Hollywood Studios

Last day of our vacation and we had one park left: Disney's Hollywood Studios. We went straight to Toy Story Midway Mania to pick up FastPasses. It was maybe 9:45 when we got to the distribution and the return time was already 3:35. Popular ride...and worth it.

We hadn't seen The American Idol Experience before, so we caught the first show of the day (after riding The Great Movie Ride). Three people (Kyler, Kara and Garrett) who arrived at the park that morning performed and Garrett sung I Like It, I Love It and won the hour. I would have liked to have seen how he did tonight at the 7 p.m. show when all of the day's winners competed.

We then let Steve check out the Sounds Dangerous attraction while the kids and I made our way over to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster to get a FastPass for me. Return time: 5:20. Just made it, really...the park closed at 7 today.

The kids and I stopped to watch some Citizens of Hollywood perform on Sunset Boulevard on the way to meet up with Steve. Two performers were filming a movie...a director and his bumbling camera guy. Very funny. Wish we had seen their entire performance.

We then checked out The Magic of Disney Animation before we made our way to Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. We didn't make the stunt show last trip and I didn't want to make that mistake again. I love it!

It was then time to get some lunch at Pizza Planet...like we always do at the Studios. After that, we watched Muppet*Vision 3D before going to Toy Story Midway Mania. I totally smoked the family with a scorching 157,000 points on the various 3D midway games the ride is made up of.

We took the Studio Backlot Tour (our first time) which was a lot of fun. I especially loved the opening sequence where four other park goers participated in a "Harbor Attack" filming. I can't describe it...you'd have to see it...but here's a picture:

Then, we saw a movie about Walt Disney. So inspiring to see what one man came up with and to see his vision all around us. He constantly moved into new mediums as the world changed and left room for all of his creations to grown and change after he was gone. Thank you, Walt!

Then it was time for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. This one was fabulous...my only complaint was it was too short. Unlike Space Mountain, this ride was fast, thrilling and the loud Aerosmith rock music was a great accompaniment. The concept was that we were racing...in a stretch limo...to the Aerosmith concert. The train looked like a stretch limo and it took off like a shot after Steven Tyler's voice counted down "four, three, two, one".

When I got out of the ride, the kids were getting ice cream and we were ready to call it a day. A vacation, really. So sad that another Disney vacation is over...I love them even though they are expensive and exhausting. I think they are worth the money and the energy...these places are magical!

Labels: disney

posted by Terri Milstead @ 8:54 PM Comments: 0