For our last day at Disney World, we chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We all loved it! I think that we could have easily spent two days there. Oh well... that just gives us a reason to go back. ;)
We got to the park a few minutes before it opened. As soon as we went through the turnstile, Wade and Clayton headed to get fast passes to Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster and to ride Tower of Terror. Drew and I went to sign the boys up for Jedi Training Academy.
After signing up our little Jedis, it was already time to use our fast passes to ride the Aerosmith Roller Coaster. Whoa Nelly - that sucker takes off right from the get go. It was a good time, for sure!
Next, it was time for Jedi Training Academy. Drew thought he was BIG stuff, and looked so cute right up front & center. They both challenged Darth Vadar to a light saber duel and won. It was one of the highlights of the trip for both of them.
Love that little jedi with his tongue hanging out. Ha!
We rode the Star Tours ride and then ate lunch. Star Tours made me feel icky. I'm just not meant to ride those simulation things. :/We ate lunch and then we all rode Tower of Terror. I regretted that parenting decision, for sure. My little Drew was not quite ready for that kind of ride. He was determined to ride it - just dying to be as big as Clayton is. He looked truly terrified the entire time. Once again, he didn't cry or scream or anything. He just held on to our hands for dear life, and his eyes were as big as saucers. He was a trooper and acted brave, but he sure wasn't about to ride it again. Bless his heart.
We stopped to meet Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates on the way to the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show...
The car stunt show was a big hit with Clayton and Drew. The "real" Lightning McQueen was there!
Drew was thrilled to see one of his favorite characters. :)
There were car stunts and motorcycle tricks complete with pyrotechnics...
which got two thumbs up from our biggest boy.
Next we used our fast passes to ride the Toy Story Mania ride. It was adorable, and the boys had a ball!
Once again, Wade was the High Scorer for the Carpenter clan. ;)
We went to the Pixar parade at 3:00. It had some of our favorite movie characters in it - the Incredibles, Bug's Life, Ratatouille, Up, and Toy Story. The Toy Story float was my favorite - movies just don't get much better than Toy Story in my book. :)
After the parade, Drew was ready to meet some more characters. We met Pooh, Mr. Incredible, and Elasti-Girl. 
We saw the Little Mermaid show (very cute!) and then headed to an early dinner at Hollywood & Vine. It was a pretty yummy buffet. Then we went to the Disney Live show. Drew LOVED that show. It was a combination of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and Handy Manny - all of his Disney Jr. favs. He was a happy little boy!
We went to the last Indiana Jones stunt show of the day. By this point, it was 6:45 and Drew hadn't had a nap. He only made it a few minutes into the show before he fell fast asleep. Clayton, however, was glued to the show, and it sparked a new Indiana Jones fascination. I've never seen the movies, but Wade says that he is too young to watch them. That hasn't stopped him from wearing his Indiana Jones hat and pretending to be an archeologist. ;)
We let Drew grab a stroller nap and then headed to find seats to the Fantasmic show. It was neat - fountains moving to the music, fireworks, etc. The middle was kind of dark - focusing on all of the villans from the Disney movies. :( It ended on a happy note, though, with all of the characters floating past the audience on boats. It was a fun finale to our trip. :)
What an amazing vacation we had! I definitely want to take the boys back when Owen is 3 or 4. I love that kids get something different out of Disney at every age. I can't imagine what our family dynamics will look like then... I think that this trip was really good for me. I have a lot of trouble with thinking about closing the door on the baby stage of our family. It pains my heart to think about the fact that my kids won't be little forever. However, this trip made me realize that having bigger kids is going to be A LOT of fun! I'm certainly not going to wish away a minute of this stage of life, but I definitely see us enjoying family vacations when the boys are older. The logistics are just so much easier when everyone is potty trained and pretty self sufficient. :)
We had an amazing time and still talk about our trip on a daily basis. I look forward to making many, many more memories with all 4 of my favorite boys!
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