We woke up at around 7:30 to eat breakfast in the room. We then headed out to MGM to get there for the park's opening. This was the 1st day of Star Wars Weekends, and I really didn't know what to expect, especially in terms of the crowds. Parking was fine, & we made our way to the gates pretty quickly.
I had received a call from the Brown Derby the night before, where we had reserved the FDP for 7:00 that night. They wanted us to reschedule, as they stated that was too late to get through the meal & to Fantasmic on time. I stopped at the BD as soon as we got there, but they weren't open yet, so I had to return later in the day. We headed over to ToT, deciding to do that before RnR. That was the one mistake. We waited on the queue to get on the elevators for about 15-20 minutes before they announced that the ride was down, and they didn't know when it would be back running. We opted to leave & go a Fastpass for everyone in the group (all except my older sister) to come back later that day.
Then the 3 of us who wanted to ride RnR (no dad or older sister) waited about 10 minutes for that. It's a fun ride, and less stressful on your body than other thrill rides, I thought. Just a little too short. Give me 1 more minute on the ride. Anyway, we then headed across the park to ride Star Tours. By this point the BD was staffed, so I stopped, and was told that we should arrive at 6:30 for dinner to ensure we made it to Fantasmic. I did not have to cancel my res & rebook (probably because there's no way they can do this w/out the charges on my card).
We rode Star Tours, and unfortunately it continued my poor experience w/simulator rides. I got queasy again. But worse than that was that I thought the ride was boring. It desperately needs an update (which I've heard rumors Lucas is planning). Not fun, and the presence of the 18 yr. old dressed as Luke in Return of the Jedi didn't enhance the experience. If you want to avoid nerdy, obsessive fan boys, I suggest hitting this park during the week until the SW weekends are over. We exited into the gift shop, which was absolute bedlam. We made a beeline out of there.
My sister & her friend then decided they needed a snack before heading on, so they stopped at the ABC Commissary. I decided to look around, and checking my guide, saw that the SW motorcade was starting in about 10 minutes. I grabbed a spot right next to that little copper line, and waited for the parade. Just a quick reminder, 5 yr-olds dressed in Jedi robes carrying light sabers is cute, 30 yr-old doing the same is freaky.
After the parade, we headed for Muppetvision. The preshow was good, but the overall was not as good as I remembered from my trip 10 yrs ago. It paled in comparison to HISTA in Epcot. The themeing there, and in the Muppet gift shop, were excellent though. After the Muppets, we broke for lunch at the Pizza Planet. It was fine, but I don't think we needed to get the meals w/the salads, no one ate them.
After lunch, we went on the backstage tour. Seems a little pointless now, as they hardly film anything there, and what they did isn't really that impressive (Thunder in Paradise?!
). I was on the left-hand side of the tram and got a nice misting in Catastrophe Canyon. After the tour, we checked out One Man's Dream, which was nice, but the film seemed a little rushed, for someone who did so much in his life. The exhibits are excellent, especially the park models & the opening day WDW merch.
At this point my younger sister suggested we head back to ToT & ride, after which she & her friend wanted to go back to the hotel & relax before dinner. We agreed & had a very minimal wait once we were through the preshow area. That was an awesome ride. I put it up there w/Splash Mountain in terms of the best combination of a fund, exciting ride, & great themeing & Imagineering. Even my dad loved it. He said after the 1st drop & he knew what to expect, that he was able to relax & enjoy himself. He almost lost his great knew Mickey cap though.
After the ToT, all the females left & it was just me & dad in the park. We strolled along Sunset Blvd., checking out the shops. We got a couple of drinks and relaxed by Echo Lake for a while. Then we headed to Indiana Jones. That show was fun, and my dad really enjoyed it. Then we headed over to the Animation Tour. I thought his was very informative, and the looks they gave at Brother Bear were nice. Hopefully that will be closer in quality to Lion King than to Treasure Planet (sorry to all you TP fans ) This was a long tour, about 40 minutes, and even though it is broken up, if you're w/younger kids they might get bored. The compilation film of the great moments from all the past Disney films was a nice way to end the tour.
