Ooh-de-lally! A dining heavy October '13 Trip Report *update 2/23-We're Going Back!*

[TheMaxRebo]

I really enjoyed reading about your experience at V&A. I would really like to have dinner there one day. I mentioned the possibility to DH but he wasn't as keen on the idea. I figure we'd pay that much to go on a whale watching tour or a kayak trip, why not for 3.5 hours of eating? Maybe one day. Until then I'll just live vicariously through those of you who have been and are willing to share your experience.

I've been interested for a while but we held off due to the cost and that is why we decided to not do anything really on our Anniversary and kinda combine that with "date night" during vacation - so if you think of it as spending on 2 special nights it's not too crazy.

While I did start breathing a little heavy when the bill came I can absolutely say that the cost is justified based on the level of service and quality of the food and definitely didn't feel like I got ripped off or anything.

That's one of the coolest things I've ever read!

Thank you - it was a very surreal moment. It took us a few minutes to believe that we were hearing what we were hearing. Definitely made the night even more magical!

That totally made me laugh, because I was thinking the exact same thing about myself!! LOL.

I am completely intrigued by the concept of a water flight. I'm perfectly happy drinking tap water, and drink plenty of it. But I think that's kind of a cool idea! I'm just too cheap to pay money for something I can get for free .

This 41 and childless girl cannot wait to meet Sophia the First. I'd be lying if I said I didn't record that show. Haha. And my nephew loves Jake, so I'm hoping I can meet him on my trip!

I would be really intrigued by like a mail with a water pairing or doing a water flight so you can really see the differences. But I am like you, unless it is a corporate event or something regular water is fine by me.

Sophia really was a great meet-and-greet and Olivia loves that show. We had to record the special episode that premiered last night since it was on after her bed time.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

quick note: Apparently I am over my bandwidth for the month for my main photo hosting site, so using an alternative for this post. Let me know if you have any issues.

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Day 4 - Part 2: MGM Studios ... Is it? Yes it is! *squee!*​

I forgot to post our park entrance family photopass pic in the last post, so here it is for your perusal:

While we were doing Meet & Greets and drawing Dopey, The McNamees arrived at MGM:

Just in time to spot someone up to no good:

They also went to visit some of their favorite vehicles (love Tara's pose):

We all met up at the Disney Jr. show. This is the first time we had seen it since they added Jake, Sophia the First, and Doc McStuffins, so the kids were pretty excited. I have to say that this is a pretty good show and they really draw the kids in. There aren't a *ton* of rides for little kids at MGM so I am glad they have this show.

After this we split up at the McNamees had made table service lunch plans.

Our original plan was to head up to EPCOT to grab food from the F&WF kiosks but with the return time for our Toy Story Mania passes we just didn't think we could make it or at least it would be super rushed and not worth it.

So we spent a lot of time debating where to eat lunch. All of the table service places indicated they had no seating and we couldn't agree on what counter service would have the best options/best quality.

Ultimately we just went to one of the closest locations which was ABC Commissary.

On the positive side, it was air conditioned and at least they had a decent amount of options, also the staff there was trying their best and was being very friendly despite the crazy crowd levels that pushed the lines practically to the door.

The food itself was not great. (I didn't even bother to take pictures). I got a chicken sandwhich, parts of which were rubbery. The carrot sticks in Olivia's lunch meal were all gross - mushy and slimey. They exchanged them for new ones, but still. Long of the short - ABC Commissary is definitely not on our "must do" next trip.

After lunch I ran to Tower of Terror to get Fastpasses while everyone else did restroom trips and then we met up at Star Tours.

We had to ride in the standby queue which was about 25 mins (this ride more than others seems to have a standby time that fluctuates more than any other - while waiting for everyone else I saw the time start at 20 mins, dip to 15 mins, then up to 20 and finally 25 - just kinda odd).

Anyway, it's at least an interesting queue to walk through / wait in. Olivia was willing to go on the ride by she is not exactly well versed with Star Wars as we had this exchange while waiting in the outside portion of the queue:

Olivia: I don't like this, it's scary here
Me: This? This is just where the Ewoks live
Olivia: Are the Ewoks good guys or bad guys?

