Disney Magic, Part 2: Hollywood Studios

Our first day of Disney magic was technically Monday evening, the day after Christmas. However, that included a stroll through Epcot with the whole family until the babies were worn out and ready for bed. At that point, my mom and step-dad took Jackson and Amelia back to the hotel for bed, and the rest of us went on to the Magic Kingdom until the wee hours of the morning.

With that said, we certainly were not early to rise the next morning. It was nice to have enjoyed a night full of rides and have that out of our system, since the kids were not going to ride Space and/or Splash Mountain!

Tuesday was a cool and rainy day, so we decided to go to Hollywood Studios. On our walk over to the park it started to pour down rain and lightening. We ended up seeking shelter at the ESPN Zone and waited for the rain to pass. Two beers and many arcade games later, we were finally on our way over to the park!

As we walked in, we caught the end of their afternoon parade aka the first Buzz and Woody sighting! Jackson started waving away and saying, "hi, friends, hi!". It was the sweetest thing to this momma's ears!

We made our way through the park and quickly learned that the week after Christmas is the busiest week for Disney. This information would have been good to know when we booked the trip, but we made do. Since we've all been to Disney so many time before, we were really happy just being there and walking the streets.

Since the lines were hours long for just about everything, we decided to check out the characters. To be honest, this is something we've never really done before. When we were little, the characters just walked around the parks. You didn't have to wait and stand in hour long lines for your picture or anything like it is now.

Pooh and Mickey were the characters of the hour, so my mom and sister took Jackson to Pooh (his line was much shorter) and I waited in line for Magical Mickey while the guys tried to get Fast Passes for Buzz & Woody's ride.

Side note: The Buzz & Woody ride was nearly impossible to get Fast Passes for. The last morning, Mr. walked over to the park at opening and ran for the pass. Our returning time was 7PM that night. And had I known that the ride was basically an arcade that Jackson was way too young for, we would have skipped it all together!

Luckily, the two character lines were close enough for me to see Jackson meet Pooh for the first time. I shed a tear. It was the sweetest thing ever to watch him run up and give Pooh the biggest hug. Pooh was my favorite character growing up, I had a slight obsession.

The magic and sweetness never wore off for any of us. Jackson loved meeting every single character. He hugged and kissed them all and called them friends. I don't think I'll ever forget that part of the trip, or the excitement of meeting Buzz Lightyear and Woody - that had us all crying.

Next up on the character list was Lightning McQueen and Mater.

And then, in true Disney magic, we saw the most spectacular Christmas light show and experienced our first "snow" of the week.

The sunset brought a crispness to the air and it was time to get the babies back to the warm hotel room and tucked into bed...and then it was round 2 of sibling fun as we headed to Epcot for our beer tour around the world.  Unfortunately, I have no photos of the sibling pyramid we build in front of the Epcot ball or any photos for that matter.  I guess what happens at Disney after hours, stays at Disney:)