The Rollins Ruckus: WDW Day 2: Hollywood Studios

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Disney World, Day 2...my favorite day of our entire trip. The morning started off a little (actually a lot) hectic, as we caught the first bus to Hollywood Studios and rushed through the gates to find the location of our 9 o'clock character breakfast. Actually, let me just take a minute to talk about character breakfasts. They are amazing, in that your kids get to interact with all of the characters when the come to your table and there is usually some music/entertainment for the kids, BUT they are a bit overwhelming for the younger children...especially when this is your first day/experience in the Disney Parks. And DO NOT expect your children to eat their breakfast when their favorite characters are walking around and kids are dancing in their chairs!

Our first reservation at Hollywood Studios was the Disney Junior Play & Dine breakfast at the Hollywood & Vine restaurant. My kids LOVE Disney Junior, but if you kids are older than about six, I would skip this one.

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Special Agent Oso

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Poor Jeb! He was trying to get in a good breakfast to have enough energy for the day. After the chaotic adventure trying to make it into the park in time for our breakfast reservations, he knew what was coming. Luckily, our waitress could feel his pain and left us with the entire pot of coffee! The breakfast was delicious! A huge buffet of pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, made-to-order omelettes, bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits and chicken gravy, pastries...Disney had the works and it all tasted great!

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Mickey waffles!

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This was Reid's face when the music started and the characters were dancing. He wasn't too sure what to expect!

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So I must admit, when this little lady came up to our table I wasn't sure who she was. LilliAnn informed me that this was June from the Little Einsteins. Notice LilliAnn's concentration on the autograph. If you take your kids to Disney, the FIRST thing you must do is buy autograph books. I had no idea that this would be a big deal...boy was I wrong! The kids were all about the autographs!

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Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates! This was who we were most excited to see at our breakfast!

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After a hug from Jake, the nervousness disappeared and he was ready to take on Disney!

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Sis guarded her autograph book with her life! She would have the next blank page ready at all times!

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Handy Manny. Jeb thought this guy was pretty cool!

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Hollywood Studios is one of the smaller parks, so it's easy to get from one place to the next without a map (or without getting lost!). My itinerary worked like a charm this day, so it really got my hopes up for the rest of the week. Also, this WAS NOT an extra magic hour day for Hollywood Studios so it was less crowded. Extra magic hours are times when the parks either open an hour earlier or close an hour later. These are scheduled a few months in advance and can be viewed on the WDW website. Only guests staying at a Disney resort can utilize these extra magic hours, so you think it's a great perk...however, the parks are WAY more crowded on these days. I did not know this little tip when I booked all of my reservations 180 days (exactly) before our trip. So...I just so happened that our Animal Kingdom day and one of our Magic Kingdom days were on extra magic days. By the time I found out about the parks being more crowded on these days, it was too late to change my dining reservations. I knew the parks would be a little more crowded, but DID NOT want to sacrifice dinner at the castle or our character breakfast at the Animal Kingdom. In the future, I will choose my park days based on extra magic hour days and will AVOID the parks on extra magic days. Ok, I repeat...DO NOT GO TO THE PARK THAT IS HAVING THE EXTRA MAGIC HOUR DAY. Choose another park. Trust me, it will be was less busy.

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Our first stop after breakfast was the Disney Junior Playhouse show. The first show always has the shortest line and is usually around 9:30 or 10:00. This show was one of my kids' favorite shows. LilliAnn is still talking about it! They do a stage show with puppets that are about as tall as your kids with short plays from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sophia the First, Jake and The Neverland Pirates, and Doc McStuffins. I would say that this show is good for any kid that likes these shows or that is under the age of six or seven.

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The Disney Junior Show and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid are both in the Animation Courtyard. Even though the kids were begging to ride a ride, I knew that we had to see the mermaid show next to stay true to my itinerary. Tip: when waiting to enter a Disney show, you want to be early/one of the first in the holding room, but not THE first to walk in when the doors open. They make people go all the way across the aisle, so if you want good seats in the middle, make sure you let a few people walk through the doors before you. Before I forget, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid is a must-see, especially if you have a little girl. The show is only about twenty minutes long, and my little boy Reid even loved it!

(Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the Little Mermaid sign, but it is directly to the left of this animation building.)

