PART 16: MGM!
Monday 30th October 2006
Not surprisingly, we didn't make rope drop. But that was okay. Much as I love movies, I wasn't overly excited about going to MGM because on our first trip we seemed to miss every show going on there and I found it a tough park to tour. But it has the boys' favourite attractions - Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror - so, for them, this was a very exciting day. We had a simple list of what we'd like to do and as well as the two headliners above, I definitely wanted to get in a couple of shows this year! Having said that, I decided not to stress too much about it because we were coming back the following Sunday for half a day so we would just get done what we'd get done today.
First we went to Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Alice was "oohing" and "aahing" at the "upside-down car". She thought it was hilarous and said "mommy, they left their car all upside down"!
Look how quiet it was.........
It was a mere 5 minute wait so DH got in line with the boys and we also got a babyswap pass. I got fastpasses for later too as I knew the boys could never have enough turns on this particular ride! Alice and I went to relax outside and we used a couple of snack credits in a nearby stand.
By now, I was already in love with the Dining Plan. I know it's not exactly cheap but there's something thoroughly satisfying about having it paid for in advance and then just choosing what you want without physically parting with cash at that moment! I can't even imagine the sheer levels of bliss I would experience if I were lucky enough to be there during free dining.
Despite the short line, RnR takes quite a while, what with the pre-show and all that. So while Alice and I waited, we got chatting to two very nice women who were also sitting waiting for family members. One of the women was waiting for her 13 year old daughter and she told me they'd been going to WDW every year since her DD was a baby. Wow! I was impressed. I asked her if it was losing any appeal yet for her DD and she said "no way". She begs to go back every year. For some reason, I was really relieved to hear that because, even though I know we could never afford to go there every year (much as I'd love to) I do want to go at least every 3 years and I think I'd be physically sick if my boys ever tired of the place.
The other woman asked me where we were staying and when I said The Boardwalk she let out a little scream.
She said they had stayed there on their honeymoon and she loves the place. It was so nice to talk to two women who were big Disney fans and knew a lot about it.
Finally the boys returned and it was my turn. I remembered RnR as not being *too* bad the year before so I wasn't really scared. Not much anyway. I had missed the pre-show the year before so it was good to see it this time. The only problem I have with the pre-show is that actress who's playing the role of Aerosmith's manager is probably too good at acting because every time I see her I picture her in Cape Fear, as De Niro's girlfriend, going through hell at his hands. *Shudder*
But where was I? Oh yeah - being scared on the ride. Well, it was faster than I remembered. I recalled it being very, very, very fast but actually it was very, very, very, very fast. It doesn't last long though and finally we stopped. Sweet blessed relief.
We browsed around in the shop there afterwards and Wayne was thrilled to be able to replace his favourite pen. It's a bendy RnR pen - he bought one on our first trip and was surprisingly very upset when it broke (he just really loved it) so I bought him two so we have one in reserve if such a crisis should ever hit again! Perish the thought.
By now, it was actually time to get another set of FPs, yay! So I went over the get some for ToT to use later.
I checked the time and we had missed the first Lights, Motor Action show by just a few minutes (as seems to be the MGM way!) so we decided to go to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. A first for us! Now at this point in time time, 4 months ago, our little Alice was still unfamiliar with Ariel and none of us had ever seen
The Little Mermaid. I know, I know. Bad Disney family. Bad bad bad. But this past Christmas Santa gave Alice the box set of
The Little Mermaid and she now adores Ariel and Melody!
After a deceptively long wait in the pre-show area (it might say '5 minutes' outside but it's more like 20) finally we're seated and the show begins. Wow! We all agreed (even the boys!!!) that this was an excellent show and I am so glad we made the effort to catch it!
When we exited the timing was good for Playhouse Disney.
This is one we made a point of seeing last year and we wouldn't miss this time either as Alice is a big fan of Bear and I have a bit of a crush on him myself! The boys came with us too which, in retrospect, was a bit cruel on my part - hee hee! But we hadn't time to make plans to split up and anyway both DH and I were really keen on seeing Alice's reactions so the boys were captive!
She was too shy to get up and dance but really enjoyed herself nonetheless.
She was the last to leave!
After this we went to The Great Movie Ride. I preferred it the year before for some reason. Probably cause it was one of only 2 or 3 attractions we actually *did* in MGM.
This year, we thought it was okay, but not brilliant. Although we did really enjoy the movie clips at the end.
After this we went to One Man's Dream. We all enjoyed looking at the exhibits and Garth, in particular, relished every detail. However, we had just missed a showing of the movie itself and, much as I loved it last year, I felt that Alice was getting a bit too impatient and I didn't want her acting up in the theatre. I wish now I'd seen it again though as I was very moved by it on our first trip. But the thing is, I didn't want a repeat of the '05 incident! Which was basically that, for some unknown reason, Alice roared laughing at the saddest parts in that movie.
I swear any time there was a poignant scene, Alice (at the time a mere 15 months) would literally get into hysterics laughing. I don't know why. You can imagine the looks we got - but, to be fair, anyone who did look around, as soon as they saw that she was just a baby, they smiled and forgave her. Still, I wasn't risking it again!
So I took Alice outside for a browse around the shops while the boys went to One Man's Dream. I had bought little presents for the couple who rented us the DVC points but I wanted to get something for their kids too so I picked up the 'Magic Kingdom' dvd in one of the larger MGM stores and, in true Disney-dork fashion, I gleefully bought myself one of those plastic park-pass holders to attach to my person with the elasticated stringy thing hanging off it. Fabulous! I swear I played with that thing for about a week afterwards, marvelling at the 'engineering' behind it and almost squealing every time I needed to get out the park passes without having to remove the holder. Yes, I'm Deb and I'm simple.
