WDW, Part VI: Hollywood Studios

So after staying so late at the Magic Kingdom, I was a totally awesome sister and actually got up early the next morning so I could see my sister Leah (and her husband) one last time before they left. I wasn't that nice to Natalie, who'd had to leave the day before, but Natalie was leaving at some ridiculous hour-- 4:30am?-- and if I would have tried to go, I would have been grumpy enough that Natalie would have been wishing I weren't there. Promise.

So I hung out with Leah and family for a while, and then eventually went back to my room to shower, wake up Craig and the kids, and get ready to go to Hollywood Studios for my very first time! The first thing we did there was to, of course, get fast passes for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Then we headed over to the Toy Story ride, which already had a surprisingly long ride for only being nine in the morning. It was while we were waiting in line that I absolutely fell in love. With this:


Can you see it in the background there? It's the Pixar light-- you know, the one that comes bouncing across the screen and starts jumping up and down on the letter "i" in Pixar until it flattens it? Yeah. They have that light outside of the Toy Story ride! It will randomly pop out of those doors and BEGIN DANCING! It was the greatest thing ever. Not only did it dance, but they played various types of music-- classical, disco, blues-- and the light did different dances each time AND they were always appropriate to the music. It was incredible. I could have stood and watched that light all day. Fortunately after about ten minutes of dancing it would bow and then hide back behind those doors again. Good thing or else I might have never left. But I did drag Tracy back and make her watch the entire sequence while the rest of the family rode Toy Story again later in the day.

I love that light.

The Toy Story ride was fun, but mostly because-- like the Buzz Lightyear ride in Magic Kingdom-- it involves shooting things and getting points and I totally beat Craig. That made me happy. And being the awesome parents that we are, we totally sat there shooting away and not even trying to show our kids how to play, so neither one of them got any points. But Bentley and Kendra didn't seem to mind. Craig did ride it again later, mostly so he could beat me, and he did beat my previous score his second time. I opted not to ride it a second time, so I'm still the clear winner in my mind.

We discovered my other favorite thing after leaving Toy Story-- the toy army men! I didn't get any pictures of these guys, so I'm just going to steal a picture off the internet:

Aren't they awesome? And they're even more fun in person-- they ran around shouting and yelling orders at people. We saw one jump into a stroller with kids in it and scoot along with his feet yelling for people to get out of the way. They were hysterical.

Eventually Craig managed to drag me away from all that, and we headed towards the stunt driving show. This was all set up to look like they were shooting a car chase scene in a movie, and we got to see how the stunts were done. Bentley loved watching the cars zoom all around, Craig enjoyed hearing tricks of the trade (or, noticing details that they weren't bothering to explain to us, is probably what interested him even more). And I just enjoyed getting new ideas for how to drive my mini-van and make it even cooler than it already is!

Next up was "meeting" Lightning McQueen and Mater. This turned out to be slightly anticlimactic. Given Bentley's obsession with the movie Cars, I thought he would be thrilled to meet these characters, but he was mostly confused by the whole thing. Once he got used to the idea, he really liked them, and we ended up going back several more times to see Lightning McQueen again. So it all worked out in the long run! (Pictures of this to follow-- I need to borrow some more from family members!)

I have to admit that the rest of the day is something of a blur. I know that we eventually made it to the Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Tracy and Rachael watched the kids while Craig and my Dad went on both rides, and I have to say, I loved them! I was slightly petrified at the same time, but in that delightful way that really is too fun. A random sidenote that I have only learned from scary rides like this: when I'm frightened, I smile really, really big. Who knew? My Dad, on the other hand, looked like he was taking a nap in the picture they flashed. Apparently he falls asleep under duress, which explains the many memories I have as a child of my father napping!

Thinking back on it all now, I'm still impressed by how fast the ride takes off for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. It goes from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. And you can feel it. And it is awesome. And the Tower of Terror has taught me that I am definitely afraid of heights. Or at least, I'm afraid of falling from heights. But it's good to know these things about yourself, right? The other cool thing about these rides-- aside from the actual ride itself-- is the entire set-up. I love how both rides tell a story while they scare the pants off you; even while you're waiting in line, you're standing in a set that is part of the story. Such attention to detail is why I can't help but absolutely LOVE Disney.

After all that, we headed home fairly early (for us). We put the kids to bed, turned on the baby monitor, and let my Mom listen to the quiet static while Craig and I visited the hotel's hot tubs. A nice soak in hot water felt lovely after a long day of walking. Another good day!



On a totally different note, this is a picture that my brother-in-law, Brian, took while we were at the Animal Kingdom. Just in case you didn't believe me about how close they got to the tigers:

How amazing and beautiful is this?

If you want to see some of Brian's other, very impressive photography, check out his website, www.maddenstudio.com.

Cheers!