Dean and I got a day to ourselves at the end of our Mickey vacation! We hadn't expected it to be this way, but in the end nobody else wanted to go to Hollywood Studios. Kathy and Del decided to hit up Epcot again to finish visiting the countries in the World Showcase, and everybody else decided they wanted at relaxing day at the resort. So Dean and I went to Hollywood Studios by ourselves.
On a less happy note, it turned out to be good that the boys didn't go to a theme park on this day, because Robin got really sick. Instead of relaxing and playing at the pool and playground, they hung out in the unit and watched TV while Robin slept, napped, and moped around on the floor in the makeshift bed his Grammy made for him under the desk. Poor little guy. Even if we'd planned to take him somewhere, we would've changed our plans--he was that sick, that we'd even have given up on an expensive theme park. On an even less happy note, the rest of us got it, too. That was no surprise, considering we were all sharing water bottles all week. We can't even blame Robin's illness on anything in particular, considering that we were literally around
thousands of people every day. Robin managed to bounce back after two days, but the rest of us took longer. Doesn't that just figure?
We explored a playground Robin would have loved. It's based on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and is filled with giant grass and items "lost" in the yard.
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Hollywood Studios' replicas of the sidewalk outside the Chinese Theatre
Hollywood Studios is kind of Disney's answer to the Universal Studios theme parks. It's more film-oriented, with rides/shows highlighting Disney films. It's also FULL of merchandising and plugs for Disney films. It's not a park the boys would have enjoyed much of. There were a few good things for kids, like the playground above, the Toy Story ride, and a few abbreviated versions of kids' movies, but most of the things, like the tour through old movie mock-ups and the "backlot" tour would've been boring for them. It's just as well nobody else really wanted to join us for this park.
After viewing the movie ride and a version of The Little Mermaid, Dean and I went over to their thrill rides. This is us before the Tower of Terror ride, where we took a ride in a pretend elevator at an old, spooky hotel, which then dropped out from under us. It actually went up and down several times, which was a neat touch and variation from the majority of "drop you" rides.
The photo we bought of Tower of Terror
We also rode the Rock 'N Roller Coaster, starring Aerosmith. The premise was that we were in a car, following the band to a gig, driving wildly through the streets. It was actually way too short, and the best part was the first few seconds, because unlike a traditional roller coaster that slowly draws you up a hill, they shot us out full tilt from the get-go.
A Star Wars ride followed. Darth Vadar chased us!
Look behind you!!!!!
Here was the biggest spectacle in the "backlot tour"
Uh oh...
On the 3-D Toy Story Ride
Look! I beat Dean!
We watched a tribute to Walt Disney, and then a stunt show that replicated parts of Indiana Jones
We also saw a muppet show and a special on animation--though the last was really just a giant plug for Disney movies. There wasn't anything educational at all. Ppbth.
Now I'm wearing the giant hat
This was the smallest park, and so we got the most done. We basically saw everything we would have liked except for their evening fireworks/laser show, but we just didn't want to stick around that long considering we had to leave the next day, and we'd just found out we had a sick little boy at home. So back we went to pack and nurse our sick child through the night.
After Robin was in bed, Liam was crawling around our room while I packed up a little more. He found an apple I'd put on an end table and promptly starting taking bites out of it. I've never seen him eat so much apple in his short life--and of course, I couldn't take it away from him, it made him so happy! So he stayed up quite a bit later, chowing down on his newly-scavenged food.
The next morning, I snapped a few belated photos of the resort before departing. (How's
that for a shower?!)
Our flight didn't leave for several hours after checkout, so we spent some time enjoying the public amenities of the resort
They had a giant chess board outside. Liam is the dark knight!
Now he's the white king!
I began a game against my dad
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Then finished it against Dean. (Dad had to go fill up the rental with gas.) I won too, did I mention that? It was so hot out though, that there was very little savoring the experience.
After that it was time for lunch and then back to the airport. Thus ended our Mickey vacation. *sniff* We're already plotting for the next one (and Robin requests that we go at least once a week!)
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