Once Upon A Celebration Dream: Revenge of the Ewok 8-1

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

The one-two punch of Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster has my stomach reminding me that it needs a break for a while or else it will make me stop having fun at Disney World. With that in mind I head over for the Great Movie Ride, and get in line. There I see costumes from the Chronicles of Narnia, one of my favorite films from last year. It’s good to see the return of epic films for geeks to the theaters. As I’m just about to pass in to the pre-boarding area, my phone rings. It’s Goofy, who has left the morning festivities at Animal Kingdom and has made his way to MGM. I tell him to meet me in front of the Great Movie Ride, so I hop out of line to meet him.

So, after getting out of line for the Great Movie Ride, I discover that Goofy is in line for the very ride I had just gotten out of in order to meet him. Fortunately, the crowds were very, very small, so I was back to the point where I had left very shortly and it was onto the Great Movie Ride. While I find this an enjoyable ride, I can’t help but think of how cool it would have been if they had put some Star Wars scenes into the ride as was part of the original plan. I can just imagine how cool it would be to see Obi-Wan Kenobi fighting Darth Vader on the Death Star or watching Chewbacca play R2-D2 in dejarik. But alas, it is not the case. The thing is I have seen so few of the movies in question in this ride that it doesn’t bring back the fond memories that other parts of Disney parks do. I will admit to getting excited though at the end of ride when they show clips from all these films and show the Millennium Falcon blasting off into Hyperspace with the John Williams music blaring in the background. It’s great stuff.

After that Goofy and I head over to the Tower of Terror since he hasn’t been on it yet this trip. This time my stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel is more adventurous and exciting than the last one. As much as I like the different drop sequences, it can also sometimes mean that the ride isn’t as fun as other times. After this however, my stomach needs another break. I just can’t go on thrill rides all the time like I could when I was a teenager. It saddens me, yet also makes me glad for a place like Disney where I can take in some relaxing rides to give my stomach a rest before heading back for the thrill rides. This way I maximize the fun by staying in the parks longer. I may be older, but I still love doing those marathon days. I never want to leave Disney, so those calmer rides help me enjoy the Disney experience longer. It’s a great thing.

And now the phone rings again. Cell phones can be useful at Disney World. This time it’s Scrooge McDuck and Ewok, who has tired from the morning festivities at Animal Kingdom. It seems that Ewok no longer wants to enjoy Disney World at the slower pace that my brother and sister-in-law are taking. She wants out of Animal Kingdom. I can’t say that I blame her. I found the park interesting and all, but not worth spending much more than a day in, although Everest is worth going back to that park for a few times, even if it’s the only thing there I want to see more than once a trip. So, Scrooge is taking Ewok to MGM and they’ve just arrived. I tell them to meet us in the front of the park. Thanks to the DIS Boards, I have a surprise planned for Ewok.

Ewok, being partial to furry aliens that she deems cute who also have a penchant for driving others crazy at times, is nuts for Stitch. The crazy alien ranks very high on her list of beloved Disney friends. I have learned from these boards that if you take a picture in MGM, the PhotoPass people will insert Stitch into it. I spoke with the photographer beforehand so he knows not to tell Ewok just who will be jumping out of that hat.

After getting confused looks from Ewok as to why she has to hold that and just why am I asking this guy to take pictures, Goofy convinces Scrooge to accompany him to Ft. Wilderness. Like I said, Goofy wanted to drive from California to Florida in a motor home for this trip, and one of his goals for the trip is to visit Ft. Wilderness, so Ewok is going to join me as we spend the day in MGM. Our first stop is the magic of Disney Animation. As a Disney geek, I really enjoy this little attraction. I love seeing the assorted artifacts and mementos from Disney history, costumes from Disney classics, original items from the original Mickey Mouse Club, which I watched back when the Disney Channel actually believed in showing the creative works of Walt Disney. Now, they show the Power Rangers. If they ever make it into the Magic of Disney Animation, I’m going to throw up. I still can’t believe they put them in the parks. But I digress. Of special interest in the exhibit is the replica of the model of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland, but I have one question. Why in the world is the original model on loan to Disneyland for the 50th? That’s like putting the original model for Cinderella Castle in an exhibit at Disneyland. The models for the assorted Disney parks are very cool. I also enjoy the model of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Paris. It looks very much like the one in the film. In all honesty if I ever visit Paris, I’m going to DLRP. I want to see it more than the Eiffel Tower.

