Happy New Year Everyone!

I’m good at making New Year’s resolutions buuuut not so good at keeping them so I’m not going to bother this year. Instead, my “theme” for 2012 will be to use what I have and try to rein in any extraneous purchases (unless I have a gift card :)). The goal is to save more money that we can use on the house, to travel or to keep for a “rainy day.”

So that’s the plan for 2012.

Now let’s go back to 2011 again to continue on with my Florida trip report — this time I’ll get started with our time (10 nights!) at Walt Disney World. Specifically Disney’s Hollywood Studios which we visited on Mon, 12/5.

Again, this will be a pic heavy entry. I think all of my planned WDW entries are going to be.

I’m starting with DHS because it’s my least favorite of the 4 main Disney theme parks. While it’s nicely themed (come on, it’s Disney), it doesn’t have the same charm and depth that the other 3 do. At least to me. The park is supposed to evoke Hollywood in the 1930s/1940s and while it may look the part, it also feels a little thrown together. Like all the pieces make sense individually but not so much together. I DON’T KNOW. AM I EVEN MAKING SENSE?! There’s also significantly less rides and attractions in this park so it feels lacking in that way too. But we still managed to have a great time. 🙂

The main entrance…

Instead of Main Street, we walked down Hollywood Boulevard and saw the park’s icon…

Mickey’s Sorceror Hat! YAY.

We arrived right before the official park opening in order to join the HORDES of people heading to Toy Story Mania in Pixar Place. This was INSANE. I think 99% of people in the park were headed there too. I wish I had a picture of the crowd because it was RIDICULOUS. But once it hit 9am, the Disney cast members led the entire mass of humanity over to the ride in a (fairly) orderly line. I knew that Rob & I wanted to get on the ride at least twice that day but I wavered over riding first and then getting a Fastpass or vice versa. If you get there at park opening, my recommendation is to RIDE FIRST. The Fastpass line gets long immediately because people are cramming multiple tickets into the machine. The standby line is still walk-on at this point.

We were in such a rush to get on the ride that I didn’t even get a chance to really admire Pixar Place until later in the day. It’s amazing how much it resembles Pixar’s headquarters in Emeryville, CA (I used to live right by it!).

Next we headed to Sunset Boulevard and…

Tower of Terror!

Of all the rides that are duplicated in Disneyland & Walt Disney World, I FAR preferred Tower of Terror at WDW (all the other rides are the same or are better at Disneyland, in my opinion). Tower of Terror had an amazing “pre-show” before the drop sequence where the doors open and the entire ride vehicle moves forward into the hallway. SO COOL. I’m pretty sure there are more drops too. LOVED IT.

Other rides/attractions we checked off our list that morning…

Star Tours (after which Rob found this Boba Fett hat to try on, hehe)…

The Great Movie Ride (this was kinda lame, I’ll be honest)…

The Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream exhibit (awe-inspiring — really enjoyed seeing memorabilia from Disney’s life and models/artifacts from the parks)…

Rock n Roller Coaster (AWESOME dark coaster with 3 inversions — so fun)…

And before breaking for lunch, we managed to catch the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (sufficiently entertaining and surprisingly funny).

I LOVE FOOD. And believe it or not, the dining options at WDW are far better than traditional theme park food. I mean, WDW definitely has its fair share of burgers and hot dogs but they also have a lot of varied selections in both their quick service and table service restaurants. So I did a lot of planning when it came to the dining throughout our trip. And I found that 50’s Prime Time Cafe at DHS serves comfort food, specifically fried chicken. So OF COURSE I made a reservation.

AND OMG IT WAS SO NOMMY AND FANTASTIC AND SERIOUSLY SOME OF THE BEST FRIED CHICKEN EVEEERRRRR. A++++

I’m drooling just thinking about it right now.

No, really.

After that amazing lunch, we set out to conquer the rest of the park.

You’d think that a park with a Hollywood theme would have a solid Studio Backlot Tour. But aside from the water and pyrotechnic demonstrations, there just wasn’t much else to see. I guess it’s because the park is no longer a full time television and motion picture production facility so there’s really no “behind the scenes” areas or cool props/artifacts to showcase.

We wandered over to the Animation Courtyard (love this Sorceror Mickey topiary)…

But by this point in the day, our energy level was low (it didn’t help that it was HOT) so we didn’t even feel like participating in the Animation Academy, which is one of our favorite attractions here in CA! We decided to catch the last showing of the Beauty and the Beast musical to sit and recharge. It was excellent!

Sadly we missed a few of the other stage shows (the Lights Motors Action stunt show, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and the American Idol Experience). They’re scheduled very close together making it difficult to run around the park to see all of them. That just means we have to make another trip to WDW. Hehe.

Before we left the park, though, there was one very important attraction we needed to see. The Osborne Lights!

PHENOMENAL.

The lights are a seasonal display on the Streets of America and they dance along to holiday music. It’s SO beautiful.

Dinner was at Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club Resort…

Where Rob & I both had the New York Strip Steak. Yummers.

Exploring the Yacht Club before calling it a day. Even Disney’s resorts are attractions to themselves.

I MISS WDW SO SO MUCH.

DHS Rides/Attractions Count:
Toy Story Midway Mania – 2
Tower of Terror – 1
Star Tours – 1
The Great Movie Ride – 1
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – 1
Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream – 1
Studio Backlot Tour – 1
Rock n Roller Coaster – 1
Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage – 1

For more pics from our day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, check our Flickr here.