The final day of the Florida leg of my trip came around on Thursday, April 19, 2012. My family and I had spent the last four days at the Disney resort – hitting the other three theme parks over the course of three of the days. Although my Mom, Bob, Denise and her kids, and Ashleigh and Silas would be hanging out at Walt Disney World (specifically at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) the following day, but that time I’d be on the other coast at Disneyland and California Adventure. Aaron would be leaving the area and meeting some friends elsewhere in Florida the next day as well. So this was our last shot at getting to the Hollywood Studios park.
We didn’t exactly hit the ground running that morning, but after Denise and Ashleigh fed their kids at the World Premiere Food Court, they boarded the bus with Aaron and me around 10:30am. Mom and Bob stayed back with the three young ones. It was nearly 11 by the time we got there, but this ended up being enough time to see everything that was on the must-do list.
The gang arrives at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The obvious first choice was to get to Toy Story Midway Mania! over in the Pixar Place section of the park. This was the first time that all three of the others got to partake in this ride. As during my last visit to Disney World, the line was off the hook and it took about an hour to get through it. It’s always much more manageable at Disneyland. This was my 7th spin on the ride between the two parks, and I came within an ant’s eyelash of besting my previous high score of 159,000 with 158,900. Defeating Ashleigh’s 112,100, this takes my record to 6-1.
Penn & Teller would be proud
Ash and me with Mr. Potato Head (right)
Aaron and Denise with the same feller
After we saw a lady pose with him with an incredibly cheesy smile, Denise attempts to re-create it
Hers wasn’t cheesy enough, so I gave it a whirl and move from cheesy to creepy
As we left the area, we did a walk-through of the museum in the Animation Courtyard, called Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream (subtitled From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom). I always enjoy looking around at such things and seeing the various artifacts and small-scale models of the parks’ rides.
Filming Walt in the Disney museum
Ashleigh attends the opening day at Walt Disney World with Roy and Mickey
Down Sunset Boulevard, we picked up a FastPass to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and then lined up for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It had a short line and we were out of there by 1pm. I was very pleased to see that the veiled scenery in the Fifth Dimension scene that I had heartily disapproved of during my last visit, had been restored back to its original form. I was also excited that I also was able to finally locate the faux Twilight Zone prop, the To Serve Man book from the episode of the same title.
Ashleigh and me at the Tower of Terror
A re-creation of one of the ominous Tower poses that I used to take of Ashleigh and Briana (one example seen here)
Finding the prop: To Serve Man
The big drop. Nothing saves us from it.
Lunch was served via our incredible Disney Dining Plan at the Starring Rolls Cafe. Ashleigh and I combined our meal tickets and shared a turkey sandwich and some spicy tuna sushi, capped off with a tirimasu. Have I mentioned that the dining plan includes dessert??
En route to the next ride, we swung by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Ashleigh paired up with Betty White.
“Neeeecy, I’m home!”
It looks as if Art Carney is saying, “Don’t touch me. I’m sterile!”
Ashleigh seems pleased with this wig and her chocolate milk
Feeling stunning in one of the hats in a nearby shop
I had ridden the new epic 3-D Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at Disneyland, but had yet to see it here. Adam had routinely reminded us that there were 50 (although the actual number is 54) possible ride variations and so far I had only seen one. This one opened with the same Darth Vader opening, but I got to see a new middle section involving the pod race, and the coolest closing of the Naboo fighter plane tail crashing through our window. 52 variations to go. I enjoyed this more, and was even happier with the 15-minute wait versus the 90-minute wait at Disneyland last time. By the way, did you know that this ride was located in a section of the park known as Echo Lake? I didn’t either.
Wearing the new Real 3D glasses in Star Tours
Aaron mounts the Speeder Bike outside of Star Tours
Next up was the perennial favorite Muppet Vision 3-D. I was anxious to make the comparison to its west coast counterpart the next day. Mentally I noted that the sound in this one needed some sprucing up.
Something about being near Muppet Vision 3-D makes everyone get a li’l silly
Somehow The Great Movie Ride always brings back great memories of my visits to the park when it was the Disney-MGM Studios. Virtually unchanged from start to finish since its opening day, it’s one I consistently enjoy. When the ride ended, we came out to the start of a rain downpour – as well as an employeed taking an electronic survey about what I thought of the ride. I hurriedly gave my affirmative answers, and then we darted for shelter in a restroom on Sunset Boulevard.
That beautiful entrance to The Great Movie Ride
Taking the post-ride survey in the rain
We were trapped there, but then directly boarded The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster using our FastPasses just after 3:30. This was our last ride of the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The four of us departed and caught a bus to the Walt Disney World Contemporary Resort. Many times over the years has our monorail passed through the lobby of this hotel, but I had never actually been inside. The reason for this visit was to have a nice dinner at The Wave restaurant. Our reservations were at 5pm, but we got there a little early and had drinks at the bar before the others showed up. Mom & Bob arrived in time with the three kiddies.
Speeding through the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in our limo
Grabbing drinks at the Wave bar, while waiting for Mom and Bob to show up with all of the kids
It was a good meal, mine consisting of an appetizer of lump-crab Florida rock shrimp cakes, citrus-marinated North Florida shrimp, and Calico scallops, and main course including Grilled Beef Tenderloin with shallot butter, potato gateau, and spring ratatouille – plus the Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon. For dessert we had a sampler with vanilla cheesecake with Florida strawberries, white chocolate crème brulee with raspberry macaroons, and olive oil-infused chocolate truffle mousse with salted caramel sauce. It all sounds so fancy. Megan had a multi-colored grilled cheese sandwich and Silas ate crayons.
