H Is For.....Hollywood Studios

Our last trip to Disney World was a quick weekend jaunt to celebrate our son John's birthday, so we let him pick which park we would visit. I will admit to being a bit surprised when he picked Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios is the one I'd skip if I had to miss one park while at Disney World. It's not that I don't enjoy it, because I do, but it doesn't have the magic of the Magic Kingdom, it isn't as unique as Animal Kingdom and it doesn't have the wide range of offerings available at Epcot. But visiting just that one park made me realize all that it really does have to offer, and we had a great day.

We were there in mid-October, so the crowds were really light. We never needed a fast pass and rode Rockin' Roller Coaster twice and Tower of Terror once before the first line formed. Tower of Terror really impressed me. It wasn't just the ride, which is really fun and exciting, but I was really taken with the themeing and attention to detail. I almost wished there had been a long line so I would have had time to take in all the details in the queue area. It was really nice being able to take out time walking around the park without much in the way of crowds. We loved the back lot tour, rode the Great Movie Ride for the first time and tried out the relatively new Toy Story Mania. We had lunch at pizza Planet, one of John's favs, and dinner at the Sci-fi Drive-In. We missed the Indiana Jones show due to time conflicts with other things, Star Tours was closed for remodeling and the Fantasmic show wasn't going on, but we really enjoyed our day and felt all full of the magic.

Instead of a blow-by-blow of our tour, here are some pictures along with my always-pithy commentary.

It's not the Cinderella Castle, but still pretty cool. I like hats :-)

Love this building, and that it's pink

Hanes is the sponsor? Hmmmmmm ;-)

  

The birthday Boy and his Birthday Button

We never did get back to see this sign at night. Something for the next trip :-)

where'd all those monkeys come from?

Oh, I see, someone left the barrel o' monkeys open :-)

A real prop from the real Muppet Movie. How cool!

The first movie I saw in a theater was Herbie

Can these count as "Hidden Mickeys"?

John loves aircraft, and this plane belonged to Walt himself

Davey Jones' organ from Pirates of the Caribbean

We love us some Muppet Fountain!

The Kermit Balloon!!!!!

I must have taken 100 pictures of this

The Hollywood Studios parade features Pixar characters.

Had to take my best girl to the drive-in!

I wasn't excited about the American Idol Experience, but ended up really enjoying it

The Disney parks are extra magical at night, and Hollywood Studios is no exception