So I wanted to be able to visit all the parks in the area. To do so involved getting an annual pass to WDW. This will be my first time visiting since the WWOHP opened, as well as the first time since being a TM. First park up is DHS. MGM was my favorite growing up so I was excited to once again brave the Tower of Terror.
So we drive up and you see the Magic Kingdom welcome gates as we veer right toward Hollywood Studios. Wow, did I just travel back in time? Feel like it's 1994 again. We get to the one open stand and explain we are activating annual passes today. She seems confused but pretty much waves us on. We park. Getting up to the ticket booth my wife realizes she doesnt have her Florida ID. Ticket agent directs us to Guest Relations. After a good 10 minute wait of people getting all the guest assistance passes they could we make it to guest relations. Since you are perpendicular to the windows they stick their arm out the window to let you know you can come up. We get a lady who is really helpful, and get what we think is the usual "I'm not supposed to do this, but..." routine. Eventually we have our tickets. No handy pouch or anything as other parks do. I immediately place my ticket in a lanyard I already had so as not to lose it. Then immediately take it back out to send it through the ticket place. Man bar code readers would be a nice upgrade here.
As we're entering the parks we hear some bad pop music, and see the Disney Channel stage show. You'll see this quite a few times walking around Hollywood Studios. We head right towards Tower of Terror. 20 minute posted wait time, and we wait maybe 15. I love the random nature of the drops now. After we exit there, we turn right and go towards Rockin' Roller Coaster. I've never ridden this ride and we see a 15 minute wait time. We enter the stand by line which I notice while walking up isn't moving. Soon I hear an audio message. I can't make out most of it but I don't have too. "Something something recording studio, something something we apologize for the inconvenience." Theme park lingo for the rides down. We're not waiting.
Wife wants food, and I want a snack. We walk quite a ways and walk by Toy Story Midway Mania. I want to ride it of course as it's new. Seeing as it's an hour wait we both agree food first. My wife thinks Pizza Planet should be around here (seeing as we're right next to Toy Story)but we're wrong. It's not close but we find it anyways. $20 later we have two pizzas and cesar salad. I think Pizza Planet could get some more impressive theming than it currently has. Since we were close to MuppetVision 3D we walked right in. With the last reboot of the Muppets, I would love to see Jason Segel and Amy Adams do a more modern take on this classic 3D attraction. I love the Muppets though and I'd say this attraction is still a do not miss!
The time has come for Toy Story we decided after passing on the tram tours 30 minute wait. I noticed the Cars meet and greet on the way. All that wait and from what I could tell you just stood next to two statues? Hopefully we do end up getting a full or even partial part of Carsland. Would do that area a world of good. When we get back to Toy Story the wait is now 70 minutes. We go inside. This Q is amazing. This is what Disney should be bringing to every area of the park. Im not quite sure how Mr. Potato Head knew men vs. women vs girl vs boy when asking them questions, but seemed to work almost every time. After about 30-40 minutes we were boarding our car. I knew there would be screens involved but I didn't quite have it in my head just how much traveling these cars actually did. I loved, loved, loved this ride. The games are quick and all slightly different. I love the pull string trigger. Doesn't hurt that I won in the whole car either.
After this we head off to Star Tours. I knew about the upgrade but my wife didn't until I pointed out the old droid that took you on Star Tours v1.0 that was now "defective". After a short 10 minute wait we board and I must say that although I enjoyed it (I even road again later) the closed nature with 3D glasses does not sit well with my stomach. We exit in the gift shop. The Amazing Pictures guy noticed my Spider Man shirt and said those were his favorite Disney characters. Even though Disney owns them, I dont really think they should be referred to as "Disney" characters ever. I think Disney is super lucky to have access to Pixar characters, especially over the last 2 decades. In the gift shop I am looking for those Star Tours name tags that I've seen others have on their back packs at other non Disney parks. They are no where to be found. (Later found out they are a SWW thing.:fist: Guess I have my reason to go now.:saber
After Star Tours we get to watch the Jedi Padawans, which is super cute. Then literally walk into a showing of Indiana Jones. Never saw this show growing up. Holy cow is it super cool, and Brazilians love them some Indy. I had only ever seen pics/clips from the opening scene, and was wondering how that could be a show of any appropriate length. I was super delighted to literally see the stage move out of the way to reveal the whole lot behind it.
