Crichton
07-19-2002, 01:05 PM
Cast: Me - DH 25 & Her - DW 24
Date: Spring Break (March 17 - 24)
We woke up that morning with a need. A need.. for speed.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000759.JPG
It was off to Disney/MGM Studios to quench our desire. Partaking in the usual "run for fun" marathon down the street, we quickly arrived at our goal. Both the Tower of Terror and Rocking Rollercoaster loomed before us - with a quick Fastpass(tm) stop at Tower of Terror, we moved onto the Rocking Rollercoaster. I asked DW (this being my first time on this ride), "Does it matter that we just had breakfast". She assured me that it didn't, but I wondered if she was being deceptively vague (when I asked her about Space Mountain, she assured me "It never gets above 15 or 20mph). After watching the fun intro and enjoying the.. you guessed it.. MARBLE WALL.. we were ready for our limo. We climbed in, having seats about 2/3rds of the way back, and were jettisoned (the only way to describe it) to 60mph in 2.8 seconds. With "Dude Looks like a Lady" screaming in our ears we enjoyed one of the fastest, albeit smoothest, rollercoasters I've ever been on. Just as we pulled in to "park", I told DW "Another 2.8 seconds, and it would have gotten messy in our limo." Of course I was exaggerating, but don't ride this immediately after you've had a healthy helping of Mickey Pancakes.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000951.JPG
Heading over to the 100 years celebration hat (we had seen it on the way in, but our need for speed pulled us away) to see what all the fuss was about, we saw the "Army Men" from Toy Story. DW insisted that their shoes would be stuck together (ala plastic footings), but they must have discontinued that - the Army Men we saw had free motion of their appendages. We looked at all the wonderful 100 years of Magic merchandise, sucumbing quickly to a $10 magnet for the fridge and a Giant Mickey Hat pencil eraser topper ($6.50) before venturing towards the Backlot tour.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000761.JPG
There, again the same as in August, we saw the Pearl Harbor special effects - though this time I wished we had been in it - it was as enjoyable as the first. We departed on our tour and enjoyed getting pictures that we weren't able to get last time. We also enjoyed looking at some of the props that had changed, particularly in the garage sequence - though we didn't get to see anything quite as cool as the Angelina Jolie costume we saw in August. Being extras in all of those Backlot stunts sure did make us hungry, so we headed over to the ABC Commissary for some lunch. DW got an asian noodle dish, while I went all American with a burger and fries. We watched clips of various shows, were entertained by inside bloopers of "Alias" and filled by the good food within. Afterwards, still loving the movie magic around us, we headed to the Indiana Jones: Stunt Spectacular.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000787.JPG
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000791.JPG
As always it was full of fun and action - though this time we knew who the mole in the crowd was! - and we marvelled at the complexity of special effects and how they all came together several times a day. Another thing we always marvel at is how hot the CMs must get - Indiana was wearing leather and, while it was cool March weather, that still means upwards of high 70s to low 80s. We rode Star Tours next, which made DW murderously motion sick (the headache type, not the messy type) so we grabbed a 100 Years of Magic souviener mug filled with red squishee and headed back to the hotel. A quick nap and some supper type food later and we were feeling good enough to head back to MGM for..
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000831.JPG
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000842.JPG
Fantasmic. While I didn't take any night time shots (my digital camera doesn't take kindly to getting wet, and there was enough of a breeze that night that the water show gave us a constant mist feeling) - you can see the size and setup of the arena. We LOVE Illuminations, but Fanstasmic was EXCELLENT and a bit different, as it worked through a slightly different medium (predominately the lasers couple with character interactions). You've gotta love Disney for not only providing excellent entertainment, but also a wide enough variety that you never get tired. Three spectacular fireworks shows would have been great, but to throw in the extra creativity just makes it that much better.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000853.JPG
After all that, and after fighting a post-evening show crowd - we were ready to head back to our solace. Another wonderful day at Disney.
