December 11, 2019-Dennie's December Dash to Disney

(click here for today's pictures)


The alarm went off very early this morning-4:30. What in the world were we thinking? I guess that we were thinking that we should just wear the red dress. Seriously, we haven’t taken that red dress off all year long. 

Robby and I stirred much quicker than all of the kids. They moved a wee bit slower. Of course my big boys were up fairly quick and dove into the breakfast that Robby bought yesterday in preparation for this craziness. 

I had two chocolate filled croissants while trying to dress a sleeping Whitman. He was tired yesterday, so we let him sleep as long as he could today. Before 5:50, we were leaving the hotel parking lot. We followed the line of cars into the Hollywood Studios parking lot. 

We decided that we didn’t want to wait being detained by a bag line so we left the bags in the car. We knew that it would be a haul to come and get them later, but didn’t want to risk the line. That was a mistake because the bag line was short and by 10, we were famished and needed a snack.

We waited with a thousand of our closest friends to enter the park. The scheduled park opening was 8, but by 6:30 we started going through the turnstiles. Except there aren’t really turnstiles anymore! 

As soon as we entered the park, Robby was able to get us a boarding group. We were in ground 16 to ride the newest Star Wars ride-Rise of the Resistance. We hustled, and I do mean hustled, over to Slinky Dog. We zig zagged through the line and were soon on that ride before the sun was even up.

Next, we went to Toy Story Mania. I thought that I had won and celebrated a bit too soon-Robby beat me by about 8,000 points. Then we had time for a potty stop before getting on Alien Swirling Saucers. By this time our boarding group had been called, but since the park was not officially opened yet, we continued running around doing as many rides as possible.

We went to Rock N Roller coaster to ride it. Whitman hasn’t grown much so he can’t ride it so I waited with him. This was the first time that he was really bummed that he didn’t get to ride it. There was no wait so the others were back soon. When they returned, Anderson opted to wait back with Whitman while I rode with the others.

Then it was time for Tower of Terror. It continues to be my favorite ride-Whitman not so much. He doesn’t really care for it, but tolerates it-and looks terrified through it all. Then Robby changed a few fast passes, and got us a fast passes for Star Tours.

We rode that and then went to the new ride. We jumped in the line and waited and waited and waited. Then we saw some of the pre-show part which even includes a small simulator ride. Then we waited and waited some more. By this time, I was starving and feeling a bit bad because I was so hungry. We pressed on and made it to the end of the line just before the silly ride broke down. 

They gave us fastpasses to return to the ride as we had to leave. We did get to walk through the backstage area and see into the worker’s breakroom. That was pretty neat. This little ride broken business confused us for a few minutes-we had to regroup and figure out our next plans. 

Campbell and Graham were the only ones who wanted to wait in the single rider line of Smuggler’s Run. So they went to do that, while Robby, Reagan and I went to get our bags and drop off our jackets at the car. It was quite haul to get there and back, but we did a bit of shopping on the way to the car.

When we made it back to the waiting kids, we found a spot in the shade to wait on Campbell and Graham. Within too long, they were back and the line was opened again for Rise of the Resistance. 

We had to re-watch the preshow. It was actually pretty neat.Then we had to wait some more before finally boarding the real ride. It is a huge trackless ride, and you feel part of the action. There are huge statues, simulators, drops, and a whole lot more. At one point, Robby and Anderson were asking each other if something was real or not.

I think that neatest part was when you drove through the feet off sme massive walkers. Now, again I knew anything about Star Wars, more of the ride would make sense to me. As it is, it was impressive, but I have no frame of reference for it. I don’ t even know who are the good guys and who are the good guys.

After the ride was over, we walked to our Hollywood Studios lunch spot. We had lunchables, but Robby felt like we needed a bit more so he bought chicken fingers. We were all able to get one plus a handful of fries to supplement those lunchables. We sat and ate enjoying the cooler air. It was around 75 around here today. It is perfect in the shade, but a bit warm in the sun.