So yeah, Olivia ultimately did enjoy the ride, but not any of the queue as she was just overwhelmed and not knowing who anyone is just kinda got her agitated. On the plus side she looked cute in her 3D glasses:

After our ride in a galaxy far, far away in a time long, long ago we decided to head through another trip back in time and headed towards:

I totally get that this ride could use a bit of an update, but it is still a must do for us and just reminds us of some of the highlights of movies long past - and actually allows us to share some of these with the kids considering they haven't seen many of them.

During the ride I got a little confused as we passed through the ganster scene without stopping. Then it hit me - WE GOT THE COWBOY VERSION!!!

I think Judi was a little thrown by how excited I was but, hey, it is definitely not something you get to see every day.

The storyline itself is pretty much the same - just with a different accent

Ultimately everyone is safe and after visiting some different locals, we are reminded that there is no place like home

up next: Some more meet & greets, a terrifying ride in a tower, a play featuring a beauty and a beast .... and our first ever viewing of Fantastmic!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Just to get this out of the way right off the bat... "Squee" is an awesome word!!!

Haha, there aren't a "ton" of rides for the big kids either, lol, but I do get your point.

ABC Commissary seems to be really hit or miss. Last trip it was great, but the time before that, not so much.

OK Phil, so your Disboard name is MaxRebo and your daughter is not well versed in the Star Wars universe? For shame.

SQUEE You got the cowboy version! I've only seen it once, but I'm asking for it next time.

 

[missangelalexis]

Cowboy Scene?? Lucky!!!

I have to agree, ABC Commissary was definitely a miss for me as well when I ate there.

Glad the Disney Jr show was a hit!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Just to get this out of the way right off the bat... "Squee" is an awesome word!!!

Haha, there aren't a "ton" of rides for the big kids either, lol, but I do get your point.

ABC Commissary seems to be really hit or miss. Last trip it was great, but the time before that, not so much.

OK Phil, so your Disboard name is MaxRebo and your daughter is not well versed in the Star Wars universe? For shame.

SQUEE You got the cowboy version! I've only seen it once, but I'm asking for it next time.

The somewhat sad thing is when I realized it was the Cowboy scene I literally turned to my wife and said "Squee!"

The lag of kid/family rides at MGM is I think one of the main reasons the demands on TSM are so extreme. Hopefully the add some more pixar/star wars stuff that is family friendly to help the park out

Yeah, I do need to work on that - though Olivia is at a stage where she doesn't really like conflict and just wants the "happy ending" part. Maybe this holiday season I can show her the Star Wars Holiday Special since we all know what a cinematic masterpiece that was

Best of luck in your search for the Cowboy scene - I do think that the rarity of it makes it such a sought after event

Cowboy Scene?? Lucky!!!

I have to agree, ABC Commissary was definitely a miss for me as well when I ate there.

Glad the Disney Jr show was a hit!

yeah, pretty disappointed with ABC commissary. Hopefully any expansion they do to MGM will include more restaurants. At least the outside lounge area of Brown Derby is a step in the right direction

Not sure if I would go out of my way to see it if I didn't have kids but all the kids in the audience seemed to really love the Disney Jr. Show

 

[kastoney]

I totally love that you call it MGM, as do I. I refuse to learn new names of things and on this one I'm not budging. I must disagree on the great movie ride though. While I love me some vintage I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed at all since my first visit in 1985. While part of me loves that the other part screams, aliens? Really?

 

[emmysmommy]

I'm finally caught up! Wow V&A and the bank robber scene on TGMR - what a great trip! Seriously though you really raised the bar on hubby's everywhere with the champagne and the flowers (even if they were not delivered.) I'm sure that was a memorable night.

And yes, Olivia does look adorable in her 3D glasses for Star Tours. You did tell her that Ewoks are good guys right?

Your Tiw/AP savings is really racking up.

 

[khaleesi]

We had to record the special episode that premiered last night since it was on after her bed time.

I hope she liked it! I thought it was really cute!

Maybe this holiday season I can show her the Star Wars Holiday Special since we all know what a cinematic masterpiece that was

I plan on riding Star Tours multiple times, and will definitely need to spend time in that queue... and the gift shop! Bought myself a Jedi Mickey gift card for that very purpose!