Fancy Schmancy Wave dinner
Megan seems a little embarrassed about eating this grilled cheese sandwich
Silas feels secure that he is doing the right thing with this crayon
One of those special moments when you get to enjoy smoking a crayon with your grandson
Adam and Ashleigh have finished the main course, so they piddle around with the camera as they wait for dessert
I attempt to feed Silas a bottle…
…but he has other plans for after the meal. Also noteworthy is the waiter walkig by in the background, looking like a prime candidate to be tripped.
It took about 90 minutes to get through dinner and then we boarded the Walt Disney World Monorial directly from the hotel. This too brought back memories of our many Disney visits of yore, as there generally isn’t a whole lot of reason to board the monorail these days since the busses take guests directly from the resorts to the parks. Walt would roll over in his grave if he knew that the ‘illusion’ that the Magic Kingdom was on its own island was now broken.
Silas can’t help but look adorable on the monorail
Adam and Megan don’t quite appreciate the experience of the monorail like us old-timers
We got into the park around 7pm, and headed directly to Cinderella Castle so that I could get some nice pics of Ashleigh, Silas, and myself in front of it. I think we were both very pleased with the results, and Ashleigh would eventually submit hers to Parents magazine in hopes of getting Silas on the cover. She didn’t win, but it sure got a lot of votes!
A prize-worthy photograph
I was very happy with our picture as well
There’s something awfully cute about this
Megan looks adorable in her pink Mickey ears as well. Adam looks cute even without imposter ears.
We were all anxious to get Megan onto Splash Mountain, and now that we had learned the ‘trick’ of an extra pair of socks in her shoes bringing her up to the height requirement, we were primed to do so. We grabbed FastPasses that would get us on the ride about an hour later. Then we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean one more time. Although Silas was awake going into this one, he still fussed a bit at the cannon-fire. Megan just didn’t like the ‘dark’.
Ready to set sail with the pirates once again
Megan’s fear of the ‘dawk’
Those perky singing pirates
The fabulous dirty-footed pirate
There was a surprising wait of about 20 minutes for The Jungle Cruise, but it was a fun night boat ride and the kids seemed to like it. Part of the fun was seeing Adam’s reaction to the animals and the gunshots. Incidentally, I missed getting on the Ucyali Lolly by one boat again. (You may recall that during my last three visits, I hit it twice, then missed it by one boat on the third trip. On second thought why on earth would you recall that?). This time we ended up on the Orinoco Ida.
The corny jokes begin on the Jungle Cruise
Adam clearly displays his trepidation during some of the noisier moments on the boat
Finally it was time for what I consider to be the greatest ride in the park: Splash Mountain. Other rides may wax more nostalgic with me, but nowhere else do you get quite this much bang for your buck. I was glad to see that the issue that Ashleigh and I had encountered the last time – getting splashed with the water from the boats going down the big hill – was now resolved, so there wasn’t the ridiculous amount of wetness resulting.
The Splashermans
Brer Rabbit rests on his laurels
That final hill is a doozy, but Adam can take it
The worst moment of the trip came as we were walking from Splash Mountain to Fantasyland, when Silas, who had fallen asleep while waiting with Mom & Bob while we rode Splash Mountain, slipped out of his stroller while I was pushing him. Obviously this was an extremely rude awakening for my baby boy, and I felt incredibly bad even though it was just one of those things…
He cheered up by the time that we got to Fantasyland and did one more ride-thru of Peter Pan’s Flight. The Ocks and Ashleigh hung around in Fantasyland a bit longer and Mom and I took Silas on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. He was fussy so I just gave my attention to him and didn’t bother firing the rocket. Still I ended up being a Galactic Hero. I guess it doesn’t take much, other than quieting a baby.
I babysit, while Mom diligently takes care of destroying those pesky Z’s
Ashleigh got back in time to see the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor at 10pm, while I stayed with Silas and fed him a bottle. The others began to return from seemingly nowhere, and Silas perked up upon Adam’s return and the onslaught of the fireworks, so I took the two boys on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. Even the Bradys didn’t have this much trouble staying together. But by 10pm, we all reconvened and saw the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor together.
Taking the young men on a Wedway tour
In line for the Laugh Floor, Silas trys on Ashleigh’s new headgear
You might think that the night was ove at this point, but no sir. There was one piece of business left – the final ride-thru of Space Mountain. Mom & Bob took Megan and Silas back to Fantasyland for their last ride: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Adam not only remained one of the bravest five-year olds I have ever seen, but this time he even through his hands up throughout the ride – and we have the Disney-generated picture to prove it!
Ashleigh’s head lights up in line for Space Mountain
Adam in the back of the Space Mountain rocket. Such a brave boy.
It was after 11:30 as we worked our way toward the exit of the park. We had milked this day for about all it was worth. I knew I had another day of Disney fun in store for me the next day as I’d be completing the quest to see all North American Disney Parks within three days – but there was really nothing that could top being here with my fabulous family.
Departure along beautiful Main Street U.S.A.
Oh purple castle’s majesty…
This concludes the Florida portion of the trip. Return to the beginning here…
Continue the trip in California here…
Bypass the rest of the trip and continue with 2012 here…
Who is Neeeecy?
Peter
July 27th, 2012
De-neecy
Darlene
August 2nd, 2012
Ahh, got it. Thank you Darlene!
Peter
August 2nd, 2012
I thought Art Carney statue looked like him, but not Betty or Desi. Looks like alot of FUN.
Bev
August 6th, 2012