danandjackie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2003
- Messages
- 440
Its an MGM day and we're up and ready to go by 7.15am. Its actually the first day we are going to use the car to get to a Disney Park as it seems to be a lot less hassle than the Disney transport system which if used would involve going via the DTT at MK. Today looks like its going to be nice again but we throw the odd extra layer on this morning just in case! I grab a quick drink from Starbucks in the hotel lobby and we are on our way.
Jackie drives us smoothly to the car park and we get a space within shouting distance of the MGM entrance (Bit to overconfident here, I assume being quite close to the entrance, finding the car tonight wont be a problem, how wrong I am). Bag search again and were heading to the right for Tower of Terror( a new experience for us) and Rock n Roller Coaster which we have ridden in DLP.
Wow! The park looks fantastic. ( we have only been once before when it had just opened 1991), so mightily impressed. DLP s version is inferior by far. But no time for gawping now, onwards!
Tower of Terror first after we have quickly grabbed a fast pass for Rock N Roller. Tower of terror is a walk on, though quite a walk on as the CMs have set up the snake through the garden already in anticipation of a busy day.
Im quite happy to do this as it means we will get to see some of the fabulous gardens.
This must be the worlds most wonderfully themed ride ever, the once palatial but now shabby & dust covered Hollywood Tower Hotel. Every corner shouts care and attention to detail, from the lobbys lalique lamp and the broken lift shaft, to the check in desk and lounge. Followed by the small library for the pre show (all sing now ( do, do do,do!)), and finally the wonderfully eerie basement. We're soon on board and ready to go. The ride quality matches the attention that has been lavished on its surroundings. Later in the day I spot a dark ominous cloud appearing over the ToT, I think this picture captures it well.
I cant imagine what it was like before the element of randomness was introduced but this is a superb experience. A perfect Disney ride where the care the imagineer has taken in the theming; is matched by the ride design. And you seem to get so much value before you reach the lift shaft.
For us this really was THE RIDE!! It is SOOOOOO fantastic. Try it at night, its even better. The view of the park when the doors open is breathtaking, if you have any breath left! We witnessed a few uncertain children & adults ( I suspect) riders wondering if they would live to tell the tale, and if indeed they should trust their own parents and ride!! It truly is scary but excellent and continues to be better every ride, which is unusual for any ride and it compares extremely well with any coaster, and this from coaster fans.
In all through careful use of Fast Pass and being in the park nice and early we ride initially three times, and over the day fit in another four including one late night ride in the dark. We only stop once in the exact spot to see the family though we sometimes move quickly past them. The random element to this ride makes it a repeat riders heaven.
Our ride on Rock n Roller after the Tower of Terror seems lame by comparison, I know they are two different styles of ride but the newer version of this ride in DLP is a much more awesome ride. There you enter the loop immediately after launch (not after a long section of straight which seemed to take the speed down). Also, due to its pitch blackness and use of spinning concert vari lights youre never sure for most of the ride which way up you are, it also has several more inversions as well. This version seemed a very poor relation in comparison and seemed more like a kiddies ride, dare I suggest.
I do love this park though, I love the way there doesn`t seem to be a logical flow to it and often you take a side street and come out in a completely different area you haven't seen before.
Its soon time for a pick me up and we have a nice breakfast platter in ABC Commissary. On our way out we pick up some FPs for Millionaire which are given out by hand by CM's so they dont affect your FP allowance. After this we spend time re -riding ToT depending on how our FP's are working. This park is getting busy very quickly though everyone does tend to head for ToT or Aerosmith. Bad planning?
Sunset Boulevard soon becomes a crowded sea of people.
We also have a great time watching the Beauty and the Beast show, at whiere Jackie gains temporary custody of a 4 year old girl. The CMs are being very strict about children sitting on the backs of the benches and the small girl simply can't see when sat down, Jackie asks if she would like to sit on her knee, the girl turns to her parents and says "The lady says I can sit in her lap Ma" ( so cute). The show is delightful and its nice to see a good amount of live singing from Belle.