Olivia looked really cute in her glasses

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I totally love that you call it MGM, as do I. I refuse to learn new names of things and on this one I'm not budging. I must disagree on the great movie ride though. While I love me some vintage I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed at all since my first visit in 1985. While part of me loves that the other part screams, aliens? Really?

I too prefer most of the older names (Peoplemover, etc.) - but I think especially with MGM/DHS I associated the new name with brining in the sorcerers hat which blocks the view of the theater and is the symbol of the park yet only really houses a pin trading booth that I feel more strongly about that one.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely think they need to update the GMR for some newer "classics" - but at the same time wouldn't want them to get rid of all the old stuff and just new stuff. Mixing in a new one or two every couple of years would be nice without forgetting the past.

I'm finally caught up! Wow V&A and the bank robber scene on TGMR - what a great trip! Seriously though you really raised the bar on hubby's everywhere with the champagne and the flowers (even if they were not delivered.) I'm sure that was a memorable night.

And yes, Olivia does look adorable in her 3D glasses for Star Tours. You did tell her that Ewoks are good guys right?

Your Tiw/AP savings is really racking up.

Thanks - V&A really was a memorable night. I don't often do the surprise romantic gestures thing, but figured this was our one big night out so if I was ever going to go overboard, that was the time to do it!

I did assure her that Ewoks were good guys, though not sure if she believed me ... she is the girl who didn't fully believe me until after she rode the ride that there were, in fact, no trolls on Spaceship Earth

Yeah, V&A definitely helped with the TIW savings. We have one more big meal with the full group of 10 that pushed us over the edge!

I hope she liked it! I thought it was really cute!

She did like it, though she found some parts of it scary (ok, at this point I do think I am raising a wimp). We still have it on the DVR so hopefully she will watch it again and like it more. I think she prefers the one with Ariel as she has been on an Ariel kick of late.

I plan on riding Star Tours multiple times, and will definitely need to spend time in that queue... and the gift shop! Bought myself a Jedi Mickey gift card for that very purpose!

Olivia looked really cute in her glasses

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!!

I do love the re-ride-ability of the new Star Wars - definitely a great ride!

Good luck with that gift card - definitely some cool stuff in that gift shop. ever time we are in there I am tempted to by that backpack that makes it look like you are carrying Yoda on your back, but then realize I just really wouldn't wear it much.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 4 - Part 3: MGM Studios ... Ducks and One Man's Dream​

First off, a day late, but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And to Rob and other readers who are from exotic foreign lands ... hope you had a pretty dang good Thursday!


After that thrilling ride through the movies, went went to fulfill one of Olivia's requests - especially after not getting to draw her earlier - and that was to meet Daisy Duck:

And while we were there we figured, why not meet Donald too:

Kinda wish that it was set up as one line to meet both of them, but fortunately we were able to have Judi wait on the line for Donald while Olivia met Daisy to reduce the total wait time.


After that, we weren't quite up to our Toy Story Mania FP return time yet and a number of our traveling party were in need of a bit of a rest, so while Peter slept in the stroller pretty much everyone else chilled on a bench while I went to explore one area that I am ashamed to admit I had not spent time in before. Namely, One Man's Dream.

For someone who loves reading up on Walt's life and especially the history and construction of the parks and rides, it is kinda shocking, and a bit sad, that I had not experienced this attraction yet. I definitely thoroughly enjoyed it and really appreciate that they don't leave it static but continue to add to it (with the model for New Fantasy land and the models for attractions at Disney Parks in other countries, etc.) as Walt definitely was of the view that they would never be done.

Here are a few photos of exhibits that I was most drawn to:

The fact that this had the term "Twitter" in it amused me to no end and made me wonder what Walt would think about Twitter and other forms of social media. I think he would like parts of it, but not the isolation aspect as he was always looking for things for the family to do together.

Always really love seehing how rides are made and how they are laid out so loved this top-down view model of Peter Pan

Also pretty much obsessed with The Florida Project and how it was conceived and executed

Cannot wait for this to be finished in real life!

I mentioned that whole thing with me a ride design, right?

