Parks and Pop Century *And* A Park and Pop Century Christmas! *Plus* Downtown Disney

[mommylovesdisneymore]

You take the Most Beautiful Pictures. WOW!! They are awesome

 

[hollybearsmom]

I'm joining in now. I agree your photos are terrific, and I am enjoying your whole report also!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Really enjoying your TR so far. We're staying in POP as well, so it's great to see all the photos. My DH is a keen photog so he'll be keen to get some ideas for photos. He likes taking 'different' photos. Hope your mum wasn't too ill!
Di x

 

[bob6sims]

Great TR

looking forward to your next installment

 

[meeko_33785]

You take the Most Beautiful Pictures. WOW!! They are awesome

Thanks so much. I'm always happy to hear that my photos are being enjoyed.

I'm joining in now. I agree your photos are terrific, and I am enjoying your whole report also!

Welcome aboard! Thanks for reading.

Really enjoying your TR so far. We're staying in POP as well, so it's great to see all the photos. My DH is a keen photog so he'll be keen to get some ideas for photos. He likes taking 'different' photos. Hope your mum wasn't too ill!
Di x

Thanks. Your DH sounds like a photographer after my own heart. I love 'different' photos too. Have fun at Pop. We really enjoyed it.

Great TR


looking forward to your next installment

Glad to know you're enjoying it. Hopefully I'll have the next installment up pretty soon, but I'm not certain when.

 

[cjhinch]

I hope your Mom feels better so she can enjoy the rest of your trip!!

 

[burly]

EEK hate it when someone is sick on a vacation. hope mom gets better.

 

[meeko_33785]

I hope your Mom feels better so she can enjoy the rest of your trip!!

EEK hate it when someone is sick on a vacation. hope mom gets better.

Thanks you two.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Any more updates??

 

[meeko_33785]

Any more updates??

Soon hopefully. I really haven't had the time recently, but I should soon. Sorry everyone that it's taking a little long.

 

[meeko_33785]

Again, I’m extremely sorry that it’s taken so long to get this report updated. Life’s been pretty busy lately and I just haven’t been able to work on it. Anyway, let’s continue where we left off.


By the evening, Mom still wasn’t feeling very well and she decides that she’ll be skipping going back to Magic Kingdom tonight. She wants to get well because she wants to ride Toy Story Mania tomorrow! Dad stays with Mom and Buzz and I will hit the park for a few hours. Before heading to MK, we all head down to the food court for dinner. Mom gets some soup and tea that seems to help. I think I got chicken fingers or something. Not too memorable but good enough. After dinner, we wish Mom and Dad well and head to the bus stop.

When Buzz and I get back to Magic Kingdom, the first thing we do is head down Main Street and to the tip board to see how the waits look on the rides. For some reason none of the wait times are listed. I don’t understand why this doesn’t seem to stay updated in the evening. Not having a clue on the wait times, we walk half-way across the park to try Big Thunder Mountain again. The wait time is still a little too long for us and the FastPass timewas later than we intended on staying for the evening (we were hoping to be heading back to the resort by 10pm). Looks like Big Thunder Mountain is a no-go for this trip. We’ll have to make it a priority for next time I guess. New plan: we’ll take the train to Toontown and check out Tomorrowland instead.

On the Railroad, we catch a glimpse of Big Thunder Mountain along with the other sights. The portion between Frontierland and Toontown is probably my favorite part of the ride. There’s so many things to see and little surprises along the way. We get off the train and hit the path from the train station to Tomorrowland. Neither of us could remember ever taking this path before. Another first for us!

A photo of Space Mountain from the path. Of course, it had long lines too.

The lines aren’t too bad at Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, so we get in line.

The queue really has some really great details in there. The Snack Machine might just be my favorite.

We’d enjoyed this show when we saw in last year and it again did not disappoint. Most of the comedy routines this time around were different than the ones we saw last time which I thought was cool. The guest participation was great too. They really know how to pick the people who really will play along with the monsters in the show. It was great.


