Thursday, we got up and out early again, but this time we were meeting up with Uncle Toby and his mom, Cathy. Cathy is a cast member and helped us with our vacation more than I could ever have expected... It was wonderful to finally meet her in person and spend Thursday and Friday with her and Toby.
We grabbed some breakfast and made our way to Hollywood Studios. When Jon and I were planning the vacation, we at first discounted this park, thinking there wouldn't be much there for the kids. We were SO wrong, and I'm thankful for the expert advise we were privy to which helped steer us here.
Hollywood studios had a bunch of really awesome fun stuff. Lots and lots of Pixar studios movie characters are in this park. Our first stop was a character meet and greet with Lotso.
Both Jackson and Mary Grace were pretty psyched to meet him - he's much nicer in person than he is in the movie ;) Next, we met Fantasia Mickey!
On our way out of the building, Little Miss posed with a fellow princess.
From here, we really took it kind of leisurely through the park. We caught a Beauty and the Beast show, which I absolutely loved. We ate lunch at Pizza Planet and played the claw games. We walked around and enjoyed the scenery of walking through New York and San Francisco. Then, it was on to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater :)
One of the biggest highlights of the day was catching the afternoon parade. We enjoyed ice cream, popped a squat on the curb and watched and awesome, Pixar character dominated parade. We saw the Incredibles, Monsters, Inc. guys, Up characters, and of course, the family favorites from Toy Story.
Mary Grace and I before the parade.
You can see MG, Jackson, and I at the bottom of the pic waving to Sully.
My personal highlight of the day - if not of the entire week - was the American Idol Experience. OMG, it was awesome. Guests audition to get in the show and then throughout the day, there are a number of shows in which 3 guests perform and compete. At the end of the day, the winners of all the day's shows perform and compete. The audience votes :) It was an absolute blast! The stage is set up like on the show and the lights and music are similar. The folks we saw perform were good - especially, the young woman who won. So much fun!
Jon, Toby, and I got to do a bit of running around, too, because Cathy was awesome and offered to watch the kids while we did some grown up rides. We rode Tower of Terror - which, was crazy. I don't remember it being that intense. Literally, at one point in the ride, I didn't know if I was moving up or down. Later in the afternoon, we also got a chance to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was pretty cool, too, if a bit loud and jerky.
In the evening, we tried to see the big firework show, but it was really crowded and we decided to skip it so we could get on the Buzz Lightyear ride... the line had been so long all day, we had avoided it, but at this point, it was wait or bust... so we decided to stick it out. The line was interactive and went by fast, and the ride was SO worth it. You get to play all kinds of shooting arcade-type games and get high scores. It was awesome.
The only disappointment of the day was you can meet Buzz and Woody together at Hollywood Studios, but by the time we found them, it was too late and we couldn't meet them there. Next time!
Here is one of my favorite pics from the week (Go Toby for catching this one!).
And, once we made it back to the resort for some dinner... it didn't take Jackson long to crash.
It was a super fun, busy day. We'll be hitting Hollywood Studios again, for sure.
We grabbed some breakfast and made our way to Hollywood Studios. When Jon and I were planning the vacation, we at first discounted this park, thinking there wouldn't be much there for the kids. We were SO wrong, and I'm thankful for the expert advise we were privy to which helped steer us here.
Hollywood studios had a bunch of really awesome fun stuff. Lots and lots of Pixar studios movie characters are in this park. Our first stop was a character meet and greet with Lotso.
Both Jackson and Mary Grace were pretty psyched to meet him - he's much nicer in person than he is in the movie ;) Next, we met Fantasia Mickey!
On our way out of the building, Little Miss posed with a fellow princess.
From here, we really took it kind of leisurely through the park. We caught a Beauty and the Beast show, which I absolutely loved. We ate lunch at Pizza Planet and played the claw games. We walked around and enjoyed the scenery of walking through New York and San Francisco. Then, it was on to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater :)
One of the biggest highlights of the day was catching the afternoon parade. We enjoyed ice cream, popped a squat on the curb and watched and awesome, Pixar character dominated parade. We saw the Incredibles, Monsters, Inc. guys, Up characters, and of course, the family favorites from Toy Story.
Mary Grace and I before the parade.
You can see MG, Jackson, and I at the bottom of the pic waving to Sully.
My personal highlight of the day - if not of the entire week - was the American Idol Experience. OMG, it was awesome. Guests audition to get in the show and then throughout the day, there are a number of shows in which 3 guests perform and compete. At the end of the day, the winners of all the day's shows perform and compete. The audience votes :) It was an absolute blast! The stage is set up like on the show and the lights and music are similar. The folks we saw perform were good - especially, the young woman who won. So much fun!
Jon, Toby, and I got to do a bit of running around, too, because Cathy was awesome and offered to watch the kids while we did some grown up rides. We rode Tower of Terror - which, was crazy. I don't remember it being that intense. Literally, at one point in the ride, I didn't know if I was moving up or down. Later in the afternoon, we also got a chance to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster, which was pretty cool, too, if a bit loud and jerky.
In the evening, we tried to see the big firework show, but it was really crowded and we decided to skip it so we could get on the Buzz Lightyear ride... the line had been so long all day, we had avoided it, but at this point, it was wait or bust... so we decided to stick it out. The line was interactive and went by fast, and the ride was SO worth it. You get to play all kinds of shooting arcade-type games and get high scores. It was awesome.
The only disappointment of the day was you can meet Buzz and Woody together at Hollywood Studios, but by the time we found them, it was too late and we couldn't meet them there. Next time!
Here is one of my favorite pics from the week (Go Toby for catching this one!).
And, once we made it back to the resort for some dinner... it didn't take Jackson long to crash.
It was a super fun, busy day. We'll be hitting Hollywood Studios again, for sure.
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