After getting through all the exhibits and watching the film at the end - that theater must be dusty or something because my eyes were watering - it was time to ride Toy Story Mania ... just love the queue

Pete still had not woken up from his nap so Bob was at a bit of a disadvantage

My score was definitely not super impressive. I rode with Olivia who did pretty good a fact I informed her of. She interpreted this as her beating me which she then proceeded to tell this fact to everyone who would listen.


Ok, I swear I will get to Tower of Terror and Fantasmic! next post


Hope you are all having a good / surviving Black Friday!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Aww gee, thanks Phil. There's just not enough "Happy Thursday" greetings around anymore. Hallmark needs to get on that. Oh and despite the fact that our Thanksgiving was over a month ago, we HAVE adopted Black Friday here.

I think more and more people are finally discovering One Man's Dream. The last few times I was in there there were actually quite a few people. I've always been a "This should be a requirement upon admission", but I also miss a little when you almost had the whole place to yourself. I prefer more and more people taking it in though even if it is a little more crowded.

 

[IheartDDuck]

One Man's Dream is one of my favorites. I also love the fact that they continue to add to it and make changes along the way.

The ride designs are the best part of going through there! Looking at them from the overhead to see how they're imagined and laid out. I love it.

 

[khaleesi]

I loooooove One Man's Dream... so glad you were able to take a look! Not only do I find it just so incredibly interesting, but they did a really good job with it

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Aww gee, thanks Phil. There's just not enough "Happy Thursday" greetings around anymore. Hallmark needs to get on that. Oh and despite the fact that our Thanksgiving was over a month ago, we HAVE adopted Black Friday here.

I think more and more people are finally discovering One Man's Dream. The last few times I was in there there were actually quite a few people. I've always been a "This should be a requirement upon admission", but I also miss a little when you almost had the whole place to yourself. I prefer more and more people taking it in though even if it is a little more crowded.

And a Happy Sunday to you . Interesting that they have the Black Friday there - think it started here b/c most people get day after Thanksgiving off from work - but nowadays maybe doesn't matter as much.

Definitely were some crowds in OMD. It was pretty hot so some probably some just in for AC - also models of new attractions (especially NFL) seemed pretty popular. Maybe they can't make it a requirement but maybe offer a perk like an extra FP+ choice or something if you go to the exhibit

One Man's Dream is one of my favorites. I also love the fact that they continue to add to it and make changes along the way.

The ride designs are the best part of going through there! Looking at them from the overhead to see how they're imagined and laid out. I love it.

We definitely are of a similar mind on this!

I loooooove One Man's Dream... so glad you were able to take a look! Not only do I find it just so incredibly interesting, but they did a really good job with it

Agree - they definitely didn't just slap it together. Also included some really neat pieces like the dancingng man figure

 

[emmysmommy]

Sadly, as much as I love One Man's Dream, we don't take the time every trip to see it. If we space out our visits we're sure to see updates and new additions to the attraction!

Like you, I'm fascinated with the design aspect of the rides/attractions and how the imagineers thougt through all the details. The little mermaid diorama is so interesting. It took me a second to figure out where that was at. I've see a PotC version like Peter Pan.

I see that although Daisy and Donald are wearing their finest Hollywood duds they still can't get any pants on those two!

Sounds like your next update will have some of my favorites....

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Sadly, as much as I love One Man's Dream, we don't take the time every trip to see it. If we space out our visits we're sure to see updates and new additions to the attraction!

Like you, I'm fascinated with the design aspect of the rides/attractions and how the imagineers thougt through all the details. The little mermaid diorama is so interesting. It took me a second to figure out where that was at. I've see a PotC version like Peter Pan.

I see that although Daisy and Donald are wearing their finest Hollywood duds they still can't get any pants on those two!

Sounds like your next update will have some of my favorites....

I'd love to see a PotC model - especially if they had the different versions and you could compare side-by-side

Good point! It's like they said, "well, let's have them dress up to signify that they are ready for a special occasion ... no, not special enough to wear pants."