Now on to the Chinese Theater. After some fun with the hands in the cement we walk in to The Great Movie Ride. Super short wait. I really love the heart of the Great Movie Ride, but it is getting a little long in the tooth so to speak. I'd love to see a re work of this classic Disney ride that keeps the two actor set up the ride is known for. Our villain had a mic problem (she ended up just using the tour guides on tram, which I'm sure happens a lot as she didn't hesitate at all) and was overshooting her accent so much I could barely tell she was speaking English. The Alien section had what seemed to be a side Alien that wasn't working but the top one was. Over all we had a good host, not so great villain.
Now we had done most of what we wanted except Aerosmith. We head over that way and see a 70 minute wait posted. We look at each other and know, Single Riders it is. Walking in we had a cast member stop us and forcefully kind of say, "You know this is single riders". It sort of came off as rude but after a bit I let it slide. It's super frustrating seeing the CM/TM at the front of the line struggle with rude guests who demand to ride together. Almost immediately we were grouped into the single riders area where you see Aerosmith in the studio. Disney seems to do this a lot where you have a pre room set up to start the story even if you have more wait left on the other side. I love this as it makes the waits feel a lot less lengthy. Soon we got our backstage passes and are off the super stretch limo. I get sorted towards the front and my wife towards the rear of the same train. Rockin' Roller Coaster is now my favorite in door roller coaster. It's super smooth and way more intense than I expected.
After that we have time for maybe one more thing before Fantasmic. So we head back to Star Tours and re ride since it's almost guaranteed to be different every time. After that we head over to Fantasmic. We get some caramel corn and drinks and get seated a little less than an hour to showtime. Luckily the CM seating us saw we were in the middle of a tour group and let us separate our selves a bit from them. We ended up in the splash zone so to speak. I got a bit of a head ache looking at the Fantasmic mist screens but man what a show. Pyro, Close up characters, light stunt work, montages, and more pyro.
The only problem with having a stage set up to the side of the park at closing is you now find yourself in the middle of a huge crowd of people all heading to the same area at the exact same time. We take our time and don't necessarily try and beat the crowds. We then head home after a successful first day at the Disney parks.
So we drive up and you see the Magic Kingdom welcome gates as we veer right toward Hollywood Studios. Wow, did I just travel back in time? Feel like it's 1994 again. We get to the one open stand and explain we are activating annual passes today. She seems confused but pretty much waves us on. We park. Getting up to the ticket booth my wife realizes she doesnt have her Florida ID. Ticket agent directs us to Guest Relations. After a good 10 minute wait of people getting all the guest assistance passes they could we make it to guest relations. Since you are perpendicular to the windows they stick their arm out the window to let you know you can come up. We get a lady who is really helpful, and get what we think is the usual "I'm not supposed to do this, but..." routine. Eventually we have our tickets. No handy pouch or anything as other parks do. I immediately place my ticket in a lanyard I already had so as not to lose it. Then immediately take it back out to send it through the ticket place. Man bar code readers would be a nice upgrade here.
As we're entering the parks we hear some bad pop music, and see the Disney Channel stage show. You'll see this quite a few times walking around Hollywood Studios. We head right towards Tower of Terror. 20 minute posted wait time, and we wait maybe 15. I love the random nature of the drops now. After we exit there, we turn right and go towards Rockin' Roller Coaster. I've never ridden this ride and we see a 15 minute wait time. We enter the stand by line which I notice while walking up isn't moving. Soon I hear an audio message. I can't make out most of it but I don't have too. "Something something recording studio, something something we apologize for the inconvenience." Theme park lingo for the rides down. We're not waiting.
Wife wants food, and I want a snack. We walk quite a ways and walk by Toy Story Midway Mania. I want to ride it of course as it's new. Seeing as it's an hour wait we both agree food first. My wife thinks Pizza Planet should be around here (seeing as we're right next to Toy Story)but we're wrong. It's not close but we find it anyways. $20 later we have two pizzas and cesar salad. I think Pizza Planet could get some more impressive theming than it currently has. Since we were close to MuppetVision 3D we walked right in. With the last reboot of the Muppets, I would love to see Jason Segel and Amy Adams do a more modern take on this classic 3D attraction. I love the Muppets though and I'd say this attraction is still a do not miss!