After the tour, we decided to wait for the Stars & Motorcars parade to start. Dad visited the pin-trading area under Mickey's hat & got a good Studios pin. The parade was good, but not spectacular. The running commentary (by Rosie the Riveter) was a little annoying. Definitely not as exciting a parade as the Aladdin parade from back in '93. Those elephant floats were the best.
After the parade was over, it was approaching 6:00, so we decided to see if sanity had returned to the Star Wars gift shop. It had, and I bough a cool mug (the one w/Yoda & Jedi Mickey). The best is that Mickey has his regular shoes on under the robe. I wouldn't mess w/either of them.
Upon leaving, we saw the line for pictures w/Chewbacca. While that would have been incredibly awesome, I didn't have enough time, so we started a slow walk over to the BD. Had my picture taken w/Greedo & one of Jabba's guards.
The girls made it back to the BD just as we were ready to be seated. They were very lucky & avoided my terrible wrath. Dinner was very nice. I had the tuna. Also got the electric lemonade w/the glow cube. My sister & her friend were so jealous, they asked for one also! Copycats. One warning about the FDP at the BD, it is a ton of food. You get an appetizer, entree, dessert & non-alky drink. Being the good growing boy I am (which direction I'm growing is the problem), I finished everything put before me. The raspberry mousse is a good, light dessert to have w/this package; you don't feel as if you'll burst after eating it.
We ended dinner at about 8:25, giving us 5 minutes to get to the FDP entrance. We got there & made it to our seats in plenty of time. The seats were fine, but all the way to the right. I was happy to sit there, knowing what those in the middle section had to sacrifice to grab them. Fantasmic was a lot of fun. Most of the kids surrounding us handled it well, no screams, or carryouts. The only problem is that parts of Illuminations were visible from my seat & that was a little distracting. The show was good, although I didnt get the whole Pocahontas segment. Was Mickey dreaming that?
After the show, we went w/the crowd to the exits. This was manageable, as the majority of guests had exited much earlier. We dropped the girls off at PI, then dad & I headed back to POR. We showered & changed, then headed over to the food court for some ice cream & male bonding. We were back in the room by 11:45 & were asleep soon after.
Another good day. MGM was good, and the crowds were not nearly as bad as I thought they might be. Dinner was also very good, although I would still put it behind both Le Cellier & Kona.
Thanks for reading! Any comments, questions, or feedback are appreciated.
I had received a call from the Brown Derby the night before, where we had reserved the FDP for 7:00 that night. They wanted us to reschedule, as they stated that was too late to get through the meal & to Fantasmic on time. I stopped at the BD as soon as we got there, but they weren't open yet, so I had to return later in the day. We headed over to ToT, deciding to do that before RnR. That was the one mistake. We waited on the queue to get on the elevators for about 15-20 minutes before they announced that the ride was down, and they didn't know when it would be back running. We opted to leave & go a Fastpass for everyone in the group (all except my older sister) to come back later that day.
Then the 3 of us who wanted to ride RnR (no dad or older sister) waited about 10 minutes for that. It's a fun ride, and less stressful on your body than other thrill rides, I thought. Just a little too short. Give me 1 more minute on the ride. Anyway, we then headed across the park to ride Star Tours. By this point the BD was staffed, so I stopped, and was told that we should arrive at 6:30 for dinner to ensure we made it to Fantasmic. I did not have to cancel my res & rebook (probably because there's no way they can do this w/out the charges on my card).
We rode Star Tours, and unfortunately it continued my poor experience w/simulator rides. I got queasy again. But worse than that was that I thought the ride was boring. It desperately needs an update (which I've heard rumors Lucas is planning). Not fun, and the presence of the 18 yr. old dressed as Luke in Return of the Jedi didn't enhance the experience. If you want to avoid nerdy, obsessive fan boys, I suggest hitting this park during the week until the SW weekends are over. We exited into the gift shop, which was absolute bedlam. We made a beeline out of there.
My sister & her friend then decided they needed a snack before heading on, so they stopped at the ABC Commissary. I decided to look around, and checking my guide, saw that the SW motorcade was starting in about 10 minutes. I grabbed a spot right next to that little copper line, and waited for the parade. Just a quick reminder, 5 yr-olds dressed in Jedi robes carrying light sabers is cute, 30 yr-old doing the same is freaky.
