Monday 21st August

We are back. Double park Manning special. Our last time in EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Lots to pack in and get covered.

We grabbed a quick breakfast that included Koana Toast (sort of banana cake mixed with sour dough), pancakes and more pancakes. The restaurants here are top notch and that elevates the whole resort away from the canteen style of the other resorts.

We headed for the monorail to EPCOT, placed under the “you don’t ask you don’t get” category was us asking if the boys could see the drivers carriage! He said Yes and let the boys honk the very loud horn.

When most people think of EPCOT they mention Guardians of the Galaxy, Ratatouille or the World Showcase (all the mini countries).

They don’t tend to mention Space Ship Earth. But we are back at Elliott’s favourite ride for the fifth ride. It warms our hearts how much he loves this ride. The ride charts man’s journey from caveman to computers and each twist and turn is a new chapter of history. Turn one corner and it’s Ancient Egyptians turn the next and we are in Ancient Rome. It’s just so interesting he says! Daddy blew his tiny mind by telling Elliott that he was actually at the top of the “golfball” that is EPCOT by the end of the ride!

Mummy and Nate headed off to see the sights and do the Grand Fiesta river ride again!

When Guardians broke the other day for Daddy he was issued with a bulletproof come back anytime and use the Lighting Lane pass. Daddy used it early, with only a 60min queue in the main line. Daddy is a professional after all the information that Mummy needs to transfer to him. Stay right at the first door, you have to hug that wall, don’t even watch the video, just stick right or you’ll be queuing for hours…and so on!

Daddy enjoyed Guardians even more on the second time round. He had Blondie as the soundtrack and had a blast. Daddy even saw the comedian Tracey Morgan as he left the ride. Once we all met up again, we wanted some photos with our custom Guardians T-shirts that Mummy had made.

We rode Soarin again, with Elliott telling other kids how good the ride was. We headed for another amazing character lunch at Garden Grill. The restaurant owned by Chip and Dale and the restaurant slowly rotates 360 degrees!

We jumped on the Skyliner and made a dash for it. The last Beauty and the Beast show was 17:00 and we were determined to make it. We got off the Skyliner with the orders from Mummy to “run I’m not missing this” we sprinted to the show. Daddy actually ran down Hollywood Studios, with Nate following and getting told off in the process. Mummy said it’s the most proud she has ever been, Daddy summoned the power of Home Alone and ran through the park knocking strollers and children out of the way!

We arrived at the show with Mummy stating we were at EPCOT 15mins ago! To which the man on the gate said “Oh my god, you have done well”. We watched the Beauty and the Beast show, which was a lot better than we thought. The pacing and songs were great and the theatre wasn’t cramped or hot.

Mummy went all 1998 on us and headed off to go on Tower of Terror and Aerosmith. She ran and bounced off like she was free and single. The pictures speak for themselves!

The boys grabbed some cookies and cream ice cream, then headed into Lighting McQueen for the fourth time! Great short clever show that we highly recommend.

We grabbed a ride on Minnie & Mickey Railway which didn’t have an issues this time and we were on the ride in 10mins. We joined the Lighting Lane at the same time a family (just like ours) joined the normal queue for 75mins!

We met Darth Vader! The less we say about this the better as Elliott was upset. Darth was amazing and stayed in character all the way through.

Elliott asked “What goodies do you like to use your lightsaber on?” To which Lord Vader stared at Elliott and didn’t say anything! We shuffled Elliott out of the room, but he burst into tears and wasn’t happy.

After the Vader experience, Elliott was really crying! We saw that Chewie had an even shorter queue, so we quickly pushed him that way.

It wouldn’t be Hollywood Studios without Toy Story Mania! It’s got to the point where Daddy was researching the best methods for high scores. Some worked and others didn’t – the best score so far!

If anyone wants help planning a Disney holiday and which parks/rides to hit, please get in contact! Mummy is a pro as long as her phone works which has been sketchy today to say the least. Airalo which has been rock solid for the last 9 weeks has started to play up and Mummy hasn’t been able to get 5G today.

Another big milestone next, Nate rode Slinky Dog!

His first big rollercoaster and he did it! Mummy said he was nervous but not crying, maybe he will have the love for rollercoaster that his Mother does.

We waved goodbye to Hollywood Studios, four visits isn’t bad and we rode some big ticket rides (Toy Story Mania) six times!

We grabbed a Disney bus back to the Polynesian and made it through the hotel lobby and shops, just in time to see the fireworks from Magic Kingdom.

The hotel pipes the music from the show into the grounds and there was a lovely beach area to view the entertainment.

Tomorrow we are hitting Magic Kingdom for the last time. We have a few areas of the Kingdom which we haven’t explored, it’s the the smallest park but also the busiest park!