Celebrating the New Year, Hollywood Style

January 1st brought a new year and our first day in the parks. I cannot explain how much I love kicking off a new year at Disney. We headed to Hollywood Studios in style. Since we were not staying on property yet, we decided to drive to HS. Brad chauffeured us around and got us there before the gates opened. It was a great start to a new year and our first day.

Last year was our first trip to Disney when the Christmas decorations were still up. Last year it was cold and felt like Christmas to me so I loved the decorations. This year, while they were still beautiful to me, they seemed so out of place because it was HOT. I am so used to cold weather at Christmas, I cannot image living in a warm climate at that time of year!

The tree outside Hollywood Studios...

Chad, Claudia, Cooper, and I planned to hit Rockin' Roller Coaster first. I've never ridden it because I was always terrified for my back but after watching you tube videos, I decided it would likely be ok. We also decided to make Cooper ride. He was scared but he did it. I think in the end he liked it but he would not get back on. When we got in line we had to wait about 10 minutes. When we came out, it was already a LONG line.

The view from the line. I never ride this but Claudia and Chad LOVE it.

With my girl waiting to ride...

I loved Rockin' Roller Coaster. Now I know why this is everyone's favorite ride.

Kristal and I took Maddie and Cooper to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We haven't watched this show since our first trip to Disney. I had forgotten how massive she was...

Cooper and Maddie...

We were waiting for Beauty and the Beast when this CM walked by. I thought it was so cute because Maddie, in a very authoritative voice said "Excuse Me, Ma'am!" and walked over to trade a pin. She was so so cute to me when she did that.

I love that Cooper still LOVES the characters. He is always happy to wait to see his favorite guys and I am happy to help because I love seeing how he has grown up through my pictures. He was happy to see his buddy Handy Manny...

Jake was there as well which made him very happy.

The crowd was much lower than we expected for New Year's Day. Other than the Movie ride, at least one of us rode every single thing at HS.

Cooper and Maddie had lots of fun at Disney Junior, Live on Stage...

Wreck It Ralph was also there!

When I joined these guys at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground, this is what the adults were up to...

Miss Maddie needed a little rest...

This was the first time we had ever seen this guy...

I always think it is crazy how we've been to WDW so many times and there are still many things we have yet to do. We had never ridden the Backlot Studio Tour until this year. I loved it. It was so interesting to see all of the movie effects.

This is the plane Walt flew back and forth to Florida when he was purchasing all of the land to create MY favorite place.

One thing I loved about the Backlot Tour was seeing all of the props from movies. The kids were so excited to see the chicken coop from the Hannah Montana movie.

I love love love being at Disney with my sweet family!

And we all loved being there with this sweet family!

Just for Paul, we took this picture to send to him.

Cooper went exploring with BKM while Chad and I walked in some stores to help Miss Claudia spend some of her Disney money. She always loves to shop at Hollywood Studios.

I always get caught up watching the little street shows they do at HS. They are always so hilarious.

We take pictures with this guy every year...

Cooper was excited to see these guys again...

They had some fun with Maddie. She was hiding her Lady behind her back but they would have none of that!

Two of Cooper's favorites...

We rode Star Tours for the first time this year and we loved it! On our first ride, Cooper was the spy, which got him all excited. It is his new favorite ride.

We had dinner at Sci-Fi Drive In. It was very good and the kids had a ball in the car. We had eaten here last year for the first time and it was another good choice.

We kicked off our trip by opening and closing our first park.  We got to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. I just tried to enjoy the light show and not worry about pictures. They are so amazing. We had a great first day at Hollywood Studios and were excited to see what magic the rest of our week would bring.

We had 3 very tired children and 4 very tired adults as we headed back to the van. We were very happy we had driven and didn't have to wait for a bus! All in all, it was a GREAT start to our first day of 2013!