One of the main things I wanted to do while at Disney was to let Kye see the Pixar Parade at Disney Hollywood Studios. It included all his favorite Pixar characters and I knew he’d love it. Zach and I aren’t big parade people but you gotta at least see one right?!?! So that’s the one I wanted to see! OF COURSE the time of the parade is at 3:00. Kye naps from 1-3:30 so in order to see the parade, we’d have to skip nap. Our plan was to go ahead and skip it on the day of Chef Mickey. He had a nap the day before, got to rest that morning, and it was easy to leave Chef Mickey and head straight for the park.
The weather that day said rain…all day. Starting at 10 am and going throughout the whole day. Tip: I got smart, after our Animal Kingdom showtime schedule issues, and looked up on the Disney website the night before to see what all the showtimes were for the stuff we wanted to see at Hollywood Studios! The only things that were outside that we wanted to see were Beauty and the Beast and the Pixar Parade. I was nervous that the rain/storms may ruin our outside fun stuff so my goal was to do those things as quickly as we could because everything else could be done in the rain if needed.
We changed Kye into a new outfit when we arrived (I wanted him to get to wear his Lighting McQueen stuff since I knew he’d get to see him there!) and he was dressed very appropriately for the first thing we saw when entering the park!
He could have stood there talking to him ALL afternoon
Mater
We got to Hollywood Studios at 1ish and had two hours before the parade. The next Beauty and The Beast showtime was at 2 and since it was 25 min long it’d work out perfectly to see the parade after. We just had to hope the rain would hold out. I was SO nervous that it’d downpour and they’d cancel the parade!
It was the first park where I didn’t have a hardcore detailed itinerary. Since we were coming in the afternoon and our focus was on the outdoor stuff due to rain, it kinda messed up the plans I had ready. All of my park itineraries pretty much worked in a way that you went from land-to-land around the park to minimize walking but also in an order that minimized wait times. Animal Kingdom didn’t go so smoothly because we only did three things (and heck, we did them in 3 hours so it was pretty successful seeing that they were each long shows and rides!). We knew we had to be at Beauty and the Beast by 2 and decided to head over to Pixar Place first because it’s centrally located and we thought if nothing else we could try to go ahead and meet Buzz.
Instead we ended up practically walking on to Toy Story Mania which is THE most popular ride right now at any Disney theme park. The whole wheelchair thing really helped us out at that one! Plus I think the rain prediction scared a lot of people away. That day was supposed to be the highest crowd level day we’d have (a 2 out of 10…10 being the most crowded…our other days were all 1) but it didn’t feel overly crowded at all! We heard from a girl in line with us that Toy Story Mania was a million times better than Buzz Lightyear. Zach was PUMPED as Buzz is his favorite!
The whole room of the ride is decorated like Andy’s room and everything is GIANT so you feel like you’re a small toy. The details were incredible and it was very exciting! Plus it was an excuse to wear 3D glasses again!
Kye seriously LOVED the 3D glasses!
It’s a shooting style ride, like Buzz Lightyear, but is in 3D and is WAY cooler. It was VERY fast paced and exciting! Kye LOVED it as did Zach and I!!! We kept saying “this is awesome” like over and over again!
I love all the pictures of them on rides, so fun!
attempts at a family photo, but Kye was too enthralled in the ride
You aim the gun and pull this little string so Zach did the aiming and Kye did the pulling!
love these faces 😉
We quickly ended up switching and I let Kye take over mine so Zach could focus (my man is HIGHLY competitive so I wanted him to enjoy the ride to its fullest!) Kye and I did pretty well though huh?
It was a SUPER fun ride. Zach’s new favorite for sure and Kye loved it too! He got to see ALL the characters from the movies and wear 3D glasses and control a laser gun thing and shoot at stuff. The perfect boy ride no doubt!
Timing worked out great for us to get to Beauty and the Beast and we were able to sit right up front. The rain held off fine and it would have been okay if it hadn’t…the whole thing was outside but it was also under cover. Kye watched the movie on the way down to Disney from our house so it was fresh on his mind and he just really loved ALL the shows! He’s easy to please 😉
Gaston aka Zach Parker 😉
Snacks made for a great show 😉
Chip
This show actually premiered the same day as the movie was released to theaters – isn’t that neat? It pretty much told the whole story of the movie through using the songs from the movie. I like that as it’s easily relate-able for Kye and he could follow along since he’d seen the movie before!
It was VERY hot and the fan came in handy again!
Beauty and the Beast!
I was SHOCKED that we hadn’t had a single drop of rain yet. In my research I read that the best spot to view the parade was at the steps of the theater next to Sounds Dangerous (at Echo Lake). We found a great spot with a ledge that we could sit on and use for our stuff. We took the time as a grown-up snack break and got more orange floats. I’m telling you, they are AWESOME! They weren’t as good as the ones at Magic Kingdom and one of the cast members who we became buddies with said that they are the best at that certain spot at Magic Kingdom and none of the other ones can compare. He was super nice and hung out with us quite a bit before the parade got going.
Kye enjoyed using all the cups as an obstacle course for his car
parade started – still no rain!
ready 🙂
The Incredibles
Flick and Princess Ava from A Bug’s Life
He watched the ENTIRE parade and never took his eyes off of it!
so happy!
Ratatouille is one of Kye’s FAVORITE movies! It’s frustrating to me as he loves so many of the “older” movies that don’t have toys available for them anymore. You can pretty much only find merchandise from the currently released stuff. Doesn’t Disney realize that most young kids don’t even visit the movie theater and mostly watch dvds? Kye was PUMPED to see the rat from the movie!
These parade pictures are among my favorites of the entire trip. I love his focus, his smiles, and how he has his little car watching it all!
Literally makes my heart melt!!!
Sully from Monsters Inc (Mike was up on top of the float and Kye still talks about how he saw the monsters on the top)
“Potato Head is SO funny Mommy!”
spotting Jesse and Bullseye!
Woody!!!
Buzz finished out the parade!
The parade was EVERYTHING I wanted and more. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip as I could see the sweet joy on my sons little face. He LOVED it and it made me realize how well I know my child! Everything I thought he’d like, he liked! I was SO thankful that the skies were blue and no rain fell during the parade, I was very nervous that we wouldn’t be able to see it and I would have left disappointed if it hadn’t worked out.
Once we saw the parade I felt a big stress and worry off my shoulders and we headed to enjoy the rest of the park! Kye had a hard time leaving because we headed in the opposite direction of the parade. He cried again, like he did when leaving Simba at Lion King, as he wanted to go with all of his favorite characters! We told him they had to go to their houses and that he was going to meet Lightning McQueen – that helped settle him down 😉
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