This post was written by Greg, with photos and comments by Maria.
On Day 7 of our vacation trip we were really starting to slow down. However, there were still lots of things left to do at the parks.
We got up and got ready in our purple shirts and took the 8:45 bus back to Hollywood Studios for a second day to cover a few things we'd missed the day before. We arrived right as the park was opening. We even had to wait at the front entrance just inside the park before they let people go in while they performed a little opening ceremony type thing.
I found Colin carefully combing Spencer's hair - so sweet!
How's that for gratitude?
It turns out they wanted to look exactly alike so people would think they were twins.
Colin even put aside his beloved new safari hat so they could look more alike!
Having learned our lesson from the previous day, we went straight back to go get fast passes to Toy Story ride--but so did everyone else and the line for first thing in the morning was huge! And that was just the line to get fast passes! Everywhere else in all the other parks, when it opens there are several hours before the lines begin to back up, but I guess this ride is just really popular. So we diverted next door into an walking exhibit about Disney.
Despite the fairly unassuming entrance, this was a wonderful exhibit!
Inside were a lot of great models from Disney parks as well as interesting items from Walt Disney's history. At the end of the walking tour was a movie theater with a 15 minute or so biography of Disney. Since we were the only ones there, we got our own private screening.
Colin in front of a model of Main Street
The boys looking at a large model of the Tree of Life from Animal Kingdom
Apparently the Paris Disney has Belle's castle. It looks awesome!
We loved this model of Spaceship Earth from Epcot.
This was some random room full of Disney memorabilia. Our kind of room!
After the movie, we went back to get Toy Story fast passes which were already set for two hours later. So we continued on to find some more things we'd missed on our previous visit.
We went back to the center of the park behind the giant Mickey sorcerer hat to the "Great Movie Ride." The entrance is a recreation of Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It's a fun little ride through animatronic recreations of various famous Hollywood movies like Wizard of Oz, Singin' In The Rain, Mary Poppins, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Alien, among others.
There were many recognizable handprints out front, but this is the one that meant the most to me:
The front of the theater looks awesome!
At the end of the ride, we went over to the "Magic of Animation" exhibit. This was another walking tour with some interactive exhibits and a look into a glass enclosed live animation cubicle where someone was painting some cells. There was a room dedicated to Disney's upcoming "Princess and the Frog" animated movie which had some interesting artwork. The interactive part of the exhibit had some touch computers that allowed you to paint your own cartoon character or dub your voice over some animation as well as a few other things. Most of these were very basic and fairly uninteresting.
Poor captive artist. I wonder how long they have to stay in there?
This artwork from Snow White was wonderful.
We started to leave very disappointed that the one place dedicated to animation in the parks had so little of interest inside, but then we found a door at the end of the exhibit for an "Animation Academy" class. We went inside and were given a hands-on drawing class where everyone learned how to draw Donald Duck. That part was a lot of fun as we all sat at back-lit animation desks and followed along with the live instructor. You can see the results of our instruction below.
The guys drawing on their back-lit desks
Colin's duck
Spencer's duck
Maria's duck
Greg's duck
After the class we went into a store dedicated to animation where Maria bought a Disney drawing kit and a how-to drawing book for Disney characters to encourage the boys to keep drawing.
Yet another artist on display. The paintings in this store were amazing. I wanted almost all of them!!!
By now it was finally time to return to the Toy Story ride. Just before going in, we sat down and read our Disney planning book which had a whole section that talked about how to get high scores and find bonus hidden items in the shooting gallery ride. So we figured out our strategies to work together to find those bonuses and improve our scores. We went on the ride again and though we did manage to find a bunch of the bonus items, I still did not improve my score over my first ignorant ride!
The artwork and backgrounds on the way in to the ride are really fun.
Greg and Spencer found another Army Man and posed with him
It was now time for lunch, so we found a random restaurant that was a bit overpriced and not very good. The kids both picked Mac & Cheese that they didn't care for and we adults had a BBQ pork sandwich that was just okay, but not very exciting.
At this point we decided to split up for a short while. Colin really wanted to re-ride the Tower of Terror and Spencer really wanted to return to the "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" playground. So we compromised with me (Greg) taking Colin to the ride and Maria taking Spencer to the playground.
Spencer and I stopped by a store where he had fun trying on this Donald hat:
Colin & I crossed the park, and even though it was mid-day which is usually the time for the longest lines, we walked right in to the pre-show part of the ride and enjoyed it for the second time. Afterward we ran back across the park to rejoin Maria & Spencer at the "Lights, Motor, Action!" driving stunt show.
I mostly took movies of this show, but you can get an idea of it from this shot. One of the best parts was watching them go up a ramp backwards at high speed (though it turns out they have a sneaky way of doing that).
Hot and sweaty but happy Colin
We were all pretty drenched with sweat - it was TOASTY!
The stunt show was fun, but something broke down midway through causing them to halt one of the scenes for about 10 minutes. As a result of it running late, we didn't make it to the last show of the new American Idol attraction. So that was one thing at the park we never got to see.