We then ride the great movie ride and get kidnapped by the gangster. And dont tell me the Alien part is the scary part of this ride. I am still having nightmares from seeing those little people (Ump a lumps is it) from the wizard of Oz. I thought that John Waynes animatronic was a better actor than John Wayne ever was as well.
We get hopelessly lost trying to find a shortcut to Who wants to be a millionaire but its all good fun. A bit strange that the guy who got through was with his friend wearing a previous winner T-Shirt, I got the distinct impression this guy all the way from Orlando had been up all night practising his fastest finger, in justice though he only got to $1000. The fastest finger question was something about placing NFL teams into their home cities in alphabetical order so we never stood a chance. I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed this, which came as a surprise as we stopped watching the uk version years ago.
Flagging a bit, so had a drink in the Tune In lounge next to 50's prime time and enjoyed watching the CM's shouting at the customers. In between we rode ToT a couple more times whenever FP allowed us until it got to the point when the FP was for 8.00pm at night.( Can you tell were slightly keen!?) Also did Sounds Dangerous ( who the hell is Drew Carey?) showing its age me thinks.
The left hand side of the park stayed relatively quiet. The Backlot Tour was a walk on, though the Pearl Harbour pre show is a very mild distraction, not helped by the fact you cant tell a word the CM is saying over a tannoy that seems to make every word come out as a series of ear piercing shrieks. The tour also seems to have radically shrunk due to the Stunt Show being built. (Isn't it typical, MGM gets a new attraction but you`ve already seen it in DLP (Mind you I wouldnt complain if they put ToT in DLP)). No lunch today as we have a PS @ 15.40 for the Brown Derby Fantasmic Package and Im glad of it, people appear to be queing for the first show and its only 3.45pm!
The Brown Derby is superb; Ill put in a separate link as usual. We spend a good couple of hours lingering over a quite superb dinner then head off the back way to Fantasmic for the 6.30pm show.
Sit with a guy from Ohio who has brought his family and a German exchange student down to Florida for Christmas, turns out he comes down about 6 times a year and is a real disney fan so we get talking about loads of things (How come nobody hooked me up when I was a 17yr old student with a Disney family)
We first saw Fantasmic back in 1992 at Disneyland, where it was performed on the parks lake and has continued to be one of our favourite shows, a moment of pure theatre. However I have only listened since to the CD of the California version which has different and quite darker segments in it including a fantasmic moment involving Peter Pan and Captain Hook played out on Captain Hooks boat as it sails around the lake. I thought that the new Lion King and Pochahontes segments didn't quite slide into place, but thats probably because my ear was expecting the original once it had started. I did know it had been changed as I had watched the Dibb video. Some things though are better, the fact you actually get a seat for starters and in the fiery water sections the lake is well, more on fire. The stadium is HUGE and we did Mexican waves : Slooooooooow, Fast ! and everything inbetween, great fun.
Not too sure about the metal character boat though at the end. The proper Mark Twain is used in California, though Jackie pointed out that this new boat has less detail which allows you to see the characters more clearly, good to see Stitch and Lilo up front too!
Then something went rather strange. As the boat got two thirds of the way around the lake, a black speed boat with stage hands in dressed in black, sped onto the lake and literally got behind the character boat to push it faster. It's the point where the huge Catherine wheels come out of the lake firing upwards and then start to spin at a key moment in the music. Unfortunately it seemed the character boat was out of time with the music so a good half of the finales fireworks were not used. Still most people didn't notice and it was still highly enjoyable.
We went see the beautiful Osborne lights and also the muppet 3d show (statdler & waldorf were ace), before using our final FP for ToT in the dark, Stand by queues at this time were reaching for 2 hrs! OMG.This really was one of our favourite parks and it was so unexpected. Two of Disneys best moments : ToT & Fantasmic, the rest is pretty cool too. Usual tactic applies: get up early & you can ride everything with no Q and chill over a nice leisurely lunch when it gets busy. Even at xmas, we found this worked in every park.
