The kids slept great after spending all day in the Magic Kingdom and woke up ready to roll. Having a kitchen in the room was perfect because we were able to have a quick breakfast in the room before we headed out.
This is the look Cooper gives you when he is trying to pretend that he isn't enjoying himself but he really is loving it!
We hit Hollywood Studios running. (I think this may be the only picture of all of us together.
The first "cast member" we ran into was from American Idol. Ilena had been talking about how she wanted Bryson to try and do the American Idol Experience at this park so we all convinced him to go try out. The guy said it would only take "5 minutes". Famous last words. So Rob volunteered to hang with him while we took the kids to meet some friends.
First up Jake!!!! Cooper was so excited to meet him.
We realized we were just in time to catch a showing of Disney Junior Live! It was a cute show that used puppets to portray some of the kids favorite Disney Show characters like Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and Jake and the Neverland Pirates and of course Mickey Mouse Club House. We had seats in the back but it still did not dissappoint.
Of course Cooper could hardly stand it, he had to get up and dance.
I thought they did a really cute job.
When we left Handy Manny was out to meet everyone. Ilrna just had to get in the picture. Guess she has a crush?
Right about now I recieved a text from Rob that Bryson made it to the 1:30 show and that they were shooting a video of him and wanted us all in it. So we headed over to meet the guys.
They started shooting immediately. They even had us pretend to be standing outside the door waiting to find out if he got his ticket and then scream and be all excited. The kids loved that part.
They videod for a while longer. You coudl totally tell the director lady thought Bryson was hilarious. I think it wore him out a bit.
When they finally finished the video we realized he only had 45 minutes or so until he had to be back to meet with a vocal coach and get ready for the show. It's the real deal people. They do this for 4 or five shows a day!
So the guys stayed nearby and had a few cold ones while decided to roll with it and play single moms for a little while and take the kiddos onto one of my favorite rides Toy Story. We had fast passes so we flew threw the line. Which was great, except for the line area for this ride is really cute. It's like you are in Andy's toy box.
I felt very honored because Meg wanted to ride with me.
Right across the street you can meet Buzz and Woody. This may have been the longest line we waited in the whole trip. Luckily there was a ton of stuff to keep the kids occuppied.
Isn't it funny how it looks like they are standing on Andy's bed?
After Bryson had to go meet with the vocal coach Rob came and met us outside and we ran into the army guys outside.
Cooper had to salute.
We walked around for a bit and then headed over to the American Idol Experience. They set all the "families" in a certain area of the auditorium in case they wanted to shoot us with the cameras.
Three contestants will compete with judges and all and then the audience votes and the winner of each show competes in the evening show and that winner gets a garunteed audition at a real American Idol Audition. Apparently a couple finalist last year actually got started this way. I hope the Varners get this on DVD becuase it was priceless. Bryson sang "Sweet Home Alabama" and in typical Bryson fashion head banged and punched and kicked. All of you who know him well can imagine his performance well. So when the judges critiued him the lady judge (far right, purple dress) said my favorite line of the trip. "My name is Bryson, and I like to kick!".
Bryson didn't win :(, but I think he was relieved as it had taken up most of his day and he was ready to ride some rides. Meg was VERY proud of him though.
We had lunch reservations at an Italian Place called Mama Melrose and it was delicious. Just a tip to any one planning a trip to Disney. There are a few sit down restaurants at Hollywood Studios that if you book lunch or dinner you get preferred seating at the nightly fireworks show. And if you are on the dining plan it is well worth it.
Time to hit some rides.
Idol had given Bryson some extra fast passes so we went back over to Toy Story
and then over to Star Wars. Cooper has never kept 3D glasses on for us when we have taken him to a 3D movie but he loved them on all the rides.
Despite Ilena and I's coaxing the kids insisted on sitting together.
The ride was a total sucess for Brody and Cooper. However Meg sort of started to break down after this, she hated the ride and was very tired. So Ilena and her found a soft spot at a restarant and Meg took a nap. The boys were on a Star Wars high and were ready to rock n roll. We grabbed some Mickey Pops, watched a little Jedi bootcamp and headed to the other side of the park.
Rob and Bryson ran ahead of us so they could ride Aerosmiths Rockin Roller Coaster (Cooper BEGGED to ride but you have to be 48" tall and he is exactly 40"). We caught this show in the middle of the park under the famous Sorcerer's Hat and the boys wanted to watch.
And surprise Cooper felt the need to dance again!
They lost interest after awhile and so we headed over to meet the guys. We had to wait a bit so we checked out the gift shop and had a little fun with the goods
Our Little Hard Rockers.
Ilena and Meg came and met us just as we were walking over to the Tower of Terror (imagine the Cliffhanger in the dark). Well Cooper discovered he was tall enough to ride so we did it. AND HE LOVED IT. I can not believe it, it is a SCARY ride. I screamed like a baby. Brody, Meg and Ilena were waiting for us at the Beauty and the Beast show. We caught the very end of end and it look like it was probably pretty good. When we were walking out Ilena noticed her one of her diamond stud earrings was missing. I felt so awful for her. She asked around but of course no luck. The kids were starting to get fussy so we had to cheer them back up...that meant Toy Story again. None of us complained though. I think we all loved that ride as much as the kids. As dusk set in we started to make our way over to the amphithearte for the show. Meg was not having it though so the guys headed back to the hotel while Ilena and I and the little boys stayed for the show. While we were waiting Ilena and I tried to figure out is maybe just maybe she had never put her earring on and we looked through some of the pictures from the morning and figured out she didn't have it in during American Idol.
It did not dissapoint. It was awesome and I am so glad we didn't all leave and miss it. We checked out a few gift shops before we headed back to the hotel. The guys had Meg bathed and in bed and were taking apart the bathroom sinks looking for her earring. Ilena knew if she had left it it would be on the dresser and she walked right in and found it sitting there. Poor guys they did all that work but regardless that was a HUGE crisis averted.
We missed seeing a ton of things in Hollywood Studios. I think we had to high of hopes that the kids could last all day every day when in reality we needed to have some downtime or even naps in the middle of the day. All seven of us went to bed EXHAUSTED that night but still smiling of course and for Bryson he went asleep knowing he came on step closer to becoming "America's next American Idol"!
No comments:
Post a Comment