hollywood studios frozen summer (and DDD countdown!)

Headed to California for the Dumbo Double Dare in just a month!  So excited for this one!  I got my bib number and corral assignment yesterday- I've made it all the way up to Corral C!  When I ran my first race- Tower of Terror 10 Miler- last October, I was in G so I've come a long ways.  The C placement however, means I ended up with an estimated finish time of just under 2 hours for the half marathon, which is so not even going to happen.  I set a PR on that Riverside Dash 15K back in April, so I used that for all my proof of times.  I mean, my estimated finish time for the Marathon next January is like 4 hours.  HA!  

So, Scot signed up for the Princess half with me.  We have a group of about 15 or so people running it together, most of whom are friends of friends but that's okay.  It'll be great to have so much support!  I can't for the life of me figure out what compelled Scot to sign up for this race, but I'm supportive.  I've offered to let him get up at 5 am with me for my morning runs but he hasn't taken me up on that yet!  He has already started looking into costumes, though.  I've given suggestions (Incredibles, Piggy & Kermit, Elsa & Olaf) but he says he wants to be a Prince.  Whatever then!

We went down to Hollywood Studios this past Sunday for the Frozen Summer events and had an absolutely fabulous time!  We had some fast passes for our favorite rides (Toy Story, Star Wars, and Tower of Terror) and the wait for the rest of the stuff we did really didn't exceed 20 minutes.  But oh let me tell you about the Frozen stuff!  When we got to the park we were given a paper Olaf snowman on a stick and were told to use #olafsummervacation on social media and take his picture doing various things around the park.  Some of the photos would be selected for the big screen presentation during the fireworks that night!  Cool!  Off we went. 

We first snagged tickets to the sing-along, which was a great idea at 2 in the afternoon.  The theater was warmer than it should have been but it was better than being outside.  Olaf enjoyed it.

Of course I sang along to everything, and I think Scot just enjoyed the ride.  He doesn't know all the words but I saw him trying when I glanced over.  The whole show was great- really funny, with a finale of smoke effects, lights, and of course- snow!

We made it into Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, which was a temporary store filled with Frozen merchandise.  Nothing to write home about.  They did have a candy counter with all kinds of themed goodies, but I resisted.  I was saving my calories for a cupcake and glowing drink later!  After a couple more rides, we found a seat at the bar in the Tune In Lounge for a bite of early dinner.  From there, into Frozen Funland!  Frozen Funland is also a temporary setup down the street from Toy Story, you go inside and around a corner and they have an ice rink set up with skate rental!  There's also a big corner filled with snow for kids to play in.  This is where the cupcakes were!  I paid way too much for a chocolate Anna cupcake.  Olaf didn't get any...

We got a photo at the entrance with him, sat down, enjoyed the cupcake, then headed out.  

Here's a few more of the things we did over the afternoon- a couple shots of the Backlot Tour:

And we also took him on the Tower of Terror!

 After the sun went down, we had to wait for the fireworks.  We put up our feet for a while and I got to enjoy my glowing blue Frozen adult beverage!  And some popcorn.  Because I couldn't resist the smell.  As 9pm rolled around, we headed over to the Mickey Hat to the dance party.  The Mulch, Sweat & Shears guys we re-branded as the Ice Men of the North and of course are really good.  After their rocking performance, the fireworks show started with Anna and Kristoff on stage, talking to Olaf who was digitally represented on the screen above.  He started showing his "vacation photos" in song (from the pictures that had been tagged earlier that day).  Almost 2 dozen of them with various people posing with their Snowmen On A Stick flashed up during the 2 minute song, and right at the end- THERE WE WERE!!!  OMG we made it into the show!  The one of the 2 of us holding him in front of the bridge in Frozen Funland!  I was in heaven after that- the fireoworks were incredible, the music all day was fantastic, the food was amazing, the whole theme was fulfilling enough for a Frozen addict like me, it was the perfect end to the day.