Grape News: Hollywood Studios

I wish we were actually going back, but actually I have one last post. I forgot that I was going to blog about C's favorite souvenir.

Saturday morning before we left for the airport, Daddy and C went back to Hollywood Studios specifically for C to build his very own lightsaber. He actually got to pick out all the components and the color and if he wanted one or two blades.

It was much bigger than we anticipated. It actually had to be broken down to be packed to come home. Once we got home and put it all together and extended it, IT WAS HUGE! It's actually taller than me! Oh I forgot. It actually lights up--on one side. We think it was supposed to light up on both sides but something got left out when it was built (no fault of our own).

Side note: the benefits of homeschooling--staying in your jammies until dinner time. Aaaaah yeah!

Tuesday morning we went to Hollywood Studios. We decided to go there that day since they opened early; however, that did mean that they closed early that night too. Which wasn't a bad thing: #1 we had a late night the night before #2 we could get to bed early Tuesday night #3 we went swimming Tuesday before bed.

There were 2 major things that were on the "must do" list for Hollywood Studios: The Star Wars attraction and the Indiana Jones show. We also did the Toy Story Midway Mania, the Beauty and the Beast Musical, and Daddy and I did the Rock 'n' Roller coaster.

So let's start with the Star Wars tour. We knew C would be tall enough; K was a question. We got up to the line and ----she wasn't tall enough. She cried and cried! Poor thing! And I really don't see why she couldn't have ridden that. It is just a simulator where you sit in a seat and watch a movie while your "ship" shakes all around. She would have been fine. So my mom sat outside with her while the rest of us rode. I can remember riding this ride when Daddy and I were at Disney for our honeymoon. We stood in line for awhile (we saw Chewy while we waited). This time we walked right in! Didn't even need a FastPass! We did walk through slowly so that we could see R2D2 and C3PO and some of the other "droids" that were being worked on. C LOVED the ride! After the ride, you exited through the store--of course. The guys spent some time in there looking while I went out and found mom and K. We also waited while the guys watched an interactive show, Jedi Training Academy, outside the ride. Young "Jedis in training" were selected from the audience to battle Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers. C did NOT get picked but he still really enjoyed watching the whole thing.

The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular became both my kiddies favorite thing of the entire day. The show uses professional stunt crews to demonstrate stunts with a blend of behind the scenes information. A boulder chases Indy, Marion gets stuck in the cockpit of a small plane, gasoline spills catch on fire...... It is kinda cool, and once again we didn't have any wait. Afterwards, we stayed seated for a time to let the crowd disperse. I am so glad we waited because Indiana Jones and Marion came out to sign autographs and take pictures! Both of the kids have commented on meeting them! I think it is one of my favorite pictures of them too. They both have really good smiles. So neat!

One of my favorite rides of all Disney was the Toy Story Mania ride. K was big enough to ride (thank goodness) and it was such a fun game! The ride is located down a "street" that has all kinds of Toy Story "props." They have huge game pieces, the monkeys, even the Pixar lamp. The lamp "comes out" and "puts on a show" to different Toy Story music. It's really cute. Anyway. The ride is a 3D interactive shooting gallery. You travel through virtual booths that offer ring toss and ball throwing and other games. You use a cannon on your vehicle to play as you move through the ride. Smells, wind and water spray add to the fun as you compete with your riding mate. We all loved it! It was so much fun! It would have been worth going on again if the line hadn't been long.

We also watched the Beauty and the Beast musical. Daddy was not crazy about going to see this, but the kids, especially K, loved it. We had really good seats which made it even better. Each of the kids had a disposable camera to take pictures throughout the week. K used up at least 13 pictures at this show. It is actually really well done. I really enjoyed it too.

Daddy and I rode the Rock 'n' Roller coaster. They were still building this ride when we were here 10 years ago. It is a good coaster--for Disney. It's fast; it's in the dark; but it's really loud (Aerosmith anyone?) Would I wait hours for it? Probably not. Thank goodness for FastPass.

Lunch was at the Sci-Fi cafe and Dinner was back at the hotel that night. Besides Indiana Jones and Marion, the only other character we met was Minnie. We did see a few minutes of a parade and saw a few other characters in that-mostly from Monster's Inc ("blame the little guy; with the one eye!")

And here are some misc. pictures from DHS.