This past Saturday, a new Tractor Supply Company store opened in Somerville, Tennessee, which is not that far from our home. However, it apparently should have opened sooner. We had gone by there the Saturday before to see if it had opened, which it hadn't. But in the minute or so that it took us to drive through the parking lot to read the sign on the door to find out the actual opening date, three other cars did the same thing. Everyone was apparently ready for it to open.
Finding that we needed to make a trip to town anyway, we dropped by the new TSC store again, because it was actually open this time. There were quite a few people in there looking around at everything. But some of them seemed to be a little too well dressed for the typical TSC crowd. I would guess that some people just came to see a new store, because Somerville isn't exactly the kind of town where something new is opening all the time. But we shop at TSC anyway, and it will be nice to have one closer to our home.
They apparently didn't have any kind of grand opening celebration. Or maybe they are putting it off a few weeks to make sure everything is going right. Not that we need any kind of big celebration to get us to come there. But it might raise awareness just a bit more.
That reminds me of another small town grand opening several years ago, back when I was a teenager. McDonald's had come to Savannah, Tennessee, and we happened to be there that weekend. It was a pretty big deal, too. They closed the main street of the town, which happened to be the street that McDonald's was on. They had a parade down the main street, complete with a marching band and even Ronald McDonald himself! We watched the whole thing from across the street, through the window of the competing fast food restaurant that we were eating at. McDonald's was still my favorite, but they had a pretty big crowd for opening day.
So yes, new store openings are what us small town folks do for excitement. Doesn't take much to get us excited, does it?
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Daily Photo: World Showcase Sunset
As we were eating supper at La Hacienda de San Angel at Mexico in Epcot's World Showcase, the sun was setting over World Showcase Lagoon, making for a pretty impressive sight. Hard to beat a sunset for neat colors in the sky.
Click for a larger view
About the shot:
Instead of getting out my tripod, I just used the rail around the seating area of the restaurant, which worked pretty well. Three exposures (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, and finished up in PaintShop Pro.
Instead of getting out my tripod, I just used the rail around the seating area of the restaurant, which worked pretty well. Three exposures (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, and finished up in PaintShop Pro.
Observations of the Past Week (1/21-1/27)
Observations of the Past Week from Twitter and Facebook. Or anywhere else that they might have shown up. Such as in a bad dream.
Why isn't "Arkansas" pronounced like "Kansas"? They are the same except for two letters at the front. (Coming up on our next episode of "Mysteries of the South"...)
Possible severe weather in January? Fun. (I thought that stuff only happened in the summer.)
What a difference a few hours makes. Nice blue skies this morning, compared to the storms of last night. (I am often thankful for weather changes.)
What do chickens say something tastes like? (And how do chickens taste things without any lips?)
I don't pick a movie to watch based on what awards the other movie people have given it, but rather if it looks like something I would like. (Take that, Oscar!)
Just finished an unexpected meeting. Fortunately, I mostly just had to sit and listen. I'm good at that. (And I didn't even fall asleep.)
The State of the Union Address is tonight? Well there goes my television watching for the night. (And there is nothing on cable, either.)
Coworker's birthday, so we had pizza for lunch. Yum! (Maybe he can have another birthday next week!)
Lightning! Thunder! I am thinking the dog won't want to leave the garage this morning. (Who knew our dog was a big chicken?)
Just got to see Jaylin's class program at school. It was great! Not that I am biased or anything. Pictures in a day or two. (Not that I am biased, but it was only the BEST CLASS PROGRAM EVER! At least until next year's program.)
More rain. Looks like a good night to sit on the couch at home. Oh wait, I do that most nights already. But not with this good excuse. (And who can pass up an excuse like that?)
Muncha buncha Fritos go with lunch. Except I didn't bring any Fritos. (I always felt like my lunch was missing something.)
It is already the last Friday of January. What are you doing with your life? Can I borrow some of it, because mine is flying by. (Not flying like a bird, but flying like a Space Shuttle.)
Why isn't "Arkansas" pronounced like "Kansas"? They are the same except for two letters at the front. (Coming up on our next episode of "Mysteries of the South"...)
Possible severe weather in January? Fun. (I thought that stuff only happened in the summer.)
What a difference a few hours makes. Nice blue skies this morning, compared to the storms of last night. (I am often thankful for weather changes.)
What do chickens say something tastes like? (And how do chickens taste things without any lips?)
I don't pick a movie to watch based on what awards the other movie people have given it, but rather if it looks like something I would like. (Take that, Oscar!)
Just finished an unexpected meeting. Fortunately, I mostly just had to sit and listen. I'm good at that. (And I didn't even fall asleep.)
