Disney World - Hollywood Studios

On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast at the Hollywood and Vine restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Disney Junior Play 'n Dine was our first "character dining" experience. Handy Manny, June from Little Einsteins, Jake the Neverland Pirate, and Special Agent Oso were all present to welcome the kids and treat them to musical entertainment during our meal. Ethan was scared to death. Jake, the friendly pirate, was the first to come out of nowhere. He startled Ethan and left him in tears.

Minding his own business, eating his banana...

Then, BAM, some freaky pirate kid is standing over him. Poor Ethan. :) 

Gracie's expressions are pretty funny, too. I think she's thinking if she uses her "ignore" tactic, he'll go away. No such luck. He kept coming back, I'm assuming to see if the kids had warmed up to him yet.

Basically, Ethan was not a fan of the characters coming up to him, touching him, looking in his direction... We tried to show Ethan that there really was nothing to be afraid of, but he was not having it. Gracie was more hesitant than I would have guessed she'd be, but with her brother crying and clinging to his Memaw and parents, I don't blame her! The kids did eat well, and I ate a little too well... The food was very good, and there was plenty of it!

Sean zoomed out to capture Ethan's expression. Ha!

I thought maybe the backside of Special Agent Oso would be less intimidating. Nope!

He was all smiles as long as the characters kept their distance!

(Photography by Gracie!)

I believe that Ethan forgave us for putting him through breakfast when we reached our next stop, Lightening McQueen's Garage. Even though we had similar cars at our resort, he was so excited to see his favorites: Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater.

Hollywood Studios was the perfect place for Ethan. After seeing his favorite cars, we headed over to meet his other favorites. Ethan is a huge fan of Toy Story; he absolutely loves Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the main characters from the movie. In fact, Ethan wants to "be Buzz" most days. Thanks to his older cousin, Austin, we have a set of Woody pajamas and a set of Buzz pajamas. They don't just have the characters on them, though. Oh, no... they are made to look like the outfits these characters wear, so he literally gets to dress as Woody and Buzz. It can be quite an ordeal to get him to take these pajamas off when it's time to get dressed each morning. He just wants to "be Woody" or "be Buzz". He's even perfected the act of popping his wings out and using his arm laser.

Ethan didn't cry when we met Woody and Buzz, but he seemed to prefer looking at them through the window over being in the room with them. 

Other highlights of the day included Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage, Disney Junior-Live on Stage, and Toy Story Midway Mania, an interactive ride that was a favorite we all kept coming back to.

Another highlight of the day was the Harbor Attack show that Sean and I participated in. I never, ever would have volunteered on my own, but my mother-in-law threw my hand up when volunteers were asked for! I didn't have a clue what I was even "volunteering" for... We were given suits to wear and instructions to follow based on our individual parts. I was the captain of our ship and Sean was the deckhand. We had to "act" out our scene in front of an audience, which was then edited and played over a large monitor to show how movie scenes are filmed and pieced together. I can honestly say I had a blast, so thanks, Cynthia!

I was a cheerful captain!

Once the shooting began, Sean was instructed to act crazy, wave his hands in the air, and run around. I look way too happy about this attack!

Uh, oh... There's a missile headed in our direction...

We were soaked by the end of this, and of course, I didn't heed the warning about using the hood. This was definitely lots of fun, mostly because I was with Sean! Our kids thought it was pretty neat, too!

We ended our busy day visiting Epcot... :)