Hollywood Studios

I've finally had time to journal all my memories about our trip to Disney so I am ready to blog.
However, I'm going to spare you the 18 pages I wrote and just give you the highlights. I'm going to try at least.

Saturday, February 26, 2011
Our first day at the parks after our all night trip to Disney World! There was snow in NH and wind and storms in Philadelphia that caused us many hours of delays. We finally got into bed at our resort at WDW at 1am Saturday morning!

We let the boys sleep as long as they wanted this morning since we got to bed so late last night. This was our first time going to Hollywood Studios with the boys. The first thing we did was go to the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride because I’ve heard so many times that this ride is the most popular at the park and sells out of Fast Passes early. The stand-by wait was 45 minutes, but we made it through in 30. It was a fun 3-D game where you shoot things and sometimes things would come flying at you.

Then we went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure playground. Nicholas really enjoyed playing on that and when we were about to leave that night and we told both boys they could pick one more thing to do he chose that. Unfortunately it was closed at that point and he was pretty upset.

The boys were excited about the Star Wars things to do at the park so off we went to see the giant AT-AT Walker. Unfortunately the Star Tours ride was also down for refurbishment and we heard about the Jedi Training Academy later in the afternoon when it had already filled up. Next time I need to do some research before we leave for our trip!

Part of the meal plan we got (for FREE!) included snacks so we enjoyed an ice cream during the warm day while we watched the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. We were surprised that the boys agreed to go on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. They got a little scared and during the ride I saw Nathan covering his eyes and sinking down in his seat. They both said the ride was scary and when we asked them if they wanted to go on it again they both said “NO!” Nicholas said it felt like he came off his seat and I’m sure he did because that is a big drop at first!

We stood in line for Rock “n” Roller Coaster next and this was probably the slowest moving line and longest wait time of the entire trip!

Chris decided to take Nicholas back to Toy Story Mania instead of bringing him on the coaster. Unfortunately all the Fast Passes had been given out for that day and the wait time was 350 minutes! They decided to go on The Great Movie Ride instead and then waited for us at the end of the ride. Nicholas really liked playing with the soda vending machine because it was all touch screen.

Nathan and I finally got on the roller coaster and it starts with you going 0-60 MPH in 2.8 seconds! The rest is in the dark and there are two inversions and one corkscrew. Nathan was a little sick or scared after that ride and just wanted to go home.

I was really disappointed that we missed the Pixar Pals parade and Fantasmic was also not happening on the day we were there. Dinner reservations were at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, which was delicious. After our meal we met these guys!

Chris and I remembered the Backlot tour from previous visits so we took the boys on that. It was cool to see the plane that Walt Disney flew in when he found the location in Florida for Disney World.

Nathan and Nicholas got a little scared during Catastrophe Canyon when the water came rushing towards us. Nicholas covered his ears because he doesn’t like the loud noises.

At the end of the tour we got to walk around and see costumes and other props from movies. The boys enjoyed seeing the Darth Vader and Darth Maul costumers from Star Wars. I enjoyed seeing the organ, costumes and props from Pirates of the Caribbean movies which I love.

We had to force the boys to have their picture with Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. They were tired and didn’t want to pose. Better get used to it boys, we’ll be doing lots of pictures while we’re here!

I wanted to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid because that is one of my favorite Disney animated movies so that was one of the last things we did that day. The boys kept telling us how hot they were all day once they remembered there was a pool at our hotel; it was in the 80’s and warm in the sun. Towards the end of the day they just wanted to go back to Port Orleans Riverside to go swimming. Nicholas was so cute once he learned what the name of our resort was. He made sure to say it and make sure we were in the correct bus line!

Phew! Day one down....lots more to come so stay tuned!