The State of the Union Address is tonight? Well there goes my television watching for the night. (And there is nothing on cable, either.)
Coworker's birthday, so we had pizza for lunch. Yum! (Maybe he can have another birthday next week!)
Lightning! Thunder! I am thinking the dog won't want to leave the garage this morning. (Who knew our dog was a big chicken?)
Just got to see Jaylin's class program at school. It was great! Not that I am biased or anything. Pictures in a day or two. (Not that I am biased, but it was only the BEST CLASS PROGRAM EVER! At least until next year's program.)
More rain. Looks like a good night to sit on the couch at home. Oh wait, I do that most nights already. But not with this good excuse. (And who can pass up an excuse like that?)
Muncha buncha Fritos go with lunch. Except I didn't bring any Fritos. (I always felt like my lunch was missing something.)
It is already the last Friday of January. What are you doing with your life? Can I borrow some of it, because mine is flying by. (Not flying like a bird, but flying like a Space Shuttle.)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Life of a Cat
Here is our cat Ana doing what she does most of the time. Sometimes I am jealous. Why can't I live like that?
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Um, Mickey?
Even though the Vinylmation characters are based on the shape of Mickey Mouse, Mickey doesn't quite look right as a Vinylmation. Interesting. 
Friday, January 27, 2012
Daily Photo: Tomorrowland in the Morning
Nothing like an early morning walk through Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World in Florida. We were on our way to Space Mountain to get ahead of the crowd. But of course, I had to stop and get a few pictures as the sun was starting to come up and hit the structures of Tomorrowland, really bringing out some great colors.
Sometimes, the early mornings are worth it.
Sometimes, the early mornings are worth it.
Click for a larger view
About the shot:
This one was a quick one. Just three quick handheld brackets (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, and then edited just a bit in PaintShop Pro.
This one was a quick one. Just three quick handheld brackets (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, and then edited just a bit in PaintShop Pro.
Jaylin's Class Program
Jaylin's third grade class program was this week at school. It was called "Welcome to the Jungle," and they told the story of a mouse helping a lion. It was fun to see! The kids were divided in to different jungle animal groups to tell the story, and Jaylin was in the mouse group.
Here are a few pictures from the show. Mostly of Jaylin, of course. Next stop, Broadway!
Here are a few pictures from the show. Mostly of Jaylin, of course. Next stop, Broadway!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Daily Photo: Under the AT-AT
Walking under the AT-AT to get to Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. I was glad to see that when they reworked the attraction inside, they left the exterior just about exactly as it was. Where else can you see an Ewok village and walk under an AT-AT? I have fond memories of seeing Chewbacca chase some Ewoks around on the upper levels of the Ewok village way back in the early 1990s, by the way. Always neat to see the characters having fun.
Click for a larger view
About the shot:
Even with the HDR processing, this one came out a little dark until I used a High Key filter on it. That blew out some of the sky just a bit, but you can see more details on the AT-AT this way. Three exposures (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in PaintShop Pro.
Even with the HDR processing, this one came out a little dark until I used a High Key filter on it. That blew out some of the sky just a bit, but you can see more details on the AT-AT this way. Three exposures (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in PaintShop Pro.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Daily Photo: Maharajah Jungle Trek
The Maharajah Jungle Trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom gives you a chance to see lots of interesting animals. But it also gives you a chance to walk through some very interesting temple ruins. The details through this area are fascinating, and I take at least as many pictures of the surroundings as I do of the animals.
Click for a larger view
About the shot:
For most of my HDR shots, I just load the brackets into Photomatix and let it do its thing. But this time around, the tree seen through the archway didn't look right. So in PaintShop Pro, I added in the tree from the -2 bracket, which looks much better. Three brackets (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in PaintShop Pro.
For most of my HDR shots, I just load the brackets into Photomatix and let it do its thing. But this time around, the tree seen through the archway didn't look right. So in PaintShop Pro, I added in the tree from the -2 bracket, which looks much better. Three brackets (-2, 0, +2) merged and tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in PaintShop Pro.
Walt Disney World Christmas Trip 2011 Part 5
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
This was to be our last day at the parks, but we knew it would be a good one.
Even though Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t open until 9:00, we had a breakfast reservation at Hollywood & Vine at 8:25, so it was another early morning. Although we didn’t have to worry about eating breakfast, so that made getting ready go a little faster.
We made it out to the bus stop at 7:15, figuring that would give us plenty of time to get there for our reservation. Besides, we figured it would be better to be early than to be late.
