Honey I Almost Lost the Kids!
Having never been to Disney World I relied on a number of crowd prediction websites. On two occasions during the trip there was something way out of whack! The day at Hollywood Studios was predicted to be a 4 on a scale of 10. Before lunch that seemed about right. (as far as what I imagined about the crowds) Sometime after lunch and 2pm that all changed. I had noticed that in Wandering Oaken's the crowd seemed pretty stout. I was a little flustered in there. When we exited though it seemed like a switch was flipped! There was a crush of humanity before my eyes. It was night and day!
I didn't have any big plans about what was next. All I really had planned was ABC Commissary and I wanted to try and make one of the Fantasmic shows. The big kids really wanted to do Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Looking at this as an out of shape 41 year old I was very dubious. You really can't see a great deal from the outside but I got the sense through sounds and some cracks that it was literally vibrating with kids! I am not even sure what this is a photo of other than a bunch of people.
I was not disappointed upon entering. It was packed to the gills with kids and parents. Michael, Nathan, CJ, and JD took off immediately with Chad and I (Leslie and Jennifer would be directly there after getting a soda.) yelling to stay together. Mattie was desperate to do anything. Slide, climb, get soaked, etc. I let her down and...
<poof>
She was gone! I started to panic because she is a runner and will take off on you and not stop until she is absolutely lost and has no idea where she is. I fast walked the way she went and caught a glimpse of her headed towards the spider web thing. I tool one look at that and felt I had not change getting through that at my weight and fitness level. I needed to stop her before she got to entrance!
Luckily JD happened to run across her and grabbed her arm surprised to see her there. He held on to her and saw me. He then volunteered to walk her through the spider maze. I was very relieved! Having ascertained that she was in good hands for at least five minutes I scanned the area for Nathan 7 whom I left with a 11 year old Michael and his friends (One who I just interacted with was not with them) I caught a glimpse of Chad who had Zane and did not seem to be willing to let his 2 year old take his chances unlike me! I managed to see Michael going down a slide but no Nathan... Just as I started to head that way I saw Nathan come down the slide. I returned my attention to the spider web maze and finally spotted JD and Mattie slowly making their way past the top. I caught a glimpse of Nathan one more time and saw his general direction. Chad walked up and I can tell he was flustered because he could not find CJ or JD. I told him JD was up in the maze with Mattie. He decided to wait over by entrance in case any of our kids tried to leave. After what seemed like an eternity Mattie and JD emerged Just as Michael and Nathan showed up with CJ in toe. Whew... all children accounted for. They all begged to do the maze and I let them. As they were going up I walked Mattie back to the entrance and saw Chad. I let him know I found CJ. Mattie and JD went to Jennifer and Leslie. I went back to the spider maze and after a while rounded up the other kids. They wanted to stay and I issued a "Heck No!".
My Wife Loves Ariel!
Jennifer had really only two bucket list attractions the whole time and both were Little Mermaid themed. She loves Ariel! Naturally she wanted to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show. I had seen a Youtube video of this once and thought it might be fun for Mattie. The big boys were not soooo thrilled but they managed to get through it. Big line by this time but we eventually got in. We were seated hereish...
I was soo impressed at the light show and just how well this stage show is done! Since I was done I got to try and play with low light photos and super zoom features. Now for each of these photos there are probably 3 to 5 blurry shows but oh well...
Mattie was very engaged in this show! She loved it!
The One Where Mattie got in BIG Trouble....
Big Hero 6 was the big Disney movie at the time we were there. When we exited we saw signs for the Big Hero 6 meet n greet along with The Incredibles and Mickey Sorcerer. Jennifer and Leslie felt bad for the Honey I Shrunk the Kids mess so they offered to take all 6 kids in there for three character greets. All I have are picture and what I saw when they arrived after 40 minutes. Chad and I hung out near the entrance to the Animation Academy. We grabbed some sodas and just relaxed and chatted. Here are some of the photos Jennifer got while in there.
now here are the photos I got of them as they exited and rounded the corner... Notice the happy big kids? Notice Jennifer with a not very happy look on her face and a death grip on Mattie?
A few seconds later....
Apparently she was a little out of control in the Mickey meet n greet lines Cutting in line... trying to crash other kids photos... etc. Mommy was not happy with her and she knew it...
Ho Hum Dinner.
