You can probably walk away now, cause I'm about to start singing! June '12~DONE 12/22

[RachVH]

Yay! A TSM update! Since I have haven't been to Disney in over 10 years I have never been on this ride, but it is one of the ones I am excited about experiencing for the first time!

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Love the hidden bag check info line!

I am glad your ankle was feeling better. I hear you on the Disney bandaids. One year, I brought the wrong kind of shoes, and I needed to cover up my bajillion blisters! They are terrific!

Great update, and I loved the pics!

 

[natebenma]

Do you start your new job tomorrow?

Good luck!

 

[elphie101]

That's a great tip about the hidden bag check line!

Nice Pop photos, and I can't wait for the AoA pictures! It looks so cool!

Love the TSMM queue. It's so adorable, and there's something to see everywhere you turn!

Great scores!

That's a really nice photo of the two of you.

Sounds like the day was going to get rough...

I hope you get to use that line! Great on busy days. And I wouldn't say the day was rough, but boy was it a long one....as only a long Disney day can be!

Awesome update! Your pictures keep making me more excited for our September arrival at POP. I understand they have said that POP and AOA are 'sister resorts' and that you can 'pool hop' between the two. I don't see that occuring for us, but I would like to eat at their food court one time!

Will be on the lookout for your next update.

I don't know if you hang out at the resort board at all, cause I actually got the impression over there that you CAN'T pool hop between AoA and Pop, at least not right now where it's so new. The pool also is gated and you need your room key (the fancy new scanner kind, I forget the real name) to get in, although every time we walked by it someone had left the gate open so who knows.

The food court was great (we went there for breakfast) you should totally try it out!

Great start to your morning!

I love your early morning tour of the resort, and the pictures from AoA. Beautiful!

Sounds like a great ride on TSM. I love the early morning stand-by line there. 20 to 30 minutes is just perfect to enjoy the fun, creative queue.

I think I know what you are going to do with the FP, and if so, BRILLIANT!

To quote Jurassic Park, 'Clever girl....'

Yay! A TSM update! Since I have haven't been to Disney in over 10 years I have never been on this ride, but it is one of the ones I am excited about experiencing for the first time!

Definitely make sure you try it out! It's a must-do for me.

Love the hidden bag check info line!

I am glad your ankle was feeling better. I hear you on the Disney bandaids. One year, I brought the wrong kind of shoes, and I needed to cover up my bajillion blisters! They are terrific!

Great update, and I loved the pics!

I think I've visited every first aid station in all four parks for those band aids.....I actually could've used them the night before but I wanted to hold out for the special Disney band aids

Do you start your new job tomorrow?

Good luck!

Thank you!! And yes I do start tomorrow!!

As natebenma pointed out, I start my new job tomorrow, which means I have to be up a lot earlier than I'm used to (goodbye college sleep habits) so hopefully I can get the next update out tomorrow night!

 

[eandesmom]

Fun update! Bummer about the fast pass time issue but what a fun morning. Special Disney bandaids huh, who knew? Great picture.

Have a GREAT first day!

 

[brandihead2012]

Your pictures make me want to wait in line at TSM!!! Great update!

 

[natebenma]

To quote Jurassic Park, 'Clever girl....'

Well, I have never been compared to a Velociraptor before, but since Jurassic Park is one of my all-time-favorite books, and one of my family's favorite movies, I'll take it!

 

[ShortStuff]

I hope you get to use that line! Great on busy days. And I wouldn't say the day was rough, but boy was it a long one....as only a long Disney day can be!



I don't know if you hang out at the resort board at all, cause I actually got the impression over there that you CAN'T pool hop between AoA and Pop, at least not right now where it's so new. The pool also is gated and you need your room key (the fancy new scanner kind, I forget the real name) to get in, although every time we walked by it someone had left the gate open so who knows.

The food court was great (we went there for breakfast) you should totally try it out!



To quote Jurassic Park, 'Clever girl....'



Definitely make sure you try it out! It's a must-do for me.



I think I've visited every first aid station in all four parks for those band aids.....I actually could've used them the night before but I wanted to hold out for the special Disney band aids



Thank you!! And yes I do start tomorrow!!

