AM I EVER COMING HOME! 21ST DECEMBER…DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

[Isafari]

My eyes open about 8.30am. I look across at DH and he is awake too. I ask him if he is going to try and get some more sleep and he says “but, we’re in Florida.” I know what he means and we both jump out of bed and do a jig.

It’s a lovely sunny day and we are looking forward to our first day being at DHS. There are a few new things at this park since our last visit so today should be fun. I can’t sit still in the car and I keep getting over excited and having to calm myself down before I burst something!

Oh my….look….it’s the Disney archway



What a wonderful feeling it is to go through this archway. All that planning, and finally you’re here.

We pull up at the car parking booth and I ask if we need to pay the parking on this visit as we are about to exchange our vouchers for our annual passes. We are told to go on ahead and have a nice day. We are parked in Pluto 29. My first ride this visit on the tram is met with equal excitement to the archway and I am grinning like a Cheshire cat who got all the cream.

Changing our vouchers for the annual passes was totally pain free and only took about a minute. Once through the bag search, we pick up a timetable so I don’t miss Beauty & the Beast later. Now, we’ve never been on Toy Story yet so we head over there for a fastpass. It’s hard to ignore all of the other attractions in the park on the way but that’s what we do. We pick up our fast passes for a return time of 3.15pm to 4.15pm. The wait time at the minute says 40 minutes. We decide to stay and join the queue now too. The waiting wasn’t too bad, especially when you get to Mr Potato Head who has a chat with you. The actual waiting time was 50 minutes. I thought of our Helly a lot while we were waiting….



Yay, my 3D specs in place and we’re on the ride. I gave it my all. I was smashing plates, throwing hoops and pulling the cord as fast as my arms would let me. I still lost. Gosh, my arm was aching after this. I did enjoy this ride but, wouldn’t stand for more than 30 minutes to have another go at any time. (we forget to come back later for our fast pass return)

We head over to Pizza Planet for an early lunch. Not the best pizza in the World but, it will do for now and we are in Disney so I’m not too sad about it. We sit outside and just look at each other smiling while we eat….dear knows what idiots we looked like.

Next we head over to the 12.15pm showing of Beauty & the Beast. I love this show and my eyes always water a little near the end when they are dancing. When I was a kid, those dresses would have amazed me with their vibrant colours.



Next, we head straight over to the 1.20pm Lights, Motors, Action show. It always amazes me when you are sat waiting for the show to start and you watch all of those folk to your left arriving to watch the show too….how on earth do they fit them all in!!! My favourite part of this show is near the beginning when the red car is being chased by the black cars. Asking DH about his fave bit and he says “when the car jumps through the fire at the end”

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We have a wander past Star Wars. Quite a long wait today so we’ll leave it until next visit later in the holiday. Not long for the parade so we take a spot and wait. We’ve not seen Block Party bash yet so I’m looking forward to this. Unfortunately, we picked quite a bad place to stop and watch. The parade actually comes to a halt and, who ever / what ever stops by you is your view for about 15 minutes. I wanted Sully to stop by me but, we got a green man and Woody. Actually, the green man was quite entertaining. We decide to watch this parade again next visit but choose a completely different place to watch it from. Stars and their Motor Cars was a far better parade in my opinion.

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Ok, off to Indiana Jones. DH can not go in to watch this without pulling the rope over the well first. We got quite good seats and enjoyed the show. I did however notice that the scene with the plane was no longer in the show…..there is now a wooden building in this area.

Next we did a little shopping for a member of Secrets and bought some Christmas presents that we needed. DH bought himself a t/shirt. I bought a Steamboat Willie limited edition plush for my collection.

It was about 6pm now so we headed over to see the Osborne Lights. They were spectacular as usual. There was ‘snow’ falling and carols being played over the streets. No matter how many people are in this area, I always get a feeling of calmness when I’m here. I actually like the lights better before they start ‘dancing’ too. I like to see them all lit together for the full effect. It’s quite a romantic area of the park too….don’t you think?

We grab a quick bite to eat (my notes say chicken nuggets and fries but I actually can’t remember where we got them from and what they were like) before heading to Fantasmic. I love the beginning of Fantasmic with Mickey and, it’s the first time I’ve seen him this visit. Another watery eye moment when the ferry with all of the characters comes around near the end and I spot my favourite….Steamboat Willie. In fact, it’s more than watery eyes….I cry.











It’s now 8.45pm so we decide to pop over to DTD marketplace to see if I can buy something for a Secrets member. Unfortunately, we are out of luck and the item hasn’t been in any of the Disney shops for quite a while as there was a sale on a couple of weeks back.

Feeling rather tired now, we head back to the villa and are in bed by 10.30pm.

Tomorrow……MK.

[lisaw]

A great day Diane! Thae parade actually looks quite good fun - my DD will love it

[daveann]

oh diane sounds wonderful, its been so long since i have been to studios
thank you so much for going to DTD for me and the wonderful mickey ornaments it was so kind of you your a special lady and Dave too of course thank you

[Slowhand]

Another great instalment Diane and the photos are great too.
It`s a lovely feeling when you drive through the WDW arch for the first time on your trip isn`t it? It makes you feel that you are "home" at last.

[Jodie]

Lovely first day, great pics!

[Claire]

I go goosebumpy at the arch too! Loving the reports Diane.

[Taja]

Great photos! I really love the entrance arch!

Glad you had a good day at DHS.

[Isafari]

Thanks guys....are the video clips working ok for you all?

[Disneybumble]

Video clips are great Diane. The Arch is "it" for me.

[Dawn]

No new installment yet?