Loges in Disneyworld- Day 8

It was extra magic hour at Hollywood Studios, and so we were up for the challenge. Now that we have become extreme fans of the Tower of Terror, that was our main focus- to ride it as many times as possible! So we fast passed it, and lined up for it, and grabbed another fast pass before we lined up for it, and generally screamed ourselves silly all morning. This worked pretty well until one half of the ride was shut down... We got stuck on slow speed in a fast pass line and we speculated about what might have happened. Not wanting to seriously consider mechanical problems, we went with a protein clean-up. A very serious one, because it was quite a delay.

Some long line-up lovin'! A little bit of yoga happened just for fun too. AND! We tried to start a line-up wave. Our best effort involved a dozen people and a lot of wary looks.

Hey! Wouldn't it be cool if we got a group photo with the Tower of Terror in the background? Unless, of course, it is not cool at all. Valiant Mark took a half dozen photos in the attempt and none were any better than this! Tough crowd to organize.

Hey! Maybe a candid will work out better. Nope. Not better....

The Tower of Terror adventure ended with a sad/happy discovery. On our very last time riding it, we thought it would be fun to try dropping down an elevator shaft while lifting our arms in the air! This meant actually releasing the death grip on the handle bars. That grip was hard to override, but SO WORTH IT! If only we had discovered this earlier!!!!!! You momentarily get to float like a space man. Well, as far as your seat belt will allow- but still! Way. More. Fun.

A late discovery at Hollywood Studios was the Rockin' Roller Coaster. We had looked at it the other times we were here, but the lineups were always long and the fast passes didn't work either because we were already holding one, or the return time didn't work. Today we happily got to experience this ride. We had to ride this one in shifts because Littlest Rink was not tall enough to ride. The parent swap on this ride was the best! They gave the waiting parent a fast pass, plus two more. That meant the bigger kids got to ride this one a few times, right in a row. In the end, all the bigs got to ride it twice, and the eligible littles got to ride it four or five times. That nearly did not happen, however.  In typical Disney style, the lineups snake around in hidden ways, and at one point the line up meanders past the start of the roller coaster. You see the people get loaded on, you see them leave, and then you see the roller coaster stop for a traffic light.... and sit there. And then, all of a sudden, it takes off at mach speed!!!!!! Total whiplash zone!!!!!  This completely freaked out the littles and they nearly refused to get on.  It took some convincing and some almost-tears, but they relented, albeit filled with trepidation. And you know what? As soon as they got off, they hollered, "Let's do it AGAIN!"

Littlest Rink has more patience while waiting than pretty much any other child on the planet. While the bigger girls were riding the Rockin' Roller Coaster, she made grass sculptures! So cool!

While waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean show, the girls noticed a young woman sketching. Their curiosity  was pretty obvious and the artist was quite accommodating, and so she showed them her sketch book and made princesses on demand for them. She told us that it is her dream to work for Disney studios when she is finished college. How cool was that?

One of the park street performers... she was dispensing 'Hollywood Advice' for free! I have to say she was pretty astute because she noticed the star quality of E right away!

The crowds were getting thick, and it was warming up, cueing us that it was time to leave the park!

Time for some pool fun! (For real this time!!!)

Pool bliss!

And what could be better than a nice massage after a long day of walking?

Next stop: Epcot! We really have not seen enough fire works on this trip, so we made our way to see the light and explosion show over the water. And eat supper at the world pavilions... tacos from Mexico and Bratwurst from Germany. So yummy!!!!!!

Playing peek-a-boo at the entrance.

Egads, a person needs a tripod for pictures like this! Nonetheless, the lights across the lake were brilliant!

 With a slow pace, we headed home knowing that the sooner we got to bed, the sooner our last day at the park would come....