Soon, the bus we were waiting for arrived. And it ended up just being the seven of us and one other couple on the bus. As we pulled away, the bus driver started talking. He said he was hoping for more people so that we could sing the Birthday Song and Wheels on the Bus. Sounded like my kind of bus driver already.
He asked us questions about what the favorite restaurant for kids was, saying that if we had looked at our brochure for the park, we would know that. He said looking at the brochure would help us save steps so that we wouldn’t be so tired and would feel like spending more money. He asked where we were from. He asked how many times we had been there. He asked again about singing the Birthday Song and Wheels on the Bus. And we were all having such a good time that he asked if we could just ride his bus all day to keep things lively for him. Which might have been fun. But the Studios and our breakfast were waiting for us.
Once we got there, he gave us a card with his name on it. So thank you, Charles, for a great ride! It is always more fun when the bus drivers have a bit of personality.
Because we were so early, there was virtually no line for bag check, and almost no line for the turnstiles. A cast member from the restaurant was there at the turnstile line to make sure we were on the list, so that we could go on in. And on our way in, we had to stop and take a few pictures of the empty street, which always looks just a bit strange without any people around.
There was another cast member at the end of the street to direct us on toward the restaurant. We were hungry enough that it really wouldn’t have been a problem – we knew right where we wanted to be. I was wondering if we would have to wait until our reservation time, because it was only 7:50 by that point, meaning we were 25 minutes early. But they took us right in and took us right to a table. Cool!
Breakfast was a buffet, so we were free to help ourselves to that. The waiter said he would get our drinks, which were included in the price, and he let us know that there was coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, soft drinks, and a few other things. Hearing the magic words “soft drinks,” I asked if I could start with orange juice and then switch to Coke, which he said would be no problem at all. I liked the place a whole lot more right then.
As we were getting our food, the characters from Disney Jr. started coming out to meet everyone. Handy Manny came by our table first, followed by Special Agent Oso. Then all of the characters and a couple of cast members did a song and dance number, although we couldn’t persuade any of our kids to participate in that. I guess they were too busy eating.
Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates came by next, followed by June from the Little Einsteins. We persuaded Zach to give her a kiss, capturing it in a picture. He will probably regret that sometime, I’m thinking.
It was a fun, if not exactly cheap, breakfast. We all enjoyed it. And I did get my Coke after my orange juice. Gotta remember that for next time. We all agreed that we were good and full after that.
Once we were all done at Hollywood & Vine, we set out to explore the Studios. Even though it wasn’t quite 9:00 yet, they had apparently started letting people in the park already. We made our way over to Toy Story Mania, but the line was already 40 minutes long. And the line for FastPasses was long, too. And on top of that, the return times for the FastPasses being distributed was already after 2:00 PM. Crazy.
After discussing it a bit, we decided not to tie up our whole day with a Toy Story Mania FastPass. We had enjoyed it before, but it really wasn’t worth it to everyone.
So instead, we headed over to Star Tours to see if the new version is really as good as everyone says it is, expecting to get a FastPass. But the line was only 10 minutes, so in we went. It was neat to see how the Starspeeder and other things in the waiting area were mostly the same, and yet different. The droid inspecting the baggage is hilarious, and the other droid sounds suspiciously like Patrick Warburton.
Soon, we were on the ride. And it was great! Darth Vader caught us trying to leave, we went to Hoth, and we went to Naboo. I thought it would have been just as good without the 3D, but that added even more to it. That was well worth the update!
While thinking about what to do next, we saw Stitch out for pictures, and Jaylin wanted his picture for Stitch. Which was fine, because there was almost no line. We took pictures, and then started to move on. Of the group behind us, two of the three were wearing Stitch hats, and Stitch went and gave them a big hug. The third of the group was wearing a sorcerer hat, and Stitch just waved him off. Too funny.
We stopped along the way so some could look at the pins under the big sorcerer hat, and some some cold take pictures at the Chinese Theater. While I, er, some of us, were taking pictures there, a group of Asian people were taking a group picture near where I was. Seeing this, one of the Great Movie Ride cast members ran up and stood behind them, holding his hat over one of them with one hand and waving with the others. No one in the group, except for the photographer, knew that he was there, and he quickly went back to his place. Pretty funny.
The Great Movie Ride was right there, so we decided to give it a visit. They were still letting people in the front door, which meant that the line was pretty short. And we didn’t even get to watch the movie previews in the theater; we just went right in. I do enjoy seeing those previews, but not having to wait is fine, too.
I found it interesting that of the two groups of cars, we were loaded in the second group. They had sent the first group of cars through empty, which we saw when we caught back up with them in the Wizard of Oz sequence. As we were riding through, I wondered how many of those movies the kids in our group had no idea about. Probably most of them, I would guess. I should have asked after we were done. I do enjoy the ride still – it is a great technological achievement. But I can see how some people think it might need an update.
