Our 4th full day on vacation had us going to Hollywood Studios. It was the only remaining Disney park that we had yet to get to so far on the trip, so it seemed like the fitting choice. On this particular trip to Hollywood Studios, we decided to try to not make some of the same mistakes we did on our Honeymoon, namely, we completely forgot to check the showtimes for all the shows here when we started the day, and as such, we failed to see all of them. This time though, we managed to make all of them. We didn’t completely succeed, as I’ll explain in a moment…
Our first stop was the Lights, Camera, Action show. We did make this one on our Honeymoon, but it’s a pretty cool show to see, with cars jumping over things, making it look like they are jumping backwards, etc. Ultimately, I think it’s the best show at Hollywood Studios, but be warned: it generally only has 2 showtimes per day, so if you want to catch it, plan on setting aside time to make sure you get there.
I do have to admit that I do kind of miss the Backlot theatre (now Premier Theatre, which is not presently in use). I remember seeing both Pocahontas there, as well as the Hunchback of Notre Damn.
From there, Amber and I headed to Beauty and the Beast. We missed this on our Honeymoon due to bad timing. Unlike most of the other parks, the shows are almost all outdoors. Every day we were down in Florida, it was very warm… That said, Disney makes up for it by allowing you to bring drinks into the shows, which was good. I do not envy the actors though that had to put on this show.
We then cut back and caught to catch American Idol, another show we had missed when we were here on our Honeymoon. My mom ranted and raved about it when she came back from Disney last year, making Amber and I wonder what exactly we missed. I have to admit, I firmly believe that is the closest I will ever come to seeing and feeling the real American Idol stage show. The lights, the drama, the premade editted videos to simulate the show… It’s all so well done. In fact, after dinner, I found myself watching the finale show outside the stage while Amber went to the bathroom waiting to see who would win the ticket for the day. Did I mention it looks cool?
I skipped right over dinner didn’t I…. This was the first night that we booked reservations (about half way through the trip, I decided Disney just wasn’t Disney without Disney food…) for the Brown Derby. This is the same place we ate on our honeymoon, and is by far and away probably my favorite of the restaurants on Disney campus. Although I don’t think our experience was as “magical” as the last time, we did manage to score some special setting for Fantasmic!, the fireworks show at Hollywood Studios. In fact, that’s where we headed next. We got some great seats, and as a result, some great photos:
As soon as the show was over, we made one last quick dash over to the Great Movie Ride to end the night and close down the park. It was on the way out that I realized that we had managed to miss 2 very important things for the day… 1) Star Tours, a ride that would be closing soon, and 2) The Backlot tour, something Amber missed on our honeymoon, and we still managed to not get on it again.
What to do what to do…