The 4th and final park of our trip was Disney's Hollywood Studios. This park was always likely to be a quick visit for us - there were a couple of rides we wanted to hit and a few shows for the girls, so we decided to plan to get there for the 7:00am Magic Hour and try to be done by lunch time.
We awoke at our usual time - 5:45am, so easily made it out of the hotel and to the park for the 7:00 opening. I went straight to the Aerosmith Rock 'N' Roller Coaster and grabeed some FastPass tickets, then immediately went on the Tower of Terror ride (Mindy was not interested in this on, so took some more time walking with the kids). The Tower of Terror's back story is that you are on an elevator in an old-timey hotel, when you suffer a sudden drop. The atmosphere and suspense are quite well developed and the drops are well done. Apparently there is a randomizing element programmed in so no two rides are exactly the same. It is certainly a highly recommended attraction for the park.
Next, Mindy and Naomi went on the Aerosmith coaster. I had ridden it before when on a work trip to Orlando and figured it would not be too scary for Naomi. Fortunately I was right - she loved it, especially the fact that you went upside down 3 times. It was her first "grown up" coaster and I think whe will be back for more! I then took her on the ride...and then we both took her again - so she rode it 4 times in about 40 minutes!
Next stop was the courtyard for a Playhouse Disney show. Fiona especially loved this and was singing and dancing throughout. At the end, she spent her time performing one of her favorite activities - cleaning up! Paper leaves were dropped from the ceiling during the show, and she loved collecting them and trying to straighten the place out. Takes after her Nan in that way.
One more show after this - Beauty and the Beast on stage. Again, both girls enjoyed this. We then decided to call it a day - we were tired and I think the girls had had enough also. So, following one more stop at a giftshop, we left and drove the 3 hours back to Jacksonville.
Overall, I was quite impressed with Disney. They certainly have perfected the art of getting you to part with your money quite happily. The whole operation of staff; transportation; FastPass; Magic Hours; Photo Pass etc is amazingly well coordinated and you feel like you are being well taken care of while you are there. I cannot see us going back anytime soon - there is really not much else to do there with kids around this age - but we all thoroughly enjoyed our stay and were glad that we did it with the girls being as old as they are.
Now time to take a vacation from our vacation and relax before 2009.
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