We then went back to Star Tours for another flight. Once again, things went wrong and we had a Rebel spy on board. And it was Katie! I always knew there was something about her. We eventually made to safety. Again. Still not sure about this whole Rebel spy business from Katie, though. And she’s so young, too.
Feeling like our stomachs had settled a bit after our big breakfast, we went down Sunset Boulevard to see about the Rock N Roller Coaster. The line was long enough that we got FastPasses, which was okay.
The shops always seem to grab our attention, so we spent some time going through them to see what we could find. Of course, we can always find something. I think they have it planned that way.
We decided to do the Backlot Tour, which is always a favorite. For most of us. Some of the younger ones say they are scared by all the shooting and explosions in the water effects area, although nothing really happens there.
We got in line for the tour and made it all the way up to the front, and then we had to wait for the next tour. Just our luck. So we got to watch the video about the effects on the movie Pearl Harbor, which we still haven’t seen, although we do have the DVD in our cabinet at home. Watching that video makes me want to see the movie a bit now, so I suppose it served its purpose.
After the video, we were the first ones into the water effects area, which means that we were off to the side and couldn’t quite see everything straight on like those in the center could. But we could still see well enough, and we had seen it all before anyway. And then we went off and boarded our tram.
The last time we were there, it seemed like we had to wait quite a while for a tram. But this time, we moved right through the waiting area without much time to look at the props there. We told them there were seven in our party, and they sent five to one row and two to another row. I know this was so that they could get more on the rows, but we are used to being told three and four, because that is how our families break down. So I sat with the Riedels, while Laura and Jaylin were on the row behind us with three of their closest stranger friends.
The tour was fun as always, although not much had changed from our previous visit. And it just isn’t quite the same since they don’t actually do any production there any more. Catastrophe Canyon is always fun, except that our car didn’t rock during the earthquake. All the others seemed to, but ours didn’t. Probably not something a first time visitor might notice, but I was expecting it.
Because of our big breakfast, no one was really getting hungry for lunch. Except for me. So I got a hot dog from the hot dog place after our backlot tour, which was quite good, I thought. Just what I needed, too.
By that time, it was time for our Rock N Roller Coaster ride, so we walked down Sunset Boulevard to get there. The whole FastPass procedure was working well, and the five of us who were riding were inside in no time at all. We boarded our super stretch limo and zoomed all along our way. That fast take-off is still just great, in my opinion.
After our ride, we met back with the others. Brant still had two FastPasses, because he had gotten them for their whole family. Zach said he would ride it again. No one else was wanting to again, so I went along with Zach. Can’t just let Rock N Roller Coaster FastPasses go to waste, after all.
We got through pretty quickly again, and we were seated in our limo. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith counted down from five, and the music played loudly. Except that we didn’t go anywhere. We were still sitting there not moving. So then the music stopped for a couple of seconds, Steven Tyler counted down again, and this time we went. Pretty funny just sitting there the first time, though.
By this time, the FastPasses for Twilight Zone Tower of Terror were all distributed, and the wait was almost an hour. That wasn’t a problem for anyone but me, because I was the only one who really wanted to ride it anyway. But I didn’t want to wait an hour, so we moved along on our way.
We took in some more shops, and I took in some of the citizens of the area doing their thing. Those folks are always so entertaining. One man said to one woman, “Is that a new dress?” “Yes, it is. Does it make me look fat?” “No,” he said, “That dress doesn’t make you look fat.” “It’s all that cake and ice cream you eat that make you look fat.” Good stuff.
We were needing some refreshments by that time, and Cokes and popcorn or ice cream seemed to hit the spot for everyone. It was a warm day out, so something cool was nice.
After our snack, we went over to MuppetVision 3D. When we had passed by earlier, the line was long, but this time it was short. In fact, we went right in, finding ourselves at the back of the crowd seeing the end of the pre-show video. Which I think is just as funny as the main show. But I have seen it enough that missing it isn’t that big of a deal. The movie was fun as always, although it does bring to mind all of the Muppet performers who either aren’t around or have retired from performing these days. Ah, the good old days.
After wandering around a bit more and visiting the shop at Star Tours for some purchases, everyone was starting to get hungry for supper. Our place of choice was Toy Story Pizza Planet. We usually eat there at lunch with a pretty big crowd, but perhaps because it was supper time, there weren’t many people at all. We didn’t have to wait to order, we got our food quickly, and we found a table in the upstairs seating area instead of sitting outside with some of us sitting on the low wall. In fact, we found all the tables upstairs, because there was only one other family up there eating. We almost had the place to ourselves, which was nice. And it was also nice to sit down for a while, because once again we had been on our feet much of the day, or so it seemed.