As natebenma pointed out, I start my new job tomorrow, which means I have to be up a lot earlier than I'm used to (goodbye college sleep habits) so hopefully I can get the next update out tomorrow night!

I have no idea if you can truly pool hop between the two resorts. The CM who made our reservation, is the one who said that the two resorts are 'sister' resorts and share pool hopping priv. I have known CM's to be incorrect about other things, so who knows?

Actually the boys are excited about the Hippy Dippy pool and I think it will be hard to pull them away from that one and the splash area!!

Best of luck at your new job today!! Congratulations!!

 

[marDgreen88]

OH my goodness, so sorry about your ankle! That sounds so painful. I swear, I'm a chronic flip-flop wearer myself, but in Disney I have such problems with them. I wonder what the deal is with that! Anyways, I hope your pain didn't get too terrible.

Your Pop/AoA pictures are beautiful!

I love the TSM update! That is actually one of my two favorite Disney rides, so this update is right up my alley!

 

[wishinon3stars]

Just read your last installment. Loved your pictures from early morning. It has challenged me to get up early and take some pictures on our next trip!

Fantastic pics of the TSM queue. I agree that there is so much to see there. Your pics reminded me I took some great pictures there of my son's GF in front of Mr Potato Head but I don't think I ever printed them out and gave them to her. Guess it will be a project for today because I have to find them first.

We are devoted to the BC but when I have grandchildren someday I plan on staying with them at some of the value/mods for the theming! I think its great for kids!

Thanks for all the pictures!
Hope your first day went great for you!

 

[elphie101]

[size="3][color="teal"]Sorry for the lack of updates everyone! Adjusting to my new schedule has been pretty hard, I'm certainly not used to waking up at 6:00 Job's going great but I've been missing the TR, so let's keep moving shall we?

Fun update! Bummer about the fast pass time issue but what a fun morning. Special Disney bandaids huh, who knew? Great picture.

Have a GREAT first day!

I'm sure they're no special than other bandaids, but they definitely hold up to touring the parks, so I'm in love

Your pictures make me want to wait in line at TSM!!! Great update!

Believe me, looking through all these again, I wish I was back!

Well, I have never been compared to a Velociraptor before, but since Jurassic Park is one of my all-time-favorite books, and one of my family's favorite movies, I'll take it!

Hahaha, Kevin quotes that all the time, it just popped into my head!

I have no idea if you can truly pool hop between the two resorts. The CM who made our reservation, is the one who said that the two resorts are 'sister' resorts and share pool hopping priv. I have known CM's to be incorrect about other things, so who knows?

Actually the boys are excited about the Hippy Dippy pool and I think it will be hard to pull them away from that one and the splash area!!

Best of luck at your new job today!! Congratulations!!

Who knows, maybe you can? Maybe check with the CMs at AoA. Either way I'm sure they'll love the pools

OH my goodness, so sorry about your ankle! That sounds so painful. I swear, I'm a chronic flip-flop wearer myself, but in Disney I have such problems with them. I wonder what the deal is with that! Anyways, I hope your pain didn't get too terrible.

Your Pop/AoA pictures are beautiful!

I love the TSM update! That is actually one of my two favorite Disney rides, so this update is right up my alley!

Something about wearing socks in the heat just drives me bonkers I swear, but when you're doing Disney (in a day like we did) it's really kind of necessary. Sigh.

Just read your last installment. Loved your pictures from early morning. It has challenged me to get up early and take some pictures on our next trip!

Fantastic pics of the TSM queue. I agree that there is so much to see there. Your pics reminded me I took some great pictures there of my son's GF in front of Mr Potato Head but I don't think I ever printed them out and gave them to her. Guess it will be a project for today because I have to find them first.

We are devoted to the BC but when I have grandchildren someday I plan on staying with them at some of the value/mods for the theming! I think its great for kids!

Thanks for all the pictures!
Hope your first day went great for you!

