Orlando (Day 4)--Disney's Hollywood Studios

If you're a big Star Wars fan like we are, you will love, love, LOVE the amount of Star Wars that's going on at Hollywood Studios!

One of our first stops was the Star Wars Launch Bay, where there are museum-like displays of Star Wars movie props like light sabers, costumes, models of various space craft, and other memorabilia, as well as games for kids to play.  There's also a great short movie about the passion of the creative people who have been involved in the Star Wars franchise and are responsible for moving it into the future for generations to come.

We lined up with the masses and did the "meet and greet" opportunities with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca and then checked out the rest of the area.

Meet and greet with Kylo Ren (we kept our distance!)

Meet and greet with Chewbacca

O doing "rabbit ears" behind the Jawa's head

A game of Holochess, anyone?

Stormtrooper on patrol

Another highlight was the updated Star Tours ride ("Star Tours--The Adventures Continue").  We liked it so much we went on it twice, and it was different each time!  And we weren't the only ones who liked it . . . all the riders erupted in cheers and applause after the ride was finished.

Our youngest had done the Jedi Training Academy in Disneyland so he enjoyed watching how they are currently training the young Padawans to be Jedis and catching a glimpse of Darth Vader.  The Path of the Jedi movie was quite amazing.  It was a 10 minute retelling of all the six Star Wars movies, including new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Young Padawans doing light saber practice

Darth Vader emerges from the temple

Lord Vader menacing the audience

One thing we heard while we were there is that there is supposed to be a new 14-acre Star Wars Themed Land coming to both Disney World and Disneyland.  Wow, how cool would that be?  If the crowds at the Star Wars attractions in the park were any indicator, they could probably support an entire separate theme park based on Star Wars franchise and not just a themed land, but hey, a separate land would be AWESOME!  

Other memorable highlights of the day:
-  Muppet Vision 3D--who doesn't like the Muppets?
-  Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!  This was a behind-the-scenes look at how they do some of the stunts in the Indiana Jones movies . . . with lots of pyrotechnics and explosives.  O was so inspired by what he learned he went right to the gift shop to buy a "scene clacker" for his future movie-making ventures.
-  The Great Movie Ride--If you're a classic movie enthusiast (do you watch the Turner Classic Movie channel?), don't miss this journey through some of the most famous classic films.

Meet and greet with Mike and Sully

Looking down Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Theater

Nob Hill in San Francisco (mural but very realistic!)

Some of you also know that we were on a quest to ride the MOST AWESOME roller coaster in the world:  the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, starring Aerosmith.

The holy grail . . . we're ready!

Very cool entrance to ride

The story behind the ride is that the riders are given back-stage passes to an Aerosmith gig, and they're late, so they jump in a stretch limo and race through the streets of Los Angeles to get to the arena, all the while accompanied by blaring Aerosmith music.  The ride is basically a roller coaster that is mostly in the dark (like Space Mountain).  It has two inversions, one corkscrew, and it reaches speeds of up to 58 mph, all in about a minute.  In other words . . . it's EPIC!!!  Riding this would be a huge stretch for our youngest, but he was determined to do it, mainly because he loves Aerosmith so much.  We all mustered our courage, and before we knew it, we were seated in the limo, the bars came down, and we were off!

Note the look of SHEER TERROR on O's face as the camera captured his expression at take off.  (In all fairness, the rest of us were pretty terrified, too!)

We rode in the "Buh-Bye" car, which played portions of three Aerosmith songs including "Love in an Elevator."

When the ride was over, O said:  "That . . . was . . . AWESOME!"  Success, and another big fear conquered.  After souvenirs were purchased, we headed back outside and discovered that the thunder, lightning and rain had settled in for the night, so we headed back to the hotel and watched a spectacular thunder and lightning show accompanied by Epcot and Hollywood Studios fireworks, which we could see clearly from the safety and comfort of our hotel room.  What a great day!

Boys wearing their souvenir t-shirts from the day