Day Three - Saturday, February 03
We slept in again on Saturday morning, even though there was morning EMH at MGM. Once wed had our coffee and gotten ourselves ready, we headed over and went straight to Tower of Terror, first grabbing some FastPasses for it then riding it. From there, we shot over and rode Rock n Roller Coaster, grabbed FPs for that on our way out, then came back to use our FPs at ToT. We got all the way through the FP line without passing anyone, so they didnt even have to collect our FPs. We had a lot more time before we could use our RnR FPs than we had for the ToT ones, so we went over to ride Star Tours which Alex enjoyed even more now that he has seen all of the movies since our last visit. It was sprinkling a bit but not enough that we had to break out the ponchos, though we did see a lot of people wearing them. After Star Tours, we grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet and planned what to do next since we really hadnt seen that much of MGM the last time we were there.
We started out by heading around by Als Toy Barn, where there was a large crowd of people taking pictures with and getting autographs from Woody and Buzz. Luckily, Alex was distracted by Buzzs spaceship nearby and, as he headed toward it, realized that there were a couple of the army men right there with no one clamoring for their attention. He went over by them and they gave him a lot of personal interaction before anyone else came by.
We also got a picture of him standing proudly by Buzz Lightyears spaceship before we moved on.
We wandered down Streets of America and Commissary Lane on our way back to RnR. By the time we got to RnR, the Stand-By wait had grown substantially and we heard the typical griping about what was so special about us as we skipped on past everyone through the FP line. It is abundantly clear that there are a lot of people who dont know anything about FPs and never bother to find out.
I love ToT, but RnR is definitely my favorite MGM ride. The wait was even longer when we got off, so we figured we were done over in that area for the day. We had decided that, since Alex is interested in animation and drawing, we would go see The Magic of Disney Animation. It was brief and pretty interesting, though it didnt really Wow us that much. The great thing about having done it, though, was that at the very end, Alex got to meet Mr. Incredible and, again, there were no other kids around so he got a lot of personal interaction with him.
We found some great artwork in the gift shop, though everything that I liked was way out of my price range. Tammy found a sketch of Piglet for her mom, though, and Alex found a How to Draw book of Monsters Inc. characters. Wed also picked up a similar book with Cars characters the previous day at MK.
Someone had recommended Muppets 3D on our last visit, but we hadnt managed to make it so that was our next destination. It was entertaining in a nostalgic way for those of us who watched The Muppet Show as kids but it wasnt the must see that wed expected. From there we were considering doing the Backlot Tour but the wait for that was pretty long so we decided to head back to the resort for a break before spending the evening at MK.
While we were at POFQ, we took a quick pass through the gift shop. I hadnt really found any souvenirs for myself by that point, other than my ears, which was okay; I just hadnt really seen anything that I had to have. While browsing in the gift shop, I did find something that I really liked a set of miniature Disney buses. I dont know what it was about it, but I went ahead and got it. There are three buses and by the end of the trip we had ridden on all of them: the DME bus, the
DCL bus and the bus that runs between the parks and the resorts. Tammy used her KTTW card to pay for the things we bought and I asked the CM checking us out why some of the CMs had towns or countries under their names and some had colleges. She explained that the college ones were doing internships through their schools.
We dropped off our purchases at our room and soon after were out the door to head back to MK. As soon as we got off the bus, Tammy realized she didnt have her KTTW card. We almost jumped right back on the bus, assuming shed just set it down in the room and hadnt picked it up again and that shed need one of our cards to open the door. First, though, we went over to guest services and she discovered that she was able to get a temporary card that would get her in the gate and work for FPs and whatnot. She was still stressed about what had happened to her card, but she felt better.
Tammy had been hankering for a funnel cake, so we first got FPs for Space Mountain, then headed over to Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square. While she waited in line, Alex and I went to get him a Toll House cookie ice cream sandwich, which he had really taken a liking to. We could see that they were setting up for a parade, but we didnt know which one since we typically dont bother with them. After we finished our snacks, we went through Fantasyland back toward Space Mountain rather than risk running smack into the parade. We were surprised to have to wait in the FP line since wed just blazed right through the Stand-By line the previous day, but it was Saturday night, after all. It was probably close to a half-hour wait in the FP line, which still beat the Stand-By line by a mile.
After SM, we went over to Buzz Lightyears SRS for one last shot at the high score. Wed only found one target that we knew for sure would give you 100,000 points each time you hit it, but the problem ended up being trying to hit it 10 times as you passed it. Alex rode by himself this time while Tammy and I rode together and she said shed do whatever she could to make sure I got the high score. Well, we went through the room with the one big-score target that we knew about and neither of us had done very well. We were focusing on the upcoming targets when
the ride stopped! I spun us around and, if you can believe it, we were still able to hit the big-score target behind us. I fired the shots I needed, then rotated us slightly so that Tammy could do the same. We both ended up with scores of 999,999 and the ride wasnt even over yet. As Tammy yelled to the people in the car behind us to tell them which target to aim for, I whipped out the camera and took two shots - one with flash and one without just to make sure we could prove wed hit the highest scores.
Feeling completely smug, we sat back and didnt even need to fire another shot for the rest of the ride. If you look right over the center of the vehicle in the pictures, you can almost make out the target we were shooting at.
That about wrapped up everything we wanted to do at MK, so we headed toward Main Street only to run into the parade we had been trying to avoid earlier. I think it was the one called SpectroMagic, the one with all the lights. A nice CM pointed us toward a crossing that would get us toward the exit but during the brief opportunity to get across, we didnt make it; the rope literally closed right in front of us. We figured it would only be another couple of minutes, but here is where my typical luck came into play. We stood there with Ursula circling back and forth in front of us, blocking our path, for probably close to ten minutes because just up ahead one of the floats had decided to park itself. After a little while, I little cart came zooming up alongside the parade and had to hook up to the stalled float to pull it further on. Finally, the rope was opened again and we dashed through to the other side.
We still needed a few postcards, so we ducked into a shop and picked up a few, then headed out of the park. We jumped on the bus and went back to POFQ where, once we were back in our room, we did not find Tammys KTTW card. She headed back over to the gift shop and, guess what, the CM there still had it sitting next to her register. Tammy said she was quite sheepish as she handed it back. By the time Tammy got back to the room, she was pretty worked up. If the CM had realized she still had the card and called our room, we could have had it back before we even headed to MK. She finally decided she needed to speak to someone about it and went to find a manager. With the preface that she didnt necessarily want to get anyone in trouble, she just said that she was bothered by what had happened. The manager was unhappy, too, because their policy is not to hold onto the card, but to contact the front desk so they can return the card or cancel it and issue a new one. Tammy did get an apology from the manager and felt somewhat better to get it off her chest.
Since wed be heading for the Wonder on Sunday, we spent the rest of the evening getting our luggage arranged so that it could be picked up the next morning while we were at AK.
I don't know why, but that statement made me laugh uncontrollably!!!
