Hooray for Hollywood!

Our first full day at Disney World began at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). The month of June featured Star Wars week-ends, which means that the Storm troopers opened the park. Once the park opened we headed straight for the traditional shot of the Wizzard's hat from Fantasia. As always, just click on any photo to make it real big!

I'm wearing two hats!

After the short photo session, most of the crew wanted to ride Tower of Terror followed by the Rockin' Roller Coaster...not my cup of tea. I stayed with the three younger grandcrew while the remainder of the family headed of to seek their favorite thrill ride.

Once all of that was over, we went to the Monster's Inc. show starring Mike and Marty. Marty is a character that was not seen in the movie. It was fun and it was air conditioned. After the show, it was time for lunch, so we headed to the Sci Fi Theatre Restaurant. The interior is done like a drive-in movie. All of the tables are set in replicas of 50's cars and all of the seats face the screen. They are playing a loop of trailers from 50's and early 60's science fiction horror movies. They are hilarious. You see a very young Lee Van Cleef in a very cheezy "B" movie role...long before "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly."
After lunch we rode the Star Wars ride which is kind of like a flight simulator. It was great fun. Between the end of the ride and the exit through the souvenier shop we encounter Darth Vader. My son-in-law is a huge Star Wars fan so this encounter is more fun for him than the grandcrew.

Note; My Son-in-law is 6'-3"

A little later we headed back to the hotel for a rest. We're going back to Hollywood Studios for the night show "Fantasmic", which starts at 9:00 p.m. It is a laser light/water show that features many of the Disney villians and some truly cool special effects. They use a rear projector to show clips from "Fantasia" but the screen is a 50' foot high spray of water! The results are stunning! After the show Nana and I take the kids back to the resort for the night while their parents enjoy the extended hours of the park that evening. The park was open until 2:00 a.m. Most of the parks offer extended hours at least one night per week. This is a great opportunity to ride your favorite ride several times without the long waits associated with such rides during the day. Our daughter said the never waited longer than fifteen minutes to ride anything during extended hours. Note; if you ride the ride until 2:00 a.m., you might not want to plan an early breakfast the next morning.
Tomorrow we're going to Magic Kingdom. See you then. Yes Travis Erwin, we will go fishing a little later, I promise.