Day 5 of 5 at WDW: Disney's Hollywood Studios

August 28, 2013

I know Hollywood Studios isn't everybody's favorite, but it has a special place in my heart. It is my youngest daughter's park--she did her College Program there a few years ago, and we all visited her for Christmas while she was working there.

It's the home of Star Tours and Indiana Jones and the Muppets, and it's just got that cool old Hollywood vibe. And it closes early, so you can get off your sore feet and out of the stifling heat before you turn into a pumpkin. And this time, I was finally going to get to go to the restaurant I've been wanting to go to since it opened--the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater!

The Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater did not disappoint, at least not as far as theming and atmosphere are concerned. It transported me directly back to the drive-in theaters of my youth as we listened to the crickets chirping around us and watched the cheesy black and white film on the giant "outdoor" screen. I actually had to explain to my girls what the paraphernalia hanging on the side of the car was for and how it worked. We got to sit in a car, too, which is what I was going for. It was all just perfect, perfect, perfect. And then the food arrived. 

For the money, the food was no better than the cheapest counter service lunch in the parks. Dry sandwich, plain salad, frozen fries. Major disappointment. But I'd still go back! It would be worth it to hear those crickets and sit in the twilight in my car table and listen to the tinny little speaker that transports me back to my childhood. But next time I'll get what my sister told me to get: a cheeseburger and a shake. That's all they can make, she said. If only I has listened to her. So I pass that on to you.

I talked everybody into going to see the Beauty and the Beast show again this time and they were amazed at how good it was. Watching the Jedi Training Academy was also a treat. My son would have loved to have become a Jedi Knight at Hollywood Studios when he was a little guy! So looking forward to a Star Wars Land now that Disney owns Lucasfilm. The 3D Muppets show, one of our favorites, was closed for refurbishment, but we found the key under the mat and waved across the walk at Pizza Planet, where my daughter used to work. 

We had to go through Honey I Shrunk the Kids to take photos of my youngest re-enacting the time she got lost there at the age of three, and to the Writer's Stop to try out their famous Carrot Cake Cookie (it was good, but I could take it or leave it). We managed to get a photo with Mike and Sully ("Act scary!") but didn't see many other characters. It didn't really matter, because we knew we'd get to see them all in Fantasmic. 

To get reserved seats to Fantasmic, we had booked a Fantasmic Dinner Package at Mama Melrose's, which we hadn't tried before. We were very pleasantly surprised. The service was phenomenal, the food was delicious, and the Italian-restaurant-that's-been-an-institution-forever theming was just right. In spite of the good review, I probably wouldn't eat there again. I just don't want to be taken away to an old Italian restaurant when I go to Disney World!

Before we headed to Fantasmic, we rode The Great Movie Ride. I haven't ridden this ride as many times as I have ridden Small World, Pirates, or Haunted Mansion, but I still have the whole shtick memorized. It's corny and it's old news and it really needs to be updated, but it's Hollywood. Fantasmic ended my day at Hollywood Studios, but the girls pushed through until closing to ride the Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror over and over again (no thanks). 

There were so many new things on this trip for us. The Fast Pass + system worked beautifully for us and we liked staying at Pop Century with its dedicated bus and good location. We loved the character breakfast at Crystal Palace, the ambiance of the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater, the food at Mama Melrose's, and the Pop Century food court. We loved having the luxury of being able to spend two whole days in the Magic Kingdom. We loved New Fantasyland and Storybook Circus! I did make a commitment to myself, though, that I will never go back in the summer, or, well, since it's Orlando, in May through September. Too hot for me. The heat really almost made me sick, it was so stifling, and definitely affected my mood and energy level. With the exception of the miserably hot temperatures, it really was a perfect 5-day Disney trip for three grown-up girls.

Our Penultimate Day at Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Day 2

4th day in the parks, 2nd in MK

August 27, 2013

This day was devoted to the rest of the Magic Kingdom outside of Fantasyland, and especially to the unpopular rides. We went on every one of them.