The time has come for Toy Story we decided after passing on the tram tours 30 minute wait. I noticed the Cars meet and greet on the way. All that wait and from what I could tell you just stood next to two statues? Hopefully we do end up getting a full or even partial part of Carsland. Would do that area a world of good. When we get back to Toy Story the wait is now 70 minutes. We go inside. This Q is amazing. This is what Disney should be bringing to every area of the park. Im not quite sure how Mr. Potato Head knew men vs. women vs girl vs boy when asking them questions, but seemed to work almost every time. After about 30-40 minutes we were boarding our car. I knew there would be screens involved but I didn't quite have it in my head just how much traveling these cars actually did. I loved, loved, loved this ride. The games are quick and all slightly different. I love the pull string trigger. Doesn't hurt that I won in the whole car either.
After this we head off to Star Tours. I knew about the upgrade but my wife didn't until I pointed out the old droid that took you on Star Tours v1.0 that was now "defective". After a short 10 minute wait we board and I must say that although I enjoyed it (I even road again later) the closed nature with 3D glasses does not sit well with my stomach. We exit in the gift shop. The Amazing Pictures guy noticed my Spider Man shirt and said those were his favorite Disney characters. Even though Disney owns them, I dont really think they should be referred to as "Disney" characters ever. I think Disney is super lucky to have access to Pixar characters, especially over the last 2 decades. In the gift shop I am looking for those Star Tours name tags that I've seen others have on their back packs at other non Disney parks. They are no where to be found. (Later found out they are a SWW thing.:fist: Guess I have my reason to go now.:saber
After Star Tours we get to watch the Jedi Padawans, which is super cute. Then literally walk into a showing of Indiana Jones. Never saw this show growing up. Holy cow is it super cool, and Brazilians love them some Indy. I had only ever seen pics/clips from the opening scene, and was wondering how that could be a show of any appropriate length. I was super delighted to literally see the stage move out of the way to reveal the whole lot behind it.
Now on to the Chinese Theater. After some fun with the hands in the cement we walk in to The Great Movie Ride. Super short wait. I really love the heart of the Great Movie Ride, but it is getting a little long in the tooth so to speak. I'd love to see a re work of this classic Disney ride that keeps the two actor set up the ride is known for. Our villain had a mic problem (she ended up just using the tour guides on tram, which I'm sure happens a lot as she didn't hesitate at all) and was overshooting her accent so much I could barely tell she was speaking English. The Alien section had what seemed to be a side Alien that wasn't working but the top one was. Over all we had a good host, not so great villain.
Now we had done most of what we wanted except Aerosmith. We head over that way and see a 70 minute wait posted. We look at each other and know, Single Riders it is. Walking in we had a cast member stop us and forcefully kind of say, "You know this is single riders". It sort of came off as rude but after a bit I let it slide. It's super frustrating seeing the CM/TM at the front of the line struggle with rude guests who demand to ride together. Almost immediately we were grouped into the single riders area where you see Aerosmith in the studio. Disney seems to do this a lot where you have a pre room set up to start the story even if you have more wait left on the other side. I love this as it makes the waits feel a lot less lengthy. Soon we got our backstage passes and are off the super stretch limo. I get sorted towards the front and my wife towards the rear of the same train. Rockin' Roller Coaster is now my favorite in door roller coaster. It's super smooth and way more intense than I expected.
After that we have time for maybe one more thing before Fantasmic. So we head back to Star Tours and re ride since it's almost guaranteed to be different every time. After that we head over to Fantasmic. We get some caramel corn and drinks and get seated a little less than an hour to showtime. Luckily the CM seating us saw we were in the middle of a tour group and let us separate our selves a bit from them. We ended up in the splash zone so to speak. I got a bit of a head ache looking at the Fantasmic mist screens but man what a show. Pyro, Close up characters, light stunt work, montages, and more pyro.
The only problem with having a stage set up to the side of the park at closing is you now find yourself in the middle of a huge crowd of people all heading to the same area at the exact same time. We take our time and don't necessarily try and beat the crowds. We then head home after a successful first day at the Disney parks.
