December 2010 WDW Trip Report, Part 6
Please see Part 1 for cast and plot summary...
Day 5: Dec 11th. A problem, Toy Story Midway Mania,
and the RADP15 BMaG.
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We're going to open Disney's Hollywood Studios today. On the other hand, we should have checked a schedule.
Called home, my mom seems to have the same problem she did a few months back when she lost the ability to communicate but I can't do anything about it here. This was the biggest factor in whether or not I could do this trip, and I guess it's apparent my ability to take vacations has to be curtailed. After contemplating what I should do, I call my ex-brother and leave a message that he's on call.
We grab a DHS bus, and we're let off in the charter bus area. Got to the park right after 9am, only to find it was a EMH day, and fast passes for TSMM already have a return time of 4pm. Wow. That showed a lack of foresight on my part. Due to scheduling problems, tonight is the only night we'll get into DHS for the Osborne Lights, so we get a fastpass anyway. (It takes a while to convince PiC we do *not* have to return by the expiration time on the pass.)
We get in the standby line (which was once upon a time called "The Line",) and I challenge PiC to actually take a picture of me and Potato Head instead of turning off the camera, but just before we get to Potato Head my ex-brother calls and I'm filling him in on my mom's medical history and how to find all her insurance numbers and the meds she's taking. I cannot stress to him enough that she has *got* to get to the hospital. Do not take "No" for an answer. If he doesn't get her into the hospital today, she'll completely lose the ability to communicate, and they'll have to call an ambulance. This ruins the Toy Story experience.
I finally get off the phone with him after we get the 3-D glasses, I'm still disappointed they have stairs here, and I note they really didn't have to have so many stairs, the bridge could have been a little lower... But I digress.
I once again beat PiC 147,500 to 122,600. She stinks at the ring toss game. She is getting better, but still no cigar. I am the best in my car, but less than half of the hour's high score. She takes pride in the fact she's more accurate, but that and a dollar won't even get you a cup of coffee anymore.
Another talk with the ex-brother after I get out of Toy Story, and it's off to Starring Rolls for breakfast. I had the ham sandwich and PiC has a bagel, and I do believe they have real coffee. With the sandwich, I get a bag of potato chips. They're Disney branded chips, and remind me of Lay's Kettle chips. Just sayin'.
We pass Star Tours, and the Jedi Academy is still running and the gift shop is still open. I'd really like a peek inside, but that ain't gonna happen.
Muppetvision is next. The movie looks great. It's the first time I've seen the cleaned up version. The guy next to me must be a newbie, he laugh at every single joke. Even the bad ones.
Took a pic with Lightning McQueen and Mater, then to the GMR where we sit next to the CM in the vehicle. Different experience, that. I restrain from making comments and being posted about on stupidguesttricks.com.
On the way out, we stop and watch an organizing streetmosphere show. I think they've done the "Hollywood discovering new talent" theme way too much. The show is only mediocre, it depends too heavily on (bad) overacting CM's.
I'm out to the RADP-15 BMaG, PiC decides to do a Barb Russo and doesn't come along. Hrumph. She needs more kool-aid. I've been working on that.
I take the boat to Epcot. Jack, Linlee (who grills me under the hot lights for several minutes with all sorts of questions) and a few others are already there, and soon the Disney Insane is grouped. Laura and Lee, Bashful and Rocky (who are leaving today), Sandy and Amanda, Jenny and Cathy, Meerkat, Not That Ed, Paragon, and all the others that my brain cells have already forgotten; it was fun seeing and talking to all of you.
The group picture is taken (each of the five photographers has two or three cameras each). The person taking the group picture with my camera thinks it's too hard to use. My camera's feelings are hurt.
RADP 15 Big Meet and Greet
I have to get back to Key West, since I need warmer clothes for tonight's DHS event. I walk Jenny and Cathy to Capt EO, and make my way to the bus stops. I notice a bus arrives at every single stop in my bus area, *except* for OKW. I feel like I'm a redheaded step-child that gets ignored, when a OKW bus finally arrives. From snippets of a conversation between the bus driver and two guests, they are at the wrong Bus Stop #1, and watch these two women who've waited all this time walk toward another bus area. Bummer.
Dress a bit warmer, Jenny wants to see the lights, and we're going to meet at DHS.
Except there's something wrong. Something's not...right. The roads are crowded. The line to turn left into DHS is a block long, and it takes a couple of cycles (it's a circle of lights, kinda thing) before we turn in.
We are once again let off in the chartered bus area. The line for the boat to crescent lake/Epcot is almost backed up to the Christmas tree. All the lines to get into the park are 30-40 guests deep. There's a Fantastic! performance right now, you can hear it from the entrance. When they get out, there's going to be gridlock. The only thing that could get me into the park is to have a Toy Story fastpass. Oh wait. I have one.
I text Jenny and tell her it might be a bad idea to try and get here. It's kinda nuts. She agrees.
We walk to Pixar Place, standby time is 100 minutes, and use our fastpasses to get on. The CM doing the standby/fastpass traffic somehow doesn't realize how backed up the fastpass queue is getting, and we're soon in the main queue at the stairs. Stairs. Why does it have to be Stairs?
PiC is winning after the first two games, but el-stinks at the ring toss again, (I win a handy 153,800 to 121,700) and make cat instead of beaver. She claims she was much more accurate. Again. That might be true, but it still doesn't get you the cigar.
We walk into the Osborne Lights and do a little videotaping, and try a few handheld shots with the G12. The stills turn out exceptionally well, in both color and noise. Most of the handhelds with my G9 didn't turn out this well. The tripod shots with my G9 may not have turned out this well.
Here's a hint. If you're going to the Osborne Lights, go through Pixar Place. If you go via Star Tours, you're routed around Muppets and fed into the Streets of America by CM's who will only let so many people in. We're in the back of San Francisco Street and the exit in the back was blocked by horses, and the queue to get in extends toward Mama Melrose's.
We stayed for a little while counting hidden mickeys, and decided to leave. It had gone from crowded to insane, Disney might want to think about moving the dancing sets closer together so you can get guests out of the area. We finally get to Pixar Place and exit. Hollywood Boulevard was relatively empty, the crowds from the first Fantastic! having been reabsorbed into the park. But there are still people coming into the park. Maybe MK closed?
We're back at the bus stop, and the second showing of Fantastic! is going on. Tinkerbelle has just thrown up pixie dust on the mountain, and the finale is about to begin. I've seen the show so many times, I know exactly what's going on in the theater, the spinning fireworks on the ship are extinguished and the spotlights hit the ship with all the characters on it, Mickey is in B&W in his Steamship Willie outfit, all other characters waving colorful scarves, with the front of the ship occupied by the latest Disney release, probably Repunzel this time...
You can see Mickey appear at the top of the mountain, with all the fireworks and lasers, then suddenly he disappears, and says, "Some imagination, huh?" and the lights come on. Only PiC and I applaud. I guess no one else in line appreciates the show...
The bus driver is loading two ECV's, and I become concerned that the hoard from Fantastic! will get here before the ECV's are loaded. We get away before the deluge of guests arrive.
Back at OKW I get a text from my brother that says the hospital has decided to admit mom. We watch the rest of The Boys, and call it a night.
End December 2010 Trip Report - Part 6.
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