Friday, June 13, 2025

A Disney Studios Day

 Disney Studios is one of my favorite parks - mostly because of the look and feel of it in the evenings. There is more neon than you can shake a stick at and it feels like you are in the late 40's or the 50's. Maybe its just me but it gives me a feeling of nostalgia even though it was way before my time.

We rope dropped once again and they held us at our first ride which was Rock-in' Roller coaster.



Fashion Update - Today they are dressed as Woody (or Jessie) and Buzz




After Rock-in' Roller Coaster we went to Mini and Mickey's Runaway Railway




Some of us rode Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run and later in the day we all rode it together. I believe this photo is from the latter.



We took a break which included lunch and rest at home and then returned where some of us went to the Frozen Sing-a-long





Next we met up at Toy Story Mania








After Toy Story Mania Megan and Olivia toured through Star Wars Land and Addison, Emily, and I braved the Tower of Terror











In the hotel basement and getting ready to enter the service elevator


We got back together in time for our appointment at Rise of Resistance


Next to Slinky Dog in Toy Story Land








As always - All days at Disney Studios end with Fantasmic


Thursday, June 12, 2025

An EPCOT Day

 The second park we spent the day at was EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). This is appropriate since this is the second park that Disney built. That was back when the men closest to Walt Disney were still at the helm. The park is certainly not the best of the Disney parks but it is reminiscent of the days before the company seems to have lost its way. I love Disney and probably always will but I hope that the next CEO has a vision for the parks and will spin off all of the many investments that Disney has made that served to distract them from their vision (like ABC, ESPN, Hulu, and at least majorly revamp Disney+). Walt Disney promoted America and American pride but somewhere, after his death, the company began to look at itself as a political influence pusher instead of an entertainment company; a la its mission statement "To Make People Happy."

We started the day with a rope drop to the frozen ride since we already held a lighting lane pass for Ratatouille later in the day.



Fashion update for today: The girls are Nemo and Dory



On to Frozen




Then over to Nemo and friends


Eventually we got back to Spaceship Earth (the golf ball ride the girls used to call it).


Mexico pavilion and the The Three Caballeros Ride.





After this we decided to take a break and maybe a nap back at the house. When the girls were little we operated this way - clearing out before the hunger and the heat of mid-day. Who knew that everyone (even our grown adults) still found that this works great for us. We came back into the park in the late afternoon - just as we always have.

After our return, it became time for our reservation at Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. This was Emily's first time on this ride and it makes everyone feel like it is our first time too.




Ratatouille was down most of the afternoon. We happened to be close when it came back online and we got right in to use our lightning lane. Again, it was Emily's first time on this ride and she loved it - we all did


We spent a little time in Japan and Morocco



We separated for a little while and came back together at Moana's Journey of Water





The day was coming to an end and Olivia was not feeling well and went to the car to rest. Megan went with her because that's what moms do. The rest of us stayed for the closing show "Luminous The Symphony of Us." A few months ago Megan and I went to EPCOT and it was so busy that you could not move in the streets. No so today, we had no trouble finding great space around the lake to watch the show.





Addison had one of the new magic bands. They light up during most of the shows and Emily and Olivia got new ones for this trip. Emilhy was admiring the effect of this show on her new magic band. Megan and I have magic bands from 12 years or so ago.











Wednesday, June 11, 2025

An Animal Kingdom Day

Today was Animal Kingdom Day. We got up for rope drop and ended up doing Kilimanjaro Safari first. This is a picture of the crowd at rope drop.

This year Addison and Emily decided to wear subtle costumes to the parks. Today they are Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.








We saw The Lion King and Nemo Shows and rode every ride in the park









We rode every ride except for the Kali River Rapids which makes you more wet than your average raft ride. Olivia was going to ride it but the ride closed due lightning just prior to boarding. After riding the safari it was the Dinosaur ride. We wanted to ride it one last time because it will be closing later this year to make way for Indiana Jones.





One more picture of the most beautiful girls in the world to me - then back to the house