Disney New Year: A Catch-up Day

We hadn't had many real "park days" as far as cranking through rides with the holiday special events and big crowds.   Finally on the 3rd we wanted to get some things done, so we bought Guardians of the Galaxy for the guys at Epcot (I opted out and met up with them later) and then park hopped via the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios where I had been stacking Lighting Lane return times all day for the afternoon/evening.  It had not made sense to get LL on our earlier day with the early dining reservation since the daytime slots are mostly "sold out" after your first two picks.  But since we planned to stay until close to watch Fantasmic, this was a good day to take advantage of it.  

Epcot was so pretty and calm on January 3 versus December 31!   I have to admit that I loved the weather on this trip.  We got sprinkled on once and wore our jackets a few times.  Otherwise it was perfect walking around weather.   We were very lucky compared to the Christmas week crowds that had freezing weather.    It wasn't really warm enough for a full swim day, but it was ok if you were in the sun and moving the afternoon we tried. 

After a ride on Tower of Terror, we did Toy Story Midway Mania where I got what might have been my highest score ever.   Also known as John and William's usual score.   We also rode Rock 'n Rollercoaster but I have enough pride to not post that photo.

We didn't have a good plan for food this day but always enjoy the Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge so stopped by to see if we could get a table.   They had a walk up list that you could add your name to and it said the return time was 50 minutes.   We sat down at a nearby bench to mobile order a snack to ward off the hangry and strategize a few things, and in the meantime got a call back in 5 minutes.   My best guess is that the group in front of us got called and cancelled.    Luckily I hadn't pushed send on that mobile order yet, so I went straight to a Cobb salad and cocktail!

And we finished in enough time that we could just get to the early Fantasmic show.   We ended up with terrible seat though.   Well...terrible to see the show.  They were excellent for a quick exit.   And we didn't really enjoy the show (helped, I'm sure, by the poor view, but also it was never a favorite), so the quick exit out to the parking lot at closing time ended up being a real advantage.   We made it back to the hotel in record time for one last evening with our animals and to finish packing for our morning departure.