Day 3: Hollywood Studios & Epcot
Fast Pass+:
Toy Story Mania
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Great Movie Ride
After lessons learned from the day before, I decided that this was the day to just let the Type A Disney-ness fly. The day started again at 7:15 and thanks to texts and phone calls, everyone was on time! I was glad that I didn’t have to go knocking on doors. Again, I’m all for letting a vacation unfold, but when people start complaining about lines, crowds, and waiting, it’s time to turn up the planning. We went to breakfast again at Pepper Market and I had the chorizo hash and poached eggs. Ok y’all….it was AMAZING!!! The absolute best breakfast I have ever had at Disney! Sadly I forgot to take a picture of it (sorry). I guess I Just couldn’t wait to dig in! Here's a Pepper Market picture though!
After breakfast we were right on time with getting on the bus to Hollywood Studies at 8:20am. The bus was almost empty, which was awesome. It was a short ride, and then we were at Hollywood Studios and in line (near the front) for rope drop! Our first stop was Star Tours, which we wanted to do first since we didn’t have any fast passes for this ride. We got to the ride and there was no line, and our cabin wasn’t even full! I love the updates they did to this ride! I’m not a very squeamish person, but if it had lasted longer though, I made have had a little revisit with the chorizo hash. My dad ended up being the “rebel” that they show in the beginning on the screen though, so that was also a lot of fun!
After Star Tours we made our way to the Great Movie Ride. I’ve read that this ride is going to get a little bit of an overhaul, which I think will be good…I think the vibe of the ride needs to stay the same, but adding some new “classic” movies will be good. If I worked at Disney I would want to work on this ride. I just love love love it! There was no line, so we walked right on and did not have a full cart.
When we finished the Great Movie Ride, we headed toward Muppets 3D, but first made a stop at the Writer’s Stop. I did not go for another supremely delicious Carrot Cake Cookie, but did try a pink macaroon (and an iced coffee). Super yum all around! Muppets 3D was fun and I always have to make myself not buy Muppet memorabilia in the gift shop.
I was proud of the progress we were making, even though I think the rest of my family was starting to grow tired of being bossed around the park. It needed to happen though. My goal was to do all of our “must dos” by lunch, and then the leisurely shopping and crowd watching could begin. I mean, it was in their best interest, so it’s ok. After Muppets we cut across the park to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I think the way they do this show is super fun! I hadn’t been to it in years though, because I’m usually not at Disney with “show” people, but since I did the fast passes, guess which show we had one for (don’t judge). The show was as fabulous as I remember, but I did think the particular Ariel of the day had a little bit of a soft/quiet voice and it was a little hard to hear her. I was like “BRING ON THE EMOTION ARIEL.” But still fabulous.
At this point it was just about lunch time and I knew my family was getting restless. We stopped at the Studio Catering Company since it was near Toy Story, which is where our final fast passes were for. I had the spicy chicken sandwich, fries, coke, and a chocolate banana cupcake. It was good. I wouldn’t say anyone ABSOLUTELY HAS to try it, but it was solid and good lunch option. The chocolate banana cupcake was the best part, and it had a Big Hero 6 chocolate figurine on it.
After lunch it was time to use our fast passes for Toy Story Midway Mania. I wish I could just stay on this ride and do it over and over again. Seriously one of the best rides at Disney. I was also the highest scoring member of my party, which my little brother was quite upset about. There were claims of cheating (like how would you even be able to), but the bragging rights were mine.
After Toy Story, everyone was pretty done with Hollywood Studios and had seen all they wanted to see. I did enquire about seeing the Frozen Sing Along, but that was vetoed. I guess all that time memorizing all the words while listening to it in my car was for naught. Whomp whomp….next time.
As we departed Hollywood Studios, my dad jumped on the bus to head back to Coronado Springs for a nap. The rest of us decided to go to Epcot since our dinner reservation was for Teppan Edo. As we were walking toward the bus, we noticed that you could also take a Friendship Boat to Epcot and get dropped off at the World Showcase. The boat ride was an awesome break, was not crowded, and we got to see more of the resorts that were along the way.
Since we were doing Epcot the following day, we decided that our afternoon would just be spent at the world showcase. The weather was getting a little warmer, and it was a gorgeous day to just walk around the countries. We headed left to start in the United Kingdom. We mostly just walked around the shops. Instead of giving a play by play of the countries, I thought I’d just give some of the fun highlights:
· The lumber jack competition was happening when we went to Canada. It was really fun and made me want to throw some axes. I did try axe throwing at a Renaissance Faire once, and had some surprising natural talent. Overall I do recommend stopping to watch this show, but this might be more because big burly lumberjacks are typically my type. Ha ha ha!
· We stopped for some Margaritas and Nachos in Mexico. I’m not a big drinker at all, but I did absolutely love the margarita. I highly suggest it!
· I was sad to see nothing happening at Maelstrom. With that said, half of the Norway shops were taken over by the same Frozen merchandise you see everywhere else. Snaps to Disney for knowing how to market and take advantage of the Frozen mania, but I do like seeing the more authentic merchandise in the shops.
· I would really like to try dining at Spice Table sometime. This might have to be done on a solo trip since NONE of my family or friends are adventurous in the food area.
After walking around for the afternoon it was time for our reservations at Teppan Edo. I had never been to Teppan Edo before so I was really excited to try it. This was also around the time where my phone died, so sadly I have no Teppan Edo pictures. My aunt and uncle also arrived in time for dinner, so we had a total of 7 people and got to have our own hibachi station. I had the scallops, noodles, and rice, with green tea cheesecake for dessert. It was all super good, and it’s fun to see them cook the food in front of you and put on a little bit of a show.
After dinner I was super pooped, so I decided to not stay for the last hour Epcot was open and went back to Coronado Springs. After all, another rope drop was just mere hours away!
Golden Girls ties The Nanny as my all time favorite show... lots of tears were shed. So, needless to say, I much appreciated your moment of silence and cheesecake for my fave golden girls.
I was watching All About Eve on Saturday night and had a GMR moment when Bette Davis said her "it's going to be a bumpy night" line. 
