Day 2 November 28th 2001 : MGM Studios...and my Birthday 
Disney MGM Studios.
The Best Laid Plans... :
Now I had planned this trip down to the last minute, I knew what day we would be at what park, where we would eat, I had studied the Brits guide to Orlando 2002 (Simon Veness) and made my plan at the back of it (Tip for all brits going or planning to go to Orlando, get this book, ive bought the last 3 revisions of the book and even now after 4 trips i still use it). On the first day it went all out the window. No fault of the book you understand, just me. I had planned to visit Seaworld on this day as its quite a gentle warmup, we had reservations for Discovery Cove the following Wednesday so had 7 days access to seaworld prior to the booking date. I chose to ignore the fact that it was 8 days before discovery cove right until our first morning. The DW took great delight in this and announced that she was taking over the planning and that we would be going to MGM (her favourite park).'BUT WE CAN'T', says
I, 'the book says that this isn't a light attendance day', i was getting nowhere though, she was already mentally on Tower of Terror. So after watching her tidy the room and then proceed to leave 5 dollars on the pillow of the nicely made bed for housekeeping (you try telling her!) off we went.
You mean I can keep going up for more?? :
Still being pretty much on UK time we were up and away by 7.00am a bit too early to arrive at MGM so we decided to have breakfast on i-drive. Hopefully not in the too near future I can imagine myself looking back from a Hospital bed, probably plugged into several beeping machines at this point in time as a pivotel moment in the history of my health. The moment i read on the advertising board 'Ponderosa, All you can eat Buffet 3.75' and decided that this would be a good idea.I had never before attended an all you can eat buffet and was totally in awe of what I could have for breakfast. mmmmm biscuits with gravy, pancakes with blueberry syrup, 3 kinds of eggs, bacon and sausages, pastries. Yup I ate the lot. It amazes me that they can do this for 3.75, in the UK the pound equivalent would do well if it got you 1 cup of coffee and a piece of dry toast.
Belly full and arteries suitably clogged, off we head for MGM.
Now thats one big hat :
We arrive at MGM at around 8.30. The car park was suprisingly full, certainly not walking distance to the entrance when we parked. And now we encounter the almost legendary new security at the parks. Actually its not that bad at all. Lines move fairly quick through the bag checks and its not done in a way that snaps you back to reality. Once through we redeem our Virgin Vouchers for our 5 day park hopper plus tickets and head into MGM.
First thing we do is head for Guest services and grab Tickets for the Very Merry Xmas party, book a Fantasmic dinner and also Cinderellas Castle. Now im sure everyone has seen pictures of the 100th anniversary hat, but you really can't do it justice until you see it. The thing is HUGE. After a few pictures of it we veer off to the right to Tower of Terror, the DW loves this ride, I however, start to picture the 3 plates of food i'd had for breakfast suddenly freefalling.
The Plan was to grab a fast pass for Rock and Roller Coaster and get in the stand-by line for Tower of Terror, this was the last time i'd consider fast pass for the whole trip. No line at all for either ToT or RnRC. Now this isnt neccesarily a good thing considering what i'd eaten, at least a line would have let me stomach resettle between rides. Fortunatley the food stayed where it was meant to and we headed off to the more gentle areas of the Park (after id had a sit down, it was the heat, honest). Incidently last year I didnt think much of RnRC, this year however we both loved it, dont ask me why.
Next on the list was BackLot Tour, I had to pull DW away from Tigger and Pooh by the entrace to the Backlot Tour first (Note for all, if you ever see a 5 foot 6 british girl charging towards a Disney Character move your children, she will not stop for them!). I had never done this attraction before and quite enjoyed it.
Next up is one of my favourites, Muppet Vision 3d, this never fails to leave me in stitches. We hit Star Tours, The Indy Show and Sounds Dangerous (still no lines) before grabbing a bite to eat (yes I know I shouldnt have been hungry but my belly was telling me otherwise).
