Zombie Apocalypse and Pixie Dust - A 2 week Disneymoon (PTR link 11/14)

[okw19]

Oh my goodness, so many Fastpasses! Sounds like a great morning at MGM! (Yes, I will always call it that instead of HS)

 

[ronnmel]

Phoenix...wow...4 times? Hmmmm I wonder if we managed that many rides on TSM in one day? I can't recall. Perhaps the wifey knows. What I do know is that multiples rides of TSM in one day can definately result in sore forearms hahahaha.

The Little Mermaid is a nice little show, but in comparison to the Beauty and the Beast show, Finding Nemo, or Festival of the Lion King, I kinda find it lacking. Still...it's a nice respite from the heat and and enjoyable way to cool down.

okw19...
For the longest time, I kept calling it MGM as well.
But, I'm actually glad they started calling it Hollywood Studios. I also prefer the fact that their theme, changed from showing how movies are made, to putting guests IN the movies. Much more attractive and interesting theme.
I'd rather be placed IN a flight through the Star Wars galaxy, than learning how they made all the space scenes look real. LOL!!

OK...enough of my babbling...back to our regularly scheduled programming.

*One last note...just in case people don't know. This FONT/SIZE/COLOR combination of text will distinguish myself from my pretty wife's posts.
~Ron (THE Ron of ronnmel)

 

[ronnmel]

Last November I rode TSMM 4 times in one day, twice in Standby and twice with FP. Love that you guys got up to 3 FPs for it

I have never seen Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I plan on seeing it in February when I go back.

Was the standby line for TSM short in November? As much as I love the ride, I'd never wait an hour for it so I'm so happy we were able to score so many FPs.

As Ron said, Little Mermaid was cute, just not as spectacular as the other shows.

Oh my goodness, so many Fastpasses! Sounds like a great morning at MGM! (Yes, I will always call it that instead of HS)

I think we might be the king and queen of fastpasses.

 

[ronDisney]

At the urgence of my dear wifey, I had to create my own profile with which to address the various themes around the DISBOARD. LOL!!

I guess Mel is really taking to heart the whole:
"The views expressed in this show, do not necessarily reflect the views of the network" hahahahaha.

Still lovin you lots though wifey.

 

[ronnmel]

Everyone, please officially welcome my wonderful hubby to the DisBoards. I kinda already knew, but now there really isn't any doubt that he is as addicted to Disney as I am.

On another note, Photopass has decided to extend the expiration date for my photos one week. I don't know if it's because they saw we were quite active on the account, or because they added some Halloween border. No matter what it is, I'm very happy because I was nowhere near done editing them. I even had a mini freak out earlier this week.


Gonna write an update now.

 

[ronnmel]

Day 2 part 3 - Guess I'm The Only One Who Likes Dancing In The Rain...
August 12th, 2011

After a quick jog to catch our bus, we were back at POP less than 10 minutes later. We hadn't had lunch yet so we went to the food court and shared a Veggie Calzone. It was okay. Sorry no pictures (Again. Seems we always forgot when we ate at POP).

After our lunch we took a much needed dip in the Bowling Pin Pool. Here are some pictures taken on the way there from our room.

We were on the second floor, so we looked at Tramp's butt.

Here's a better view of Tramp.

Here's Lady, and their little Dog House.

The icon for the third building was a Jukebox.

Laundry room has bowling shoes on it.

It was so hot that day, the water felt great!

We came back to the room around 3:30pm. We took our time getting ready for the evening. I took the time to call my mom. She was doing fine. Or so she said... I finally tasted the Tye Dye Cheesecake. It was good, but nothing special. I guess I was expecting more? I could have sworn I at least took a picture of that. I'm such a bad DISer...

We left POP around 4:45pm and made it back to DHS.

We finally made our way to a new ride (for us) we had been dying to try. Tower of Terror. We got a 2nd set of FP for it, before jumping in line. It was less than a 10 minutes wait, so we did not even need to use our first set of FPs.

