Breakfast at the hotel (Mickey waffles and French toast) and then into DCA. First stop Soarin' which is just the same as the one in Epcot, but it was here first! Great as ever, and by the time we came out the sun had appeared. Next up was a new ride for us, the Monsters Inc, Mike and Sulley to the Rescue ride in the Hollywood Backlot area (which is a bit chaotic at the moment as the middle of the main street is boarded off whilst they install a tram). The ride involves sitting in a Monstropolis taxi going through a number of scenes summarizing the movie storyline. The room with all of the doors is great.
After this we went into the animation area and to the Animation Academy where we all got to draw Jack Skellington. I was hoping for a more classic character, but still fun. On the way out there was a Toy Story zoetrope (?) which was excellent - will be interesting to see how it comes out on the camera.
Then we went to the Sorceror's Workshop, a walkthrough exhibit with more hands on animation. In the Beast's library we all got to find out which Disney character we're most like. Apparently Jake is Woody, I'm Jiminy Cricket and Nicky is Tarzan's Jane.
Carrying on around the park we had a look around the Golden State area which is a bit like Monterey Bay (!) and had a look at the bakery tour and the tortilla factory, enjoying the free samples in both. Wandering into Paradise Pier we played on some of the boardwalk games - Jake won a Woody toy, and then went on the Fun Wheel (a non swinging version).
By this point we were ready for lunch so we went back over to the bakery. I had clam chowder I. A bread bowl -again! One more ride after lunch and Jake and I went on the Grizzly River Run, a raft ride similar to Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom. We both loved it - Jake's first time on a ride like this - and we both got soaked! The good news was that the ride is really close to the entrance directly into our hotel, and so we could come back to the room to change into some dry clothes.
After a pitstop we were back out to explore the rest of Downtown and went to the cinema to see the Wimpy Kid movie which was good fun. There's a monorail station in Downtown so we hopped on after the movie and off in Tomorrowland, and straight into the queue for the Nemo submarines. These were quite like the Nemo ride in Epcot with a mixture of underwater stuff and screens with Nemo characters.
Next we decided to give Captain EO a try. Mixed feelings about this one - great that it has been brought back as a tribute to MJ, but it was made in 1986 and to be totally honest it hasn't aged all that well. It was nice that MJ got a cheer when he first appeared on screen, but a shame that a few bits got unintended laughs.
After a slice of pizza for tea we snuck into Buzz for a quick bit of target practice. Modesty forbids me from saying who got the highest score. The fireworks were just a couple of minutes later so we were able to watch them, although we didn't get the best vantage point and ended up with some of them being behind a tree. May try to get a more Main Street vantage point in the next few days.
Back to hotel and off to bed now. Plan is to get cracking again early tomorrow as there's an extra magic hour first thing.
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