It was now getting close to dinner time and all kids were hungry again. Our plan was to go to ABC Commisary and the Humprheys would be headed to Pizza Planet. Only problem was they were kind of in the opposite direction of Fantasmic and Tower of Terror which the kids and even I were really interested in. So we decided to stay together and find something to eat along the way. We made the turn around the Brown Derby and went down Sunset Blvd. It was getting to be dusk and the Christmas lights were coming on. Sunset Blvd was absolutely beautiful and weather to make you think you might be in California. It was about 70 degrees with low humidity and light breeze.
Crowds were still large...
When we got down to the Tower of Terror we realized we had to jump in line for Fantasmic and NOT eat until it was over or we would eat then see the late show. We opted to eat. We stopped at Sunset Ranch Market. This was the only 'meh' meal we had the entire time. I don't remember what we all got but I got a /meh cheese burger and it was not very good. I did run back up the street to Anaheim Produce where they were serving all golden margaritas. I got Jennifer and I one each. Very good! Even for $10 margaritas...
We had some time to kill now. Talk turned to Tower of Terror... I really wanted to ride this. I thought I would be ok with it as going up and down doesn't really bother my motion sickness. We were surprised stand by was only 40 minutes. We had time for a silly photo.
About this time is when the kids started noticing the semi-spookiness and then seeing the doors open and people dropping that opinions started to change. First Michael whispered to me that he was not sure about this ride. He was ashamed about being nervous. I convinced him that there is no shame in being scared about riding. The only one of the kids that was gung ho was my 7 year old Nathan! he couldn't wait! We started up the walkway and not long JD stated he was scared and didn't want to ride. He walked back to entrance. This left Me, Chad, CJ and Nathan. I forgot my camera in the stroller
What a cool ride! I looked over when we were getting dropped and Nathan was off his seat a little and weightless. He was cackling with laughter! Then I saw CJ was having the opposite reaction and crying
A Fantastic Fantasmic!
When we got done is was about time to get in line for Fantasmic late show. The crowds (believe it or not) were extreme now. After all of the bathroom going was done we jumped in line and waited until time for seating. We were on the right side of the amphitheater...
This was another attraction I think I had undervalued... boy was that about to change!
Candid photo of Leslie and Zane watching...
and me...
Belle (She and I would have a moment later in the trip...)
Jennifer's favorite!
This snake was SOOO cool!
Of course Dragon Maleficent was amazing!
After the show was over Leslie and Chad expressed to me how glad they are that I suggested seeing Fantasmic. They did not think they would like it. All of the kids LOVED the show!
Something Weird Just Happened and I Nearly Throw Up!
So the show is over. We find our stroller finally. We head back up Sunset in another HUGE crush of people leaving Fantasmic. Saw some Christmas lights.
We were then headed to the Osbourne Lights before heading back to the hotels. When we got to Echo Lake it was like the Red Sea parted. Even though it was Extra Magic Hours people were headed up Hollywood Blvd and out of the park! Not knowing how to get back to Streets of America exactly we wandered by Star Tours. We had never even made it over here in the morning. My boys had no idea there was a Star Wars section of HS! Chad and his boys had done Star Tours already but they asked if we could go. My boys were all in! So Chad and i and the older boys went to Star Tours. I was jazzed being a huge Star Wars fan. Stand Bye was 5 minutes!
We walked all the way up and boarded the simulator. The show started and it was very apparent within 1 minute my body was not going to handle this ride well. As soon as the Hoth battle started I was already in a cold sweat and by the end of the ride I was forcing myself to not throw up! I am such a weeny!
I was able to compose myself and we headed over to the Osbourne Lights. If anyone is debating skipping this please don't! If you love Christmas lights you will not be disappointed!
We were all just stunned at this...
Kids danced... kids played... crowds were small... I had to buy lighted led necklaces for us all.
We took photos...
I ordered an egg nog night cap! Chad and Leslie headed out at this point and we decided to stay another 30 minutes.. I was having a hard time making us leave!
I made a short video.
We finally headed out. This was our only trip to HS and I have to say I wish we had another day here! What an absolutely unexpected good time! A few last photos on the way out... Never to be seen by my family again the Hat.
We finally made it to the van about 10pm. We were all tired...
We got back to the hotel and while Jen was getting kids ready for bed and tomorrow I decided to make that journey to Walmart to get some breakfast items. I got back to hotel around 11:15 and was asleep by 11:30.
Up next was our first Magic Kingdom day! So many years of waiting for this moment were finally a reality the next morning and I almost ruined it for my sweet son Michael...