Hollywood Studios

I added this at the last minute. We skipped it last time.  They are adding and taking away so much from this park, the Sorcerer's Hat is gone, and the Back Lot Tour. The new things are not ready, Avatar Land and Star Wars Land.   I was thinking this might be another short day.

Without the Hat, it does give a better old Hollywood feel to the street. I like it.

The 1940s style wreaths.  I love them!

Watching the confectioner's make caramel apples, dipped in chocolate and decorated!  They made it look so easy!  Lon wants us to try when we get home. um, sure!

The Great Movie Ride!

Getting ready to ride through the movies

Chip and Dale!  I explained to someone behind me how to tell the difference, with the right names.  The noses are the key! Chip has a Chocolate Chip for a nose!  Dale has a red nose.

In line for Star Tours!

It was a very fun ride!

Waiting for our table to be ready at Hollywood and Vine.  We heard the march from Star Wars.  Just a random bunch of Storm Troopers marching down the street. No parade, just them. SO COOL.

Dinner. The buffett was amazing! Not just chicken nuggets.  They had pumpkin ravilois, they had salmon and prime rib and carved turkey. Cold shrimp too!

I talked to our wonderful waiter Charlie, I asked him about Fantasmic. This is the dinner we reserved to get reserved seating for this show.  I was a bit leary about the whole show thing.  He asked what the problem was, I gave him a brief run down. I made a big effort to not blame anyone or do a whoa is me. I told him I just wanted to make sure what I was getting into since I did not ask the right questions about the last show.  A few minutes later Phillip from Puyallup comes to our table, he is the manager of Hollywood and Vine. He tells me that he is sorry about yesterday and in an effort to make it right he is going to wave the Fantasmic fee. It was about 8 dollars each. That was really nice!  We talked about Puyallup, since I knew where it is and how to pronoune it.   He was a very nice man.

Mickey at our table!
 I told him he was very dapper with his wreath pin on his lapel.  Lon still loves the characters.

The desserts at Hollywood and Vine were the best of all!  The cupcakes with the Mickey Santa hats were red velvet. I gave those a pass

I did get the gingerbread cupcake, the mini eggnog cheesecake, the pumpkin bite, the smore's cup, the stollen bite and the peppermint truffle.  Lon thought the peppermint truffle was a brigadero and was sad it was not. The peppermint was intense on those.

We got our turn to meet Santa Goofy. So much fun!

One of the handlers was hanging out near our table watching the crowd, and we were chatting a bit.  We were about done and I asked, nicely, about Daisy.  He said come with me!  Daisy was done with the family she was with. They made time for Daisy to meet wtih Lon and sign his book.  Again, so nice!

I caught Charlie's eye as I walked back to our table.  He came over and leaned in and whispered what are you doing? I whispered back, I am waiting for the bill.  He looks at me for a minute. He nods toward Mickey. See that guy over there? The one with the ears? The boss? Well, he took care of it.  We hope you have a magical day.  I could not help it, I started to cry. There is no crying in Disney! Go have fun!  Thank you all so very very much.

The Indiana Jones Stunt Show.  We were walking down the steps to an open seat. A cast memeber stopped me and asked why I was not up in the handicapped section. I said it was not open. Well,  then I can open it !  Let's go!  Again, the people at Hollywood Studios are amazingly kind.

I was wearing my brace all the time in the parks, it really did help me be able to walk as much as I did.

After the show, which was very fun.  Lon finally was able to get to the Tatooine Traders shop.  He had been waiting ALL day!  He was busy making his two driods, a cast member was kind enough to keep an eye on him while I went around the corner and bought him some Christmas Presents.  He still has no idea.  The cashier was from Brasil, so I chatted with him a bit in Portugese.   He was nice enough to tell me I still had a good accent.
We passed a popcorn stand on our way to the show, and asked if they would be open afterward, they said no. We picked up a Tie Fighter popcorn bucket Lon wanted and a BB8 cup for a friend. (we got ours at Magic Kingdom).

It was about time to go to the ampitheater.   The second Mickey was our section.   We found seats right in front. There was one small seat in front of us, but we were front row center! NICE.  Lon wanted to go get a drink and some popcorn, I gave him some cash and he ran up the steps. He comes running right back, MOM! they have CHARACTER cups!  Okay, so I gave him a little more money.   I notice a cast member standing next to me. Carrying popcorn and a drink in a Snow White mug.  And Lon, with a maleficent cup and a Mickey Christmas mug. It seems that this cast member thougth Lon was so sweet. Lon was so happy to have found me a Snow White mug,  that the cast memebers GAVE him the popcorn and the Mickey Christmas mug.  I am so amazed, Hollywoos Studios is now my number one park!   They more than made up for EPCOT.  Just wow.   Since we already had more than enough popcorn, we gave one of the boxes of popcorn to the family behind us.

Time for the show!

The premise of the show is Mickey's nightmare. There are water effects, and fireworks and stunts.

At the end, Mickey realizes that he is in charge of his dreams and he turns it into a happy dream.  This is the last boat of the evening.  (they had a happy boat parade just a little earlier)

This is not zoomed in. We were this close.

An amazing day.

I did not think our day at Hollywood Studios would turn out to be so magical. It was great to end on such a happy note.  I am do glad I added this day.

 It was only 9pm, but we have to drive home in the morning.

GREAT DAY!