Despite parking the car quite near to the park entrance, finding it at the end of the day in the dark was not easy. For one we had forgotten what the car looked like and everything looked so different at night. Oh well we found it eventually and got quite an early night and we certainly needed it. A lesson for us all! Doh
Jackie drives us smoothly to the car park and we get a space within shouting distance of the MGM entrance (Bit to overconfident here, I assume being quite close to the entrance, finding the car tonight wont be a problem, how wrong I am). Bag search again and were heading to the right for Tower of Terror( a new experience for us) and Rock n Roller Coaster which we have ridden in DLP.
Wow! The park looks fantastic. ( we have only been once before when it had just opened 1991), so mightily impressed. DLP s version is inferior by far. But no time for gawping now, onwards!
Tower of Terror first after we have quickly grabbed a fast pass for Rock N Roller. Tower of terror is a walk on, though quite a walk on as the CMs have set up the snake through the garden already in anticipation of a busy day.
Im quite happy to do this as it means we will get to see some of the fabulous gardens.
This must be the worlds most wonderfully themed ride ever, the once palatial but now shabby & dust covered Hollywood Tower Hotel. Every corner shouts care and attention to detail, from the lobbys lalique lamp and the broken lift shaft, to the check in desk and lounge. Followed by the small library for the pre show (all sing now ( do, do do,do!)), and finally the wonderfully eerie basement. We're soon on board and ready to go. The ride quality matches the attention that has been lavished on its surroundings. Later in the day I spot a dark ominous cloud appearing over the ToT, I think this picture captures it well.
I cant imagine what it was like before the element of randomness was introduced but this is a superb experience. A perfect Disney ride where the care the imagineer has taken in the theming; is matched by the ride design. And you seem to get so much value before you reach the lift shaft.
For us this really was THE RIDE!! It is SOOOOOO fantastic. Try it at night, its even better. The view of the park when the doors open is breathtaking, if you have any breath left! We witnessed a few uncertain children & adults ( I suspect) riders wondering if they would live to tell the tale, and if indeed they should trust their own parents and ride!! It truly is scary but excellent and continues to be better every ride, which is unusual for any ride and it compares extremely well with any coaster, and this from coaster fans.
In all through careful use of Fast Pass and being in the park nice and early we ride initially three times, and over the day fit in another four including one late night ride in the dark. We only stop once in the exact spot to see the family though we sometimes move quickly past them. The random element to this ride makes it a repeat riders heaven.
Our ride on Rock n Roller after the Tower of Terror seems lame by comparison, I know they are two different styles of ride but the newer version of this ride in DLP is a much more awesome ride. There you enter the loop immediately after launch (not after a long section of straight which seemed to take the speed down). Also, due to its pitch blackness and use of spinning concert vari lights youre never sure for most of the ride which way up you are, it also has several more inversions as well. This version seemed a very poor relation in comparison and seemed more like a kiddies ride, dare I suggest.
I do love this park though, I love the way there doesn`t seem to be a logical flow to it and often you take a side street and come out in a completely different area you haven't seen before.
Its soon time for a pick me up and we have a nice breakfast platter in ABC Commissary. On our way out we pick up some FPs for Millionaire which are given out by hand by CM's so they dont affect your FP allowance. After this we spend time re -riding ToT depending on how our FP's are working. This park is getting busy very quickly though everyone does tend to head for ToT or Aerosmith. Bad planning?
Sunset Boulevard soon becomes a crowded sea of people.
We also have a great time watching the Beauty and the Beast show, at whiere Jackie gains temporary custody of a 4 year old girl. The CMs are being very strict about children sitting on the backs of the benches and the small girl simply can't see when sat down, Jackie asks if she would like to sit on her knee, the girl turns to her parents and says "The lady says I can sit in her lap Ma" ( so cute). The show is delightful and its nice to see a good amount of live singing from Belle.
We then ride the great movie ride and get kidnapped by the gangster. And dont tell me the Alien part is the scary part of this ride. I am still having nightmares from seeing those little people (Ump a lumps is it) from the wizard of Oz. I thought that John Waynes animatronic was a better actor than John Wayne ever was as well.