Hope you found the picture! BC is my #1 must do resort at the moment, though who knows when that'll happen.....someday![/size][/color]

 

[elphie101]

The Great Fastpass Switcheroo

Where we last left off, Kevin and I were an hour into Studios' park opening with TSM fastpasses that didn't suit our needs and wait times rapidly expanding around us. What to do?

I don't honestly know if I would've thought of this without me having been a CM (I certainly never did it before hand) but I figured we could try to exchange our FPs for some at another ride, so at least our getting a FP at 9:00am wouldn't have completely been a waste. Decided, we marched over to Hollywood Boulevard.

Good morning ToT!

We made the choice to go to Rockin Roller Coaster instead of Tower of Terror, because I've found that Coaster FPs typically run out faster than ToT, and with our evening plans at Epcot and our next FPs reserved for Toy Story we figured this would be our only chance. I took our passes up to the CM at the Rockin FPs and asked if we could have two for Rockin if I gave him our TSM passes. He seemed reluctant but........we got them!

Now that's more like it!

We had an hour until we could get new FPs, and another half hour after that until these would be good, so we decided to take a trip to a galaxy far far away......

I love having this in the queue!

I don't have my TR notes on me, but I believe it was no more than a 15 minute wait, I remember it being fairly quick. We again got sent to the front of the line as a party of two - I love that feeling when your group size is exactly what they're looking for to fill a car!

Our crew for the journey

My favorite part of the movie - I love when the droid falls in

After C3PO safely landed us, we decided to go over and visit The Muppets. Indoors, no wait, and great entertainment!

Either we were some of the last people in, or people weren't filling in all available space.....I'm guessing the latter since we still had a lot of the preshow left and there weren't many people in the room.

Like Phillharmagic, we let everyone rush ahead of us, and the theater was barely full.

Piggys!

I do love this show, and as much as I wish they'd update it (especially with the movie coming out recently) the fact that it was Jim Henson's last Muppet project makes me think they never will (like how the Carousel of Progress will always exist in some way, because of Walt Disney's passion for it).

It was after 11:00 when we got out of the show, so time for new Fastpasses! I "suggested" Kevin run over to TSM to grab them, and then we'd pop into the Great Movie Ride to eat up time before our Rockin FPs. Kevin ran ahead, while I took some pictures along the way.

(With Instagram) The other Boss Man

I never noticed this roll away backdrop before.....love finding new things at Disney!

Ten points if you read that in the Swedish Chef's voice

Never noticed this either!

By the time I got to GMR......Kevin had already beat me.

This is his "Really? I ran all the way to TSM and then to GMR and I still beat you?" face. The passes he pulled (I didn't get a photo) were for 5:45 - perfect!

So pretty....can't wait to see the real thing someday

As you can see, there really was no wait at all.

Lights..........camera.......ACTION!

We immeadiately noticed something.......interesting about our tour guide. She seemed to have decided that long pauses gave great dramatic effect - but they were WAY too long. She would say things like "Did you know Gene Kelly.......................................................directed this film?" We actually started counting - we got to seven Mississippis in between words more than a few times!

I adore Singing in the Rain

Hey there Less-Photographed Chimney Sweeps, I'll pay attention to you!

Needless to say, we weren't too torn up when our vehicle was hijacked.

Continued in next post ​

 

[elphie101]

I watched Alien a few weeks before the trip for the first time before Kevin went to see Prometheus, and the whole time we kept quoting The Great Movie Ride. You know, "THIS IS ALIEN. You are with Sigourney Weaver aboard the spaceship NOSTROMO." That, and I love the way she whips her head back down the hall. Favorite!

Tour groups - why'd it have to be tour groups? (Now where was that when I was thinking of a TR title!)

Hey there Nessarose! (Wicked anyone? And yes, that is how I got my DIS name)

Who doesn't love the witch!

OK, I have to say it, but is anyone else bothered by the fact that the clip of Dorothy sounds NOTHING like Judy Garland? It drives me NUTS!

We left The Great Movie Ride feeling very nostalgic - the movie montage at the end always makes me want to go home and watch a bunch of old classic films. But no time for that - we had some backstage passes that were ready to use!

