Welcome to Hollywood (Studios)

 

On Sunday we took a break from the parks and went to Downtown Disney.  I guess there were some pre-Christmas shows going on there because I have never seen Downtown Disney so crowded.  We ate at Rainforest Cafe - not a good experience.  Won't even go into it. 

The kids had lots of fun at the Lego store.  At this point, they didn't know that we would be going to Legoland later in the week. 

Curse you Perry the Platypus!  For those who don't know, Perry is the family pet / secret agent of Phineas and Ferb show on Disney.  These hats were everywhere!  

Monday we headed to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM Studios.  Lightning McQueen and Mater didn't do autographs.  Bummer. 

We did watch the Stunt show.  It had plenty of fast cars, motorcycles, explosions, jet skis, fire and a special appearance by Lightning McQueen.  The kids were fascinated.  They showed all the "tricks" that they used to film certain stunts, but I'm not sure the boys fully understood it all. 

 I know I already posted a video of Jedi training, but here's a shot of the group in their robes and their Jedi Master handing out certificates.

I had always heard people talking about the Osborne Family Lights at Hollywood Studios.  No, this is not the Ozzy Osborne family.  As the story goes, a father in Arkansas wanted to grant his daughter's wish of having their entire house covered in lights for Christmas.  So Dad started with about 1000 lights.  The display grew and grew and grew until they had over a million lights and displays and people coming to see them from all over Arkansas.  Neighbors asked them to stop.  Legal stuff happened.  They thought they were done until Mickey offered to let them display their lights at his place starting in 1995ish. 

 It started snowing (Florida snow) while we were waiting for the lights to come on. 

Still photos don't do them justice.  They were so beautiful.  We were standing with a crowd of other people when they turned them on.  Everyone gasped!  I think it was one of my favorite things on the trip since I love a good Christmas light display anyway.  They are also set to music.  To see them in action, check out this video (I didn't take this one).  If you ever go to Disney during the holidays, this is a must see.  I think they put them up in early November and they stay up through New Years. 

Well, Hello There

Well, 2012 has started with a bang.  So much so that I am still trying to figure out a routine, get the kids back on a school schedule, get my house back in order, etc.

I figured I better post something or I might lose my readers - all two of them! 

I still have some Disney pictures and videos to share.  So I'll spend several days doing that. 

Epcot was the first park we visited on our vacation. We had purchased a book with all the Disney characters in it for the boys to use as an autograph book. We hit the jackpot at Epcot because they have a character greeting area with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy that you can see and take pictures with one right after the other.

Once we saw all those characters, Luke was a professional expert!  So when we went to the World Showcase, we noticed Snow White had just come out so the line was very short to see her.  Luke and Fletcher have never seen or read about Snow White, but Luke really wanted to see her. 

Oh my!  It was the cutest thing.  Now realize that Snow White usually doesn't get very many little boys in her line.  All the little girls want to see her and all the other princesses.  So getting to interact with a little boy is a rare treat.  Getting to interact with a little boy as cute as Luke probably made her day.  She really did look like Snow White!  I wondered if people had always told her that. 

 He immediately started talking to her and had her wrapped around his little finger in minutes.  She was talking to him and laughing and asking him questions.  (You can see just how thrilled Fletcher was to be a part of this little interaction). 

 She bent down to talk to him more.  He was loving every minute. 

 She leaned over and gave him a big kiss and he gave her the sweetest hug. 

This kiss stayed on for about three days!  He will tell you that he met the REAL Snow White and that all the others were characters in costumes.  When he left, he yelled, "Bye, Snow White!" and she said, "Bye, Luke.  Have a great day!"  Three days later when we were at Magic Kingdom in front of the castle, all of the princesses were on stage doing a little show.  Of course, there were 3000 or so other people watching the show too.  Luke was sitting on Kevin's shoulders and saw Snow White.  He started yelling and waving at her, "Hi Snow White!  It's me, Luke!"  With the crowd, there was no way she could hear him and I'm pretty sure it probably wasn't even the same one that he saw, but he really wanted her to know that he was out in the crowd.  We did buy the Snow White Little Golden Book when we got back so they could read and know the story.  I don't know if he will remember all of this when he gets older, but this momma sure will! 

 Me and the boys with the Epcot Ball in the background.  Luke kept calling it the "giant golf ball". 

Christmas 2011

I was so caught up in the excitement of Christmas morning, I only took a few pictures and videos.

One advantage of buying pjs a few sizes too big is that they get to wear them two Christmases in a row. 

This was Fletcher's face after he realized the really big present was for him. 

They sat still long enough for a quick picture, then it was off to play with new toys.

These videos capture the personalities of our children when they wake up. We later found out that Fletcher had been up since 4 am (but didn't come out of his room until 7). We had to wake Luke up a little after 7 for fear that his brother might burst with anticipation!

Luke


Fletcher

Merry Christmas!

From all of us on Snickelfritz Lane!
Thanking God for family, friends and the best gift of all - Jesus!

The Christmas Story

According to an 8 year old...


And according to a 3 year old...

We are happy to report that the angel has only a mild concussion and is recovering nicely.

Jedi Training

Disney Hollywood Studios offers Jedi Training for kids who want to become Jedis. We thought it would be fun for Fletcher to do and Luke decided he wanted to do it too.

Luke was fine with the training part, but when the real Darth Vader came out he was terrified. He started crying and backing away. The helper was trying to get him by the hand to take him to Kevin but Luke thought she was trying to take him to fight Darth Vader and he started screaming and crying even more. Kevin and I felt terrible. He quickly recovered in the safety of Daddy's arms and enjoyed watching Fletcher take his turn battling the Dark Side.

Fletcher thought it was one of the coolest things we did at Disney (besides riding all the big rollercoasters).

Jedi Training


Practicing with Darth Vader

Epic Parenting Fail

For those of you who were curious how the boys reacted to the Disney surprise, here is the video.

Let's just say I probably need to work on "reading comprehension" with Fletcher. 

Not exactly the reaction I had envisioned in my head.  I didn't expect much from Luke because he doesn't even know what Disney is.



I'll be posting some pictures and videos of our trip in the days ahead. We had a great time (in spite of the rough beginning).