Hollywood studios

Last week, Thomas had to go down to Orlando for a work conference - can you believe nobody else in his department had wanted to go to Disney?! I (of course) tagged along, and we had a fantastic time. His conference was at The Contemporary resort, but we ended up getting rooms at the Polynesian resort. This was our first time staying "on property", and I can tell you it was the first time of many.

Thomas and I arrived Wednesday, after dropping off Meggy with her grandparents, and driving up to BWI early in the morning. We made it to the resort by 11, thanks to on-time flights, magic bands and Disney promptness.

I have a theory that Disney pulls out all the stops when you arrive. Busses to the resort are big, fancy, and on time. The drivers and friendly and informative. This is not so on the way home, but I'm getting a head of myself.

Thomas had bought special half-day park tickets through his conference, so we were able to leisurely check in, and look around the Poly. Our room wasn't ready yet, but we were able to marvel at the huge walls that had been raised to block the view of major construction and renovation.

Since our room wasn't ready yet, we went over to The Contemporary resort and Thomas checked into his conference. We shared a lunch there, a yummy, yummy turkey,  and brie sandwich. Thomas got his badge he would need for the next day, and we set out!

 Thomas and I took the bus to Hollywood studios. One word - CROWDS. I've been to WDW before in the summer, but I was 18 and resilient then. Now I am 23, tired and just want to get on my freaking ride. We had fast pass+ for the Star Wars ride, which had changed since I last rode it. Changed for the better, in my opinion - I think that was one of the best rides we went on the whole trip! Thomas and I loved it and would have gone on again... Had the standby not been 75min long. No thank you.

We went on The Great Movie Ride, (gangster side) and One Man's Dream, where Julie Andrews made me cry. We had fastpasses for Rock n Roller coaster, which we were able to walk right onto. Thomas loved it, even though I had been wrong about it not going upside down. Oops!

At this point I had been able to make some observations about summer Disney people. They are not as nice as the winter Disney people, nor as patient. I felt awful for the toddlers having meltdowns in the middle of the park, with their frustrated parents getting mad at them. It wasn't the child's fault - they were being forced to walk walk walk, with lots of people, in the Florida heat. You would be cranky too, I know I was! The worst part of the trip was watching parents get mad at their tired children for no reason. The best part was knowing I didn't have child with me, and therefore had nobody to get mad at! (Except Thomas, but he's perfect. That's what he told me.)

Our last fast pass was for Tower of Terror. This is my favorite, but I don't think Thomas liked it very much. He's a good sport!! We then split a pizza and salad, (where Disney proved once again that fast-food doesn't have to mean low-quality!) and browsed a few shops.

About 8pm we went to pick a spot for Fantasmic! Thomas was a doll, and picked me up a mickey ice cream bar, and cotton candy for himself. Fantasmic was good, and we had excellent seating, in front to the right. I don't understand why Pocahontas still gets her own big scene, but Mickey and friends triumphed over evil in a dazzling dispels of puppets, pyrotechnics and water effects. We thought about staying for the Frozen theme fireworks, but we were both so exhausted by this point, so we headed back to the resort.

Once back at Polynesian, we had a bear of a time trying to find our room! The Polynesian is made up of different long houses, but there is so much construction going on at the moment, that we were  constantly running into walls, and trying to walk around buildings! We finally found our building (after we walked right past it twice) and collapsed into bed.