Orlando Adventures - Day 4

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

"Wow! We got into the parks reasonably early this time."

Today I started out the day by taking the kids to Disney's Hollywood Studios and left Tammie and Grandma to do some grocery shopping before the rest of the brood arrives. We got into the park around 10:00am. The first thing I immediately noticed was how much smaller this park was than all the others. In fact, having walked back and forth from one end to the other (several times) it seems that it's even smaller than Disney's California Adventure. I've heard many people call it a half-day park, but we actually spent the entire day there and didn't see everything. We did get to see most of what we wanted. I think the only thing we missed out on was the backlot tour.

The first thing we did though was to make a beeline for Toy Story Midway Mania. We had been told that it's a popular ride and the Fast Passes distribute very quickly. At 10am the return time was already 4:45! Once we had our Fast Passes we aimlessly wandered around trying to figure out what we wanted to do first. That's when we ran into the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers! Woohoo! Well...at least for Adam. He was very excited. And to our surprise there was really no waiting for picture opportunities with any of them. Turns out we got pretty lucky with the time because they left before we got pictures with all 5 and every time we saw them after that there were huge lines.



We then stumbled on the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show just as it was about to start. We missed a couple minutes of the beginning and got some crummy seats, but we returned later in the day and got somewhat better seats. And having seen it once already I knew when to have my camera ready the second time.

After the show we meandered around taking in some of the scenery and discovered Star Tours. Just outside Star Tours they were starting the Jedi Training Academy, but we couldn't see it very well and decided to come back later. We never did make it back though. I'm sure we will before the whole trip is over. This was Adam's first time riding Star Tours and he loved it. We came back again at the very end of the day and made it our last ride.

Right next door to Star Tours was the Indiana Jones stunt show. That was also a lot of fun. Again, we arrived just before it started and had bad seats. I'd like to also go back and see that again.

The kids then insisted on riding the Tower of Terror. Even Adam wanted to. I don't think Rachel has ever been on it either. I told Adam all about it, and although he seemed a little intimidated, he put on a brave face and didn't back down from wanting to ride. Once inside though he began to be even more scared but pressed on. I had a penny with me that I was going to use to entertain him with having it float as we fell. The penny doesn't float though. You fall so fast that it shoots straight up to the ceiling and falls back down. I managed to catch it and do it again. That seemed to make things more fun and a little less frightful for him. When it was over he said he loved it. We even rode it again later in the day and he didn't need the penny this time. Rachel also loved it enough to join in the second trip. I almost had David not holding the handles.


A young starlet trying to catch a break.

We got Fast Passes for Rockin' Roller Coaster. Adam was just an inch over the minimum height requirement, but I wasn't going to let him ride this one without me riding first to see what it's like. I loved it! Rachel liked it too. It was her first roller coaster with an inversion. She had no idea it was coming, but she loved it too. Of course, David loved the speed and the inversions. We'll be back to ride that one a few more times.

We also visited the animation building and enjoyed the shows in there. We joined in the drawing class where Rachel, Adam, and I learned how to draw Pluto. Rachel did a really good job. I hope her picture survives the trip home so I can scan it in.



When our Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania matured I gave mine to Tammie (she wasn't in the park when we got them) so she could enjoy it with the kids. So I really don't know what it's like. But Tammie says it's worth a return trip just to ride that again.

Our second to last ride of the day was the Great Movie Ride. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was great. Rachel really liked it though. The Alien scene was a little too scary for Adam, but I thought it was cool.

My overall impression of the park is positive. We came to Walt Disney World the first time about 12 years ago but only visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom. So this was my first visit to Hollywood Studios. I am a bit annoyed at having to work around a show schedule when I visit a theme park. And with all the shows, that's pretty much how things work there. It makes it difficult to plan your day and kills spontaneity (unless you have luck on your side like we did the first half of the day). You also either wait around a long time for shows to start or you walk from one end of the park to the other quite frequently, trying to jam in as much as possible...like we did the second half of the day.

But there are things we want to come back to do a second time, and I'd still like to see the backlot tour.

I'm not really sure what we're doing tomorrow. We'd like to go to a water park while we're here, but it's been a little too cold for that the past couple of days. We'll probably do that in a few days. We also want to visit the Animal Kingdom.