Fun times at Hollywood Studios

I'm back at it.  I MUST catch up before we start homeschooling this fall or all will be lost.  Here are the last two day of our Disney adventure.  I was SO excited to take the kids to Hollywood Studios.  It was my favorite part when I visited as a middle school student MANY years ago.  I remember really enjoying the stage shows and I have WONDERFUL memories of riding the Tower of Terror with our friends Michael and Hannah WAY back before we all had kids.  I wasn't sure how the kids would do with the stage shows, but I KNEW that they'd love the Toy Story ride.  With that in mind, we got to the park early and rushed to the Toy Story ride before it attracted a huge crowd.  I'm so glad we did this first.  The kids just loved it and they BEGGED to go again.  Thankfully, we'd grabbed some Fast Passes, so we were in luck!  Bennett did his best to fire my laser gun, significantly decreasing my opportunities for scoring(at least that's what I told Brent when we compared scores).

Soon after, we wondered on over to Disney Junior and slipped in as they were closing the doors for the Playhouse Disney stage show.  I knew that Bennett would love this, but wasn't quite prepared for his level of total absorption.  He was glued to that stage, until they started sprinkling confetti, at which time he became a confetti grabbing fool!!

We ran into this interesting figure outside the Toy Story ride.  I remember seeing a similar photo with a friend's child several months previously and this faceless character really freaked me out, but he wasn't so bad in person.  We went in to meet Woody and Buzz.  Thought this would FINALLY be the character that Tristan would be into meeting, but I was wrong.  He felt much more comfortable in Brent's arms.

Next, we had the most fun and highly anticipated event of the day.  We had lunch with the Disney Junior characters.  When Maura and Tristan talked about our trip prior to us leaving, they never failed to mention that they'd be having lunch with Jake(Of Jake and the Neverland Pirates).  They were SO pumped.  Unfortunately, Jake was nowhere to be seen as we entered the restaurant.  Maura was OK to content herself with meeting Manny.  Tristan...not so much.  He spent the first part of our lunch trying to escape from and get as far away from Manny as possible.  Poor Manny!

Suddenly, it was parade time and Maura helped to lead the parade around the restaurant.  She loved dancing in the parade with all the characters.  Next up was Oso.  For some reason, this huge bear didn't scare Bennett as much as some of the more human looking characters.

JAKE!!  JAKE!!  My kids yelled at Jake from across the restaurant.  When he finally got to us, what a difference in my little big man!  He was THRILLED to meet him.  The kids immediately started handing Jake the gold doubloons(paper confetti) we'd gathered at the Disney Junior show.  Apparently they don't go over that particular happenstance in Jake costume training.  He had no idea what to do with this confetti.  Eventually, he tucked it into his waistband and went on about his business, but not before we got some great, SMILING photos of Tristan with his hero!

I'm so thrilled that we were able to give the kids this opportunity.  They loved it so much.  It was one of their favorite things we did at Disney and was my favorite character lunch that we experienced.  Even Bennett really seemed to enjoy himself--or maybe it was just the unlimited lemonade!

We rode several rides and eventually found ourselves in the Hall of Animation because Tristan just HAD to meet Mr. Incredible.  Thinking that we'd had a breakthrough with Jake, we foolishly agreed to take him to meet Mr. Incredible.  At which point he melted into Daddy's chest and refused to give so much as a high five!  I had a similar experience with Bennett, who spied Mickey in a corner and tore off to see him.  I managed to wrestle Bennett into the line and we waited a moment to meet Mickey again.  Remembering our last Mickey experience where Bennett threw himself into Mickey's arms, I prepared myself for something equally memorable.  It was not to be.  Bennett would not give so much as a high five to his hero.  Oh well!

We got the inside scoop on where to wait for the parade from a Disney cast member and stationed ourselves right at the entrance to the parade route.  The kids were thrilled to see the characters from UP.  Tristan and Bennett took a much needed rest on their equally exhausted daddy while we waited.

And THIS is where the obsession begins.  Brent took Tristan and Maura to ride Star Tours, which they wanted to ride again immediately.  We indulged them and they came out for a jaunt on this Star Wars vehicle.  That was all she wrote.  Tristan has been obsessed with Star Wars since that moment!  He enjoys playing with Brent's "Darth Bader" and "Luke the Skywalker" ever since!

Tristan's other obsession was easy to please.  We went to the car stunt show, and Lightning McQueen showed up!  Tristan was thrilled!  Lightning zipped all around the stage, dodging fire and other cars.  Tristan's eyes were HUGE!  He also loved meeting his heros, Lighning and Matar RIGHT outside.  This time, he had NO fear!!

It was a crazy day at Hollywood Studios, but a crazy FUN day.  I can't wait to take the kids again someday when they can actually enjoy the stage shows a bit more.  I did take Maura on the Tower of Terror. It was a bit intense for her, but she showed me her bravest face, and then told me that she was NOT going to ride that again!  In a few years, my little adrenaline junkie.  In a few years...