peajay18
Diamond In The Rough
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2007
- Messages
- 393
Pre Trip and Day 1, Part 1 can be found here.
Day 1, Part 2 is here.
Day 2 - Weds 30th September
Apologies for the delay in getting this written up - killer toothache and the subsequent surgery have been taking up all my attention at the moment.
Anyway, on with Day 2 -
Up at 8.15 and a quick bowl of cereal and a brew at the food court before we drove to Down Town Disney at 9ish. Parked up and walked over to the Hess Gas Station to pick up some water, milk, snacks and a polystyrene cooler so we could keep those precious American candys (and the drinks)safe from the Florida heat. It served us well for the whole of our trip and for 7 dollars it was a heck of lot cheaper than renting a fridge! Just fill it with ice from the machine each day and it works a treat.
Dropped all this back at the room and then caught the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios at 11.30.
Pixar Place and Toy Story Midway Mania were new to us, so we headed over to check it out. Unsurprisingly, TSMM had a 60min wait (!) and the FP return time was already 5pm, so we had a good look around this new section of the park and left it at that for the time being. We've got an unofficial rule that the most we'll wait in line for anything is 20mins, so we resolved to come back another day.
Grabbed FPs for Tower Of Terror (which were for 12-1, and hour later) so headed over to the Catalina Eddie's/Rosie's All American Cafe area for lunch.
We love this part of the Studios as it offers lots of different choices from the various kiosks and has something for everyone. Kathryn had the Deli sandwich and I wimped out with chicken strips. (This was also the first of many times that the CM behind the counter pointed out that "chips are crisps in the US" - we knew about the different use of the word chips in the States, but they still seemed keen to warn us. Must be a lot of disappointed British folks complaining about their lunch!)
The WW2-themed eatery area in DHS is full of little touches like this.
After lunch the FPs for Tower were valid so we popped over to Rock N Roller Coaster to grab some FPs for that - 1.45 return time.
Disney Records had a stage and promotional booth setup in the RnR forecourt, but we never saw anything happening there.
On to ToT - we walked straight into the library and the preshow started almost straight away. I could get used to this lack of queueing!
It's a great ride and although I think that WDWs is the best version, the "4th Dimension" room doesn't really work for me.
With plenty of time until RnR Fps kicked in, it was over to The Great Movie Ride. I've never explored the forecourt before, and there were some really interesting (and funny) hand prints in the cement out front.
Clark W. Griswald himself!
The queue backed up into the room where the trailers are screened and one small child was really freaked out by the Alien trailer. The aren't nearly enough trailers in the loop for the length of the line - we saw them all twice. How hard can it be to add some more?
The version of the ride we had was the Gangster hijack, and for the first time in my experience the gangster was a woman. I think I prefer the Cowboy/Cowgirl version, if only for the fire effects.
Being a big Alien fan I love that scene in the ride, and in another first for me, we were perfectly placed to see the Alien that attacks from above. It's pretty cool, and has the translucent headpiece with the skull visible underneath that only appears in the first movie. (Nerd alert!
)
The Oz finale still impresses.
"Was it you?"
Back over to TOT to grab more FPs (it's Kathryn's favorite and I feel that, with the random drop sequences, it never gets dull) and then on to RnR.
We lucked out on getting the front row without asking and it made for a different experience!
Firstly, I never noticed that the signs etc don't light up until your coaster reaches them which adds a cool visual effect to the ride that you don't get further back. Secondly, with no one in front of you, the rush of air directly into your face throughout the ride added greatly to the sense of speed!
Kathryn noticed that these Kanye West shades had a "100% UV protection" label AND an "no UV protection" sticker.
The view of 2 Studios icons from the RnR exit.
Quick break for tea and choc milk at Starring Rolls, then back through Pixar Place again (where we saw the Monsters inc Meet n Greet area tucked away with practically no queue) and a quick mooch around the Streets Of America.
Me with the nectar of the gods at Starring Rolls.
I really feel for whoever was Mike's "friend" that day. It looks like one of the most uncomfortable jobs in the World!
Streets of America was a bit of a disappointment as they were midway through putting up the Osbourne lights, so a lot of the buildings were roped off or had machinery in front of them.
On a hot day like this, even this hydrant's half-hearted attempt to cool us down was welcome.
Have to take a break now, but back tomorrow with the rest of the day - Block Party Bash wows us, we take the most convoluted route ever to our ADR, luck out on Toy Story Midway Mania and have a most unexpected meeting...