From there, we headed to the park exit. We did a wee bit of shopping on the way out-2 Minnie ears (Campbell and then Reagan and Keaton decided to split a pair) along with a Funko Pop for Graham. It was expensive but pretty cool-a Mickey in a Skyliner.

Once we spent all of our money, we walked to the car. Keaton asked the right person about transportation cards because they gave her a ton today. She was tickled and so was Whitman who has also started collecting them. 

I did forget candles and a lighter so I had to go to CVS and pay a fortune for those necessary items. Then it was back to the hotel for some rest-we did laundry, and I worked on the blog so I wouldn’t be so behind tonight.

After I had done most of the blog, my head was bobbing up and down and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I did wake up enough to laugh at Graham who dropped the ipad on his face because he was so tired! Soon he was sound asleep, and I was too right next to him. 

When I woke up, there was laundry to fold. I worked on that while Robby heated up BBQ for supper. We all ate quickly and then headed back out on another adventure. When we walked out of the hotel door, we were blasted with cool air. It was just downright chilly-I should have turned around and put on my pants, but didn’t think that quickly and froze for the rest of the night.

Our first stop tonight was Disney Springs for the Lego store. Anderson didn’t find anything that he wanted there, but did enjoy looking around. Then we went to the Ghirardelli chocolate store for a sample. On the other side was the Coca Cola store where we took a picture with the coke bear followed by walking to the top observation deck. It would be a fun stop except that it was just a bit too chilly tonight.

Then we walked more to run through the Star Wars store followed by the NBA experience store. My boys seem to enjoy that stores that are the furthest away from where we parked. We then booked it back to the car and drove towards Magic Kingdom.

From the parking lot, we took the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian. We looked down at the tree and gingerbread house before heading down the steps to see it closer. It was kind of chaotic downstairs but we found a way into the line to take a picture in front of the gingerbread house. While we were in line my phone rang. It was from Illinois so I didn’t answer it...soon we were lining up to take our picture. One, two, three, four, five-five-where’s Graham! 

Yep, we had walked down the stairs, waited in the line and hadn’t even noticed that he was missing. As I was telling Robby that we were missing Graham, we heard him hollering at us from upstairs. So glad that he spotted us! Probably wasn’t the best thing for him to spot us while we were taking a family picture-WITHOUT HIM! Gracious me! 

The wise child had been the one trying to call me from a stranger’s phone. Thankfully, he has some sense and didn’t panic. We would have certainly come and looked for him. Now, I will say that he must just be prone to getting lost since this is not his first time...or second...He was fine, but did seem to stick closer to me for the rest of the evening.

Once we had all been reunited, we took another picture or two before heading to the boat dock to go to Magic Kingdom. The boat lady had to pick up people at the Polynesian too so it took a long while to get to Magic Kingdom-even though she had to circle at Polynesian twice before she was able to dock correctly.

Magic Kingdom was pretty busy tonight, but our first stop was the People Mover. Next up, we walked through all of the people waiting for the fireworks. It was craziness, but we were soon at the Jingle Cruise-it is Christmas themed and still just at hokey.

After it was over, we did find some churros to eat along with the Chex mix from my bag. We devoured every bit of it. Then we headed to Splash Mountain. I was not looking forward to it because I was already cold. Thankfully, we didn’t get too wet and things were going smoothly...until it stopped at the end. We were stuck on it for about 5 minutes before it finally started going again. I was glad when we started moving because I had to go to the bathroom by then.

It was then 10 so the park was closing. We again fought the crowds trying to get on the ferry boat. The line was long but it moved pretty quickly. Everytime we would stop, Whitman would sit down and all asleep. He was one tired boy-I walked 27,000 steps today so I am sure his little legs were just exhausted.

We made it back to the room around 11. Everyone still had to have showers so of course that took a while. It was after 12 when Reagan finished her shower-actually, she hasn’t even gotten in yet. Campbell is showering now-then Reagan-then lights out! Tomorrow will be another big day-not an early day, but a big one!

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