Disney World - Day 3

We made it on the first bus earlyMonday morning to get to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios) before the gates even opened. We knew that McIver was not tall enough to make the cut for Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster so Will took him to the Tower of Terror. Olivia and I headed straight for the Rockin' Rollercoaster (and the Fast Pass line, so we could ride again and again).

When I took this picture she was still really excited. We knew that if she liked Space Mountain, then she would LOVE the Rockin' Rollercoaster. But, the nerves started to set in the closer we got to the front of the line. I kept promising that she would love it, but she was listening to other (bigger) kids being silly-nervous. By the time we got to the front of the line, she was in my arms saying she was NOT getting in that car. I told her that we'd been in line too long not to get on and not to worry - she wouldn't even be able to see when we turned upside down.

Well, let me tell you, she was not happy about the loud music on the ride when we first got on. Or the fact that we were in the 2nd row. But, I told her I would keep my hand on her leg for the whole ride and that seemed to give her a small degree of comfort. The first thing she said at the end of the ride was: You could SO see when we went upside down! Then, I asked if she liked it and she smirked at me, not wanting to admit it. She proceeded to ride 2 more times in a row with Will while McIver told me not to be afraid of the Tower of Terror (which he ended up riding a total of 3 times).

We caught the first part of the High School Musical pep rally/parade. But, our crowd starting getting hot - we will NOT be making a trip to Disney during the dead of summer! We did manage to hang out long enough to have front row seats as the parade headed back down the main drag.

This is McIver when he is OVER Hollywood Studios.
Olivia had her autograph book out and ready for all of the Playhouse Disney characters that came by our table. Turns out that McIver just doesn't care for the giant animal characters. Again, he was under the table when Goliath came by. No problem with the very large 'children' like Leo, Annie and June, but he was not going anywhere near Goofy or Goliath the Lion from JoJo's Circus.

Olivia was tired, but McIver was pooped!

After taking in as much of Hollywood Studios as we could stand (Star Wars ride, Little Mermaid Show, Playhouse Disney Live On Stage and more), we went back to the hotel from some R&R. Our plan was to get back to Hollywood Studios in time for the Fantasmic Light Show. The kids enjoyed more time in the pool and we all enjoyed getting cleaned up. The plan worked - we made it back in time for dinner at the Pizza Planet (from the Toy Story movie) and then to the theater to wait (and wait and wait) for the light show to start. We had to stand at the top in the SRO crowd, but were able to see enough to love it and know that we'll make that a priority on our next trip.

Stay tuned for the last installment . . . Day 3 at the Animal Kingdom.