Day 1, Part 2 is here.
Day 2 - Weds 30th September
Apologies for the delay in getting this written up - killer toothache and the subsequent surgery have been taking up all my attention at the moment.
Anyway, on with Day 2 -
Up at 8.15 and a quick bowl of cereal and a brew at the food court before we drove to Down Town Disney at 9ish. Parked up and walked over to the Hess Gas Station to pick up some water, milk, snacks and a polystyrene cooler so we could keep those precious American candys (and the drinks)safe from the Florida heat. It served us well for the whole of our trip and for 7 dollars it was a heck of lot cheaper than renting a fridge! Just fill it with ice from the machine each day and it works a treat.
Dropped all this back at the room and then caught the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios at 11.30.
Pixar Place and Toy Story Midway Mania were new to us, so we headed over to check it out. Unsurprisingly, TSMM had a 60min wait (!) and the FP return time was already 5pm, so we had a good look around this new section of the park and left it at that for the time being. We've got an unofficial rule that the most we'll wait in line for anything is 20mins, so we resolved to come back another day.
Grabbed FPs for Tower Of Terror (which were for 12-1, and hour later) so headed over to the Catalina Eddie's/Rosie's All American Cafe area for lunch.
We love this part of the Studios as it offers lots of different choices from the various kiosks and has something for everyone. Kathryn had the Deli sandwich and I wimped out with chicken strips. (This was also the first of many times that the CM behind the counter pointed out that "chips are crisps in the US" - we knew about the different use of the word chips in the States, but they still seemed keen to warn us. Must be a lot of disappointed British folks complaining about their lunch!)
The WW2-themed eatery area in DHS is full of little touches like this.
After lunch the FPs for Tower were valid so we popped over to Rock N Roller Coaster to grab some FPs for that - 1.45 return time.
Disney Records had a stage and promotional booth setup in the RnR forecourt, but we never saw anything happening there.
On to ToT - we walked straight into the library and the preshow started almost straight away. I could get used to this lack of queueing!
It's a great ride and although I think that WDWs is the best version, the "4th Dimension" room doesn't really work for me.
With plenty of time until RnR Fps kicked in, it was over to The Great Movie Ride. I've never explored the forecourt before, and there were some really interesting (and funny) hand prints in the cement out front.
Clark W. Griswald himself!
The queue backed up into the room where the trailers are screened and one small child was really freaked out by the Alien trailer. The aren't nearly enough trailers in the loop for the length of the line - we saw them all twice. How hard can it be to add some more?
The version of the ride we had was the Gangster hijack, and for the first time in my experience the gangster was a woman. I think I prefer the Cowboy/Cowgirl version, if only for the fire effects.
Being a big Alien fan I love that scene in the ride, and in another first for me, we were perfectly placed to see the Alien that attacks from above. It's pretty cool, and has the translucent headpiece with the skull visible underneath that only appears in the first movie. (Nerd alert!
)
The Oz finale still impresses.
"Was it you?"
Back over to TOT to grab more FPs (it's Kathryn's favorite and I feel that, with the random drop sequences, it never gets dull) and then on to RnR.
We lucked out on getting the front row without asking and it made for a different experience!
Firstly, I never noticed that the signs etc don't light up until your coaster reaches them which adds a cool visual effect to the ride that you don't get further back. Secondly, with no one in front of you, the rush of air directly into your face throughout the ride added greatly to the sense of speed!
Kathryn noticed that these Kanye West shades had a "100% UV protection" label AND an "no UV protection" sticker.
The view of 2 Studios icons from the RnR exit.
Quick break for tea and choc milk at Starring Rolls, then back through Pixar Place again (where we saw the Monsters inc Meet n Greet area tucked away with practically no queue) and a quick mooch around the Streets Of America.
Me with the nectar of the gods at Starring Rolls.
I really feel for whoever was Mike's "friend" that day. It looks like one of the most uncomfortable jobs in the World!
Streets of America was a bit of a disappointment as they were midway through putting up the Osbourne lights, so a lot of the buildings were roped off or had machinery in front of them.
On a hot day like this, even this hydrant's half-hearted attempt to cool us down was welcome.
Have to take a break now, but back tomorrow with the rest of the day - Block Party Bash wows us, we take the most convoluted route ever to our ADR, luck out on Toy Story Midway Mania and have a most unexpected meeting...
Hope all is OK with you now 
