It’s another great day – really hot out here by the pool (are you all very jealous?)
Today we are going to have lunch at the Swan and Dolphin then head over to the ICE exhibition at the Gaylord Palms later. But first what happened at Disney yesterday I hear you ask.
We left the villa about midday and drove to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM for those still struggling with change). It was really hot as we went into the Park but also really busy. We headed down Hollywood Blvd through the shops towards the sorcerers hat and the Little Mermaid ride. Sadly, the standby entrance for Mermaid was full for the 1:20 show so we had to leave it. Instead we headed to the great movie ride. Being busy they had both carts running so with a little barrier hopping we got ourselves into the queue for the first cart. Why did we do this? Because for years they’ve run only 1 cart and it goes through the Gangster interactive routine but those seasoned Great movie riders amongst you will recall that there is also a Cowboy interactive routine. Since we had not experienced this in years we wanted to! We got seats at the very front of the cart, although the Cowboy does not pick on the riders the way the Gangster does. There are no changes to the ride. We spotted the hidden Mickey and enjoyed the ride as ever.
After this we decided to go through “One Man’s Dream”; a kind of exhibition telling the story of Walt and the theme parks. It has recently been re-furb’d and has many very old and valuable artefacts like original cartoon cameras to show perspective and many old toys and models. There are models of most of the theme park castles that were to scale and used by the Imagineers and builders to create the real thing. There is a short movie in this attraction but we didn’t watch it.
We still did not mange to ride Toy Story Mania as the standby wait time was 120 minutes. This attraction is about 18 months old now yet still pulls in the crowds and we are still yet to experience it. Instead we headed on over to the Backlot Tour (an old fave). We were right at the front of the entrance when they closed the previous tour so we had a little wait time but were then at the front. We reminisced about the time when Paul starred in the Pearl Harbour scene and I stitched him up the with engine room part where he got dumped on by 1000 gallons of water. I don’t think we ever posted those pics – but they were fab. We got good seats on the tram for catastrophe canyon and the props boneyard etc (there are some pics posted of this as well as various others including me in silly hats and one for you Mark – I almost bought you a T shirt but at Disney prices you just get a pic).
We then looked in the Christmas shop and even had to give the Muppets 3D a miss as it had a long wait. So before going over to Epcot we had one final thing to do – The American Idol Experience. We made our way to the holding area where the pre-amble was taking place (some guy chivvying up the crowd and a cameraman filming). We eventually went in and managed to get good seats in the centre of the row and with small folks in front so had a very clear view of the stage. The 3 contestants were Jamie (a youth Pastor), Lauren (a newly wed) and Daniel (a 17 year old who looked about 25!!!). The first 2 were OK but Daniel stole the show. A standing ovation from about half the audience and even the Simon Cowell-a-like judge had to say good things. The guy was pretty awesome and stands a real chance of getting into next seasons Idol. Of course there is no Simon Cowell as a judge next season as he is set to launch X-Factor in the US.
We came out of Idol at about 4:30 and left the park straight away. We really wanted to stay and see the Osborne family spectacle of lights but having only 3 days left on our passes we need to hop and make the most of them so, after a pit stop at McD’s for some scran (we really do need to start eating better this trip) we went into Epcot. By this time it was starting to get dark and we headed straight onto Spaceship Earth. There was even a queue for this but it moved quickly and we were on in minutes. We are not as keen on Dame Judy as we were Jeremy Irons (narration for non Disney fan readers) but the interactive video building bit at the end is definitely a good addition. Paul had the idea to select Japanese as our language so that our answers would be truly random and we would get a different video (as we seem to end up with the same ones) but in the end we opted for English. The vid is posted here on the blog for your entertainment!
When we got off Spaceship Earth we went over to the one thing we HAD to do at Epcot – Captain EO! After 15 years it is back. MJ at his best in glorious 3D. I for one was gutted when this ride got replaced by ‘Honey I Shrunk the Audience’ so had to visit. No one knows how long Disney will keep it this time around. It had not been digitally remastered but they had added the hydraulic seat movement and other “4D” effects such as air blasting from vents, which definitely made it better. I’m not sure all of the audience appreciated it as some were laughing (loudly I might add) at the 80’s fashion and styling. Paul and I though, loved it. Captain EO is king!
Being after 7pm by now a few rides were sadly shut, like the Land and Ellen’s Universe of Energy. Soarin’ had its usual long wait but the Sea’s was open so we wandered past the animated seagulls and rode Nemo. Not much to say about this ride. It’s designed for kids but is very well put together. Very impressive is the way the Nemo characters are projected into a real aquarium as other real fish and dolphins swim around.
We came out and wanted to watch the fireworks but it was 8pm and they were not until 9 and we were both pretty shattered so decided to leave it. We exited the park and came straight home. After watching some TV (Family Guy – v funny) we went to bed about 10pm. Still not managing to stay up very late – we need to change that ahead of our all nighter to go and see the Shuttle launch!
Well, I must go and get ready now, need to pack warm clothes for the ICE exhibition.
