Disney Vacation...Day 2: Hollywood Studios

I'm a vacation Nazi.  My vacations are almost always more exhausting than normal everyday life.  I have a fear of missing things.  For example, going all the way to Ecuador and not going the Galapagos Islands just about killed me but I made a promise to John that we would do that together and that I wouldn't go without him.  So waking up at the crack of dawn every day of our Disney vacation is of course mandatory!  This is because the parks are the most empty first thing in the morning and you can ride the most rides at that time without having to wait in line forever.  So despite getting in late and having a tiring day of travel the day before the alarm went off at 6:45 a.m. and I was ready to go!  Convincing the family to be ready was a bit more difficult.  The kids (and John) were tired.  Zombie tired.  But Disney Hollywood Studios was waiting and that 8:00 a.m. opening time on a Star Wars Weekend means we MUST be at the gates at 7:30 a.m. ready to roll.  Factor in dressing, eating breakfast (on the go of course), travel on Disney transportation and voilá...you've got yourself an early morning.  Sorry but if God chooses you to be my child you must be prepared for early mornings and exhausting family vacations.  I'm sure he hand-picked the toughest and most resilient boys to withstand this brutal treatment.

A little something to sweeten the deal was a small gift to be (quickly) opened before heading to the parks.  Each boy received a new Star Wars Tshirt and Pez dispenser (Yoda and Chewbacca) to wear/eat for our exciting first day.  They loved it!

On the way to DHS we donned our newly purchased gift shop sunscreen while observing Orlando flora out the window. 

At the gates we waited a while before the action started.  Two Stormtroopers on huge moving single-person platforms greeted us with a humorous intro to Star Wars Weekends at Disney Hollywood Studios. 

Tyler had to go potty and John selflessly volunteered to take him to the bathroom.  They both missed the little skit.  At the end the Stormtroopers fired their blasters with real pyrotechnics to signal gate opening.  SUPER cool!  Then it was a mad dash to get to ABC Studios for Jedi Training sign up.  I was literally carrying Greyson while running, Hunter and Brody beside me trying to keep up.  Brody started crying because he wasn't fast enough so I slowed down...a bit.  It wasn't too far of a sprint and let me tell you it was worth the effort.  I'd rather have a crying kid for five minutes than one whining and crying for an hour while in line.  Look at this line!!! 

We were at the front and still had to wait about 15 minutes to get our ticket for training.

When John spotted us in line he said, "I knew you'd be at the front."  Tee hee!  Hours and hours of research paid off because I'd say half of those waiting in line wouldn't be rewarded with one of those prized tickets!  Once we received ours we had a bit of time to kill so we headed over to use our first FastPass of the trip...Toy Story Midway Mania.  We all received 3D glasses to wear on the ride and waited about five minutes before we got on. 

The kids LOVED it!  Even Greyson got in on the action and shot the gun some of the time.  It was a great start to our day!

Afterwards we hit up The Great Movie Ride.  John really liked this one.  To get in you walk past a faux Mann's Chinese Theater which has famous Disney character hand/footprints embedded in the cement.  I took a pic of the twins with Mickey Mouse's glove prints. 

The ride itself takes you through a journey into scenes using animatronic characters from different Blockbuster movies like The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Mary Poppins, etc. with a host on a moving tram.  The kids could have foregone the section on Aliens.  Ha!

After this we were ready for Jedi Training!  We all went over, handed our ticket in and waited for instructions.  The kids were given Jedi robes and an informative talk about what was to come.  They marched down the street and onto the stage.  They were taught some moves and then Darth Vader came out. 

The host asked for volunteers to go first.  Hunter raised his hand!  He took things seriously and was trying to defeat the Dark Lord.  As a result he got a talking to from the host that he was only to use the moves taught and not try to hit him for real. 

It was obvious his attitude changed immediately and wasn't happy about being up there anymore.  The trainees all used their new skills and moves on Darth Vader one at a time.

Thank goodness Greyson wasn't allowed to do this.  Although there was much crying and whining that he was left out and wanted to do it as soon as DV came on stage he was running away. 

I think Disney has thought of everything!  Tyler and Brody did their moves great but they weren't too enthusiastic probably due to the heat and exhaustion from rising so early.  Brody was the only one to be asked to use the force push on the Storm Troopers. 

Pretty cool!  They all received little Jedi certificates for completing their training.

