Today we off to the Polynesian for breakfast with Stitch at 'Ohana. Our ADR was for 9:40am so we were all up and out of the room by 8:45am. Luckily the MK bus arrived quickly so no panicking about not getting there on time. Once at MK we decided to catch the monorail round to the Poly, as there were no boats in sight, and arrived at 'Ohana at 9:35am. Took us 50mins from room to restaurant, so it is definitely worth allowing good time when using the Disney Transport. We checked in and were given our pager. There were a lot of people waiting so wasn't surprised when it was another 15mins before the pager went off. No photo anymore, which I wasn't that disappointed about, but no leis either which is a shame

Our server was Cindy and she was lovely, continuously checking on us and topping up the drinks. We had the bread (yum) and some fresh fruit which we tucked into. Lilo was the first to arrive. The girls weren't bothered about collecting autographs this year, so we just got photos with the characters instead. Ffion had already decided she would not be in photos but Lilo didn't give her any choice The rest of the food then arrived, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg and breakfast potatoes. All very delicious. They also brought round Mickey waffles too, which the others all had (look away now if you are easily shocked, but I don't actually like them. I know - I'll go and sit in the corner and think about what I have said ).



Stitch was slowly making his way around, with photopass photographers so we sat and waited. Cindy brought Ffion some more bacon as she is absolutely addicted to it. So she sat there with just a plate of bacon There was no sign of Mickey at all, so he must still have been in the top end of the restaurant. I love Stitch as a character, and today's Stitch was full of it. Stealing hats, photo bombing pictures, putting his "hand" in front of the camera etc. He was really fun to watch. The people next to us were with him for ages, they wanted every photo combination possible, but eventually it was our turn. Now I don't know if the photographer was just bored by now because of the previous family, but Rob got up to come and stand by the girls, and I went to stand up but he said "no it's fine, just move your chair across and stay seated" which I did. Well these are the photos he took



I guess he liked George but didn't particularly like me I look like I am kneeling on the floor, and have just popped up from under the table. Great family picture - have just realised we are in shades of blue that match Stitch

By now it was 10:55am and we kind of wanted to get on. We made the decision not to wait to see Mickey, as he has only just appeared in our section and was likely to be another 20mins before he got to us. We left Cindy the full 20% tip as she had been so great and then made our way out, stopping to look at the little open shop on the way out. Ffion decided she was going to collect pins this time so bought a POTC medallion pin. I bought myself a new lanyard for work, as my Gryffindor one had seen better days. I got a blue one with red Mickey heads on it. We found the bus stop easily and then sat (in the full sun ) to wait for the HS bus. I don't know why, but I thought we were going to Epcot today, so had planned on getting the monorail, but when checking the night before realised I had muddled up my parks. So bus it was. We waited, and waited - not one bus came. There were loads of people waiting, mainly for the water parks I think judging by the number of rubber rings etc. Eventually the AK/BB bus arrived so we were able to move to sit in the shade. I was expecting, with the Poly being a Deluxe, that the bus service would be better than POFQ but certainly didn't get that impression. After about 25mins the HS bus finally arrived and off we went, via GF. I think this was the worst Disney transport experience we had, and it wasn't even from our hotel.
Finally we arrived at HS. Our first FP was for Toy Story Mania so that's where we headed. I think the Anna & Elsa welcome parade was due to start soon, and there were loads of people lined up to watch it. Both our girls weren't bothered which I was quite relieved about to be honest as 1. the lines were all about 10 deep anyway so you wouldn't have seen much, and 2. any "space" was in full sunlight, so would have been very hot. We got to TSM and the actual queue was 75mins so was great to just bypass all of that. We were on within 5mins. Love this ride, it's so varied, and great fun Rob got the highest score of the 4 of us (too much CoD ) but the rest of us didn't did too bad. We decided to do the Great Movie Ride next as it wasn't too far away. Well the queue was 55 mins. Hmmm good ride, but not worth queuing for that long. So next we headed to Backlot Tour to find that it had broken down and they weren't sure when it would be up and running again. Our next FP window (Star Tours) wasn't open for another 30mins, so we thought, just to get out of the heat, we would do the Jack Sparrow thing. Well that is apparently a show and the next available one wasn't until 1:30pm which is when our FP was available anyway. Things were not going well at this point We were all really hot, and couldn't find anything to do. One Man's Dream was in view so we decided to do that as it had air conditioning, and we had all found it interesting last time. I think that was just what we needed, as it was cool, we could mooch around looking at stuff, and then have a nice sit down at the end to watch the film. So we all came out of there a lot happier than we went in. There was a photopass photographer taking magic Frozen pictures so thought we as well get a picture. We all did our best surprised faces while pointing at nothing.



