Hollywood Studios Must Dos

Hollywood Studios is my second favorite park on the Walt Disney World property. There are many people who would probably disagree with me, but there are so many fun things to do here. It is a totally different theme park experience than all of the other Disney parks. Although I wouldn't go so far as equating it to the classic Universal Studios, it is close. I have been to Universal a few times and absolutely love it because you really feel like you are being immersed in classic movies. We haven't been there in several years however because I don't feel like my daughter, who is almost seven, is old enough to really enjoy it yet. We will probably try it again soon, but if I had to choose either Universal of Hollywood Studios, I would probably choose Hollywood Studios nine times out of ten. The one thing that Hollywood Studios has going for it (other than the Disney magic of course), is that you really get a sense of how the movies are made. Universal has a lot of rides that are based on the actual movies, while Hollywood Studios has a lot of attractions that show how movies are actually made. Ever since I was a little girl I have always enjoyed seeing how things are made, so this is probably why I have a preference to this park.

So where does our family start? After the opening ceremony, we always head to Toy Story Midway Mania first. This ride will have an hour plus wait within 30 minutes of opening (even in the off season). What we do is send fast walking Daddy ahead of us with the front of the crowd while my daughter and I walk at a slower pace. Daddy goes straight to the fast pass machine and gets the three of us fast passes for about an hour later. By the time he is done, we have reached the line and the three of us ride this amazing ride. Then we walk down and experience The Voyage of The Little Mermaid. After we spend what seems like an eternity in the Princess shop at the exit to The Little Mermaid, we either head back to Toy Story if it is time for our fast pass or over to Sunset Boulevard. Once we get to Sunset Boulevard we ride (or get fast passes for) either Tower of Terror or Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, using the baby swap...or in our case the kid swap.

The baby swap is a great and wonderful concept that allows both parents to wait in line with the baby (or child) and when it comes time to board the ride, one parent is whisked away to a waiting area with the child while the other parent rides. After the first parent is done, they are led to the waiting area to relieve the other parent who is then led back to the front of the line to ride. It is so much easier than splitting up the family for a long period of time while both parents take turn waiting in two separate lines. I am very excited about our upcoming trip in October as my little angel with finally be big enough to ride the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. She loves roller coasters and most thrill rides so I am hoping that she will love this one as much as we do. Our rule in our family is that you have to try every ride at least once. This has worked wonderfully for us, and there are only two rides on Disney property that my child refuses to ride again. One is at Animal Kingdom (more details to come later) and the Tower of Terror. So, until we are able to coax her into riding it again, we will continue to use the baby swap for this one.

After these two rides, we plan the rest of our day around the show schedule. One important note about this park, it has a lot of amazing and fun shows, but you have to really plan your day around the show schedule to make it to all of them. There are two shows that we will not miss at this park. The first one is for our daughter (and myself too I must admit). It is the Beauty and the Beast show. I have heard the comparisons of this to Broadway and I would have to agree. The music and dancing is amazing and it tells the whole story of the movie in 25 minutes. Awesome!!! The other show we have to see is Indiana Jones. This is another amazing show that really emphasizes how stunts are done in action movies. It is so much fun and I have to say that my husband LOVES this show. He loves it so much that he has been a part of it two of the last three years. He loves doing whatever he can to get noticed to be a part of the show and has enjoyed every minute of it. It's great fun for all.

So, around these two shows we experience the rest of the park in whatever order we get to it. Since we go in the off season we are usually able to do everything we want in one day without much planning. A few of the other rides that we make sure not to miss are The Great Movie Ride (which is awesome to experience in the late afternoon when you can't take the heat anymore or your feet are killing you), The Backlot Tour, Muppet Vision 3D, and Star Tours (which will very sadly be closed during our October trip as they change out the ride for a whole new experience in 2011).

One other hidden gem that we discovered last year was the Magic of Disney Animation. We had always walked right by this before for some reason, but I can assure you it will be a must do on every trip from now on. This starts with a quick show that demonstrates how the artists bring a cartoon character to life on paper. Once you exit this show you are deposited right into a treasure trove of Disney Characters. We were in here for almost an hour meeting Sorcerer Mickey, Chip and Dale, the Characters from the movie Up, The Incredibles, Minnie Mouse, and Pluto. I think there were a few more, but can't remember who right now. The lines were SHORT, and I mean no more than 10 people at the longest!!! As if this wasn't fun enough, we saw a small waiting area and some doors in the corner just before we were about to walk out the door. We asked the worker what it was and she said it was a show where an animator teaches YOU how to draw a Disney character. We thought, why not? So, we waited for the show to start and were blown away with the fun we had. You are seated at a drawing desk with paper and pencil and the animator truly does teach you how to draw a character (and makes it seem easy). I was quite proud of my drawing, and absolutely loved seeing the one my daughter made. We all enjoyed it so much that we waited for the next show and did it again. We now have our pictures of Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell as wonderful (free) souvenirs from our trip!!!

