On Saturday the 17th we got to Hollywood Studios a little after 8 a.m. A cast member came up to us as we were nearing the entrance gates and asked us to follow him. He took us to a line that was just opening up so we got right into the park with no waiting. All six of us wore matching
Perry the Platypus shirts. Perry is a pet/secret agent in the boys' favorite show, "Phineas and Ferb". We got lots of comments and compliments on our shirts. It added to the fun of the day.
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| The Swayne Six in front of Mickey's sorcerer hat, Hollywood Studios' signature feature |
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| Family close up |
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Okay, everyone do silly faces
Hollywood Studios took the most strategy when we arrived. Joe and Mary headed straight to the Toy Story Mania ride to get a Fast Pass. This fairly new ride is very popular and Fast Passes will run out before the end of the day. Zack, George, Andy and I went to sign up the boys for the Star Wars Jedi training. George and Andy weren't sure they wanted to do it so we signed them up anyway. Their show time was 12:40 and we signed up a little before 9 a.m. First, we rode Star Tours (Zack and George did it twice). Then we headed to the Disney Jr. live stage show.
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Next up was the Toy Story Mania ride.
The stand-by wait time was 110 minutes! There was even a bit of a line for the Fast Pass holders. Apparently the ride had been shutdown for a few minutes so the lines backed up.
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| See the monekys stretching across the street? |
We rented a double stroller at the parks each day. It was worth every penny. The boys knew they didn't have to walk the whole time so it cut down significantly on whining. Andy said, "now I don't have to tell you my legs hurt". We walked about 4 miles per day, Joe was wearing a pedometer.
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| Andy and George having a snack before the Toy Story ride. |
Mary brought her own stroller and it was always easy to spot in the stroller parking area.
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| Mary snacking |
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| Zack playing with the light sabe he just bought. |
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| Hi Joe |
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| Andy is the boy in Toy Story. We passed this while in line for the ride. |
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| Ready to ride with their 3D glasses. You get to shoot balls at all kinds of targets. Totally fun. |
We went to lunch at Hollywood and Vine. They have a Playhouse Disney character lunch.
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| Zack, George, Andy and Handy Manny |
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| The boys with Agent Oso |
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| Jake, the Never Land Pirate and the guys |
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| June from Little Einsteins with Zack, Andy, George, Mary and Joe |
After lunch it was time for the boys to report for their Jedi training to become Padawans. They donned robes and were taught a series of moves to battle against Darth Vader or Darth Maul.
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| George |
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| George concentrating on learning the moves. |
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| Jen, Mary and Joe looking on |
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| Zack on stage learning the moves |
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| Zack taking it all in. |
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| Andy is trying to activate his light saber. |
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| Andy is ready to battle now. |
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| Andy on stage |
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| Zack practicing a move. |
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| Zack was the very first one to battle......Darth Vader! |
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| Darth Vader and a storm trooper |
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| Darth Maul |
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| Zack sizing up Darth Vader. He is ready. |
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| Go Zack go! |
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| Zack ducking. |
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| Get him Zack! |
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| George's turn to battle with Darth Vader. |
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| Go George go! |
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| George ducking. |
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| The final move. |
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| All of the kids used the force to push back Darth Vader. |
You'll notice at this point there are no pictures of Andy fighting Darth Vader. He was pretty upset when Darth Vader came out and decided he wasn't going to fight with him. Mommy went over and got him.
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| Zack receiving his award. |
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| George receiving his award. |
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| Our new Padawans. Andy wouldn't hold up his certificate because he said he didn't do the battle. |
We all enjoyed the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show next.
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| Lightning McQueen made an appearance in the show. |
We stopped by for pictures with Lightning McQueen and Mater.
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| The Swayne Six |
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| Andy with Speed (his name for McQueen) and Mater. Heaven for this little boy! |
The boys played on the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids backyard playground while Mary snoozed in the stroller.
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| Zack, Andy and George sitting on an ant. |
It was a warm enough day for an ice cream treat while we were in the San Francisco neighborhood.
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| Mickey Mouse ice cream treats |
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| Zack still makes a mess when he eats. |
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| Hanging out in San Francisco. |
Our next stop was to see Phineas and Ferb for pictures. While we were waiting in line, George and I snuck over to the Muppet store so I could do a little shopping. At the entrance to the store, George said, "I don't feel very good Mommy." Before we could make it to a bathroom, he threw up. Oh my, here we go. Poor baby. We told the people in the store so they would know and I got George re-settled in the stroller. We visited with Phineas and Ferb and then decided to call it a day to get George some rest.
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| Joe, Mary, Andy (behind Zack) and Zack greeting Phineas. George is hugging Ferb. |
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| Visiting with Phineas. They were quite excited that we had Phineas and Ferb dolls with us. |
When it was time to take the pictures, a cast member brought out these inflatable guitars and gave them to the boys. They weren't used in other people's pictures. The guitars were signed by Phineas and Ferb and we got to keep them when we were done. Phineas and Ferb were holding the stuffed dolls we brought with us and Perry the Platypus is sitting on George's head.
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| The Swayne Six with Phineas and Ferb |
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| One of my favorite family photos from the trip |
Unfortunately, George's upset tummy wasn't just an overtired thing, which is what we were hoping. He really had a stomach bug and continued to get sick the rest of the night. Poor guy.
