Disney Day 3 - Hollywood Studios (aka The Big Hat)

Hollywood Studios: "Attractions based on blockbuster movies and top TV shows, and delight in exciting entertainment that puts you center stage"

We seemed to have got our timing right on this trip, because as with Epcot, there was another great event going on at Hollywood Studios while we were in Disney. Star Wars Weekends! This event takes place over a few weekends in late Spring (I think it's over 3 or 4 weekends) annually and I also read that it started back in 1997! 

They have some of the Star Wars celebrities and characters for special shows, presentations and autograph signings, Star Wars themed rides and my favourite .... the Jedi Training Academy. I loved it because I could just picture Jodi, our little Padawan, fighting off Darth Vader with her lightsaber in a few years time (it's for kids 4 to 12). Click on the video icon on the left to check out the snippet of some of the young recruits in action!

We also bumped into this Storm Trooper while walking along the Streets of America.

 

Jodi's current favourite TV shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First which are all on the Disney Junior channel. So I knew the next destination on my list was going to be a HUGE hit! Disney Junior Live on Stage at Animation Courtyard!

It is basically an awesome puppet show with Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the gang from The Clubhouse. They have a birthday party to plan and then during the planning they learn about sharing, caring and helping others thanks to a Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First and Jake & the Neverland Pirates puppet shows within the show. Click HERE for a video snippet (includes a lot of Jodi dancing along to the tunes). Needless to say that Jodi (... and I) knew all the words to all the songs and loved the show!

I mentioned in a previous post that we went to Walmart to buy our Disney goodies before coming to the park. At the park there are Sooooo many souvenirs and gift shops. After most of the rides your exit is via a gift shop! I have managed to get Jodi into a good window-shopping habit here on island. Eg. If she sees a cute, cuddly, fluffy toy at one of the shops here I just tell her to give it some good hugs and cuddles and then to put it back so that next time we go back to that shop, she can give it more cuddles! Haha, she loves doing that! At Disney, my strategy was to take photos of her with everything she loved and told her she can look back at the photos... here are just three of the many photos taken. She loved all the posing.

Time to meet the stars of Toy Story!!! As you wait in the queue and make your way to meet Woody and Buzz, there are a few iconic scenes from the movie along the way where you can take some snaps. Jodi took advantage of practicing some poses as we went along.

We also met Lightning McQueen & Mater!

Another super fun thing for the kids is playing in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. You feel like a teeny tiny bug roaming around a larger-than-life garden! 30-foot-tall blades of grass, a 52-foot-long leaking water hose, a colossal bumblebee, giant plant-root mazes and slides, another slide designed as an oversized film strip, an enormous sniffing dog nose (modeled after the dog from the film) and a spider web of climbing ropes. 

We also enjoyed Muppet Vision 3D, Voyage of The Little Mermaid and 

Beauty & the Beast live on stage.

One of the featured night time spectaculars at Hollywood Studios is Fantasmic. It's a 30 minute fireworks and water extravaganza. There was a special where you could get VIP tickets for Fantasmic if you booked dinner at Hollywood & Vine. You have to book online for the buffet lunches and character lunches and pick a time slot. It is all so organised. You just arrive there at your scheduled time and eat yourself silly at the buffet! The only dinner time slot available was 4:30pm, so we had a Really early dinner!

Fantasmic only started at 9pm, so Jodi and I headed off to do some window-shopping and exploring while JP had a nap on a bench. 

People started queuing up for Fantasmic at 8pm and Oh. My. Gosh. the queue was crazy long, wide and full! That's the thing about this place, you always feel like you're never going to get in to a show when you see the queues, but you don't even need to get there super early to get a great seat! They have set the shows up in a way that you will pretty much always get in (if by chance you don't, there is always another show within the next hour), and you will always have a great seat!  With our VIP tickets in hand we headed to the back of the queue.

While waiting, I ran to the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster ride to get my FastPass ticket so that I could go on the rollercoaster right after the show without having to wait in a queue. We were led into our VIP seats for Fantasmic, which were pretty much right in the centre of the theatre seating... and then the bad news... unfortunately they were having some technical difficulties so we didn't even end up getting to watch the show! We were a bit dissappointed as we'd heard such great things about it, but will make sure to get our VIP tickets next time we go to Disney World to get the same great seats and enjoy a buffet dinner in order to get them! 

Well, this is where my highlight of the day came in, in the form of an indoor rollercoaster, in the dark! The Rock 'n' Rollercoaster!

Length: 3,403ft (1,037m),
Height: 80ft (24m)
Speed: 60mph (97km/h)
Inversions: 3
G Force: 4.5
Acceleration: 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds!!! (Yes Please!!)

We had Aerosmith's "dude looks like a lady" blasting through the speakers during our ride. FastPasses are essential for this ride (we used them on all the rides that we went on which had the FastPass option - a lot of the kids rides / shows have the FastPass option too). The wait time for those people without a FastPass was 45 minutes. While JP waited outside with Jodi, I walked through the entrance to the ride, I walked past EVERYONE in the 45 minute queue up the FastPass entrance and straight to front, right into the pre-ride show where they show the band, Aerosmith, organising a lift for us to get to their show in time (i.e. the rollercoaster ... for those of you who didn't get that) and then I got straight onto the coaster car! It was awesome.

I found a video on YouTube which shows the entire ride. If you do have time to spare and want to watch the video of the ride, click HERE. At 0:47 you can see three guys going up a separate ramp past the queue, they had FastPasses like I did. The rest of the people waiting had a 60 minute wait (see sign above the entrance at 0:34) and those 3 guys just went straight to the front of the queue! On the video, to skip the wait in the queue and go to the pre-ride show go to 2:38. To go straight to the ride go to 5:48.

Boy oh boy do I love rollercoasters. 

  Having an AMAZING holiday with these two loves in my life.