Disney Hollywood Studios- Thursday, July 14, 2011

There are no more teenagers in Brazil. There can’t be. They’re all here, going to Disney parks in enormous tour groups. They’re all over the place. They travel in groups of 30 or more, and each tour group has special t-shirts in their own distinctive bright colors. We couldn’t count how many different tour groups we saw, but at times, it seemed like they were making up half of the people in the park. If Disney isn’t considering building a park in Brazil, they should be. [We found out later that the school year is 200 days long in Brazil, about a month longer than here. They have three weeks for “winter break” in July.]

Grandpa and Grandma Wright went with John and his family to Epcot today, but we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (the park formerly known as Disney MGM Studios). We arrived at there with a plan. Julie and the girls were going to head to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster, while Scott went to get Fast Passes for the new Toy Story ride. The Toy Story ride is so popular that when Scott got there, the passes were already up to 4:00 in the afternoon. He got them and went to watch for the girls.

Julie, Anna, and Emma saw the brightly colored herds of Brazilian teenagers heading towards the Rockin’ Roller Coaster and raced them so they wouldn’t get stuck waiting behind them. Emma later laughed about how Mom dragged her along. Julie had never been on this roller coaster before. It always seemed to be closed, or we’d run out of time, so she really wanted to do it. It is synchronized to a soundtrack by Aerosmith. It shoots you out on an indoor track, but Anna said it turns you upside down six or seven times. Anna loved it and said it was a high for her for the day. Emma, not so much.

When we parted the sea of bright Brazilian t-shirts and found each other again, we then made our way together to the Great Movie Ride. It’s housed in the model of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, and is the usual starting point for us because it sets the Hollywood mood. It’s a favorite of Julie’s. We took some time to look at the footprints out front after the ride. Anna stood in the prints of the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.

We went to a performance of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Emma had us laughing in line as she was trying to keep cool with the spray bottle. We were in the first row for the show. It highlights songs from the movie with live actors, puppets, and special effects. After lunch at the Commissary, we took the Backlot Tour, because it’s the thing to do at a “studio park,” but it was a bit disappointing this time. The narration was taped and seemed impersonal and generic. They also need to bring in some new things. Featuring movies like Pearl Harbor and the Rocketeer are making it seem dated. We suspect that they were filming something that shortened our tour, because we didn’t see the soundstages that we have before. They were filming “From the Earth to the Moon” miniseries here one time, but this time we saw nothing of the sound stages and the pre-recorded narration didn’t tell us anything about why. Anna saw the chicken coop that Hannah Montana built in her movie. We also got to see some cool things as we came through the exhibits after the attraction. Darth Vader’s costume and costumes from Enchanted, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Chronicles of Narnia movies.

We had our family portrait taken with Mike Wazowski, from Monsters, Inc. We then waited in line for Anna and Emma to have a picture with Phineas and Ferb. It was a long line, but they’re the new family favorites. We all like them. Anna and Emma were sharing an autograph book for the characters, but it was accidentally left at the house today. Dad bought them another one, in the hopes that we would fill it. A “Make a Wish” family got their pictures with Phineas and Ferb just before Anna and Emma.

“Muppetvision 3-D” was next. It’s losing a little bit of its sparkle because 3-D movies are so common now, but it still has all the extra effects. Scott wanted to go to “Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream,” about Walt’s life story. It’s a new movie, not like the others shown in the park, but the exhibit before it is what’s really interesting. We had to come back and finish it later in the day in order to see all of the things on display. We especially liked seeing Walt’s office from Burbank, and the models for various buildings in all of the parks, including Disney’s California Adventure and Disneyland Paris. We got a few more hints about what the new Fantasyland will be like—heavy on Disney’s Princess franchises. The air conditioning in the movie was nice and Emma took the opportunity to take a nap. From here, we went next door to “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.” That was a disappointment. It was really just an extended trailer for the movie. You had to stand for it, and it’s not even the most recent or the best movie in the series. You did get to see some costumes and props from the movie, but we probably saw more at the exhibit that recently came to the Buffalo Science Museum.

Our Fast passes were coming up for “Toy Story’s Midway Mania.” It’s in the new Pixar section of the park. They took the basic idea of the popular Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride from Tomorrowland and applied it to the rest of the Toy Story characters. You ride a vehicle through to different 3-D animated stops where you shoot a pop-gun at arcade style targets. The ride is certainly a lot of fun, but we’re glad we didn’t have to wait in the long lines for it.

We were starting to wear down, so it was looking like shopping time. The girls bought some Disney trading pins underneath the giant Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat. As we passed by the “American Idol Experience” there was immediate seating for a show that was just about to begin. We weren’t going to go in, since there was no wait, we figured “Why not?” There were three contestants who were people that were drawn from the park attendance that day. There were buttons built into the arms of the seats to register your vote. Anna and Emma liked a fourteen year old girl who sang a Demi Lovato song, but he winner was a woman who sang “Black Velvet.”

