Day 4 Friday, June 12 AKA Finally the Parks
Today I woke up again at 6:00 and believe it or not the kids got up pretty much with me. Today was an ambitious program. First hit the Studios at the early entry rope drop, then EPCOT in the afternoon and finally the MK at night. Again taking advantage of the refillable mug, I refilled. I also checked at the front desk about extending our stay with no luck. They suggested a call to member services when they open.
The Marketplace
After the primping (I am trying to get used to it), we went to the dock as a boat was pulling in. Sure, why not take it.
Home (but am loving our stay at BCV)
Entered the Studios a little late and ended up not very close to the rope. The goal was of course to get fast passes to Toy Story. Again an area where pictures were lost or misplaced. I have too many memory cards floating around.
The shotgun start of the park day begins and I weave my way through the rushing crowds. The girls were to meet me by the fast pass exit. I did pretty well for an old man working my way through the hordes. Even without running. There was this lady in a walker that I had to take out though. OK, I am kidding. The last time we were at the Studios, I was at the rope but way on the left. They detoured us by Ariel, so while I was further back at the start this time, it probably took just as long. Stay by the Brown Derby rope if you are going to Midway Mania.
By the time I get the fast passes the kids are there waiting so we haul buttocks to ToT.
A 30 minute wait was posted and it was not quite that.
This is the 2 of them by the sign.
And last year’s picture.
The Lobby. Someone call mousekeeping.
While we were in line, I pulled on all the power switch lever things. I heard that one of them makes a noise or something. No such luck. If anyone knows about this I would appreciate you letting me know. When we got to the front of the line, what became a routine to our park touring started. The CM was asking, “How many? Row 3. How many? Row 4…when it came to us, I answered three. “Wait here.” “Are there any two’s in line?” I looked at BF (still no nickname) and said, “See, since I brought you we now have to wait.” Trust me, it was all good natured.
The ride was a good one. Many big drops. From there we looked at the line for Rock and Roller Coaster. It seemed ridiculously long so we headed to the back of the park. I am thinking Oh, oh, it is going to be bad. Passing the tip board, I checked and they listed the R&R wait at only 30 minutes so we went back. My bad. More standing in line but it went relatively quickly. We get to the front and the CM is waving people in till he gets to us. “How many? “Three.” “Wait here.”
We stand at the head of the line as the ride goes through the cycle. Let in, we angled our way near the doors. When they opened, there was a jerk there that practically knocked people over to get ahead. Come on, we are all getting on the same car. I resisted the urge to do something that would get me permanently banned from Disney.
This is where I found out I am old. Normally, I could ride this over and over again but I was done after the one ride. They could have told me I could stay in the car, and ride again with no wait and I would have declined. Well, not to look like a chicken in front of my daughter I would have gone but would not have liked it.
From R&R the girls decided they were hungry. We went to what was formerly Ellen’s bookstore but the line was long. This place takes forever so we moved on. Big mistake but we went to Starring Rolls near the Brown Derby. I wasn’t hungry so I left them on their own. It took forever. The place was packed and there were not many offerings.
This is what you had to choose from. Pretty sparse and when I informed one of the check out people, her response was, they are doing the best they can. What? June, crowds, don’t you think people will want to eat? Couldn’t you anticipate that?
They ended up with a plain bagel with cream cheese and a chocolate croissant with a large juice for $7.96. Again, it took forever for them to eat and I lost it a bit. “Let’s move. Grab and go, take it with you. Did I not teach you anything child?”
It was time for Toy Story so we handed our fast passes over. We get to the front of the privileged line and you may have guessed the CM says wait here. The three of us looked at each other and could not help but laugh. Great hordes from the stand by line were then let in until it was finally our turn.
Got a pic of the stand by line. One of these days, I will have to spend two hours of my life there so I can take pictures. I did get a glimpse of Mr. Potato Head.
