The Fearsomely Fantastic FIVE!: Visit Florida: Tour Disney's Hollywood Studios

Today was day three of our four day blitz on Disney World. We decided to let the children sleep in and head over to Hollywood Studios whenever they woke up and were ready to go. We arrived at the studios just before noon.

We started with Star Tours: The Adventure Continues which is a Star Wars themed ride in a flight simulator. There was no line, so we got on very quickly. Bentley was concerned that we would actually fly away somewhere. I assured him we did not leave the ground. Jake told me even before I had his seat buckle off "I liked this ride." Viva said "Let's do it again!" Bentley said "No, it was too scary."

We had to exit through the gift store (how clever of Disney) and the boys spotted light sabers they wanted. Viva like them, too. I told them we'd come back at day's end, if they were still interested.

Mark left us to get FastPasses to Toy Story Mania. We were too late. They had already given out all of the FastPasses for the day! Bummer. Mark checked the time on the wait line and it was over an hour, so we decided to check back later.

We spent the afternoon wandering from one end of the studio to the other and back again. We were rather unorganized, without a firm plan. It was hot. Our brains were scrambled! We saw The Voyage of the Little Mermaid which was a 15 minute 3-D movie mixed with a live show. I found the mix of film and live theater rather odd, but the trio liked it.

We watched the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. It was rather spectacular. The children were mesmerized. A problem with the shows we've seen at Disney World is that our trio is too short to see the stage in a live show unless we have them sitting on our laps and we find just the right place to sit without tall people in front of us. Mark takes B & V and I get J. Too bad for the people behind us because we are tall people now with multiple heads!

We visited Toy Story Mania to verify the wait time since we'd been checking it online. The times matched--way too long. As we were leaving Bentley spotted a green army man and asked to have his photo taken with him, so we stopped and waited a couple of minutes to get a photo with him. The boys told me that green army man was from Toy Story 3. Viva decided to have her photo taken, too, while Jake kept a safe distance away.

After that we joined the queue for The Great Movie Ride, but changed our minds while still in the wait line. We left and went out to see the parade Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun. It was our third parade in three days, all of them in the hot afternoon sun. The children are fascinated with Disney parades.

Then we hunted for penny machines (more on that in another post) until it was time for the live show of Beauty and the Beast. It was very well staged as were all the Disney World shows we saw. The children watched raptly.

We ended up back near Star Tours, so we let the children look again at the light sabers. They all wanted one. A light saber is basically a sword, so that makes two swords for souvenirs this trip. Not my idea of great choices, but it's not my choice.

While there we were able to watch the newest group of Jedi Knights straight out of the academy take on Darth Vader. It was very amusing. Before we came to Hollywood Studios I'd asked the grandchildren if any of them wanted to try to go to the academy. All three said no. As soon as they saw the show, they changed their minds. It was too late in the day for them to sign up. On our next trip we'll arrive when the gates open, get FastPasses for Toy Story Mania, and sign the trio up for the Jedi Knight Academy.

We ate dinner and then checked the Toy Story Mania line again. No luck; it was still over an hour wait. We headed off to the evening finale show, Fantasmic! It is a 25 minute outdoor show using water, lights, fireworks, and stunts. The children liked it. It was interesting, but I wouldn't stay late on another visit to see it again. The fireworks at the Magic Kingdom were more magical.

After Fantasmic! we had a demonstration of Disney's incredible crowd management. We walked out of the theater with thousands of other people and yet when we got to the outside area where the trams were, the lines were short. How did they do that? Disney knows how to stage a show and keep the crowd happy to the end.

Here are our photo picks for day--includes Hollywood Studios and late that evening back at the hotel.