One Day My Paycheck Will Match My Dreams...

Disney has a fun little thing called 'Magic Hours.'  If you stay at a Disney property, then one of the theme parks either opens an hour early or stays open an hour later.  Magic Hour on Day 3 was at Hollywood Studios, so that's where we began.  Sure, it looks cloudy and gloomy, but really, that didn't stop anyone. And yes, it did rain while we were there, but a little water never hurt anyone, right?

Sigh...we were such rookies.  We thought the most popular rides would be the Rock 'n' Roll Coaster Starring Aerosmith and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  That?  Was so not the case. 

Our first ride was the Rock 'n' Roll Coaster Starring Aerosmith.  We're both Aerosmith fans and thought the intro to the ride was super cool.  We've basically met Aerosmith in the recording studio, and they've invited us to watch their show, so their manager has arranged rides for us.

J-Unit were strapped in, and waiting for the green light for the ride to begin.  We're sitting there, and she asks me, "What city do you think this is supposed to be?" and I'm like, "Oh-probably not any city at all-I think its supposed to be generic so it'll be like it could be any city."  Who gets the awards for being blonde?  As we're whizzing by on the ride, we're reading (really, screaming) out the names of the signs: Beverly Hills, 101, I-5!!! Because it never occurred to us that since this was Hollywood Studios, most likely the ride would resemble Los Angeles.  This? Was a sample of the deep and profound conversations we had.

Its either, "ROCK ON!" or the lollipop is just out of reach...

Air guitars have never been so cool

Right next to the Aerosmith ride was the Tower of Terror.

I know you can't see people clearly, but the back left row is J-Unit and I.  Just by looking at this pic, it's hard to imagine that we're all on the same ride.  I mean, what's up with the right hand side?  Why are there no hands up?  its like...no one's hands are up except, oh-right...the freaking guy in front of me that's blocking my face! Way to go...guy...

Really? It was scary!

The Muppet Vision 3-D was an attraction that I'd never heard about, but was fun nonetheless.  Its a 13 minute show journeying through the Muppets lab, with a few surprises along the way.  Disney 3-D shows are only about 12-15 minutes long, but I'm totally in awe which how much thought goes into the production and user experience.  Bravo Disney!  

Upon leaving the show, we got lost, but stumbled upon Lightning McQueen and Mater.  

We stopped by Pixar Studios to pick up a FastPass for the Toy Story Mania ride.  This, we find out, is the most popular ride in all of Walt Disney World.  Usually with a FastPass, its an hour wait, but with Toy Story Mania, the wait to return was a couple of hours! (Trust me, it is a fantabulous ride!!)

We saw Voyage of The Little Mermaid, which was a live show (under the sea), just about summing up The Little Mermaid movie in 15 minutes.  All the fun, popular Little Mermaid songs were sung, and the puppetry would have been excellent had we not been able to see the people behind the puppets.  The one thing I couldn't stop thinking about though was the fact that Prince Eric had to have the easiest job alive.  He appeared once, at the end, for about 15 seconds.  That's it.  How do I get a job like that?!?!

Of course, our day wouldn't be complete without character photos!

I finally understand how awesome it is that the characters don't talk.  I have yet to see 'Up' and if the dog did say something to me, I'd have to respond with a, 'who the hell are you?  oh but you're cute so I'd like to take a pic together.'  I will have to rent it now since it seems wrong to wait in line for 20 minutes to take a pic of people I don't even know.  

J-Unit is also a superhero!!  And once again, as I was walking away, I got asked if I wanted a pic with The Incredibles.  Incredibly, no.  

One of the coolest non-ride attractions was The Magic of Disney Animation class.  We learned how to draw Bolt.

I think J-Unit could be an animator!!  Freaking looks like Bolt! Good job J-unit!!

Plan C: in case energy AND being Rafiki doesn't work out

And then here's mine; something terribly wrong happened the moment pencil touched paper.  I know...his eyes make him looked kind of loopy, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it, and each attempt only made things worse.  I thought my rendition of Bolt looked like the spawn of Bolt and Snitch.  But then the other day I was showing The BF, and he's all like, 'Dude-is that Rudolf?'  I don't even have a day job to keep...sigh...

What do you think of when you hear the words, "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular"?  How about an epic stunt that's spectacular by Indiana Jones?  Well, if you thought that, you'd be sorely disappointed.  They take audience members, and reenact an action scene.  The show was a bit heavy on the cheese and a bit light on the funny.  We left halfway through because it couldn't hold our attention.  Not like riding rides and meeting characters could anyway.

After riding the Rock 'n' Roll Coaster again, it was finally time for us to go on the Toy Story Mania ride!  Its a 4D ride where we sat in a car, had a spring action shooter, and shot at virtual targets.  We had to shoot rings at green aliens, darts to pop ballons, and baseballs to break plates.  When we entered the ride, the wait time for non FastPassers was 70 minutes.  When we left, the wait time was 90 minutes.  Yikes!!!

We also got to meet Woody and Buzz!  Much to J-Unit's chagrin, Rex was a cardboard cut out.  To add insult to injury, Buzz is covering him up.