easter theme.  Giant eggs are hidden in different lands and you place the correct sticker on that land.  At the end of the day you turn in your complete sheets and get a special treat-too fun :)

Books and succulents Oct-Dec 2017

Books and succulents Oct-Dec 2017

-by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
This One Summer:  Graphic novel about real life events.  From the POV of the young teen most of the time.  I like graphic novels that most people would think should be plain novels.

Moriarty:  I will always read another retelling of anything Sherlock.  Not amazing but fast and fun enough to be worth it.

-by Ann Liecke
Provenance:  Not as awesome as the previous serious, but set in the same world, which I like.   We know some things about the world but see the info from a different perspective.

-by Charlie Jane Anders
All the Birds in the Sky:  Science + Magic?  Science vs. Magic?  Can recommend for sci-fi and fantasy folks.

-by Jonas Karlsson
The Invoice:  Cannot at all remember who recommended this to me but glad I read it.  A reminder to enjoy life and be in the moment.

-by Patrick O'Brien
Master and Commander:  I listened to this on audio book and found it was a great way to not worry about the nautical details of rigging and sails.

-by Lemony Snicket
All The Wrong Questions, Who Could That Be At This Hour?, When Did You See Her Last?, and Shouldn't You Be In School?:  His latest set of children living in a world of incompetent and malicious adults.

-by Gary Chapman
5 Love Languages: Super great concept that is easy to understand and implement and can make a difference in any relationship you want to improve.  Some of the perspective, especially the last chapter is troubling because it is written by an old white guy who doesn't understand his privilege, but was easy for me to ignore.

-by Robin Sloan
Sourdough:  Loved this!  But it is set in Silicon Valley, filled with foodies and technology and I have recently been making sourdough bread, so it hits all the right spots for me.  I like stories that are set in almost the real world-recognizable but a bit fantastic too.

-by Gregory Maguire
Egg and Spoon:  I liked this more than many of his others.  Maybe because it is less complicated and I usually feel bogged down by his secondary plots?  Loved this version of Baba Yagae.

My succulents are a random grab bag-many are cuttings from other folks.  Even if I never get around to putting them together in some sort of organized way they are fun to have around.

WDW Girls Trip March 2018, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge

WDW Girls Trip March 2018, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge

Day 3 and bonus day Magic Kingdom

Meet those same nice people on the bus again-learn that the Seven Dwarfs Mountain Train is the ride to go to during the Magic Hour.  Sure enough, we go straight there and have a 45 min wait-every other time we check it is over 90 min! 

 Glad we did it but it turns out to be just a little too much for our group. 

Proof we were in the Magic Kingdom at 7 am.  We were on the first bus out of our hotel!

We have to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride, which is adorable and later on also has crazy long wait times.  Much nicer play area for the waiting kids-they must have checked out Legoland which has great play areas for the kids while they are in line.

We also got in Dumbo and the Barnstormer roller coaster before it got busy.  On our bonus day trip to the Magic Kingdom we get in three Dumbos and 3 Barn Stormers-woo hoo! 

We cleverly got our fast passes for Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Peter Pan and It's a Small World, which all have long lines.  We are those people who love Small World and sing the entire way through :)

We did a lot of pin trading on this trip.  We are no where near expert level, in fact we learned a lot of tips.  Like cast members can keep pins upside down and you have to answer a trivia question correctly to look at them-otherwise you pick blindly-big fun!!  

I am more of a 'buy the one you like and hoard it'  but I learned it can be fun to just swap a bunch of them in and out through out the day. I did buy the set of some of my favorites and then traded a few.

A couple rides are special because they are different from Disneyland in California.  The tree house is still the Swiss Family Robinson's and the Orange (not pineapple) Whip stand is nearby.  The Carousel of Progress, the People Mover and the Hall of of Presidents still exist and are great for hot days.  Don't miss the Muppets explaining Great Moments in History (just the American Ones, says Sam Eagle-he cracks me up!)


We did our first swap with other guests-the two little girls checked out each others pins and made a successful trade.

Had a great time running around Tom Sawyer Island.
The Jungle Cruise is still one of the best, an added bonus is the Jungle Canteen across the way.  I didn't even know it existed, but I got a reservation on our bonus day and am so glad we went!  The dishes are different from all the other restaurants and the servers have the same light, pun-y atmosphere as the Jungle Boat captains.  Had a fantastic trip on the Jungle Cruise-lot so new material.


Inside the castle we found a free trading pin on the ground!!

The single best thing we did was the Fireworks dessert party.  All you care to eat dessert, in super reasonable tiny portions so you can try everything followed by a special viewing area for the fireworks.  The most special of our park food treats!

They've really improved the experience by adding a 'layer' on top of the castle.  Super cool effect!

Day off!
Walt Disney World is so huge and overwhelming that there should be at least one day in the middle where you don't go to a park.  We spent the day at our hotel but we were still busy.

Lunch with an animal specialist-you literally have a small group lunch with folks who work with the animals.  We learned so much and had a great time.

After lunch we met the tortoises and did a training session-so cute!!

The park has a flock of ostriches and the eggs are collected.  After removing the insides most of the eggs go to an artist who paints them with safari type pictures and they are for sale in the gift shop.  But they have a few left over and they save them up for Easter.  For a donation to the conservation fund you get to paint one!  So amazing-we carefully took turns painting then drying the shiny silver layer to make a Star Wars themed egg.

We spent more time checking out the animals.

Every room has a balcony that looks onto the savanna where the animals are roaming freely.

There was always some animal out and about.  In the room you get a checklist of animals so we tried to learn them all.  The similar looking birds are hard, but not the ostrich.  

It is worth it to spend time in the lobby area.  The installations are interesting and informative.  

There are a number of hosts from Africa to tell you about the animals and culture.  We actually talked to the same young man a couple times during our trip-a nice way to almost get to know someone and I'm convinced that if I make a trip to Africa, it should be to Botswana.

Spent the afternoon at the pool

and on to a big buffet dinner and s'mores at the fire pit.

We were too tired to stay up for movie night and instead used some night vision goggles to view the animals.

Best pin of the trip is on the left.  We spotted it very early on and asked the cast member what it meant.  They weren't sure but said someone told them it was a shower curtain?!?  Well!  Turns out that it is the design on the shower curtains in the Animal Kingdom hotel where we were staying!  We were so pleased with ourselves to trade one into our collection-sweet!