Hollywood Studios

Since we were so late getting to bed the night before, I told Glenn I was NOT going to set the alarm to get up - whenever we woke up would be fine and it was no problem if we weren't there when the park opened!

Naturally I woke up early - figures - and we were dressed and out the door for breakfast at our normal time...........and we were on to Hollywood Studios!!

 We had the "entering into the park" down to a pat!!  Zippers open on the backpack so it can be checked - press the Mickey on your bracelet to the Mickey at the gate and then use the same finger as yesterday to put in the fingerprint place - (and then I would always hear a "welcome Rebecca" from the gate attendant - oh yes, we're talking high tech stuff here - they know everything about you, ha ha ) - look for the information booth that has the map of the park and the daily schedule - snap a picture of the Christmas tree - and finally look for a coffee place on the main street as you walk by - it will come in handy later...............

 We headed right to "The Great Movie Ride" - my favorite in this park - you ride in a train like booth through several sets of famous  movies!!  And it makes you want to go home and watch movies!!

After watching the live presentation of "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" on stage which was wonderful, we headed out to Main Street to watch the Star Wars Launch - gosh, these guys looked awesome!!

 I actually had a fastpass for the "Star Tours" ride but had talked to some people the day before and the gal told me if you're claustrophobic or have motion sickness at all, don't ride it!  Ha - I have both so we opted to skip that ride!!

Instead, we headed back to Main Street and got some wonderful coffee that we sipped on while people watching - very relaxing!!

After the Muppet presentation (which is really not that great and I'm not into the Muppets anyway) we had lunch - I know exactly where we ate but for the life of me can't remember WHAT we ate - only that it was good - didn't have a bad meal all week!

And then we were headed to Pixar Place where the Toy Story characters and rides were - check out this cute picture of the green guy!!

 I had a fastpass for the "Toy Story" ride and it was awesome - in fact, after I used the next fastpass I went and got another one for this same ride so we could ride it again!!  2 people to a car with a pull type gun in front of you and you went from game to game, hitting things by pulling the string!!  It was a great ride and we laughed and laughed as we tried to hit the items!!

After than, it was the "Tower of Terror" - I didn't really remember this ride that well and after I got into the place, then I remembered that I didn't really enjoy it last time so why the heck was I riding it again!!  But I did - you are in an elevator type situation and then it drops and goes up and then drops again and continues on and on - I was GLAD when it was over and don't believe I will ever ride that one again either!!  Where's my adventurous spirit???  Apparently it has left the premises!!!

We enjoyed watching a live presentation of "Beauty and the Beast" and had a guy snap our picture here!  Dessert time was next with hot fudge sundaes - yum!!!

 The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular is always good - they've changed it quite a bit and it's very exciting!!
Then it was off to eat pizza but the place was closing so we couldn't get in - darn - we actually went back to the place where we had lunch and had some bbq chicken for dinner which was great!!

The evening show (which was at 6:45 since this park closes at 7) was called "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam" and it was showcased over the huge theatre outside - clips of Christmas movies with wonderful music playing - and snow coming down!!  Disney does it up well!!!  We certainly enjoyed it and were so glad we stayed for it!!

It was nice to get back to the room at a good time and get packed for Friday's flight - the bus was picking us up at the lobby at 5:50am!!  We were ready and waiting for the bus so had plenty of time once we got to the airport to eat breakfast and enjoy coffee!!

We flew Frontier and after getting seated (for once I sat by the window) and shutting my phone down, I happened to look out at the wing and lo and behold, it was Marty the Marmot on our plane!!!!  I immediately turned my phone back on and texted Jessi!

Evan and Kenzie's school were in a contest to help name the next animal for the Frontier plane - the older kids all wrote letters on why it should be a marmot and Evan's was selected out of all the 3rd graders!!  He even got to read it at an assembly!  For some reason the contest got cancelled.  BUT apparently Frontier liked the marmot idea as a couple weeks ago, the entire school was taken to Denver International Airport and shown a plane that had Marty the Marmot on it, their school's mascot!!!  The kids were all so excited and they all got t-shirts from Frontier.

Anyway, Jessi said to take a picture out the window which I did!!

 Evan and Kenzie thought that was so cool that their grandparents got to ride on that particular plane!!  We thought it was cool too!!

It's always great to arrive back in Colorado - however it was snowing lightly when we landed and was pretty rough coming in!!  It was REALLY cold outside with our light jackets on - and by the way, I had found a coupon from the Co. Springs airport for $1.00 a day long term parking until Dec. 31st!!  WOW - we were charged a whole $5.00 from Sunday to Friday!!

And then the roads got bad heading up the pass and this was the scene out the front window!!

 3 accidents on the way up so we were glad to get home!!

And the picture below?  It's my Walt Disney World file so if any of the kids go there, I can hand them my file and show them what WE did!!  An awesome trip - an awesome time!!