Day 5- Hollywood Studios
The morning that we left for Hollywood Studios was the first rainy morning of our trip. Thankfully, we packed the boys’ raincoats and Todd went to get us some Disney ponchos. We were surprised at how cold it was that day, but, again, the crowds were really manageable.
Hudson wanted to pose with this frog at Wilderness Lodge before we left.
When I reserved our Hollywood Studios fast passes a few weeks prior, I made sure to get an early morning Fast Pass for Toy Story Midway Mania. So we headed straight there when we arrived for our 9:30-10:30 fast pass.
When we got to the ride, we saw Buzz and Woody at their character spot right outside the ride, so we hopped into that line. We probably waited about 15 minutes to meet our favorite friends.
All of the lines at Disney World have fun things to entertain your kids. When else can you strap your child to a rocket?
My boys are obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz and Woody. Hayes, especially, but Hudson really loves them, too. They met Woody the day before at Magic Kingdom, but it was so fun to see them together. And they were so big!
We told Buzz the story about Hudson giving Jessie a big kiss, and he had so much fun with it. He found Jessie’s autograph in their autograph books and drew big hearts around her name and put his name next to it. (Buzz Lightyear doesn’t use a pen to sign his name. His costume makes it too hard for him to write, so he uses a stamp.)
These guys just did the best job hamming it up and giving each kid a good amount of time without feeling like we were holding up the line.
After we met Buzz and Woody, we headed across to the Toy Story Mania ride. Todd and I loved it! I think Hudson and Hayes didn’t really get the hang of the game and couldn’t quite figure out how to rack up points by shooting at the targets. It was probably a little advanced for them, but they were highly entertained all the same!
When we left that ride, we saw the Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater characters. When it was the boys’ turn to get up there, Hudson was very very disappointed (as you can see) that they didn’t talk and didn’t even move. Ha! I’m not really sure how else they would do a Cars character. But we laughed about it. We officially have photos of a pouting child at Disney World!
Hollywood Studios has a ton of fun attractions, but not a ton of rides. We had reservations at Hollywood and Vine for lunch to meet the Disney Junior characters. It was a really fun, interactive character meal and the boys just went nuts for Jake.
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I loved that the restaurant had the theme songs from all the shows playing inside. It’s fun to sing-a-long with your kiddos. Doc McStuffins!
Before Sofia walked up, Hudson declared that he didn’t want to meet her because “she’s for girls.” And he officially melted when she walked up. I’m telling you. My boys love the Disney ladies.
We don’t ever really watch Handy Manny, but they still knew who he was and were excited to see him!
After lunch, we headed over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, which I remember being one of my favorite things from my last trip in 7th grade. The boys loved it. They crawled and climbed and slid and we followed them everywhere… crawling around on our hands and knees, too, just to make sure we didn’t lose them.
And then we lost Hayes. For about 90 seconds he was out of our sight. He had gone left in a tunnel too quickly and we didn’t catch which direction he went. Luckily, they were wearing bright-colored rain jackets and when his green jacket popped up out of a tunnel we scooped him up. Super fun playground, but also full of anxiety for every parent there!
We headed over to the Disney Junior Live show and Hayes dozed off in my lap before it even started. But he woke up just in time for the show and it was a ton of fun!
This rainy day was kind of tough on them because they just got so tired and we were really cold, so we were ready to go earlier this day. The boys took long naps in the room and we went back to Magic Kingdom that night to ride a few more things.
Day 6- Animal Kingdom
We were so excited for our day at Animal Kingdom. Columbia has an amazing zoo, but I had heard such great things about the safari at Animal Kingdom and about so many of the rides, that I really wanted to go.
We started our morning at the Tusker House character breakfast in Africa. And it was, by far, my favorite character meal of the trip. The food was yummy and the characters were just having a fun time. They finally got to meet Daisy and Donald and got to see Goofy and Mickey again.
After breakfast, we headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was another rainy day and Animal Kingdom was so empty that day, but it was barely raining and we were so happy to be able to see so much!
The safari was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Getting up close to so many enormous animals was so much fun for the boys!
