The Weltes at Disney: Hollywood Studios

This week, I'm recapping our trip to Disney World and sharing lots of fun adventures, as well as a few tips we picked up along the way!

Our 1st full day at Disney did not start out as we had expected! After spending the night in the ER, Adalyn and I finally made it back to our hotel room at 6 in the morning! I managed to get a mere two hours of sleep before seeing DJ and the big girls off to Hollywood Studios.

We had Fastpasses scheduled for 9:20 to see Disney Junior Live on Stage and I did not want the big girls to miss it! We love Disney Junior at our house! I woke up just in time to tell the girls that Adalyn had broke her leg, fix their hair, and get out their dress up before they had to head to the busses to get to the park.

I told DJ to take lots of pictures and videos since I was missing out!

Adalyn continued to sleep while I got dressed, and I knew the only way that we would survive the day would be because of Jesus, caffeine, ibuprofen, and pure adrenaline. I had worked so hard planning this trip, that I couldn't let a broken leg get in our way.

Thankfully, Adalyn was a trooper! I cannot tell you how wonderful she did this first day! I gave her some tylenol for the pain, put her in the Ergo and we met DJ and the girls at the park around 11.

While Addy and I were back at the hotel, DJ and the girls were at Disney Junior Live on Stage! It was recommended that we Fastpass this by our travel agent, and then I had a friend say to not Fastpass it, because the Fastpass only got you closer to the front. Live on Stage is a puppet show and it is interactive with some dancing and bubble blowing, but from what I saw on the video, I'm thinking we could've skipped the Fastpass and sat in the back and the girls would've done just as well.

After the show, the girls were able to meet some of their favorite Disney Junior characters! I really wish the rest of the Jake and the Neverland Pirates crew would've been there, but Gretchen was happy meeting just Jake.

And of course, Sofia is her favorite! I let the girls wear their Disney Junior costumes that morning, and they had their favorite Disney Junior characters on their shirts.

We don't have any photos of Megan, but she wore her Doc McStuffins doctor coat over her outfit.

After they met Sofia, DJ took the girls to meet Mickey Mouse. He said that Megan was super pumped about getting Mickey's autograph and that she was going to walk up to him, hand him the autograph book, and get him to sign. DJ said she was talking a big talk and acting very brave!

When it came time, she wanted nothing to do with Mickey and DJ had to hold her the entire time! You can see that she didn't get her picture made with the other Disney Junior characters either!

Thankfully, big sis stepped in and got Mickey's autograph.

Once their show and meet & greets were over, Adalyn and I had arrived at the park. We had some time so we walked to Tower of Terror because DJ really wanted to ride it with Gretchen. We looked at how long the wait was and she agreed that she would be willing to ride, and we decided they could go after lunch.

I think we did some more walking around and looking in shops because I was still not fully awake to have my game plan going.

We had a scheduled lunch at Hollywood & Vine around 11:30. I have to say that this was by far my favorite character meal.

Again, the characters came around to the tables and we were able to self-serve from the buffet. The assortment of food was very similar to what we had the night before at Chef Mickey's. Salad, pasta, fruit, lobster mac & cheese, broccoli, corn dogs, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, and meats for the adults.

I was disappointed that the food felt the same from the night before, but I thought the energy was so much better than Chef Mickey's! The music was a bit louder, and I felt the characters interacted more with the girls than they did the night before. Maybe it was because Gretchen knew what to expect and how to act to get them to stay around longer, so overall, our character experience was better. They also stopped every few minutes and danced and encouraged the kids to get up and dance and have fun too! Gretchen loved this part!

Sofia loved seeing herself on Gretchen's shirt!

Doc came over and I thought Megan would be super excited! Big sis came to the rescue again to get Doc's signature!

I had to hold Megan and this was as close as she'd let me get! She was climbing up my side like a cat trying to get away from a waterhose. She was terrified!

We let Megan hang out under the table from then on while the characters came over.

Addy Pearl was not a fan of Handy Manny! He's probably the character that my girls would've cared less about, but judging from the smile on Gretchen's face she was pretty excited to see him!

After lunch, we had another Fastpass to The Little Mermaid. Again, not sure if it was worth the FastPass, because everyone seemed to be able to get in. The show was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it! Ariel's tail was really pretty and the songs were beautiful! The sea witch was pretty terrifying, and I felt that they skipped the bulk of the movie- I really wanted to hear "Kiss the Girl", but honestly, it was super cute!

After the Little Mermaid show, we split up and DJ and Gretchen went to Tower of Terror! He said they did great!

 

The little girls and I were heading to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground and ended up finding it, not thinking that was it, and then we walked around some more until we finally found it again. That was not my best moment! But at least we found the stars footprints and handprints and we tried to see how we measured up!

The playground was tons of fun! The giant ant was there, and there were slides and tunnels. Had I not been carrying Adalyn with a broken leg, I'm sure I would have enjoyed climbing through! The back wall had little pools of water dripping down and it was a great little cool off spot!

I let Addy reach over and play in the water and she loved it! I so wish I could've let her get down to play! There was another part of the wall that you could push on and water would seep out. The girls loved it!

Addy was being a great sport! She had fallen asleep in the stroller with all of our walking, but she woke up when I had to park the stroller and put her in the Ergo.

Once we were finished playing, I promised the girls that we would get a snack. We headed over and picked up Mickey ice cream!

Adalyn loved it and had chocolate all over her!

DJ and Gretchen met back up with us while we were waiting in line and they ended up being a part of a little side show! We have it on video, and although it's long, it was really funny to watch and they were all great sports!

Once the entertainment was over, we headed to the Toy Story ride that we had Fast Passes for and all the girls loved it! Seriously, it was so much fun! I would definitely FastPass this ride, as there was a really long wait, but we were able to walk right on!

After we finished Toy Story, Megan begged us to go see Cinderella's carriage! We had walked by it while we were looking for the playground, and I told Megan we would go back to see it once Gretchen was with us. This is the carriage that was in the movie and it was gorgeous!

You could only take your picture with it, which Megan was not happy about! She really wanted to touch it!

After we took pictures, and realized that our FastPasses were used, we decided to part ways so DJ and Gretchen could go to Indiana Jones. I wasn't sure that she would enjoy it, so I didn't have it on our itinerary, but she loved it! I was shocked! She has said that it was her favorite "ride" and continues to talk about it! She hasn't seen any of the movies, but I'm thinking we need to get one for her Easter basket!

The little girls and I headed over to see what time Beauty and the Beast started, and we were too early for it, and Megan had fallen asleep. We sat in the shade and Megan slept.

 

Once it was time for the show to start, Megan was starting to wake up, but she told me that she wanted to go back to the hotel and miss the show. My hope was that we were going to see Beauty & the Beast and try to see the Frozen Sing Along afterwards, but the girls were pooped.

The great part about not telling them what to expect, or what our plans were, is that they didn't expect anything! Gretchen has no idea that she missed the Frozen Sing Along! I'm sure she'd be upset that she missed it, but since we didn't tell her, she has no clue!  

We headed back to the hotel, and DJ and Gretchen met us a little while later. She decided that she was done for the day too, and I think she wanted to swim. We ate dinner at the hotel, and the girls were fussy. We decided to give them a bath and get them in bed (I was tired too!) and DJ went back to Hollywood Studios because he wanted to ride the Rockin' Rollercoaster. The timing worked well for us, and I was glad he was able to go back and enjoy it! I'm pretty sure we were all asleep by the time he got back!

On Monday, I'll be sharing our Epcot adventures!