When we exited the theater, we discovered it was dark now, so we headed to the TTA to take a ride through Tomorrowland to see it all lit up for the evening. Amazingly beautiful! Got to love the views of the Castle in the evening too as it passes the edge of Tomorroaland. After the TTA, we decide to head towards Fantasyland and hit the rides that have short lines.

The first thing we hit is the Tomorrowland Speedway. It’s been years since I’d been on this! It was fun and the views are great at night (I’d only ridden it during the day before). I think I’d forgotten so much of the ride that it kind of felt like I was riding something brand new.

After the Speedway, we were heading to Fantasyland when I suggested we check out Cosmic Ray’s. I’d heard about Sonny Eclipse, the animatronic alien lounge lizard that entertains here, but had never seen him before since we never eat here. We take a break and watch him do a couple of numbers. I was excited to finally see him sing “Bright Little Star” since I’d heard it a bunch of times on the WDW Official Album soundtrack. After the break watching Sonny, we continued to Fantasyland. Along the way, we spot SpectroMagic in the Hub and watch a couple of floats pass by from afar near Belle’s Fairytale Gardens.


The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh didn’t have much of a line so decided to ride it. Everything went fine until we got to the room where Tigger is bouncing. Right as we’re passing the scene where Tigger has pounced onto Pooh to tell him about Hephalumps and Woozles the entire ride stops and all the lights turn on. There was a couple with a baby in front of us in the “Hunny” pot who were very confused asking if this was part of the ride. No, no it isn’t. The lights turn off and the ride continues again, but it seems to throw everything out of whack. We didn’t get to see the scene of Pooh floating off into his dream (which is too bad since it’s my favorite effect in the ride). We ended up stopping five more times between this point and the end of the ride which wasn’t all bad because it really gave us a chance to see some of the details in the ride, especially in the “Floody Place” scene. The last time we stopped was right before entering the last room with the Hero Party for Pooh. The scene begins with Pooh bemoaning his getting stuck in the honey tree with an “Oh, bother” and telling Piglet that he’ll be with him in a minute. The narrator then starts talking about the party saying that “Everyone has gathered today to say…” When you enter the next room everyone shouts “Hooray!”. Well, we end up getting stuck right before we enter the room where everyone shouts “Hooray” but we can still see the figure of Piglet right in front of us almost waving us to come in. The audio in the room re-loops so the dialogue now goes:

Narrator: And the time came when everyone gathered to say…
Pooh: Oh, bother! Be with you in a minute Piglet!

Buzz and I start laughing. The time had defiantly come when we all were ready to gather together to say “Oh Bother!” The ride did start again and we finally rode past Piglet and unloaded. Not the best ride on Winnie the Pooh, but we found the last part so funny that it was worth it. Still, we decided that this defiantly should not be the last ride of the evening. We wanted a better finale than a ride that kept breaking down. I wanted to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures. I know it’s not very well-liked, but I really enjoy this ride. Buzz doesn’t like it as much as I do, but agrees to ride it as long as he can pick the last ride of the day.

My pictures on rides never seem to turn out very well. My camera seems to have a hard time focusing when there’s no flash and the “No Flash Photography” rules on the rides make pictures nearly impossible. I was happy with the way this one turned out though. The ride was fun, as usual. Didn’t break down once!

I wasn’t at all surprised at Buzz’s pick for today’s finale ride- It’s A Small World. He really enjoys this one. I’m always amazed to the amount of detail all throughout the ride. Sometimes I wish the ride could go slower just so I could see more of the detail. I think I’ve gotten to the point where the song doesn’t bother me anymore so I wouldn’t mind hearing it for over 10 minutes anymore. It was a good choice for a last ride of the day.


