Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Five

Tuesday found us on the way to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Maybe it was because the long days and short nights were catching up with us, maybe it was because our muscles were beginning to tighten up, or maybe it was because we had such an exciting and excellent day on Monday at EPCOT, but for whatever reason, it was a unanimous decision that this was not our favorite park. We all agree that if we ever get to go again, this will be the first park we visit. That way we won't be so tired and maybe we will find it to be as exciting as the other three parks.

But of course, it is a Walt Disney World park, so there were some fun time had here!!

The first item of business on Frank's agenda was renting a stroller! He never complains about walking and toting Mattie May around on his shoulders, but by now he could tell he was wearing himself out. Mattie May doesn't like to ride in the buggy at the grocery store so we weren't real sure how this big girl was going to react to being asked to ride in a stroller. Frank came out with it and she jumped right in! I think her legs were getting a little sore from being on his shoulders all the time. So any of you that are planning a trip to WDW with young children, rent a stroller! The best thing we spent money on all week!

We were real sure what to do first and Mattie May saw a picture of Belle, so in we went to "Beauty and the Beast - The Musical". Mattie May and I enjoyed it, Frank and Katie not so much. Neither on of them are fans of musicals. Remember, Frank took a nap in Nemo! LOL

After the show we just started walking towards the Toy Story ride but got sidetracked when we saw Quincy and June signing autographs. Of course we had to stop. Mattie May loves the Little Einsteins, and she has always looked a lot like Annie.

Right across from where Quincy and June were was voyage of the Little Mermaid. Mattie May saw Ariel and headed to the line. I think she liked the bubbles coming from the ceiling better than any other part of this show.

We wanted to ride the Toy Story ride because this is the one ride in this park that everyone said is a must and of course being the sheep that we are, we had to follow. They had already handed out all the FastPasses for the day so we would have to wait in line, which at the time was a two hour wait. We decided before we committed to that we had better get us some lunch. Looking at the menus, our best bet with our two picky eaters was Play N Dine at Hollywood and Vine. The way our day was going I was afraid we weren't going to be able to get a table but we only had to wait about 5 minutes. It was an American food buffet, but not a great selection for my non-chicken eating husband, but he found some things he could eat. He had to get them off the children's buffet but no one tried to stop him. I guess they could see the hunger in his eyes. We got to eat, dance and play with Handy Manny, Oso, Leo and June.

It really was a great choice for us. It was a place Mattie May could just be a kid and eat what she wanted or get up and dance when the music came on. Grumpy even got in on a couple of dances, after all, he is just a 49 year old kid!

We walked a different route back to the Toy Story ride. On the way, we stopped for some shopping and pictures under Mickey's big magic hat.

We stumbled upon what looked like Grauman's Chinese Theater and had to look around at some of the prints in the cement. Katie found her favorite and fell in tears on top of it!

Not really, she just sat down so I could get all of her and the entire square in the picture.

We finally made it around to the Toy Story ride and the wait was down to an hour and a half! We decided we had to wait it out because we really didn't want to make a trip back to this park. There are enough things to look at in the line that Mattie May really did well for the wait and it ended up that we only waited for 45 minutes until we were to the booth to pick up our 3D glasses. Frank and Katie picked up our glasses and the cast member taking head counts told them that they didn't need them because we were leaving the ride. WHAT?! I think she finally realized we didn't understand what she was telling us. The ride was broken and they didn't know if it would open back up that day. Oh! Just one more disappointment at this park. Buzz Lightyear and Woody were right across the street. Mattie May wanted to wait for them so we did. Even though this was a pretty long line, it went rather quickly and Buzz and Wood were great. They both took their time with Mattie May and even made Katie get in some of the pictures.

We found Frank and he told us a cast member at the Toy Story ride had told him not to go to far, but we hated for Mattie May to have to step right back into another long line and possibly be disappointed again. I saw Green Army Man standing on the street so we went to talk to him.

Man we timed it just right. Right after we had pictures with him, Frank was yelling at me to hurry and just as I handed Mattie May to Katie they opened the ride. It didn't take us long to get back to the point where we had to leave and finally got to ride the ride.

Mattie May in the Toy Story Ride line.

Oh yes! It was definitely worth the wait. What a fantastic ride. The most fun we had all day. We all wished we had time to ride it again.

The exit for the ride took us out to where Mattie May had seen Quincy and June earlier in the day. She started pulling on Katie's arm and pointing all the while shouting "THERE SHE IS! THERE SHE IS!" She took us by surprise but we finally realized she was pointing at Annie and thankfully the line was not long at all.

Frank, Katie and Mattie May all wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. I hate those types of rides but was going willingly as not to disappoint Mattie May. At the last minute, we decided it was best for me to tell her that I really didn't like these types of rides but that we all thought she would really enjoy it because she is so much like Grumpy and Mommie. She thought that was OK so I went to wait on them and rest my feet. I knew they weren't going to have to wait to long because the line was rather short, so when they came back in about 15 minutes and Frank and Katie were both smiling I thought they had enjoyed the ride. I asked Mattie May how she liked it and she told me they didn't ride it.

I was so confused. Frank told me they got on the ride and buckled in when all the sudden Mattie May told the cast member she wanted to get off. :-( I tried to get Frank and Katie to go back and get on it but they didn't want to do that to her.

It was getting late and when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to see the fireworks with the world floating on the lake. That was all the way over at EPCOT and we really didn't know if we had time to make it. The lines for the buses were long because the park was closing. Frank asked a cast member if there was a quicker way there and he directed us to the water taxi. That was fun and a bit more relaxed than riding the bus. Plus it took us up to some of the resorts we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

It had come a little shower so things were wet and it cooled off quit a bit but she was determined she was going to see that show. We did make it and it too was worth going back for. Amazing what they can do with lasers and fireworks. It was a great way to finish off a day that had had so many disappointments in it.

We turned in our stroller and Mattie May ended up on Frank's shoulders. I looked up and this is what I saw...

Yes, she really is asleep, he is not, I just caught him during a blink. We all crashed when we got back to the room and got a little rest before getting up for Day 6.

I know your probably asking yourself where all the trouble and disappointments were. Other than the ride shutting down, I left them all out! Even though this wasn't our favorite park, there really were a lot of fun things we did. And they would really take a while to write and read. We love to remember the happy times so they will stay with us.

God Bless!