Disney Vacation - Day 2

Well, Day 2 (which was our first "real" day) started off with a bang! As you can tell from the first picture (link below), the boys were just plumb tuckered out from the preceding day, but as soon as we told them it was time to get up and go to Hollywood Studios, they bounced up out of bed with giggles and excitement. :) After a short bus ride over to Hollywood Studios, we were ready to start our first day at one of the parks!

Our first stop was to get a FastPass for the Toy Story Midway Mania ride. Glad we got a FastPass when we did...the wait time was already 60 minutes and the morning had just started! Our first attraction after that was the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. Oh....my....goshuh! Trisha and I watched this movie COUNTLESS times when we were kids, and to see this big play area that looked just like the movie (even the giant Oreo cookie!) was amazing! We took turns getting pictures made on the giant ant, which made noise when you sat on it. Yes, even Trisha and I got our picture on this. LOL! The kids thoroughly enjoyed this playground. Everything was so big, and the theme work was just unreal.

Next up, we walked down The Streets of America. Too cool the way they had this painted to look like real streets in U.S. cities! By this time, Aaron was begging to go watch the Muppet 3D Vision show, so that's where we headed. This was a really cute show, and the first 3D show the boys had ever seen. They looked so adorable in their big 3D glasses! They loved this show and giggled throughout the entire thing. It was so cute at one point where 3D bubbles were coming out of the screen...Aaron started reaching up and trying to pop them! Made me laugh because he really thought several things were real and coming out of the screen when they were just 3D effects. So cute!

Next, we watched a Jedi Training program where they pick random kids out of the crowd to come train to be a Jedi. I wanted Evan to raise his hand and try to get picked, but he was too shy. Too bad...he would have loved it! The Jedis-in-training got to learn how to fight Darth Vader with their light sabers and took turns fighting him off. Great acting by the characters!

After that, it was time for lunch at none other than Toy Story's Pizza Planet! This place was set up just like the movie...arcade games and everything. Cute decorations everywhere, such as giant 3-eyed aliens like in the movie...again, I was very impressed with the theming! I love that sort of thing, and Disney's attention to detail is incomparable. We enjoyed our pizza, salad, and dessert, and then headed back out into the park.

We saw the characters from Little Einsteins out under a character spot, so we got in line to get their autographs and pictures with the kids. Leo was so sweet to Aaron! He kept hugging him and playing around....the characters seem so real. By this time, our FastPasses were ready to be used, so we headed over to Toy Story Midway Mania. This was one of our favorites from the whole trip! We had a blast on this ride/game! You wear 3D glasses and shoot things at the movie as you ride through....my score was over 180,000 and Van's was a little over 62,000...just had to rub that in. ;) Everything was decorated like Andy's room on Toy Story. It felt like we were little toys in a giant room..so cool! With the FastPass, we were able to pretty much walk right through the line with only about 5 minutes of wait time. Score! I almost wish we would have had to wait a little longer, though, so that we could've seen all the little details of everything a little bit better.

I think we headed to The Voyage of the Little Mermaid next. After waiting for what seemed like F-O-R-E-V-E-R, a guy comes out into the crowd and announces that due to technical difficulties, the next showing of that program was canceled. LOVELY! Gotta love waiting forever in a line only to be told you can't watch the show. So, we grumbled and headed out. Trisha and her family went to meet Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia, and we headed to One Man's Dream. It was neat learning about Walt Disney and all he had done...and the building was nice and air conditioned, so that was a plus! By this time, it was so stinkin' hot outside that we decided to leave the park and go back to the resort to cool off and rest before dinner.

After naps and swimming, we got on a boat that took us over to Wilderness Lodge for our dining reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Oh my goodness...this place was GORGEOUS! Rustic lodge feeling and just beautiful! The kids got to play at a table with Lincoln Logs while we waited for our table. This turned out to be a unanimous favorite among all of us as one of the best and most fun places to eat from the entire trip! It was all-you-can-eat, and we had what you call the "Canyon Skillet." This included smoked pork ribs, pulled pork, oven-roasted chicken, beef brisket, mashed potatoes, beans, corn on the cob, salad, and to-die-for cornbread! WOW, that was A LOT of food (and did I mention it was all-you-can eat?!) Yeah, but we were so full from the first helping that no one wanted seconds. Especially when we ordered dessert. Oh.........that dessert! Van got apple pie, and I got pecan pie with bourbon chocolate sauce. HEAVENLY! So rich I couldn't even eat half of it, but it was DEEEELICIOUS!

The antics of the servers at this place are just hilarious! If anyone asked for ketchup, they'd scream across the restaurant for KEEEETCHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP, and some kid from another table would have to bring their bottle of ketchup over to the other table. My boys now scream for ketchup at home like the waiters at Whispering Canyon. Thanks for that. LOL Our waiter, named Oopsy Daisy, threw straws and napkins at us when she brought our drinks. So funny! During the middle of supper, the announcer called up all the kids in the restaurant to come get a stick horse and race around the eating area while they played music and hooped and hollered like cowboys. All of our kids got up and did this, but Aaron cracked me up. He proudly galloped all around the restaurant on his little stick horse and smiled at everyone as he trotted around. Sooooooo cute!

After this, we headed back to the resort for bed again. Our tummies were full, and our day was fun. Couldn't wait for the next day!

To see pictures of Day 2, please CLICK HERE. Remember, there are 2 pages of photos, so be sure and check out page 2 by clicking on the arrow above the main display picture. :)

Tomorrow I will blog about our day at Epcot, so check back in!