Day 3 cont. - Christmas in the Village

The Give Kids the World Village offered SO MANY activities. There was something going on every morning and every night. We got a late start every morning because we were on California time. This created the domino effect and we missed most activities in the evening because we were still enjoying our time at the parks.

Thursday was our supposed "short day" because we wanted to return to the Village so we could eat at the Gingerbread house, check out the pool, & enjoy CHRISTMAS. It's Christmas every Thursday in the Give Kids the World Village. The volunteers do a little parade, Santa comes to visit & gives gifts, volunteers take photos of families with Santa, and there's snow pumped over the patio.

But Disney's Hollywood Studios had it's own list of enticing activities. We started at the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. They showed cool effects on three different sets. Indiana Jones running from the huge rolling ball and then watching them roll the ball back up the hill. They created a whole village scene with stuntmen falling off of buildings and sword fights. Finally they had a shooting scene that ended with a plane starting on fire. Lots of action. Lots of fun. Jayson wasn't especially fond of sitting in the seats, but we found that he ate fruit snacks and Dum Dum suckers quite well.

The other big show that we earmarked as a "must see" was the Lights Camera Action show with stunt race cars. Only two shows were scheduled that day. Once during the Indiana Jones Show & again at 4 p.m. We made it our finale event which put us in a time crunch to get dinner in before Santa left. But it was totally worth it.

What played out to be the absolute FAVORITE ride of Hollywood Studios AND all of Disney World combined was: the Rockin' Roller Coaster. The premise is that you are going to meet Aerosmith in their recording studio. The manager comes in to rush them off to their concert, but they don't want to disappoint their fans so we all get invited to come with them via a stretch limo. The coaster (ie. limo) takes off in a blast reaching 60 mph in just seconds.


This park also had the beloved Star Tours that we love in Disneyland. For souvenirs Jake selected a new light saber. He's maintained an ongoing collection for about 5 years now. Jessica fell in love with the Polly Pocket-type Star War Princess dolls. Only difference is that you can also POP the heads off. (just what we need - more pieces).



We also got to experience Toy Mania. This was new for us also. There was a two hour wait for this attraction. This is where Jacob's special pass came in VERY handy. We were pushed to the front of the line and only had to wait 15 minutes. You where 3D glasses and then are moved around to different game board of sorts. You have a blaster and you get to target different things. Points get tallied. Fun. Fun. Fun.