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The center of Hollywood Studios! The big Mickey sorcerer hat!

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After the Little Mermaid, we headed to the Pixar area to get Fast Passes to Toy Story Mania. This is by far the most popular ride at Hollywood Studios!

A little bit on Fast Passes: Fast Pass machines can be utilized by anyone staying at a Disney resort. All you do is find the FP machine (usually outside of the ride entrance), insert your "Key to the World" (A.K.A. room key/Disney cards/park entrance cards) and the machine will give you tickets. Remember, you must insert the card for EVERY person that plans on riding rides, so the person getting the fast passes needs everyone's card that is going to be riding that ride. Also, if only two people are going to be riding (and you have four people/four cards), insert all four cards and you'll have four FPs, so those two people can ride twice! On your fast pass ticket there will be a time. You MUST ride that ride within that allotted time. No longer will Disney cast members let you into the Fast Pass line if it is past the time on your Fast Pass ticket. We tried to use our Toy Story fast passes a few hours after our time on our ticket and they said that it was not allowed. The wait time was TWO HOURS, and with a fast pass you can get right on. I told the guy that it was our first day and I thought your could use your FP anytime after the allotted time, just not before. THANKFULLY, he said he would let us through this time, but that I needed to remember to always use the FP time on the ticket.

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Our next stop was The Hollywood Tower of Terror. Reid was just barely tall enough to ride and he was SOOOOO excited! I still can't believe he actually rode this! We got fast passes first and then had to kill some time in this area of the park until it was the time on our fast pass ticket.

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The Beauty and The Beast: Live on Stage is a must-see at this park and was about to start right after we got our Tower fast passes. This show was about 30 minutes long and, surprisingly, kept the attention of both kids.

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LilliAnn loved little Chip!

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Reid kept saying, "Mom, can you believe it? It's the real Beast!"

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The kids spotted a tattoo stand and if you know my kids, you know that they are obsessed with temporary tattoos.

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It was Captain Jack Sparrow for Reid!

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And "Baby Ariel" for LilliAnn!

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And look who sissy and I met while waiting on the boys to get off of the Tower of Terror!

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The Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster is near the Tower of Terror and is another must-do at Hollywood Studios, but unfortunately Reid wasn't quite tall enough. Neither Jeb nor I wanted to ride it alone, so we had to skip Aerosmith on this trip.

(If you want to know if advance if your kids can ride a certain ride at WDW, you can google it and the answer will pop right up. We found that this was the easiest way for us to get this info. quickly.)

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But the guitar still makes for a GREAT photo op!

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Time for the Tower of Terror! And he rode it twice! I was so glad that he asked mom to go along for our other set of fast passes, because I was really wanting to ride this one! It wasn't quite as scary as I remembered it being when I was eleven, but the anticipation was much worse this time!

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We saw a picture on Instrgram of Kevin Durant riding the Tower of Tower a few months before, so Reid thought he was extra cool because he had rode it like K.D.! He had a little pep in his step the rest of the day!

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Jeb was the ultimate stroller pusher!

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Disney has single and double strollers to rent, but they look big and bulky (and not very comfortable). There are also numerous stroller rental companies around WDW (just google it) and you can pick out any stroller that you want. We took our own Joovy sit and stand (we checked it at the airport), and it worked out great! I love this stroller, but my only complaint is that there isn't a place for the other child to sit, when one child is sleeping and the seat is all the way reclined. LilliAnn only fell asleep for about 1-2 hours each day, and we usually would take Reid on a ride while she was sleeping so he wouldn't have to walk a lot.

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After getting a few snacks and trying on some hats, we headed to the opposite side of the park. Reid and Jeb rode Star Wars, and they both said is was an awesome ride! While the boys were riding the ride, I let LilliAnn get her face painted. She said this was her favorite thing of the entire day! After Star Wars, we made our way to Jim Henson's Muppet Vision: 3D. I think that this show was one of the first 3D shows, so it isn't outstanding compared to some of the newer 3D shows. However, it is a classic show at WDW and is considered a must-see, so we couldn't miss it! It was about 1 or 2 in the afternoon and LilliAnn was exhausted. After two minutes of the Muppets, she was out like a light!

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Star Wars photo op!

