Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Nautical Disney Adventure - Day 2

Our second day was filled with lots of magic (duh), movies, and music at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  We arrived at the park before park opening (about 35 minutes before I'd say) and started stretching for the Toy Story Midway Mania Marathon.  Okay, just kidding.  That doesn't actually exist but you DO get a work out when heading for the amazing attraction so we were limbering up and preparing ourselves.


Just after one day I somehow taught my super cool friends on how to "weave" in the crowd.  My theory is, if there is a big empty space with no one standing in it, why aren't you standing there?  Even though we had a decent amount of people in front of us by the time the gates opened, we managed to weasel our way up to about two people behind a leading cast member.  When it was go time, everyone kept their eyes open for empty walk way and filled it in.  I was so proud to even see Ben move PAST me at one point!  Just so you know, Ben, you made my morning.

Of course, since my group is so flippin' awesome, we were only behind about 8 people once we entered the stand-by for TSMM.  I love the cast members here!  Always so lively!

Everyone in my group LOVED this ride.  I had the high score of the day!  But, we were about the 4th car to move through there that morning so I shouldn't be too proud, should I?  We sort of felt we had the whole day to just chill and while we wanted to be thorough as far as timing attractions right, we didn't want to get it all done early and then have nothing to do later.  We strolled around the Streets of America while it was empty and then headed to Star Tours 2.  Can I just say that I FRICKIN' LOVE THE UPDATED VERSION?  The queue is amazing!  The 3D glasses are so cool!  The new movie itself is great!  And while the men in my group loved it as well, Barbara declared one simple thing... "Worst shit ever."


Throughout the morning we hit up a few more attractions like The Great Move Ride and Backlot Tour before heading to lunch.  It was decided before we even landed in Florida that we'd have lunch at my husband's favorite counter service place, Pizza Planet.  Barbara and Ben decided on the veggie and pepperoni pizzas respectively, while Matt and I went with basic cheese pizza.  The side salads were very good and even though they changed to only caesar dressing we were pleased.  The boys decided on chocolate chip cookies for dessert and us ladies DEVOURED the seriously delicious Cappuccino Cupcake.  It was seriously so good.  Ben actually said that his cookie was "exceptional."  The amount of food that you get on the dining plan at counter service restaurants is overwhelming sometimes.  Barbara and I couldn't even finish our delicious cupcake!




We made our way over to Sunset Boulevard and used some FastPasses we obtained earlier to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster.  Thank goodness for those FastPasses because the stand-by wait was rather long.  After that we headed to Tower of Terror.  CLEARLY this was our group's favorite attraction.  As soon as we got off everyone just wanted to go right back on so we grabbed some FastPasses.


Matt and Ben decided that they needed to be manly men and begged and begged me to take them to see Lights, Motors, Action: Extreme Stunt Show.  I gave in.  It just screamed, "BEN!"  Unfortunately, the rain started in not long after the epic show started.  We were already sitting on wet bleachers from the previous short rain shower and the new wetness just made us go, "UGHHHH."  Some of the cool effects from the show didn't really work right but that's okay... we got the idea.  It was cool watching Ben as he saw the show because he was just in his element.  It actually made me like the attraction a lot more to see it through the eyes of someone that truly got into it.


Our mid-afternoon snack was decided on a whim after not getting into the Animation Academy with the next group.  To feed our depression, my dear friends stopped at an ice cream cart and paid out of pocket for a chocolate covered banana and a Mickey Premium.  I got excited to see them take bites of their first Mickey Premium.  It's the little things, right?  For some reason ice cream just didn't sound good to me but a giant green pickle sure did.  Nom nom nom.  Matt made us walk all the way over to Gertie's to get ice cream only to discover that it was closed so we went elsewhere for him to get a vanilla shake.  I should mention that after this we went to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.  Us girls really could have done without that but we were sort of running out of things to do and the show was just starting.  I've seen it one too many times for it to be "cool" anymore.



