Day 7, PART 2!
By the time we had ridden all of those rides and done a little bit of shopping after most of them, it was time to use our Toy Story Mania fast passes. Along the way, we ran into an army man. This was another GREAT character interaction. In fact, it was our favorite of the entire trip! As we walked past (we were going to skip this character meet and greet since we were eager to ride some more rides) he saluted us and then motioned us over.
He immediately started to motion to
Stitch to show him what was in his shopping bag.
Stitch happily pulled out his new Kermit the Frog bobble head to show it off. What came next just cracked me up...once
Stitch had the bobble head safely back in the bag, the army man motioned for the bag again.
Stitch handed it to him and...
The army man took it and 'marched away' with it.
He walked all the way over to a bush and hid the bag under it.
He then came back and pretended like he had no idea what
Stitch was talking about when he mentioned his bag.
Every time
Stitch would point or ask about the bag, the army man would tap the little pouch on his belt and then tap his chest as if to say "NO, it's mine!"...it was SOOOO funny. Finally, Stitch looked at the army man and said "You are so crazy, but I like it!", I just about fell over laughing at that. I took this picture shortly after that comment.
After the picture,
Stitch and the army man saluted each other one last time and then he had
Stitch salute me (and so did he). Respects paid to each other and myself, they said goodbye. Upon goodbye, Stitch made a beeline for the bush and rescued his Kermit bobble head. HA HA HA.
Right before this picture, Stitch gave a holler over to the army man "HEY ARMY GUY, I got my bag back!"...so of course, I had to stop and take yet another picture.
As we then walked past the army man, he made motions as if to grab at the bag (from about 10 feet away) as
Stitch held it up over his head in triumph (and to taunt I am sure).
We had a great time playing with Andy's toy solider!
Our next stop was Andy's room. I love the details here. Look at even the warning sign...it does look like a little boy might have tacked it up!
Toy Story Mania is a blast. I really enjoy this ride. The fun of competing, mixed with 3-D effects, some of my favorite characters ever and the cool atmosphere make this one of my favorites...but despite being one of my favorites, it was not worth waiting in line for. The posted wait (and it was just shy of noon by the time we rode it with our fast passes)? NINETY MINUTES!!! Oh goodness, no! I felt so sorry for the people getting in line to ride it. I won't wait for any ride that long.
I looked into grabbing another fast pass but they were ALL GONE for the entire rest of the day! I couldn't believe it.
WOW, I guess everyone loves Toy Story Mania!
We were both a bit hungry so we took a stroll looking for a CS place to eat. Along the way, we took some pictures.
We ended up at the ABC Commissary and had the worst meal of our trip there. The setting was beautiful but the food was really lacking. Neither of us even finished half of what we ordered.
I had the hamburger with fries and a strawberry parfait. My burger was cool and the fries were greasy and limp. The parfait had 'slimy' strawberries.
Stitch had the french fries (more limp ick) and carrot sticks (yummy) that came with the kid's chicken nugget meal actually still frozen on the inside! I returned his first set of nuggets (I refuse to make my child even attempt to eat frozen meat...ICK) and the second set was cooked through but still not very tasty. Like I said, neither of us ate much at all. We are 0 for 2 on the counter service lunches at DHS. A few years prior, we had all eaten at the Pizza Planet and none of us had been very fond of our meal there either. What is up with counter service offerings at DHS? Is there something good to be found there as far as counter service food? I am open to suggestions (and would appreciate them for our future trips). DESPITE the food, we had fun.
And, although the food was sub par, the service was pretty good. A bus boy came over with a cookie for
Stitch since he had noticed his birthday button.
**Side note about the wearing of the birthday button. Originally, he was given one at check in and we started to put it away instead of put it on him and the check-in CM told us he should put it on. I explained that his birthday was not yet for a few days and he said "He's here to celebrate, let him wear it all stay long." We thanked him and I handed it to
Stitch who started to put it on. At that point, the front desk manager noticed Stitch's button and said happy birthday, we explained once again that his birthday was not today and he told us that it was his birthday trip, so we should celebrate it to it's fullest each day.
With those encouragements, I decided that it would be fun to let him have a week long birthday celebration. I know some people have strong opinions about this "he should only wear it on his actual birthday or he is detracting from others who are really having a birthday" is usually the stated reasoning. However, since Disney doesn't seem to have an objection to it and in fact encouraged it several times during the week I have no reservations about letting my kids enjoy a birthday trip instead of birthday day. You only live once and I think that at Disney there is always more than enough magic to go around. **
A little nourishment (or something that at least may have passed as such) we headed out and to our next attraction. A fun one, The Great Movie Ride!
Dh and I are considering this as the location for our vow renewal reception or for 'just' an anniversary party (so many less restrictions to host just a party than to host a wedding/vow renewal at WDW). I had fun dreaming of what could be done there as far as food and drinks and desserts as I rode along next to my sweet
Stitch.
) "You know! The one with the mommy and daddy and the kids and baby! With the boat!" It totally threw me over. I remember him loving those pictures but I didn't think he would remember much. He does that all the time! I can say something and 2 - 3 months later it just pops out of his mouth. (All good things! Nothing naughty of course.)
Then, he told us we should pick up a fast pass because the line was only going to grow throughout the day. I explained that we had already gotten them for Toy Story Mania and our window was not open yet for our next set. He was awesome and slipped two fast passes from his pocket into Stitch's eager little paws. 