We then grab a spot for the Stars and Motor Cars Parade, this is by far the best parade iv'e seen so far, i especially enjoyed Booing the baddies car and getting a
stern telling off from Cruella.
Our Dinner reservations are at Hollywood and Vine (the only one left when we booked) for 4pm so we just had enough time to do the Great Movie Ride and check out the 100 year stuff under the Hat before we grab yet more food, to my delight another buffet style event.
As we'd had a 'Fantasmic Dinner', we got to take the back entrace to the stadium, the seats aren't actually that great but its good they were guarenteed as even at this quiet time Fantasmic was full 15 minutes before the start.
As for the show itself....WOW!! Id never seen Fantasmic before and was left stunned by it, possibly a little scarey in places for kids though I thought but it certainly lived up to its repution.
I'd Hate to have the Osbourne's Electricty Bill! :
After fanstasmic we head for the Osbourne Lights, again I'd read all about it but nothing could prepare me for seeing it. We turned the corner into the street as was met by the sight of all the lights, a bell choir and snow!!! After grabbing our Hologram Glasses (which we didnt use as it looked better without them) and a nice mug of Hot chocolate we headed into the streets. It seemed that everyone at the fantasmic show had got the same idea as us as the streets were packed, but this all added to the atmosphere. Absolutley brilliant!!
After the lights we head on home, I note that we had spent the entire day and most of the evening at MGM where previously I'd only spent maybe 5 hours tops there. MGM had moved up my 'Best Parks' list by 2 places and nudged magic kingdom into 3rd Place. My Face was actually aching from smiling and laughing so much, when i realised this the Disney Magic really hit home with me.
The day was rounded off by a guy having a conversation with DW at the hotel pool bar about the sort of Season the New York Yankees and each of their individual players had. This Lasted for at least half an hour, and at no point did I have the heart to tell the guy that DW had no idea what he was talking about and just happen to like the look of the Yankees baseball cap that she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes.
He seemed pretty happy though.
It may not have been according to plan but day 2 and my 29th brithday had been about as good as it gets....
Disney MGM Studios.
The Best Laid Plans... :
Now I had planned this trip down to the last minute, I knew what day we would be at what park, where we would eat, I had studied the Brits guide to Orlando 2002 (Simon Veness) and made my plan at the back of it (Tip for all brits going or planning to go to Orlando, get this book, ive bought the last 3 revisions of the book and even now after 4 trips i still use it). On the first day it went all out the window. No fault of the book you understand, just me. I had planned to visit Seaworld on this day as its quite a gentle warmup, we had reservations for Discovery Cove the following Wednesday so had 7 days access to seaworld prior to the booking date. I chose to ignore the fact that it was 8 days before discovery cove right until our first morning. The DW took great delight in this and announced that she was taking over the planning and that we would be going to MGM (her favourite park).'BUT WE CAN'T', says
I, 'the book says that this isn't a light attendance day', i was getting nowhere though, she was already mentally on Tower of Terror. So after watching her tidy the room and then proceed to leave 5 dollars on the pillow of the nicely made bed for housekeeping (you try telling her!) off we went.
You mean I can keep going up for more?? :
Still being pretty much on UK time we were up and away by 7.00am a bit too early to arrive at MGM so we decided to have breakfast on i-drive. Hopefully not in the too near future I can imagine myself looking back from a Hospital bed, probably plugged into several beeping machines at this point in time as a pivotel moment in the history of my health. The moment i read on the advertising board 'Ponderosa, All you can eat Buffet 3.75' and decided that this would be a good idea.I had never before attended an all you can eat buffet and was totally in awe of what I could have for breakfast. mmmmm biscuits with gravy, pancakes with blueberry syrup, 3 kinds of eggs, bacon and sausages, pastries. Yup I ate the lot. It amazes me that they can do this for 3.75, in the UK the pound equivalent would do well if it got you 1 cup of coffee and a piece of dry toast.
Belly full and arteries suitably clogged, off we head for MGM.
