Friday. I didn't want to face the fact that our vacation was almost over. I found myself going into panic mode again, wanting to fit it all in. Kelly stopped me quickly, told me to breathe and enjoy it. He's so good for me. :) The only drawback I worried about - I hadn't brought an extra sim card for the camera, and mine was almost full. I spent 20 minutes that morning deleting fuzzy pictures so I could capture as much magic as possible - then I'd just point at what I wanted Steph to take pictures of for me! LOL!
We were out the door early to catch the opening on Hollywood Studios, Star Wars Weekend. Oh, my goodness! THIS was one of the highlights of the trip. Star Troopers were staked out all over the entrance. They put on quite a show, and of course all the other characters were stationed throughout the park for photo ops. We saw Darth Vadar, Luke and Lea, Anakin and Padme, Asohka Tano, Mace Windu, Boba Fett, and so many others. I know for those of you who aren't Star Wars fans, this means less than Pig Latin. But for freaks like us, it was like meeting rock stars! It's the personal touch that makes Disney so special, and this is no exception. When we met Anakin Skywalker, he called me over and "warned" me to watch my youngling (Canon). He was concerned about his color preference of blade. Dark siders tend to carry red light sabers. :) He also really made up with Caleb, and informed me that the Force was strong with this one. It's cheesy, I know, but we were all so excited!
Besides the characters, the park was just awesome. I wouldn't say it's my favorite - come on, you know the Magic Kingdom stole my heart - but it was great. Jason and Kelly took off to get our Toy Story Mania fast passes, and I took Logan and Canon (yes, Canon!!) to ride Tower of Terror. I begged and pleaded, but couldn't get the others to do it. But my fearless five year old was all over it! Gotta love that kid! :) Logan was prepping him the whole way, telling him what to expect, and I think he felt prepared. He kept a death grip on my arm, and looked like the tan had been slapped off him when it was over, but he yelled, "I LOVED IT! That was totally wicked!!!" I let him pick something out from the gift shop to commemorate his first big boy ride. He chose a key to the haunted hotel.
We met back up and headed to Rock N Roller Coaster, which was out of commission - what a bummer! But it was just one of those things that I had to say, "Next time!" about. Star Tours was next up, since we had another hour to wait for our fast passes to be available. I have to admit, we were all ready for the Toy Story experience. We had such a good time, just wandering around this park. So much to see, it was great. Kelly and Caleb took off on their own, the rest of us went to meet some characters, then went to see Muppets in 3D. So funny - those old men always crack me up!
It was time - we were going to Toy Story Mania! Yippee!! I wondered, would this be a disappointment? It was one of those things so built up that I feared it couldn't live up to the hype. Boy, was I wrong! Think of any target game you've ever loved. My favorite was Duck Hunt for Nintendo growing up. Now think of that times 50, then put it on steroids, not to mention add your favorite Toy Story characters cheering you on. Then put yourself in a moving, swirling, spinning cart and add 3D glasses and you may just begin to imagine what this "ride" is like. One of my favorites of the whole trip. We were watching our tally and wanting to beat the others in our group, but there was so much fun around you, it didn't really matter if you hit all the targets. I just loved it. If it weren't for the 2 hour wait, I'd had gone over and over and over again.
We had fit all of this into about 3 hours. It was only 12:30 at this point! But Kelly and the boys were tired, and they decided to go back to the hotel. Chloe was heartbroken - she hadn't gotten to meet her favorite character yet, Asohka Tano. I felt so bad for her, and I wanted to stay as well. I thought it would cause an argument, so we all headed to the gate. But Kelly stopped us and encouraged me to stay with Chloe and let her see Asohka. It was the first, and really only time the whole trip we'd gone to separate locations, but it was a great thing. Chloe and I got some one on one time, the boys got to take much needed naps (Kelly included), and we all had a great outlook going into the next event - closing down Magic Kingdom again. We were going to meet up with Tia - finally!!
