Our Happily Ever After: Disney World Day 2- Part 1

Sunday morning we were back at Hollywood Studios with our Birthday boy! I let him have some control over our first full day at Disney since it was his birthday, and he chose Hollywood Studios- specifically Jedi Training. Hollywood Studios opened at 8:00am that morning for extra magic hours. The last time we tied to sign up for Jedi Training, it ended up being a much bigger ordeal than I was anticipating. I did not want a repeat of that experience, so we were crazy enough to wake everyone up to get ready to be at the bus stop at 6:45 that morning. Ugh! The kids were excited enough though, that they didn't mind too much that we woke them up so early. We made it to the park entrance a little after 7:00, and they allowed us to enter the holding area inside the park about 15 minutes later. The kids had time to eat the breakfast we packed while we waited. When we got in the park we lined up next to the rope heading for Jedi Training, and about 7:35, they dropped the rope and opened the park. We headed straight to Jedi Training and were the first ones to sign up. Whew! So much better than last time- maybe even too much better, because I don't think there ever ended up being a line to sign up. The cast member at signups told us that Toy Story Land stole a lot of Jedi Training's glory, and it's not as crazy popular as it was in 2016. But since there was a good chance of rain that afternoon, I'm glad we got there early and we signed up for the very first show that morning. I was so relieved that it was such a smooth process this time. By 7:45, we were finished with sign ups and headed straight to Slinky Dog Dash.

Unfortunately, that's where everyone else headed at rope drop and it already had a 75 minute wait. We decided that it wasn't the best time to ride it, and rode Toy Story Midway Mania again- since it had no wait.

I got to ride with the Birthday Boy!

Matt improved his score from the night before, ha!

After the ride, we took a few pictures of Toy Story Land. The theming is adorable and so detailed. Super fun!

This girl turned into a major Daddy's girl during our entire trip. She wanted to ride every single ride with him. So sweet!

After Toy Story Mania, we decided to go ahead and ride the other new ride at Toy Story Land, Alien Swirling Saucers because it had a short wait. We had a fastpass for that afternoon, but we rode it anyway to give us more flexibility later in the day. We weren't super impressed. It was mainly a tea cup ride with Alien theme. The kids liked it, but I think it's just really popular right now because it's new.

After we finished there- Slinky Dog's wait had gone down to an hour, but we didn't have enough time to ride it before we needed to have the kids back across the park for Jedi Training, so we went to meet Mickey and Minnie instead.

Classic Disney fun!

Katherine was a little scared around them. She waved and talked but there was no way she was getting out of Matt or my arms during her visit.

We had time for one more picture at the front of the park before the kids needed to get ready for their show.I love that they added the balloons for Samuel. He was so excited when he saw them.

Then we headed over to the meeting place for the Jedi Training show. The kids got their robes and some instructions. Then they lined up and did a little march over to the show.

The cast members made them feel so special. I even teared up a little watching their beaming smiles headed to the stage. Last time we were at Disney, Samuel and Elisabeth were too young to participate. Neither one of them are huge Star Wars fans, but Nathan hyped it up for them, so they were both pretty excited.

The kids practiced their light saber skills at the beginning of the show.

Elisabeth was doing great, learning all the tricks

Then they had all the kids line up on the side, and opened up the temple to see their test for Jedi Training.

These two villains emerged from the temple...

And Elisabeth lost it :(

I didn't think she'd be that scared, but with all the smoke, music and scary characters, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that she was terrified.

One of the cast members immediately knelt down and talked with her the rest of the show. Elisabeth told me she kept telling her that she didn't have to do anything if she was scared, and told her she would help her.

I wasn't sure what she'd do when it was her turn to fight Darth Vader, but my brave girl was awesome! I was so proud of her facing her fears and participating in the show. Proud Mom moment!

The boys did great too. Without any tears :)

I think Samuel might have liked the show more than Nathan. It might have been because it was his first time, so it was a little more magical.

I loved when the Jedi commented on Nathan smiling the whole time he was fighting. That's my happy, excited boy :)

After all the kids had fought the bad guys, they all worked together to use the force to make them go back into the temple. My kids all commented on how much they liked using the force on Darth Vader and Kylo Ren. It was a highlight for all of them. They also used it on the parents before they marched to the stage. They liked that part too :)

After the show, the kids all got pins and a bottle of water. It was a highlight of the trip for everyone.

Elisabeth and I wanted to watch the Frozen Sing Along since we'd never watched it before, so we headed there next. It was a super cute show with some silly jokes, great songs, and snow magic. It was fun to hear Elisabeth singing along and watching her mesmerized face during the show.

Next, Nathan, Matt, and I had fast passes to Rockin Roller Coaster (The other kids aren't tall enough to ride it). It's the best roller coaster at Disney World, so we were all excited to ride it, especially Nathan- since it was his first time.

So fun! I love the fast acceleration.

While we were riding the roller coaster, everyone else went to the new Cars area and watched the Lightning Mcqueen show. Matt, Nathan, and I didn't get a chance to watch the show, but I think the kids liked it. We'll have to catch it next time!

We grabbed a quick lunch and Katherine snoozed.

Because Fantasmic was canceled Saturday night because of the weather, they gave us an extra fast pass to use on any ride (except the super popular rides), and since everyone loved Tower of Terror so much, we decided to use it to ride it again after lunch.

It didn't seem quite as thrilling the second time- Rides are always the best the first time you ride, but it was still super fun.

After lunch and Tower of Terror, we headed to the Star Wars Launch Bay to meet the Star Wars characters.

We headed to Kylo Ren first. He's a scary guy. I love the expressions on the girls' faces, and then the boys are all smiles, ha! The girls were ready to get away from him. I think Nathan might have even been a little freaked out too. He didn't stay too long.

Elisabeth was not excited about Chewbacca after Kylo Ren, but we kept telling her the Chewbacca was a good guy and that he'd be excited to see her Jedi Training pin. She warmed up pretty quick and he ended up being one of everyone's favorite character greets.

Chewbacca wanted them to all do the hero pose since they defeated the trials of the temple at Jedi Training.

BB8 was a hit for everyone.

We came out of the Launch Bay to pouring rain, ugh! We ran to the restrooms and then the rain lightened up some. We had hoped that the rain might have shortened Slinky Dog Dash's wait, so we started off toward Toy Story Land. We stopped by the Walt Disney presents building, because Nathan has been obsessed about seeing Walt Disney's second grade desk. He read about it in a book about Walt Disney and asked over and over if we could find it at Disney World. I'm glad he got to see it.

We finally made it to Slinky Dog Dash and it was closed for lightning and wouldn't reopen for at least 90 minutes, so that was a bust. Then the rain started again, so we headed back to the Walt Disney Presents building for some shelter. We waited for about 15 minutes and could tell the rain wasn't letting up, so we put on our ponchos and headed out to get wet.

We were a sight to see with three kids in ponchos piled on a double stroller getting soaked in the rain. We left Hollywood Studios for the day and hopped on a bus over to Magic Kingdom for the evening.