Disney 2009 - Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

We headed back to Hollywood Studios on Wednesday. There were no extra magic hours that morning, so we enjoyed an extra hour of sleep. Hailey wasn't feeling well, so Matt took her to the doctor; they caught up with us later that morning. We went straight to Toy Story Mania, fast-passed it, and rode stand-by. Lauren and I rode together; she scored a big round zero, but had a great time.

Next we went to Star Tours, which had the longest, slowest line of the trip. I'm not sure what happened. It was labeled as a 10 min. wait, but took 40min. Anyway, this is one of Andrew's favorites, and hearing him laugh out loud in the middle of the ride is such fun! Lauren was glad to be one of the big kids and experience it for the first time. Judging by her face, she wasn't exactly having fun; but she's determined to be a big kid and enjoy everything her brother likes.

We headed to the honey, I shrunk the kids playground. It was a zoo that day, but the kids definitely needed to run around. After 20 minutes or so, we rounded the kids up and headed to the Beauty and the Beast show. We met Hailey and Matt at the theatre. She was peaked, but feeling better. Brian had stopped off at RocknRollercoaster for fast passes on our way to the theatre. He was running late, and ended up on the end of the row. I think he was pretty disappointed not to sit next to Lauren. This was our family's first time to see the show. One of my closest friends in school was a B&B fanatic; I can't tell you how often I've seen the movie & heard the soundtrack. Plus Brian and I saw the musical on broadway. So, I was really hoping they would do a good job. It didn't disappoint. They shortened and skipped and rearranged, but all in all, a great 30 min. show. I was glad we had packed teddy grahams, juice boxes & fruit snacks; it was a nice way to recharge on a hot day.


After a great show, we went back over to toy story mania. I rode with Lauren again, but this time, she scored 100 points. She was SO proud of herself! We posed for pics with Lightening McQueen & Mater. Then it was off to Pizza Planet for lunch. It worked great to go upstairs and do bathroom breaks while the other parents ordered the food. Lunch was yummy & we were ready to head back out into the fray.

At Fantasmic, Sam Maurer had been excitedly telling Andrew all about his new favorite ride: RocknRollercoaster. Andrew was fresh off the thrill of Everest, and ready to tackle the next big challenge. We decided to take turns with the Millers, so they took Lauren to the Little Mermaid show; we took Andrew to RnR. Sadly, he was just shy of the measuring stick. We encouraged him to stand up straight: he's taller than Sam & Sam was able to ride. But it was not to be this year. He didn't handle it all that well. This was a definite low point. Brian talked him down & sent me on to ride in the single rider line. Then we switched out. I thought Andrew might enjoy doing a ride no one else was doing, so I encouraged him to try the Great Movie Ride with me. But something rubbed him wrong about the queue, and he threw a huge fit: an on the floor, two-year-old tantrum. Not our finest moment. But I was desperate for him to have something to redeem the day. Fortunately, we ran into a green army man outside Toy Story. Andrew mimicked his pose & they saluted the camera. Then Andrew asked for an autograph. All we had was an orange sharpie, and the green army man made a big deal about having to write with orange ink. Andrew was laughing again, and all was well.

We rejoined the Millers, and took the kids to the Playhouse Disney show while they rode RnR. It was fun to see the cousins dancing around; they all enjoyed it. We got to meet a few Little Einsteins, and that reminded us to take some photopass pics. Ben passed out in Stephs arms, but we've got pics of the eight of us; each family separately; and each with Stitch.

It was an exhausting day. The highs were Beauty & the Beast, Lauren's high score on TSM, and Andrew meeting the green army man. The biggest low was Andrew's disappointment & meltdowns over RocknRollercoaster. Ah well, now it's time to hit the pool and chill for a while.