We wanted to get out of the park before Wishes started in order to beat the rush at the bus stop after the fireworks and get back to the resort and get some sleep to prepare us for tomorrow. We’ve got to be up early if we want to get to Toy Story Mania at park opening! We’ve only got 5 minutes before the fireworks start and an announcement goes over the loud speakers that once the lights go off, stay where you are for safety reasons. I don’t want to get stuck in the park while we’re trying to beat the rush so I hurry faster. I think Buzz thought I was crazy. We were the only ones in the park rush out of the park before the fireworks started. We make it through the tunnel out of the park just as the lights go out and Wishes begins- just in time to see the fireworks going off over the train station (for reference: seeing the fireworks go off over the Train Station is actually a pretty cool view that I’d never seen before or heard about on the DIS. You can still hear the music and if you watch it from near the boat docks, you don’t have to go through the turnstiles or security so you wouldn’t necessarily have to pay park admission). We watch it from the entrance courtyard a little before heading to the bus stop and watching the rest of the fireworks waiting for the bus to come. No music here, but the fireworks are still beautiful. The bus arrives and we head back to Pop to rest up for Disney’s Hollywood Studios tomorrow.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Enjoying the updates! Hope your mum recovered quickly.
Sounds like you had a good day, just a pity the wait lines were too long for BTMRR, I've heard a few other posters say the lines were fairly short, so I guess it can change day to day.....
Funny story on Pooh! We had Buzz breakdown whilst we were on it, it gave us a good chance to up our scores though!
Di x

 

[mikesjoy]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your trip report! Your pictures are awesome!!!

 

[ckret01]

I just LOVE your pictures! You have such a eye for photography!

 

[meeko_33785]

Enjoying the updates! Hope your mum recovered quickly.
Sounds like you had a good day, just a pity the wait lines were too long for BTMRR, I've heard a few other posters say the lines were fairly short, so I guess it can change day to day.....
Funny story on Pooh! We had Buzz breakdown whilst we were on it, it gave us a good chance to up our scores though!
Di x

Glad you're enjoying them. Not getting to ride Big Thunder wasn't too big of a loss. I like the ride but it wasn't really a priority for this trip so it's ok. That's what happens when you go in August.

I just LOVE your pictures! You have such a eye for photography!

Thanks so much.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your trip report! Your pictures are awesome!!!

Happy to know you're love love love loving it. Thanks.

 

[meeko_33785]

Good morning! Welcome to day three, sadly the last full day of the trip. The Mickey wakeup call this morning either; we get some cowboy-sounding song. Meh. I wonder if they’ve stopped doing this or if Pop just isn’t. Mickey call or no Mickey call, it’s time to get up.


Happily, Mom is feeling a lot better today. She still has a little scratchy voice, but she’s not feeling achy or sick so she’s up for heading to Hollywood Studios today. We get some quick breakfast at the food court before heading to the bus stop.

This will be our first time to the park since the name change from MGM Studios to Hollywood Studios, so I wanted to document the name change. I think it will always be MGM Studios to me though. Also, note the blue sky. Enjoy it while it lasts (it won’t for long). The bus comes and we’re off!

We get there pretty early- at least 45 minutes before opening- so we spend a little time looking around the entrance area before getting in line at the gate. Toy Story Mania now open! This will be first on the agenda for today.

Another sign of the name change. Again, isn’t the sky beautiful? We look around the little shop to the left of the gate for a while because there isn’t all that much to do before opening. We’re all looking at the Cars toys and Mom finds a diecast car of the character that George Carlin played (can’t remember his name). Sadly this was not long after he had passed away. Mom and Dad were both fans so consider buying it, but end up not. Eventually a line starts to build at the gate and we join it.

Heading down Hollywood Boulevard before opening. I have two reasons for taking this photo. 1) Singin’ in the Rain is one of my favorite films of all time. For the last few months before the trip, I’d been watching a bunch of old MGM musicals, some I’d seen perhaps many times before and a bunch I’d never seen before (you’d think I’d be watching Disney movies leading up to Disney World, but no) and one of them happened to be Singin’ in the Rain, so this is sort of in commemoration of that. 2) I knew the weather forcast for today and figured that this might be a sign of things to come. I didn’t really think about it until later, but it could serve a third purpose too. 3) A photo for all the crocs fans on the DIS!


