The first park we visited was Disney Hollywood studios. This post will cover our two visits to the park and both our photos and the professional ones. I will describe each listed section of the park and the rides and attractions in them.
There had recently been some big changes to the park with the backlot area (that had contained the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area and the motor stunt show) had been removed and the Star Wars areas added.
Entrance
 |
| Fantasia Hedges at the park entrance |
 |
| Hollywood Studios entrance |
 |
| Hollywood Studios |
 |
| Hollywood Studios Map |
Hollywood Boulevard
The park started in the Hollywood Boulevard area. The main feature of the Boulevard was th
e Great Movie Ride which was located behind the central stage. The Boulevard featured many shops (as shown on the map above).
 |
| The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences - Hall of Fame |
 |
| The Boulevard |
 |
| On the Boulevard at night |
 |
| The same shot at day |
The Great Movie Ride
 |
| The Great Movie Ride |
I wasn't sure about this ride - it was a trip through classic cinema and sounded like it could end up a little boring, but it was remarkably well done and was one of my favourite slow rides. It started in a cart moving through movie scenes starting with animatronics of some famous movie scenes such as Singin' in the Rain, Mary Poppins and Footlight Parade. The ride car has a ride-on cast member who commentates as the ride progresses.
The animatronics were pretty impressive and looked fairly realistic with many discrete movements in multiple directions making them look more realistic than the old jerky ones I was expecting.
The ride next enters a gangster section and the an actor hijacks the car and makes a getaway through a western area then a sci-fi area with scenes from Aliens and into a Raiders of the Lost Ark style adventure set. The gangster tries to steal gem from the temple and is caught in a plume of smoke and replaced with a skeleton and the original cast member returns to take over the end of the ride.
The ride continues through a horror set of mummies and then through the jungle for Tarzan and to Casablanca, Fantasia and then a big Wizard of Oz scene.
Overall the ride was pretty cool and later I found that there is a second path where the car is hijacked by a bank robber instead of the gangster. Most of the photos we took didn't turn out well due to the reduced light.
 |
| The inside path to the cars |
 |
| The Wizard of Oz |
 |
| A blurry shot of Mary Poppins |
 |
| Singin' in the blurry rain |
 |
| Gangster Mumsi hijacks the car |
Center Stage
Center Stage
hosted many shows but it was in a big, open concrete area
and so it was really too hot to hang around for too long and so we missed most of the shows. The main one we saw was the Star Wars Parade, which had a big firework burst that always made everyone in the park jump when it went off with a concussive boom.
 |
| Center Stage - Darth Vader and Storm Troopers |
 |
| Storm Troopers and Captain Phasma |
 |
| Kylo Ren arrives |
 |
| The Cast |
Echo Lake
Echo Lake was just off of Hollywood Boulevard and it was one of the first areas we stopped to take a breather and survey the map. There are a few things in this area:
The Lake
 |
| The Dinosaur - He blew steam and at night his eyes lit up |
 |
| The S.S. Down the Hatch |
Meet and Greet - Olaf
The first thing we did at the park was a Meet and Greet with Olaf from Frozen. I wasn't sure how excited the kids would be as they weren't huge fans of Frozen, but there were lots of big smiles and hugs and we got some great photos from the PhotoPass Memory Maker option - at the end of the photos being taken the photographer scans your pass and the photos are then available on your account online.
 |
| Big smiles and hugs from Tomas |
 |
| And Alana - as the kids swarm him |
 |
| Big hugs for Cameron |
 |
| The kids with Olaf |
 |
| The kids with Olaf |
Star Tours - The Adventure Continues
This ride is a 3D simulator which
simulates a ride on a space authority transporter through several movie scenes including the Death Star. It was pretty cool to visit the scenes and feel like we were racing through the areas familiar from the movies.
 |
| The AT-AT Walker was visible from a long way away |
 |
| Since the photos from inside didn't work due to low-light, here's a BB-8 cupcake. |
Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
This was a stunt show that was set in the Indiana Jones universe and included exploding vans, kung-fu fights and an airplane. The sets were impressive and it was an enjoyable show, despite the heat.
 |
| Indiana Jones explores the crypt - dodging pits, falling axes, fire and a rolling boulder |
 |
| The crypt set slid aside revealing a market place as the second set |
 |
| The gymnastic bad guys arrive |
 |
| Jones takes on the fighters |
 |
| Fighting on the tower |
 |
| The truck explodes |
 |
| And burns... |
 |
| The market set moves aside to reveal an army base |
 |
| Indiana and the tough guy face off in front of the plane |
 |
| The ammo dump explodes |
 |
| Followed by the plane and there fuel tank |
Other
The
Echo lake area also housed a few more things, such as the Frozen Sing-Along and the Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple show - which allowed kids to train as Jedi Padawans and participate in a stage show. This booked out really quickly so we didn't get a chance to participate.
No comments:
Post a Comment