One Family's Disney Vacation: Day 6 -- Hollywood Studios

So, here we are on the last full day at Disney.  So far it has been a great trip.  Despite the crazy, jam packed schedule and being with each other non-stop in a small hotel room, we have had a wonderful time and have had really no big fights or meltdowns at all!  Paul and I are very pleased with the girls so far on this trip and only hope it continues at our last park of the trip.  Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Thanks to a great tip we received from the family who was sitting with us for dinner at Tepan Edo in Epcot, we arrived at Hollywood Studios before it opened.  We were told to do this so one member of our party could do the "Disney Dash" to secure Fastpasses to the Toy Story Mania ride. They informed us that if you do not get them first thing, you may not be able to get a Fastpass for this attraction, as they tend to run out very quickly.  This is by far the most popular ride in the park.  So when the park opened, off Paul ran with the rest of the throngs while the girls and I headed over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to wait for his return.

As it was still early in the morning, we were the only people in this playground for a while.  It was pretty fun for both the kids and this adult, too. With monumental movie props and play structures inspired by the Disney movie, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, you get the sense of what it feels like to be shrunk to bug size by Professor Szalinkski's Electromagnetic Shrinking Machine.

We waited there for about 15 minutes before Paul arrived with our treasured Fastpasses.  Apparently it was great advice to get these first, as our passes weren't good until 2:10 pm, and the stand-by line was already a 90 minute wait for the ride!

Our next stop was Muppet*Vision 3-D, a film featuring the Muppets.  This was high on our list of things to see, as all four members of our family are great fans of the Muppets!  Again, being there so early, with most of the crowd either waiting for Toy Story Mania, or at the other side of the park where the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster with Aerosmith were, there was only a small group waiting to see the film.  It was very cute, with some rather funny parts, but I would still recommend  It's a Bug's Life at Animal Kingdom over Muppet*Vision 3-D.


We then hopped onto the Studio Backlot Tour, a behind-the-scenes guided walk and tram ride showcasing the art of special effects in movies.  This was interesting, but the girls didn't really like this; they found it boring and the portion of the tour where they recreate a movie disaster was scary for Maggie.


Next up on our itinerary was The Great Movie Ride. This attraction takes you on a tram ride through many classic movies, including Casablanca, Indiana Jones, The Wizard of Oz, and Alien.  We all enjoyed this ride, and the girls especially liked The Wizard of Oz portion.  The attraction is housed in a replica of Mann's Chinese Theater, complete with various foot and hand prints of famous actors in front.  It was fun to look at those when entering the building!

 

At this time we were close to our lunch reservations, so we headed over to 50's Prime Time Cafe. This place is a hoot!  It is decorated to look like a kitchen from the 1950s, complete with a waiting room that looks like an old living room!  We were seated at our table and told that the kids had to set the table for us, using the plate, silverware, and napkins left in the center of the table. The menu is classic fare, and perfectly fine, but the vanilla milk shake I ordered was great, super thick and creamy, just the way it should be.  The servers play up the part by reminding you to keep your elbows off the table and to eat all your veggies or no dessert (speaking of dessert, that menu is given to you on a view finder!).  This was a fun lunch.

The waiting area at 50's Prime Time Cafe.

When we were done with lunch we still had some time before our Fasspass time to Toy Story Mania, so we needed to decide what to do next.  For weeks leading up to this trip Maggie was most excited about going on the Tower of Terror.  She had ridden a smaller drop ride many times at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America and insisted she could not wait to tackle the Tower of Terror.  Every day, she would tell us that she could not wait to get to Hollywood Studios to ride the Tower of Terror.  So, of course we thought what a better way to fill the gap until our Fastpass time than to head on over to the Tower of Terror.  Um....not so much.  At that point, Maggie declared she had changed her mind and was not interested in the ride anymore.  So much for that.

We headed in the opposite direction and ended up at the Star Tours ride, which just got an over hall and had just re-opened in May.  This is a 3-D ride where you board a Starspeeder 1000 for a thrilling journey through George Lucas' Star Wars universe.  We were all very happy with this ride.  The cue was very fun (especially for this Star Wars geek)storylines" for the ride, so you can get a different experience during different rides.  We only rode it once though, as it was time for our Fastpass to Toy Story Mania.

Paul meets an Army Man outside the Toy Story Mania ride.

We were told that this was, by far, the best attraction at Hollywood Studios.  We were very curious to find out if this was true.  When we got to the ride, we were very happy that we ended up getting our Fastpasses first thing that morning, as the stand-by line wait was at 120 minutes, and the Fastpasses were gone for the day.  We only had to wait about 15 - 20 minutes with our passes.  Thank goodness!

Toy Story Mania is an interactive, 4D attraction featuring the lovable cast of characters from the Disney·Pixar Toy Story films. You climb aboard a ride vehicle and play through a gallery of midway-style games.  Well, lets just say the ride lived up to its billing.  It was a blast!  Very fun, and for this competitive family, it was fun to play against each other to see who could get the best score for each game (I lost to Paul, unfortunately).  Ellie and Maggie absolutely loved it!  Paul and I could hear them laughing the entire ride.  I don't know if I would wait 2 hours for this (or any) ride, but I am certainly glad we had the chance to ride!

By this point in the day, we were exhausted!  After 5 whirlwind days, the heat and humidity that whole week, and not getting necessarily the best sleep every night, our family was pretty much done with the theme parks.  There was noting in particular left at Hollywood Studios we really wanted to see, so we decided to pack it in and head back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day hanging by the pool, relaxing before our 5 am departure the next morning.

All in all, we really enjoyed our trip to Walt Disney World.  We are so thankful we were able to go, and know the memories will last for a very long time.  Thank you to Dream Come True Vacations, and especially our travel agent, Kim O., for helping us plan our wonderful, exciting, fun, memorable Disney vacation!

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!