Weekend in Pictures: The Cars 2 Experience

This weekend, we finally watched “Cars 2” in 3D at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, then went to the “Cars 2 World Grand Prix” outdoor attraction, which was across the street at Hollywood High.  When we arrived, we didn’t know that theatre was hosting a VIP showing of “The Lion King” re-released in 3D, which shifted all of the other shows, eliminating one of them.  I was very glad that we arrived early and bought our tickets, ensuring a decent place in line and great seats in the theatre.  The second shot above is one of my favorites.  We were waiting in front of the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store on the Walk of Fame when Dominic decided to stand in front of the store.  He looks like he’s on some kind of covert mission, checking to see if anyone is tailing him!

It was quite a wait before the VIP fanfare was cleared and sidewalks were unblocked in front of the theatre.  Once we got our wristbands, I think we finally felt like we were getting somewhere.  I love the fact that Dominic’s second time at a movie theatre was in a grand one like El Capitan.  Before the movie came on, we were treated to a performance by the house organist, which was fantastic.

The best part of the day was the “Cars 2 World Grand Prix” attraction, which all of the movie goers were treated to after the movie.  This allowed Dominic to see all of the images from the movie suddenly come to life, letting him run around and actually interact with everything he just saw.  We took the shot below from the garage where we parked, right next to Hollywood High.  It was nice to get a shot with no crowds, just to show how awesome the space was.  It consisted of all the locations from the movie: Radiator Springs, Paris, Tokyo, Porto Corsa, and London.  I think I took a similar shot of Big Ben when I was last in London (in the movie, they call it Big Bentley).

I wish we could have raced on the track, but Dominic still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of pedaling yet.  That still didn’t overshadow my favorite part of the day, which was seeing my son’s reaction to his favorite character from the movie, Lightning McQueen, larger than life.  Here is a video of when we first entered the attraction, followed by a picture of his proud moment and our free picture which we took in “Tokyo”.  Hope you all had a great weekend!