After watching the little movie, it’s time to exit. From there we head to the Narnia exhibit. The line isn’t too bad, and I want to see it, so we hop in. Ewok is taking a literature class about C.S. Lewis in college, so she’s curious about the exhibit. As one who has not seen the film or read the book, she doesn’t get why I think it’s so cool to walk through the wardrobe. The detail on the wardrobe is neat. Seeing the wintry lands of Narnia and the lamppost is very cool. The scenes they show from the film remind me of why I liked it so much. It’s a nice little advertisement for the film, but I only recommend doing it if you’ve read the books and/or seen the movie. If you haven’t it won’t make much sense to you. It’s rather like doing Star Tours without seeing the movies, except there’s no exciting ride.

From Narnia we head to the backlot tour. Like the rest of the park, there is no wait for this ride. We hop right on and see the fire break out. A little girl is absolutely terrified. She screams about how the fire is going to get her and she wants out. In an example of a mother listening to her child, she reassures the little girl that everything will be fine, and then takes her out of the line. We’ll see a bad example later. On the backlot tour, we see all sorts of props and exhibits from movies. I remember when MGM used to be bustling back when Disney was filming there. Now, the movie lot portion seems empty with nothing going on there. Still, I do get to see the skiff and landspeeder from the Star Wars films. It’s a great thing, although I would like to see them do more to recreate those moments from the films instead of just sitting them there on the concrete. Along the way we see an explosion from Lights, Motors, Action. Note to self: See this show because explosions are cool.

After the tour, we go AFI Museum. I loved this part of the tour. The costumes are very cool, and of course there’s Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Carribean. Me and some friends dressed up for opening night of the first film just so we could talk like pirates. Arrr, seein’ the costumes from the first film got this old Bucaneer ready to go a voyagin’ to see the second one. And this was before I learned about the little surprise at the end of POTC2.

My eyes go real big when I see all the Star Wars costumes on display. A stormtrooper firing a blaster and of course, the big, bad, man in black armor, Darth Vader himself. Once again I wish that I could be here for Star Wars Weekends. But at least I’m here at Disney World. After admiring the Darth Vader armor for a few minutes, I move on to the achievement award the AFI gave George Lucas.

It’s all good stuff. We finish up the room and Ewok gets a funny picture of her and Stitch from the little Amazing Picture booth. I did one at Disneyland of myself as a Jedi defending Padme. The great thing about these pictures is that you get to see just what the pictures look like before you commit to buy. It’s very fun and you know if the picture is really worth getting.

Exiting the shop we check out show times for Lights, Motors, Action. Ewok wants to see this too, so that’s good. I won’t be dragging her to see explosions. We’ve got a few hours, so I suggest lunch. I had planned to visit Downtown Disney on account of better food reviews than MGM counter service, but there’s not time, so we decide on Studio Catering Company. My verdict: the food was okay and the portions were large enough, but never order juice. I thought I was being healthy and ended up with a tiny juice box, the kind mom gave me in my school lunch all those years ago. I’m still bitter about it. Do not get juice as your drink. It’s not worth it. Even in early May it’s warm, so I would pay the price that day for my lack of vision.

Coming next: An Ewok’s Dream

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Glad to see that your back with the rest of your story. How did the move go?
Looking forward to reading your next chapter.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

The move is still a work in progress. While I'm all moved, I'm still trying to unpack and settle in.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Man, go away for a few days and this ends up on page 3. Lots of people are going to Disney World. At any rate, on with the show.

