Trip Report Met my #GOALS, but I need do-over trip report!!

Hi Friends!
I'm so excited to finally document my adventures with my first trip report. I've had intentions to make one for several years now so YAY!!
We've just returned from our quick, 4-ish day trip at WDW. I had set a few goals that I wanted to accomplish this time around that you can read about here in my pre-trip report.
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/goals-trip-report.971938/
The husband and I traveled with our son (4) and my nephew (13). I will say that we had a blast, I learned a few things and I met most of my goals; but I definitely need a do-over as a little snafu altered some of our plans, but more about that later.

Trip Details
When: 3/3-3/6
Where: Split stay at Riveria/ Pop Century

Wednesday 3/3
The day started off super early with the typical travel day butterflies. We woke up dark and early (5:40am) for our 9:21am flight out of Cleveland. The little guy was like "Mommy, I can't believe we woke up before the sun came out, LOL".
We typically drive to my parents house as they live about 3 minutes away from the airport; this was so clutch when I still lived at home.
Rather than pay to park my dad usually drops us off. Additionally, we needed to pick up my nephew from their house. I wanted to get there early as I didn't trust that he'd be awake and ready, but to my surprise he was

We made the quick trip to Cleveland-Hopkins with 2 hours to spare.
With the exception of my nephews bag getting flagged, security was a breeze..
Sidenote***
A few days prior to the trip, I noticed that I input my husbands birthday wrong when I booked the flights. I called the airline to get it fixed and although the DOB isn't printed on the boarding pass, I was a bit nervous that we'd still run into issues...alas, we were all good.

We made a stop at our favorite airport dining spot.

The grown-ups opted not to eat; I usually never pass up an opportunity to munch on chicken minis but I just wasn't feeling it this morning.

On to the gate!
I don't know if its because it's Frontier, but they are always and the very, very end of the terminal, lol

To my fellow parents with young kids, these Skip Hop suitcases are amazing for little ones. They fit under the seat and can be classified as a personal item so you don't have to pay to bring them on the plane. I was able to fit so much inside (a large packing cube, iPad with a bulky case, his toiletries, snacks, over the ear headphones and a pair of vans.) I highly recommend!

Once we got to the gate, we had about 40 minutes until boarding so I took some random photos

Magic Band on!!

You see this little pink shoe? Well this little mama almost took my head off several times and I had to lean in to the guy next to me. When she boarded the plane, she had the WORST tantrum that I'd ever encountered on a flight, her little foot kicked so fast, lol. Watching everyones head turn back to stare, I felt so bad for the parents; I know they had to be overwhelmed and a bit embarrassed. Expecting a long flight, I immediately put my earbuds in, but thankfully she calmed down after they sat down.

After an uneventful flight, we touched down in Orlando early!

Obligatory Disney airport photos
**(So the matching hoodies was not planned I had no idea that my nephew had that on under his other jacket)

IDK about most people, but I love the new marketing photos with the masks.
After we got of the overly packed train, we met the rep for the stroller rental pick up and then made our way over to the rental cars. We usually rent with Almao and I thanked my lucky stars that we opted to rent with Enterprise. The Alamo line had about 30 people in line, I'd never seen anything like it.

Coming up, more of day one

 

[gobstoper27]

Once we got inside, we experienced a color over load!
It was bright, colorful, and smelled like chocolate
I visited the Times Square location back in college but holy cow, this place was filled with so much m&m merchandise.
We noticed that this was the place to be and there was always a line outside.

I took a liking to this column because it had the birth years of my dad, DH and yours truly.

After a long day, it was time to finally time to head back to the room.
Peace out Disney Springs, catch ya later!

One last chance to admire this sight at night

Next up
Day 2. Hollywood Studios/ Epcot

 

[ELeigh]

Late to the party, but I’m in Our trips overlapped so I will have to see if we might have crossed paths. Also— I love your Disney style!

 

[Darstarr]

Personally, I don't think that it's a movie that small kids would be drawn to, but he really liked it.

Soul should have come with a viewer warning:
May cause extreme sadness and have you questioning your very existence. Do not watch while intoxicated. Stop watching if you exhibit signs of depression or suicidal thoughts. Don’t let the name Disney fool you.

 

[gobstoper27]

Late to the party, but I’m in Our trips overlapped so I will have to see if we might have crossed paths. Also— I love your Disney style!