OMG, it was GREAT!!! It's so cool, the Twilight Zone and then the drops. What's even better, it doesn't make me feel nauseous!!

Ron thinks it's AWESOME! He also thinks it's over after a few drops, but no! We go up again. YAY!!

It starts drizzling so we decide to go to the Theatre of the Stars to watch Beauty and the Beast.

While waiting for the show to begin it starts POURING rain outside. Fortunately we are safe and dry. Well, Ron is dry. I actually step outside in the rain because I'm so hot and need to cool down again. I LOVE standing in the warm pouring rain. What's even better is dancing in the rain, but the CM is already giving me a funny look so I quickly head back inside.

The show starts, and I'm immediately hooked.

I guess I'm the only one who likes dancing in the rain because they stop the show after the "Be Our Guest" song. Rain must be coming sideways and making the stage wet and slippery. Oh well.

We make our way to the closest store so Ron can buy a poncho. I have my own rain coat that I bought especially for Disney. Even though he now has a poncho, Ron would be perfectly happy standing there until the rain stops. I don't want to waste any of our Disney time so I convince him to run to the Magic of Animation Building.

That makes Ron grumpy, but I'm ecstatic. Why? Because there are so many characters in there! We get to meet Pooh, Sorcerer Mickey and Chip & Dale, all with very short lines!

We also play a few of the little games they have in there. One is called "Which Character Are You?" I have fun with the questions and answer that "I Eat Nice People For Lunch", so it says I'm Ursula. Hahaha

I take the quiz again more seriously and end up with Ariel. Ron is Aladdin.

Other games involve me (poorly) singing Hakuna Matata and Ron painting Timon.

One of the new things I really wanted to try was the drawing class, so I get in line. While waiting for the class to begin I enjoy trying to guess the characters being drawn on the little screen. Inside the artist does a little survey to see which characters people have already drawn before to make sure we all do someone knew. We end up voting for Buzz Lightyear!

Ron has no interest in this, and it's not raining as hard, so he goes to ride Star Tours 2 by himself. He ends up riding it twice.

I think this was a turning point for Ron. The day before at Animal Kingdom he was completely opposed to riding EE by himself. But now he finally realized that it wasn't so bad to separate and do our own thing. I'm glad because I won't have to feel guilty for being queasy on some of his favorite attractions.

Up Next, How many times can you ride before being Toy Story Maniaed out? and the Zombie Apocalypse

​

 

[Shaniyah]

Day 2 part 1 - Ants in the Pants
August 12th, 2011

We were up at 7am again for our second park day. At the food court we shared a Bounty Platter for breakfast. It was good, except for the scrambled eggs. Unfortunately our brains were not awake yet and we did not take a picture. Despite taking a ginger pill I feel very queasy again. Hopefully it goes away soon.



​

I hated the eggs when we had breakfast too! Tink loved them though. But most 5 y/o will eat almost anything!

I missed Beauty and the Beast when we went to HS. It looks like such a great show. That is a must do the next time we go! What kind of camera do you have that takes pics underwater? That is tooooo cool!

 

[ronnmel]

I hated the eggs when we had breakfast too! Tink loved them though. But most 5 y/o will eat almost anything!

I missed Beauty and the Beast when we went to HS. It looks like such a great show. That is a must do the next time we go! What kind of camera do you have that takes pics underwater? That is tooooo cool!

My waterproof camera is Fuji Finepix XP10. They are great to take photos and videos underwater as well as on bright sunny days. Sunsets look good too, but indoor shots are not so good. We used our other camera (another point and shoot, a Sony) when in low light.

I really recommend getting a waterproof camera. You can take pics at the pool, the water park, the beach and even in the rain!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I can't believe all of your TSM FPs!!! I love mid-afternoon breaks! They are always so refreshing. It's too bad that Beauty and the Beast had to be cut short because of the rain, but I'm glad to hear you liked what you saw! I haven't seen it in years and I'm definitely planning on it on our next trip!

