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Nadia told me back in June she wanted a Toy Story birthday party. I bought all the goodies and supplies then becuase it was everywhere since Toy Story 3 had just came out. This sign greeted our guests. (click the photo to see the entire album) I should warn you – this is going to be a picture heavy post

We decorated with all the Buzz Lightyear’s from Mike’s office (collected since the original Toy Story came out 15 years ago).

And from the ceiling a bunch of Little Green Men.

Then came the themed food. “Hamm in a blanket.”

“Rex’s Rotel”

“Sheriff Woody’s PB & J Badges”

“Mrs. Potato Head’s Salad”

“Jesse’s Cowgirl Hats”

“Little Green Man Cupcakes”

And The Buzz Lightyear Cake!

Then came the games. The “Mr. Potato Head Toss”

Then a Mr. Potato Head creating craft.

Then gift time. A friend from church gave me this great idea to have the child giving a gift sit next to the birthday girl.

A big storm was brewing so several people left before we could get a group shot.

It was such a fun day and we were blessed by everyone who joined us to celebrate.

I am thankful for my family.

For the second part of our day we headed over to Epcot again because we wanted to catch the Taiko Drummers in Japan and the Chinese Acrobats in China and this was the one chance we had with them performing back to back.

These performers were awesome. We have videos of both that I need edit together and will make a separate post. After the acrobats we stopped to see if the Nine Dragons restaurant had any open tables because we ate there 12 years ago and I remembered it being yummy. It was fantastic this time too! The girl who waited on us has been in America for 3 years now and said she really enjoys being here.  We had leftovers and I was excited that we had a fridge in our room because I could have that for breakfast the next day.

Nadia had a blast playing a game with Mike and her straw while we waited for our food. It was really cute how much fun she had.

Then she drew us a map to get back to our hotel room. It included the monorail and the elevators.

We arrived back in our room in time to get ready for bed and watch the fireworks. As I feel asleep I was gearing up for our attack plan for Hollywood Studios Thursday morning – I was determined to get us on Toy Story Mania without waiting for 90 minutes or more.

Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Green Army Men and a bucket full of Little Green Men. Need I say more about this day?

Click the photo above to see the entire album. Once again I had a hard time choosing so I uploaded a lot

Nadia could have been totally content with our Disney experience after this day. She met the Toy Story gang and we bought her a bucket full of Little Green Men. Look at this happy girl right before her nap.

We started our day at Hollywood Studios (formally MGM) and headed back to the Toy Story area “thinking” we could ride the Toy Story Midway Mania and take some photos. Ummmm, we didn’t have a clue. I had read that it was the most popular ride in all 4 parks right now, but that clearly did not compute with me. It wasn’t working when we arrived at 10 am and when I looked over at the Fast Pass Machine, the next available return time was 5:30 pm. So we decided to get in the line to meet Buzz Lightyear and Woody instead. We could still see the Fast Pass sign and wait time through the windows while waiting to see Buzz and Woody, and not long after being in that line the fast passes were gone. By the time we were done with Buzz and Woody the wait time was for the ride was at 90 minutes because it had just opened. So no Toy Story ride for us.

They had the cutest waiting/staging area to keep you busy while in the long line to see Buzz and Woody.

I love how serious she seems in the photo below. Maybe she is wondering why Buzz is holding my hand.

When we came out of the photo area there were two Green Army Men out in the middle of all the people. Nadia immediately wanted to see and talk to them and Mike got some great photos. What amazed me was that people didn’t really seem to notice them – either because they were in a rush or they just didn’t think about them being in the movies. They were one of my favorite parts of the first movie. The second soldier Nadia interacted with seemed to be having so much fun with her that it was adorable.

Nadia was so excited through all of this and I was just enjoying her being so excited that I totally failed in my mom job to get out the autograph book for Buzz and Woody! So we went back to the exit door right by them and I snuck in when another family was coming out and asked if they would please sign her book so we didn’t have to wait in line again. Whew!

The whole area called Pixar Place was so well done that I enjoyed just looking at the decorations.

After a little shopping for Toy Story goodies we headed over to see the “Muppet 3D” show. Mike and I saw it years ago and it’s just really cute. We had shown Nadia some muppet videos on YouTube a while back so at least she was familiar with them before we went in. We came out of there and started walking when Nadia saw “Frosty” in front of the Christmas store and she had to stop and asked Mike to please take some photos. She was on a kick a while back where she wanted to dress up as Frosty all the time so this was extra fun for her.

We were very hungry at that point and were able to walk in to Mama Melrose and it was fantastic!!! Wonderful Italian food tucked away in the back corner of Hollywood studios. Their Caesar salad was amazing! On our way out of the park we got some more pressed pennies and saw the “Beauty and the Beast” show. It was wonderful and the costumes were fantastic! Mike had so many good shots that I uploaded them as their own album.

And I made one little video.

After all of that we headed back to the hotel for a nap. I will continue this day in the next post.