Next, we did a fun walking trail to see a few more animals. And then we went over into Asia to ride Expedition: Everest. We had a Fast Pass, but, again, no lines. So we saved the Fast Pass and jumped right on the ride. Todd stayed back with Hayes while Hudson and I rode. And we both loved it! And then lucky Hudson got to ride it again with Todd. We came back to it a few times throughout the day because of the lack of lines and Hudson rode it a total of six times. Whoa boy.
Can’t you tell how much fun it was? (That’s us in the third row)
We ran into Baloo and King Louis a little bit after that and Hayes kept saying, “Bye Balouie!”
Okay, then we went over to the Nemo musical and we all absolutely loved it! Wow! It was just incredible. The performers were amazing and the costumes and props were just so creative. Definitely worth seeing.
We rode just about everything they could ride at Animal Kingdom. They loved Dino-land, but the Dinosaur ride kind of scared Hudson… and me, too! Yikes!
We had the best day there! Definitely one of my favorite days at Disney World. And we ran into Tigger and Pooh again.
We headed back for a late nap and an early dinner, and then we caught the Celebrate the Magic show and the Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom again. It was late, but we were able to do it because of naps. And then we took Hudson on Space Mountain for the first time and Hayes got to do the Buzz Lightyear ride again. Todd and I each rode Space Mountain with Hudson and I just love this picture of Todd and Hudson on it! (I had to reach over Hudson’s shoulder and hold his hand the whole time. Nervous mama.)
It was such a great day!
My son rode Space Mountain for the first time in 2012 (he was 6) and I did the same thing! I spent the whole ride hunched over, trying to hold onto his shoulders. I felt like I had internal damage by the end of the ride! 🙂
Glad y’all had such a wonderful trip! We’re going back in June and we can’t wait!
My family went to Disney a few years ago for Thanksgiving. I was the youngest “kid” there at 24. I couldn’t figure out the Toy Story ride either! My mama whooped my tail at it! Your boys are precious and it looks like they had a blast!
Hudson did awesome on all the rides! My son I just turned eight and he didn’t work his way up to Everest until he was about six years!
Isn’t the Nemo show fabulous?? When I went with my parents the summer I was pregnant, we did a lot of shows to get out of the heat and to get me off my feet every few hours. Nemo was definitely my favorite 🙂 I didn’t get to do the safari or Everest since I was pregnant, so that just gives me more of a reason to go back!
I have loved all of your posts and seeing that you did many of the things we did. We didn’t do Animal Kingdom this time but will when we go again. Were Minnie and Pluto at breakfast? I’m already thinking about our next trip! We did Chef Mickey’s this time and it would be hard to top in terms of character meals for me. We loved our princess meals, but there is just something about Mickey and friends.
Hey Whitney! Minnie and Pluto weren’t at Tusker House. Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey were there. We saw Minnie, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy at Epcot and then saw Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto at Chef Mickey’s on our last day. Chef Mickey’s was a lot of fun. I think I just like the atmosphere at Tusker House 🙂 Probably because it was in a park and not in a hotel? I don’t know!
I’m just getting a chance to read your Disney posts! I think the picture of the boys with Tigger is my fave…they are so happy! And I can’t get enough of Hayes…he looks like a big boy in these pics and not a baby. They’re both so cute, Erin. Love reading about your trip.
We’re definitely doing the Tusker House breakfast (Since Donald Duck IS the Oregon Duck, we think Henry will really get a kick out of seeing him) BUT we hadn’t planned on doing Hollywood Studios. Looks like we may need to rearrange our plans!
I am really enjoying these Disney posts! You all really packed so much fun into all the days even with naps. I can’t wait to see how you did that. 🙂 My 3 yr old son says the same thing about Sofia when it first comes on but then we catch him watching it too.
Looks like a blast! I love how genuinely happy the guys are to meet the characters! Julia would die if she met Doc McStuffins!
I love that Hudson rode Everest! The highlight of my nephew’s first Disney trip was Buzz and Woody. I told him that someday I’d have to share my picture with both of them too someday.