lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips
-Theodore Roosevelt
Every person in the world can benefit from Teddy’s words. As a new mom, this is something I struggle with often. I have to remind myself of these words when it comes to what stage my baby ‘should’ be at throughout her life. She is perfect to us and we have SO much pleasure and joy from her being a part of our lives. There’s no point in comparing…in any situation.
Today we’ve gone back in time to Hollywood Studios where it’s 1940 everyday! My favorite memory of Hollywood Studios was from when my sister and BiL came to visit while I worked in the CP. We got to the park at opening and SPRINTED once we were through the gates to go to Rockin’ Roller Coaster! We ran everywhere for the first half of the day and I loved it!
I always suggest getting the Disney Mobile App to keep up to date with wait times as well as closing of rides while at the park. When we visit Hollywood Studios, we head right and check on the longest line for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller Coaster. We get a Fastpass for whichever has the longer wait time and ride the other. Again, whenever we go, there’s usually not more than a 20 minute wait, but it’s helpful in the instances of the park being busy. Both Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller Coaster are ‘scary’ rides to people who don’t enjoy roller coasters. I will admit that if you ride any ride enough times, you will start to like it and eventually love it. 😉 While we wait for the Fastpass call time, we head over to watch the Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage show. I LOVE this show! It’s the perfect mixture of singing, sparkly dresses and live performance. Also, no, I have no idea why my BBF and I stood like that for our picture, but I had to use it for this post because I think it’s hilarious.
Our next stop is to try to be a volunteer at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! I’m completely engrossed and entertained every single time I see this show, even though I’ve seen it at least 20 times in my life. We’re Star Wars fans but skip Star Tours because it’s a bit jostly and makes me a bit motion sick. Start Tours is worth going if you’re there during slow season. If you are a Star Wars fan, I recommend going during Star Wars Weekends for some awesome entertainment! After the thrills of Indiana Jones, we head over to Muppet Vision 3D for laughs with Kermy. At this time we’re near Lights Motor Action: Extreme Stunt Show which is a MUST SEE! Check for showtimes and try to time it so you’re there 20ish minutes before the show. If there’s still a bit before the show starts, head over to the Studio Backlot Tour (35 min.) Definitely worth it if you have enough time.
Our next stop is to get a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania. It’s a really fun ride but always has an enormous wait time. Beware if you get motion sickness though. My favorite attraction in all of Hollywood Studios is Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. If you’re bringing small children, this might be boring because it’s a gallery style walk through of Walt’s story followed by a movie. The Magic of Disney Animation is also fun to see to learn the behind the scenes of our favorite movie’s animation. We usually hit up Voyage of the Little Mermaid because Ariel’s my favorite princess. It’s a puppet show of the story of The Little Mermaid but is extremely entertaining if puppets make you laugh!
Like the other parks I’ve mentioned, we have to end the night with the fireworks show. Hollywood Studio’s show is called Fantasmic and it is amazing! Fantasmic is a mixture of characters, fireworks, water, lasers and a great soundtrack from the movies we love. You should get there at least a half hour early if you want to sit together with your family because it fills up super quick. Be forewarned that they sell light up toys that your children spouse will beg you to buy.
Don’t you guys love Hollywood Studios? Were there any attractions you loved that I missed? Who else rides Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller Coaster while Fantasmic is going on so you get massive headaches from all the screaming?
But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. -Rolling Stones. I heard this song last week and it’s popped in my head several times since. I love that it keeps running through my head because it’s a great message…for anyone…all the time!
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all enjoyed celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend! I had a perfect day, complete with flower planting, coconut shrimp and being with my two favorite people, Jeffrey and Sophie. Although I had a super productive, yet also relaxing weekend, I’m still a bit meh about this upcoming week. I’m not sure if it’s because there’s so much to do or that my mind is in 100 different places. I wanted to make a mood board, literally, about what I’d be wearing today to reflect my mood. FIRST, you should go check out Chris, over at The Mom Cafe, to see the tutorial I put together for saving money by printing your own invitations. I laid out a step by step on using PicMonkey of how I designed my sister’s baby ‘sprinkle’ invite!
