We had a relaxed start to the day today after yesterday’s early start. With a morning lazing around the quiet pool in the Jamaica section of Caribbean Beach resort, I read my book whilst Miss A had great fun in the pool. We all took it in turns to either be in the pool with her, or sat on the side watching as we saw her confidence blossom in the water.
She was desperate to be able to do a handstand in the water, and whilst the legs were still a little bent, improvement was being made and I didn’t think it would be long before the perfect handstand was achieved on holiday.
It was a lovely but very hot morning to be relaxing by the pool, and we were making the most of it before an evening out at Hollywood Studios later on. I’m not sure Miss A really wanted to leave the pool though she was having so much fun. After a late lunch we slowly got ready for Hollywood Studios as we had some Fastpasses for the afternoon.
The last time we came to Hollywood Studios, Frozen Summer fun had just been introduced so the photo point was a large Frozen structure. This time it was more traditional with the movie reel, however we had a great photographer who caught some amazing magic shots of us all.
Hubby had set his heart on watching the Star Wars stage show, and he camped himself right by the stage in front of the Chinese Theatre whilst Miss A and I looked in the shops and found some pressed penny machines.
Our first fast pass was for Toy Story Mania. We all really enjoyed this during our last trip and couldn’t wait to go on it again. A Fastpass is recommended as the wait times can be long, however a third track has been opened since we visited in April, so the wait times may be less now.
I had also secured a Fastpass for the Frozen Singalong but in hindsight this wasn’t needed. It meant we joined the queue earlier than others but we all entered the theatre at the same time and there were no restricted viewing seats so next time I would just join the standby queue.
We decided after watching the great Frozen singalong that Miss A really enjoyed and joined in with, to see how long the standby queue was for the Great Movie Ride, and in actual fact it moved quickly so we stayed to enjoy the ride before finding something to eat.
As we were planning on seeing Fantasmic, we had decided to get something to eat before we went in, however it seemed that everyone else had the same plan, so all the quick service restaurants along Sunset Boulevard had huge queues.
There are kiosks inside the amphitheatre to get food as well, however the queues were just as bad. We ended up with huge hotdogs, crisps and cupcakes to share as we made our way up to the amphitheatre. It was touch and go as to whether we were going to get a seat as people were flooding through the gates as we were queuing for food, but as the theatre holds a huge number we were actually ok and sat just off centre which was fine.
When Hollywood Studios have a Fantasmic showing at around 8.30pm, as you leave the theatre you will usually make it back into the park as the fireworks start assuming there are fireworks that night. We decided to stay in our seats when Fantasmic finished as the queues leaving are horrible. Instead of joining the crowds we sat down for a while and then walked through the stands and joined the queue nearer the exit rather than shuffling along with everyone at the top of the stands.
The Star Wars Symphony in the Stars had just started when we were leaving the park so we watched from near the front of the park so we could take a quick exit, especially as Hubby and I had already watched them from our front row view a couple of nights ago. This also meant we didn’t get caught in the rush as people leave the park when fireworks finish, and also it meant we had a better chance of getting on the first bus that arrived.
Shopping tomorrow 🙂
Read about our Travel Day, Day 1 we went to Animal Kingdom, Day 2 we went to Magic Kingdom, Day 4 to Epcot, Day 5 back to Epcot, Day 6 to Magic Kingdom, Day 7 to Typhoon Lagoon, Day 8 to visit resorts, and Day 9 Magic Kingdom before leaving for home.
I am guessing fireworks at Hollywood Studios is a new thing, as they only had fantasmic on our last visit in 2013. Love the picture with Olaf in it, I love the way they do that with all the characters. Good to hear they have opened another track for Toy Story as the queues have always been horrendous x