 

[ronnmel]

I'm almost done editing my photopass pics!!!! I finished Magic Kingdom last night and have done about 75% of the last park, Epcot. I should be able to order it today.

I can't believe all of your TSM FPs!!! I love mid-afternoon breaks! They are always so refreshing. It's too bad that Beauty and the Beast had to be cut short because of the rain, but I'm glad to hear you liked what you saw! I haven't seen it in years and I'm definitely planning on it on our next trip!

We really were lucky to be able to score so many TSM FPs! It was the only time when they didn't run out of FPs before noon.

Beauty and the Beast still ranks second behind Festival of the Lion King but is amazing nonetheles. I think we would definitely see it every other trip, if not every trip.

As much as we enjoyed the mid-afternoon break, it's actually one of the last one we took. We are pretty hardcore... Though I'm sure we would be more tempted to take a break if staying at one of the deluxe resorts, partly because there is more to enjoy at the resort, and partly because you are so close to the park that you don't lose as much time.

 

[ronnmel]

Day 2 part 4 - Zombie Apocalypse and Honeymoon Suite
August 12th, 2011

After my drawing class was over and Ron was done riding Star Tours 2 we met up and went to ride TSM for a third time.

My score went up and Ron's went down, but not enough for me to beat him. The hoop game is what really kills me.

Time for dinner, so we head back on Sunset Boulevard. I get chicken nuggets from Rosie's All American Cafe.

Ron gets a Turkey Leg from Fairfax Fare.

We decide to go watch Muppet Vision 3D. On the way there we first pass this beautiful sign all lit up.

Then we pass the empty Streets of America, where Ron exclaims "This would be creepy if it were a zombie apocalypse!"

We later discussed where would be the best place to be at WDW in the even of a Zombie Apocalypse. I suggested Astro Orbiter because it's high up and doesn't have many points of access, but Ron presented the problem of food. So instead I thought that California Grill might be a good place. Again easy to defend as it's high up and only has a few points of entry, plus lots of wonderful food!


We reach Muppet Vision.

The theatre is pretty empty so we can sit wherever we want.

After the 3D movie is over (it's Ron's favorite) we come upon Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars with no line! Of course we get our picture taken, which will come when we receive the photopass CD.

We didn't watch this today, but the sign looks great at night.

Time for our FOURTH ride on TSM in the same day!!

I was in the lead for a while, but then I lost badly again. I have to say, as much fun as it was to do TSM 4 times in one day, our arms hurt!!! LOL

Another sign that looks pretty at night.

We still have TOT FPs left, so that's our next destination.

Even with FP the wait is close to 15-20 minutes. Fortunately, they ask for a party of 2 so we skipped part of the line at the end. The bellboy sees our buttons and congratulates us.

"The Hollywood Hotel offers you the Honeymoon Suite. Please make sure the elevator DROPS you off on the 7th floor."

Love it when they get into characters! We are front and center. You can see that I'm starting to loosen up on the ride and not be so scared (the first time I was holding on for dear life).

It's getting really close to closing time (10pm) but we want to try to squeeze in one more ride. We hadn't done Rock N Roller Coaster that day.

Standby time says 40 minutes, but a CM at the entrance assures us it's more like 10 minutes at the most. She was right! In no time we board the ride and get in position for the launch. And then we wait. And wait. I'm getting nervous. Finally we are off!

I try and pay attention to the music, as I had not done that at all on our previous trip. I'm happy to report that the ride did not make me feel too queasy. just a little at the end when again we were waiting to unload for a couple of minutes.

When we first planned this trip we had no intention of watching Fantasmic. Then they decided to show it every night, often twice a night, so we thought maybe we would, if the timing was right. Well it was now pass 10pm and the second showing was going to start in less than 30 minutes, so we thought, why not?!

