Disney World Part 5: Hollywood Studios day and going home

August 15, Saturday

Last night, everyone had fun at Epcot. They ate snacks at a bunch of places. I know Michael and the boys bought food in Mexico but Daniel said they took the food and ate it in Norway. Nathaniel and Audrey bought the school bread in Norway. Today, we had a wonderful last day at Disney World! The plan had been to get up and be ready by 9 AM. Charlie was up and getting into everything so they decided to just take him to Hollywood Studios. We weren't quite ready yet. Jonny was still fast asleep when I got up close to 8:30 AM so I took my time getting ready and it was about 9:40 AM when we went to the bus stop. Michael stayed behind with Jonny. I know we were on the bus on the way to Hollywood Studios by 9:55 AM. 

Our first lightning lane was for Tower of Terror. Nathaniel had already gone to Toy story land and Galaxy's Edge with Audrey and Charlie. Nathaniel, Andrew, Daniel, Emily, and I all rode Tower of Terror together. It was a pretty tame one, by comparison. 

By that time, Michael and Jonny and Dad all arrived. Dad voted this morning and didn't show up till that time and Emily had to go meet Jonny at the front to let him in with her pass. Andrew went with her. Daniel and I hung out by the Num Num cookie snack bar and had our cookies. Eventually, we all met up there. 

Next, we headed to Toy Story Midway mania. Nathaniel and Audrey had already ridden that and then when they met us by the Num Num cookies we said hello to them and they had a had their Num Num cookies and then they went to the Mickey Mouse show. The rest of us rode Toy Story Mania and then Papa and Daniel joined them to ride Mickey and Minnie. 

Apparently, Charlie loved the show but fell asleep and he really loved the ride. Papa bought him a Mickey stuffed toy. We rode Slinky Dog Dash and then Andrew, Emily, and I all got our lunch at Woody's lunchbox. 

Luckily, we were able to find a spot in the shade to eat. 

Everybody else got their lunch. Michael and Jonny went to ABC Commissary but after standing in line Jonny said he didn't want anything there so they went to Backlot express. Everyone else went to ABC Commissary so we met them there and helped them find somewhere to sit. We sat with them for a little bit and then Nathaniel and Audrey headed out to rest and give Charlie a nap. I offered to take him back to the villa for his nap but Audrey said she was tired too and so was Nathaniel so they went together. I told them they should go ahead and order a Minnie Van so they did. The rest of us didn't have much to do because we didn't have a lightning lane till 5:30 PM so we went on Star Tours. Then we had a long conversation about what to do next. We stood off in the shade and there was another lady there listening to us as we figured out what everyone wanted to do. Emily, Daniel, and Jonny all wanted to go back to the villa and go swimming. Dad joked and said if you all are gonna be boring I'm just gonna go home. It's kind of what he ended up doing. He offered to drive the three of them to the villa instead of having them take the bus so that was nice. After we were done talking, I looked at the lady and chuckled and said sorry for all the drama. She was very kind and clearly from the UK and she said you all have so much love for each other and I loved it. Michael, Andrew, and I all headed over to Epcot. We took the Skyliner and we had to switch at Caribbean Beach resort and we took it all the way to Epcot. 

Michael and I went to the patisserie in France and got a brie and apple sandwich for him, a Mickey macaron for me and one for Andrew, and I also got an almond croissant. We got four ice waters because I was dying of thirst. We miraculously found a place to sit. Andrew went to all the way to Club Cool to buy a Monster and walked all the way back and joined us. We enjoyed our treats and then we walked over to the American pavilion so Michael could get a funnel cake. 

From there, he left back to the villa. I headed over to Norway and finally tried the school bread. It started raining pretty hard by the time I got there. Unfortunately, the school bread was pretty underwhelming. I found a covered spot outside of the bakery and had a few bites of that and tried to wait out the rain. 