After the opening ceremonies, we join the flood of guests heading for the new PIXAR Place. It was pure craziness! People were running like crazy and shouting to love ones. I’d never seen it this bad before- especially for a non-thrill ride. When we finally arrive, we’re told that Toy Story Midway Mania is broken. Not the news the hoard wanted to hear! They’re letting people queue up just in case they can get it working, but won’t promise how long it will take. We hope for the best and get in line. It seemed to be moving, so we’re optimistic.

Most of my photos in the queue didn’t come out too great, but I was glad that I got a few shots of Mr. Potato Head. Actually, he’s the one reason we decided to go Standby instead of getting a FastPass. We’d heard that the FastPass line totally bypasses Potato Head and after all the hoopla that we’d heard about his, we didn’t want to miss getting to see him in action.

He was cool, but I don’t think many people understood that we could interact with them. He’d try to talk to people (“Hey you in the red shirt!”), but most people didn’t really get it and wouldn’t talk to him.


The line moves constantly and it’s not too long before we get on the ride. It really was a lot of fun. We all really enjoyed it. Can’t remember my score (I never can and don’t ever think to write it down), but I think I got the second lowest level of “prizes” they have. Buzz was the winner. No surprise; he always wins on Space Ranger Spin too. The whole experience was great. I think the ride was still having some problems because after each game we were stuck there for a short while before moving to the next one. It was fine though since they let you re-play the game while you wait. Didn’t get any extra points though, but it was still fun.

The details and theming there were just great too. Wish I’d thought to get more photos! I liked this “Little” Golden Book at the exit. Some might recall that “Tin Toy” was really a short that PIXAR made that inspired Toy Story. It was nice to see a tribute of it here, plus it makes a nice Little Golden Book too.

After we get off the wait is already up to 50 minutes just minutes after 9:30! Yes, it’s true. You want to get to Toy Story Mania first thing in the morning if you want to avoid a wait. The FastPasses by now are already for after 3pm. We debate getting FastPasses to ride it again and eventually decide to get them. We’ll be able to ride them after seeing Block Party Bash. At this point, Buzz and I were planning on riding Tower of Terror before the lines got too bad there. Mom and Dad don’t really do thrill rides anymore so we split up.

A view of PIXAR Place as we’re leaving.

Here’s what it looked like last time we were here.

Now with Monkeys!

Another photo from last time we were at the Studios.

And now with a brand new sign on the arch.

A brief stop at the Fantasia topiary before heading to Sunset Boulevard. Hopefully the line’s not too long.


Next chapter: Tower of Terror, Narnia and more

 

[kcork1026]

Good morning! Welcome to day three, sadly the last full day of the trip. The Mickey wakeup call this morning either; we get some cowboy-sounding song. Meh. I wonder if they’ve stopped doing this or if Pop just isn’t. Mickey call or no Mickey call, it’s time to get up.


Happily, Mom is feeling a lot better today. She still has a little scratchy voice, but she’s not feeling achy or sick so she’s up for heading to Hollywood Studios today. We get some quick breakfast at the food court before heading to the bus stop.

This will be our first time to the park since the name change from MGM Studios to Hollywood Studios, so I wanted to document the name change. I think it will always be MGM Studios to me though. Also, note the blue sky. Enjoy it while it lasts (it won’t for long). The bus comes and we’re off!

We get there pretty early- at least 45 minutes before opening- so we spend a little time looking around the entrance area before getting in line at the gate. Toy Story Mania now open! This will be first on the agenda for today.

Another sign of the name change. Again, isn’t the sky beautiful? We look around the little shop to the left of the gate for a while because there isn’t all that much to do before opening. We’re all looking at the Cars toys and Mom finds a diecast car of the character that George Carlin played (can’t remember his name). Sadly this was not long after he had passed away. Mom and Dad were both fans so consider buying it, but end up not. Eventually a line starts to build at the gate and we join it.