We sat on the curb, waiting for the crowd to go in Fantasmic, then we follow. We should have waited longer as we get to a dead stop for close to 10 minutes as they are getting the stragglers from the first show out. The theatre is half empty, so if you want to watch this show I strongly suggest waiting for the later showing. We choose a seat at the top close to the middle so we can make a quick exit.

We did not take any photos, and instead just enjoyed the show. It was great, especially since we didn't have to wait 2 hours for it. To us it's just not worth the super long wait. The second the show is over we hightail it to the bus stop and end up 3rd in line! 5-10 minutes later a bus pulls up and in just another short 6 minutes we are back at POP (it's not even 11:30pm by then!) Ron gets a frozen fruit bar and we get back to the room to watch some TV and sleep.


Characters today:
Sorcerer Mickey
Winnie The Pooh
Chip & Dale
Mike Wazowsky
Lightning McQueen
Maters

9 characters so far (not counting the AK parade)

Photopass Pictures

Up Next, Sleeping In! and Typhoon Lagoon.

​

 

[disneybarbie]

Looked like a lovely evening! I really enjoy night time at the Studios - the park looks really different.. great tip about Fantasmic, we've not seen it on our last few trips as it gets so busy.. but hopefully Disney will continue to show it every night from now on so the queues and crowds won't be as big?!


Emma x

 

[ronDisney]

Day 2 part 4 - Zombie Apocalypse and Honeymoon Suite
August 12th, 2011

After my drawing class was over and Ron was done riding Star Tours 2 we met up and went to ride TSM for a third time.

My score went up and Ron's went down, but not enough for me to beat him. The hoop game is what really kills me.

Yay for the hoop game. Mel is generally kicking my butt throughout the other games, so I need the hoop game to take over the lead. LOL

Time for dinner, so we head back on Sunset Boulevard. I get chicken nuggets from Rosie's All American Cafe.

Ron gets a Turkey Leg from Fairfax Fare.

These things are an "experience" hahaha. Not my favorite, but still pretty good if you have a hankering for meat.

Then we pass the empty Streets of America, where Ron exclaims "This would be creepy if it were a zombie apocalypse!"

We later discussed where would be the best place to be at WDW in the even of a Zombie Apocalypse. I suggested Astro Orbiter because it's high up and doesn't have many points of access, but Ron presented the problem of food. So instead I thought that California Grill might be a good place. Again easy to defend as it's high up and only has a few points of entry, plus lots of wonderful food!

This topic can be debated for hours on end. Another notable "safe spot" might include the castle (given the moat and two entry points. I was actually thinking about the POLY on the second floor of the Ceremonial house. If survivors can barricade all stair cases completely, there's quite a bit of space, and the possibility of an escape route via the monorail track to one of the other resorts.

We reach Muppet Vision.

After the 3D movie is over (it's Ron's favorite)

Actually, is USED to be my favorite. The top spot has now been taken over by Philarmagic. Muppetvision is a close second...mostly because of the hilarious pre-show.

Fantasmic is a great show, but "for us" generally not worth a 2 hour wait. Of course, the argument can be made that the wait is only is you're interested in getting a better seat. So, if you don't mind watching it from the nosebleed seats, you can just jump right in line after most of the corwd has made their way in.:

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Love all the pictures and how much you got done. I have to admit that I have never seen Beauty and the Beast. Definitely plan on changing that in February. And I have not seen Fantasmic since I was a kid, and don't really remember it at all. I don't think they have 2 showings a night while I'm there, but will double check. If they do I definitely already planned on seeing the second one, as I'm not one to wait hours for it either. Though I did wait for 2 hours in line at the MVMCP last November for pictures with Seven Dwarfs...but I was only third in line for them!

 

[mickeystoontown]

My goodness, you two were able to do a lot....especially Toy Story Mania. The last time we visited Hollywood Studios, it was a Star Wars Weekend day and there was no way in the world we could ride it.