Crystal Palace Breakfast and Character-fest
We started our day at the Crystal Palace with a breakfast buffet with the Pooh characters (before the park opened, which was way cool). Worth every penny. The food was great, the service was great (what a sweet gig for a server), and the characters were great. Great, great, great. We didn't feel rushed and the characters spent plenty of time going around to the tables to see everybody. And when Eeyore found out that my oldest daughter used to be "best friends" with him, he grabbed her for the promenade around the tables and made her join in! Magical.

The Unpopulars
The rest of the day was magical for me because, even after all the trips I've made to Disney World since it opened, I discovered some attractions that I had never been on before. I thought I had done it all, but after studying the map, I realized I had never ridden on the Liberty Belle riverboat or seen the show at the Hall of Presidents. They were both on our list of unpopular rides, excuse me, attractions, to see that day, and from now on, I will be going on both of them every time I visit. Especially if it's as hot as it was the day we were there--you can catch a breeze standing on the deck of the riverboat and enjoy air conditioning throughout the entire Hall of Presidents presentation.

And most of the rest of the unpopulars are popular with me, too--Carousel of Progress, the People Mover (which might have a different name now that I don't know), and the Country Bear Jamboree. Of those three, if I had to rank them, the People Mover would definitely be first (no line! great view of the park! ride inside Space Mountain!), although the other two should probably edge it out during the hot months for their great air conditioning. These attractions are classics and are very nostalgic for me because back when each ride cost a different amount, they were the ones I could afford to go on the most. I'm a lot older than you, aren't I?

While in Tomorrowland, we joined Stitch at a dance party

The only unpopular attraction I saw for the first time and which I'll skip from now on is Stitch's Great Escape. The fake chili dog smell that permeated the room (part of the story line) was disgusting, and the whole experience would've been a total eye-roller if it hadn't been for the little guy in the row next to us who totally believed the whole thing was real and screamed with delight throughout. That little guy was far more entertaining than the attraction itself, and his magical moment with Stitch became my magical moment.

Magic Kingdom Munchies
On this second day at Magic Kingdom we had traditional snacks to eat, too, and we partook of our MK trifecta--Dole Whips, churros, and cinnamon-glazed almonds--throughout the day. Wouldn't be a Disney trip without those treats. We also managed to snag an upstairs table with a lovely view of the Haunted Mansion at the Columbia Harbour House, where we enjoyed the delicious lobster roll and the equally delicious broccoli peppercorn salad for lunch, after a huge disappointment at Sleepy Hollow.

Waffle Woes
I had been looking forward to eating a waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow ever since I read that they existed on some Disney blog. Of the three options, Nutella and fruit, fried chicken, and ham, prosciutto and Swiss, I decided on the ham and Swiss. I ordered it as the parade started and had to wait so long for it, I almost missed the entire parade, but I thought, at least it'll be worth the wait. Wrong. It was terrible. The waffle tasted like a thawed Eggo that had been sitting out for hours, cold and limp. The ham and cheese were even colder and also scarce, and the ham was so cheap it tasted like pressed sandwich meat. I can't believe the rave reviews I read online about this sandwich. It was inedible! I didn't even take a picture of it. I let my oldest daughter try it, and one bite was enough for her, too. The only good part about ordering the sandwich is that I discovered a covered eating area behind Sleepy Hollow with picnic tables that I never knew existed where I could rest my painfully throbbing feet. And watch other parents deal with crying babies and toddler meltdowns while I fondly remembered doing the same in days gone by.

Magical Moments of the Day
What was magical about this day was that it was the second day in the same park, because Magic Kingdom is just not a one-day park any more!

Being Girls Together at Disney World, Day Two: Snacking Our Way Around Epcot

Epcot or EPCOT?
Epcot originally was written in all caps as an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, but now it just has a capital E and everybody says it stands for "Every Person Comes Out Tired," because it's so big. Well, it's not as big as Animal Kingdom, I now know. Although it is no longer marketed as a community of tomorrow, it's still my favorite park, because it combines science fiction/science education with a trip around the world. Unfortunately, my girls are not huge fans, but luckily, they are fans of food, because that's what Epcot is all about for us--snacking.