Heading down Hollywood Boulevard before opening. I have two reasons for taking this photo. 1) Singin’ in the Rain is one of my favorite films of all time. For the last few months before the trip, I’d been watching a bunch of old MGM musicals, some I’d seen perhaps many times before and a bunch I’d never seen before (you’d think I’d be watching Disney movies leading up to Disney World, but no) and one of them happened to be Singin’ in the Rain, so this is sort of in commemoration of that. 2) I knew the weather forcast for today and figured that this might be a sign of things to come. I didn’t really think about it until later, but it could serve a third purpose too. 3) A photo for all the crocs fans on the DIS!


After the opening ceremonies, we join the flood of guests heading for the new PIXAR Place. It was pure craziness! People were running like crazy and shouting to love ones. I’d never seen it this bad before- especially for a non-thrill ride. When we finally arrive, we’re told that Toy Story Midway Mania is broken. Not the news the hoard wanted to hear! They’re letting people queue up just in case they can get it working, but won’t promise how long it will take. We hope for the best and get in line. It seemed to be moving, so we’re optimistic.

Most of my photos in the queue didn’t come out too great, but I was glad that I got a few shots of Mr. Potato Head. Actually, he’s the one reason we decided to go Standby instead of getting a FastPass. We’d heard that the FastPass line totally bypasses Potato Head and after all the hoopla that we’d heard about his, we didn’t want to miss getting to see him in action.

He was cool, but I don’t think many people understood that we could interact with them. He’d try to talk to people (“Hey you in the red shirt!”), but most people didn’t really get it and wouldn’t talk to him.


The line moves constantly and it’s not too long before we get on the ride. It really was a lot of fun. We all really enjoyed it. Can’t remember my score (I never can and don’t ever think to write it down), but I think I got the second lowest level of “prizes” they have. Buzz was the winner. No surprise; he always wins on Space Ranger Spin too. The whole experience was great. I think the ride was still having some problems because after each game we were stuck there for a short while before moving to the next one. It was fine though since they let you re-play the game while you wait. Didn’t get any extra points though, but it was still fun.

The details and theming there were just great too. Wish I’d thought to get more photos! I liked this “Little” Golden Book at the exit. Some might recall that “Tin Toy” was really a short that PIXAR made that inspired Toy Story. It was nice to see a tribute of it here, plus it makes a nice Little Golden Book too.

After we get off the wait is already up to 50 minutes just minutes after 9:30! Yes, it’s true. You want to get to Toy Story Mania first thing in the morning if you want to avoid a wait. The FastPasses by now are already for after 3pm. We debate getting FastPasses to ride it again and eventually decide to get them. We’ll be able to ride them after seeing Block Party Bash. At this point, Buzz and I were planning on riding Tower of Terror before the lines got too bad there. Mom and Dad don’t really do thrill rides anymore so we split up.

A view of PIXAR Place as we’re leaving.

Here’s what it looked like last time we were here.

Now with Monkeys!

Another photo from last time we were at the Studios.

And now with a brand new sign on the arch.

A brief stop at the Fantasia topiary before heading to Sunset Boulevard. Hopefully the line’s not too long.


Next chapter: Tower of Terror, Narnia and more

Now I am excited to see all the changes on Dec.....my family is a little hesitant, as studios was always our favorite park.

 

[meeko_33785]

Now I am excited to see all the changes on Dec.....my family is a little hesitant, as studios was always our favorite park.

Awesome. The Studios has been my favorite park after MK for a long timeand I actually really liked most of the changes. PIXAR Place and Toy Story Midway Mania are really fantastic additions- exactly what the park needed IMO. The rest were basically fairly nominal like sign changes that didn't really take away the feel of the park. All in all, I think it's in great shape and getting better.

 

[meeko_33785]

Buzz and I continued down Sunset Boulevard to my favorite WDW attraction- the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

We’d missed this last time we were here so Buzz and I defiantly wanted to make sure that didn’t happen on this trip. When we get there, the wait wasn’t too bad (maybe 20 minutes, I can’t remember anymore) so we hop in the standby line.

The detailing in the queue is one of the best in the parks I think, if not the best. I love all the period décor and the way it really brings you into the story.

A few shots in the lobby. I would have gotten more if I could have but by the time we got into here the line never stopped moving until we got outside the library.

