The Photographer's Wife Parenting, Disney, Travel, Reviews & Other Randomness
Welcome to our May 2014 Walt Disney World Trip Report! Click here to start reading from Day 1!
Unfortunately, after requesting it and asking several times, we were not given late checkout, so we had to be out of the room by 11:00am and then transfer over to Pop Century and hope that they had a room available for us. Trent and I woke up and I quickly packed everything, trying to be quiet so as not to wake Brett up, which is impossible with a toddler. I took Trent to grab some breakfast at the Contempo Café to bring back to the room. A Mickey Waffle with Cherry topping and cereal for Trent and I to split, and a breakfast platter for Brett.
Brett finally got up as late as he could and we miraculously made it out of the room right at 11am. I’m sure we could have pushed our time a bit, but we were going to head right over to Pop Century, where Brett could hopefully go back to sleep and Trent could play in the splash area.
Luckily, our room was available, so it all worked out. We got a little worried because we saw the pool was closed and I had called the front desk to ask if the splash area was closed. They said it was also closed, but I went and looked and it was open. Thanks goodness because that was a big reason we booked Pop Century…because I knew Trent and I would be spending more time at the hotel and I knew he would love that splash area…which he did, and so did Brett and I. So much so that we seriously contemplated transitioning our pool at home into this same thing! Too bad it would cost about $8,000….
We set our stuff on a nearby covered table and chairs. Trent was a happy kid.
After a couple of hours by the splash area, we went back to the room to clean up and take a nap.
We decided on a quick dinner at the Pop food court…pizza and salads…and then headed over to Hollywood Studios for our first night of Star Wars Weekends.
We had missed every Fastpass I made before the trip, so instead, Brett walked around taking photos of all the Star Wars characters that were either set up for meet-n-greets or just walking around the streets interacting with people, while Trent and I braved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground area. It’s always so crowded in there and there are so many tunnels that I just can’t follow him into and I always get nervous he won’t know where to go or some other big kid will knock him over like they did in the Splash Mountain play area during our last trip.
Luckily, I found a nice little toddler-ish area in the back corner that I had never seen before. It had a few steps and a slide and it was an open area that allowed me to see him and wasn’t crowded.
But oh my goodness, it was like a damn greenhouse in there. After a few minutes, I was sweating and so uncomfortably hot…and I wasn’t even the one running around!
Trent played for a good 30 or so minutes. Once he started trying to climb elsewhere where it was difficult for me to follow, I had to pick him up to leave…which meant he screamed and kicked the entire time. Good thing I’ve learned to laugh at it or people might have thought I was kidnapping him.
Brett still wanted to take photos of the Star Wars characters and we had a little time to kill before heading to Fantasmic, so I found a nice shaded spot behind one of the classic cars and just let Trent run around and play. A little girl showed up while her parents sat on a nearby bench, so Trent actually had someone to play with for a bit.
Sometimes it’s nice not to be so go-go-go all the time. With a toddler, I feel like there are never any relaxing moments but that we also don’t “accomplish†anything. However, plenty of memories are still made and that’s what Disney is all about.
This is what Brett did while we “waited” hahaha
Since Brett just wanted photos of the characters and wasn’t standing in line, he just stood off to the side and waited for between families to take a photo. Every character was so great about noticing him and giving them a pose before the next family came up without making them wait. Just look at this next one…perfect!
Then there were the characters that were walking around and interacting with the crowd. Forgive me, but I don’t know all their names…I know Brett does, but he’s not here as I’m writing this, sorry! This lady was creepy and scared quite a few people…look at her fingers!
This next guy has the easiest and most comfortable costume out of everyone.
We stopped by the stage to watch/listen to the DJ for a few minutes.
Then we made our way around the park for a few more photos while the sun was setting.
We had Fastpasses for Fantasmic, but by the time we arrived, it was pointless, as they had already started letting everyone in…Fastpass or not. We showed up about 5 minutes after the arrival time on the Fastpass selection, so if you are trying to use a Fastpass for Fantasmic, arrive much earlier than the arrival time. We walked in, parked the stroller and saw that they were already seating people at the very last sections to the side, so we decided to try something new. We sat in the first row behind the walkway. There was hardly anyone else there, we weren’t squished and could get up and get snacks easily, and Trent could “play†in the little area around us without intruding on anyone’s space. Part of the show was blocked (just the bottom part) but other than that, it was a good experience and we may choose to sit there from now on! (or at least until the kids are old enough to sit without needing to run around…oh wait, does that ever happen?)
When we saw the boat full of characters start to make its way around, we took the opportunity to start leaving so we didn’t get stuck in a crowd, because we wanted to make it in time for the Symphony in the Stars Star Wars Fireworks. We grabbed our stroller without anyone around and headed out. The path led us directly to where Brett wanted to take photos from, which was at the end of Hollywood Boulevard.
I absolutely loved the Symphony in the Stars…one of the best fireworks shows at WDW in my opinion. The finale is enough to make you hold your ears!
Even Trent paid attention, so I actually picked him up and he was saying “oooh†periodically. That’s a good sign!
After the fireworks, we just immediately turned around and left to go back to Pop, since Brett was obviously still trying to recuperate from the 24 hour event and only having about 3-4 hours of sleep. Oh yeah, and we had early reservations at Crystal Palace the next day! Whose idea was that, you ask? Brett’s, of course! He’s such an overachiever….
Before we went back to the room, he took a pit stop at the food court for some goodies…we drank a lot of Powerade this trip 
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