I never saw Minnie in this outfit before so I snapped a photo - sorry random guests! (This is at the Hat if anyone's curious)

We continued down Hollywood Boulevard and realized we had yet to have any Photopass pictures done, so we hopped in line to get one with the Tower.

This isn't a crowd photo, it's a photo of the two people in the background, the man in the black hat and the woman with the white one - they were HILARIOUS Streetmosphere characters! They were storming down the street shouting at each other - he was confessing his love and she kept trying to tell him she already had another man - and they were fantastic! We were literally the only people watching too, I think people were just confused by them.

Smile!

Aerosmith, we're coming!

We breezed right on through the FP line and into the back alley to pick up our super stretch limo.

It was around noon when we got off another great Coaster ride and we were starving - it was time for lunch! But where would we go?

Coming up next: A First Time for Everyone!​

 

[ShortStuff]

Love the fact that Disney takes the time and makes the effort, to make sure that all the little details add to the whole 'show/atmosphere' of the parks!

Wonderful pictures! Looking forward to more! I take it that at least at this point in the day, your ankle was holding up ok? I hope the trend continues!!

 

[shan23877]

Great update! It really says something that someone who works for WDW still enjoys visiting there so much.

I'm glad you got your TSMM FPs, that was nice of the CM to let you exchange the first ones. I'd never have the nerve to ask.

I don't think I've ever had a really good GMR guide. There's always something a little off about their voices. Our last one sounded a little like Kermit.

 

[glennbo123]

I had to do some reading on Wikipedia on Nessarose and Elphie...guess I could've just asked my daughter. Interesting that Elphie got her name from L. Frank Baum's initials.

I'm guessing you ate at Sci-Fi.

 

[elphie101]

Love the fact that Disney takes the time and makes the effort, to make sure that all the little details add to the whole 'show/atmosphere' of the parks!

Wonderful pictures! Looking forward to more! I take it that at least at this point in the day, your ankle was holding up ok? I hope the trend continues!!

The ankle actually did ok, I only ended up having it wrapped on this day, mostly because the bandage was the self-sticking kind, which was AWFUL on my skin - I still had a mark from it last week! But all around things weren't too bad.

Great update! It really says something that someone who works for WDW still enjoys visiting there so much.

I'm glad you got your TSMM FPs, that was nice of the CM to let you exchange the first ones. I'd never have the nerve to ask.

I don't think I've ever had a really good GMR guide. There's always something a little off about their voices. Our last one sounded a little like Kermit.

Part of me wishes that the GMR guides were able to go "off-script" like they do at Jungle Cruise - I think that would really help the ride out. But then again, I do love the original script so much.

You should have asked your last guide to sing rainbow connection

I had to do some reading on Wikipedia on Nessarose and Elphie...guess I could've just asked my daughter. Interesting that Elphie got her name from L. Frank Baum's initials.

I'm guessing you ate at Sci-Fi.

Sci-Fi is one of my favorites, but we didn't make it there today! We decided not to do any sit-down meals this trip, to save money/have more free time.......but man would I have loved to!

 

[elphie101]

I want to give a big shout out to all of you still sticking around - I promise I will finish our adventure! Heck, we're only on the second day. As I said in my last update, changing my daily schedule around with this new job as definitely been taking up most of my time, but I'm really going to try and get more than one update up a week - and catch up on everyone else's TRs!

I also have some news - I've planned my next Disney trip! My next 'workcation' will be November 10-15 by myself so I can hopefully finish the rest of my hours needed for this year. I haven't decided anything else about the trip yet, but the flights were too good to be true, I'd only need to take one day off from work, and I'll be able to catch the end of Food and Wine!!!!! Sounds pretty dang good to me!

Now where were we?​

A First Time for Everyone!

DING DING DING! The lunch bell was ringing in our heads - we needed some fuel for the rest of the day! I had originally thought when I had made an unofficial, in-my-head touring plan that we would go have lunch at Art of Animation, getting to try out their food court/see the new resort and get away from the midday heat before going to Epcot for the evening, but needing to be in Studios to see Kat in the afternoon threw a wrench in those plans. I briefly mentioned a change in this mental plan to Kevin, having lunch at AoA then come back here for TSM before going Epcot, but I might as well have suggested we go back to MA for lunch before going back to the parks. Another day AoA!