As usual the ride was absolutely fantastic. Hands-down the best attraction I experienced the entire trip. The theming is great, the effects are great, the whole experience was thrilling and the randomized drop sequence always surprises! Defiantly a true highlight! After the ride, I knew that Prince Caspian was starting to do meet-and-greets at Journey Into Narnia at that point so I decided to head over there. Buzz didn’t have any interest so he set off on his own.


Honestly, at this point I had not seen the Prince Caspian film (and actually two months later I still haven’t), but I knew that the recent trend for characters from new films tends to be they appear in the parks for a little while and then seem to disappear. I figured that there may be a good possibility that if I passed on meeting him now I might miss my chance (I’d already had this happen before with Chicken Little so I didn’t want to have it happen again). The line here is about 20 minutes too but I get in line. As I’m waiting, the sky gets darker and darker. By the time I’m at the front of the line it starts to rain increasingly hard. Thankfully, Caspian was in an indoor alcove so he didn’t have to rush indoors like a lot of the other characters have to do when the rain sets in.

Prince Caspian turned out to be really cool. He taught me the proper Narnian greeting on shaking forearms (which must be new since I didn’t remember if from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) and we discussed the differences between Narnia and Florida while he signed autographs and poses for photos. He was a lot of fun. The meet-and-greet empties to the front of the line of the Journey Into Nania exhibit. It was still raining but even though the queue was covered the wind was blowing rain in on everyone in line. I was defiantly glad to get inside! The attraction itself wasn’t too thrilling, just a bunch of clips and a summery of the film’s plot (a spoiler for those of you like me still haven’t seen it: good triumphs over evil in Narnia).

At the end of the attraction there was a small gallery of costumes and props from the film. While looking around, I call Buzz, Mom and Dad to find out where they were. Turns out they were all at the Magic of Disney Animation so I booked it over there hoping that the rain had let up enough where I didn’t need a poncho. Half-way between Narnia and the Animation building I realized I was wrong.

At the Animation building we checked out the WALL-E exhibit and photo-op. It’s not as good as having a WALL-E character or anything but it’s as close as we’re going to get for this trip at least.

In the gallery, EVE was on display as well. While we were there, I checked out the line for the new Sorcerer Mickey meet-and-greet but it looked pretty long so I passed on it. At this point, we had planned to head over to Sunset Boulevard to start waiting for the first showing of Beauty and the Beast, but we weren’t really interested in seeing it in the rain. True it’s covered so we’re not going to get very wet if wet at all, but even so we decide against it. We decided instead to break out the ponchos and head over to the Great Movie Ride instead.

I’d been hoping we’d be able to fit this into our itinerary. I’d been watching a lot of old MGM musicals for the last few months leading up to the trip (around one a week) and my two favorites- Singin’ in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz were featured on the ride, so I figured that it seemed fitting to do the ride on this trip.

Another of my favorite musicals (though a Disney one, not MGM) that’s featured on the ride- Mary Poppins.


After the ride, we head towards Sunset Boulevard to get some lunch. We grab some food (I got a pizza from Catalina Eddie’s) and get a table under a covered canopy so we’re not eating in the rain.

Here’s the view from out table with the Tower of Terror poking up over the next canopy over. While we’re eating the rain finally stops and the next showing of Beauty and the Beast is put on our schedule.

A few photos of the Victory Garden over by Rosie’s Café in the Farmer’s Market. This has to be one of my favorite details in the park. Great storytelling and something that really places you in the era that it’s portraying. Plus it’s educational- Sunset Boulevard the first place I learned about Victory Gardens as well as war rationing, Rosie the Riveter, and other historical details about America during World War II when I was a kid.

After lunch, we looked around some of the shops in the area before heading to the Theater of the Stars.



Next chapter: Beauty and the Beast and some Enchanted costumes.

 

[burly]

Still along for the ride........
I love the tower of terror. Took my two oldest for EMH at HS when we were there in June. We ended up riding in the very last elevator of the night. T hey gave us like 10 drops and then when we landed and the music started, we thought it was over, but no they shot us back up and down 4 more times!!! It was awesome!