Day 205- Hollywood Studios

Today it is mostly sunny with bellowing clouds rolling in. Some are beginning to look like rain clouds, so we take our rain jackets. It is hot and humid today; it is going to be 90 degrees this afternoon as we head for Hollywood Studios. Even though it is hot, there is a little breeze to help cool off the afternoon, which is nice.

Once we park, we walk to the front gates. We get our bags checked and scan our MagicBands. It is busy as we enter onto Hollywood Boulevard at Hollywood Studios. I love the excitement as people walk into the park and down Hollywood Boulevard. As you look down the street you can see the Chinese Theater, which houses The Great Movie Ride.

There are so many things to do here. If you are coming to Hollywood Studios, be sure to check out all of the different rides and various shows. There is even a Disney Junior show for the little ones!

Our first stop is going to be at the Trolley Car Café, where I order an iced green tea lemonade with peach syrup. We get our Starbucks drinks and find a place to sit while Twinkie’s tea finishes brewing. As I step up to a table, I hear two of the Citizens of Hollywood performing on Sunset Boulevard. There they are! It’s Sonny Burbank and Evie Starlight! They are so fun to watch, so we join the huge group of people watching their performance. There are so many people watching that the circle of people gathering around crosses the entire street. People are still joining over the next few minutes. While Sonny is talking about the extravagant date he plans to take Evie on, Evie comes over trying to find a way to escape, and Twinkie gets a fun picture of her as her Coffee View of the Day. (Twinkie has started documenting her “Coffee View of the Day” on Instagram, you can find more of them here:www.instagram.com/twinkiemiller)

The crowd is laughing and enjoying this amazing show! I see a dad in plaid pants bending over because he is laughing so hard. Others are laughing so hard that they can hardly stand it. It is so funny! This is one of their best shows ever! I wish you could hear this funny list of places, foods, animals, and activities that Sonny has lined up for the date (all of which are audience suggestions!). Sonny is remembering a list of about 20 things and repeating them back to the audience; each person laughs as he calls out their suggestion.

As Evie and Sonny finish their skit, there is a huge round of applause! The crowd is so happy and still chuckling over this funny skit! I love watching the Citizens of Hollywood and seeing how much fun the visitors have watching and participating in the skit.

Wow, I had no idea how hot it is in the sun. I was laughing with the kids when I crossed my arm across the metal decoration on my shirt and it is burning hot! Oh, I think I am going to find some shade and cool back down with my iced tea.

After a short beak, we walk around for a bit, and then head for the front gates. We see plenty of cast members trading pins, so we trade a couple with them. They are so gracious and kind.

There are many groups coming in, and it is busy as we are leaving. I see a couple of the cute cars carrying the Citizens of Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. These little trucks and the cars are so cute! There is a cool breeze blowing and the clouds look like there could be rain soon. We get out to our car and it begins to rain right after we exit the parking lot.

It has been a fun day, and it is always fun to see the Citizens of Hollywood. I had a really fun afternoon at Hollywood Studios!

Day 2- Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios, what can I say about it? It has more fun skits and funny drama on the streets than your average theme park.  We saw Evie Starlight in her cute white car with her driver!  We waited a few minutes watching her hold babies for a picture, little girl climb up and sitting with Evie as she is talking in a 1940’s voice.  We talked for a minute as she asked what Twinkie’s name is, that started a fun exchange!  Then, Tooti went to get her picture and I heard, “Well, if her name is Twinkie, what is your name?”  The driver said, “Zinger?”  “Haha, my name is Tooti.”  Oh, that got Evie to talking and said that she wanted to be in our family, and asked what nickname would we give her.  After a few seconds, I said, “Bubbles!”  She loved it.  Fun time.

We started to walk off when a little dude came from behind me telling her it was his Birthday, she came down and took his little hand and they walked to the center of the road and she yelled, “Hey everyone this is his Birthday, he will be 5.  Say Happy Birthday!”  Too cute, then she told him that was his gift and then, gave him a kiss on his cheek! His dad was out of battery on his phone, so we offered to take the pic, and his mom just walked up as we were getting ready to email it to them!  FUN!

Walked up to the cross street and saw the “Funniest” Citizens of Hollywood, listened to their skit of impromptu jokes, really funny.  Then we looked around at one of the stores nearby.  I love the architectural style of the building!  This store carries a good selection of merchandise, including the Disney Vera Bradley line and Disney bracelets by “Alex and Ani” (made in the USA!).  My girls love their bracelets, especially since they are fun to collect and you can wear different ones at once!

Off to look around in the Animation Building…  There are characters you can meet and lots of fun things to look at!

Before leaving home, we ate a small snacky lunch and we decided to grab a meal at the ABC Commissary.  Disney is testing a new gluten-free menu at a few select locations and this was one of them. (Usually, we have to speak with the chef or a coordinator and they will go over options that we can have and sometimes we have to read the ingredient list from their special binder as well before we make our selections, so this is really nice!) We picked the GF chicken tenders and split two between the three of us since each basket comes with four chicken tenders each… More than enough for one person!

While we had a moment to wait for the food, we checked out the wait times… Got to love this time of year!  Toy Story Mania only had a 45 minute wait… It’s usually at least 90+ mins. during busier times.

We ended up in the Streets of America, I love it, my favorite is all of it, but I love seeing San Francisco.  As we were walking we saw the Frozen Show Ticket for the sing-a-long.  Only about 45 minute wait, so we grabbed a cup of coffee at the Writer’s Stop. We sat for a few minutes as Twinkie browsed the books. Then it was off to the Sing-Along!

As the Sing-Along started, I found myself tearing up.  I thought why am I tearing up so much?  Then, I listened quietly and heard the voices of all the Dads and Granddads singing along with the little ones!  Oh, my!  My tears were huge to hear these mighty voices singing along side their kiddos.  The play is so worth it.  I would not miss this for anything!

What a wonderfully cool day!