Jim&AngieMarriner
03-31-2009, 05:43 PM
Welcome back friends! As you likely remember, last post had us finishing up with the Tower of Terror. We left the ToT and I really couldn’t help asking my DSS if he needed to go change his underwear or something. He is such a good kid and is easy to tease. I call the wife and find out that they are in line for the Great Movie Ride and are about to get in the car for it. I called the other two boys and they were just girl watching and would met us by the Hat. I found out that by the time they got over to get fast passes for Rockin Roller Coaster, they were out of them and the wait for the coaster was something like 3 hours. It’s a great ride, ive been on it before but I don’t think its worth waiting 3 hours for unless you are on a 10 day trip and just have that much time in the parks. We didn’t so unfortunately it got skipped.
The ladies came out of the Great movie ride about the same time as me and the three boys got to the Hat. Since the Hat is a Pin trader location you should know by now that we spent a good bit of time there. After some serious trading we went back over close to the entrance of the Great movie ride and looked at all the folks who had did their feet hands and signature in concrete outside the theater. It was a lot of fun for us adults but the kids didn’t know who some of the folks were. I wanted to go on the Great movie ride and convinced everyone to go on it as well. It was my first time on that ride and I have to admit to being impressed. Im a big time movie buff and all my favorites seem to be in there. Speaking of Favorite Movies, My number one movie ever is in there, The Wizard of Oz. I know they just re did the witch not that long ago and the whole thing there was perfect. The only way it could have been better would be if I could have actually went to Oz for real. Which sounds good in theory but im pretty sure Im allergic to flying Monkeys. All in all the ride was spectacular. Hmm now that I think of it they could make the Alien section a bit better, it didn’t scare me like it could if it was faster or something. Still, I feel it’s a must ride attraction now.
By now Im being informed that its time to eat and that everyone wants turkey legs. OK no problem, back down Sunset Boulevard we go. Toluca Turky Co is a specialty shop that dispenses mainly Turkey legs. What I don’t get was why it took 15 mins to give us 7 legs. It tasted great but the service there was super slow, not to Disney standards I thought. Anyway. We ate and pin traded with passing CMs. Then we headed off to go ride Star Tours. Pin trade, Pin trade, Pin trade.
As you can imagine, DSD9 didn’t want to ride Star Tours but luckily they do a baby swap there. So I took the boys and my Mother in Law through and then took Angie and DSS12 back through it. The themeing was great of course and it kept the line from seeming as long as it really was. I found a couple of great pins on CMs when we went through the store, specifically a Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia in the slave outfit and Pete as Boba Fett. I was in Geek heaven.
We went from there over to the backlot area and tried to get into the backlot tour but we JUST missed the closing by like 3 or 4 mins. I was kinda disappointed since I remembered this attraction from my first trip to DHS 5 years ago but it just wasn’t ment to be. We grabbed a snack from a vendor right by there and went in search of something to ride/do. Saw that the wait time for Toy Story Mania was 180 mins and realized that it just wasn’t going to happen this trip. I have since been told by a co worker that it was worth the 3 hour wait but im not so sure. Anyway, we pin traded our way down and decided to go into the Magic of Disney Animation since there was effectively no line. Id been through this attraction 5 years before and liked it but have since been disappointed that they stopped actually production of films there. When I went through before they were working on Brother Bear. I thought it was neat to see the artists at work and see the models they used and all that stuff. We got through the presentation and had a chance to meet Sorc Mickey (big highlight for me), the characters from Bolt and even saw Frozone from The Incredibles.
It was now dinner time and my parents called to say they wanted to meet us there for dinner. So we went up to the front of the park and didn’t have to wait long till they showed up. We then strolled over to the Commissary for dinner and had a nice leisurely meal. Only problem was we were running out of time for the park. After checking the map, we decided that there wasn’t anything that we could get on that we really wanted to do we figured it was time to head on over to the amphitheater and see Fantasmic. So since we had a bit of time we pin traded our way over there and go into the sea of humanity that was waiting to get in to the second viewing. This is the best closing ceremony of all four parks in my opinion. It has a good story and the effects are truly top notch. The live actors do a wonderful job melting all the different Disney movies themes into one performance. The Water Screen Projectors are breathtaking and to top it all off, MY GIRL Maleficent is the Main baddie at the end. The huge fire breathing Dragon in the show is worth the wait to get in. WOW what a show.
Now to be honest, DHS is my least favorite park. And going there with folks who don’t want to do what others in the group want to makes it a challenge to actually have a good time. But we did have a good time. I would like to take everyone back there when its not as crowded so that we can do more. As it is, I don’t really thing Angie will want to go back again since we didn’t get much accomplished. Hopefully she will.
