Disney's Hollywood Studios - Day 2 and 6

Hollywood Studios!  Now this place was more Drew and Mason's speed I think.  It wasn't my favorite, and if we had the trip to do over we probably could have gotten away with only spending one day in this particular park, but it did have its bright spots.  The first one being Toy Story Midway Mania.  That is the most popular ride in the park so of course it is the ride we rope-dropped both mornings.  Throughout the day the line was always at least an hour long wait.  No thanks!  The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was also a pretty good ride.  It took off so fast even I could feel it in my stomach and rides usually don't get to me like that.  I think Mason had the record for rides on that one.  We all rode it the first time except for Bree who was too short and Darcy who was too scared.  The second day we had fast passes and I can't remember how it all worked out but Mason rode quite a few times.  He's probably the best on rides after me.  With Paul, Drew, and Bree at the bottom.  I was proud of Paul though, he rode everything but the Tea Cups, with the help of his buddy dramamine.  Whatever gets you through!  I went on the Tower of Terror by myself while Paul waited with the kids and then he and Mason went.  That was one of my favorites too.  The drops were so much fun!  Darcy avoided it the first day but on the second day she actually rode it twice with me.  We used Drew and Bree's wristbands to get in again on their fast passes.  Darcy was pretty proud of herself, as was I!

We also rode the Star Tours ride a couple times over both days, The Great Movie Ride, Muppet Vision 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, Disney Junior Live on Stage, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and the best show of all - For the First Time in Forever:  A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. It was soooooo good!  There were a couple of narrators on stage and they would do their little jokes and tell the Frozen story and then we would all get to sing along to the songs from the movie.  It was so good!  Just singing at the top of your voice and no one cares cuz they are doing the same thing.  Unless your name is Mason and then you are just sitting in the chair with a surly look on your face, wishing it was over because at any second you are going to burst into song and you don't want us to see you.  There was even "snow" at the end (soap suds).  It was so much fun.  The little girls and I loved it.  Luckily we got to do that twice too.

The first day we ate lunch at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano.  That was excellent of course.  We got preferred seating tickets to the Fantasmic show later that night by eating there.  Dinner was at the ABC Commissary.  Usually our snacks were either bottles of pop or ice cream sandwiches.  A couple times it was cotton candy, popcorn, or a muffin.  Fantasmic was a neat show on an island with us in the grandstands on the other side.  It told Disney stories, and characters would go by in boats while the action was taking place on the island.  Every one of their live shows was excellent.  It was just astounding to me first, how many employees the Disney World park system must have.  I couldn't even hazzard a guess.  And second, how much money was running in and out of that place.  We paid a ton of money for entertainment, and they paid a ton of money to keep us entertained.  Amazing place!

Funny story, and maybe you had to be there to get it, but like I said, we were rope droppers and we stopped for nothing as we race walked our way to the first ride of the morning.  Well the first morning we were in this park, its day four of our vacation of walking miles and miles non-stop, Mason all of a sudden yelled, "OW!  I think I just popped out my hip!"  He was totally stopped, couldn't move, so I stopped with him.  I tried to get Paul to stop but there was nothing short of his own death that would have made him slow his race to the ride!  I was laughing so hard at the absurdity of the situation and I was probably a little punch drunk at the time from lack of sleep, heat and humidity, and days of herculean efforts, but I found it hysterical.  I pulled Mason along with me as he's limping and whimpering to the ride.  I was laughing so hard in line trying to explain to Paul what happened that I was crying.  It still makes be laugh.  Are we having fun yet!?

The second day we spent in this park, Nov. 18th, we ate lunch at Pizza Planet from Toy Story.  The kids finally found some food they liked!  It was really good and also tons of fun to be there.  For dinner we ate at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant.  We sat in tables supposed to look like cars, and watched old Sci-Fi movie clips on the big screen, like we were at a drive-in theater.  The things this place comes up with!  It was a fun place to eat.   After dinner we walked through the Streets of America which were completely covered in Christmas lights. I've never seen so many!   It was beautiful!

As huge Once Upon a Time fans, we were so excited to see Mr Gold's Pawn shop and a poster advertising the show.  We were hoping to find some merchandise but no such luck.  We still had a great time in the park.  Here are a few more pictures of our days in Hollywood Studios.