Hollywood, Hollywood...

 Sing it with me now!  No? Ok.    

Wednesday we went to Hollywood Studios (aka MGM). Now, this park is geared towards tweens, teens, and beyond.  At least so I thought.  There is more to do for those age groups but there is also lots of stuff for the little kids to do as well. All the same characters were there as well as lots more of the Pixar characters. Plus there were lots of behind the scenes movie stuff to see.  We spent the day there but didn't even get to do all that we wanted (Brendan can't WAIT until we go and don't have to worry about naps.  For him. Not the kids. :) haha!)   Oh I just crack myself up.  Seriously. I am laughing as I write this.    Ok, on with the (picture) show....

We always got to the park as the "rope dropped" or for all of you non-Disney educated folks, that would be when they opened the proverbial doors for the day.   But we usually had to wait for a 1/2 hour beforehand.  We found ways to amuse ourselves.  Charlotte found "This little piggy" extremely amusing and asked to do it again and again and again! When she does the game to someone else she says. "This little piggy (pause)...home.  This little piggy (pause)....home.  This little piggy (pause) ...home." Followed by lots of giggles.

First on our agenda...race ( and I do mean RACE) over to Toy Story Mania. This is a brand new game/ride that if you don't get a FP to right up front you'll never get in. I think the FPs were gone by noon. It was an awesome 3D ride and both kids liked it (yes, even Charlotte!).  But on the way over to Toy Story Mania we spotted these lovable ducks and the kids and I had to stop, which was fine because Brendan got the FPs without us.

We wandered over to the Pixar area and encountered a green Army guy from Toy Story. This guy was hilarious!  He of course talked in that gruff standard Army voice and barked out jokes and orders. Full character. He made fun of my lens/camera. I thought he was awesome.  He told Cole he was a good soldier for wearing green. :)

 Ok, contrary  to what you might be believe or been told (ha!) we did NOT plan on looking like a Christmas card here!  I totally didn't realize we were all wearing green and red until Brendan pointed it after we took this photo! I guess we just are synced that way. hehe!

Over by the faux-Chinese Theater Charlotte matches her hands with the impressions of Mickey's. 

Cole actually went on the Tower of Terror ride! He is much braver than I!!  I've never been on. 

What we found with Cole was that we could not hype him up too much for a ride. For instance, I thought it would best to prepare him if a ride was going to be scary or what was going to happen and then let him make his own decision whether he wanted to go. I realized that I couldn't do that. We just told him some matter of facts about a ride and then let him decide if he wanted to go. He always decided he wanted to go! He has a better stomach for these things than I do! Brendan said Cole grabbed onto his arm and the little girl's arm next to him when they dropped several stories on the Tower of Terror! 

Now, how cool would it be to be young, a dancer, and work for WDW? Seriously!

Charlotte loved seeing Woody and Buzz Light Year the best. 

Sooooo HOT!  These popsicles were so perfect.

Brendan and Cole went on the Star Wars MOM ride.  Again, a ride I cannot stomach at all.  All of a sudden Cole likes Star Wars even though he has never seen the movie at all!  He hears about it from friends at school.  He mentioned several times about how his friend Zachary would love the ride. :)

Charlotte and I passed the time by taking multiple trips to the potty, drinking from the water fountain, and playing in the stroller! At least she entertains easily! (And you can see we had to change her outfit because she was so sticky from that popsicle!)

She really did entertain herself for quite awhile with these tricks.  :)

Oh, those hazel eyes! I just adore them!

And of course that grin too!

But wait! We didn't go to San Francisco too, did we?!

Nope! Just a movie backdrop! Cool!

This behind the scenes show was awesome. It was all about the car tricks in the movies and Brendan, Cole, and I were all in awe of what they could do. The tricks were amazing!  It was loud as the cars and motorcycles raced and skidded around the stage and you guessed it, Charlotte was tightly snuggled in my lap. Thank goodNESS for the large fans they had in the stands.

Man on fire! Ahhhh!!

Cole shows off his driving moves.

Cole is really a very sweet big brother.  Charlotte can be a brute sometimes (Cole was never a hitter so Charlotte's physical manifestations of her frustrations is something new we are dealing with here.)

Go ahead...call me a dork. I don't care! I saw this poster and I got so excited!  I love this show!! 

We were on our way to our second round of Toy Story Mania when we realized a ton of characters were out.  We almost didn't stop but we saw Minnie Mouse and Charlotte (or me, whatever!) really wanted to see her again.  Alas, Minnie left before we reached the front of the line, but Chip and Dale appeared. We decided this was a good substitute! :)

Then the boys saw Captain Hook! And Smee!  They were hilarious. 

Our precious FP!!

We bought autograph books and Cole loves looking through them and seeing how all of the characters signed their name.  

We left HW studios around dinner time. I forgot what we did that night.  I think the kids went to bed early. They needed it and so did I!