Hunter and John went to Star Tours for the second FastPass of the day while Tyler, Brody, Greyson and I headed over to the Writer's Stop for some cupcakes and cookies.  A snack was in order for rewarding our hard-working Jedis!  Hunter and John met up with us a bit later with raving reviews (well, at least from Hunter) a bit later.  Hunter couldn't stop talking about how much fun Star Tours was.  While we were in the Writer's Stop enjoying our snacks it started pouring rain outside.  At this point it was obvious that the T, B & G were not going to start having any fun unless they got some sleep.  So John offered to bring them back to the hotel to swim and take a nap.  I agreed that it was better for them to rest than push it any further but I felt horrible that John would miss all the awesome Star Wars stuff they had going on.  He insisted he go.  Hunter and I stayed.

The family did catch part of the Star Wars Motorcade before we parted ways.  It was cool to see R2D2,

 Chewbacca

and others.  We also purchased the kid's autograph books at a gift shop before they left as well so we were prepared for the rest of our time.

Hunter and I made our way all around the park to get signatures of the Star Wars characters they had there that day.  He really enjoyed this a lot more than I expected!  We waited in a lot of lines for this but he was having a great time.  He collected signatures and photos of Jango Fett, Darth Vader, Storm trooopers, Aurra Sing, Gamorrean Guard, Shaak Ti, Green Army Man, Anakin Skywalker, and the Cantina Band. 

Anakin Skywalker was probably the coolest in that he talked to Hunter for a long time. He even asked him where he got his skinned knee..."pod racing?" Hunter said, "yeah" which is totally out of character for him. He's never been much of a make-believer.  He actually skinned it in Cub Scouts during the Cub Mobile race but close enough!

While we were in line for Darth Vader (longest line) I noticed they were handing out limited edition posters across the way and wondered what it was all about.  I asked someone else standing near me and she said it was for season pass holders only.  I thanked her and started to walk away.  She stopped me and said I could use her season pass to get one if I wanted to!  That was so nice of her, how could I say no?  So she gave me the little rubber piece that slides on to the magic band and I headed over leaving Hunter on a nearby bench (he said he needed a rest).  They have a different limited edition poster for each weekend in May/early June for the Star Wars Weekends.  We got the Yoda one.  Hunter was excited!  It got a little mangled though in our carry on coming home from the trip.  It rained a tiny bit on and off for about 30 minutes while we were at DHS but nothing too bad and definitely didn't deter us from our plans of having a great day!

We ate lunch at the ABC Commissary and it was easily one of the best meals I had at Disney.  I had the salmon salad with quinoa, fresh raspberry lemonade and some kind of dessert.  Hunter ate chocolate mousse for the first time and of course loved it.  All desserts at lunch and dinner are included on the dining plan so we took advantage.  I was super stuffed when we left.  They were playing America's Funniest Home Videos while we sat and ate and Hunter thought it was hysterical. He laughed a lot.

We went over and watched Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular a little while later. 

Hunter was so excited.  He has been watching these films with John on Friday nights and he's BIG TIME into it.  It's definitely his latest obsession.  We sat next to a nice couple right near the front of the stage.  Hunter loved the show and raved about it the rest of the trip.  He wants to be Indiana Jones for Halloween this year.  It's so cute.  He begged me to get him a whip and hat at the gift shop following the show.  It was a bit out of our souvenir budget for each kid so it was a no. 

It wasn't long after the show that we had to leave.  This is a bit out of order but we actually got Darth Vader's signature after the show and then headed out.  We had to get moving because we had dinner reservations at Epcot at 7:15 p.m. that night.  We got out to catch a Disney bus to our hotel and meet up with the rest of the gang. 

They looked happy and rested.  Whew!  John said they all had a blast in the hotel pool.  We all headed to Coral Reef Restaurant for dinner at Epcot. 

The kids chose this restaurant based on the giant fish tanks they saw online while we were planning the trip.  Dinner was average.  The scenery was fantastic though and made up for it.  The kids loved fish-watching.  There were some manta rays, sharks, and other big fish to observe.  Pretty cool!

On our way out of Epcot

the kids spotted the ground illuminated and we found out that this section of the park looks like regular cement during the day but at night it glows with different patterns.  Pretty neat!

We caught the next bus back to Art of Animation and crashed hard!  It was a busy and super fun day!  Still no word on our luggage which was a bummer but John kept trying.