Hollywood Studios

Tuesday, October 6 - Day 2 (at the parks)

A lot of strategy goes into planning a day at these massive parks.

Generally, the first hour at the park is key to getting on the most popular ride(s).  

Such was the case for the "Tower of Terror" ride at Hollywood Studios.

My favorite type of rides are those with quick descents (butterflies in the stomach sensation) so I thought I would especially like this elevator drop.  Not so much.  It wasn't just a straight drop and it was completely dark minus an occasion streak of light.  After the first round on this one, I opted to share my "fast-pass" with a more eager participant.  Jantzen made a wise choice to boycott this one altogether.  The other thrill ride at this park is Rock-n-Roller Coaster - the only ride Quinn didn't quite measure up for.  The first 5-seconds were awesome and the rest was ok but not worth waiting in long lines for a repeat.

Getting ready for the "Tower of Terror".

Coming into the light again - so bright!

Jantzen, Aaron and Quinn pose with Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars.

We enjoyed a variety of shows including The Great Movie Ride, Beauty & the Beast, Muppet 3-D and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (Quinn's favorite). There were others but it seems the heat, crowds and 'tired of snacks phenomenon' hit everyone around the same time (3pm).   

Everybody agreed to a late lunch at Sweet Tomatoes so we called it a day at the parks and headed out.  In the end, we all decided while still very cool, this was our least favorite park overall.  

Buffet style - all-you-can-eat restaurants generally work well for us.

And somehow there is always room for ice cream.

Check out our wheels for the week.
15-passenger van with zero cargo space.

It wasn't exactly convenient to hoist our luggage up into the seats when transporting it.  Of course, nobody asked my opinion but I would have preferred a 12-seater with room in the back for suitcases and bags and coolers, etc.

We left the boys' Sunday clothes hanging in the back window because it helped us identify our vehicle quickly in the parking lots.  There were a lot of these beauties at the parks.

Anna, Elsie, Quinn

Having a late afternoon/evening at the condo allowed the younger kids to swim (strange how they always have energy to go swimming).  The older kids napped (including Aaron).  And I read a book!

Aaron and I rented a Redbox for a family movie night.  Having read the classic, Black Beauty, to several of the children over the years and seeing it as an option, I thought that would be an awesome family-friendly flick.  Disappointingly, the modern version didn't resemble the book AT ALL!  Early on Anna made the following observation, "I don't know exactly what's wrong with this movie but something is off."  Welcome to low-budget acting at it's worst!  Our dilemma as to whether or not we 'waste the time' to finish the show gave way to comedy hour as we shifted our perspective a bit.  In the end, we bonded through laughter at the ridiculousness of it all.