Disney's Hollywood Studios

Our first day and a half were spent at Hollywood Studios.  Our first night at Disney, we had dinner at Hollywood and Vine, a great buffet restaurant.  We had booked a Fantasmic! Dinner Package there, which gave us preferred seating for Fantasmic! (us and about 3,000 other people). What is Fantasmic!, you may ask.  It is a 25 minute show that combines fireworks, dancing waters, and laser lights in a story involving both heroes and villians of Disney classics.  And the name couldn't suit it better!  The music combined with the special effects and the story made for a wonderful fantasy experience.  The evil queen gathers together the various villians from Disney movies and attempts to turn Mickey's dreams into nightmares.  But, Mickey, combined with the power of imagination save the day.  I think of all the shows we saw, Fantasmic! was my favorite.

We also did the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.  I love Indiana Jones, and have all five of the Indiana Jones movies.  This show was so much fun.  Before the show, they pull some audience members out, and use them as extras in the show.  One of the stunts they explain is the rolling boulder.

Another of the stunts they explained was the stunt with the airplane.  They showed how the stunt man escapes, and how the gasoline is used both safely and effectively.

We elected to do The Great Movie Ride.  Rod, the twins and I hadn't done it before, and we really enjoyed it.  This ride uses audio-animatronics, film clips, and special effects to showcase some of the great moments in movie history.  Some of the films highlighted are Casablanca, Tarzan, Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, and Fantasia.  You enter this ride through a replica of Graumann's Chinese Theater.  It was an enjoyable ride, and the fact that it was air-conditioned made it even better.

We also did Muppets 3-D Vision, and took the animation class at the Animation Building where we learned to draw the alien from Toy Story.  Rod and the rest did Rock-n-Roller Coaster with Aerosmith, and the Toy Story Mania ride.

For dinner on Friday night, we did the Clambake at Cape May.  I'm sure the food would have been really good, but I had the misfortune of getting cold crab legs each time.  The fish bites were really great, and so were the salads.  After dinner, we took a bus to Downtown Disney, and did a little shopping.  Rod and I took a boat from Downtown Disney back to our resort.  It was cooler and quite romantic.