After lunch, filling full, but extremely thirsty due to the juice box that I foolishly ordered, Ewok and I headed to Star Tours. Now this is a ride, I've done so many times, I can quote right along with Rex in the cockpit. I still remember excitedly telling friends back when I was 12 years old about how I got to fly in outer space and went down the trenches of the Death Star. They were in awe of such an incredible attraction. Now, Star Tours is nearly 20 years old. It's no longer state of the art, in fact it looks a bit dated. The ride could use a refurbishment and an update. All that said, it's still quite remarkable. I say this not because I'm a huge Star Wars geek, but because of what happened when I went on Star Tours on this day. It was clear to me that there were people in line with us who had never experienced Star Tours before. They were amazed at seeing R2-D2 and C-3PO as robots. (Random trivia note: when Star Tours opened at Disneyland in 1987, it was the first time R2-D2 and C-3PO had been realized in robot form). As we went on the simulator portion of the attraction itself, you could sense and hear the excitement in these people's voices as they flew through the comets and went down the trenches of the Death Star on the attack run. When it was over they applauded. Not bad for a twenty year old ride. That said, I would love to see Disney and George Lucas update the ride. There's so much they could do with today's technology and there are three new films from which to pull new action sequences.

As for my comparison between the Disneyland version and the Disney World version, it isn't close. While the simulator itself is the same in both places, the size advantage at Disney World is fully utilized. Disneyland has the ride sitting in a nice little building with starspeeders flying over the sign. The Star Wars gift shop is a little enclave that spills into the Star Trader. Disney World, on the other hand, has the space to recreate the Ewok Village on the forest moon. The AT-AT is simply awesome to see. The little hovel that houses Tatooine Traders is a great little touch even if the sands of Tatooine don't really fit with the Endor forest. And of course, many a Star Wars fan has sat on the speeder bike and made speeder bike noises, imagining themselves on Endor being chased by Imperials or perhaps chasing Rebels on a speeder bike. In short, while I still like the ride at Disneyland, I love being able to walk around Endor at Disney World.

Once we exited the ride and spilled out into the gift shop, which combines the marketing power of Disney and the marketing power of George Lucas, it was inevitable that we buy something. Sadly, Star Wars Weekends was two weeks away so none of the merchandise was out yet. They still had some Jedi Mickeys, but I already had one of those sitting atop my printer at home next to Darth Mickey. As I looked around, nothing really caught my fancy. I already have a large Star Wars collection, but Ewok on the other hand has been on a quest for many years. Like her brother before her, she has wanted one item. For me it was Mickey Mouse dressed as a Jedi. For her, it was a t-shirt with none other than Wicket W. Warrick on it. This is a kid who thinks Disney should have people dressed up as ewoks in every park. She nearly went through the roof the first time she saw an ewok on the screen while we were in line for Star Tours. On this day, her quest for an ewok t-shirt would, once again, end in vain. Except for one thing. Her older brother. Knowing the way Lucasfilm and Disney marketing works, I thought I would look at all the shirts on display. And way up high was a t-shirt which read, "The Good, The Bad, and The Fluffy." Yoda the good, Darth Vader the bad, and Wicket the fluffy. She was absolutely ecstatic until she didn't see her size. Well, after persuading her to check with the cast member, the cast member went back and they did indeed have the shirt in her size. I know it seems self-explanatory, but always check to see if they have a clothing item in your size. You never know what's back in inventory, but not on the shelves yet. And so I had a happy little Ewok on my hands, with her t-shirt and Ewok village sign in tow. And of course, me being a Star Wars geek, I had to get my picture on the speeder bike. And Ewok had to get a picture of her on the speeder bike, albeit without her legs flying in the air behind her like the ewok who attempted to ride one in the movie.

