Disney Hollywood

Day three was a magical day.... not because it was all three of our birthdays, but because we were headed to "The Happiest Place on Earth". Disney Hollywood!

We arrived early to Disney and took all our documentation over to the customer service window. We needed to show Nick's birth certificate and both mine and Greg's drivers license as proof of our birthday's all being on August 1st. She handed us our three Happy Birthday buttons and then handed Leslie her "I'm Celebrating" button. I chuckled because I could tell by the look on her face she was NOT going to wear an I'm celebrating button. Those of you who know Leslie know "the look". Ha ha.

Our first stop was the Rock n' Roller coaster. This roller coast was amazing and it kept getting better each time we road it. The very last time we road it they played the song Sweet Emotion and it was incredible. The coaster took off so fast that it took your stomach the same way a very steep hill would have done. Then the entire ride was in the dark so you had no clue which direction you were going to head in next. There were glow in the dark signs and they played Aerosmith music loudly during the whole ride. We now feel every roller coaster should have classic rock music blasting as you ride it. We LOVED this ride.

Our next ride was the Tower of Terror. I am afraid of heights and both Greg and I do not like the feeling of falling, so needless to say we were not super pumped about this ride. We both were glad we rode it in the end. The first ride was terrifying because of the anticipation of the drop. Once we realized it was nothing like the Drop Zone at Kings Island we started to have fun with it.

The ride is designed to look like a hotel from the late 30's with a haunted elevator. They have the ride programmed so the ride sequence is different each time you ride it. We rode it 3 times and each time we didn't know when it was going to drop. Our last ride they made it look like the ride was over but then the elevator went up really fast and dropped one last time. You can't help but laugh while riding this ride.

We watched a Little Mermaid show that made you feel as if you were really underwater and the seats we sat in squirted water on us during the show to make us feel like we were really in the show. It was pretty cute.

We visited the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set too......

We saw a Star Wars show and rode in a Star Wars flight simulator.

They had a Narnia exhibit but we were not overly impressed with it. We did get to see the stone Aslan stood on as well as some of the costumes worn in the movie.

We drove all the way to Florida just to visit NYC. :)

We watched an Indiana Jones stunt show as well as a Muppet 3D show which I personally loved. They made you feel like you were sitting in the actual Muppet theater. The old grouchy guys were sitting up in their seats and interacted throughout the show too. I have a soft spot for the Muppets so I loved it.

Greg and Nick had a little thing they did with their birthday buttons. When someone said Happy Birthday (which was at least 100 times that day) they would smack their buttons, make the peace sign with their hands, and say thank you. Les and I acted like we didn't know them and kept walking. :)

We ate ice cream cones from Hollywood Scoops and then called it a day at 5:00 which is hilarious because we pitched a fit that the park closed early at 7:00 that night. We were so very hot, tired and sore and we needed a nap desperately. We had a great time and we did it all so it was time to go.



We drove back to the hotel and Greg, Les and I all took a nap while Nick built his new legos from Lego World. We slept for over 2 hours and Ben started getting angry with us.... he had been in the hotel the entire day and he wanted some entertainment.

We went out to eat at a really good Mexican restaurant. They had an amazing buffet AND they had pizza on the menu for Nick; everyone was happy.

The strip near our hotel had the most hilarious souvenir shops on it. There was a store with a huge wizard on top of it as well as one with a huge mermaid lady on it. Greg said the mermaid lady scared him and he may have nightmares from it. We drove to a few of these oddly advertised stores and found the same old Florida souvenirs that are found in every other Florida store..... alligator heads, baby sharks in a jar, tiny shirts with inappropriate sayings on them. Ben especially liked their beach towels.

Each year we visit Florida on our Birthdays we have eaten at Crabby Joe's. We were rather sad this year that we wouldn't see Crabby Joe's..... but look what we found instead. :)

We had one more thing on our "to do" list from Disney....... find a flat penny machine. Nick and Leslie have a flat penny collection that they have had for years. Nick really wanted a penny with Disney World on it. We saw one in Downtown Disney while we were there the night before, but we didn't have cash on us. I told Nick, "Don't worry, we will get one."

Well, it was 10:45 at night and we still had not bought a flat penny. I asked around a few of the shops hoping there was an off chance there were other flat penny machines. ( I REALLY didn't want to go back to Downtown Disney). A lady told us she thought she saw one at The Golden Coral so we drove over to see. The lady there told me she had lived in Florida for 32 years and had raised her kids here and she had never heard of flat pennies.

Sooooo, off to Downtown Disney we went. We were terribly rushed because we knew the stores would be closing soon and we were leaving in the morning for Siesta Key so it was now or never for the flat penny. Greg pulled up out front and the three of us jumped out. We ran right away to Disney Quest because we remembered seeing a flat penny machine there yesterday. We were so excited to see the machine because we would have the penny and be back to the van within a few minutes.

The machine however only made Disney Quest pennies and not Disney World pennies. We ran, jumped and zig zagged our way around all the people through Downtown. We ran all the way through Pleasure Island to the Marketplace and finally found a store with a machine with Disney World pennies. The store was about to close and I almost hugged and kissed the ladies working there. Nick and Leslie are now proud owners of Disney World flat pennies. :)


It was a great birthday and we filled it up with great memories. We woke at 6:30 that morning and fell into bed at 12:30 the next day. What a day! I know Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth, but we head to the beach tomorrow and to ME.... that is the happiest place on earth. :) Can't wait!