Disney Again, Day 2: Disney's Hollywood Studios

It was MGM day, er, I mean DHS day. This was our first trip to the park since the name was changed at the beginning of the year to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We got up bright and early and went over to the hotel's continental breakfast. Well, I don't know, but Little Debbie snacks don't exactly qualify as breakfast in my book, but the kids were thrilled to have cake in the morning. C just was trilled to have coffee in the morning.

After our sugary snacks, we were off to the park. I messed up and forgot it was an extra magic hours day for people staying at WDW hotels, so we didn't get to see the rope drop and it was a bit more crowded than on a regular day.

First stop (after getting fastpasses) was for Playhouse Disney. C hates this show, but was willing to do anything to make his kiddos happy!



We all went over to use our fastpasses for Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster.

E decided she didn't feel like riding ToT, so after C rode, I sent him and the kids over to the gift shop so E could purchase her charm. She started a charm bracelet on our trip in Sept. when she had some birthday money to spend. Now she gets to add a charm every time we go. On their way to the store, they spied Cruella Deville. When we all met up again, they were so excited to show me the puppy tattoos that she threw at them!


It was now approaching lunch time and we had reservations at the the Sci Fi Cafe. It was perfect timing, as it was starting to rain. We had just arrived at the restaurant when the skies opened and it began to pour. In this restaurant, you get to sit in "cars' and watch clips and ads from old horror movies in a drive-in movie setting. It was such a fun atmosphere!


After lunch, it was still drizzling a bit, so we went over to Star Tours. E LOVES this ride, I can barely stand it so C rode on it with her. It was a great ride to do while raining because they let people wait for riders right in the area where the riders exit (read;not in the rain). While H and I were waiting, who should come though the exit but Darth Vader and a pair of storm troopers. Since we were the only ones in the hallway, H got a TON of attention from them. When C and E finished the ride, they were excited to tell us that DV & the troopers were in their ride with them, so we all had the opportunity to see them!


The rain had quit by now, so in an attempt to make it the kinder, gentler trip I had promised, we went over the the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. The kids (both big and small) had fun exploring the larger than life area. In true Disney style, they had cast members drying off the entire play area. Except for a few puddles, you wouldn't have know it had down poured just an hour earlier!


Since we were taking it easy, we decided to go try a couple of attractions we had never been to before. The first was Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. Ugh, it was horrible, twenty minutes in the dark listening to a movie with a weak story line. it was only made worse by the Indian guy next to me jabbering on his cell phone the entire time. Just because everyone had headphones on didn't mean that they couldn't hear him! One good thing came out of going (well, two if you count the fact that we now know never to waste our time there again) H managed to fall asleep in the cool, dark quietness!!!

With the boy still asleep, we went over the the Animator's Showcase. Again, we had never been to this attraction, but this time, we really enjoyed it! You start out by watching a cute little movie about animation and then you have the opportunity to draw a Disney character yourself. C had a sleeping H on his shoulder, so E and I followed the instructions to draw a picture of Winnie the Pooh. Mine turned out decently, but E was a bit frustrated hers did not look like the artists, but it did look like Pooh!!!. It was all made better when the demonstrating artist asked her name and then autographed his drawing and gave it to her! C was bummed he didn't have the chance to draw (he would have done a great job) so we;re definitely going to go back and do this again sometime!

H woke up in time to meet Handy Manny from Playhouse Disney.


Thinking about dinner, we knew we had better choices over at Epcot, so we grabbed one of the Friendship boats and took a relaxing cruise over to the other park.


Since we were right by France, I decided to get the kids' silhouettes done. I figure it's one of the less expensive souvenirs in the parks. The did a great job sitting. It helped that we had a street performer right in front of us that was stacking chairs on top of each other and balancing on top of it all!


After dinner, we went back over to DHS for Fantasmic and a couple of Mickey bars.



Then it was time to drag ourselves back to the hotel. It was a relaxing day but a long day as well.