Day 4: Disney Hollywood Studios

The big hat is the icon for Disney Hollywood Studios (previously MGM). We had a hard time deciding what to do on this day (Thursday), because we weren't sure if we cared about this park as much as the rest. But, in the end, we decided to give this park a try, and we were pleasantly surprised. Here, we found our favorite rollercoaster, "The Rockin' Rollercoaster". The idea was that you were speeding in a car headed to an Aerosmith concert and it was all dark with the street signs lit by black lights. It went from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds...so pretty fast and you got to listen to Aerosmith. Alex and Jarem didn't go, but Eric and I went twice each time taking one of the girls. It was both girls favorite ride of the day. It was a fun rollercoaster.

We got a slow start to the day because we were tired from the night before so we didn't get the earlier start we had the other days. This park was also more crowded than any park all week, and we were getting afraid that we may have to wait a lot. We did manage to get fastpasses first for Toy Story Mania, and it's a good thing because the fast pass wasn't until 3-4pm. Not only that, but we started out on a couple of attractions that weren't too exciting (Narnia one). Although the kids loved the Narnia movies, the Narnia attraction was a bit lame.

When we saw rocket and the characters from "Little Einsteins", we had to stop for a picture because Jarem has loved that show for a couple of years, and I love what it teaches kids about music.

The kids interacting with Leo and Annie

And, the picture

When we went on the backlot tour, I thought the sewing rooms were interesting. I'm sure there are a lot of costumes to be sewn all the time.

The kids really liked this ride where they play out a pretend scene from a movie, rushing water and all.

Walt Disney's personal airplane on display in the backstage tour.

A Herbie car that they used in the Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme Stunt Show

Just as we were coming out of the "Voyage of the Little Mermaid", we had a streak of luck. It was pouring rain. Everyone was huddled inside everywhere, so we took advantage of the opportunity and put on our ponchos, got out umbrellas and headed out. We got into Star Tours really quickly which otherwise would have been a long line. The rain stopped and the crowds resumed just as we were almost to the front. That worked out well!

Star Tours: R2D2

This ended up being a blurry picture, but I wanted to get a picture of Jarem measuring up. On nearly every ride, he had to get measured and he was just over 40" which meant he got to go on nearly everything, and in this case, "Star Tours". During the vacation, we talked to Jarem a lot about Mickey Mouse Magic, and how Mickey Mouse wouldn't do anything to hurt us, anything that might look or feel scary was just Mickey Mouse magic and Mickey is trying to make it fun. It worked really well for him. He didn't get scared at all.

This was a fun ride for the whole family...Toy Story Mania. You get to wear 3D glasses and go through different areas where you each shoot different targets and get certain points. Jarem especially loved it.

There were lots of fun displays in the waiting area too.

The kids with Woody in the background

Jarem all ready with his glasses and all

Dad and Jarem went together

They were just opposite of us in some areas. Here's them with their blaster guns! :0

I think Alex's favorite attraction of the day was Star Tours. We had a fun day, and with the afternoon rain shower, it cooled down and felt much cooler outside. The one attraction that I wished we would have had time for was the Beauty and the Beast -Live on Stage, but that's ok. We did get in nearly everything. We headed back to our cabin and to get dinner around 4 or 5. We planned to eat at the buffet place on Fort Wilderness, but little did we know, you even have to make reservations for buffets.

The wait was 1 1/2 hours, so we opted to just head over to Downtown Disney and eat there. The kids...especially Alex were begging to go back to Legoland and Goofy's Candy Co. (which was closed the previous night). We thought we'd just eat at the seafood place across from Rainforest Cafe which had been dead the night before. However, it was much busier this night, and we still ended up waiting a good hour before we got a table. We were very hungry, and were determined we would have reservations for the following night. The kids and I visited the Goofy's Candy Co. while Eric waited and I got 2 special order apples with caramel, 2 types of chocolate and nuts for Eric and I. The kids each got a little candy with their money, and Jesikah bought suckers for her friends and bags of caramel/chocolate popcorn for her teachers with her money.

When we finally had dinner, it was good. The clam chowder was delicious! After dinner we went back to Legoland and this time the kids each got a container and picked our individual pieces that they wanted. They also each made their own guy. It was fun, and we kept their containers to give them for Christmas. They were all excited about the pieces they found and could use for different things they are building. Another busy day, another late night, and we once again headed back...