And who lays the ground rules? Mice? yeah, they need pants. Ducks, no, that's fine. Maybe feathers cover more than hair? One thing is for certain, I have already spent too much time thinking about this.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 4 - Part 4: MGM Studios ... a Beastly Terror!​

Ok, lied again as Fantasmic! will not be covered in this post ... but it is due to picture limitations - so this will be a 2-update session and it will be covered in the 2nd part and thus in today's update

Hey - I try to be honest about my lying


So after our turn at Toy Story Mania (which I am glad to report Olivia pronounced as her favorite ride of the trip) it was time to use some Fast Passes ... so while Bob and Kathy took the kids to The Muppets, Judi and I headed towards:

Though, on our way we passed by Staring Rolls and seeing that it was closing soon we, well, we had to stop. We selected a peanut butter and chocolate cupcake and an apple juice since, you know, we were being healthy

This was soooo good, but soooo rich and heavy. Even splitting it we had a struggle to finish it.


Now, to the Tower! This is definitely one of my favorite attractions at WDW. First, it is just a solid, well constructed ride, and b) the level of detail is off the charts:

We used Bob and Kathy's tickets as well so we wound up riding it twice back-to-back. Both rides were excellent with the second one really having a great sequence of drops.

Our first attempt at a "Jazz Hands" ride photo:

One last part of our Tower journey - while on line for our first trip when we were in boiler room area a girl in a group a few in front of us was absolutely freaking out and hyperventilating. A CM was trying hard to calm her down but it just wasn't happening and she wound up taking the "chicken" exit. Kinda was a bit scary to see and made us really glad we didn't push Olivia at all to go on this ride - she was amazingly enough tall enough to ride (which kind freaked me out ... she can't really be that big/old can she?) and after showing her the ride on YouTube she actually wasn't put off by the drop part but the ghosts.


So after surviving an out of control elevator ride not once, but twice (man, we must of had bad luck that day) we met up with the rest of our crew outside the Beaty and the Beast Theater in order to go see .... well, Beauty and the Beast obviously.

Olivia was just a tad excited:

Peter, not so much:

This was our first time seeing the show and we all very much enjoyed it. Maybe not a must do ever trip from now on, but glad we did it and I am sure we will see it again. A few pictures, though I know others have posted much better ones:

<Continued below!>

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Day 4 - Part 5: MGM Studios ... This will be a day long remembered - I finally get to the Fantasmic! update!​

While we were visiting terrifying towers and watching a beauty and a beast sing and dace, the McNamees were watching Tara learn the ways of the force and use them to defeat Darth Vader! (Impressive, right?)

She makes a very cute Jedi and also was wearing the appropriate shirt


After we came out of Beauty and the Beast we noticed a really long line and after asking realized it was people lined up for the first Fantasmic! show already (this was about 1.5 hours before show time. We knew we wanted to go see this badly, so we figured we would get on line and just get food/dinner once we were in the theater rather than going to go get food elsewhere and risk not making the show.

Just seeing the stage, and the scale of it, was getting me excited:

Olivia was also really excited and had fun yelling along as requested by the pre-show entertainers:

For food, I got a Sam Adams (definitely makes the wait seem shorter ... beer, is there anything it can't do?) and we split various food items including hot dogs and a Mickey Pretzel:

It was very crowded - and this was exacerbated by most of the middle sections being roped off for the Dining Package crowd as well as for FP+ people - I think it was only the right- and left-most 3 sections that were open seating. The crowd also entertained themselves by doing the wave:

Ok, so I have seen some amazing pictures of Fantasmic! in trip reports and ours are definitely not up to those standards (at one point my camera actually ran out of power so some are just using our phones), but I figured I needed at least some photographic proof that I saw the show after the build up to this update

So what did we think of the show? Well, what did you guys think:

The show was just amazing and hard to describe the feelings when Steamboat Willie pilots all those characters around. This is one show we will definitely see again in the future! Clearly, this is the Gene Parmesan of Disney shows

So that ends this day - the next day is another day off that we also didn't really take off

 

[missangelalexis]

Great updates! Love your ToT ride photo. Glad you loved Fantasmic Seeing the Steamboat come out really is a magical moment!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great updates! Love your ToT ride photo. Glad you loved Fantasmic Seeing the Steamboat come out really is a magical moment!

Thank you! Seeing Fantasmic! was definitely one of those "why has it taken us so long to see this?" moments. Kids really liked it too and we continue to watch it on YouTube at home