As you may have figured out by now, my family are not early risers. I think it was around 9:30 or so when we got up for our Hollywood Studio day and around 11 when we finally got there. Hey, I just ran 13.1 miles the day before! I get a break.
Stormy was getting his morning picture thing down.
Ok, Mom. Now let's get going!
When we'd gotten back from PHM the day before, this towelgami was on my bed, and I moved it to the window with the other decorations.
Dark and foreboding clouds gathering around Tower of Terror? Excellent!
Is this always here, or was it because of the Flower and Garden thing? Anyone know? I like it either way. I assume it's always there because of the brooms.
We wandered around the gates for a bit, but I already knew what I wanted to do first. Or rather, what I wanted Baloo to do first. Last trip, we skipped Animation Academy, because Baloo didn't think it'd be all that great, but I read about it from other TRs and decided it'd totally be something he'd like doing (Spoilers, I was right!)
See, Baloo draws. A lot. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see how bad he was at the Disney style (he is more of an "anime/comic" style). We weren't in time for the 12:00 session, but got in line for the 12:30 one. Darnit, waiting!
We finally got in and sat down.
My station! We got a front row seat. Yay being first in line!
Our animator gave us a choice of Goofy, Genie and...a third, I forget to pick from. My group chose Goofy (I voted Genie). Baloo really wanted to draw a princess. Oh well, maybe next time!
It was a lot of fun! I'm (apparently) awful at simple shapes and directions, heh. So here's my Goofy:
I mean, you can tell it's Goofy, right? Lol!
Baloo held Stormy on his lap, and in between instructions (which HE completed quickly and easily! Jerk...) he let Stormy scribble on the page.
This was the outcome (remember. He drew this with A SQUIRMY TODDLER ON HIS LAP. WHO WAS TRYING TO GRAB THE PENCIL.)
Dangit, Baloo.
I guess the instructor had seen Baloo and Stormy "collaborating" on their drawing, and came over to inspect it, announcing that there was a very young artist in our midst. She looked a bit surprised when she came over to inspect "Stormy's" drawing.
"Look at what this little man did, with his dad's help!" She held up the drawing for the whole class to see, while saying how great it was! (Of course, while saying how talented little Stormy was)
Baloo couldn't help but get a liiiittle smug. I saw his chest puff out, I swear.
After going on about his drawing, she grabbed the one she had done and signed it to Stormy (telling him to "Stay Goofy") and gave it to us! How cool!
Here's Baloo's and hers side by side, for reference.
So that's the story of The Artist. We already knew Baloo was an artist, but he certainly enjoyed the attention for it!
Next, we checked out the gift shop!
But Mom...I REALLY WANNA TOUCH IT!
Next up was Lunch!
We had planned to go to Min and Bill's Dockside Diner, because AllEars had an outdated menu that had some sort of cone sammich that sounded fantastic. We got there and it was all frankfurters and sausages. Boo. They said the cone sammiches had been phased out a few months ago.
So we decided to give ABC Commissary another shot! During our Honeymoon trip, we ate there for lunch and it was pretty awful. I got the blandest, driest, chicken sandwich ever, and Baloo got a pretty standard hamburger. I'd seen SO MANY positive reviews, though, while trying to find where to eat for Hollywood Studios, so we had kept it in mind. We decided to go there for lunch. We SHOULD have gone to Studio Catering Co, which was the other place we wanted to try, but assumed they'd still be open later. They were not. They closed at 5. Ah well. Always next trip! We also wanted to go to Starring Rolls for our snack and missed them being open as well. Basically, if it was food, we had no luck all day!
Entrance!
Stormy was asleep by now, so we had a lovely wait in line (for once...)
We ordered and got our food, then went to find somewhere to sit. But where?? So many open seats!! (Yay! Even though we only ate on the ground a couple times, I was apparently quite traumatized by it.
Because every time there was ample seating I got REALLY REALLY excited)
I spotted this poster and it was a done deal:
Yay, Regina!
What were our meals??
Well more fish, naturally!
Couscous Quinoa & Arugula Salad with Salmon
This was super filling, I don't think I finished it all (and we totally toted it around the rest of the day). Soooo much quinoa, and the salmon was quite tasty, although I would have preferred it warmer. And I got a "seasonal" cupcake. I think it was just chocolate or vanilla, with the pretty decorations (white chocolate).
Baloo got a burger, but he said it was WAY better than last time. He got the: 1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger with Horseradish Sauce and Fried Shrimp
served with Apple Slices or French Fries with the Strawberry Parfait.
It said it was sugar free, and I ended up really enjoying it! I just hope they didn't mean "splenda filled" when they say sugar free. It wasn't super super sweet, so I don't think so...
After lunch, we had just enough time to make it to the next showing of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular! Stormy woke up just as we were getting settled in, and was greeted by:
FIRE
Awesooooome!
Oh no, look out for the boulder, Indy!
MORE fire!
We checked out the gift shop and I picked up a little Indiana Jones hat car antenna for my brother, who is an avid Indy fan (as well as a Geology/Archeology major. He...wants to be Indiana. He probably will be too. )
Next up:
You know, I forget the name. Great Movie Ride?
It's the "not fire" ride....Snore, Mom.
Uh oh! Getting hijacked!
Follow the yellow brick road!
Outside the Chinese theater!
Next, we had a Fastpass for Star Tours! It was down for refurbishment when we were there for our Honeymoon, so Baloo didn't get to go on it and was sad, so he was really looking forward to this!
Tangled is one of his favorites. <3 Haha, I saw someone wearing a wig for PHM, and I about died when I passed them, thinking about how hot it is. You'll have to find a sports jersey or something to make a cape not awfully hot. Thanks! Yup, I made it. <3 And the Evangaline and Mama Odie shirts from the previous days.
I loved it! And it was less than $20, totally worth it.
Which I guess is good, though. Lots of time for you to heal up and be 1000% for the race! 
What a jerk. I do not know what were on the potatoes Baloo had/how they were cooked, but they were AMAZING. SOSOSO good. I kept eating them off his plate. Everything else was really tasty too, but those potatoes. OMG.
I'm setting high expectations and going to attempt the glass slipper challenge in 2015!! A 10k is the longest I've ran so far :s
2014 was my first disney run and my first half marathon, so I thought I only wanted to tackle the half, not both half and 10k, but once we got there, I felt like I totally could have done both. I hope to see you at both, if you're already doing 10ks, I'm sure you can do the GSC. 
I'm glad someone got the Stormy thing. <3 I figured there'd be a FEW Whovians on here.
)
One of my college friends is going with us too, I haven't seen her since my wedding (2010), pretty excited for that too. 
