Hollywood Studios mania

Happy Thursday, friends!

Today we’re chatting about the fourth & final Disney theme park that we visited on vacay~ Hollywood Studios!

the game plan

Truth be told, the Hubs & I weren’t sure what to expect at Hollywood Studios. Would it hold up to the fabulousness of Magic Kingdom? The exotic wonder of Animal Kingdom? The amazing food of Epcot? And would our kiddos enjoy it, or would they be too young?

We hit Hollywood Studios bright & early as the park opened, and we were thrilled to see virtually no crowds. Woo! As soon as we set foot in Hollywood Studios~ in typical Disney fashion~ we were blown away with all of the details that make this park spectacular.

toy story mania

We had read it over and over and over: as soon as you get to Hollywood Studios, RUN {don’t walk} to Toy Story Mania to get your fastpass tickets. We opted to power-walk it over to Toy Story Mania & we were rewarded with fastpass tickets to return later on that morning. Perfect!

Once we hopped onto Toy Story Mania, we could see what all the fuss was about. It’s a 3-D interactive shooting gallery, where your car swirls you from game to game & you actually shoot rings, balls, etc. from the canon in front of you. The score is tallied in real-time, and you are competing against other shooters, which is fun for the competitive set {ahem…Hubs}.

I’m super happy we had a chance to experience this! The only downfall was that the girls are not fans of 3-D glasses, so both kiddos refused to wear them on the ride. Sigh. Luckily they still had tons of fun shooting off their canons, so Toy Story Mania was a definite hit~ and not to be missed.

the shows!

Holy Moses, the shows. Unbelievable!

Admittedly, shows are a little tricky when the Dozer is in your midst. She’s a mover & a shaker, and Miss H-Berry does not like to sit still, under any circumstances for any reason.

Our first show of the day was the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The girls were positively transfixed for all 15 minutes. It was super cute {the Hubs especially loved the lively rendition of Under the Sea!}. If your kiddos are fans of the Little Mermaid, this is a must-see.

Next we hopped over to the Disney Junior- Live on Stage production. Little O was hoping against hope that Doc McStuffins {who is positively adored around our house} would make an appearance, but no such luck. However, it was a super cute 30-minute show, featuring the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny & Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Our girls have only seen two of those shows, so the other parts lost their attention slightly, but overall, it was a winner of a performance. Lots of singing and dancing ~ plus bubbles & confetti coming down from the ceiling. Who doesn’t love that?!

The last show we saw was Beauty & the Beast~ Live on Stage. This 25-minute production was top-notch entertainment {think: mini-Broadway show}.

Little O loved it. Love love loved it. 

H-Berry thought it was okay, but it was in a {hot} open-air theater and she was much more interested in climbing the stairs than waving to Belle. You know, typical Dozer stuff.

meeting mickey

We met Mickey Mouse at Hollywood Studios~ Wizard Mickey, to be exact! Little O was super duper sweet with him {she kissed his nose when she first met him~ heart-melting!}. And since Mickey wasn’t Tinkerbell, H-Berry only tolerated him from the comfort of my arms. 

What H-Berry did love was the interactive touch-screen games that were in the Animation Courtyard building.

She couldn’t get enough of it~ so cute!

a run-in with green army man

Let me set the scene for you: the Hubs, Grampy & Little O were off hunting down those delicious Mickey ice cream bars. Grammy & I were snapping pictures of a smiley H-Berry, who was sitting on a bench in the shade looking as cute as a button.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed  a flash of green slide onto the bench next to H-Berry. She was still smiling for the camera. I smiled at Green Army Man & said, “Hi! She’s going to freak out a little, but we’re glad you’re here!” And then I softly whispered, “H-Berry! Look who came to visit you!”

Check out her reaction: 

Priceless.

Even after I scooped her up & handed Grammy the camera, H-Berry still wasn’t so sure of Green Army Man.

I guess the whole covered face thing is a tidge freaky, because when Little O came back from their ice cream hunt, she was slightly freaked by Green Army Man too.

He did kindly sign our autograph book…plus he provided us with quite the priceless photo of a terrified/horrified/incredulous H-Berry. Love it!

other fun hollywood studios tidbits

The other main attractions at Hollywood Studios that we didn’t do include the Tower of Terror {the girls were too little}, Jim Henson’s Muppet-Vision 3-D {the girls aren’t fans of 3-D glasses}, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular {ran out of time}, Jedi Training Academy {ran out of time} and the Rock n Roller Coaster {the girls were too little}.

But never fear, we had an absolute ball at Hollywood Studios. It was a different kind of park day~ more shows & interactive things to do versus rides~ but it was a welcome~ and super fun!~ change of pace! 

What’s your favorite part of Hollywood Studios?

Counting My Kisses: One day at Hollywood Studios was perfect for us. Sure, there were rides & shows that us adults would have loved to have seen, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to do it all this trip. Hollywood Studios has something for everyone, and {in true Disney fashion} they did a great job of gearing everything for kids. Another A+ park, Disney!

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