We get hopelessly lost trying to find a shortcut to Who wants to be a millionaire but its all good fun. A bit strange that the guy who got through was with his friend wearing a previous winner T-Shirt, I got the distinct impression this guy all the way from Orlando had been up all night practising his fastest finger, in justice though he only got to $1000. The fastest finger question was something about placing NFL teams into their home cities in alphabetical order so we never stood a chance. I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed this, which came as a surprise as we stopped watching the uk version years ago.
Flagging a bit, so had a drink in the Tune In lounge next to 50's prime time and enjoyed watching the CM's shouting at the customers. In between we rode ToT a couple more times whenever FP allowed us until it got to the point when the FP was for 8.00pm at night.( Can you tell were slightly keen!?) Also did Sounds Dangerous ( who the hell is Drew Carey?) showing its age me thinks.
The left hand side of the park stayed relatively quiet. The Backlot Tour was a walk on, though the Pearl Harbour pre show is a very mild distraction, not helped by the fact you cant tell a word the CM is saying over a tannoy that seems to make every word come out as a series of ear piercing shrieks. The tour also seems to have radically shrunk due to the Stunt Show being built. (Isn't it typical, MGM gets a new attraction but you`ve already seen it in DLP (Mind you I wouldnt complain if they put ToT in DLP)). No lunch today as we have a PS @ 15.40 for the Brown Derby Fantasmic Package and Im glad of it, people appear to be queing for the first show and its only 3.45pm!
The Brown Derby is superb; Ill put in a separate link as usual. We spend a good couple of hours lingering over a quite superb dinner then head off the back way to Fantasmic for the 6.30pm show.
Sit with a guy from Ohio who has brought his family and a German exchange student down to Florida for Christmas, turns out he comes down about 6 times a year and is a real disney fan so we get talking about loads of things (How come nobody hooked me up when I was a 17yr old student with a Disney family)
We first saw Fantasmic back in 1992 at Disneyland, where it was performed on the parks lake and has continued to be one of our favourite shows, a moment of pure theatre. However I have only listened since to the CD of the California version which has different and quite darker segments in it including a fantasmic moment involving Peter Pan and Captain Hook played out on Captain Hooks boat as it sails around the lake. I thought that the new Lion King and Pochahontes segments didn't quite slide into place, but thats probably because my ear was expecting the original once it had started. I did know it had been changed as I had watched the Dibb video. Some things though are better, the fact you actually get a seat for starters and in the fiery water sections the lake is well, more on fire. The stadium is HUGE and we did Mexican waves : Slooooooooow, Fast ! and everything inbetween, great fun.
Not too sure about the metal character boat though at the end. The proper Mark Twain is used in California, though Jackie pointed out that this new boat has less detail which allows you to see the characters more clearly, good to see Stitch and Lilo up front too!
Then something went rather strange. As the boat got two thirds of the way around the lake, a black speed boat with stage hands in dressed in black, sped onto the lake and literally got behind the character boat to push it faster. It's the point where the huge Catherine wheels come out of the lake firing upwards and then start to spin at a key moment in the music. Unfortunately it seemed the character boat was out of time with the music so a good half of the finales fireworks were not used. Still most people didn't notice and it was still highly enjoyable.
We went see the beautiful Osborne lights and also the muppet 3d show (statdler & waldorf were ace), before using our final FP for ToT in the dark, Stand by queues at this time were reaching for 2 hrs! OMG.This really was one of our favourite parks and it was so unexpected. Two of Disneys best moments : ToT & Fantasmic, the rest is pretty cool too. Usual tactic applies: get up early & you can ride everything with no Q and chill over a nice leisurely lunch when it gets busy. Even at xmas, we found this worked in every park.
Despite parking the car quite near to the park entrance, finding it at the end of the day in the dark was not easy. For one we had forgotten what the car looked like and everything looked so different at night. Oh well we found it eventually and got quite an early night and we certainly needed it. A lesson for us all! Doh