Thank you!!
That's cool, I'm also interested to see if we crossed paths

 

[gobstoper27]

Soul should have come with a viewer warning:
May cause extreme sadness and have you questioning your very existence. Do not watch while intoxicated. Stop watching if you exhibit signs of depression or suicidal thoughts. Don’t let the name Disney fool you.

This.
YES, it was really trippy.
I've never "been on anything" before but the feeling I had watching it made me wonder if that is what it feels like.

 

[gobstoper27]

Day 2.
Thursday 3/4/21

So the day started really early for me. I had one of those nights that seemed never-ending. Every time I felt like it was time to wake up, it would only be 2 am, then 4 am...Nights like that are brutal.
I will say the beds were comfy and everyone slept great but the walls...UGH. When our neighbors pulled down their murphy bed it was so loud. It sounded like our headboards were on the same wall and I could tell that they definitely struggled to pull it down as I had.
Earplugs, I never leave home without them!

Today was our Hollywood Studios day and I was super anxious about snagging a boarding group.
Does anyone else get that butterflies in the tummy feeling when the time comes to try and get a boarding group?
The more I think about it, it's really nuts, lol. The things we put ourselves through for a ride.
Anywho...
RoR was one of my goals for this trip and so far I was 1 for 1, with pool time being the 1st goal we accomplished.
Getting a boarding group from the first window was a must. We were park hopping and really didn't want to be at HS for longer then we needed to be.

After the rest of the group got up, I decided to head out on the balcony 10 minutes prior to 7am. I needed to get my mind right and make sure everything was in order. I have this ritual (that I found on Youtube) that I do to give myself the best shot at succeeding with RoR boarding groups.
(YES, I am EXTRA, and I'm OK with that.)

This has worked for me my only other time trying so I'm sticking with it.
1. Check that I'm logged in to My Disney Experience. I've noticed that the app will randomly sign me out.. I also make sure that I'm already in the My queue screen
2. Check the speed of the Disney wifi vs my cell data. ( I did this the day before as well and confirmed that my data was so much faster than wi-fi)
3. Visit time.is to get the exact time down to the millisecond (although whats the point if Disney time is ahead or behind, lol). When there are 10 seconds to go I switch back over to the disney app, wipe my sweaty fingers and tap for dear life.

NERVOUS NELLIE OVER HERE

And....

YES!!! Boarding group 12. To say I was stoked was an understatement.
And just like that, all the nerves went away.

As we only booked Riveria for one night, we had to pack up and leave our room early so the morning high was diminished a little.

We made our way down to the car around 7:45. After we packed up the car we made our way over to the Skyliner. We learned from our last trip that you need to get to the Skyliner kind of early for morning HS visits.
There was no line at the Riveria station but once we hit Caribbean Beach it was a different story. Luckily it was nothing like what we witnessed in the past so, no complaints. From when we got in line, was about a 20 minute wait.

18 Minutes later...

Little man has had his heart set on riding in the Zootopia gondola for going on 2 years now.
So.. as per usual we failed, plus we didn't get a wrapped one so he wasn't a happy camper, lol.

Adding insult to injury.. maybe next time

Once we got in the park, security was a breeze. The new security scanners are amazing! Having them at all parks now is such a time saver.

Not looking too bad at 8:30am

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway; was another goal that I'd set for us. The hubby and I rode it in the fall and just knew that Easton would love it.
I knew that I wanted us to hit up Mickey and Minnie first thing. I debated between this and Slinky but decided that I'd rather wait in line for Slinky Dog since the queue has so much to look at. The MMRR queue is horrible, especially when the sun comes out.
When we walked up I was a bit confused and I thought that it hadn't opened yet. I was used to seeing swarms of people lined up outside but nope it was a walk-on and the end of the line was inside for once.

Man on a mission!!

There were so many signs that it was really going to be a great day!!
The ride was a walk-on, we got car 27 which is significant because I was born on the 27th and we were married on the 27th and to top it off, the cast member told us that today was the 1 year birthday of the ride!

All Aboard!!!

