Disney's Hollywood Studios on the agenda today, and we are out the door by 11:00. Jen woke up with a headache. Since we were all tired from traveling the day before, we slept in anyway. Uncharacteristically, I don't get up until after 7:30. No walkabout this morning. Will go tomorrow.
Our immediate concern was riding Toy Story Midway Mania. 60 minute wait (longest in the park) when we get there works out to around 38 minutes in actual wait time. My score: 134,000+. Jen's: 128,000+. I have one percentage point higher than Jen in accuracy: 29 to 28 percent, for first time. Doubly great since Jen announced she was going to kick my ass.
The Great Movie Ride is next, and we stop briefly to ponder over the various autographs in the cement within the fake Chinese Theatre courtyard. Real autographs, fake Grumman's, basically. Watch trailers from classic films, all of which appear in various tableaux within the ride. Footlight Parade, Singin' in the Rain, Public Enemy, Alien, Tarzan of the Apes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy, The Wizard of Oz. Driver is annoying, but the guy who replaces him in the western movie gunfight is even more annoying. Magic trick on Raiders temple would work better if the driver would reappear from out of the smoke effect, instead of three feet outside of it. Rest of the car buys into the effect, but everyone in the lead car (where we are) can see it easily. Interesting ride, great design, but marred by having a live tour driver and misuse of characters. Why talk over everything Cagney says when the only thing that happens on the Public Enemy set is Cagney talking? And why not have gunfire in a quite vast area where nothing else happens, especially since there will be lots of gunfire in the Western area coming up. I like the Alien area best, and enjoy getting attacked from above by the creature. Munchkinland is kind of cool and kind of creepy at the same time. I tell Jen that it was "the weirdest ride I have ever been on." I wasn't joking.
Muppets 3-D next. Exactly the same as the Disneyland one. Check out some stores, including Tattooine Traders to set up purchase next Saturday for Aaron and Amber of 10 Star Wars Disney figures.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre: we have reservations for 2:45 pm. Entrance finds one standing behind the scenes of a drive-in theatre. We are taken to our car. We are in the corner in only a four seater. Most of the cars are six-seaters. Design effect is incredible, food is not. Pastrami on rye is exactly that, without any other real thought put behind the sandwich. Sandwich is also too wet to properly pick up and eat regularly. I have to tear it into sections. Hour long film is made up of newsclips and trailers of science-fiction and horror films from the 50s and 60s. Surprisingly, no "Let's all go to the lobby" but very cool. Not enough though. I complain when we reach the turnover point, but Jen points out correctly that if they just kept playing stuff, no one would leave their cars. I point out the food could drive them away. No one, it turns out, is happy with their food. In fact, when we first sat down, I immediately stated that I wanted to come here next Saturday if possible. After I ate, I knew that this one time would be my last on this trip, no matter how cool the overall experience was. (Note note: Only one glimpse of roller-skating waitress, quick and brief past me, no one else saw her. Everyone else on foot. Very disappointing.)
Backlot Tour next. Inundated with crap about crap: Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Ignore it the best we can. Harbor Attack film set, where they make volunteers get soaking wet in a timed stunt spectacle filming, is pretty goofy and fun. Ride itself is only OK. I sit in the "wet seat" but barely get wet, even with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rushing straight at me from off the canyon set. Very cool scenario though. Favorite part of ride. Not so good is the showing of dozens of vehicles from crappy films, except Star Wars and Raiders. ("Hey, here's the speeder bikes from the hit film The Pacifier!") Ride lets us off outside of an AFI Tribute exhibit to villains, fairly interesting. Find a couple of books I would like to get in the AFI store.
Girls want to leave, but I wanted to ride the Rock-N-Rolla Coaster before I split. All by myself on this one. Stuck behind some cholo lesbo-dykes who are obnoxious and mean, flipping off people (not myself though) and drinking beer. Very annoying. Entrance to actual inside area is promising at first, with several columns built like guitar necks. Poster of Queen's Greatest Hits is seen from one angle, and I wonder what other bands are there. Turning the corner, I am attacked by Miley Cyrus, Hailey Duff, Rascall Flatts and the fucking Cheetah Girls. Queen is the only rock band there. Further inside is better, with replicas (I assume) of old concert posters for Cream, VU, The Kinks, etc. A kid behind me asks his dad who the Kinks were, and I take the opportunity to share some knowledge. I mention You Really Got Me, and the kid knows what I am talking about and starts to sing and air guitar the song. Awesome. Film with Aerosmith and (actress that I have met but can't remember her name) is lame, but works. We head to our super-stretch limo, i.e. our car. Ride is like a smoother, faster version of Space Mountain, only with Aerosmith music. Over way too quick.
I bolt back to entrance to meet the girls and we leave. Rest for 1/2 hour at home and then head to Epcot to make 8:00 pm reservation at french restaurant. We have about 12 minutes once we park. I bolt forward and race to the restaurant to make the time, beating it by three minutes. However, have worn new shoes and get small blister by going so fast. We end up getting seated by 8:15. Waiter is annoying and pees off Sande by not knowing anything about salmon and getting confused over her wine questions. Definite language barrier at play here. Waiter is nice overall, though, and tries to make up for earlier tension by being overly polite the rest of the way. Fine with me, and starts to turn to me for questions. I have beef tenderloin, garlic gratin potatoes and green beans. Some French name with a thousand words I can't pronounce halfway. Pretty tasty, love the cabernet-based sauce. Favorite part of meal for me is my French onion soup. Perfection.