The obligatory “Andy” reference picture
I loved viewfinders when I was a kid
Lets Ride
They went together and I went by myself. Love this attraction. DDBF claimed to have gotten 90,400 and DD did well over 100,000. So they say. I got 90,000. They had fun with that. Hate this attraction.
From there we headed to the back of the park. It was a Star Wars weekend so it was pretty crowded. There was a huge line for something, maybe the ride and Chewy was entertaining the crowd. Before I could take out the camera, he was gone. They did have this area set up for a meet and greet. Jedi Mickey.
We headed into Muppets for the AC and a good show. Did not disappoint. From there, I was done. It was a billion degrees out there and the crowds were coming in.
The wait board
On the way out, we caught some of the Streetmosphere. Talented people and one of the best things about the Studio.
He threatened to have the kids arrested. Who am I to argue with the law?
I heard they had these guys mocking the waiting crowds at the park opening but they were nowhere to be seen when we got there. Maybe because it was early entry. I stayed for a while and listened to them taunt incoming guests. Nice Star Wars touch.
The boat was a little bit away from pulling in and we decided to take it. Man it was hot and it took a lot out of me. If they wanted to ride, no way was I going to argue. While waiting for the boat to dock, I decided to call member services. I was connected with Sunny. I explained we are at the resort and wanted to extend our stay. It was tough to hear while we were on the boat and she asked for my number in case we got cut off. “Can I put you on hold?” After listening to many Disney songs while on hold, she came back with good news. We are in. I don’t know if she ran around asking people if they had a cancelation but whatever she did worked. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Let the kids know and they were pretty happy.
The plan was to stop at the lobby to confirm the reservation and link it to our room so we would not have to switch. Then it was to take on EPCOT. When we were on the walkway to the lobby, we passed the entrance to Storm Along. My innocent comment was, “That water looks inviting.” One of them responded, “Do we have to go to EPCOT? Can we go in the pool?” Since we are on vacation, we can do whatever we want.
Checked with the front desk and found out that the reservation was linked already. Way to go Sunny.
The Lobby. If you were there that day and saw someone jumping around making a fool of himself, it was just me doing the happy dance.
We ditched the plans for EPCOT and headed to the pool. Luckily, my favorite chair and table were unreserved so I camped out there. They went in. So did I but soon got out. The rest of the day was spent in and out of the pool. Much time was spent on the slide.
The launch pad
DDBF getting soaked
DD doing the same. Why is that guy cheering?
Peas in a pod
Going with the hey we are on vacation theme, their lunch consisted of a sundae shared between them. Mine another cheeseburger. Theirs $6.38, mine $9.28 less discount plus tip. I found another picture of B&C.
From there it was back to the room. Dinner was leftovers and they were good. DD & DDBF wanted to hit the Magic Kingdom, I wanted to crash. We agreed they would go but keep in touch by phone. They got back about 1:00 and DD and I talked about their night out on our less than landscaped patio. A good time was had. No pics because they did not take the camera. Kids. They were able to do most of the rides EXCEPT Dumbo. Seems they got there just as the park closed. There were a couple of open elephants but the CM would not let them on saying they were closed. She probably could have but I understand they we are closed, it’s the last ride, I need to go home philosophy. DD thought it highly unfair and mean spirited.
All in all a good day. I did what I wanted to do at DHS (or MGM if you are old school like DD). Where we could have rushed to EPCOT the pool was a needed break. We had fun in the mini water park and they still got to do the MK. It did bother me a bit when she said I should have joined them at the MK but it was good to let them explore on their own.
Up next: The water parks. AKA Yea right, sleep in and go to plan B.
. I really admire the way you are dealing with the girls and their 'primping' - you have the patience of a saint
but I really hope the poor bus service to BCV improves when we are there as its our first time doing Disney without a car and I am beginning to feel that maybe I should get one after all.
, I was teasing you about Soaring. I do like the ride but I am so laid back that boring is my style. 
