Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Disney Diaries, Post 8 (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Our final park day was another repeat day that could be used anywhere. Since Jack had expressed such a love for the Indiana Jones stunt show (without even realizing he'd only seen a small fraction of it), we decided to return to Hollywood Studios. We started our morning at the Legend of Jack Sparrow, which we skipped during our Tuesday visit.

While we were waiting to enter the pirate ride, Jack spotted the face painting tent. I don't know if you've ever seen these face painting tents, but it's not your average girl scout painting rainbows and hearts to raise a few bucks. These are full-face designs. My sweet five-year-old angel had his heart set on becoming Darth Maul (something like this). Thankfully, we were able to talk him into the superhero half mask, which turned out so adorable, I mean brave and cool. Seriously, I want to paint his face like that again...just because it was so darn cute heroic!

Since we had hit all the big rides our first visit, we were able to enjoy more shows this visit. One of the highlights was the Disney Junior, LIVE. Jack loved seeing Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and both boys loved seeing it "snow" during the show and chasing gold doubloons that fell from the sky. Of course, we enjoyed Toy Story Mania and Star Tours again.

Just before noon, we headed over for the 12:30 Indiana Jones stunt show. As we headed into the show, a castmember stopped us at the gate and asked if we would like to be part of the show. He said he was still looking for a pair of Junior Directors. He told us the boys would have to start the show by saying, "Lights, Camera, Action," and we'd get reserved seats down front. Jack was so excited! Josh and I were pretty tickled too. We couldn't help but think this was all part of our returning to HS on our last day.

Annie, the casting director, came over and introduced herself to the boys. She talked to them about what she'd need them to do and gave them a great dose of encouragement. At this point, we were still thinking they'd both go down there, but that Jack would do all the talking. Once she called for them to come out and start the show, Sam would not stand idly by. That boy loves the microphone, and Annie wouldn't deny him the chance. It was a precious memory!


Lights Camera Action from Laura Garrett on Vimeo.


After the show, Annie returned to tell the boys what a great job they had done and to see if we'd like to meet the two stars of the stunt show. We hung around for a while and were able to share the sweet story of how much Jack had enjoyed the show on Tuesday, all five minutes of it! Even they agreed it had been nothing short of Disney magic that had brought us back that day.

Of course, nothing could top being junior directors at the stunt show, but Sam kept mentioning the haunted hotel (aka the Tower of Terror.) He said many times, "I'll be okay in the haunted hotel." Josh assured him we were not going to make them ride it again. Finally he said, "No, I want to!" Jack thought his brother was crazy! I opted to wait with big brother while Josh took Sam for another ride on the Tower of Terror. He was great.

We called a day a little early, and it wasn't a moment too soon. The rain hit just as we reached the bus stop. As we headed back to the resort, Sam fell asleep on the bus. We relaxed in the lobby and then had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, which Sam slept right through. Later, the boys played happily with a couple of their trip treasures while Josh and I packed up our room from eight days of sheer fun! We paused to take in the Water Parade from one of the resort docks. The lighted water parade seems to be one of those under appreciated treasures, and I enjoyed getting to share it with the boys. We finished our day by munching on Josh's leftover birthday cake. 

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch our bus to the airport. We had a flight to catch and a brand new nephew/cousin to meet!

Friday Favorites:
Jack: "Seeing the whole Indiana Jones show and getting my face painted."
Sam: "the haunted hotel with Daddy."
Josh: "the boys being picked as junior directors."
Laura: "watching Sam & Jack start the stunt show."


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