When I left off, we had just finished watching the HSM 3 show (
W-I-L-D, WILDCATS!) and narrowly avoided a lost wallet tragedy. We were continuing to make our way to the next stop on our touring plan....the Magic of Disney Animation Tour.
Jeff and I went to WDW on our honeymoon in 1992, I know, that was a LONG time ago. Were old...technically, but youre only as old as you feel!
In 1992, MGM Studios (as it was called then) was the newest of the Disney parks. It joined Epcot and the Magic Kingdom....Animal Kingdom was still just a great idea waiting to be born! At the time, MGM was a working studio. I remember doing the Animation Tour then and being able to see actual artists working on movies in production. It was very cool! The new Magic of Disney Animation Tour is more movie and less tour. The movie and informational presentation were very cute, mind you. Who doesnt love Mushu causing a little trouble? BUT....I did miss being able to see the real thing.
After the movie, you move into a large area with some interactive activities and character Meet and Greet opportunities. Jonah wanted to meet Bolt and Rhino...we had just seen the movie Bolt before we left for vacation....so I jumped in line with him. The other boys were more interested in the interactive games so they went off with Jeff to play. The line for Bolt was deceiving! It wound around behind the Meet and Greet area and moved very, very slowly.
Bolt and Rhino were taking a lot of time with each child, which was great, but made for a long wait for the rest of us! At one point the handlers said that the characters were going to take a break then be back. I gave Jonah the choice to wait....we literally had
NOT moved in the time we had been in line....or give it up and try to see Mickey and maybe the Incredibles instead. He opted for choice number 2, so we hopped out of line and went to find the rest of the family. Jeff took these pictures of Bolt and Rhino between kids!
The older boys were still playing with the cool stuff.....I really didnt see all of it, but there were computers everywhere and you could do fun stuff like animate your own characters, do voice-overs, etc. I spent my time in line with Jonah! Dan and Isaiah were occupied so Jonah and I got in the short line to see Sorcerer Mickey.
Here are the PhotoPass pictures.
This one is my favorite....I love how they are so intense!
And here are the ones that Jeff took when he saw us in line and jumped in to take the pictures!
After autographs and pictures with the Big Cheese himself, I wanted to head over to where the Incredibles were doing a Meet and Greet. They were just scheduled to come out and I wanted to jump in line before it got too long. Success!
There were only 2 people ahead of us! Unfortunately there were no PhotoPass photographers here so we were on our own. At one point, Mr. Incredible and Jonah did a cute little pose-off, but, unfortunately, Jeff was holding the camera and was so into watching the interaction that he didnt take pictures of it. UGH! This was not the only time this happened...stay tuned! Anyway...he did manage to get this really cute one! (Love you Honey!)
Here are a couple more from our Incredible meet and greet!
Once we were finished visiting the characters, Jonah wanted a chance to do some of the interactive activities, so we hung out a bit and let him do that. Jeff liked the voice-over one...Iago was the director and he gave you the dialogue to a scene, then you voiced the words as you watched the character onscreen. At the end, it played the clip back with your voice. VERY COOL! Heres Jeff working on his voice-over debut!
Im not exactly sure what this one was, but it looks like some sort of touch screen where you get to color in a character. They all liked this one.
The cool air conditioning of this building was nice, but we had been in here a long time now and I was getting antsy to move on. Our window to get new FPs was now open so I wanted to head over to RnRC to pick some up for later. Begrudgingly, we headed out of the Animation building. I asked the boys about doing the drawing class earlier, but they really showed no interest. I am a terrible artist...I can barely do stick figures! It looked cool as we walked by on our way out, but no takers this time.
It was now about noon and the park was really getting crowded. It was very obvious on Sunset Boulevard heading toward TOT and RnRC. It was really
shoulder to shoulder the entire way there. In all of our 10 day vacation, this day was the only day the crowds made us feel uncomfortable. Navigating through them with 5 of us was tedious and time consuming. Needless to say, Jeff HATED it! Im not sure if the crowds were so bad because it was a Fantasmic! day or because this park just doesnt handle the masses well because of its layout, but whatever it was....it was not good.
The crowds dont tend to bother me, but even I noticed how difficult it was to get from place to place.
YIKES!
We finally managed to get ourselves to the RnRC Fastpass machine and got our FPs. Our return time wasnt until 4:00...at noon! I told you it was crowded! Oh well...we press on!
Lunch is calling our names so we make the decision to try the Backlot Express for our meal. We had eaten at ABC Commissary our last trip and were not impressed, so we hoped for better luck this time!
We had learned by now, that it was WAY easier to order if only one person went to the register and ordered for everyone. I took to writing down what each person wanted, from beverage to dessert, and being ready to just rattle it all off when asked. The CMs seemed to appreciate this and it definitely made the process faster! We all got Double Cheeseburgers and fries except Jonah who got Chicken Nuggets. I got a very delicious chocolate cheesecake for dessert! The burgers were ok...pretty standard park fare, but not bad. Jeff had found us a nice table outside under the awning. We were right behind the Indiana Jones Stunt Show and could hear the action and the audience. Pretty cool! At this point, we had been eating at WDW for 4 days and we kept telling the boys to make smart choices concerning beverages etc. We urged them to get water or juice instead of soda for each meal...I know were on vacation, but your body can only handle so much before it begins to rebel. Keep that in mind for later! Isaiah and Jonah were doing well, but Dan was not so good at heeding good advice...it may come back to bite him later!
With our tummies full and FPs in hand for both TSM and RnRC, our next stop was the 1:20 show of Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show. We had finished up our lunch in perfect time to head over to the stadium and find our seats. START YOUR ENGINES!!
LOL! 
It was hard, yet helpful to write it out.
Poor Jeff, you told us how he hates crowds!!
It was my goal this time not to let that happen again! 