 

[fractal]

Once we got inside, we experienced a color over load!
It was bright, colorful, and smelled like chocolate
I visited the Times Square location back in college but holy cow, this place was filled with so much m&m merchandise.
We noticed that this was the place to be and there was always a line outside.
View attachment 542157
View attachment 542158

I took a liking to this column because it had the birth years of my dad, DH and yours truly.
View attachment 542159

View attachment 542163

After a long day, it was time to finally time to head back to the room.
Peace out Disney Springs, catch ya later!
View attachment 542165


One last chance to admire this sight at night
View attachment 542166


Next up
Day 2. Hollywood Studios/ Epcot

My birth-year is also on the column!

Great strategy on getting RotR boarding passes.

 

[ShookieJones]

Day 2.
Thursday 3/4/21

So the day started really early for me. I had one of those nights that seemed never-ending. Every time I felt like it was time to wake up, it would only be 2 am, then 4 am...Nights like that are brutal.
I will say the beds were comfy and everyone slept great but the walls...UGH. When our neighbors pulled down their murphy bed it was so loud. It sounded like our headboards were on the same wall and I could tell that they definitely struggled to pull it down as I had.
Earplugs, I never leave home without them!

Today was our Hollywood Studios day and I was super anxious about snagging a boarding group.
Does anyone else get that butterflies in the tummy feeling when the time comes to try and get a boarding group?
The more I think about it, it's really nuts, lol. The things we put ourselves through for a ride.
Anywho...
RoR was one of my goals for this trip and so far I was 1 for 1, with pool time being the 1st goal we accomplished.
Getting a boarding group from the first window was a must. We were park hopping and really didn't want to be at HS for longer then we needed to be.

After the rest of the group got up, I decided to head out on the balcony 10 minutes prior to 7am. I needed to get my mind right and make sure everything was in order. I have this ritual (that I found on Youtube) that I do to give myself the best shot at succeeding with RoR boarding groups.
(YES, I am EXTRA, and I'm OK with that.)

This has worked for me my only other time trying so I'm sticking with it.
1. Check that I'm logged in to My Disney Experience. I've noticed that the app will randomly sign me out.. I also make sure that I'm already in the My queue screen
2. Check the speed of the Disney wifi vs my cell data. ( I did this the day before as well and confirmed that my data was so much faster than wi-fi)
3. Visit time.is to get the exact time down to the millisecond (although whats the point if Disney time is ahead or behind, lol). When there are 10 seconds to go I switch back over to the disney app, wipe my sweaty fingers and tap for dear life.

View attachment 544127
NERVOUS NELLIE OVER HERE

And....



View attachment 544129

YES!!! Boarding group 12. To say I was stoked was an understatement.
And just like that, all the nerves went away.

As we only booked Riveria for one night, we had to pack up and leave our room early so the morning high was diminished a little.

We made our way down to the car around 7:45. After we packed up the car we made our way over to the Skyliner. We learned from our last trip that you need to get to the Skyliner kind of early for morning HS visits.
There was no line at the Riveria station but once we hit Caribbean Beach it was a different story. Luckily it was nothing like what we witnessed in the past so, no complaints. From when we got in line, was about a 20 minute wait.
View attachment 544140

18 Minutes later...
View attachment 544141

Little man has had his heart set on riding in the Zootopia gondola for going on 2 years now.
So.. as per usual we failed, plus we didn't get a wrapped one so he wasn't a happy camper, lol.

Adding insult to injury.. maybe next time
View attachment 544143

Once we got in the park, security was a breeze. The new security scanners are amazing! Having them at all parks now is such a time saver.

Not looking too bad at 8:30am
View attachment 544144

Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway; was another goal that I'd set for us. The hubby and I rode it in the fall and just knew that Easton would love it.
I knew that I wanted us to hit up Mickey and Minnie first thing. I debated between this and Slinky but decided that I'd rather wait in line for Slinky Dog since the queue has so much to look at. The MMRR queue is horrible, especially when the sun comes out.
When we walked up I was a bit confused and I thought that it hadn't opened yet. I was used to seeing swarms of people lined up outside but nope it was a walk-on and the end of the line was inside for once.


View attachment 544154
Man on a mission!!

There were so many signs that it was really going to be a great day!!
The ride was a walk-on, we got car 27 which is significant because I was born on the 27th and we were married on the 27th and to top it off, the cast member told us that today was the 1 year birthday of the ride!
View attachment 544155
View attachment 544156
All Aboard!!!

Congrats on the boarding pass. My trip is in May and I am already stressing! LOL.