Day Four soon....
Date: Spring Break (March 17 - 24)
We woke up that morning with a need. A need.. for speed.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000759.JPG
It was off to Disney/MGM Studios to quench our desire. Partaking in the usual "run for fun" marathon down the street, we quickly arrived at our goal. Both the Tower of Terror and Rocking Rollercoaster loomed before us - with a quick Fastpass(tm) stop at Tower of Terror, we moved onto the Rocking Rollercoaster. I asked DW (this being my first time on this ride), "Does it matter that we just had breakfast". She assured me that it didn't, but I wondered if she was being deceptively vague (when I asked her about Space Mountain, she assured me "It never gets above 15 or 20mph). After watching the fun intro and enjoying the.. you guessed it.. MARBLE WALL.. we were ready for our limo. We climbed in, having seats about 2/3rds of the way back, and were jettisoned (the only way to describe it) to 60mph in 2.8 seconds. With "Dude Looks like a Lady" screaming in our ears we enjoyed one of the fastest, albeit smoothest, rollercoasters I've ever been on. Just as we pulled in to "park", I told DW "Another 2.8 seconds, and it would have gotten messy in our limo." Of course I was exaggerating, but don't ride this immediately after you've had a healthy helping of Mickey Pancakes.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000951.JPG
Heading over to the 100 years celebration hat (we had seen it on the way in, but our need for speed pulled us away) to see what all the fuss was about, we saw the "Army Men" from Toy Story. DW insisted that their shoes would be stuck together (ala plastic footings), but they must have discontinued that - the Army Men we saw had free motion of their appendages. We looked at all the wonderful 100 years of Magic merchandise, sucumbing quickly to a $10 magnet for the fridge and a Giant Mickey Hat pencil eraser topper ($6.50) before venturing towards the Backlot tour.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000761.JPG
There, again the same as in August, we saw the Pearl Harbor special effects - though this time I wished we had been in it - it was as enjoyable as the first. We departed on our tour and enjoyed getting pictures that we weren't able to get last time. We also enjoyed looking at some of the props that had changed, particularly in the garage sequence - though we didn't get to see anything quite as cool as the Angelina Jolie costume we saw in August. Being extras in all of those Backlot stunts sure did make us hungry, so we headed over to the ABC Commissary for some lunch. DW got an asian noodle dish, while I went all American with a burger and fries. We watched clips of various shows, were entertained by inside bloopers of "Alias" and filled by the good food within. Afterwards, still loving the movie magic around us, we headed to the Indiana Jones: Stunt Spectacular.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000787.JPG
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000791.JPG
As always it was full of fun and action - though this time we knew who the mole in the crowd was! - and we marvelled at the complexity of special effects and how they all came together several times a day. Another thing we always marvel at is how hot the CMs must get - Indiana was wearing leather and, while it was cool March weather, that still means upwards of high 70s to low 80s. We rode Star Tours next, which made DW murderously motion sick (the headache type, not the messy type) so we grabbed a 100 Years of Magic souviener mug filled with red squishee and headed back to the hotel. A quick nap and some supper type food later and we were feeling good enough to head back to MGM for..
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000831.JPG
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000842.JPG
Fantasmic. While I didn't take any night time shots (my digital camera doesn't take kindly to getting wet, and there was enough of a breeze that night that the water show gave us a constant mist feeling) - you can see the size and setup of the arena. We LOVE Illuminations, but Fanstasmic was EXCELLENT and a bit different, as it worked through a slightly different medium (predominately the lasers couple with character interactions). You've gotta love Disney for not only providing excellent entertainment, but also a wide enough variety that you never get tired. Three spectacular fireworks shows would have been great, but to throw in the extra creativity just makes it that much better.
http://php.unl.edu/dis/IM000853.JPG
After all that, and after fighting a post-evening show crowd - we were ready to head back to our solace. Another wonderful day at Disney.
Day Four soon....