This wraps up Day two of our Christmas Trip. Hope you have been enjoying it. If anyone is truly curious. The date was 23 Dec 2008 and we don’t go to a park on the 24th because its my Dads Birthday. The Next installment, Day three, will find us in Epcot on Christmas Day. This was a great time so please join us.
Jim
The ladies came out of the Great movie ride about the same time as me and the three boys got to the Hat. Since the Hat is a Pin trader location you should know by now that we spent a good bit of time there. After some serious trading we went back over close to the entrance of the Great movie ride and looked at all the folks who had did their feet hands and signature in concrete outside the theater. It was a lot of fun for us adults but the kids didn’t know who some of the folks were. I wanted to go on the Great movie ride and convinced everyone to go on it as well. It was my first time on that ride and I have to admit to being impressed. Im a big time movie buff and all my favorites seem to be in there. Speaking of Favorite Movies, My number one movie ever is in there, The Wizard of Oz. I know they just re did the witch not that long ago and the whole thing there was perfect. The only way it could have been better would be if I could have actually went to Oz for real. Which sounds good in theory but im pretty sure Im allergic to flying Monkeys. All in all the ride was spectacular. Hmm now that I think of it they could make the Alien section a bit better, it didn’t scare me like it could if it was faster or something. Still, I feel it’s a must ride attraction now.
By now Im being informed that its time to eat and that everyone wants turkey legs. OK no problem, back down Sunset Boulevard we go. Toluca Turky Co is a specialty shop that dispenses mainly Turkey legs. What I don’t get was why it took 15 mins to give us 7 legs. It tasted great but the service there was super slow, not to Disney standards I thought. Anyway. We ate and pin traded with passing CMs. Then we headed off to go ride Star Tours. Pin trade, Pin trade, Pin trade.
As you can imagine, DSD9 didn’t want to ride Star Tours but luckily they do a baby swap there. So I took the boys and my Mother in Law through and then took Angie and DSS12 back through it. The themeing was great of course and it kept the line from seeming as long as it really was. I found a couple of great pins on CMs when we went through the store, specifically a Minnie Mouse as Princess Leia in the slave outfit and Pete as Boba Fett. I was in Geek heaven.
We went from there over to the backlot area and tried to get into the backlot tour but we JUST missed the closing by like 3 or 4 mins. I was kinda disappointed since I remembered this attraction from my first trip to DHS 5 years ago but it just wasn’t ment to be. We grabbed a snack from a vendor right by there and went in search of something to ride/do. Saw that the wait time for Toy Story Mania was 180 mins and realized that it just wasn’t going to happen this trip. I have since been told by a co worker that it was worth the 3 hour wait but im not so sure. Anyway, we pin traded our way down and decided to go into the Magic of Disney Animation since there was effectively no line. Id been through this attraction 5 years before and liked it but have since been disappointed that they stopped actually production of films there. When I went through before they were working on Brother Bear. I thought it was neat to see the artists at work and see the models they used and all that stuff. We got through the presentation and had a chance to meet Sorc Mickey (big highlight for me), the characters from Bolt and even saw Frozone from The Incredibles.
It was now dinner time and my parents called to say they wanted to meet us there for dinner. So we went up to the front of the park and didn’t have to wait long till they showed up. We then strolled over to the Commissary for dinner and had a nice leisurely meal. Only problem was we were running out of time for the park. After checking the map, we decided that there wasn’t anything that we could get on that we really wanted to do we figured it was time to head on over to the amphitheater and see Fantasmic. So since we had a bit of time we pin traded our way over there and go into the sea of humanity that was waiting to get in to the second viewing. This is the best closing ceremony of all four parks in my opinion. It has a good story and the effects are truly top notch. The live actors do a wonderful job melting all the different Disney movies themes into one performance. The Water Screen Projectors are breathtaking and to top it all off, MY GIRL Maleficent is the Main baddie at the end. The huge fire breathing Dragon in the show is worth the wait to get in. WOW what a show.
Now to be honest, DHS is my least favorite park. And going there with folks who don’t want to do what others in the group want to makes it a challenge to actually have a good time. But we did have a good time. I would like to take everyone back there when its not as crowded so that we can do more. As it is, I don’t really thing Angie will want to go back again since we didn’t get much accomplished. Hopefully she will.
This wraps up Day two of our Christmas Trip. Hope you have been enjoying it. If anyone is truly curious. The date was 23 Dec 2008 and we don’t go to a park on the 24th because its my Dads Birthday. The Next installment, Day three, will find us in Epcot on Christmas Day. This was a great time so please join us.
Jim