From there, we headed over to the streets of New York to visit those purveyors of bad punnery, the Muppets. Yes, Muppet Vision 3-D, the show that combines the wizardry of Disney Imagineering with the zaniness and wackiness of the Muppets. I've also liked the Muppets since I was little. I once celebrated my parents taking me to a drive in to watch the Muppet Movie by tearing up all the pieces in a notepad in my room into confetti when I was supposed to be napping. The great thing about Muppet Vision 3-D is how it brings the best of the two companies together. The pre-board area is loaded with visual cues and gags with a distinct Muppet theme to them. As you're watching the pre-video, as Gonzo goes flying off of one TV camera, you soon see him flying into the next one. The ship from Pigs in Space is hanging overhead, and of course, Rizzo the Rat even shows up dressed as a rather famous Mouse who has been known to appear frequently in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. I remember when Muppet Vision even made up a parody of the Mickey Mouse Club March for Kermit the Frog as you stood in line. M-I-T, hey that's a school in Massachusetts. Good stuff all around. And of course once you enter the theater, Muppet Vision even has a balcony. And what Muppet Balcony would be complete without Statler and Wahldorf. Before there was Mystery Science Theater 3000 to heckle, there were Statler and Wahldorf. Even today, the two old coots are still around, entertaining people on the web with their take on new films in Statler and Wahldorf From the Balcon on movies.com as they continue in their mission to protect the old from the young of universe.

After surviving another zany Muppet Vision, we continued to walk around the streets of New York, stopping to admire the Muppet Fountain with Miss Piggy and Fozzie and heading over to Al's Toy Barn. When I think of Al's Toy Barn, I think of Newman. That was a great piece of voice casting by the folks at Pixar. Ewok loves Toy Story, so she wanted to see the barn and what the Pizza Planet looked like. Buzz and Woody were giving autographs and posing for pictures, but Ewok didn't feel like standing in line with them.

Having visited New York, Disney style, the time had come to head over to the next showing of Lights, Motors, Action, which brings me to my next point. People, listen to the cast members. When they ask you to move all the way over to the end of the row so those following behind you can get in quickly to start the show on time, they do not mean every single person in the show except for you. They mean everybody. After a few minutes and multiple requests from CMs to do this, eventually the show was ready to start. What is there really to say about this stunt show. It features car chases, motorcycle chases, and of course, explosions. Sometimes the quality or lack therof in a film depends on the number of explosions. What makes it even better is that all of this takes place in tight quarters. And it slices Herbie in half. Herbie is one sweet ride. I loved watching all those Herbie movies when I was little, so it's nice to see Herbie get some respect at Disney(and I'm not talking about the CG version that was in theaters last year).

Parched from thirst from the stupid juice box incident, I find a snack cart and proceed to use one of my snack credits on a soda. Boy did that cold Sprite feel good. Ewok and I head to the front of the park where we get a phone call. It turns out that Goofy is done visiting the Fort, and he wants to catch up with us, while my dad returns to Scopa Towers to get my mom. By the way this is around 3:00pm. I don't think mom realilzed that Goofy and my father could spend over half the day in a Disney campground. They even bought shirts because they liked the place so much. Ewok told me that she really wants to visit EPCOT today because this is the last day one of her buddies will be working in the Mission: Space gift shop. We discuss our options and I tell her that we'll have to go now because dinner won't be over until after 7:00pm and her friend's shift ends at 7:00pm. I tell her that if we go visit her friend, we probably won't have time to do any attractions in EPCOT because we would have to leave EPCOT after an hour to make it to our ADR on time. Ewok agrees to this, and we meet up with Goofy, who picks up a large Root Beer, which we all share. Note to my readers. If you're an adult on the DDP, you can sometimes get a large drink as opposed to the medium if you just ask the cast member. We walk out of the park and walk right on to the boat departing MGM for EPCOT.

Coming soon: A Date with Destiny

 

[Philadisney]

Say...when are you going to finish your report? You are missed!!

 

[REC213]

I loved it reminds me on how I reported my vacation via video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj6WQafvsFo

 

[Padme_Bluebell]

I hope you finish this soon. Just read it tonight and can't wait to read more!