 

[ronDisney]

My goodness, you two were able to do a lot....especially Toy Story Mania. The last time we visited Hollywood Studios, it was a Star Wars Weekend day and there was no way in the world we could ride it.

Yeah, I could imagine that it would be hard to ride TSM on one of those days. For us, it was matter of being a bit strategic and making use of all the tips and knowledge we've learned.

In a nutshell...
- Get there for rope drop.
- Position ourselves as far in the front of the rope as possible.
- Get FP right away, and if possible get into reg line.
- Then just being a matter of paying attention to the times when we're able to get another FP.

Course, it all depends on crowd levels as well. I remember HS being a lil less populated when we visited on the 12th (last part peak season) than visiting later, during what was supposed to be value season.

 

[ronnmel]

Looked like a lovely evening! I really enjoy night time at the Studios - the park looks really different.. great tip about Fantasmic, we've not seen it on our last few trips as it gets so busy.. but hopefully Disney will continue to show it every night from now on so the queues and crowds won't be as big?!


Emma x

I have mixed feeling about Disney showing Fantasmic every night. I was really looking forward to a day with much lower crowds at DHS because of no Fantasmic, but at the same time it is great to be able to watch the show without the crazy wait. Hopefully you'll get to watch it again.

Actually, is USED to be my favorite. The top spot has now been taken over by Philarmagic. Muppetvision is a close second...mostly because of the hilarious pre-show.

Oops, sorry, I forgot about Mickey's Phillarmagic.

Love all the pictures and how much you got done. I have to admit that I have never seen Beauty and the Beast. Definitely plan on changing that in February. And I have not seen Fantasmic since I was a kid, and don't really remember it at all. I don't think they have 2 showings a night while I'm there, but will double check. If they do I definitely already planned on seeing the second one, as I'm not one to wait hours for it either. Though I did wait for 2 hours in line at the MVMCP last November for pictures with Seven Dwarfs...but I was only third in line for them!

I think Beauty and the Beast is a must see. Great songs and great story!

They only added the second showing of Fantasmic close to the actual dates, so keep an eye out for February once you are just a couple of weeks out.

It always amazes me how we can have double standards for waiting : I won't wait more than 20 minutes for anything, but I will show up 30-45 minutes before park opening and wait at the turnstiles for rope drop. Though at least usually they let us in to the rope at some point, which cuts the wait in two, and it's all about "waiting now to avoid waiting the whole rest of the day".

My goodness, you two were able to do a lot....especially Toy Story Mania. The last time we visited Hollywood Studios, it was a Star Wars Weekend day and there was no way in the world we could ride it.

Of course, it's all about priorities and crowds. On a Star Wars weekend the focus is somewhere else. Like Ron pointed out though, we did get lucky. For some reason Friday Aug. 12 (which was suppose to be a "good day" before Fantasmic got added) had lower crowds then the other days we went, even though those were in the suppose value season.

 

[justakrazymom]

Loving the update!!!

 

[ronnmel]

Real Life Update

As some of you know, my mom is in a care facility. My step-dad just posted photos of something we did for my mom this summer, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

My aunt decided to organize a "surprise party" at the facility. One Sunday around lunch about 20 family & friends showed up. We had reserved the community room so we all waited there while my step-dad brought her down (with the pretense of going to the cafeteria to eat, that's where we go when we decide to eat with her) and we all surprised her. It wasn't really for any specific reason other than to show her we care, though she never got a birthday celebration this year as that's the day she got into the hospital. So in a way it was a very belated birthday party. She was very pleased! We even had ordered food from a restaurant so she'd get to eat something new for a change.

Here's a picture of Ron and I with my mom. I also included a picture of the view from the courtyard where she spent most of the summer. It faces a big river so it's really pretty.

Back to Disney, I ordered my Photopass CD so hopefully I'll get it soon. And I'll do a Disney update within the next couple of days.​

 

[ronnmel]

Loving the update!!!

Thanks!