[dmallan]

DAY 2 – Wednesday, January 9th

I am awake by 6:30 and cannot get back to sleep. About 7:00 I decide to get up and get ready. By the time I am out of the shower, Jeff is awake as well. When I open the ironing board (squeeeeeek) at 7:30 Tom wakes up too! I iron my outfit and coax Jeff and Tom into letting me iron their shirts as well. They don’t care how wrinkled they are – but hey – we want to look good in the photos! Then I decide to take a walk around the resort and get some good pictures of the other buildings. Broadway is my favorite! When I get back to the room, I discover that Liz and Kate are just getting up. They think sleeping in is part of a vacation! So, to kill some time Jeff and I take a walk over to the All Star Sports and take some pictures of their buildings. By the time we return everyone is showered and has eaten breakfast. We are on our way to the bus stop for Disney’s Hollywood Studios by 9:00.

As soon as we arrive we head over to Rock N’ Roller Coaster. We wait for about 20 minutes in the stand-by line. The ride is fantastic and we all want to do it again. We grab fast passes, and head over to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Again about a 20-minute wait here. We have not ridden Tower of Terror since the 1994 trip, so this is the first time to experience the random drop effect. I hate the sensation of falling, but this is not as scary as I had expected. Then we head back to Rock n’ Roller coaster to use our fastpasses. Interesting that the stand-by line is now much shorter than before. Oh well.

It’s almost time for our ADRs at 50s Prime Time Café, so we head over that way and check in. We have about a 15-minute wait and then hear “Allan kids! Time for lunch!” This is such a fun place! We are seated in a great corner booth and soon our waitress, Helida, appears and informs us of all the rules: no elbows on the table, always remember the magic words and no dessert unless we eat all our lunch. (The magic number here is $16) Jeff orders a Char-grilled chicken sandwich with a salad, Mom and Katie split a turkey sandwich, Liz gets the stuffed pepper and an order of onion rings, and Tom orders the golden fried chicken. We are all happy with our meal, except that Tom remembers he doesn’t like eating chicken off the bone. For dessert we order a hot fudge sundae, apple cobbler and 5 spoons! Very good choices! Total for lunch was $83.28. With the tip it comes to $100.



After lunch we head toward “Sounds Dangerous” to get a good spot for the Stars and Motor Cars parade. We like to try and get a bench right along the path. That way no one can come along at the last minute and stand in front of us. Unfortunately, there are no vacant benches, but we grab a spot in the shade along the fence. Jeff and Tom head over to “Honey I shrunk the kids movie set.” This was Tom’s favorite when he was a kid and he wants to revisit for old time sake. While they are gone, the people next to us (who are sitting on a bench) are having a discussion about what their next plan of action will be. It sounds like there may be some dissension and I quietly say to Liz and Kate “If they get up and leave, we are on that bench!” Sure enough, in another minute they get up and we slide onto the vacant bench. Jeff and Tom are pleased when they return and find that we’ve acquired a seat. The parade is fantastic and we take lots of pictures of all the cars and characters.

After the parade we scoot over to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular to get a seat for the 4:00 show. After Indy we do Star Tours, Muppet 3D, and walk through the Streets of America. We then find our way to the Studio Backlot Tour and find that it closed at 5:00. And since there is a blockade between here and Mickey Ave we wind our way back through the Streets of America and head for the Great Movie Ride. There is quite a long wait both outside the pre-show area and when we finally get into it. We watch the same movie clips three times before we finally get through the doors and onto the ride vehicle. Our guide is nice, and she plays her part pretty well, but the gangster who takes over our vehicle is a lousy actress and has an odd accent (not sure if it is real or something she made up) that is difficult to understand. It certainly doesn’t go well with her gangster persona.

By the time we get off the ride it’s a little after 6:00 and we head to Fantasmic to get a seat for the 7:00 show. We have not been to Fantasmic before and are amazed at the size of the amphitheater! About 5 minutes before show time, a wave begins in the stands and continues on and on until show time. The show is incredible! The characters, water screens, fountains, music…all of it contributes to one great Disney show. I guess we would not have expected anything less! After the show we stay in our seats for 15 minutes to let the crowds die down. Then we get up and leisurely head around toward the exit. By the time we get back to Sunset Blvd, we are in the midst of the crowd and we slowly make our way to the exit. The line of people waiting for a bus to the All Stars is huge and we wait for quite a long time for a bus to finally come along.

We are exhausted and hungry when we get back to the resort, and so we stop at the food court for dinner. I have the chicken orzo soup and some breadsticks, Jeff and Tom each get a pepperoni pizza, Liz gets a steak salad, and Katie gets a chicken quesadilla. That, along with a few drinks, comes to $39.18. Then we make our way back to the rooms. Another great day!

The best thing today was…Rock n’ Roller Coaster
Today we tried…Fastpass
And the result was…success!
The most magical moment today was…Fantasmic!