We head off to Disney Hollywood Studios, and arrive in the Television parking lot around 8:30am with the park due to open to day guests at 9am, but already open as a EMH. This was not part of the original plan, but today was the only option left to get to see the Osborne lights later and so Toy Story Mania now.
The one thing going for us this morning is that it is cold and wet, so the crowds getting to go in during EMH seem very small, and finally at 8:55 we are let into Hollywood studios, and as soon as we are through the gates, I take both tickets and run hard to the fast pass machines for Toy Story mania, Once I managed to get fast passes for 1pm I start to wander back as my directions could have been misunderstood and left Celia lost in the Studios, but as I get back as far as One Man's dream, I see Celia and we walk briskly to the Standby line for Toy Story Mania and with a wait time listed of 30 mins we decide to go for it,
After about 20 mins we got to the 3D glasses and the Fastpass/Standby lines merge, we are asked how many in our party, saying 2 we are asked to head off down the disabled path and find ourselves being seated in the car within seconds, so with that bit of luck we get to ride, I had ridden before in 2008, but the ride was not open the last time Celia was in Florida.
We do have the Wii game and that is a good copy of the attraction, but we battled and enjoyed the ride, with the final scores
As we left the ride the rain was still persistent and we walked to One Man's Dream. I enjoy this attraction as a small mini museum into Walt's life, and there were some new exhibits such as an Original Tron helmet.
We did not watch the movie and left via the entrance, As I was still not sure that Rock n Roller Coaster & Tower of Terror would be ok with my stomach and the scabbed central line hole in my arm, the options on what else to do at DHS were limited, so we decided to head to Muppets, Walking back down Pixar Place, the fast passes had gone to 6pm and the queue time was showing at 50 mins so we were glad we had been there at opening time, even on an EMH day.
We stopped off at the AFI shop and had a look around, I also got some WDW 40th Anniversary pins.
As we left the rain was just stopping, but it was still cold. As we wandered past the streets of america we could see some of the lights, but without them being on it was hard to imagine what they will look like later. Muppets was a walk on and we got to the pre-show area before the pre-show movie started so we were able to have a great look around, Celia loved the boxes and boxes of satin evening gowns for Miss Piggy, where as I like the Gonzo boxes.
We also spotted the posters up in the rafters including one for Pig's in Space.
The show was a good as ever but the jokes are corny but classic muppets. On leaving the show we saw Lighting McQueen and Tow Mater waiting for photo's so off we went.
The coldness was starting to get to us, so we decided to get a coffee at the Writers Stop which is next to the Sci-Fi and not on the maps so normally quite quiet. Celia got a black tea as they did not do Soya milk, and I got a Hot Chocolate, and decide to get a Carrot Cake Cookie just as a rush descended on the place so found myself waiting 10 mins to get it. But it was absolutely delicious and worth hunting out.
We just sat and chatted for a while, glad to be in a park rather than the hospital even if it was cold and slightly damp now. we also decided that Tower of Terror would not put a great strain on my arm, so I felt up to trying it as it is one of my favourite rides in all of WDW.
So I went off to get the ride on Tower of Terror whilst Celia looked for some gifts for our nephew and niece. I did pause at the Pin store at the Hat where I picked up some more pins. I made my way down Sunset Boulevard to the Tower, it only had a 13min wait so was just about a walk on.
The Ride was great I just so enjoy the whole theme-ing and then the free fall section. I do like it in the daytime as the view of the park whilst the doors are open.
I coped fine on the ride and We had had a text from our friend Danielle who was flying down from Washington DC to join us for a couple of days, saying that she had landed, so we decided to pop to the Art of Disney whilst they were trying to get their luggage and get to their hotel.(the Waldorf Astoria in Bonnet Creek)
We drifted from the art of Disney shop into the last part of the Art of Animation tour and queued up to get a photo with Lotso. The queue area is all done up as Sunnyside Daycare with photo's on the wall drawn by the children. Such as this one of Mr Pricklepants
We decide that there is nothing else to do at the park and start to leave as we get the call to say that Danielle and Scott had arrived at their hotel We agree to go and collect them and head to Downtown Disney for some lunch. So we leave the park with the plan to get our Fast pass ride on Toy Story Mania when we return for the Osborne lights this evening.