FastPass+
Our three reserved FastPasses for the day were Soarin', the Character Spot, and Test Track, and I can't tell you how much we appreciated not having to stand in line for any of those. Soarin' (the attraction that takes you "parasailing" over California) is usually something you have to run get a FastPass for as soon as you enter the park and then wait for hours to use. We headed straight to it and sauntered right on. Same with the Character Spot, where we met and were photographed with Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto (and where you used to also be able to hang out with Donald, Goofy, and the Chipmunks. They've streamlined it. Still magical, though. OK, we really missed Goofy).

Test Track Re-Imagined
Test Track got the prize for Attraction of the Day, though (it might have gotten Attraction of the Year in my book if it weren't for Enchanted Tales with Belle in New Fantasyland). We were very fond of the old Test Track because it was my nephew's favorite ride. The test dummies were cute, the cars were cute, and the whole concept of the ride to test for safety was cute. But the new version takes it to another level. I'm going to try to explain it, but I know I'm not even going to do it justice because I'm not a car person. As you enter the queue, you have the opportunity to design your own concept vehicle on a computer screen. You are timed and you choose from a lot of options on different screens, so it happens fast. You're supposed to keep some important vehicle parameters in mind as you're designing, like efficiency and responsiveness and power and I can't remember what else, because we were three girls making a car and all we cared about was what it looked like (it was a beautiful metallic aqua with thin tires. And the tires were big). To the left and right of us, little boys who were barely tall enough to see the monitor were designing their cars to be able to beat our car. As you go through the ride, which is a test of all the cars' performance, there are screens that show you how your car fared in each portion of the test compared to the cars the other people in line with you designed. Our car was always dead last. But it was the prettiest.

When you exit the ride, there is a board that displays all of the results with the images of your car designs, and there are another set of monitors where you can design a new car (or maybe you can choose to do something with your original car, I don't know, we opted out), or race your car against others on one of several virtual racetracks that you could stand around. See, I told you I wouldn't be able to explain it very well. Suffice it to say that it was incredible, wonderful, fantastic, and any other synonym of amazing that you can think of. It is how all Disney World attractions should be. The interactive queue, the opportunity to create, the investment you have in the ride itself, and the chance to apply what you learned after the ride in a new environment make this attraction--magical! And what's really great is that you'd get different results every time you rode it because you could design a different car each time. Bravo, Imagineers!


I think the only other attraction we went on in Future World was Ellen's Energy Adventure, which I can see by the photo I took in front of it is actually called Universe of Energy, because we a) love Ellen Degeneres and b) wanted to sit down in some A/C for 30 minutes or so. Disney, we will continue to visit Ellen's ride about energy out of respect for Ellen, but wow, it is really out of date. I suggest that you get the Test Track Imagineers on it ASAP. And then it was time for a light lunch.

Sunshine Seasons Snacks

Did I mention that the beet salad has candied walnuts

As I mentioned before, the thing we like to do at Epcot is snack, and we spend the whole day doing it, so we don't ever eat any large meals and we pace ourselves. One of our favorite places to snack is Sunshine Seasons in The Land in Future World, downstairs by Soarin'. It has zero atmosphere--again, like the Pop Century food court, the ambiance is sort of school cafeteria-ish--although you can hear the Soarin' music and it has A/C, since you're inside. We think everything they make there is good. We recommend the Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Salad with Honey Sherry Dressing, but you could get the Seared Tuna Noodle Salad, the Chicken Corn Chowder, the Oak-grilled Vegetable Flatbread Sandwich, or, my oldest daughter's favorite, the Turkey and Monterey Jack on Ciabatta with Chipotle Mayonnaise, and you'd be just as happy. We got the ciabatta sandwich and the beets and split everything between the three of us. Oh, and my youngest got a crème brûlée (it's a tradition), which we also split, while we sat there in the lovely A/C and listened to lovely Soarin' music and smiled at each other. Then we just made a quick stop at Club Cool and guzzled down some free Japanese Coke product called VegitaBeta that tasted a lot like Gatorade, and we were off to the World Showcase (whatever you do, don't let anybody talk you into guzzling the one from Italy called Beverly--it's a trick).

