| This morning Grandpa Gary & Grandma Terry drove up to pick up 
			Drew, Jayden, and myself for a day trip to Disney Springs and 
			Disney's Hollywood Studios. Samantha had to work until 1pm today, 
			but she planned to drive up to meet us after she finished her day. 
			Our first stop was at Disney Springs, and we only had one 
			destination in mind - 'Disney's Wonderful World of Memories' shop to 
			pick up the newest passholder magnets. We did walk through the 
			'World of Disney' shop on our way, but there were no other detours 
			today. Once we picked up our magnets we headed back to the car to 
			make the short drive over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. 
			Our first stop inside the park was at Oscar's Super Service to 
			rent a wheelchair. We then found our way to a table near the 
			Dockside Diner where we ate the lunches that we packed. We had a 
			longer than usual drive over today thanks to traffic, so by this 
			time it was already our normal lunch times anyway. 
			Since we were so close, we decided to head over to see the For 
			The First Time In Forever-A "Frozen" Sing Along Celebration 
			show, as it is scheduled to close for a refurbishment soon. This 
			show always takes me back to when the kids were little - hearing how 
			excited the kids in the audience get during the show reminds me when 
			Tyler, Sam, Drew, and Jay used to get excited about these types of 
			shows themselves. Of course they don't quite give that same reaction 
			now, and it brings me to tears at times thinking about how those 
			days have passed. It was certainly fun while it lasted! 
			We then headed over to see the Muppet*Vision 3D show, as 
			we were able to time it just right to walk right in to the theater. 
			Although I still enjoy the show, I would love to see the film 
			updated in some way, as it is definitely showing it's age. 
			We next headed over to Star Tours - The Adventure Continues. 
			Although this is definitely the oldest Star Wars attraction in the 
			park, we still love it. This is one attraction that they have done a 
			good job keeping up to date, and the fact that it varies each time 
			you ride it makes it all the more enjoyable. 
			We decided to see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular 
			next, but we had some time to kill while waiting for the next 
			showing, so we decided to watch the Vacation Fun short movie 
			in the nearby theater. The show was a cute little cartoon short 
			about Mickey and Minnie mouse packing for and going on a vacation. 
			Pretty cute, but definitely not one I feel the need to see 
			repeatedly. We made it to the Indiana Jones theater in time to see 
			the show, which is still enjoyable, and pretty much as I remember it 
			from the last time we saw it. 
			Sam arrived while we were watching the Indiana Jones show, so we 
			met up with her outside the theater once it was over. We headed off 
			to Sunset Boulevard to hit up The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 
			ride. We - minus Grandpa Gary & Grandma Terry - got to experience a 
			first (for us) on this particular ride - as we made our way to the 
			drop tower, the ride stopped. Shortly after stopping the lights came 
			on, and we waited to see if we would be evacuated or if we would get 
			to finish the ride. After a short wait, we were allowed to continue 
			the ride - but with the lights on the entire time! Definitely an 
			interesting experience, to say the least. 
			While we were nearby, the kids and I headed over to the Rock 
			'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, which turned into another 
			interesting experience. We waited through the line, making it nearly 
			to the point where we were ready to be loaded into the car, only for 
			them to announce that the ride was experiencing difficulties. We 
			waited a brief moment before the emptied the loaded car that was 
			waiting to take off. I think we assumed they would send that car on 
			its way and then load the next one. Instead, the sent everyone to 
			the exits, giving them a "Fastpass" on the way out to use at 
			(almost) any ride in the park, including this one if it reopened. 
			We instead decided to use our pass on Toy Story Mania!, as 
			it is a ride that we all enjoy. Unfortunately, because we used our 
			passes, Grandpa Gary & Grandma Terry had to sit this one out as 
			well. Like usual, Drew beat us all at this ride game. One of these 
			days I will find a way to best him! 
			We headed from Toy Story Land to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Due to 
			her own traffic issues coming over, Sam didn't get a lunch today, so 
			we stopped off at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo for her to grab a 
			bite to eat. We then decided to get on the Millennium Falcon: 
			Smugglers Run ride. There is supposed to be a "cheat code" that 
			you can use for this ride, but I apparently screwed up our 
			opportunity to try it out all because I hit one of the buttons 
			before I was supposed to. Regardless, we actually had a pretty good 
			run on the Falcon today, as I think we set a personal record for 
			ships captured! 
			Once the ride was over, we had to decide what to do next. Since 
			Sam arrived to the park late, she wanted to continue at the parks. 
			The rest of us were getting a bit tired, plus I had to work tomorrow 
			morning, Drew had a tee time for golf, and Grandpa Gary & Grandma 
			Terry got up early to make the drive to pick us up. It was decided 
			that Sam and Jay would park hop over to Disney's Magic Kingdom, and 
			the rest of us would make the drive home. 
			We ended up stopping at Red Robin for dinner tonight - a change 
			from our usual dinner at Chili's. We had stopped coming to this 
			location for a while as the service hadn't been great on our 
			previous visits, but tonight was good all around. Prompt service and 
			good food - what more could we ask for? We headed home once our meal 
			was complete. 
			The girls enjoyed their time at Disney's Magic Kingdom from what 
			I was told, riding both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder 
			Mountain Railroad. 
			I can't wait for the opportunity to do it with them all once 
			again. What a great day!  |