Hollywood Studios!

Sunday morning we left our resort at 8:30 to spend the day at Hollywood Studios. It was a first visit for six members of our family; I had been there about 30 years ago when it was called MGM Studios. Our first stop was the 15 minute "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" show. Then we rode the 22 minute long "Great Movie Ride" before riding the "Star Tours" ride. Oliver was too short for that ride, so Grandma watched him while the rest of us enjoyed the Star Wars themed ride. It was Ian's favorite ride of the day, and so we rode it again in the evening. Next we watched a 25 minute Muppet 3D show. We wore 3D glasses many times yesterday! The "Honey, I shrunk the kids movie set" playground was supposed to be our next stop of the day, but it was closed for the day. We enjoyed the Toy Story ride next (a shooting game similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom). It was Nadia's favorite ride of the day; she wanted to ride it again in the evening, but without a Fast Pass (we had used one to ride it in the morning) the wait was over an hour long so we passed on taking a second ride. While Paul and his parents ate lunch (with Oliver in tow), I took Nadia and Ian to meet a few characters (Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jake the pirate, and Sofia the first) and see the 24 minute long "Disney Junior" show that incorporated characters from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Sofia the First tv shows. The kids enjoyed all the things that were showered down on us during the show such as real snow, bubbles, streamers, and gold paper circles that were supposed to represent doubloons. 

Around 12:45 it started raining (pouring much of the time), and it continued to rain for about 4 1/2 hours. We were watching a Frozen sing-a-long show at 5pm, and I was ready to call it a day after the show (and eat dinner outside the park since the food at Disney is so expensive), but it finally stopped raining. Every day the forecast has been pretty much identical (around a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms), but of the days we've been here so far, Sunday was by far the rainiest day. It didn't rain at all yesterday. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow when we're at the Magic Kingdom. One upside to the rain on Sunday was that the temperature really dropped and it was much cooler the rest of the day. Also, I think that some people left (we had NO wait for our second time on Star Tours, for example). Aside from the unpleasantness of getting wet (we didn't have any ponchos or umbrellas with us although there were umbrellas in the van), the main downsides to the rain were that the Lights, Motors, Action show was cancelled (first they just delayed it so we sat in the bleachers for 30 minutes before we found out it was cancelled) and my wet sandals rubbed my foot in such a way that I developed a painful sore that was bleeding. Yesterday I walked barefoot around the resort when headed to the swimming pool. I put on a band-aid for dinner and miniature golfing (so I could wear my shoes). Hopefully the band-aid will make walking all day at Magic Kingdom tolerable tomorrow.

After the Disney Junior show Paul and I took Nadia and Ian on the Tower of Terror ride. They weren't keen on it. It was a little too intense for them. Next we saw the 25 minute long Beauty and the Beast show, which was VERY well done (Broadway caliber). After the show we went to the Magic of Disney Animation, but we didn't really do much there aside from the kids meeting Mr. Incredible. After we found out the stunt show was cancelled, we saw a 20 minute long Frozen sing-along show and then the boys got their picture taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater. We ate our very expensive pizza at the Pizza Planet Arcade (looked like the set from Toy Story), rode Star Tours a second time, and went through the One Man's Dream exhibit and watched the 15 minute film on Walt Disney. Oliver fell asleep part way through that movie, and he slept for an hour. Paul and I took the kids to the 8:00 showing of The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow, and then we all watched the 30 minute Fantasmic show at 9:00 on the water. On our way out of the park, we stopped and watched a fireworks program at 9:45 that was set to music from "Frozen."  Ian fell asleep soon after we were in the van, but Oliver and Nadia were awake until we put them to bed at 10:40. It was definitely the latest that I'd ever let any of them stay up, and it was Oliver's first time seeing any fireworks. 

We did the vast majority of the rides and shows in the park. The ones we missed were the American Idol competition (too young), Indiana Jones Stunt show, the playground (because it was closed all day), the other stunt show that was cancelled due to the weather, the studio backlot tour, and the roller coaster (all our kids were too short). There were other characters they could have met. They weren't interested in some of them. The only ones we missed that Ian really wanted to meet were Mike and Sulley. All in all we had a very memorable day. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do at an amusement park due to the rain and also the fact that this park has far more shows than rides. I assume I'll take more pictures tomorrow! I am grateful that Disney allows food and water to be brought in the park because the only $$ spent on the kids and I during the day (not counting the expensive tickets I purchased ahead of time) was our dinner. The kids and I ate food we brought to the park for our snacks and our lunch.

Oliver woke up at 6:11 yesterday morning. Paul was really hoping he'd sleep in a bit later in light of the fact he went to bed MUCH later than usual. Nope. Ian did sleep until 7:45 (very late for him), and Nadia slept until 8:40 (very late for her). All I could think of yesterday morning was how very grateful I was that we weren't heading to another park that day. I have no idea how parents take their kids to amusement parks four days in a row. We needed a couple of days off in between our park days. The kids can't wait for our day at the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully it won't be as rainy of a day, but I'm sure we'll bring our umbrellas along just in case!