Hollywood Studios

AKA, the day that almost broke us!  This was our toughest day--hot, humid, did I say hot?  Yes, it felt like a sauna by 11:30am when we arrived that day. 

 

There was a big threat of rain, though, so we were hopeful that it was about to cool off.  Wrong!

We arrived a half hour before our lunch reservation at Hollywood & Vine.

 

Everyone was excited to eat lunch with the Disney Junior characters--especially Lila Lou.

 

Lunch was at Echo Lake, which just also happens to be home to this dinosaur.  Cool!

Even though it was a buffet, everything we had was so delicious!  In the middle of lunch the characters made it our way.  First up, Handy Manny.

Then there was a dance party!  Lila wanted to join in, but only from afar.  She danced for a sec and then we sat back down at our table.

Then Jake came over from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Ahoy!

Next, we got a visit from Doc McStuffins:)

Then Sofia the 1st came over to see how we were doing.  The girls loved her...

and thought it was hilarious that they got her to kiss Jackson!

Cami woke up mid-lunch and actually let Boom hold her.  Whoa!  Soon after we headed over to watch the Little Mermaid show and then went into the Art of Animation Studio.  We saw a short show on how they create animated characters and then stumbled upon these fun characters...

Wreck It Ralph and Venelope!

 

 

And then guess who was also nearby?  Yep, Sorcerer Mickey!

We decided that his costume was much cuter than Chef Mickey's, so we waited in line for a good while to get our picture with him.  The kids got ancy, poor Cami wanted to finish eating her lunch, and I almost bailed a few times...

 

 

but we stuck with it and got these precious pictures of Mickey and the kids.

 

Yay for perseverance!!  Cameron even smiled so great for the camera, too:)

 

 

After that, the big kids, Daddo and Boom Pa rode Star Tours--a ride that they all enjoyed.  After it was over, mom, Cami and I met them and we went to watch the Muppets 3D show.  It was really cute and included being inside the A/C for 20 minutes.  A big bonus.

Then it was time to hike out to the stunt show--Lights! Camera! Action!
It was very neat, but it pretty much did us in.  It was about 4:30 and Lila fell asleep on Jared's shoulders as he was carrying her into the half stadium.  I was carrying the baby because we had to leave our stroller at the entrance and she had also fallen asleep.  We had to go to the very top of the stadium and there was slim to no wind up there. 

See how high up we are? We were at least four stories high!  The show was great and included a high speed car chase, stunt man falling off the rooftop, stunt man catching on fire and then...

ended with a bang!  Even though we were so far away, we could still feel the heat from the fire.  Crazy!  We were supposed to stay for a Disney Jr. show a little later and then Fantasmic (fireworks show) that night, but like I said, the heat just did us in.  As sad as I was to miss Fantasmic, I knew the better plan was to just call it a day.  Both of my girls were close to over-heating--gotta be a good mama first!  We were so tired that night that we just ordered Pizza Hut.  We all got some decent rest and were ready for our last day at Disney World the next morning.  We were supposed to go to Animal Kingdom, but were debating between that and just going back to do more at Magic Kingdom.  Stay tuned to see which theme park won!

 

Chef Mickey, Swim Day & T-Rex Cafe

We made it to Thursday and were so thankful for a "down day."  Not that we didn't have things planned, but it wasn't a theme park day.  Praise the Lord!  We slept in until 8:30 (so nice!) and then got ready to go have breakfast with Mickey and his friends.

It was a beautiful day!  The lake looked so peaceful.  I loved getting to ride on ferries all the time--an added perk for sure of staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

 

 

Everyone was awake for the ride and looking forward to meeting Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.

 

 

Pretty girls

 

Ahoy, mate!

 

 

A rare, unsweaty picture of our party of five:)

 

Quite a crew!

 

We arrived at the Contemporary Hotel a few minutes later and they had us take a picture for a future keepsake.  Later in the meal, they brought me the printed 8x10 of this pic and told me that for $35 it could be mine!  Ha!  No thanks.  I had it on my camera AND I'd already paid $150 for a Memory Maker, so I had access to the pictures anyway.  Pretty sure that Walgreens doesn't charge anywhere near $35 for an 8x10.  Nice try, Chef Mickey's!

  

I was a fan of this place, though, and an added bonus was the option for Cameron to sit in this baby seat.  Not a high chair, which is still a bit challenging, but a nice, reclined chair so that she could still see us.  Perfect!

We feasted on everything from Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, to cinnamon rolls, bacon, hashbrowns, fruit and even breakfast pizza, which was surprisingly delicious.

Goofy was the first character to come to our table.  He was awesome and did all kinds of fun handshakes with Jackson.

Chef Mickey was next and everyone wanted their picture with him.  Too bad his big black ear covered up Boom's face!

Then Lila's favorite arrived at our table--Minnie!!!

Lila told her, "I watch your show every day.  I love you."  Her daddy might have gotten a tear in his eye, he thought it was just so sweet.

Big smiles for Minnie Mouse.

This little girl did not want to let her go.

Such a fun morning for all of us.

Donald Duck was next, and Jackson commented on how he was almost as tall as Donald.

Then they turned up the party music and asked everyone to wave their napkins in the air.  Daddy played along...

and so did J man.

Cami wasn't feeling it and took a little cap nap instead.

We said goodbye and headed back out to the ferry.  These two took a very rare, but sweet picture together with Hedge Mickey:)

When we got back to the room, the three rascals and their Boom Pa had dog pile before heading out to the pool.  Such silly gooses.

Sassy pants

There was plenty of floating...

some swimming for me and Cameron and daddy...

but then it was nap time again!  A very common theme of the week.  I chilled with this little bathing beauty and then Gigi came along to relieve me.

After that, Jackson, Lila and I played the beach ball game with lots of other peeps.  Our record was 41 touches without the ball going into the water.

Lila finally got brave enough to try the slide again and guess what?  She loved it!

The rest of the afternoon was spent underneath the umbrella--Boom even found some fruity drinks at the bar, which always makes the afternoon more fun:)

Next up, the hoola-hoop contest!  This was right up Madison and Jackson's alley.

They loved getting to show off their skills.

After that, Jackson was in the swimming relay contest and water relay contest.  He was all about some team water sports!

A little while later it was time to get cleaned up for dinner.  We had big plans to go to Downtown Disney and eat at the T-Rex Café.  It would have been so simple, if not for the downpour of rain!  Never fear, though, Jared bought us some panchos and we got on the bus bound for T-Rex and friends.  Sweet Cami was asleep the whole time on the bus and so I just put my pancho on over both of us, with her in my arms.  Since it was raining so hard, we opted to leave the strollers at the hotel.  My dad walked right next to us with a big umbrella, trying his best to keep us dry.  Lila had fallen asleep on the bus, so Jared was carrying her.  After a solid 10 minute walk in the storm (lightning was everywere!) we finally got to our destination.  Both my and Jared's arms almost detached from our bodies, but we made it.  It wasn't easy, though!

I am so glad that we persevered, though, because this place was really COOL! 

We happily put on our party hats and wore them with style. We sat in the oceanic part of dinosaur world...

with this huge octopus over our table.

Cheers to us! 

The kids all loved this place.  J man ate his entire Bronto Burger, Maddie had some popcorn shrimp and Lila loved her mac and cheese.

Hopefully next time we got to Downtown Disney it won't be pouring down rain.  There were tons of neat shops that I would have loved to of gone into.  No strollers made it tough to do that, though.  Oh well!  Gotta save something for next time:)