Well, its with a sad disposition that I give my final report from WDW as today we must relinquish our home and allow another
DVC member to enjoy their time at this magical place. We got another late start yesterday as it is just too hard to wake up when you are snug in your big king size bed the 1 bedroom provides. We arrived at the gates of Disneys Hollywood Studios at about 10:30 (an hour and a half too late) and went straight to Toy Story Mania and got in line since the FPs were for after we planned on leaving the park. The wait time listed was 40 minutes, but it ended up taking exactly 1 hour. We got to see Mr. Potato Head take off his ear, which we hadnt seen any other time in line this trip. What an awesome technological breakthrough and I can only imagine what lies around the corner with AA technology. This was my last chance to beat the DW at this ride and I was determined to get the job done. She led after the first two games, but then I over took her after game three. Unfortunately, she did it again on the last game and beat me by 2,300 points. I was crushed and just could not believe I didnt pull one out against her on every ride. Im not sure what Im doing wrong or what she is doing right, but I have to get some serious studying in before the next trip. I must redeem myself as this game has sucked all the confidence out of me.
After my humiliating defeat with the Toy Story characters we walked over to the backstage tour and had to wait 20 minutes. It had been a while since we have been on this attraction and the only thing we had in our minds was the horrible version they have at Walt Disney Studios Paris. I thought this version was better than Paris, but still in major need of an overhaul and/or needs to be removed for more attractions. The DW on the other hand thought the whole thing was as bad as the one in Paris and she has little to no interest in experiencing it again. The special effects show in the beginning is lame and then the tram tour doesnt really take you anywhere, except to the much outdated (20 years) catastrophe canyon and a bone yard with props from movies so old, most kids could be overheard asking what movies they were referring to. Hollywood Studios is no longer am active studio producing much of anything, so they need to stop pretending they are and just focus on giving us attractions that fit the movie theme and move on.
We jumped off the tram after our spin around the stunt show that eat up much of what used to be part of the backstage tour, and we made our way to the front of the park to get a little snack to hold us over until lunch. On the way, the DW made a pit stop and while I was waiting for her return I stood by the fountain over by the Studio Catering Co. and found, just sitting on the ground upside down, three FPs for Tower of Terror. She came out and I shared with her my magical moment. We were both excited about the score and stopped to get some popcorn and cheesy pretzel before heading over to Tower for our ride. We made a couple of retail therapy stops and then used our FPs at Tower for our last ride of the day at the Studios. Rock and Roller had a 70 minute wait so we decided to leave and return to SSR. We took a brief break in the room and then headed to DTD.
Once at DTD, we had lunch at Earl of Sandwich where we both had the seasonal turkey, cranberry, and stuffing sub, which was very tasty. We really like this place since the food is very good and even know they always have a long line, they have a great system and line moves very quick. Since tomorrow we have to fly home on
Virgin Atlantic and we heard there is a place to check-in and drop off you bags at DTD, we decided to look for the desk. We asked and were pointed in the way of the La Nouba building, which we finally got to and found the closed desk. We now have our plan of attack for later today. We stopped at Virgin Megastore on the way back and make a couple of purchases. I asked the girl if they gave a DVC or AP discount and she thought I was a CM and gave me an employee discount on what was not on sale, which really wasnt much for us. We made one last stop at Goofys Candy Co. where we made three pretzel rods with white chocolate and various other toppings and I grabbed a slushy for my throat and the walk back to SSR.
We took about an hour or two break at the villa where we enjoyed our bath tub for the very first time and loved it so much we kicked ourselves for not using it each time. Oh well, I guess we know for next time. After we got a little rejuvenated we got ready for our evening at Epcot. We drove over to the Boardwalk where we parked our car and eat at the pizza place outside of Spoodles. We sat outside in the cold, although we were bundled up, and enjoyed pretty decent pizza by the slice. Then, we walked through the International Gateway and made our way to Space Ship Earth for a final ride on our favorite Epcot attraction. During the ride the DW found two hidden mickeys (I found two different ones earlier in the week), but we went by too quickly for me to see. Once we got off the ride we returned to get right back on, but they were down and not letting anyone in line. We walked around the shops in the area and when we returned they were back in business. This time on the ride, I saw and confirmed her findings, so together we saw four inside the attraction.
Back in the World Showcase we entered Mexico for a quick ride on The Three Caballeros and as we entered the line there was some chaos with some people at the entrance. We walked in and then noticed this group was yelling to others in other parts of the line and there was mass confusion. They were a bunch of the cheerleaders that have arrived this weekend for some competition and the group was loud, unruly and unprepared. The parents were as bad as the kids and when they got to the loading platform the CM had to stop the ride to help these people. They had a group of 25 and we along with a few others were caught in the middle since they did not have their group together before entering the line. We were jumping up and down telling the CM we were just a party of two and not part of this big obnoxious group. She put us in the next boat with a few others and we were off. At the end of the ride, we got stuck several boats before unloading. We sat there for about five minutes, but had to put up with the annoying group in the boat just in front of us. They were loud and ignored the CMs request to stay seated and keeping hands inside the boat. One of the offenders who was sticking their hand in the water and splashing others was a father of one of these girls. We could not wait to get off this ride and away from this group.
We escaped the rowdy cheerleader group from you know where, we stopped in Norway for a sweet pretzel and then made our way to the UK to find a place to watch Illuminations. Once we got to the UK, it was very busy with others who had the same idea, but we noticed that there were many locations before the UK, so we back tracked and sat in a perfect little area with nobody around just past France toward Morocco. Once people saw us sitting there the area quickly filled up, but we were right up front. We enjoyed our last performance of Illuminations with mixed emotions as it would be our last night in a park and what better way to go out than with this show. We sat there for a while after and just could not get ourselves to leave. We talked to one of the custodial CMs for a bit as he was very friendly and chatty. After our talk with him we exited through the international gateway and got our car from the Boardwalk and returned to SSR. We are now gathering all of our stuff and getting ready for the long and sad journey home (England for the next 6 months).
I hope you enjoyed coming along with us for our very first trip home as DVC members. All of your very kind comments have kept me dedicated to ensuring to provide and update each and every day which was more difficult on certain days. This TR will be a lasting memory for me and the DW and I am sure we will read it to look back and remember the amazing time we had.
As I get ready to pack up all our stuff and enjoy the last few hours we have on property (our flight is not until 7:40 tonight), I just want to get sappy for a quick second. I really do look around at this wonderful place and think about one of my favorite Walt quotes, which is we should never loose sight of one thing; this was all started by a mouse. It just puts everything into perspective when you think about what they have accomplished here. On a personal note, while I have enjoyed everything WDW has to offer none of it would be as enjoyable is I wasnt able to spend it with the one I love, my dear wife. The special memories we have created here will stay with us forever and I look forward to a lifetime of return trips as DVC members to let our inner children loose, so they may play together at the happiest place on Earth. Thank you, moments of sappiness is now concluded, you will be returned to your regularly scheduled update.
Well, Im not completely done as we still have all the adventures of today as depressing as most of it will be. We are going to pack up, check-in to our flight at DTD and then spend a few hours at the MK before heading to the airport. Upon our return home, I will give one final update to report how today went. So, stay tuned and wish us luck on our long journey home.
I guess I always just thought of him as a him! 
I will be sure to check her out in January to see if she is still in "B" mode. 
Goofy looks so cute on the plane sleeping!
