Here is the third and final installment of our most recent Walt Disney World trip recap. On the third day of our trip (Saturday, May 4th), it was action packed. We had been wanting to go to a water park, but with the rain (and thunderstorms) it just was not working out. Well in looking at the radar that morning, we saw it may rain but no chance of lightening, so we risked it.
We decided to go to Blizzard Beach, as we had never been there before. This was a great decision, as it was a slight drizzle, and it kept most of the crowds away. We pretty much walked onto each water slide without wait. Several friends had told me I had to do Summit Plummet, so since it was the headliner, I went there first. It is never good when you have to take a chairlift to the top of the mountain, only to get there and take 3 more sets of stairs! Summit Plummett is just as the name describes, a near-vertical drop on one of the tallest, fastest water slides in the world. It is a 120 feet drop allowing you to reach speeds close to 60 miles per hour. All I can say is WOW! It was such a rush. I tried to keep my eyes open on the way down but no chance!
We took in every water slide offered and the lazy river in about 2 hours, and were gone by lunch time. You have to love crowd free parks!
Once we left Blizzard Beach, we headed back to the Beach Club Resort to clean up and go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Star Wars “May the 4th Be With You Day”. Ander and I were so excited to do this. When we arrived, as expected, it was super crowded. We went to the pin store to try and get a limited edition pin for the event, but the cast member said they were sold out within an hour of opening. Oh well, I’m sure I will find one on eBay in the coming days.
As we were walking to try and find some lunch, we were met by a Storm Trooper parade. It must have been about 30 of them marching through. It was such an awesome sight to see to start the day in the park!
Since it was so crowded, we decided to forgo lunch. Ander really wanted to do Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the FIRST TIME. Jennifer was not interested in this, so he and I did it, and she stood in line to get us some fries for us when we got off the ride. He did really awesome! I thought he was going to be a nervous wreck, but he handled the drops really well. I looked over after the first big drop, and he had a smile on his face! He did have a death grip on the hand rails, but he did have a smile! I was so proud of him! Here is a picture from the FastPass line, and a picture from the ride. It is hard to see us, but we are in the top left!
Throughout the remainder of the day we continued to take in all the attractions and special events through the park. I got this great panoramic shot of the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror:
We saw numerous people who showed up in the park in Star Wars gear. During our wait for Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster, we were behind these three who let Ander take his picture with them.
We also got to see Donald Duck as a Storm Trooper and Goofy are Darth Vader.
There was also a good showing of special characters from Star Wars. We saw Chewy, an Ewok, Princess Lea (YES!), and some action shots from Darth Vader’s JEDI Training Academy, one which caught Dark Maul stalking through the crowd.
Later that evening, we had dining reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. This was another first for us, and was a really neat experience. The food was menu ordered, and was really good. Jennifer and I both had a New York strip with garlic mashed potatoes and sweet potato fries (seasoned with cinnamon – Awesome!). This food was far better than we were expecting for this restaurant.
This ended another great, yet tiring day. After a water park and the Studios we were beat, and headed back to the resort for the evening.
On Sunday morning (May 5th), we walked over to Epcot and stayed there until about lunch time, so we could eat at the best counter service on property, Sunshine Seasonings. Then we headed back home to Charleston.
Our next trip to Disney will be in September when we get off a 4 day cruise on the Disney Dream. Can’t wait!