After the parade, we headed for Muppetvision. The preshow was good, but the overall was not as good as I remembered from my trip 10 yrs ago. It paled in comparison to HISTA in Epcot. The themeing there, and in the Muppet gift shop, were excellent though. After the Muppets, we broke for lunch at the Pizza Planet. It was fine, but I don't think we needed to get the meals w/the salads, no one ate them.
After lunch, we went on the backstage tour. Seems a little pointless now, as they hardly film anything there, and what they did isn't really that impressive (Thunder in Paradise?!
). I was on the left-hand side of the tram and got a nice misting in Catastrophe Canyon. After the tour, we checked out One Man's Dream, which was nice, but the film seemed a little rushed, for someone who did so much in his life. The exhibits are excellent, especially the park models & the opening day WDW merch. At this point my younger sister suggested we head back to ToT & ride, after which she & her friend wanted to go back to the hotel & relax before dinner. We agreed & had a very minimal wait once we were through the preshow area. That was an awesome ride. I put it up there w/Splash Mountain in terms of the best combination of a fund, exciting ride, & great themeing & Imagineering. Even my dad loved it. He said after the 1st drop & he knew what to expect, that he was able to relax & enjoy himself. He almost lost his great knew Mickey cap though.
After the ToT, all the females left & it was just me & dad in the park. We strolled along Sunset Blvd., checking out the shops. We got a couple of drinks and relaxed by Echo Lake for a while. Then we headed to Indiana Jones. That show was fun, and my dad really enjoyed it. Then we headed over to the Animation Tour. I thought his was very informative, and the looks they gave at Brother Bear were nice. Hopefully that will be closer in quality to Lion King than to Treasure Planet (sorry to all you TP fans
) This was a long tour, about 40 minutes, and even though it is broken up, if you're w/younger kids they might get bored. The compilation film of the great moments from all the past Disney films was a nice way to end the tour.After the tour, we decided to wait for the Stars & Motorcars parade to start. Dad visited the pin-trading area under Mickey's hat & got a good Studios pin. The parade was good, but not spectacular. The running commentary (by Rosie the Riveter) was a little annoying. Definitely not as exciting a parade as the Aladdin parade from back in '93. Those elephant floats were the best.
After the parade was over, it was approaching 6:00, so we decided to see if sanity had returned to the Star Wars gift shop. It had, and I bough a cool mug (the one w/Yoda & Jedi Mickey). The best is that Mickey has his regular shoes on under the robe. I wouldn't mess w/either of them.
Upon leaving, we saw the line for pictures w/Chewbacca. While that would have been incredibly awesome, I didn't have enough time, so we started a slow walk over to the BD. Had my picture taken w/Greedo & one of Jabba's guards.The girls made it back to the BD just as we were ready to be seated. They were very lucky & avoided my terrible wrath.
Dinner was very nice. I had the tuna. Also got the electric lemonade w/the glow cube. My sister & her friend were so jealous, they asked for one also! Copycats. One warning about the FDP at the BD, it is a ton of food. You get an appetizer, entree, dessert & non-alky drink. Being the good growing boy I am (which direction I'm growing is the problem), I finished everything put before me. The raspberry mousse is a good, light dessert to have w/this package; you don't feel as if you'll burst after eating it. We ended dinner at about 8:25, giving us 5 minutes to get to the FDP entrance. We got there & made it to our seats in plenty of time. The seats were fine, but all the way to the right. I was happy to sit there, knowing what those in the middle section had to sacrifice to grab them. Fantasmic was a lot of fun. Most of the kids surrounding us handled it well, no screams, or carryouts. The only problem is that parts of Illuminations were visible from my seat & that was a little distracting. The show was good, although I didnt get the whole Pocahontas segment. Was Mickey dreaming that?
After the show, we went w/the crowd to the exits. This was manageable, as the majority of guests had exited much earlier. We dropped the girls off at PI, then dad & I headed back to POR. We showered & changed, then headed over to the food court for some ice cream & male bonding. We were back in the room by 11:45 & were asleep soon after.
Another good day. MGM was good, and the crowds were not nearly as bad as I thought they might be. Dinner was also very good, although I would still put it behind both Le Cellier & Kona.
Thanks for reading! Any comments, questions, or feedback are appreciated.