We get back to the car and drive out of Hollywood Studios, Now for the word of advice if you are trying to get to the Bonnet Creek resorts keep your eyes open for the signs, as although the rest of Walt Disney world is constantly mentioned, you miss a turning and at the next junction the place is on the boards again, it is not the case for the bonnet creek resorts which have just 2 sign posts, one in each direction. But with the Sat Nav working today, we were warned where the turning was. On the previous day whilst trying to get from the Florida mall back to the Contemporary the sat Nav had decided that we were in Texas which is quite a mistake.
We got to the Waldorf Astoria which is a very grand hotel and whilst Celia waited in the car I went into the lobby to find our friends. They had been allocated a room on the 15th floor so took a while to come down, and as we walked back out Celia had been moved on by the staff as she had parked in the way. Which just seemed silly as there was no where to leave a car / wait for a guest in front of the hotel in that case, just a sign for valet parking.
We piled into the small car (lucky Scott and Danielle are both on the short side so had enough leg room) and drove to Downtown Disney, which was heaving. We tried to park at the Marketplace side, but could not find any spaces until we had driven all the way back to just by Planet Hollywood, We had decided to try Earl of Sandwich for lunch, so had to then walk the length of Downtown Disney again to get back to the marketplace end.
Earl of Sandwich was good food, but again the queues were very long. I went for the Holiday Special, which was a Turkey, Stuffing & Gravy sandwich, Celia had a salad, Danielle the BLT and Scott the Full Montegu, we all enjoyed our food, but the wait and queue did take what seems like forever.
After the Sandwiches Danielle had brought some Gluten and Dairy free cupcakes from Washington, which were gorgeous but did struggle to get to Orlando in one piece.
After Lunch we started the wander through the stores of Downtown Disney, starting with the Christmas Shop, which was very very busy. Pooh Corner, and the Pin Trading store, where we saw a wonderful framed set of the Letters Walt Disney World in pins which each pin being a character or attraction, but even though we thought the price was ok, they did not have any stock so at least the Amex card survived that attempt.
At Once upon a Toy, we found a Star Wars Baseball which we bought for Danielle as she is a big Baseball and Star Wars fan. From there we went into the TrenD boutique and the Sports store. Spending a bit on the way.
We made it to the World of Disney store and spent a while trying to find more gifts and moments and just generally hanging out. We were starting to get peckish now as we had spent a couple of hours covering these stores, so we stopped at the new Pollo Campario/Fresh A Peel/Babycakes NYC to get some cake and drinks. Again the Gluten free bakery products from babycakes were tasty and hard to spot that they were not the full fat/wheat versions.
We then noticed the time and realised that we needed to get back to Hollywood Studios to see the Lights. So we made a decision to try and eat at House of Blues and raced to it to book a table for later. That done we left Scott and Danielle in Downtown Disney and headed back to Hollywood Studios.
Driving back they were trying to get us to park way at the back of the parking lot, but we just said that we had left earlier and were going back to Television to park there.
We made it back in the park as we called my Dad to find that they were still some way away, so we headed to Toy Story mania for our fast pass ride, and ended up waiting longer than we had that morning, but the ride was still great and I scored the highest again, but Celia had improved massively from this morning.
We also noticed that as we were about to leave that we had been riding in car 40 and remember that this is my 40th Birthday trip all be it 6 months late.
As we were in the queue we had arranged to meet Dad & Shelley at the writers Stop, as it was somewhere to sit down near the lights, but as we got our the ride we found out that Disney had implemented a one way system at that edge of the park and we were not allowed to go down Commissary Lane so called them to re-arrange to outside Star Tours, We were then forced to down down pass Muppets and Mama Melrose to only enter the streets of America at the Lights Motor Action end. But the Lights are worth it and a so impressive especially when they start to dance. or Here, or Here or Here
and we did find the Halloween cat.
We stayed at the studios for while and had to race back to Downtown disney in time for our House of Blues dinner, But we got there and it was quiet probably as Cirque was actually running so had yet to turf out lots of hungry people. The meal was good but not memorable but the company was great and we had a good catchup, and firmed up our plans for tomorrow as were going to Epcot for Danielle and Scotts first visit to that park.
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