Now thats one big hat :
We arrive at MGM at around 8.30. The car park was suprisingly full, certainly not walking distance to the entrance when we parked. And now we encounter the almost legendary new security at the parks. Actually its not that bad at all. Lines move fairly quick through the bag checks and its not done in a way that snaps you back to reality. Once through we redeem our Virgin Vouchers for our 5 day park hopper plus tickets and head into MGM.
First thing we do is head for Guest services and grab Tickets for the Very Merry Xmas party, book a Fantasmic dinner and also Cinderellas Castle. Now im sure everyone has seen pictures of the 100th anniversary hat, but you really can't do it justice until you see it. The thing is HUGE. After a few pictures of it we veer off to the right to Tower of Terror, the DW loves this ride, I however, start to picture the 3 plates of food i'd had for breakfast suddenly freefalling.
The Plan was to grab a fast pass for Rock and Roller Coaster and get in the stand-by line for Tower of Terror, this was the last time i'd consider fast pass for the whole trip. No line at all for either ToT or RnRC. Now this isnt neccesarily a good thing considering what i'd eaten, at least a line would have let me stomach resettle between rides. Fortunatley the food stayed where it was meant to and we headed off to the more gentle areas of the Park (after id had a sit down, it was the heat, honest). Incidently last year I didnt think much of RnRC, this year however we both loved it, dont ask me why.
Next on the list was BackLot Tour, I had to pull DW away from Tigger and Pooh by the entrace to the Backlot Tour first (Note for all, if you ever see a 5 foot 6 british girl charging towards a Disney Character move your children, she will not stop for them!). I had never done this attraction before and quite enjoyed it.
Next up is one of my favourites, Muppet Vision 3d, this never fails to leave me in stitches. We hit Star Tours, The Indy Show and Sounds Dangerous (still no lines) before grabbing a bite to eat (yes I know I shouldnt have been hungry but my belly was telling me otherwise).
We then grab a spot for the Stars and Motor Cars Parade, this is by far the best parade iv'e seen so far, i especially enjoyed Booing the baddies car and getting a
stern telling off from Cruella.
Our Dinner reservations are at Hollywood and Vine (the only one left when we booked) for 4pm so we just had enough time to do the Great Movie Ride and check out the 100 year stuff under the Hat before we grab yet more food, to my delight another buffet style event.
As we'd had a 'Fantasmic Dinner', we got to take the back entrace to the stadium, the seats aren't actually that great but its good they were guarenteed as even at this quiet time Fantasmic was full 15 minutes before the start.
As for the show itself....WOW!! Id never seen Fantasmic before and was left stunned by it, possibly a little scarey in places for kids though I thought but it certainly lived up to its repution.
I'd Hate to have the Osbourne's Electricty Bill! :
After fanstasmic we head for the Osbourne Lights, again I'd read all about it but nothing could prepare me for seeing it. We turned the corner into the street as was met by the sight of all the lights, a bell choir and snow!!! After grabbing our Hologram Glasses (which we didnt use as it looked better without them) and a nice mug of Hot chocolate we headed into the streets. It seemed that everyone at the fantasmic show had got the same idea as us as the streets were packed, but this all added to the atmosphere. Absolutley brilliant!!
After the lights we head on home, I note that we had spent the entire day and most of the evening at MGM where previously I'd only spent maybe 5 hours tops there. MGM had moved up my 'Best Parks' list by 2 places and nudged magic kingdom into 3rd Place. My Face was actually aching from smiling and laughing so much, when i realised this the Disney Magic really hit home with me.
The day was rounded off by a guy having a conversation with DW at the hotel pool bar about the sort of Season the New York Yankees and each of their individual players had. This Lasted for at least half an hour, and at no point did I have the heart to tell the guy that DW had no idea what he was talking about and just happen to like the look of the Yankees baseball cap that she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes.
He seemed pretty happy though.
It may not have been according to plan but day 2 and my 29th brithday had been about as good as it gets....
