When we last left off I said that it was time to get back into our ponchos and see what else we could do in the Debby-drenched park. Well I wasnt kidding, as Gram and Poppy can attest:
You cant beat the hat-over-the-poncho-hood look.
Our first stop would be Toy Story Midway Mania to use our fastpasses. As we were about to enter the queue I realized that Id never taken a picture of the fastpasses since Lauren had gotten them when we first entered the park&and a trip report without pictures of the fastpasses is a major no-no, so I had to quickly get a picture while trying to keep the camera dry.
Is it my imagination or are my fingers starting to look pruney from all of the rain?
We went partway through the fastpass queue and then were ushered in a different direction than Id been before. Then I realized: we were being taken to the handicapped entrance! Even though my parents werent using wheelchairs or an ECV, the cast members realized that theyd need some extra time loading. Judy and I whispered to each other excitedly, Were going on the handicapped entrance!
Poppy and Gram never realized it.
I rode with James and shame of all shames&he beat me. I had some trouble early-on; I cant remember what exactly, but I got way behind at the first game. I made up a lot of ground later, but couldnt quite catch him.
Afterward, we hit the bathrooms near the ride, and while I was waiting for others I decided to look at the pictures on my camera. When I started looking at them, my camera died. I worried that it had gotten wet because the battery indicator wasnt showing that it was low before this had happened. I wont keep you in suspense though -- it was fine once I recharged it overnight. It still holds a charge for a decent amount of time, but I cant rely on the level indicator anymore. Anyway, the camera was done for the day so the rest of the pictures, which arent many, will be from my iPhone.
From there, the kids wanted to go off on their own, while the adults were going to retry the Backlot Tour. We went via the Streets of America.
I hadnt been on the Backlot Tour in a long, long time. I definitely remember being in catastrophe canyon probably even a couple of times, but the rest of the tour seemed more familiar from all of the trip reports Ive read.
After the Backlot Tour I needed to think of another sit-down attraction and Muppets 3D seemed like a good choice. It turned out that it was -- after the show, Poppy said, that was really good! Good going Statler and Waldorf.
I wish my kids were more familiar with the old Muppet Show episodes. There are lots of times that Id like to reference Veterinarians Hospital or Piiiiigs in Spaaaaaaace, but they have no idea what Im talking about.
After the Muppets, my parents were pretty much done. Theyd had enough walking, and in the rain no less, so we texted the kids to meet us at the 5&10 on Hollywood Boulevard. My mom shopped a little bit in there and got some souvenirs&"his & her" towels and a throw pillow, I think. Judy was ready to go back to the resort too, but the kids wanted to keep going of course, so I volunteered to stay at the park and you know, make sure they stayed out of trouble with their faster pace of touring than Id experienced so far that day.
Judy went with Gram and Poppy to the buses.
Lauren had gotten us some Rock n Roller Coaster fastpasses before she met us at the 5&10 and I took this picture just before we left, at around 3:30.
It still looks pretty miserable out on Hollywood Boulevard, doesnt it? I remember that you had to be very careful in the 5&10, because the tile floor was wet and really slippery. The cast members were trying to dry the floor, but despite their efforts, it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Anyway, enough of that.
Our fastpass time was still a ways off, so Rock n Roller Coaster wasnt our first stop. No, instead, we headed in the other direction for another ride on Star Tours!
In the queue, James suggested that I take a picture of these Admiral Akbar-looking characters in Star Tours.
If youre not familiar with Admiral Akbar, hes only one of the most-loved minor characters from Star Wars. Hes famous for his pointing-out-the-obvious line, Its a trap!
And James found this hilarious (in my opinion) 15-second video on Youtube.
Admiral Akbar on $50,000 Pyramid
He was even in the running when the university, Ole Miss, was looking to replace its mascot.
Admiral Akbar as Ole Miss mascot? It couldve been great, but alas, they went in a different direction.
James also suggested that I take a picture of the Departures and Arrivals board. I guess because Bespin (Cloud City) is one of our favorite battle scenarios when we play the Star Wars Battlefront videogame.
I tried to get a picture of Star Tours flight attendant when we were waiting to board, but it was hard to keep it from being blurry.
The ride was awesome, yet again, and Lauren was the rebel spy, again. (She had been the spy earlier in the day when the kids were on their own.) The ride was so awesome in fact, (and the lines were short) that we immediately went on it 2 more times! We made a beeline out the dump shop and went right back into the queue.
They take the picture of the rebel spy sometime after youre seated on the ride, but before it starts. Consequently, I was making dumb-looking faces
, trying to get chosen as the rebel spy. It didnt work, but it was worth a shot. It wouldve been hilarious if one of those looks would have been used. Lauren speculated that maybe her birthday button, and Poppys anniversary button, was what got them selected.
From there, we ventured down Sunset Boulevard, to Tower of Terror. Marlene had already taken her first-ever ride on it earlier in the day and was ready to go again. She said that its not nearly as scary as the hype, and liked it. (Kind of like, the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. I guess.) James however, wasnt buying it, apparently thinking that fear is a pretty reasonable thing to be afraid of, and would be waiting for us in the dump shop.
After the Twilight Zone pre-show, as we were walking to the loading area in that awesome boiler-room of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, we were a little miffed at some teenagers who wormed their way past us. But we had the last laugh when we got to the elevator and the cast member was calling out, party of 3? and we got to go past them and board immediately. He he he.
We enjoyed our crazy elevator ride and even though I was without my good camera, I still tried to get a redneck shot of our ride picture with my phone.
Were in the back row, along the right side of the picture.
Now it was finally time for us to use our Rock n Roller Coaster fastpasses. I dont remember anything interesting to tell you about this particular ride versus my umpteen other rides on it, other than its still my favorite Disney coaster.
I think this redneck picture turned out better than the Tower of Terror one. James always makes the best expressions on this ride.
We left the park right after that, at about 5:30, and were back home at Kidani around 6. Oh, on the way out of the park I tried to give away our extra fastpasses and the person asked me, are you trying to give them away?, trying to be sure I wasnt scalping them or something. Why do I always have such a hard time giving fastpasses away?
Back at the suite, I was able to reschedule the ladies Grand Floridian Tea for the next day, since the weather forecast still looked bad -- Id switch our non-park day from Wednesday to Monday. The only bad thing was, that meant that Id miss the DVC Welcome Home Wednesday thing, which I was planning to do since it coincided with our day off. Drat, Ill get to that someday -- I want a free hat!
For dinner, we ate in the suite (sorry, no pictures) and as an homage to Peter Brady's Humphrey Bogart impression we had pork chopsh and appleshaush.
After dinner, James went to his favorite place, Community Hall, while the rest of us rested and watched some TV. After a little bit I went down to check on him there. I think I took this picture of the savanna from the balcony at Community Hall. Its hard to believe that there was still this much daylight at 8 oclock in the evening, now that were in the middle of winter with the sun setting around 5.
We finished up by splitting a pair of foosball games and deciding to leave it at a draw.
Up next: A day off, while on vacation
Link to next chapter