Snacking our Way Around the World Showcase

P for perfect

The World Showcase is kind of a blur to me, mostly because it was either so hot I was desperate for shade and could think of nothing else, or because of the torrential downpour that lasted for hours on and off and trapped us inside various buildings where we may have dozed a little. We started out in the United Kingdom, which is backwards for us (we usually take the countries clockwise, starting in Mexico), because Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins were due to appear there. By saying we started in the United Kingdom, it implies that we skipped Canada. We did. Sorry, Canada, but the only food people recommend in your pavilion is the expensive steak at Le Cellier and that would blow our whole snacking experience.

Adorable raspberry macaron

The girls got some good face-time with the characters while I took photos and sought shade, and as we headed to France to check out the newly-renovated bakery, the heavens opened up, and we ended up camping out in the Les Halles bakery, enjoying the pastries and the atmosphere for about an hour while it poured buckets outside (I ran out to the crêpes cart for my favorite chocolate crêpe made by two charming young people with charming accents. I think listening to the accents is my favorite part about getting a crêpe).

Voilà!

The rain finally let up, but only long enough for us to find cover in Morocco in a quaint little area next to the quick-service restaurant that just happened to have a table, three chairs, and an outlet to re-charge our phones (which were doubling as our cameras) while we waited out the storm. Magical! (Look around Epcot the next time you go--there are very few places to sit down that are not restaurants. Only a few ledges and hardly any benches. And most of them are outside in the sun, or in this case, the rain. This is an intentional design feature of the park so people will keep moving. So finding seating inside is rare.) This also put us at the front of the line to see Aladdin and Jasmine. After the rain finally ended, we made our way through the rest of the pavilions, munching as we went, on:





Japan: Rice candy, mochi balls, and Pocari Sweat. The sushi is good here, too. And cheap.
America: Sometimes we get funnel cakes here, but we had been stuck in the French bakery so long we had eaten way too many pastries already, so we passed 
Italy: Wanted to try the Italian ice, but we were still full of French goodness
Germany: The thing to get here is a brat, but we couldn't fit it in. I've also heard rumors about a really delicious buttery pretzel here, but no room.
China: Had to have some egg rolls and dumplings 
Norway: There was no line for Maelstrom, one of my favorites! Still full of Chinese, we passed on the food. Plus if you've had School Bread once, you're good.
Mexico: This is where we lost our heads and got both a plate of mini churros and a plate of nachos to share. They had changed the restaurant and the menu on us and we panicked. (Just FYI, this was a day of too much food. I blame it on the rain and the new French bakery.) The mini churros were actually better than I thought they'd be, and the dipping sauce was divine. But the nachos were just so-so.
BTW, France: Try the crepes from the cart outside, but don't miss the bakery. We love the Croque Monsieur (a grilled ham and cheese with béchamel sauce), the macarons, and the chocolate croissant.
And not to leave out The United Kingdom: Best snack here is fish and chips, but we were off our game, having just eaten lunch, so we passed this time. It's fun to get English candy bars here, too, like Pepperment Aeros and Cadbury Flake bars.

Illuminations, Reflections of Earth: Best Seats in the World?
In Mexico, at the new quick-service restaurant, La Cantina de San Angel, we nabbed a lakeside table with what, we had been told, would have the best view of the fireworks in the park. The view was good, but the roof over the area prevented us from seeing the tops of the fireworks, so I'm not giving it the Best View award. If you try this strategy, get a table at the very end of the covered area, so that the roof will not obstruct your view (we were on the side). And you'll have to get it at least an hour before the fireworks. But it was worth the wait because it was so nice to be able to sit and relax and eat and smile at each other, as we love to do while we're at Disney World, while we waited for the fireworks--instead of having to jockey for a standing position amidst a hoard of people with their kids on their shoulders in front of you. It was a great way to end the day. We didn't walk as many steps that day as we did at Animal Kingdom, but we only walked 82 steps less. The way I see it, we walked off all that food!