When the rain stopped, I walked over and met Andrew at the American pavilion and then we went to take the boat from Epcot to Hollywood Studios. It took about 25 minutes. We got here at about 6:30 PM. Our dinner reservation was for 6:35 PM so that worked out great. I walked up and told them there would only be eight of us and she said to let her know when the whole party was here so Emily dealt with it when she got here a few minutes later. We had to wait quite a while for a table. I know it was 7:09 PM when I was taking pictures of Charlie after we first sat down. They seated us in a little room in the back that we've never been in before. It was just us and two other tables so it's kind of private but still pretty loud. Nathaniel and I each got the sampler, Audrey got the chicken pot pie and they got fries for Charlie, Daniel got the pot roast, Andrew got the pasta, and Emily and Jonny got the fried chicken. We also got two orders of onion rings as appetizers and everybody gobbled those up. Nobody even asked about dessert. We were all full. Emily was able to use her discount again so that was really nice.  Audrey thanked me for the meal and for the whole trip and everyone chimed in and said thank you so that was very nice. 

I paid the bill while everyone went off to go on Rock 'n' roller coaster with their lightning lane. Jonny and Andrew were able to ride it a second time with extra lightning lanes. 

Nathaniel and Audrey headed over to Magic Kingdom and the rest of us waited for Andrew and Jonny. I thought Jonny would want to go back to the villa but he said he'll stick it out. Daniel wanted to go back so he went by himself. Michael had to wait forever for a bus to go to Magic Kingdom and Emily, Jonny, Andrew, and I also took a bus from Hollywood Studios to Magic Kingdom. We got into Magic Kingdom and had to wade through the huge crowd to get to the teacups where Nathaniel and Audrey were going next with Charlie. They had just gone on the carousel. Audrey couldn't ride it but I was able to sit with Nathaniel and Charlie and that was really fun. He cried through most of it, poor thing. I think he was just really tired. 

After that, Emily and Michael and Jonny all went on Jungle Cruise, Andrew and Nathaniel went on Space Mountain, and I went with Audrey and Charlie on it's a small world. He was so sweet. He kept smiling and pointing at things. I could tell he was tired, though. 

After that, Audrey found a place to sit and I headed over to Big Thunder and the six of us rode it together. There wasn't much else to do after that so we all made a beeline for the bus. We got there just as a bus had pulled up but there were a ton of people. They filled that bus and luckily another one was right behind it so that worked out perfectly for us.

 

August 16, Sunday

I'm so grateful we made it to our connecting flight in Dallas! There were some frustrations today but that's really all that matters. I got up this morning at 7:45 AM. Dad was supposed to come at 9:45 AM and the goal was to leave by 10 AM. We didn't do too badly. I'm grateful we found time for a family prayer. I think it was about 10:15 AM by the time we got out of the villa and got in the cars and left. I checked us out on the app. We were late to church since it started at 10:30 AM but actually, Emily's car made it in time for the Sacrament. It was her, Jonny, Nathaniel, Audrey, and Charlie. The rest of us went with Dad. After church, most of us got changed into our regular clothes and we headed over to the world's biggest McDonald's. We had to do two separate orders. Dad got pasta and I got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and everybody else got regular McDonald's food. I also got us an order of 13 cookies and everyone enjoyed those. We gobbled them up. 

It was around 1 PM that we got our food and we all ate and then almost everyone went upstairs to go exploring. I know Andrew and Michael played air hockey. By 2 PM, I really wanted us to get going. So Dad and Emily drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes. We waited with Nathaniel and Audrey as they got checked in and checked their bag. As they were waiting for the agent, we got the notification that our first flight was delayed by 32 minutes. So we told Nathaniel and Audrey goodbye and Michael and I changed our clothes and we headed over to the American counter. The agent's name was Luigi and he said there was a flight after our connecting one but it was full so if we didn't make it we'd have to be in Dallas for the night. I can't tell you how relieved I am that we made that connection. They made up a ton of time in the air. They said they left 47 minutes late but only arrived 18 minutes late. But then there was no gate for them. At first, the pilot told us we were going to have to sit there for half an hour and the entire plane groaned. Then, luckily, they got another gate. The flight attendant explained that a lot of people had short connections due to the delay and many people were very nice and stayed in their seats so we could rush off the plane. We literally ran to the Skylink. It was so full at one point that I couldn't even balance myself. We got to the next stop and as soon as we got off the escalators, our gate was right there. They were boarding group 9 of 9 and we got on the flight just in time. I was so grateful! The only bummer was that even though we made it on the flight, our checked bag didn't. American said that the bag is still in Dallas and it should be arriving in the next 24 hours. So we took the Skytrain to the cars and drove home. The boys put out the trash cans and now we're all getting ready for bed.

What a wonderful trip! I feel so blessed!