My favorite inside joke of the whole trip involved a monkey found at the entrance of Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  What do monkey's say?  "Whooo."


Our trip to One Man's Dream was a little lackluster.  It was so stinking busy in there I felt like I was rushed through it.  Lesson learned... go during a slow period of the day.  I can't remember why but we didn't have time to stay for the film after but it's probably for the best because I would have just cried through the whole dang thing like usual.

It's safe to say we were all SO excited to eat at 50's Prime Time Cafe.  As I checked us in I made sure to ask for a TV table and they were happy to make us happy with  my request.  I didn't care that we had to wait because I was excited to take pictures around the waiting area/bar.  We had so much fun just goofing around there taking pictures.  Barbara made a stop at the bar to get a fun glowing drink.



Our waitress, Cousin Lorraine, was seriously so awesome.  She was really funny and upbeat and totally got into the part.  Ben went all retro with his drink (root beer) while Matt got a chocolate shake.  Barbara and I couldn't resist trying the peanut butter and jelly shake for the first time.  I didn't regret it one bit.   Not only was it delicious but also played a part in my dinner later.

Here is my seriously yummy wahoo (fish) with roasted red potato puree and asparagus.  I was really surprised how delicious this was and how much I liked a type of fish I'd never had, or heard of, before.   The ends of the asparagus were a little tough for my liking and since I was so worried about cleaning my plate, I hid the bad ends inside of my big milkshake cup.  Barbara almost tattled on me though... wench.  ;)



Matt's dish was his classic veggie burger and fries.  He claimed it was filling and very good.  Easy to please that man.


Barbara liked her choice of meatloaf but definitely said the peanut butter and jelly shake was the highlight of her meal.


Ben went with the sampler and his favorite was the fried chicken.  It's not famous for just any reason.



Matt struggled to polish off his food and only left a few fries behind.  Ben and I had nothing left on our plates.  It was only up to Barbara to clean her plate.  Our waitress had already declared that she was so proud of the rest of us for doing such a good job.  Barbara thought about it for a moment and then said, "I want her to be proud of me too!"  She scarfed down what she had left and so we all got a sticker saying we were members of the Clean Plate Club.  We wore these proudly the rest of the night.  None of us could really eat much of our desserts since we were so stuffed but they were all really tasty.




By the time we got out of dinner we had to head over to Fantasmic to get a seat.  About 30 seconds into our walk over, rain started pouring.  We stopped into a shop to get ponchos because we knew we'd be sitting out in the rain waiting for the show to start.  Little did we know that this was the start of a two day monsoon that never stopped.

People were walking out of the amphitheater left and right but we wanted to stay put and see the show.  It was the ONE nighttime show that I was insistent that we watch.  The four of us sat out in the constant rain for 45 minutes before we were told that the show was delayed.  Being troopers, we stayed.  Only fifteen minutes later it was announced that the show was cancelled.  Just as we got up to leave, the lights went down a little and a short "rain" show played.  I was so impressed with that little bit and it also made me so very angry at Mother Nature that the damn show was cancelled!  Sorry, I'm still holding a little bitterness in my heart.  Next time, Fantasmic... next time.


We dragged our dreary little butts back to Caribbean Beach and stayed up for a little while chatting and watching To Catch A Predator.  Nothing says Disney like pervs, right?  For those of you wanting more pictures from Day Two, I've decided that Flickr is a pain in my rear so I'm going to to a "Part Two" of Day Two with just pictures!  Hooray for pictures!

3 comments:

  1. I have been a lurker at your site for a while, but wanted to drop a line and say I'm lovin' the trippie! Can't wait to here more :)

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  2. Is the pizza at Pizza Planet different than other counter service pizzas? I haven't had it there. Just at some other place at HS and Village Haus in the MK.

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  3. Thanks for lurking, Erica :)

    I don't think I've had pizza anywhere else other than Pizza Planet! Haha! I've heard it's all generic but I can't say from personal experience.

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