Leaving the park as Illuminations winds down

Being Girls Together at Disney World, Day One: Animal Kingdom

As my two 20-something daughters and I planned our end of August trip to Disney World, we tried to be more scientific about it than in trips past. We consulted several different Disney crowd calendars (undercovertourist.com/planning/when-to-visit.html and touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar), listened to podcasts (www.disunplugged.com), and read countless blogs (including thedisneyblog.com and disneytouristblog.com). We learned that everybody goes to Magic Kingdom first, which is exactly what we had wanted to do, so it is more crowded on the weekends and on Monday, the first day many vacationers visit the parks. We learned that the parks with EMH (Extra Magic Hours) are the most crowded that day, and that the least crowded days of the week in any park are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then we had to factor in fireworks and Fantasmic. The Wishes fireworks show would be showing every night, but we could only get tickets to the Dessert Party (with view of fireworks from the Tomorrowland Terrace) on Wednesday, and Fantasmic was not showing Wednesday night at Hollywood Studios. After we considered the availability of desired ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) we had a schedule for our five-day visit:
Day 1 (Sunday): Animal Kingdom
Day 2 (Monday): Epcot
Day 3 (Tuesday): Magic Kingdom Fantasyland, New Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland
Day 4 (Wednesday): Magic Kingdom Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square
Day 5 (Thursday): Hollywood Studios

Our MagicBands came in the mail with our names inside

In all of our research, we also found out about MagicBands. Since both of my girls had gone through the College Program, we were lucky enough to have a connection that allowed us to take advantage of a sweet deal at the Art of Animation resort (we wanted to check out the family suites), but we found out through the DIS podcasts that the only hotels that would be issuing MagicBands were Pop Century, Contemporary, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Yacht Club. Luckily for us, we could transfer our sweet deal to Pop Century and as soon as we did, I got an email asking me to personalize my MagicBands with color and name. Why did we want the MagicBands so badly? FastPass+, which would allow us to reserve three FastPasses per day online ahead of time. I was also surprised to find out that I could request a "Preferred Room" and so I requested a room near transportation.

So excited to meet at the airport and board the Magical Express!

We arrived late Saturday night, all of us coming in from different cities, met in the Orlando airport, and enjoyed our Magical Express ride to Pop Century. I distributed the Magic Bands, the concierge at the resort linked them to our tickets for us and we proceeded to the food court where we dined like kings and decided we absolutely loved Pop Century. The menu selections were amazing. OK, the ambience was a little cafeteria-like, but the food was delicious. We were also happy with our room. We really couldn't see much difference between it and the rooms at the Moderates we had stayed in, Caribbean Beach and Coronado. And in the two Moderates, we had had to walk what seemed like MILES to get to transportation. At Pop Century, we were a hop, skip, and a jump from the pool, dining, and the bus. Perfect.

So off we went to Animal Kingdom the next morning. We had FastPass+ for Dinosaur, the Safari, and Expedition Everest, and we had planned the times so that we had enough room between FastPass rides to see the Lion King show and travel to Rafiki's Planet Watch, since it closed early. I could end my review of Animal Kingdom right here with these words--I WILL NEVER GO BACK THERE AGAIN--but instead, I'll explain why: it is just too hot for humans in that place. I was as red as a tomato within thirty minutes and felt like I was in a sauna the rest of the day, wiping constant sheets of sweat off my face. Miserable. Granted, it was August in Orlando, so what did I expect, but I remember being there during other times of the year, too, and what I remember about those times was: there is never any air movement in the Animal Kingdom. Maybe it's my age, maybe I'm just too fat for Disney World in August, but I made a vow to myself within the first thirty minutes as I was turning into a tomato head in that steam jungle they call Animal Kingdom, and the vow was never to return to Disney World in a hot month. From now on, I'm taking the advice of my sister, a former annual Disney World passholder for many years: go the week after Thanksgiving. The parks are empty and the weather is beautiful. Sold.