So now we were staying in park for lunch, and Studios lunch means one thing to Kevin: Pizza Planet. I however, wasn't in the mood for pizza, so I asked if we could make a quick stop for my food before heading back to Pizza Planet. I had my eye on something new, something I hadn't had before, but heard rave reviews of........a sandwich at Starring Rolls!

I chose the Turkey Focaccia sandwich, with a banana in lieu of chips and a strawberry parfait for my dessert (picture below). Satisfied with my meal, we set off to get food for Kevin and seating. However, when we got to Pizza Planet, it was CHAOS. The line to order was right at our feet at the door, and the tables were mobbed. We quickly changed plans and headed to the #2 spot, Backlot Express.

Ah yes, now we finally get pictures!

All the props hanging around does make it easier to find your party...."We're down by the multicolored buoys!"

Chicken & fries for Kevin (plus the BE strawberry parfait for me) and my Starring Rolls meal

The sandwich was HUGE as you can see, and delicious! There was actually some pesto on it, which I usually don't seek out with my food, but it wasn't very noticeable and still tasted good! Kevin tried my sandwich and said he would definitely consider getting it next time he was at Studios, and we both agreed it was a nice change of pace from the chicken nuggets-burger-pizza roulette. Also, Starring Rolls' parfait was MUCH better than BE's.

Satisfied, we consulted the Disney apps as we decided what to do next. By now we could get a new Fastpass, and Tower of Terror had reasonable return times, so we decided to head back to Hollywood Blvd to grab those. Kevin ran down to the machines while I ducked into a nearby store to browse.

Losto and Cheshire were new since I had last been looking!

Hello my darlings....sigh

I almost bought a pair of Disney Crocs flipflops - they didn't look like Crocs and they were SO comfy, but the price tag was No thanks.

We decided to go check out Voyage of the Little Mermaid while we waited for ToT......and we had just missed a show. 20 minutes outside in the heat? We'll come back later. But something was nearby that neither of us had ever really explored.....so we popped into the Animation Building. Other than a brief character meet and greet last year, we hadn't experienced much else in the building, but I had my heart set on trying the animation class.

We meandered around and discovered the Brave exhibit which we loved, especially since the movie had just come out.

LOVE all the concept art - interesting to see a more curvy Merida than ended up in the film

Such a little thing!

We headed back to wait for the next class to start, and passed by the animators desk on the way.

My girl!

My thought was that this could be related to Fantasmic........Mickey vs Maleficent.......anyone?

We made our way to the class, where the 'holding pen' was already full, so we started the line right outside.

We made it into the next class, barely - another time I love being a party of two!

So exciting!

It was at this point that Kevin realized this was actually a DRAWING class - and he wasn't feeling it AT ALL. He was under the impression we would just be watching an animator draw, not that we'd have to draw ourselves - oops. So he decided to just sit back and watch while the rest of us worked on Naveen.

The finished product!

We poked around the fancy art shop and looked at all the gorgeous prints and paintings we couldn't afford.......and I bought a Vinylmation to make myself feel better

We still had some time to kill before we could go to ToT, so we decided to take another spin on Star Tours. I didn't mention in the last update because I didn't have my notes, but our first ride on Star Tours was one of those times that they advertise a 30 minute wait that ends up being less than 10, so we were hopeful lightning would strike twice.

Clearly we were wrong

Oh well, photo time!

I got to carry the Flik card! (Just in case you were wondering what that's actually called)

Where would we be going.....

"I haven't taken enough pictures of us, stand in front of the Starspeeder!"

Love the callback to the original ride

I love, LOVE seeing all the different things that go through the baggage scan

Pick a droid, any droid

We had another great ride, this time with Darth Vader! I love when that happens.

Once we got off, it was time to go check in at the Hollywood Tower Hotel. We we arrived, they were giving out FPs for 4:45-5:45......and since we would still be in the park, we decided to grab another pair!

Continued in next post​

 

[elphie101]

Our second round of ToT passes

I think we can all agree that ToT has some of the best themeing around!