On our way round to ST we noticed that Backlot Tour was up and running again so decided to do that before the FP as there was plenty of time. There was a huge queue but we didn't have to wait too long. To start with the film scene bit wasn't working so the plan was that we would walk through straight passed that to the tram. So everyone started heading in, but they must have then decided that we could watch the film scene after all so everyone was told to stop, and then take 10steps backwards. Chaos ensued . Some people took big steps, some small, everyone backed up and were squashed together. Was quite funny really. Anyway, soon we were in and watched the volunteers get soaked. One of the women didn't put her hood up so she got the full force of the water on the top of her head. We enjoyed the tour, but I don't think it had really changed since when we did it 3 years ago. The tanker fire/flood looked a bit sad. I see that it is going to close permanently now for the Toy Story expansion which is probably a good thing if they were not going to maintain it and add newer props.

Star Tours now which Rob sat out. It's a good ride, and we saved the planet once again. The wait was only 10mins though so we really should have swapped the FP for something with a longer wait. But we weren't really FP confident at this point. Our last FP was for ToT for Rob & Georgina. I had booked FP for all 4 of us and my plan was they could both ride it twice. Ffion and I had a look around the shop while we were waiting and Ffi bought some lollies for her friends and another pin. Georgina and Rob loved the ride as usual but both decided they didn't really want to ride it again straight away. Originally we were going to stay at HS for Fantasmic, but after checking the waiting times for all the rides on the iPad (they were all at least 30mins) we decided we had had enough for now so would go back to POFQ for some food, and then maybe come back later for Fantasmic.
Time for a quick photopass picture first - more surprised faces.



We didn't have to wait too long for the bus, thank goodness. By now it was about 6pm so we grabbed some food from the Floatworks and took it back to the room to eat (I had jambalaya which was yum, Rob had chilli cheese hot dog, Georgina had a burger and Ffion chicken nuggets - for a change). The girls wanted to go swimming again, so we decided to forget Fantasmic tonight and go to the pool instead. While we were eating there had been a small thunder storm and some rain, but it didn't last long at all, We got to the pool at about 8 but because of the rain the pool had been shut. However it was going to reopen in about 15 mins so Rob went off to grab some drinks with the refillable mugs, and the girls and I grabbed some loungers to wait on. Even though it had rained it was still just as hot and humid as it had been before, but it was pleasant sitting under on a shaded lounger, drinking hot chocolate and watching the girls swimming We went back to the room at about 9:15pm and then watched some TV. Rob and I discussed the day and how we weren't too sure about the FP situation. It really hadn't worked well for us today. Tomorrow we were off to AK so decided we would try a different approach and use the iPad more to change FPs if waiting times weren't long for our choices. We went to bed at 10:30pm.

Yay, another instalment. Strange effect the Ohana photographer was going for there but nice shots of the girls on their own. We love Hollywood Studios so shame you had a rubbish experience with fastpass. Looks like you had a good pool night though and sometimes when you change a plan last minute it's more fun. Looking forward to hearing how the rest of your hols went xx

Was a bit disappointed with HS, but I think if we had treated the FPs differently it would have been much better. So partly our own fault really. The pool evening was great - you are so right that sometimes a change off plan is just what you need

Food looks good at Ohanas, shame about the bus wait though and what was the photographer thinking having you seated?

Weird to say, but in a way it's a good thing to have had a poor FP experience (first thing) and realise you could do something about it for the rest of your hols rather than have to just put up with it not be able to change anything. Would have been even better not to have issues though

'Ohana was great. Really glad that we changed our original plan and did the breakfast instead of dinner. That photo does look odd though doesn't it

I think you are right about the FP. We quickly learned from our mistakes, and used them much more effectively for the rest of the holiday.

You are not alone in not being a lover of Mickey waffles. I'm not keen on sweet foods for breakfast. I probably shouldn't been allowed to even enter the States!

Great report, thanks for sharing. We really like the Ohana breakfast too . But Mickey waffles... bleurgh .

We definitely found the same FP+ frustrations as you. Having 30 minutes before your next FP+ window and not having time to do anything in between happened to us a few times. I think Hollywood Studios works least well with FP+ because most things (shows etc) take a long time to do, so if your FP+s are spread out throughout the day as ours were, you can't fit the shows between. We had to do some re-jigging of our FP+s on our DHS days to be able to get very much done.

That photographer sounded a bit strange lol, the photo's are nice though. Shame you didn't get to see Mickey though. Food looked nice there, great that they bring the food over to you in O'hana's.

We were unsure about fastpass to start with too, think you need to find out what suits you the best and when you do it works better for you. Your pool night sounded fab

Yay it's not just me with the waffles Although I have to admit I would happily scoff cake for breakfast (and did at Crystal Palace ).

I think you are right about HS and FP working the least well there. I don't think I realised before either how little there actually is there compared to the other parks. The fact it was so hot though didn't help, as normally you would just find a spot and people watch for a bit with an ice cream, but it was just sweltering.

I think we may have to start a Mickey waffles non-fan club from the comments so far