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This was right before she fell asleep.

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It just so happened that the Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater tent was right outside of Muppet Theatre, so Reid and I got in line for a meet & greet. LilliAnn was asleep, so it worked out perfectly!

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The REAL Tow Mater!

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"Mom, is the really the REAL Lightening McQueen?!"

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The street of Hollywood Studios are so cool!

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We spotted Goofy and even though LilliAnn was still asleep, Reid REALLY wanted to get Goofy's autography! He got his gear and he was ready!

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Almost his turn...

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SOOOOO excited!

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I love this picture! It just screams Walt Disney World!

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Reid had so much fun seeing Goofy, that I decided we needed to go find some more characters. When LilliAnn woke up, we went straight to the Animation building to see Mickey Mouse! The character lines are usually shortest in the late afternoon, so we waited less than five minutes to see Mickey! I couldn't believe it! The photographers will take pictures with your personal camera, but then they take pictures with their camera as well. I paid for the Disney Photo Pass Plus ($250 I think), where you have an all access pass to all your photos that are taken at Disney World. They give you a photo card on a lanyard and you hand it to the photographer each time you get a picture taken. The photographer scans your card and all your pictures are kept in one place online. When you get home, you enter in your code and voila! You can download ALL of your Disney pictures to your computer! I thought this was worth every penny because 1. I LOVE pictures and 2. I didn't always have my camera handy or on the right setting when characters were around.

Tip: If you get the Photo Pass Plus, be sure to take a picture of the back of it (your ID number) with your phone AND your camera. That way if you lose your card, you have the number to still be able to access all of your photos online.

Tip: While I'm thinking about it, ALWAYS take a case of baby wipes in your stroller no matter how old your kids are...trust me, you'll use them!

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Next, Reid met Mr. Incredible (pictures are on Jeb's phone and I didn't get them on my computer yet) and Wreck It Ralph. The Wreck It Ralph line was about 30 minutes long, I'm guessing because he is a new character and the movie just came out.

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After standing in some lines and meeting a few characters, the kids were ready to ride more rides! We made our way to the Pixar area to ride the new ride, Toy Story Mania. I must say, it definitely lived up to the hype! It was AWESOME and the kids LOVED it!

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You wear 3D glasses and shoot at different screens as you ride through a little arcade.

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Pixar was an extra busy part of the park and every time we tried to see Woody or Jesse, the line was an hour long. After a long day, my 3 and 5 year old were not interested in anything where we had to wait an hour.

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We rode The Great Movie Ride next because it was on our way to the Indiana Jones show and there was no line. This ride was a little boring for the kids, as you ride in a little boat through classic movie scenes. It is on the must-do list and Jeb and I thought it was kind of neat!

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It was late afternoon and Reid wanted to see the Indiana Jones Stunt show. We had to choose between this and the Lights, Motor, Action car stunt show, and Reid chose Indiana Jones. This was a pretty neat little show, lasting about 30-45 minutes. It had a lot of action, fighting, fire, and explosives, so Jeb and Reid were all into it!

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On our way to our next stop, Reid wanted to get his face painted like his sister. He loved looking at the board and getting to pick what he wanted.

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Yesterday it was dragon...today, it is TIGER!

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Our last stop before our dinner reservations was the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground. For some reason, I remember this area from my previous Disney trip better than any other. This was probably the kids' favorite thing we did all day. When you're 3 and 5, there isn't a lot that beats a good playground where you can run, jump, slide, and climb! Especially when there are giant Play-Doh cans and giant dog noses!

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Posing in front of the big hat!

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Our final reservation for the day was at 50s Prime Time Cafe. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this restaurant, and as far as I'm concerned, it is a MUST if you go to WDW! The wait staff is fun, loud, and crazy, there are black and white T.V.s at each table with old shows playing while you eat, and the food is AMAZING (especially fried cheese appetizer, the pot roast, and the fried chicken)! The kids got drinks with these cool little light-up Disney characters, and they got to use the view finder to pick out their dessert!

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The kids both chose the "build-your-own sundaes." They had such a fun time making their sundaes and celebrating their birthdays!

Tip: If you're going to Disney for a special occasion, make sure you always wear your buttons that they give you at the resort (or at least take them with you and put them on at dinner).