In my planning, one of the things I learned was that Toy Story Midway Mania was one of the most popular rides at DHS, and that you had to go there first if you wanted any chance of riding it, even on a low crowd day. The ride was our first stop, and when we got there (about 20-30 minutes after the park opened), the FastPasses were already for 3 hours later - and there were the longest FastPass lines we had seen. I got our passes, and since the posted wait time was about 30 minutes, we decided to go ahead and wait. The queue was designed so well - we love the Toy Story movies, and it looked like Andy's room.
We all really enjoyed the ride and were glad that we would be able to ride it again. Next up was watching the Muppets - first 3D show for the kids. Will was not interested in wearing the glasses, but Claire did pretty well.
When we walked out of the Muppet show, we were excited to see Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars, one of the kids' favorite movies. Will was really upset that he didn't actually get to get in or on them, but he calmed down to get a non-crying photo. :)
Lunch was at the 50's Prime Time Cafe - comfort food served in 50's-style setting, including B&W televisions showing vintage sitcoms. My favorite part was my S'mores dessert - Claire's, too, although she only liked the marshmallows & chocolate.
As we were leaving, we heard someone calling my name. I was so happy to see that it was my friend Angi's mom. Angi had told me that her parents, sister, and sister's family would be at Disney (and staying at the same hotel) while we were there, and I was hoping I would run into them. Angi is a friend from college and my first roommate in Dallas, and I hadn't seen her family in years. We had a good (but short - anxious kiddos!) reunion and ended up running into them a few more times. It was such a nice surprise.
We used our FastPasses to ride Toy Story Midway Mania again, and then walked across the park to try and catch the Disney Junior show. On our way, I saw Minnie walking out with a handler. I grabbed Claire, told everyone else to follow us, and ran to get a spot in line. Minnie was the one main character that we weren't scheduled to see at a meal, and I didn't want to miss this chance. A long line quickly formed, but we were only a few people back. So glad we spotted her early!
Will gave her one of his now expected everlasting hugs - so sweet!
We were also able to meet Jake from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"!
Last stop of the day was for the Disney Junior show. We were pushing the kids' nap schedule, but I knew Claire would really enjoy it. Will fell asleep before it even started, but Claire was entranced. She jumped up and down excitedly during any dancing segment and was thrilled to collect some of the "gold doubloons" during the Jake segment.
Will slept through the show, walking out of the park, waiting for the bus, and through the bus ride to the hotel, so he got a decent nap. Claire rested for awhile, and then we took it easy at the hotel until they went to bed. Robert and I went to Downtown Disney once they were asleep while Mom & Dad stayed back with the kids (we were able to get connecting rooms, which was awesome). We enjoyed walking around on our mini date night.
This day was our hardest, scheduling-wise. For kids Claire & Will's age, there aren't a lot of rides for them, and it was hard to make the show times fit our schedule. We could either wait a long time for a show, or go do something and take a chance that we would miss it. We usually took a chance, and so we missed a couple of the shows on my list, but it worked out fine. There was a special Christmas lights show during the evenings that we also would've liked to see, but every night we decided to do something else rather than trekking over to DHS just for one show. It will go on our list for a future trip. In hindsight, this was a park that we could have skipped, but we did have several highlights (Toy Story, watching Claire during the Disney Junior show, meeting Minnie & Jake) so it wasn't a wasted day, but it's not the best park for a 4 & 2 year old, in our opinions.
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