Thanksgiving at Disney: A Trip Report - Day 8 - A Morning in the Studios

Always sad when it's close to the of the trip, my family and I decided to get an early start on our last day.  We added the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party to the end of our trip long after we'd made our hotel reservations, so unfortunately our room at Wyndham Bonnet Creek was not available for our extra night. Because of this, we had to be packed and moved out before we left for the morning. Somehow we got all of our things together and in the van in time to still be at Disney's Hollywood Studios before Rope Drop! (More on that later because it's not as calm and easy as I make it sound in this small paragraph...)

The crowds were out in full force this Sunday after Thanksgiving. The lines to get through the turnstiles were long and full of people starring in their own movies.  You know the type?  The ones who scream that they're "Resort Guests!" as they storm to the front of the line.  Or the ones who think their scooter gives them the right to just roll to the front.  However, everyone waits in the same lines.  Everyone wants to get in the park quickly.  Everyone wants to just enjoy their vacation. Some people like to enjoy their vacation at the expense of others... I like to laugh at those people and let them go their own way.  ;-)  While ignoring the bad and looking for the positive, we got to see one of my favorite characters:

No, not the girl in red pants! Look to the left of her!

Once inside the park, we walked... erm... power walked to Toy Story Midway Mania.  It's a family favorite, and we didn't ride earlier in the week.  The queue was still pretty short, so we practically walked on to the ride.  One of my favorite things about this queue is all of the photo opportunities.  When we visited the parks back in 2009 and 2010, I took a couple of photos in this queue with the kiddos, so I wanted to recreate them for this trip.  Here's the old and new photos:

Joshua & I in January of 2009. Check out my hair! He's so young that he's wearing a bib, and I could still carry him!

Joshua & I in November 2012. Yes, my hair is in buns to look like
Minnie Mouse, so in 3 more years I can exclaim about it! ;-)

Katelyn & I in November 2010. I have a thing for Minnie ears! Look
at how sweet she looks with that missing front tooth!

Katelyn & I in November 2012. Only 2 years later, and look how she's grown.
I, however, still think red is the lipstick color of choice. :)

What's Josh saying? Caption it in the comments below!

I have an odd obsession with taking selfies when I'm wearing 3D glasses.

LaRae and Katelyn ready to play!

After TSMM, which I really think I won, Randy kindly took the kiddos to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Area.  It's not his favorite thing to do, but it allowed us girls to go ride the more intense rides in the park: Tower of Terror & Rockin' Roller Coaster.  (I think he also took them on Star Tours again though, so that might have made up for it a bit!) On the way over we took advantage of the PhotoPass again: 

We LOVE Tower of Terror, so we had to get a photo in front of it!

We snagged some FastPasses for Tower of Terror, and then we rode Rockin' Roller Coaster in the single rider line. I love that line! You go through the queue with your family and/or friends, and when you get to the front of the queue, you split up just for the ride itself. It practically makes the ride a walk-on even in peak season crowds.  A quick ride on the Tower of Terror, and we hurried back to the rest of the family.

The park was getting fairly crowded, and we had done everything we wanted to do in the park.  Besides, we did not want to eat in Hollywood Studios again as we've yet to find a favorite eatery there. We have, however, found a favorite mode of travel: the boat to Epcot's International Gateway. We took a quick photo on the way out and boarded the boat.

A view from the dock 

This kiddo is pretty awesome!

Friday's Post will take us to Epcot and share how it really works when you have to hotel swap during a stay at the World. Come back for a post that I promise won't go up blank. ;-)