Part Four - December 11

[faline]

On Wednesday, December 11th, Gene and I enter Disney Studios right before opening. We decide to ride the Great Movie Ride but 9 comes and goes and the doors do not open. Finally, we are told that the ride is down and opening time is unknown.

We head over to Star Tours. The line is totally devoid of people. We're told to select any line we'd like to enter the ride. We're now heading for Tower of Terror and find that my brother has arrived. My sister-in-law does not like Tower of Terror. We have fastpass+ reservations for Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania. My brother was able to make reservations that coincided with ours for Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania but was unable to reserve Rock and Roller Coaster since the rules had changed. All but my sister-in-law head over to Tower of Terror. What a waste of a fastpass+! Not only was fastpass not needed, there was no-one in the standby line and our room wasn't even half full!

The entire park turns out to be wonderfully empty. Our plans had been to do the Osborne lights after dinner but now we find the park will be closing at 6 for a private party (Pop Warner). I guess many decided not to come to this park on this day.

I'm not a big Rock n Roller Coaster fan. I tell my brother, he can use my fastpass+ if he likes and go on with Gene. He says he bets the line there won't be long there either. He and Gene head off while Donna, Sam & I browse the stores. Sam rode Rock n Roller Coaster once but declined a repeat ride. Sam finds some items he wants including a hat with mouse ears. When Gene and my brother return, the shopping is completed.

We ride the Great Movie ride which is now open. At some point, we go through Star Tours once again which is now busier than it was this morning. Gene sits this one out. He is not a big fan of simulator type rides.

Lunch is at Backlot Express. We spend some time in the playground and then all head over to Toy Story Mania for that ride. I'm not sure what else we did but, at some point we separated. Sam didn't want to see the Muppets but he did want to go meet Mickey Mouse. My brother's family went off in search of Mickey and to do their second set of fast passes for Toy Story Mania (regular fast pass rather than +). Gene & I went to the Muppets and did the Backstage Tour. For the first time ever, I actually got quite wet on this ride.

We still had some time before our dinner reservations so decided to have a drink at the Tune In Lounge. We had no sooner been served when we got a text saying my brother's family was at the restaurant and did we want them to check in? I texted back that we would probably be 15-20 minutes before arriving (and that was being rather quick). I then got another text saying they had already been seated. That was a very quick drink at the Tune In!! We hurried over and found my brother's family.

We had a lovely meal. By time our meal was done, the park was closed for the evening and the Pop Warner folks were all lined up outside waiting to enter. Regular resort busses were no longer running but folks were being placed on "zoned" busses. I think we went to 2-3 resort before we arrived at Art of Animation. My brother showed us his suite which is really very cute. Sam & my sister-in-law changed into bathing suits and headed for the pool while my brother, Gene & I chatted at the pool bar. When Sam was finished swimming (It was really getting chilly this evening) we headed out. We took a cab back to our resort.

[yjgirl32]

Another great post- thanks for sharing.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Wow! Sounds like the park was almost empty ... always a nice perk!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds like a great day, Thanks for the report

[Katzateer]

Where did you eat dinner? Sounds like a great day without crowds!

[kcrc]

Really enjoying your trip reports!

[faline]

Where did you eat dinner? Sounds like a great day without crowds!

The Brown Derby - guess I forgot to include that information!!

[princessgirls]

Great day Linda!!

Thanks for sharing!

Julie

[DisneyBarb]

How was the weather? I'm sure warmer then New England but just curious, we were there at the end of Nov and it was unusually humid!

[faline]

How was the weather? I'm sure warmer then New England but just curious, we were there at the end of Nov and it was unusually humid!

At the beginning of the trip, it was very warm and humid - mid-80s. It cooled down a bit a the end of the trip but was still quite mild.

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.