Orlando June 2009 : Part 5 - Hooray for Hollywood
Apologies for the delay - been a busy weekend and work is hectic at the moment.
PART 5 - HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD!
It was Friday, already, and it was a scorcher! Time was flying and we rose early yet again to prepare for Disney's Hollywood Studios. After the escapades in Magic Kingdom two days earlier I felt quite apprehensive. I vowed to myself to stay calm and just take everything in my stride. We hopped in the jeep and set off.
On arrival we grabbed a map and headed off toward The Great Movie Ride. We all got in line and then Jack noticed the sign "Parts of this ride may be scary for young children" (or words to that effect).
"I don't want to go on this" he said.
"Why you little...." said the devil parked on my right shoulder in true Homer Simpson style
"Stay calm" responded the angel sitting on my left shoulder.
Ben and I went on the ride whilst Angela and Jack waited outside. Afterwards we headed toward Star Tours. "Come on Jack", I said, "You can't miss this one out". The Star Wars films are some of his favourites (and mine too) so, after a little perusasion, he agreed. I spent most of the ride watching his facial expression and trying to guauge whether he had enjoyed it or not so missed most of the action. Once we landed on Endor we exited our ship and we all stared at Jack...
After what seemed like an eternity of silence and deep thought the he delivered his verdict..
"I LOVED IT! I LOVED IT! CAN WE GO ON AGAIN?"
From then on everyone's mood seemed to lift. We did the Indiana Jones stunt show and thoroughly enjoyed it, the boys got their photos taken with Power Rangers and then we did the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show which everyone thought was amazing.
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...hollywood1.jpg
We had some lunch, did Muppets 3D and then loitered for the 3pm parade which was also really enjoyable. After that we headed off to the Backlot Tour and then Jack asked if we could do Star Tours again. The day was going so well I would probably agreed to anything!
As we headed over I noticed the Jedi Training arena outside of the Star Tours ride was due to start soon. We hung around and the Jedi Master appeared looking for Padawans - I grabbed Jack's hand and shoved it in the air. And he got picked!
He headed up on the stage with a dozen or so other younglings and practiced his lightsabre techniques. Then the doors burst open and from the smoke emerged the Dark Lord himself, Darth Vader! On his turn Jack stepped forward and swung for Vader with Jedi-like elegance - I was so jealous! My childhood dream had always been to do something like that. Doing it now would just seem like... well.. you know... nerdy!
Jack earned himself a Jedi scroll, we did Star Tours again and then we bought him his very own lightsabre for his efforts.
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums...hollywood2.jpg
We were hoping to do Toy Story Mania before we left but the wait was a ridiculous 120 minutes and as far as I'm concerned no ride is worth waiting that long for. "We could always do the Tower of Terror instead" I jested. I was met with a less than favourable reaction from everyone so we decided to call it a day and quit while we were ahead.
Once home I cracked open a beer and chilled out while the boys tuned into Friday night WWE Smackdown on the box. Everyone was happy again and a good day had been had by all. And the weather forecast for the weekend - SCORCHIO!
Swimming, sunbathing and sunshine was the order of the day on Saturday. After topping up with mid-holiday provisions from the local Publix we settled down for the day. The boys mucked about in the pool and me and the missus lay tapping our feet to the sounds of Take That and The Prodigy (I bet you can guess who was listening to what) on our MP3 players.
I peeped out of one eye to check on the boys and seen a man and woman peering into our pool area from outside. A