Back to cabin (we took Mary's car to save on time) and after two episodes of Spaced, we go to bed around 11:30. I watch South Park NAMBLA episode before hitting the hay.
Our immediate concern was riding Toy Story Midway Mania. 60 minute wait (longest in the park) when we get there works out to around 38 minutes in actual wait time. My score: 134,000+. Jen's: 128,000+. I have one percentage point higher than Jen in accuracy: 29 to 28 percent, for first time. Doubly great since Jen announced she was going to kick my ass.
The Great Movie Ride is next, and we stop briefly to ponder over the various autographs in the cement within the fake Chinese Theatre courtyard. Real autographs, fake Grumman's, basically. Watch trailers from classic films, all of which appear in various tableaux within the ride. Footlight Parade, Singin' in the Rain, Public Enemy, Alien, Tarzan of the Apes, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy, The Wizard of Oz. Driver is annoying, but the guy who replaces him in the western movie gunfight is even more annoying. Magic trick on Raiders temple would work better if the driver would reappear from out of the smoke effect, instead of three feet outside of it. Rest of the car buys into the effect, but everyone in the lead car (where we are) can see it easily. Interesting ride, great design, but marred by having a live tour driver and misuse of characters. Why talk over everything Cagney says when the only thing that happens on the Public Enemy set is Cagney talking? And why not have gunfire in a quite vast area where nothing else happens, especially since there will be lots of gunfire in the Western area coming up. I like the Alien area best, and enjoy getting attacked from above by the creature. Munchkinland is kind of cool and kind of creepy at the same time. I tell Jen that it was "the weirdest ride I have ever been on." I wasn't joking.
Muppets 3-D next. Exactly the same as the Disneyland one. Check out some stores, including Tattooine Traders to set up purchase next Saturday for Aaron and Amber of 10 Star Wars Disney figures.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre: we have reservations for 2:45 pm. Entrance finds one standing behind the scenes of a drive-in theatre. We are taken to our car. We are in the corner in only a four seater. Most of the cars are six-seaters. Design effect is incredible, food is not. Pastrami on rye is exactly that, without any other real thought put behind the sandwich. Sandwich is also too wet to properly pick up and eat regularly. I have to tear it into sections. Hour long film is made up of newsclips and trailers of science-fiction and horror films from the 50s and 60s. Surprisingly, no "Let's all go to the lobby" but very cool. Not enough though. I complain when we reach the turnover point, but Jen points out correctly that if they just kept playing stuff, no one would leave their cars. I point out the food could drive them away. No one, it turns out, is happy with their food. In fact, when we first sat down, I immediately stated that I wanted to come here next Saturday if possible. After I ate, I knew that this one time would be my last on this trip, no matter how cool the overall experience was. (Note note: Only one glimpse of roller-skating waitress, quick and brief past me, no one else saw her. Everyone else on foot. Very disappointing.)
Backlot Tour next. Inundated with crap about crap: Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. Ignore it the best we can. Harbor Attack film set, where they make volunteers get soaking wet in a timed stunt spectacle filming, is pretty goofy and fun. Ride itself is only OK. I sit in the "wet seat" but barely get wet, even with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rushing straight at me from off the canyon set. Very cool scenario though. Favorite part of ride. Not so good is the showing of dozens of vehicles from crappy films, except Star Wars and Raiders. ("Hey, here's the speeder bikes from the hit film The Pacifier!") Ride lets us off outside of an AFI Tribute exhibit to villains, fairly interesting. Find a couple of books I would like to get in the AFI store.
Girls want to leave, but I wanted to ride the Rock-N-Rolla Coaster before I split. All by myself on this one. Stuck behind some cholo lesbo-dykes who are obnoxious and mean, flipping off people (not myself though) and drinking beer. Very annoying. Entrance to actual inside area is promising at first, with several columns built like guitar necks. Poster of Queen's Greatest Hits is seen from one angle, and I wonder what other bands are there. Turning the corner, I am attacked by Miley Cyrus, Hailey Duff, Rascall Flatts and the fucking Cheetah Girls. Queen is the only rock band there. Further inside is better, with replicas (I assume) of old concert posters for Cream, VU, The Kinks, etc. A kid behind me asks his dad who the Kinks were, and I take the opportunity to share some knowledge. I mention You Really Got Me, and the kid knows what I am talking about and starts to sing and air guitar the song. Awesome. Film with Aerosmith and (actress that I have met but can't remember her name) is lame, but works. We head to our super-stretch limo, i.e. our car. Ride is like a smoother, faster version of Space Mountain, only with Aerosmith music. Over way too quick.
I bolt back to entrance to meet the girls and we leave. Rest for 1/2 hour at home and then head to Epcot to make 8:00 pm reservation at french restaurant. We have about 12 minutes once we park. I bolt forward and race to the restaurant to make the time, beating it by three minutes. However, have worn new shoes and get small blister by going so fast. We end up getting seated by 8:15. Waiter is annoying and pees off Sande by not knowing anything about salmon and getting confused over her wine questions. Definite language barrier at play here. Waiter is nice overall, though, and tries to make up for earlier tension by being overly polite the rest of the way. Fine with me, and starts to turn to me for questions. I have beef tenderloin, garlic gratin potatoes and green beans. Some French name with a thousand words I can't pronounce halfway. Pretty tasty, love the cabernet-based sauce. Favorite part of meal for me is my French onion soup. Perfection.
Back to cabin (we took Mary's car to save on time) and after two episodes of Spaced, we go to bed around 11:30. I watch South Park NAMBLA episode before hitting the hay.
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