Instead of American Idol, and since we still had a few hours before the afternoon bus, we re-did a few of our favorite attractions by returning to Muppet 3D and Star Tours. The fact that we were hot and they were air-conditioned was a big plus.
A few of the Muppet posters they have displayed on the way in. I was disappointed they didn't have these in postcard form available to buy.
Greg in a Boba Fett hat in the Star Tours shop.
At this point in the afternoon we ran into Block Bash party which is the Hollywood Studio's parade that had all the main walkways blocked. We sat and watched it for a while, but it was hot and the kids weren't quite captivated by it. So we took some back alleys until we found a store with some nice cushioned couches that was playing cartoons, and had some frozen drinks and desserts for sale. So we refreshed ourselves and rested a bit there. While waiting I noticed a big detailed book about the history of the Haunted Mansion which I purchased as a souvenir. The Haunted Mansion is one of my all-time favorite Disney attractions.
One of the Block Party floats
The guys watching the parade - hot and tired and not quite in the mood to be entertained by it
It was finally time to go catch the bus. We got inside to discover it was standing room only. Luckily we all got in, but it wasn't a very comfortable trip home. From there we took another swim break on the lazy river and rested and had dinner.
That evening we managed to convince ourselves to go out and explore Orlando a bit. We went to the nearby Florida Mall where they had a large M&M store--one of only three in the world. One is in New York, and the other is in Vegas that we visited last year. We had a lot of fun looking around the store - they even had a large-screen TV with a Wii that played an M&M cart racing game. Maria found a T-shirt and we bought an assortment of candy to take with us.
Greg with Green
Colin with Red (what a ham!)
Spencer with Blue
Ooooh. Lots of colorful candy!!!
We explored the mall a bit more including a Disney store there with some interesting items in it, but since we have Disney stores at home and the register line was quite long, we left without spending anything there.
From the mall we made a quick stop at a Best Buy to pick up a new Nintendo DS game called "Scribblenauts" which just came out, and then set out to go visit what is supposedly the world's largest McDonalds with a giant Play Place inside. We went in and found that they had a huge arcade, an animatronic moon-headed singer, and an extra restaurant/bistro with many more things than you would find on a regular McDonald's menu. Unfortunately, the place was also very trashy with overflowing trash cans and dirty tables all over. We all got sundaes from a server who spoke very little English, and then let the kids play for a while. Then we headed home and went to bed.
I don't know how true this claim is, but it was definitely different than most McD's we've seen!
The moon-headed animatronic singer. It didn't quite work with the Beatles songs they were playing.
Part of the play place. I couldn't get it all in one picture.
On Day 7 of our vacation trip we were really starting to slow down. However, there were still lots of things left to do at the parks.
We got up and got ready in our purple shirts and took the 8:45 bus back to Hollywood Studios for a second day to cover a few things we'd missed the day before. We arrived right as the park was opening. We even had to wait at the front entrance just inside the park before they let people go in while they performed a little opening ceremony type thing.
I found Colin carefully combing Spencer's hair - so sweet!
How's that for gratitude?
It turns out they wanted to look exactly alike so people would think they were twins.
Colin even put aside his beloved new safari hat so they could look more alike!
Having learned our lesson from the previous day, we went straight back to go get fast passes to Toy Story ride--but so did everyone else and the line for first thing in the morning was huge! And that was just the line to get fast passes! Everywhere else in all the other parks, when it opens there are several hours before the lines begin to back up, but I guess this ride is just really popular. So we diverted next door into an walking exhibit about Disney.
Despite the fairly unassuming entrance, this was a wonderful exhibit!
Inside were a lot of great models from Disney parks as well as interesting items from Walt Disney's history. At the end of the walking tour was a movie theater with a 15 minute or so biography of Disney. Since we were the only ones there, we got our own private screening.
Colin in front of a model of Main Street
The boys looking at a large model of the Tree of Life from Animal Kingdom
Apparently the Paris Disney has Belle's castle. It looks awesome!
We loved this model of Spaceship Earth from Epcot.
This was some random room full of Disney memorabilia. Our kind of room!
After the movie, we went back to get Toy Story fast passes which were already set for two hours later. So we continued on to find some more things we'd missed on our previous visit.
We went back to the center of the park behind the giant Mickey sorcerer hat to the "Great Movie Ride." The entrance is a recreation of Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It's a fun little ride through animatronic recreations of various famous Hollywood movies like Wizard of Oz, Singin' In The Rain, Mary Poppins, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Alien, among others.
There were many recognizable handprints out front, but this is the one that meant the most to me:
The front of the theater looks awesome!
At the end of the ride, we went over to the "Magic of Animation" exhibit. This was another walking tour with some interactive exhibits and a look into a glass enclosed live animation cubicle where someone was painting some cells. There was a room dedicated to Disney's upcoming "Princess and the Frog" animated movie which had some interesting artwork. The interactive part of the exhibit had some touch computers that allowed you to paint your own cartoon character or dub your voice over some animation as well as a few other things. Most of these were very basic and fairly uninteresting.
Poor captive artist. I wonder how long they have to stay in there?
