Disney-MGM Studios

If you have been keeping up, we (being Steve and Laura) had just spent a day at Animal Kingdom....

Our original plan was to go to the hotel to swim, but the clouds were rapidly approaching, so we had to change our plans. Not wanting to sit in the hotel room the rest of the evening, we decided to visit another park, and we settled on the Magic Kingdom. However, as we were driving to the Magic Kingdom, I made a wrong turn (which I realized as soon as I made it - you would think I would know where I was going by now), and we were on Buena Vista Drive near the Disney-MGM Studios. I said we would need to turn around somewhere, but Laura said why don't we just go to the Studios instead. Sounded good to me, and we were soon in the Film section of the Studios parking lot. It was right about then that the rain started, and it contunied off and on for the rest of the night.

I remember first hearing about the Disney-MGM Studios on the Disney Channel. Between programs one night, they showed a segment of Bob Hope and Michael Eisner breaking ground for the new park. I immediately found out all I could about the Studios from all the press releases, as well as from articles in the Disney News magazine. My high school band visited Walt Disney World the week before the park opened, and my first visit to the Studios occurred on that trip. They were taping some shows for the Disney Channel, so a few of us managed to get into a taping of "A Conversation with Betty White". It was quite a thrill to see the new park, even though we just rode through some of the service areas on a tram to the studio where the taping took place. My first regular visit to the park was a few months later, in the summer of 1989. We all enjoyed it, and for quite a while it was my favorite of the parks at Walt Disney World. While I don't spend nearly as much time there as I once did, I still find it quite enjoyable, so I didn't mind at all when Laura suggested that we go there.

The large sorcerer hat at the end of Hollywood Boulevard

We used our handy park hopping tickets to get through the turnstiles, and found ourselves in the middle of Hollywoold Boulevard. Of course, the first thing you notice when you enter the park is the large sorcerer hat being constructed in front of the Chinese Theater. I still think it makes Hollywood Boulevard look smaller, due to the enormous size of the hat, not to mention that it blocks the great view of the Chinese Theater. I suppose it is one of those things that I will get used to over time, but on the first few sightings, it is still a little bit of a shock, and Laura agrees. Once we had finished staring at the hat, we went over to see about the Rock N Roller Coaster, our favorite ride at this park. The standby line was only 20 minutes, so we got in it, and in less than 15 minutes, we were in the building. That limo has one great accelerator! The whole ride is fun, but by far my favorite part is the quick takeoff at the beginning. All the twists, turns, and loops are exciting as well, and this one for me is always over way too soon.

After looking at our picture from the ride, we then decided to check in for a stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, although we had to wait in the rain for just a few minutes; fortunately, the rain wasn't hard. We ended up next to some people who didn't quite get the concept of going to the particular row you were assigned in the elevator, but the Cast Member fortunately got it all straightened out. We sat next to some rather, um, large people, which is always fun because the lap bar never touches us, and we rise up off the seat even more when the elevator goes down. This, too, is one of my favorite attractions, but I like the technical aspects of it almost as much as the drops. All the technology involved is quite complex.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Sunset Boulevard

At the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost, I discovered that the large Indiana Jones figures were 30% off, so I was glad I didn't get one before in April; they were out of the smaller Indiana Jones figures, but fortunately, I had one of those already. As the rain continued, we wandered over to ride the Great Movie Ride, just in case those rumors of its upcoming removal are true. I always love the Audio-Animatronic attractions, and in my opinion this is one of the best. Plus, it has the traveling theater system first used at the Universe of Energy at Epcot. We got stopped in the western side, and I'm always amazed at the heat that comes from the explosion in the bank. As we exited the ride, a crowd of people were standing underneath the overhang at the exit, so we knew that it was still raining. Since the rain still hadn't let up, we caught the tram back to the Film section of the parking lot and found our car. We stopped off at Taco Bell near our hotel for supper, noticing that the prices there were quite a bit higher than our Taco Bell back home. Go figure. Then we went back to the hotel to watch television for a bit before going to bed.

Continued

We Were Started By A Mouse Too!  •  When In Cyberspace ... Disney Link Directory  •  

  •  Purchase Walt Disney World Tickets here - DISNEY TICKETS via DWTickets.com  •  

  •  Receive discounts on ORLANDO VACATION HOMES near Disney World from OrlandoVacation.com  •