Hollywood Studios

I think that we chose the perfect time for a family trip to Disney.  The older kids are just getting to the point where they are interested in the more thrilling rides, and Julianna is in her "princess" phase.  The variety of activities offered by Disney really seemed to meet everyone's interests.

We spent our first day at Hollywood Studios- and it was a full day.  We arrived one hour before opening and stayed until closing.  I had only been to this park once before- and that was the year it opened (when it was still called MGM Studios).  This park has definitely grown.  Here are some of our favorite things from this park:

#1:  Tower of Terror-  One of the icons of the park is the Tower of Terror.  The older kids wanted to ride it, so Brian, Kelly, and I took them on it.  It was scary and fun- probably my favorite ride of the park.  It freaked Olivia out a bit though.  She didn't even want to look at it for the rest of the day.

#2:  Jedi Trainig- Both Owen and Olivia enrolled in the Jedi Training Academy.  This was so awesome that it's getting its own post.

#3:  Shows- There weren't many rides at Hollywood Studios, but there were plenty of shows- and we saw just about every one of them.  One of our favorites was Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage.

#4- Thrills-  Our first ride of the day was the Rock and Roller Coaster.  This was the kids' favorite ride at the park.  We probably would have ridden it more than once had the line not been so long.

#5:  Rides- Although there are not as many rides at this park as there are in others, we did enjoy those that were there.  Everyone especially liked Toys Story Midway Mania- an arcade-like game where you shoot at targets and compete against the other players in you car.

 #6:  Characters- We met several characters while at Hollywood Studios.  One of the most memorable interactions was watching Olivia play slaps with a toy soldier.

 #7:  Movie icons- We saw several props and characters from various movies- including an umbrella (a la Singing in the Rain), Lightning McQueen and Mater, and the carriage and glass slipper from the new Cinderella movie.

#8:  Fantasmic- Fantasmic is the large-scale, night time spectacular that is put on at Hollywood Studios.  I had never seen it before and really wanted to.  We booked a "Fantasmic Dining Package" so that we could get reserved seats for the show.  The performance was standing-room only, but we had seats front-and-center.  It was a great show and a great way to close out our first full day at Disney.