We’re back again in EPCOT to go over our favorite attractions for kids!! EPCOT is pretty awesome because everything that’s awesome for adults is also awesome for kids (unless there’s a height requirement like Test Track or Soarin’…probably wouldn’t want to take your 6mo old on those anyways.)
First thing you ALWAYS do once you enter a park is take a picture. ALWAYS take a picture at the very entrance of the park with it’s icon (castle, hat, tree, ball) in the background…otherwise you’ll forget and they’re hard to photograph at night…especially if your kids are sleeping! By the second click of your camera, your kids will be sprinting to the giant geodesic sphere (new word for the day.) Why not start there first?! Spaceship Earth is a bit long for kids with short attention spans but it’s air conditioned and there’s an interactive screen that they’ll want to play with.
First Fastpass you’ll want to get is Soarin’. If you ever have one kid who’s wanting to go on a ride but the other doesn’t, you can do a Rider Switch. Living with the Land is also in The Land and is really cool for kids learning about growing plants. An area that ALL kids go bonkers over is Living with the Seas with Nemo and Friends! There’s opportunities to feed a manatee, learn about sharks, swim with Nemo, and talk to Crush at Turtle Talk!
We stop at Soarin’ before we head over to Test Track. Test Track is the only other ride that you’d really need to get a Fastpass for in EPCOT if you wanted to plan ahead. At this point I’d recommend to go to Mission: SPACE but I got motion sickness from it so I don’t go on it anymore. I know a lot of people that like it though! If your kids know what the moon walk is, you should probably take them to see Captain EO! Figment is also over by Captain EO but it’s right up there with Stitch’s Great Escape for me…terrible (which is sad because I liked it as a kid before it changed!) A TON of time can be spent at Innovations East and West. They’re designed for kids to learn more about technology, recycling, storm safety, fire safety, saving money and going green! There are also TONS of the newest Disney video games set up for play!
The second half of EPCOT is the World Showcase where they feature culture and cuisine from 11 countries. If your kids know Perry from Phineas & Ferb or just LOVE tasks and treasure hunts, you must get in on the Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure! Super cute and always changing! Really great activity to keep the kids interested throughout the entire showcase. There are also Kidcot Fun Stops in all of the countries which have little activities for the kids.
Every country has either a ride, gallery or act that you can watch. You will have to ask your kids what sounds most interesting to them because I think all of them are worth checking out. Especially the acts! If you don’t have a full day for the World Showcase, you won’t be able to get through every movie, gallery and act with children. Some of the acts kids enjoy most are the Jeweled Dragons in China,, Sergio the juggler in Italy, the Taiko drummers in Japan, Mo’Rockin and the belly dancer in Morocco, Brittish Revolution in the UK and OffKilter in Canada. Along the way if you want to ride the Maelstrom in Norway or eat at the Biergarten in Germany to watch the Oktoberfest Musikantan those are both very kid (and adult) worthy!
In addition to ALLLL of that, there are characters in the World Showcase that aren’t seen in some of the other parks. You can get showtimes for the acts and characters at your resort (or entrance to the park) to plan out who/what you want to see ahead of time..which I STRONGLY suggest. I always suggest to people (with or without kids) to go at the park’s opening, got to the hotel for a nap at lunch time and stay until closing. You will get a lot more accomplished with happy kids (and adults!) You also don’t want to miss the fireworks show at the end of the night. At EPCOT it’s called Illuminations: Reflections of earth and has fireworks, lasers and fire! Every kid’s dream! If they don’t like the loud noises of fireworks you could try bringing headphones or earplugs.
See anything I missed?? Did I not mention one of your kid’s all-time favorite attractions of EPCOT? Let me know because I don’t want to be missing out (or missing out on telling others!) Next week we’re headed to Hollywood Studios to check out the top attractions for adults! I hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day weekend! Mother’s day in Disney would be quite the gift (although it’s super busy right now…so maybe not!)