Sunday, August 19, 2012

Disney- Part 3


Since we had success with going to the park in the evening the day before, we decided to hang out at the condo this morning and go to the park later in the day.  The place we stayed at was a timeshare but you didn't have to be a member to stay there and you didn't even have to sit through a sale pitch.   Mom saw an advertisement for it in a magazine and it turns out the daughter of a friend of hers had stayed there and recommended it so we decided to give it a try.  It was great!  We rented a 3 bedroom condo which was made up of their 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom units with a connecting door.  So we ended up with two full kitchens,  two sets of washers and dryers, three full baths, and enough room to sleep twelve.  The condos also had a waterpark, two swimming pools, mini golf, paddle boats and daily activities, all of which were included in your stay.  We took advantage of the waterpark this morning.
















This day we went to Hollywood Studios about 4:00, just in time for the rain.  Yay.  Once again I had a list of things to see and do but unfortunately I didn't have the times listed for the different shows.  Learned the hard way that although the park doesn't close until 9:00, a lot of the shows have their last show at 5:30.  And some of the shows won't go on in the rain for obvious reasons.  So we ended up missing quite a bit at this park.  We did get to see the Grauman's Chinese Theater, where we rode the Great Movie Ride.  While it was nice to see the different movies, the acting of the tour guide was so over the top I thought Swag was going to bail out of the ride just to get away from her.


Such happy children...


Mary Poppins
Wizard of Oz












We also had to check out the Star Wars simulator.  Now remember that notebook of mine with the all the info of who would like to do what rides?  Yeah, I don't like simulators and didn't snap to the fact that this was not one of my rides to ride until I was strapped in the seat.  So what do you do?  Close your eyes, breath deep and get your barf bag ready.  Luckily I didn't end up using it. Whew.


                                



By far the coolest thing we did at this park was the Backlot Tour.  We just happened to be walking past when they were yelling last call for their last show of the day.  Consisting of two parts, the first part was a water special effects show and the second was a tram ride through the backstage of Disney.  Besides seeing iconic pieces of film history we also got to see the warehouses where both the sets and the costumes are created.   I think it would be awesome to work backstage at Disney, to be a part of making the magic happen.  I both enjoy and appreciate all the work that happens behind the scenes.






Another highlight of the tour was a special effects demonstration for an action movie.  In the scene a tanker is deserted in a desert canyon, when it bursts into flames and then a dam breaks and water comes pouring down the canyon.  Avery and I just happened to be sitting right in front of where that 10,000 gallons of water was headed and the look on her face was priceless!  





Luckily the water went safely below us and then we were taken around back where they showed us how it was done.  I believe they said the entire scene could be reset in 3 minutes, with all of that water being pumped back up to the top.

We split up for dinner with Mom, Granny, Mister Man, and my nephew going to a 50's diner.  And Joe, Swag, Little Miss and myself going to Pizza Planet from Toy Story.

After dinner we left Hollywood Studios and headed back to The Magic Kingdom.  We arrived just in time to catch part of the fireworks show from outside the gate.  



Granny didn't get to see the Castle lightshow the night before so we parked her in front of the castle and headed off to do a couple of things that we missed the day before.  In Tomorrowland we rode the People Mover and then on the other side of the park we rode The Haunted Mansion.  On our way out we once again caught part of the Mainstreet Electric Parade with Little Miss lamenting the absence of Cinderella again.



2 comments:

  1. It seems very ironic to me that I will be able to afford a Disney theme park when the kids have grown into adults and moved away. I so want to see the Backlot Tour...who knows what will be there when I finally go!


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