This artwork from Snow White was wonderful.
We started to leave very disappointed that the one place dedicated to animation in the parks had so little of interest inside, but then we found a door at the end of the exhibit for an "Animation Academy" class. We went inside and were given a hands-on drawing class where everyone learned how to draw Donald Duck. That part was a lot of fun as we all sat at back-lit animation desks and followed along with the live instructor. You can see the results of our instruction below.
The guys drawing on their back-lit desks
Colin's duck
Spencer's duck
Maria's duck
Greg's duck
After the class we went into a store dedicated to animation where Maria bought a Disney drawing kit and a how-to drawing book for Disney characters to encourage the boys to keep drawing.
Yet another artist on display. The paintings in this store were amazing. I wanted almost all of them!!!
By now it was finally time to return to the Toy Story ride. Just before going in, we sat down and read our Disney planning book which had a whole section that talked about how to get high scores and find bonus hidden items in the shooting gallery ride. So we figured out our strategies to work together to find those bonuses and improve our scores. We went on the ride again and though we did manage to find a bunch of the bonus items, I still did not improve my score over my first ignorant ride!
The artwork and backgrounds on the way in to the ride are really fun.
Greg and Spencer found another Army Man and posed with him
It was now time for lunch, so we found a random restaurant that was a bit overpriced and not very good. The kids both picked Mac & Cheese that they didn't care for and we adults had a BBQ pork sandwich that was just okay, but not very exciting.
At this point we decided to split up for a short while. Colin really wanted to re-ride the Tower of Terror and Spencer really wanted to return to the "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" playground. So we compromised with me (Greg) taking Colin to the ride and Maria taking Spencer to the playground.
Spencer and I stopped by a store where he had fun trying on this Donald hat:
Colin & I crossed the park, and even though it was mid-day which is usually the time for the longest lines, we walked right in to the pre-show part of the ride and enjoyed it for the second time. Afterward we ran back across the park to rejoin Maria & Spencer at the "Lights, Motor, Action!" driving stunt show.
I mostly took movies of this show, but you can get an idea of it from this shot. One of the best parts was watching them go up a ramp backwards at high speed (though it turns out they have a sneaky way of doing that).
Hot and sweaty but happy Colin
We were all pretty drenched with sweat - it was TOASTY!
The stunt show was fun, but something broke down midway through causing them to halt one of the scenes for about 10 minutes. As a result of it running late, we didn't make it to the last show of the new American Idol attraction. So that was one thing at the park we never got to see.
Instead of American Idol, and since we still had a few hours before the afternoon bus, we re-did a few of our favorite attractions by returning to Muppet 3D and Star Tours. The fact that we were hot and they were air-conditioned was a big plus.
A few of the Muppet posters they have displayed on the way in. I was disappointed they didn't have these in postcard form available to buy.
Greg in a Boba Fett hat in the Star Tours shop.
At this point in the afternoon we ran into Block Bash party which is the Hollywood Studio's parade that had all the main walkways blocked. We sat and watched it for a while, but it was hot and the kids weren't quite captivated by it. So we took some back alleys until we found a store with some nice cushioned couches that was playing cartoons, and had some frozen drinks and desserts for sale. So we refreshed ourselves and rested a bit there. While waiting I noticed a big detailed book about the history of the Haunted Mansion which I purchased as a souvenir. The Haunted Mansion is one of my all-time favorite Disney attractions.
One of the Block Party floats
The guys watching the parade - hot and tired and not quite in the mood to be entertained by it
It was finally time to go catch the bus. We got inside to discover it was standing room only. Luckily we all got in, but it wasn't a very comfortable trip home. From there we took another swim break on the lazy river and rested and had dinner.
That evening we managed to convince ourselves to go out and explore Orlando a bit. We went to the nearby Florida Mall where they had a large M&M store--one of only three in the world. One is in New York, and the other is in Vegas that we visited last year. We had a lot of fun looking around the store - they even had a large-screen TV with a Wii that played an M&M cart racing game. Maria found a T-shirt and we bought an assortment of candy to take with us.
Greg with Green
Colin with Red (what a ham!)
Spencer with Blue
Ooooh. Lots of colorful candy!!!
We explored the mall a bit more including a Disney store there with some interesting items in it, but since we have Disney stores at home and the register line was quite long, we left without spending anything there.
From the mall we made a quick stop at a Best Buy to pick up a new Nintendo DS game called "Scribblenauts" which just came out, and then set out to go visit what is supposedly the world's largest McDonalds with a giant Play Place inside. We went in and found that they had a huge arcade, an animatronic moon-headed singer, and an extra restaurant/bistro with many more things than you would find on a regular McDonald's menu. Unfortunately, the place was also very trashy with overflowing trash cans and dirty tables all over. We all got sundaes from a server who spoke very little English, and then let the kids play for a while. Then we headed home and went to bed.
I don't know how true this claim is, but it was definitely different than most McD's we've seen!
The moon-headed animatronic singer. It didn't quite work with the Beatles songs they were playing.
Part of the play place. I couldn't get it all in one picture.
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