I was curious about security scanners, glad to hear they make getting into the parks a breeze.
So question: You don't have to take your backpacks off at all, you just walk through?

 

[Darstarr]

Congrats on the boarding pass. My trip is in May and I am already stressing! LOL.

I was curious about security scanners, glad to hear they make getting into the parks a breeze.
So question: You don't have to take your backpacks off at all, you just walk through?

Hold anything metal (glass cases, phones, umbrellas, epipens) in your hand in front of you and keep walking!!!

 

[ShookieJones]

Hold anything metal (glass cases, phones, umbrellas, epipens) in your hand in front of you and keep walking!!!

FANTASTIC!

 

[MickeyCB]

Hold anything metal (glass cases, phones, umbrellas, epipens) in your hand in front of you and keep walking!!!

This! On our Oct. trip my son's friend had a camera with a strap that he insisted on bringing to each park (and never used) and until he figured out to get it off of his back and hold it in front of him, he set off every scanner!

I was curious about security scanners, glad to hear they make getting into the parks a breeze.
So question: You don't have to take your backpacks off at all, you just walk through?

 

[Bullseye1967]

Hold anything metal (glass cases, phones, umbrellas, epipens) in your hand in front of you and keep walking!!!

This includes Phone fuel rods and battery packs. My Wife's glasses case and our battery packs set them off every time.

 

[gobstoper27]

Congrats on the boarding pass. My trip is in May and I am already stressing! LOL.

I was curious about security scanners, glad to hear they make getting into the parks a breeze.
So question: You don't have to take your backpacks off at all, you just walk through?

My biggest tip is to check your internet speed prior to 7am and have the virtual queue already open as soon as 7 hits
For all my security experiences, it seemed they were only concerned about umbrellas. I kept my phone, camera, tripod all in the bookbag with no issue!

 

[gobstoper27]

My birth-year is also on the column!

Great strategy on getting RotR boarding passes.

I have made my guess and if I win, I want daily photography tips for a year!!

 

[gobstoper27]

Day 2 (continued)
As we boarded our train around 8:35am, I got the alert that our RoR boarding group had been called; I had not expected them to be called so early.
We take off and I was so excited for little man to finally experience it because I talked this ride up A LOT. All is going well, and we get to the scene with the tornado and I hear this sound. I look down and Easton is bawling his eyes out.
He was absolutely terrified and I was taken aback a bit, I mean come on it's MICKEY.
The wind noises and twister was just too much from him and it went all down here from there. THEN, Pete and the dang jack hammer..OMG When he was smaller he was really sensitive to loud noises but we thought he grew out of that phase..apparently not. I will admit that the whole attraction is kind of loud and I spent the whole time consoling my poor cry baby

Once we got off and back outside he told me "Mommy, that was a terrible idea. I don't want to ride that ever, again."The pauses between ever and again cemented that point. Add this to the short list of never ride agains; Nemo, you've got company.
My current frame of mind was:
1. I was so bummed that he hated it. I just knew that he'd have a blast and it was the complete opposite
2. I started having a bit of anxiety because we would be riding Rise of the Resistance soon and if he thought MMRR was scary, he'd for sure freak out on RoR.
We had a brief discussion on how the rides are pretend and that we would all be brave the rest of the day.

I debated heading over to Toy Story land as we had some time before we needed to make our way over to Galaxy's Edge buuttttt decided not to chance it. I figured it was best just to go now in case it broke down later or something.

Ahhhhh, nothing like a lack of people in the morning, lol

Brave Gang over here!
We had a pep talk to make sure that Easton was sure he wanted to try it; he said he was sure. We assured him that it wasn't too scary and we'd protect him the whole time.
I'm not one to force him into do anything he doesn't feel confident in doing (trying new foods doesn't count ) but I did breathe a sigh of relief that he decided to try.

He was kind of nervous on the transport ship but he absolutely loved the scene with the storm troopers.
I will admit that scene never gets old. I wish we got a couple more seconds before being rushed out, but I get that they need to keep it moving.

The First Order members really make this attraction so immersive. I really commend their improv skills.
This particular "gentlemen" singled my nephew out. In his sneery voice he asked " What, you cant remember your name, is that why you feel the need to wear it on your shirt, Nike?
I guess I must have been on my phone so he asked me; "What, am I boring you?
Nailed it!!

