2015 Trip Report Day 3 DTD & HS
So after two late nights in a row we slept in a little this morning. It's Friday and the first day of the Star Wars weekend but we didn't plan on getting there until late afternoon and then staying to see the fireworks. So we started off the day with another trip to DTD, seemed like we just left here. Another one of our favorite places to eat is Wolfgang Puck Express in the Marketplace for breakfast, they are never crowded and the breakfast pizza is delicious and enough for 2 people.
Last summer DTD was a mess so it was interesting to see how much had changed since then, even though there is still a lot more to come. We walked down to the West Side to do some bowling at Splitsville Lanes. They run an early bird special from 10:30-12:30 that saves you a few bucks over regular prices. Unlike a normal bowling alley they charge you a flat rate per person and then you are allowed to bowl for so long. For a party of 4 you get 1 hour 15 minutes of bowling. We were able to bowl 2 1/2 games in that amount of time. Just a heads up the approaches are much shorter than on a normal alley and shoes are included in the price.
After bowling we started our walk back to the Marketplace stopping to shop along the way. As usual we didn't make it out of World of Disney without a bagful. It had been a few hours since breakfast and even though we were not real hungry we stopped at Ghirardelli's for some sundae's and Wetzel's pretzels for some pretzel bites.
Once back to CB we had sometime for an afternoon swim, the weather again was warm and not as breezy as the other days. Around 4:30 we were off to HS. Again another bus delay, 3 Epcot, 2 AK, 2 DTD and 2 Internal buses came before a HS. I felt bad for a family that was trying to get to MK for a dinner and were still waiting when we left.
This is one situation where the new FP system is an advantage. Knowing we would not be arriving until late afternoon we were able to schedule 3 FP's for then, the first being to enjoy the Frozen Sing Along. We were getting hungry but due to the fact that Darth's Mall would be closing at 7:00, we skipped the food and went shopping. There we no lines to get into the Mall at this time of day and we were able to browse through all 3 shops in an hour.
Still hungry but now our FP window for TSM was ending soon so we headed there and rode before getting a chance to get to eat at the Backlot Express. About half of it was closed off for the Rebel Hangar Lounge Experience, which seemed crowded but we were still able to find seating inside. Then we used our final FP for Star Tours and finished with Muppets.
It was now getting near the time for the Summon the Force pre-show to begin and not knowing what to expect, we had waited to late and could not find any room on or near Hollywood Blvd or Echo Lake to see the stage. We ended up standing back by the 50's Prime Time Café with trees blocking our view of the stage. We could see some of the show on the big video screens. We did have a good view of The Symphony in the Stars Fireworks from back there and they were fantastic. Fw's to Star Wars music, what could be better. Stay tuned for day 5 when we try this again from a different perspective.
Once the show was over we stopped in some shops on the way out looking for a certain SW shirt, but were unable to find it so we headed to the bus stops which were packed but were able to get on the 2nd bus and were back to the CB in 10 minutes.
Tomorrow will be HS for Star Wars Weekend day 2.