A few other quick notes about Hollywood Studios. We usually eat our quick service meal here at Pizza Planet, though the Backlot Express has some pretty yummy food as well. If you really want something fun and different, get a turkey leg at Toluca Turkey Legs on Sunset Boulevard. We aren't very keen on any of the table service restaurants here. We ate at Mama Melrose's last year and it was decent, but not memorable. We are eating at Sci-Fi Drive In for our second time this year. We ate there when my daughter was just shy of two and it was not the fun meal I had hoped for. The main reason for that though was the cramped car since she sat on the bench between us as the high chair didn't really reach the table of the car. I will let you know our review of this one this time.

If you want to see the amazing nighttime show Fantasmic, you will have to plan to be at the park on one of the few days during the week in which it is showing. Last year Disney decided to only show it two or three times a week which makes it really hard to catch. The two problems with the new schedule is that (1) you have to plan to be at the park on the selected days in which it is showing. (2) Everyone else is trying to see that show so the park is more crowded on those days and the lines to get into it are WAY too long for me. Nothing for me is worth having to wait in line 90 minutes, even if the show is wonderful and my daughter loves it. The crowds going in are way too crazy for a semi-claustrophobic person like me.

Magic Kingdom Must Do List

Let me start by saying that Magic Kingdom is by far my favorite park (and probably the favorite for most others as well). For me, the Magic Kingdom is the most magical park of all and it encompasses what Disney is all about. There is truly something for everyone of all ages there, and it makes me feel like a kid again from the minute I walk through the front gates. Speaking of walking through the front gates, I am always one of the ones wiping my eyes during the opening show. I don't know what it is, but every year I cry on my first day and last day at Magic Kingdom. When we get there, I cry because I am so excited to be there. On the day we leave, I cry because I am so sad to leave and I hate the thought of waiting another year to experience the magic. Now don't get me wrong, I am not sobbing by any means, but I have the few stray tears running down my face. I can usually cover them up with my sunglasses, but every now and then my husband looks at me and smiles because he can tell I am doing it again. I am getting caught up in the moment and mentally preparing for my trip down Main Street.

Now, once you enter the Magic Kingdom and pick up the map at the train station, where do you go? There are so many attractions to choose from, how do you know where to start? Hopefully you have already done your research and you know what shows and rides your family has on their must do list. Every family has a different list. Some include spending the majority of their time in Fantasyland, while others want to check off experiencing all of the different mountains. Our list is a little bit of a both of these. We usually start off in Fantasyland (we arrive at opening so that we can experience these rides with little wait). After we do everything in Fantasyland we head over to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. We usually go in October when the crowds are lighter so we don't have to wait too long for these two rides. We will check out the wait times for both and get a fastpass for the longer wait, then head to the other one to wait in line (usually only about 20 minutes at this time of day in October). Once we experience the first ride, we head to the one we had fastpasses for. If we are lucky and our fastpass return time is ready, we ride the ride, if not, we head to Pirates of the Caribbean since it is close and ride it while we wait for our fastpass time to arrive. The rest of the day we just take our time wandering through the park and riding rides that have short waits or we pick up more fastpasses as needed. Again, the time of year we go allows for a lot more of a leisure pace for touring and we usually get to experience everything we want in one day, including watching all of the parades. Here is a list of our family's must do list for Magic Kingdom. These are the rides and shows that we won't leave the park without experiencing at least once. Hope they help you in your planning.

1. Dumbo (my six year old still loves this ride)
2. it's a small world
3. Peter Pan's Flight
4. Winnie the Pooh
5. Mickey's Philharmagic
6. Mad Tea Party
7. Haunted Mansion
8. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
9. Splash Mountain
10. Pirate's of the Caribbean
11. Buzz Lightyear
12. Space Mountain
13. Afternoon parade (is currently Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade)
    
14. Spectromagic light parade (is currently Main Street Electrical Parade)

A note, when we were there last year they were doing the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party and that was a blast. We did that every day we were in the park and the whole family really got into the music and dancing. As long as they do this, this will be a must do on my list!