We went through pretty quickly, and had a GREAT ride!

FINALLY got to snap a redneck ride photo!

We now again found ourselves with more time to kill, and we were pretty exhausted. We decided to go get some frozen concoctions and take a quiet time out.

R2-DMugs!

A watermelon for me, and raspberry lemonade for Kevin.

We headed back to ABC Commissary to enjoy these, since it was inside and full of seating (and fairly uncrowded).

I'm obsessed with this poster, I think it's simply beautiful - we're both huge Once Upon a Time fans too!

Kevin loved his slushie, but I wouldn't order mine again - I wasn't expecting it to be carbonated and it didn't really hit the spot. Rested up, we decided to try again for Voyage of the Little Mermaid......

.........and again found a huge wait for the next show. Sorry Voyage, you'll always have a special place in my heart, but I don't love you that much.

We still had another 2 hours to go in the park, and we had pretty much exhausted everything we really wanted to do. We decided to head next door (ish) to One Man's Dream, to see the Fantasyland model and browse around.

I know everyone who sees this says the same thing, but this is HUGE. So much bigger than it seems in pictures

It was at this point that I realized we had about 10 minutes before the next Indiana Jones stunt show......so we figured why not? It would eat up some time till our ToT FP and neither of us had seen it since we were very little, so we hustled over to the theater and just made it. That's the way to do a show, little waiting!

The only part I really remembered from the show

We really enjoyed the show - I love how the backstage crew members really are the stars of it all. I don't think we would make a point of seeing it again, but it was a great way to kill time doing something we hadn't done in awhile and served it's purpose well - it was time for another drop on ToT!

While we were waiting in the cellar to be loaded into our elevators, the bellhops were looking for two single riders to fill out a car, and when we mentioned we were a party of two, they asked if we would mind sitting in two separate rows - sure why not?

We had about half an hour left till our TSM Fastpasses and trying to find Kat, but neither of us really wanted to just sit around somewhere, so we decided to try our luck with the single rider line at Rockin Rollercoaster.

We walked right up to the yellow line - not bad so far!

What are you looking at?

The single rider line when we joined it. Ohhhh boy.

We ended up waiting about 20 minutes in the single rider line......not too bad for Rockin Roller Coaster in the late afternoon.

It was finally time to go to Toy Story Mania, to find Kat, and to get out of this park! I do love Studios, I would call it my #2 park, but we were DOOOONE.

Goodbye Tower!

We walked into Pixar Place....and Kat was right out in front! Talk about luck. It was so great to see her again, and we chatted and caught up as best we could while other people kept asking her if the wait was really 60 minutes (believe the wait time here folks!) Pretty soon after we walked up she had to rotate to a different position inside, so we used our FPs for our last Studios ride of the trip. It wasn't until she walked away that I remembered I had wanted a picture of us, d'oh!

Clearly, I didn't do as well this time around......I chalk it up to exhaustion. Let's just forget about this score and focus on the other one from the morning, shall we?

I managed to snap a photo of Kat as we exited. If you're ever at TSM and you see someone who looks like this but less blury named Katarina, she's one of the good ones!

Mission accomplished, we called it a day on Studios, and made our way out of the park, being driven by a relaxing evening at Epcot and Illuminations ahead.

See ya real (no so) soon!

So let's recap shall we? We had just spent a whopping 9 1/2 hours in Studios. From 9:00 AM till 6:30 PM we had done TSM x2, ToT x2, RnR x2, Star Tours x2, GMR, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, MuppetVision 3D, the animation drawing class and Brave exhibit, and a brief dip into One Man's Dream, in addition to time spent shopping, eating, and browsing, and crisscrossing the park more times than I could count.

Yeah, we were done.

Coming up next: The REAL Salute to All Nations​

 

[marDgreen88]

Oh my goodness, those dramatic pauses would have gotten on my nerves! Spit it out, woman!

I figured your name came from Wicked! Ahh, my dream musical! (I mean, to see. )

EDIT: I somehow missed that you had posted a double update today? No clue why. Anyways. Yall had a big day at DHS!! Goodness gracious. Sounds fun though!