Youngs Do Disney - Hollywood Studios Edition

One thing that we seriously love about living here in Central Florida and having annual passes for Disney, is that we can head down to one of the parks on a random Friday afternoon for just a few hours for a bit of fun. Monday night, Steven and I were sitting around after the kiddos went to bed talking about how we haven't been in a while. That sparked us looking at things to do at Hollywood Studios because we have not taken the kids there yet. As it turns out, there is an entire Frozen Summer special going on right now and it ends in just a couple of weeks. Well, our kid is a Frozen obsessed little girl (like most 3 year old girls probably are) and we KNEW we had to get there before all the festivities were gone. We ended up booking a few Fast Passes just in case Steven could get off work early in the day and we could head down there. Not only are we lucky to have the option to stop into Disney for a few hours on a whim, but Steven's job lets us be able to do just that. So, he left work right before lunch today and came home so we could be Disney bound!

We loaded up the car pretty quickly. We have gotten pretty good at this Disney thing already even though we have only been with the kids a couple of times. Each time we learn something new that makes our next trip even easier. Then, we were off.

We stopped at Bojangles on the way down to Hollywood Studios for a quick bite to eat. Both kids ate well so we were excited and figured that was a good way to start our afternoon. Always good when the kids eat. After that, it only took another 15 minutes or so to get to MGM Hollywood Studios (I can't help myself. I just can't seem to remember that it is Hollywood Studios now...) After sunblocking the kids (and ourselves up), we set off for the park itself. I haven't decided if our ridiculousness with sunblock makes us look like tourists, or maybe like people that live here and know how bad the sun can be. Either way, we slather the stuff on.

Kenzie was less than impressed with my Batman spork

Once we entered the park, we were greeted by the tail end of the Frozen parade. We happened to catch Elsa on her float right as we walked in and so we stopped to watch her (and the rest of the cast) sing Let it Go (Number of times heard so far - 1). Kenzie was pretty excited about her luck catching Elsa. She sang right along through the whole song.

We had Fast Passes for the Disney Junior show coming up in a bit, so we went in that general direction. On the way, we caught the parade stopping again for another round of Let It Go sing-along. (Number of times heard so far - 2).

The Great Movie Ride only had a 10 minute wait (shocker... note sarcasm), so we decided to head in to kill some time and get out of the heat. Kenzie enjoyed most of it, but there were a few scary parts. We told her to close her eyes and we would tell her when it was over and she actually did it. Will was pretty enthused with the moving car and he was looking all around at all the sets and animatronic people. It was a good time killer and I have actually always sort of liked that ride.

I haven't mentioned it yet... but it was HOT today. It is August in Central Florida after all. Poor Will (and Kenzie... but mainly Will) was beet red. We ended up finding a store in the Disney Jr. section that had air conditioning so we decided to hang out there for a bit.

It snowed at the end of the parade. =)

Water break! I have no idea what Will is up to, but he knew he was being funny
as he laughed while he lifted his leg when drinking. I think he knew he was
messing with my picture.

Eventually, we ventured out to take a few pictures and while we were doing so, I caught a bright pink sparkly shoe out of the corner of my eye. I realized that we were standing right next to none other than Doc McStuffins! She was around the corner in her clinic meeting kids. Perfect! So, we got in line. As it usually our luck, we got to the very front, next people and Doc had to go inside for a "water break". We had to wait in the heat for a few more minutes, but it was definitely worth it to see Kenzie's face light up when she met her favorite Disney Jr. character. Doc showed her that their shoes were both bright pink and Kenzie seemed to get a kick out of that.

We finally peeled the kid away from Doc and went inside for the Disney Jr. show. We ended up sitting in the very back and while I nursed Will, Kenzie made friends with one of the ushers/cast members in the back. She was so nice. We were all chatting with her and when the show started, she ended up sitting down next to Kenzie and they chatted about the show the entire way through it. I think the cast member was getting a kick out of her. Kenzie was so focused but could tell the person all about the characters and what was going on. The cast member kept telling me how smart Kenzie was. Proud mommy moment, right there. Kenzie had a blast! She danced, clapped, and sang along. She LOVED seeing all the characters that she knows from watching the shows. The cast member was awesome and even went down to the front when the dubloons (not sure how to spell that one) fell and grabbed a few for Kenzie since they tend to not drift all the way to the back. Eventually, she walked away again and came back with streamers to drop on Kenzie when they fell from the ceiling so that she could be a part of that, as well since those also do not make it to the back. Super nice. I think Kenzie really enjoyed it. As we left we almost made it back to the center of the park to see the tail end of the Frozen show. As it turns out, we could only hear the end (Number of times heard so far - 3).

Dancing during the show

After that, we had some time to kill before our next Fast Pass so we walked around the lake thing in the middle of Hollywood Blvd and took some pictures before making our way back to the Frozen Sing-Along. We ended up sitting down outside and eventually a couple came towards us with ice cream cones. As soon as they sat down, Kenzie looked at me and said, "Momma! I would like ice cream." Yep, I know you would, kid. We told her not today... so what does our child do?!? She slides herself up next to the couple and says in her sweetest little excited voice, "Hi!" Nice try, kid. We had to explain that they were not going to give her their ice cream. Can't blame a kid for trying.

I didn't count this in the total number of times we
heard Let It Go... but let it be know that Kenzie
was singing it here

We even found a survey marker

The Frozen Sing-Along is a cute show. It is only there until September 7 so I am glad we caught it. It is essentially two people telling the story of Frozen and the songs with the movie are intermingled with their storytelling. Kenzie sang along again. Super cute. Will even ended up falling asleep while inside. At the end of the show, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and the storytellers do a rendition of Let It Go that everyone sings-along with and Elsa makes it snow. Kenzie was super excited with the snow. (Number of times heard so far - 4 & 5... Oh! and 6 as we left the theater... Thanks, Disney)

After all of that excitement, we went to the Rock n' Roller Coaster. Steven and I had Fast Passes for that, as well. Steven rode first and I sat outside with the kids. Will ended up continuing to sleep for almost another 30 minutes after we left the Frozen show. Works for me. When he woke up, both kids had snacks while Steven and I rode the ride (separately, of course). I realized while on it that this is the first true roller coaster I have been on since prior to getting pregnant with Kenzie. So. Much. Fun. We are certainly roller coaster people.

It was getting late following that and we used all our Fast Passes so we decided to head out of the park. The kids were hitting walls, too. We stopped at McDonalds on the way home. Both kids were in bed by 8pm so we are doing pretty good. That's good too because tomorrow is going to be a FULL day.

So, now we just need to get these kids to EPCOT. I think we will try to do that in the next month or so. Hopefully. It definitely has to cool down a bit if we are going to do a full day and I think that is gong to be a full day. We definitely think that Hollywood Studios is the least family friendly of the parks, despite having the Disney Jr section. There are a few more shows that we want to do another time, but it is definitely a good park when you only have about half a day or so. I think we will be taking a trip to Magic Kingdom soon because Will is going to need his hair cut sooner rather than later. Can't wait!