Good day everyone! I’m back to post about my Disney World experience – and for the next park, I have my 3rd favorite – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!
HW Studios was fun filled park with a mix of rides, shows, and tours. It was great because I could go on rides and then settle down with a character show or a drawing class. Here are some of my park favorites!
Attractions:
TOWER OF TERROR: Creepy! This ride was a pretty crazy one – much like Six Flag’s Superman – but not as intense. The ride takes place in an old, shabby looking hotel (you’ll get to see the hotel while waiting in line) that has a story behind it – the elevator dropped several years ago and many died. As I traveled up the elevator all I could think of was: “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!” It really wasn’t that scary, but the music, the ghosts, and an overactive imagination made it all too real for me! Before going on the ride, you actually enter a small room with, I don’t know- a couple of talking busts and a creepy chandelier here and there.
ROCK N’ ROLL ROLLERCOASTER FT. AEROSMITH: This ride was a lot more intense than I imagined! Although I can’t remember the “ride” ride very well (maybe because my eyes were glued shut) I did NOT except it to go upside down!!
You see, I carried around a string backpack with all the important stuff around all the parks, but I nearly lost that bag on this ride!! While the rest of the people were screaming, I was struggling to keep the bag still with my feet – and at one point, I saw my bag floating around where my head was supposed to be!! Thankfully, my bag didn’t fly off into the bowels of a roller coaster by the end of the ride!! (That would be horrible too, in case it fell on someone’s head.. oops!!)
Shows:
Although those rides were amazing, the real beauty of this park were the shows!!
One of the first things we did was the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It wayyyyyyy exceeded my expectations!! I seriously felt like a mermaid myself. The sitting area was turning into the ocean with bubbles, water lights, and .. it’s just too spectacular to explain!! The opening song brought me to tears, and the show hadn’t even started yet! The actors were great, the lights were amazing – the stage was filled with smoke, water, bubbles – and at one point it even rained on the stage! It was a very pure, feel good show that made my heart melt for Ariel. (cheesy, right?! That’s what Disney does to you)
My mind was blown after watching the Beauty & the Beast show, which just happened to have the best actors and the best songs, the Indiana Jones show, which had me cheering for Indiana himself, & the Extreme Stunt show, which featured Lightning McQueen (aww!) & a bunch of cars chasing each other! (Tokyo Drift!) My dad REALLY liked that one.
We also did the American Idol experience, which was when they hold auditions for the park guests – the winner gets a fast pass to the front of the line at any (real) American Idol audition. The stage was /gtjhmre;iybaq[yqme7q. It was like a real American Idol show, complete with a sassy British judge, an overexcited superwoman, and of course, a Randy impersonator. (Yo, dawg!)
After One Man’s Dream, (an exhibit about Walt D) we did my favorite! A drawing class taught by a Disney animator himself! (Or maybe it was just someone who was an excellent drawer :p) We were given paper and a back light with a pencil. Most unfortunately, we were NOT given an eraser, my trusty steed when it comes to drawing.
We drew Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. This is what the instructor’s looked like: (not my picture, lol)
And here’s how mine came out:
When they turned on the lights .. “WHAT IN THE WORLD?!” It looked better in the dark.
Lastly, (I wanted to save this for last b/c this was the best part)
is…. -drumroll, please-
FANTASMIC!
Fantasmic = Fantastic. Aha.
We got the worst seats possible. On the other hand, we were so late we didn’t even GET seats! :( But it was beautiful nevertheless. They only play Fantasmic when it’s dark, so you can gawk at the lights better.
There was a great stage with AMAZING props and dragons and magic and Mickey! The audience sometimes got wet because although it was a show, they replayed clips from Fantasia not on a projector or a wall, but on a wall of WATER. I mean, who does that?! There was a ring of water surrounding the ginormous stage – and after the show was done, Disney music played & floats with all the princesses and princes waving majestically at the audience. While this was going on, there were lights everywhere, and Mickey Mouse disappears in a poof of smoke from the bottom, to on top of the set’s mountain, 50 ft in the air! Seeing Mickey dancing on top, waving his wand, the Disney music playing in the background and all the characters I’ve seen on TV so many years ago made me burst into tears.
It wasn’t lady like Little Mermaid tears, they were gigantic monster truck tears that came in quantities of Niagara Falls. It was so .. magical. It felt like a million butterflies in my chest and I haven’t felt so incredibly happy or safe since. Fantasmic is a must! And in between those tears, even being in the very very back where only the wild creatures live, I shouted out, “I LOVE YOU ALADDIN!” in my about-to-be-kidnapped voice. And I PROMISE you, I can almost guarantee he looked straight at me & blew me a kiss! (see post below for my a.w.k.w.a.r.d. conversation with him)
Life goal #15 : Be noticed by favorite Disney character.. check!
TO SUM IT UP:
Hollywood Studios cannot be beat. It’s right up THERE on the list of eternal happiness with the glorious Magic Kingdom. I left the park with near bleeding feet, 100 lbs of sleepiness on my shoulders, my body shriveling from the heat – but with a smile on my face. Because that’s just what Disney does to you.
♥ kezi :)
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