The fourth day of our trip was Christmas. We weren't expecting much from Santa in the way of presents because he was in on the plans for the trip which was a pretty amazing present. However, we did have a Christmas tree in our villa and we brought our Christmas stockings just in case. Sure enough, when we woke up, we found our stockings full of candy along with a few small presents under the tree. We opened the three presents and found the Lego Harry Potter Wii game, a Disney Scene It board game, and a Toy Story 3 DVD. Jen and I also gave the kids some small gift bags with a couple of souvenirs from Magic Kingdom and $20 of extra spending money since they had already spent their money from Hanesbrands and Grandma & Grandpa Romney. Since we still had two more Disney parks to visit and Sea World, we figured they were going to see a few more things they wanted to buy.
Once we had eaten breakfast, visited Keaton's Korral for horse rides, and taken our requisite ride on the carousel (again all served by volunteers on Christmas day . . . amazing) we headed out for our planned visit to the Disney Hollywood Studios theme park. The fact that it was Christmas Day hadn't slowed anyone down from visiting the theme park. In fact, Magic Kingdom reached capacity around 10:00am that day so there were a fair amount of people at Hollywood Studios who couldn't get in to Magic Kingdom. It was packed as usual, but with our special passes from Give Kids the World, we were still able to get through a full day's worth of activities without spending the entire day waiting in line. Our first stop was the Beauty and the Beast show. It was really fun and everyone enjoyed seeing this story played out live on stage.
We then headed out to the Pixar area and rode the Toy Story Mania ride. It was really fun. I got the high score in the family despite having to play one-handed because my other hand was busy holding Parker's 3D glasses in front of his eyes because they were too large for his little head ;)
Our next stop was the animation building where we were able to meet several Disney characters. There were pretty long lines for each of the characters so each child was only getting a brief visit with each character. However, Disney really goes out of their way to make sure the families from Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World have a good experience. So, when we walked up to get a look at the characters, they immediately turned to the group of people waiting and told them that they had a VIP here, their "friend Parker", and that he was going to spend a few minutes with the character before the line would start moving again. The character would then turn their full attention to Parker and give him a big hug, shake his hand, pat him on the back, and get a few pictures. Then they would turn their attention to the rest of us. Kelsey and Connor got to spend a few moments with them and we would get a family picture. It was really fun. We saw Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Frozone, Lots-o-Huggin' Bear, and Mickey Mouse in his costume from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Parker, wearing his new Spiderman shirt, got compliments from all the characters. Frozone especially was interested in Parker's web-slinging technique and they took a moment to compare notes (Frozone slings ice but seemed to think the Spiderman technique would come in handy). Lots-o gave Parker one of his signature hugs. This was also Parker's first visit with Mickey Mouse and he was really looking forward to it. Mickey did not disappoint.
Then we moved on to the highlight of the day: the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy. As you may know, Kelsey is a major Star Wars fan. Connor also to a lesser but still significant extent. We had a reservation for them at the academy that afternoon. They were brought up to the stage area and were given Jedi robes, light sabers, and were assigned a Jedi instructor. In the middle of learning some new light saber moves, the class was interrupted by Darth Vader and Darth Maul who arrived through a cloud of smoke and attempted to lure the young Padawans to the dark side. Kelsey and Connor then had to use their new skills to defend themselves against Darth Maul. Needless to say, they were a bit intimidated but they held their own and managed to keep from joining the dark side (despite Connor's natural affinity toward the villain in every story). In the end, the Sith were unsuccessful getting any of the young Padawans to join them and left. Kelsey and Connor were then given certificates naming them official Padawan learners and were encouraged to continue honing their Jedi skills. It was really cool.
The rest of the day we spent watching the Indiana Jones stunt show, the Pixar Block Party Bash parade featuring many of the characters from our favorite Pixar movies, and capped off the day with the Fantasmic! show which was really cool. It was a fun way to spend Christmas day. Once again we were grateful and humbled by all the volunteers, staff, and cast members who spent their Christmas day giving our family a magical experience.
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