When I left off the boys and I had just gotten our second set of FP's for ToT. No luck with RnR FP's - they were gone for the day by 2pm. We had an ADR at Hollywood & Vine at 4:40 for the Fantasmic Dinner Pkg. We thought it might be smart to sneak in a quick resort/pool break. It was very, very hot by now and the walk to the car was almost painful. I'm not crazy about the
AAA parking at HS. It's just not all that great and involves considerable walking. As soon as my
crocs hit the parking lot asphalt I thought they were going to melt - that's how hot it was. I felt the rubber melting on my feet!
On the way back to Kidani I made a decision. I like TSM, but getting that FP first thing screws up my touring plan for the rest of the day. I used to like the good ol' days when I got a FP for ToT and jumped on RnR. TSM makes that impossible. Well, not impossible.....but much more difficult. I've decided in future trips I am going with my original plan. If I end up with a FP for TSM, great. If not....no loss. It's cute, but let's face it....RnR and ToT are really so much better. Not only because of the thrill factor, but the theming is better. I know that not everyone will agree with me on this. But IMHO and I'm sticking with it.
Once we got back to Kidani I decided that a quick trip to the pool was what I needed. The rest of the boys chilled and watched TV in the room. When I got to the pool I found the two older boys. They spent their morning at the health club, playing tennis, and hanging by the pool. They were becoming so predictable.
When I greeted them they informed me that they got to be in "the movie". The "movie", of course, was the DVC film they had been working on all week. This afternoon they were filming at the pool. There was this cute little girl strategically positioned on some rocks near a palm tree by the pool. I couldn't hear a word she was saying, but all attention was focused on her. There were mutiple takes and multiple applications of makeup. I'm sure she was melting in the sun. From my vantage point she looked overly animated. She reminded me of a sandy haired version of Stacy. I bet the finished product is pretty similar.
After I identified the "star" of the production, my focus turned to all the "pretty" people strategically positioned around the pool. They were definately models because they all looked to be in their 20's and they looked perfect. Perfect bikini, perfect hair extensions, perfect makeup. Everytime the camera would roll, these "pretty" people would go into action, happily chatting with the "pretty" person to their right of left. Personally, I found this whole facade somewhat amusing. It also appeared to be somewhat time consuming. Very little action was filmed at any given time.
Unfortunately, this was the one afternoon I left the camera in the room. I remember thinking, "ahh...I don't need it. There isn't anything I need to take pictures of at the pool today". Drat. I would have loved to take pictures of this whole scene. I know the good people of the Dis would have enjoyed some candid shots. Oh well. Sorry folks!
After my visit to the pool the older boys and I went back to the villa to get ready for dinner. We made pretty good time getting out of the room and back to HS. I think we may have even checked in early for our ADR, but we ended up waiting until close to 5pm to get seated. I had no problem with that since we were eating so early.
So while we waited for dinner I had time to snap a few shots:
A boat.....I spied a boat.......
Somebody listening:
Somebody talking:
This was my first time eating at H&V. I have heard so many bad reviews of this place that I was afraid to try it. I tried to get Mama Melrose for Fantasmic, but it was unavailable. H&V was my second choice. I would have taken Brown Derby if nothing else was availabe knowing that I would have to use 2 TS. I preferred not to do that since I had a lot of mouths to feed. I needed the best use of my credits.
So what did I think of H&V? I was actually quite suprised at the variety of food. Not only was there a good variety, but there were a lot of healthy choices. They had lots of different types of vegetable salads. I love vegetables. Really
them. I eat more than the average person. I love anything green! So I piled my plate with waldorf salad, spinach salad, zucchini salad, mozarella with tomatoes, shrimp, mussels, whole wheat pasta, and salmon. Everyone laughed at my plate because it was overflowing, but it was really mostly vegetables. I probably had some other veggies, too. Oh yeah - lots of green beans. I have a coworker who is a vegen and she eats nothing but vegetables and whole wheat pasta. She could definately have eaten here. I enjoyed my food. I have nothing bad to say......yet......but that will come later!
For dessert I had the "sugar free" blueberry cobbler with soft serve vanilla icecream. I don't know how any cobble can be deemed "sugar free" because the whole thing is carbohydrates. It was just "ehhh" because it didn't taste sweet enough to me.
One important thing about this meal for people with kids - apparently the chicken nuggets here were really, really good. They may even have been "awesome" because all four kids ate lots of them. Go figure!
While we were eating I had a brainstorm.
I had 8 FP's for ToT and there were 6 of us. I said, "Let's all ride ToT together!". DS16 said, "Leave it to my mom to suggest we all ride ToT immediately after eating".
Ok, I will admit it wasn't the best timing, but we all had strong stomachs, Right? So off we went to ride ToT. My theory with this ride is ....the more, the better. I believe in safety in numbers cause this ride freaks me out, just a little. I'm not big into fast drops. I don't really enjoy that stomach in the throat sensation, but I make myself do ToT almost every visit and I am always glad when I get off. I always give it a big
. However, before the ride I get really quiet, almost meditative. DS friend tried to freak me out by saying, "Did you hear about the person who didn't make it through the ride today????? Yeah, it was bad....Really bad" Thanks, DS's friend.
Because I get so meditative before the ride I never take any pictures in the queue. I really need to. Maybe someday. You know who really wanted to ride ToT ???? LJ. He had been telling me for days that he wanted to ride this. Apparently one of his friends from school rode it and told him how great it was. LJ was not nervous at all....not in the pre ride, not in the boiler room, not in the elevator, and not in the drop. He had a smile from ear to ear and proclaimed ToT "AWESOME"!
I wasn't worried about LJ, I was more worried about another teenager in our elevator who started to scream as soon as they closed the door. This is NEVER a good sign on ToT. It means get out your earplugs, that is.... if you are lucky enough to have a pair.
Here is our car..... Bad pictures, but my hand was probably still shaking.
We are on the right middle and back rows.
After Tot we looked around in the gift shop and I took this picture of LJ to commemorate his first ride:
We had two FP's left, so DS14 took LJ back for a second ride. While they were gone, DH and I decided to buy LJ a ToT pin. He was now the proud owner of two "real" pins. While waiting, I took a few more pictures:
Some light fixtures for LL:
This cool picture in on the wall where you purchase the pictures:
Up next: The AI finale, Fantasmic, and Uh oh!
I do better in front of a big crowd of people rather than an intimite audition. Never ate at H&V but I've never really had a bad dining experience at Disney 
I'm slowly catching up to all your posts... 
I love hearing about other people's history at the world. You've had to work hard to get to this trip! You need to talk about it. 
I guess I'll be patiently waiting. BTW I love that song John's song. I just have to ask, who is John. That song makes me cry everytime I go and listen to it. 