We ended up sharing a ride vehicle with another group, and unfortunately we were in the back row. I will say that I am not a fan of the plexiglass. When I read some initial reactions to how much they sucked, I figured that maybe it was blown out of proportion. Nope, they stink.
Little man did really good, he was leery a few times, but no tears!
I still don't get why he reacted so badly to MMRR. (Everytime we see the commercials, he reminds me that he will never ride it again)

Sometimes, I wish that I knew every attraction inside out and can tell when every single effect isn't working like a lot of you all.
But, in this case, I appreciate my ignorance and I am happy to report that all seemed well to me and we had a blast. The ride got a big thumbs up and little man LOVED IT.
He said it was amazing and loved when the storm troopers chased us..I don't quite remember that part but we're going to go with it, lol

Crushed another goal anndddddd we were back on track.

It was 9:15 and we already had 2 biggies done so we decided to take advantage of the low crowds and explore a bit. I appreciated the opportunity that we had to slow it down a bit. Our trips are always go-go-go so this little change of pace was much needed.

Some sights that I never paid attention to in the past either due to crowds or my tendency to zoom on by..

Definitely cropping out that droid, looks a bit too Michigan-y for my taste!!!

Next up, more Hollywood Studios

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Day 2 (continued)
As we boarded our train around 8:35am, I got the alert that our RoR boarding group had been called; I had not expected them to be called so early.
We take off and I was so excited for little man to finally experience it because I talked this ride up A LOT. All is going well, and we get to the scene with the tornado and I hear this sound. I look down and Easton is bawling his eyes out.
He was absolutely terrified and I was taken aback a bit, I mean come on it's MICKEY.
The wind noises and twister was just too much from him and it went all down here from there. THEN, Pete and the dang jack hammer..OMG When he was smaller he was really sensitive to loud noises but we thought he grew out of that phase..apparently not. I will admit that the whole attraction is kind of loud and I spent the whole time consoling my poor cry baby

Once we got off and back outside he told me "Mommy, that was a terrible idea. I don't want to ride that ever, again."The pauses between ever and again cemented that point. Add this to the short list of never ride agains; Nemo, you've got company.
My current frame of mind was:
1. I was so bummed that he hated it. I just knew that he'd have a blast and it was the complete opposite
2. I started having a bit of anxiety because we would be riding Rise of the Resistance soon and if he thought MMRR was scary, he'd for sure freak out on RoR.
We had a brief discussion on how the rides are pretend and that we would all be brave the rest of the day.

I debated heading over to Toy Story land as we had some time before we needed to make our way over to Galaxy's Edge buuttttt decided not to chance it. I figured it was best just to go now in case it broke down later or something.

View attachment 546302
Ahhhhh, nothing like a lack of people in the morning, lol

View attachment 546306
Brave Gang over here!
We had a pep talk to make sure that Easton was sure he wanted to try it; he said he was sure. We assured him that it wasn't too scary and we'd protect him the whole time.
I'm not one to force him into do anything he doesn't feel confident in doing (trying new foods doesn't count ) but I did breathe a sigh of relief that he decided to try.

He was kind of nervous on the transport ship but he absolutely loved the scene with the storm troopers.
I will admit that scene never gets old. I wish we got a couple more seconds before being rushed out, but I get that they need to keep it moving.

View attachment 546316

The First Order members really make this attraction so immersive. I really commend their improv skills.
This particular "gentlemen" singled my nephew out. In his sneery voice he asked " What, you cant remember your name, is that why you feel the need to wear it on your shirt, Nike?
I guess I must have been on my phone so he asked me; "What, am I boring you?
Nailed it!!
View attachment 546317

We ended up sharing a ride vehicle with another group, and unfortunately we were in the back row. I will say that I am not a fan of the plexiglass. When I read some initial reactions to how much they sucked, I figured that maybe it was blown out of proportion. Nope, they stink.
Little man did really good, he was leery a few times, but no tears!
I still don't get why he reacted so badly to MMRR. (Everytime we see the commercials, he reminds me that he will never ride it again)
View attachment 546323

Sometimes, I wish that I knew every attraction inside out and can tell when every single effect isn't working like a lot of you all.
But, in this case, I appreciate my ignorance and I am happy to report that all seemed well to me and we had a blast. The ride got a big thumbs up and little man LOVED IT.
He said it was amazing and loved when the storm troopers chased us..I don't quite remember that part but we're going to go with it, lol

Crushed another goal anndddddd we were back on track.

