Day 84- Hollywood Studios & Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

Happy Sunday Morning! We are heading for Hollywood Studios today. It was a warm afternoon, but it is cooling off really quickly as it nears 4pm. I am glad we brought warm jackets!

We have a FastPass+ for Toy Story Mania today. We arrive in plenty of time. We catch the tram as it fills up quickly and heads for the front gate. As we get close to the front gates our cast member says, “We’re taking you back to Hollywood, California!’” It is so nice to be in Hollywood, California! Yay! We are in Hollywood, California! We get our bags checked, scan our MagicBands, and step into the park.

Our first stop is the Stroller Rental to look at the pin trading board! Next is the Package Pickup pin trading board. OK, this is going to be a fun day for pin trading. Going down Hollywood Boulevard, it is very busy, but I can hear the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular as we turn towards Echo Lake. I love that show! It is great way to learn about how stunts in shows and movies work, which also makes it very educational. Plus, it’s super fun to watch!

We have fun walking and seeing the park. It is fun today. People are everywhere, but there is plenty of room to stroll. We decide we will find coffee and the Writer’s Stop is a possibility, but we decide to find a Joffrey’s Coffee Stand. So we walk down the Streets of America and around past the Frozen Sing-a-long just as they are roping it off. We just made it, and there is a coffee stand right up ahead. As Twinkie gets her coffee, I peek around the corner and see Mater and Lightning McQueen! I have to see them! I love Mater; he is my favorite.

I saw a place with hot chocolate in a Disney mug on the Streets of America, so we backtracked and Tooti and I got our hot chocolate. The cast member asked if we would like gingerbread, hazelnut, or her favorite, the toasted marshmallow. I said that I would love to have that one! Oh my goodness, it is so yummy! I suggest we find a place to sit and enjoy our hot drinks. I see a bench with a seat open and ask the ladies who were sitting on it if this spot was taken; they offered to scoot over for one of the kids. I thanked them and the kids said they were fine sitting on the curbside.

These ladies were so interesting and so much fun to visit with. I wasn’t going to sit very long, but we had a lot of fun talking and even chatted with another fun family close by. So, I sat with them for a while… suddenly, it begins to snow on the Streets of America, and then, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights begins. This nice lady’s friend was visiting and it was her friend’s first time to ever see them. I watched her friend’s face as the lights came on and then began to dance; she was beautiful with her big eyes aglow and her mouth dropped open. Oh, yes, this is overwhelming! She commented that she thought there were going to be a few lights, and she smiled to big as she tried to comment on how beautiful they are. I love these moments.

After the lights dance, we say goodbye and head for Toy Story Mania, but the third round of music began, so we found a spot to stand and watch them. They are so amazing, so beautiful, and so massively unique. This is a definite must see if you are here anytime during the holidays. Plan to spend at least several minutes watching, though if you can stay a long while, it is so worth it. There are so many different things to see on each building, it can take a while to see everything, including the many hidden Mickeys, and the annually hidden purple cat. It’s so much fun to try finding the cat!

Now, we work our way through the crowd and back around to Toy Story Mania. I love this ride. It’s one of my favorites! Yay! The FastPass+ line is moving quickly tonight.

After we get off of Toy Story Mania, we are done for the night. We have walked around most of the park and seen the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, which is incredible. So, we head for the entrance. It is a beautiful, chilly night in Hollywood Studios. It has been a wonderful Sunday evening, and as we get to our car in the parking lot, we can see the tops of the Fantasmic fireworks. What a wonderful ending to a wonderful day! I am thankful that Walt Disney dreamed this dream of building a wonderful place like Disney World. I am forever grateful.