I met up with the boys and DH again at the Magic of Disney Animation tour. I can't remember why DH waited outside with Alice, perhaps she was napping but anyway the boys and I went in and I really liked it. The movie with the guy from 'Mulan' was very very funny. A
huge regret of mine though is that we didn't stay around to do the hands on animation bit afterwards. Wayne and Garth are both talented sketchers and Garth especially loves it - not a day goes by when he's not sketching something and this opportunity was really tailor-made for him. Yet somehow, at the time (maybe tiredness was descending) I didn't think much of the fact that we left it go. It was only afterwards I was kicking myself for not planning it better. But there you go, yet another thing to add to the 'next time' list!
Oh, on our way out, Garth spotted an animation kit for 20 dollars and asked if he could buy it. They had already bought a few things so far on the holiday so I told him to think about it and maybe we'd get it in a few days. But secretly I knew I was going to buy it for him as a birthday gift in just a few days.
We all met up again outside and it was now time for lunch. I had booked Hollywood & Vine for Alice and I while the boys had reservations at Sci-Fi. This was the only time we split up for a sit down meal but it worked out well. I knew from reading the reviews that they'd get a real kick out of Sci Fi and, of course, our Alice, being a huge JoJo fan (at the time) would, I thought, adore H&V. We parted and arranged to meet later at the Muppets theatre.
H&V was a big disappointment. That and Planet Hollywood were the only two disappointing meals of the trip. Basically, I found the service haphazard and lacklustre. I should have known this because I was disappointed with it on our first trip too. I know, I know, why would I return? But the JoJo & Friends meal was new and I really thought that would alter my view of the place but no, same bad service. I will say, the food was good, no complaints there. They had plenty of nice vegetarian pastas and lovely salads. However, what I noticed is that because it was just me and a toddler, we were, by and large, overlooked. First off, after being seated, we waited 15 minutes for our server to come to take our drinks order. I didn't know whether to just get up and get the food or continue waiting until she showed up. But 15 minutes was enough for a toddler to wait so I took her to the buffet line and quickly got us some food. I kept looking back to see if the server was approaching but no.
When we got back, I waited another few minutes and still no sign of her so I got the attention of the woman who had shown us to our seats and asked if we could order some drinks. Soon after, our server showed up and said "there you are, I've been over and back but you were missing each time". Huh? We were gone for about 2 minutes, watching the table all the time. Anyway we ordered our drinks and waited for our turn to meet the characters.
And waited... And waited... JoJo, Goliath and Stanley passed our table repeatedly. In fact, twice JoJo had to nudge and manoeuvre herself around us to get to other families that came in long after us. You can imagine a 2 year old's disappointment at constantly seeing JoJo come so near only to go again. Every few minutes the characters would converge in the middle of the restaurant for singing and dancing and, whilst I thought it was cute at first, it started to irritate me after a while because I knew that this would delay our meeting them even further. JoJo and Goliath even visited the family across from us twice and seemed to spend a long time sitting with them. I felt like we were invisible. An hour had now gone by and we still hadn't met one single character. Finally, as I was just about to pack up and leave, JoJo approached, followed immediately by Goliath, followed immediately by Stanley. After all that time, they came one after the other. Alice was pleased but a little overwhelmed.
I think she had given up on meeting them and then it was all too much. She kinda liked it but compared to, for example, meeting Pooh & Friends at Crystal Palace or Mickey at Chef Mickey's it was a total loss.
I don't know if it's related or not but since that day she had zero interest in JoJo! Honestly, I didn't turn her against her, lol! She really just lost interest.
So off we went to meet the boys and I got lost. You know that area between Star Tours and the Muppets? I can't get my head around it. I like it. It intrigues me. The theming is wonderful. But, for some reason, no matter how often I walked it, I lost my bearings each and every time. As a result, we were about 20 minutes late meeting up with them. They had had a brilliant time in Sci-Fi and really loved the place. They were allowed to use 2 TS credits for their meals because DH saw the portions and said they were huge. The tight wad in me was very pleased to hear this.
We were just in time for the next showing of The Muppets and that was a huge hit with all of us. I was surprised at how much of the humour Alice
got - we're all big Muppets fans but even Alice was laughing out loud and loving it!!
When we exited we went into the store to pick out some Muppet toys. This had been planned for a while! Last year I bought my mother the two old geezers from the balcony and she loved them. This year, Wayne had asked if he could buy a Kermit. He was a bit reluctant, saying that perhaps he was too old but I said no way, there's no age limit on Muppet love. So he got himself a Kermit and I bought Beaker and added to my mother's 'collection' with the Swedish chef. Garth bought a fabulous Kermit t-shirt which was down from 20 dollars to 8!! For the first time, we arranged to have them shipped to our resort. It took quite a bit of time to fill in the forms and I felt bad for the woman behind me in the queue. I gave her the 'yikes, sorry' look and she just smiled back (it's something in the air at Disney!). It really was such a pleasure not having to carry bags around and this was yet another onsite perk that at first I couldn't see the appeal of, but once I did it myself, I thought it was brilliant!
[More to follow as this is getting very long!!!]
..i got some catching up to do. 
, of course,i sneak a peek!!! 
i saw the critters you associated....with
& 
......
what just hit me?????
We were in WDW the same time as you 
You write so well that I can just imagine myself there and can "smell" that cofee on the boardwalk!