It was 9:15 and we already had 2 biggies done so we decided to take advantage of the low crowds and explore a bit. I appreciated the opportunity that we had to slow it down a bit. Our trips are always go-go-go so this little change of pace was much needed.

Some sights that I never paid attention to in the past either due to crowds or my tendency to zoom on by..
View attachment 546326

View attachment 546327

View attachment 546331

Definitely cropping out that droid, looks a bit too Michigan-y for my taste!!!

Next up, more Hollywood Studios

So glad he enjoyed ROTR. Maybe he will come around to MMRR.

As a fellow buckeye crop away.

 

[gobstoper27]

Hollywood Studios Continued

We decided to head over to Smuggler's Run a few minutes before 9:30 since it had a posted wait of 15 minutes. This ride is usually a pass for us but we decided to give it a go because we had some time to kill and..the last time we rode, it was a disaster, lol.

Little guy exceeded the height requirement so we though we were golden. Well, let me tell you...
My nephew and I were pilots, Easton and his dad were gunners and there were 2 younger brothers that got stuck being engineers. I could tell they were hard core SW fans and I wish that I would have switched positions with them.
When the ride started, Easton lost his mind (granted he was 2, lol).
I tried to reach my arm around the back of my seat to let him know I was close and the hubby tried to reach across his row to do the same. The seat distance was not on our side.
We obviously crashed a lot because I couldn't steer and my nephew can't pilot to well to begin with. The banging and bumping didn't help our cause.
On top of all the crying, and banging around, the little boys kept screaming at our of team gunners "FIRE, FIRE FIRE FIRE"
It was hilarious yet a total cluster. As expected we did terrible and I overheard the little boys telling their dad about their not so great experience, lol
So we were due for the Smugglers Run redemption tour.

Back to the present...

Crushing the height scale!

How did I miss this guy before?!? If I had a droid, he would definitely have this face

Team Gunner!!
It was only our crew on this mission which was great because we didn't have to subject anyone else to our disfunction.
We had high hopes that our ride on the fastest hunk of junk would have a better end result but unfortunately, it was more of the same.

The calm before the storm.

I will give him major props; he made an effort to attempt his gunner responsibilities through all the tears!

Little Man's verdict on MFSR:
"The one with the storm troopers was way better!"
Yikes, 3 rides in and we were batting 1 for 3 on his enjoyability scorecard.
Hopefully the next ride is a home-run..

We had our fill of Galaxy's Edge and made our way over to Toy Story Land. Our brief time with minimal crowds was over and we were back to reality. It was packed.
Up first, Slinky Dog Dash.
It was about an hour after the official park open of 9:00 when we got in line and it was a 70 minute wait. The starting point was by the Joffrey's cart in the Animation Courtyard.
Thankfully the sun wasn't too hot yet and the line moved at a steady pace.

Behind Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog is probably my 2nd favorite queue. The colors and fun, authentic details are top notch. I swear that I notice something new every time. Like this sticker. I just love how they thought to give it all the qualities of an actual old, peeling sticker.

"Mommy, take my picture. I want to show Grandma that I color better than Andy." Lol.
Burn.

Height Check. Done.
BTW, what is this figure based off of, Candyland?
Now, he was really excited to ride Slinky Dog and this was another one of my goals. But, I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous. Until this point, his coaster experience only included 2 rides on the Barnstormer; and so far today he's been really sketchy.
So my fingers and toes were crossed for no tears and a positive experience.

We boarded our train after only about a 50 minute wait. I love inflated wait times!

He doesn't look too excited but I am, lol!!

 

[gobstoper27]

Day 2 Continued

We survived Slinky Dog with no tears!!!
Little man loved it and wanted to ride again. (Unfortunately the length of that queue line said NO!!)

Looking back at this picture, the look in his eyes doesn't match what he told me..he said it was really fun.
Maybe he's just sad that it was over.

After SDD, we made our way over to the popcorn cart for a quick snack break. We stopped to look at the toy cart and a certain someone peeped this Pixar Remix boxed set. He already has almost the whole set and was disappointed to learn that we weren't going to buy these now. We were able to pull him away by telling him that we were going to ride another fun Toy Story ride and would check out the toy later; but we might not be so lucky next time.

