It's been awhile and who knows if anyone will even read it, but I thought this trip deserved to be written about. Some of our coolest experiences were yet to come!
So thinking back, our next day brought us to DHS. Which meant we had to get our butts out of bed if we wanted a shot at TSMM! We ate in the room quick and we were off.
We got to the park maybe 45 minutes before it opened. We scanned the crowds lining up and saw that some turnstiles to the far right didn't have much for lines. There was another family that cut in front of us and a couple at the next turnstile got riled up for us (we wanted to just let it slide, although Ill admit it got under my skin a bit)... calling a CM over and everything
Ends up the guy fighting for line justice was a new CM himself. Awkward situation, staying "trapped" next to all this until the turnstiles opened, but we managed! We chatted with the new CM who was spending the day at the park with his family to help pass the time.
When we got in, we were able to get right up to the rope. Junior caught sight of something on a CM's laynard... a Disney bear pin. Disney Bear is one of his favorite bed time stories and to see him on a pin, well, he was jazzed! I forgot to mention on our EPCOT day that a nice CM had given him a Mickey pin when he was admiring it by Soarin'. She told him this could be the start of his collection. We hadn't bought any others at that point, so all he had was that one Mickey pin. Which he quickly traded for Disney Bear. I think we're starting something...
DH threw Junior up onto his shoulders because we knew we'd be participating soon in an event that rivals the running of the bulls - AKA "Rope drop to TSMM." When the rope dropped, I stayed towards the front while DH dropped back and took his time. Soon I reached the FP machines and was about 4 people back. And of course our machine didn't work. People were getting hysteric about it. The lady behind me complained how fast the line was moving next to us. I kindly pointed out that the next person in line was a Brazilian tour guide and had a stack of 60 admission tickets. That line wasn't going to be fast for much longer!
The CM got it fixed, I got our FPs, left the mob and joined DH & Junior in line.
How much fun is this ride?! We LOVED it! Each and every one of us did. Of course DH won.
Our next mission? The Jedi Training Academy! You'll see from the other pictures that we dressed Junior in his bright orange Yoda shirt, hoping that would catch the Jedi Master's eye and get him picked. Junior (and DH) are huge Star Wars fans and this was something we were all hoping would work out (but we promised ourselves that we would only go to 2 shows... we weren't going to spend all day hoping to get picked.)
Anyhow, we made it over for the first show, and found a place on the line over on the left side. Man is it hot. Not a bit of shade. A suggestion for Disney? Build a huge Millennium Falcon over that stage to give us all a break!
We waited and DS was not picked. We warned him this may happen, but he was still disappointed. In order not to cause a scene (plus we were melting) we quickly left the area and promised we'd come back and try one more time. While waiting for the next show, we checked out the Speeder Bike and Star Wars gift shop while DH went on the ride. I think that's what DH did.... he wasn't with us at least for a bit when we saw this squirrel bandit stealing cookies from strollers.
Soon it was time for the next show and we lined up this time on the right side and made conversation with the CM working the stairs. I saw a Dream Team CM hanging out in the area, so I nonchalantly made my way over to him and struck up conversation. (DH said it wasn't so nonchalantly, but whatever...) No Dreams came my way, but he was fun to talk to anyway!
Soon it was time for the show. The Jedi Master started picking kids from the crowd and........
Junior was picked!!!!
Pretty cool!
Next we headed over to the Indiana Jones show. We found some good seats, just a few rows from the stage. I turned to DH and told him, "Just so you know, I'm going to try to get in the show." He said, "But what if I want to? Last year you got picked for the Pirate Tutorial and for Woody's Round-Up Parade. I wanna turn!" I told him as long as he tried, I'd let him have his 15 minutes of fame.
So when he came time to pick the extras, he stood up, waved his arms around, and....
DH was picked!
It must be our lucky day!!
Here's some hilarious video of him during the pre-show...
He should be on the catwalk
(Guess what song I have in my head now?!)
After that exciting morning, we headed back to the hotel to swim and rest.
Soon we were back on the bus to DHS for our Fantasmic dinner at Hollywood and Vine. Before dinner we stopped into the photo shop because we noticed there had been a Photopass photographer snapping away at the Jedi Training Academy and we were wondering if we'd be able to get those shots. Sure enough, we just had to tell them the show time, they pulled up the pictures, and we were able to add the shots with DS in them to our card!
It was now dinner time! While waiting to be seated out on the porch, we saw a huge amount of characters go walking by for no particular reason. Made the wait more interesting!
The meal was fine, not fabulous, but not horrible either. It was food.
After dinner we used our FP for TSMM and got another round in. Of course DH won again....
At this point we wandered around. Not much was left open. We thought we'd go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. It was closed. No shows. Hmmmmm..... At this point we decided to split up. DH took Junior and I went to RNRC!
Here's who they saw...
I hopped into the single riders line. And then I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. The line NEVER moved. And it was getting close to when we needed to meet up for our special Fantasmic seating. Finally I ditched the line. Another trip without being able to ride RNRC.
I made my way over to the special entrance and found a bench to hang out on until the boys found me. A guy sat down next to me and we got to talking. I mentioned the non-moving line and he told me his daughter was over there and the line quit moving when someone "got sick"
in one of the cars BEFORE the ride started. Talk about psyching yourself out!! They had to pull that car out to clean it and it held things up.
Soon the guys found me and we wandered in to our seats. While waiting for the show to start, we gave Junior some glow sticks to hand out to the kids around us. He had so much fun doing that! Well, except when he tripped and scrapped his knee. So his new found friends shared a band-aid with us!
After the show, we decided not to rush and let the crowds die down before we went to the bus. We hung out on a bench, wandered into the shops, and just took our time before heading back to our room for the night.
What a day filled with magical experiences!
for top row on Soarin'! Junior's smile is HUGEEEEE, he's so excited! I love it!
I'm thankful we got to experience it when we did, but disappointed others won't get that cool experience. 
Note: I'm laughing WITH you, not AT you. Yes, I've been down that proverbial path, too. 
And that one, too!Just waiting to pass Disney's ROFR. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!!
I'm a fellow Minnesotan.. in fact a fellow Duluth-ian! Except I'm one of those darned college kids. Anyway, Dfiance and I are staying at the pop in Jan 2009 and have a few ADRs you guys do. Good stuff 
Oh the weather... 8 to 18 inches? Maybe my first day of finals will be canceled. 
pixie dusting that one! 
in the university library. I'm sure the entire campus finds me a total nutter but who cares? Brightened my day! 
