Hollywood Studios 12/8

We woke up bright and early, dressed the girls in jeans, t-shirts, and light jackets.  Grabbed our backpacks with snacks and caught the bus to Hollywood Studios.  We got there early and as we stood in line we chatted with the family that was next to us.  They were from Sitka, Alaska and mormon.  I had on my BYUH hoodie so it was a give away.  It was so cold!  As we stood there waiting, Nadia started crying and saying she wanted to go home.  Both girls were freezing.  I ended up getting out Nadia's rain poncho and putting it on her. I figured it would stop the wind and hold more body heat in.  To say the least she was miserable!  Rope drop finally happened and we ran to Toy Story Mania and got fast passes and then we ran to The Little Mermaid show and got in line.  We were first and they asked Nadia if she wanted to open the show.  She wanted nothing to do with that! The show was inside so she got to warm up!  Thank goodness.  By time it was over we went back to Toy Story.  As we get Maile on we noticed her diaper had leaked.  Yippee!  So we ride the ride and then Keith goes to change her and we realize the extra clothes we brought for her were shorts.  It is still cold out but not as cold as it had been.  Lots of lessons were learned this morning.  We ended up buying some sweats for her.  During that whole ordeal we started spotting characters.

The first character she spotted was Greek or Geek of something like that, from Toy Story. I don't think she had any idea who he was but, he was dressed up and she wanted his autograph so we stopped.  This began her autograph addiction.

Then we headed off to meet up with Keith and who should we run into!?! 

A little later we ran into this guy as well.  I love their matching teeth!

Next we found the balloons.  $10!  I thought that was a bit much until the end of the week when the balloon was still floating high.  I have read on blogs and talked to people that say these balloons will stay up for about a month.  Nadia loved it.  She played with it every night in our hotel.  Lesson learned though, buy the balloon on the way out of the park on your first day.  We had to fight the balloon all day!

After we got our balloon we hooked back up with Keith and Moo.  

We ate lunch at a pizza place and Nadia was starting to get fiesty!  We went and watched a Beauty and the Beast stage show and after that Keith went on a couple of rides.

Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. 

We watched the parade while Keith was riding rides.  Nadia had only seen Canyon Texas parades before this.  To say the least it was a little different.  Maile enjoyed watching the parades as well.

This is Keith riding Rock N Roller Coaster.  He wanted to take Maile on it, but I vetoed him.  Thank goodness.  He texted me afterwards and said something about Maile not liking it when it went upside down.

 

At the end of the day we went into some building that had lots of characters hanging out. These are just a few of the ones we got autographs from.

 

I so wish I had taken a video of this!  Maile generally just ignores "strangers". I am sure she thought these characters were just nuts! This Mickey Mouse was the best!  Nadia got pictures with him and was done and then he started playing with Maile.  At one point Keith went up to get her and Mickey waved Keith back and just kept playing with her.  He took her toys and put it on his nose, rubbed his nose on her and on and on trying to get her to interact.  It really did put a little tear in my eye!  I have spent so much time reading and researching about this trip and I have read over and over how good Disney World is with people with special needs.  They really were amazing!  The characters all went out of there way to interact with Maile.  Every time we watched a parade during the day a character, or 10, would come up and pat Maile, or wave to her or something.  That meant that Nadia got in on the extra action as well.  It is one of the few places we have ever been that "gets it" when it comes to kids like Maile.  I can't wait to take her again!

After surviving the cold of the morning and the excitement of the first day, we were all wiped out!  We still had our rental car so we went and ate at Sweet Tomato's!  Ahhhh YUM!  I used to eat there all of the time when we lived in Vegas.  They got one in Fort Worth a year or so before we left.  I love that place!  We then stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up some more sweat pants for Maile and hoodies for Keith and the girls as well as a few more things.  We were bound and determined not to have a repeat of freezing in the morning!  As you will see, it was never that cold again! Headed back to the hotel, gave the girls a bath, and I kid you not, Nadia was asleep in less than two minutes!  Maile took a little longer, but not much!