Soon after the quick popcorn break, we made our way over to Toy Story Mania and the posted wait was 50 minutes. Let me say, if we didn't have the kids we would have passed this one up. It falls in the category of attractions we like, but don't always need to ride.
The end of the line was over in Pixar Place and it was really long but mini perk alert; we got to hang out by this awesome mural! The Incredibles is one of my favorite Pixar films and in normal times we usually didn't make it back to this area so I enjoyed being able to grab a couple pics.

11:10 am wait time check while we waited in line. So glad that we were able to knock out both of those 60 minute rides earlier in the morning.
I thought that boarding groups would be further along having boarded so early. But I'm no expert..

When we got inside the show building , we were mildly entertained by this family and their interaction with a cast member. The youngest of their boys didn't have a mask and he was clearly over 2. The cast member let them know that he needed a mask and the mom was shocked.
She expressed that he just turned 3...and while she is running off at the mouth, the dad just stood back watching, LOL. Smart man.
Seriously though, how is this new to anyone at this point? Regardless of all the back and forth between them, little dude ended up with his mask on.
Every time we ride this, it never fails that we always see kids climbing on the props and the parents saying nothing. It gets on my last nerves, I mean thats why we can't have nice things.
In no time we were assigned our cars and the actual wait was just under 30 minutes.

My favorite number so of course I'm feeling lucky

Of course I showed no mercy to the kid but let's just say, my husbands best in vehicle numbers put my score to shame

We visited the gift shop after we exited the ride and we got to take part in a bit of Disney magic. There was this girl, Kenzie. She must have had a birthday button on so the cast member had the whole shop serenade her for her birthday. It was the cutest thing and she was absolutely thrilled.

After our musical group performance, that dang toy from the toy cart came back to haunt us.
Easton spotted it really fast and let it rip.
"But Mommy, you and Daddy said that I could get it later and now it's later."

After a bit of back and forth I was able to persuade him to check out the slap bracelets, lol.
His dad, rolled his eyes and thought it was dumb, but let me tell you. It was the best purchase of the trip for him.
He picked out a fun Toy Story one and he absolutely was enthralled with it. It held him over in every line we waited in the rest of the trip. It's always the simple things for little kids but as per usual mom for the win!!

We are a Luxo Ball Family

 

[gobstoper27]

We decided to finally make our way out of Toy Story Land. I wanted to try to catch a ride on Alien swirling saucers but I just couldn't justify waiting 50 minutes even if the wait times were proving to be somewhat inflated.

We made our way up towards the front, and were hoping to find those jalapeño cream cheese filled pretzels. Dang it, they continued to be unicorns. I swear if you're hungry, HS is not the place to be, especially during Covid.
We set our sights on a pretzel cart and while we waited we saw Chip & Dale looking for a picnic spot in the meadow...just kidding they were on the lawn, lol
I think this "viewing" had just debuted a couple days prior so it was nice to see.

The pretzel cart line crawled by, so Easton and I took a walk over to the Disney Jr area to checkout Vamprina's and Fancy Nancy's digs.

After our quick tour we went to check on the pretzels and yikes, the line had made very little progress. This was abnormally slow..
I heard music in the distance and YES, a cavalcade was coming our way. I grabbed little man and we made our way over to Hollywood Blvd for a better view.

Heyyyyy Woody!!

After the Cavalcade passed the pretzel line was still chugging along.......
Finally after a whopping 30 minutes we finally had our snacks in hand. It turns out that the credit card machines were down so they had to process payments manually.

This springtime popcorn mix was soooo TASTY! I'm a sucker for sprinkles and M&Ms on popcorn

As we were enjoying our snacks, we hear more music approaching. What's that, another cavalcade, so soon?!? Score!!
I didn't think we'd get to see the 2nd cavalcade so soon after the 1st, they were about 20 minutes apart.
I scooped up Easton and we head back over to watch our Disney Junior friends.

No wonder why the girls weren't at home. They were getting ready for the parade!!
Fancy Nancy and Vampirina waved directly at him so of course he was on cloud nine!!

Up next more day 2!

 

[MickeyCB]

Every time we ride this, it never fails that we always see kids climbing on the props and the parents saying nothing. It gets on my last nerves, I mean thats why we can't have nice things.

This.
I said the same thing in my October trip report except it referenced kids at the Riviera who were running through the landscaping with no parental interest.