I also realized, after our Animal Kingdom day, that it is the largest of the four parks. My dogs were barking, painfully. We walked more miles that day than any other day, and it was our shortest day, since Animal Kingdom closes at 6:00. Now that I know this, it might make me consider putting Animal Kingdom last in the schedule the next time we go to Disney World, that is, if I were ever going back, but, as I mentioned previously, I am never going back there again.

In spite of the fact that I'm never returning, I will admit that it is a beautiful park and every bit as magical as the rest of them. We experienced the magic in a lot of different ways that day. Timon came and sat by my youngest daughter in the audience during the Lion King show, put his arm around her, and then proceeded to choose a mentally challenged young adult across from us to join him in the parade around the floor. We got to watch that young man in his Lion King t-shirt participate with glee and then return to his seat where he patted the seat next to him where Timon had sat and then pointed to Timon while his parents nodded and smiled and we got tears in our eyes. Then he sang every word of every song in the rest of the show with a smile as bright as anything on stage. We couldn't take our eyes off him. His magical Disney moment had become ours.

As far as we were concerned, Timon stole the show

Isn't she lovely?

Next magical moment: we bumped into a Pocahontas meet-and-greet, which you never see any more. She's my favorite Disney "princess," mostly because she wasn't a princess, but an independent girl with a job to do. We love interacting with the Disney characters, especially since my older daughter used to be "best friends" with many of them when she worked at Disney World. When we see a character, we get as giddy as if George Clooney had just walked into the room. (We take a lot of flack about it from my afore-mentioned sister, who is a Disney expert, but who just doesn't get the appeal of the characters. "Going stalking again?" she'll ask.) Pocahontas was charming, and chatted with us at length about how we arrived (by canoe), and how I had skinned the cheetah I had made my Mickey ears out of. I asked her about John Smith and how she was doing without him and she said he came back for frequent visits. I had a million pictures taken with her, since she's my favorite, but none of them of me turned out, since I was by then a total tomato head, with a shiny sweaty face and my hair pulled back into a tight bun to keep the heat off my neck. But she looks great in them, so I'll just crop myself out.

Our last magical moment was on the Dinosaur ride that I almost skipped. We had FastPasses, but the lines were negligible, so we rode it three times in a row. What made it magical is that we decided to pose in a different pose for each photo. In the first photo, we just look scared, but in the second one we played dead, and when we exited the ride and walked past the PhotoPass photos posted on the wall, we actually got a round of applause for our efforts. We ran out of ideas for what to do in the third photo, so we decided to just raise our arms and laugh as if we were having a great time on a roller coaster (the camera snaps the photo when the dinosaur lunges at you out of the dark and roars). The problem was, we couldn't remember exactly when the dinosaur lunged, so we raised our arms and held hands as soon as the lights went out, and as we were lurching and plunging around in that car for what seemed like ages in the dark with our arms straight up and big fake smiles plastered on our faces, we got so tickled that we laughed so hard we could barely breathe. The smiles weren't fake when the photo was finally taken!

From scared to dead to laughing out loud

After the park closed, my youngest wanted to go meet friends at the Polynesian, get a Dole Whip, and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach, but my other daughter and I were truly fried. We begged off, had another scrumptious repast at the Pop Century food court (try the mussels with fennel cream sauce, it was another magical moment!), took hot baths and soaked our tired feet, and were in bed looking at our PhotoPass pictures by the time the youngest got back. We had walked 12,363 steps that day according to my iPhone app--an all-time record for me--and I was feeling every step, although for a brief moment before I fell asleep, I thought to myself, "maybe I will go back there someday..."