I think my alarm went off around 5:15. It was a very short night! I got ready for the day, and headed for the bus stop a little after 6. As usual, I was surprised by how much later the sun rises in FL than in NH. At this point in the day at home, the sun is up. I know, because it’s the sun that makes the dogs think that it’s time to go out this morning. Trust me, it was a lot of fun in June when it started getting light before 5!
I got to the bus stop around 6:15 or so. I’m really liking this 7am EMH concept. First off, it’s SO much cooler. And second, you can get some pretty neat pictures on the way to the bus.
The bus arrived shortly after I did, and it was a relatively quick and quiet trip over to Hollywood Studios. I think that the bus unloaded pretty close to the entrance, which was nice. Bag check was once again thorough bordering on asinine. I was glad I was carrying just a string backpack today.
Once through bag check, the entrance touch points were open. I made my way to the Passholder one, because that line appeared the shortest, and us passholders should know how to use these things to make the lines move more quickly, right? WRONG.
I swear half of the entrance staff was tied up at the Passholder entrance touch point, because of Passholders struggling to make the thing work. UHHH. And...foreshadow alert...this became a theme for the week. In case anyone was wondering, the Passholder entrances are not quicker than the mainstream ones…
Once I finally made it through the entrance, I continued about halfway up the main street of Studios (this is still the park I pay the least amount of attention to), to where they had stopped everyone. The crowd really was not bad at all. Of course the people immediately behind me were lamenting that they were going to miss the ride, because of so many people in front of them. If I had to guess, their wait for Slinky Dog, if they went straight there, was probably less than 15 minutes. It really was not a large crowd yet.
We were held there until 6:45, which was only about 2 minutes from the time I stopped walking, and then we were led as a mass of humanity to Toy Story Land. While most people headed straight to Slinky Dog, that was not my mission this morning. I’d ridden last night, and still had a fastpass for Saturday, should I decide to ride again. My mission this morning was to ride Alien Saucers, because I was pretty sure it was going to be a boring ride, and I didn’t want to wait in line for it.
Mission accomplished. I think I was about the 5th person in line for the Alien Saucers. It was cute. Kiddos should love it. Pretty typical carnival ride, dressed up in Toy Story Aliens, and mind sticking music. I’m glad I rode but I won’t make Nick try it when he first experiences Toy Story Land.
Next? A bit of picture taking.
Then? Toy Story Mania. I ended up riding three times in a row, because, with everyone in the ever growing line for Slinky Dog, it remained a walk on, which is awesome. And my score improved each time!!
Carnival games played, it was time for breakfast at Woody’s Lunchbox. I had to try multiple things here. I got the raspberry lunchbox tart and the banana split yogurt parfait. I liked the yogurt parfait a lot. I also really liked the flavor of the lunchbox tart. The tart itself was a little dry. And the best part of breakfast? The view.
Once breakfast was done, it was time to head out of the park. I left leisurely, browsing some stores on the street that Tower of Terror is on, and then I headed for the exit.
It was already getting quite warm, and my foot was kind of achy, from a blister on the bottom of it, so, since a boat was pulling up to the dock, I decided to take the boat to the first stop. It was a nice leisurely ride to the Swan and Dolphin dock.
From here, I headed over to the Boardwalk to browse the store there. On my way, I couldn’t get over the amount of people running in this heat. I don’t run on a cool day, so the idea of running in FL August heat and humidity blows my mind.
Shopping done at the Boardwalk, I headed for the Yacht and Beach Club, stopping in both of their stores, before parking myself in the Breezeway at the Beach Club Villas for probably a good 45 minutes to just chill. It was so nice and relaxing (and well air conditioned), and a perfect break spot. It also got me thinking about how nice it is to be in the Disney bubble. Which led to the idea that maybe, instead of our previous idea of getting off the cruise ship in April, getting a rental car, and exploring the coast for a day, perhaps we should just hop on the Disney buses at the end of the cruise, stay on Disney property for our last night in FL, and hit some of the restaurants Nick’s been wanting to try, but that I refuse to pay for when grazing our way around Epcot during a festival. (And Nick is in favor of this idea, so...it’s probably the route we are going!)
After relaxing at the Beach Club for awhile, I headed for the bus stop. A bus to Disney Springs arrived about 5 minutes after I got there. It was still pretty early in the day for Disney Springs, so I was the only one on that bus. And upon arrival at Disney Springs, I learned that if I’m the only one on the bus, I really should sit on the side of the bus opposite the driver. He forgot I was on the bus, until I stood up when he stopped at the sidewalk right before the bus “gates” to find out where he should go! OOPS!!!
Disney Springs was busy enough, but not crazy. I poked around the usual stores, buying ornaments in the Christmas store, and, surprisingly, not buying anything in World of Disney. I was pleased to see, though, that, while the store is still under construction, it’s way less miserable now that they’re refurbing the half of the store closer to Starbucks. It was a much better situation than in April!!
After browsing a few stores, it was time for lunch. I was pretty excited for lunch today, to be honest. Just a few days before my trip, Chicken Guy had opened. Chicken Guy is over near Planet Hollywood and is a joint effort between Guy Fieri and some other chef. The emphasis is, well, chicken. I like Guy Fieri, and I like good chicken tenders. Plus, the prices are pretty reasonable by Disney standards. This seemed like a natural lunch choice.
Once I got there, I found a short line outside, with an employee letting a few people in at a time. The wait in the sun felt really long, but really wasn’t, and there was virtually no line when I got inside (about 3 people). You order at a counter, they hand you a tracker, and then they deliver your food to you.
I got the chicken tender value meal. 3 tenders, fries, and a soft drink. Every meal comes with 2 sauces. You have a choice of 22 sauces. I got garlic parmesan and bourbon bbq sauce. The girl at the counter was very friendly.
After ordering, I got my beverage, and managed to snag a seat at a table inside, right next to the soda machine, that people were leaving as I was getting my soda. That’s probably my only complaint about this place. There is minimal indoor seating.
My food appeared right after I sat down. It was delicious, and the portion was really good. I was not able to finish everything. I liked the bbq sauce, but I LOVED the garlic parmesan sauce. If you like garlic, this is your sauce!
Once I had inhaled all that I could, I vacated my table, refilled my soda, and headed for the bus stop to get back to the hotel. I did learn in doing this, that it’s much closer to walk from Chicken Guy, towards the nearby parking garage, and then head to the bus stop, then it is to head back towards the entrance to the bus stop that’s tucked in between stores. This is especially true if you are making the trek to the bus stops for the value resorts. And yes, I learned this by walking the long way!
As I got to the bus stops, I saw that there was a bus at both the All Star Music and All Star Movies stops. The bus at the stop for Music was a Disney bus. The bus at the stop for Movies was a coach bus, by Dynamic. Now, roughly 10 years ago, a friend shared with me that Dynamic doesn’t have the best safety record, and that I should never set foot on one of those buses. That tidbit of information has stayed with me always. So, I decided to hop on the waiting Disney bus to All Star Music, and walk from there back to Movies. It can’t be very far, right?
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