Our last official stop of the day was a Fast Pass to the new and improved Star Tours. The ride has always been a fun trip into the Star Wars Universe, but they recently added several new features to it. First, they made the movie 3-D, but since the ride rocks you around to the motion of the action anyway, it wasn’t as big of a change as you might think. What is innovative is that they have made several parts of the presentation variable, so you never know what trip you’re going to take. We went to the ice planet Hoth, got a message from Admiral Akbar and then went through the second Death Star, under construction. C-3PO also had a much bigger role than he has in the past. It would have been fun to ride again to see a different trip, but none of us wanted to stand in line for it.

We had planned for this to be a shorter day at the parks. We got back to the house in time for dinner from Papa Johns. We enjoyed a refreshing dip in the pool and Anna caught a newt that was climbing the screens around it.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom- Wednesday, July 13, 2011

After a grueling day yesterday, even Julie agreed that we needed to slow down a little today. We decided that Disney’s Animal Kingdom was a park that wouldn’t require as much time. The heat was incredible. It was in the high 90s, and the heat index was at least 105. It didn’t keep the crowds away, though. The park was packed. It also seemed like there were fewer places to cool down. We had to take it easier today. Julie’s parents were joining us again, after Grandpa got his breakfast at Shoney’s, but John’s family was going to Disney Hollywood Studios instead.

Julie really wanted to ride on Expedition Everest, which was only being built the last time we were here. It was easy to find because the replica of Mount Everest now dominates the “Asia” side of the park. When we got there, we found that the line was already very long, so we got Fast Passes for later and headed to Dinoland. There was no wait at all for the Triceratops Spin, a Dumbo-like ride that used to be baby Anna’s favorite, so we went on that. Anna and Mom wanted to go on Dinosaur, a dark thrill ride where you get chased by a Carnotaurus. Dad remembered the ride being too intense for his tastes, so he and Emma waited in the gift shop for them.

By then it was time for the Fast Passes to Expedition Everest. The roller coaster takes you up to the top of “Mount Everest” where a Yeti threatens you. The coaster ends up going backwards for part of the ride. Julie and the girls went on, while Scott waited again. The girls descibed it as the “best roller coaster ever” and the three of them were all smiles when they got off.

Grandpa and Grandma Wright had caught up to us by that point. They went to get Fast Passes to the Kilimanjaro Safari while the girls rode on Everest. While we waited for those Fast Pass times, we walked through the Pangoni Forest trail, which is one of the walking trails to see live animals on. This trail is in the Africa section. Throughout the park, the heat was keeping the animals from doing much. Many of them were asleep in the shade, and who can blame them. We did enjoy the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, even though Julie was getting a little tired of hearing Scott say, “They almost look real!” It may be the first time that Anna and Emma both stayed awake through the whole thing. The ride rocked them to sleep when they were little.

We took time for lunch then at the Tusker House in Africa, and although we were outside, we were able to slow down, cool off, and rest. We made our way to the Festival of the Lion King. It’s Grandma Wright’s favorite, and we were pleased to see that it has been enclosed since we were here with Baby Anna. It allowed it to be air conditioned. The show is a mix of animatronic figures, acrobatics and singing songs from the Lion King movie. We all enjoyed it.

We made our way to the Maharaja Jungle Trek, the trail of Indian animals which includes Julie’s favorites- the fruit bats. Like the tigers, though, they weren’t doing much in the heat of the day.

The last attraction we saw was a new one that we hadn’t seen before-- Finding Nemo: The Musical. The show is a mixture of puppets and the live actors operating them. It’s an interesting visual experiment that gives you lots to look at in the underwater world of the fish. However, The Festival of the Lion King has the strength of Elton John’s songs to support it, and doesn’t really try to tell a story. Unfortunately, the songs in Finding Nemo aren’t that great, and weren’t in the movie. What’s more, even though the show runs for 40 minutes, so much of the story is left out or abbreviated that it might be hard to follow if you didn’t know the story already. We waited in a stand-by line to get in and ended up sitting on uncomfortable bleachers near the back of a very large theater. Still, it was fun to see.

That was enough for us. We had seen the highlights of the park that we wanted to see, so we made our way out of the park then, with the requisite stops at the gift shops. Anna surprised her Mom with a late birthday present: a Pirates of the Caribbean pin that she bought with her own money. We also got Schnitzel some squeaky toys. We made our way out of the park, stopping for pictures with Balloo from the Jungle Book. It was only late afternoon, and Grandpa and Grandma treated us to dinner at Denny’s. Then we spent the rest of the evening cooling off at the house. Just about everyone went swimming, and Mom even went in with her clothes on instead of a swimsuit. She was that hot and tired. When John’s family got back from Disney Hollywood Studios, we compared notes and made plans for tomorrow.