WDW Hollywood Studios Highlights

Hollywood Studios is all about the magic of movies and TV. Compared to other parks, there are a lot of shows, which we discovered to be a bit tricky for planning. We also have some favorite rides here, and this year, there were a few extra Star Wars touches.

One show is the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, where "Indy" performs stunts and scenes from Raiders of the Lost Arc along with explanations and audience participation.

The best show is the Beauty and the Beast musical. I think only Belle and Gaston were actually singing live, but the dancing and costumes are beautiful, and it's one of my favorite stories anyway. This year, Mark and I both noticed how buff the Gaston actor is--we figured that must have been a tough casting job: sings, dances, looks like a body builder...anyway, I got some decent photos.

Two smaller-scale shows are Voyage of the Little Mermaid (no pics) and The Magic of Disney Animation, where we got an explanation of how characters are illustrated. The set for this one was really cool--look closely to see the fun props.

There's also a stunt auto show, but we decided to skip that one this trip. Instead, we spent some time exploring the park. For example, there's an area called Streets of America that all looks like movie sets:

See Greedo walking by?

Storm Trooper crossing

Just singin' in the rain!

Out of the rides, we have a few favorites. One is the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, which was closed for refurbishment on our last trip, so we were particularly excited to ride it this time.

Another is the Tower of Terror, which has a very cool queue.

The Tower of Terror is the tall
building in the distance.

We also enjoyed the newly redone Star Tours, which is now a unique ride every time. (No pics of that one, though!)

The Great Movie Ride is also very cool. This year, I took a bunch of pics of the building it's housed in, and we took time to look at all the signatures in the sidewalk.

Another must-do at this park is the Muppet-Vision 3D movie. I love the fountain in the courtyard outside, and there are lots of goofy little touches in the area.

For the first time, we did the Toy Story Midway Mania! ride. In the past, we'd avoided it because of the long lines, but this year, we got a FastPass+ reservation, and we really liked it. The queue area is adorable, and there's an audio animatronic Mr. Potato Head.

Finally, here's a few more pics in the park:

We should have bought these hats...

Mark with Mary Tyler Moore

Me with Walt Disney