We strolled around a bit passing the time, while waiting for the proper time to go see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We stopped in the Vinylmation store, because several in our group wanted something from there. Hard to pass those things up, for some reason.
As we were walking, we heard someone say, “Hey, we know those people!” It turned out to be our friends the Roverys from back home. But we didn’t know they are going to be there. We see each other a couple of times a week at church, and then on Facebook, too. But we hadn’t mentioned our trips to each other. They had been there the whole time we were there, and we finally ran into them on our last night. Figures.
Once it was dark enough, we went over to the Streets of America to see the lights. The Osborne Family lights are one of my favorite things about Walt Disney World at the Christmas holidays. So many lights covering all the buildings and just about everything else. And then they start “dancing” to the music. And when they aren’t doing that, it snows. Not real snow, of course, but I will take the fake kind on a warm Florida night over the real stuff any day. It always makes me want to go home and put lights all over our house instead of the more reserved way that we usually decorate. I wonder what the neighbors would think?
We spent lots of time looking around to make sure we saw all that we wanted to see, and that we enjoyed enough snow for the night. After we had finished looking at the lights, the Riedels decided that it was time for them to head back to the hotel. But first, we took one more ride on Star Tours, just to see what different stuff we might see. The line was once again short, with the wait posted at 10 minutes. And we all enjoyed it again. So cool how it isn’t the same each time.
As the Riedels made their way back to the entrance, we Burnses made our way back for one more trip through the Osborne Lights. I wanted to take a few pictures with my tripod, and all the people earlier had made it hard to find a good tripod spot, so I was hoping that some of the crowd had left already.
Jaylin saw that there wasn’t a long line to have your picture made with Lightning McQueen and Mater, so he and Laura went to do that while I started on to the Streets of America.
Once I got there, I found that I was right – several people had already left, and there were not nearly as many people in the street as before. I tried to stay near the end of the street where we came in, so that Laura and Jaylin would be able to find me when they were finished.
After a bit of picture taking, they showed up, and we spent some more time looking around at everything. We had our picture made by a PhotoPass photographer, because there wasn’t much of a line for that, although we did have to wait while the dancing lights did their thing, so that they would all be on in our picture.
After looking around for a while, we started making our way to the entrance, not going too quickly since it was our last night in the parks. We stopped at some of the shops on Hollywood Boulevard that we hadn’t been in earlier in the day. We took some pictures of the area, including some that I set up my tripod for. The street was pretty empty for a while, but by the time I got my tripod and camera set up, the crowd from the showing of Fantasmic! started coming down the street, so they ended up in my picture, too.
Out in front of the park, a PhotoPass photographer was taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree, so we got him to take our picture, too. Might make for a good Christmas card picture for next year.
We then went to the bus stop, where there was a bus waiting for us. Not a big tour bus like we had the night before, but we weren’t too upset about it. Back at the hotel, we made one last trip through the gift shop, and then went back to our hotel room to get our last night of sleep there.
It had been another fun day. And another fun visit to the parks.
All parts of this series:
Part 1 - Introduction, Getting There
Part 2 - Disney's Animal Kingdom
Part 3 - Epcot
Part 4 - Magic Kingdom
Part 5 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
This was to be our last day at the parks, but we knew it would be a good one.
Even though Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t open until 9:00, we had a breakfast reservation at Hollywood & Vine at 8:25, so it was another early morning. Although we didn’t have to worry about eating breakfast, so that made getting ready go a little faster.
We made it out to the bus stop at 7:15, figuring that would give us plenty of time to get there for our reservation. Besides, we figured it would be better to be early than to be late.
Soon, the bus we were waiting for arrived. And it ended up just being the seven of us and one other couple on the bus. As we pulled away, the bus driver started talking. He said he was hoping for more people so that we could sing the Birthday Song and Wheels on the Bus. Sounded like my kind of bus driver already.
He asked us questions about what the favorite restaurant for kids was, saying that if we had looked at our brochure for the park, we would know that. He said looking at the brochure would help us save steps so that we wouldn’t be so tired and would feel like spending more money. He asked where we were from. He asked how many times we had been there. He asked again about singing the Birthday Song and Wheels on the Bus. And we were all having such a good time that he asked if we could just ride his bus all day to keep things lively for him. Which might have been fun. But the Studios and our breakfast were waiting for us.
Once we got there, he gave us a card with his name on it. So thank you, Charles, for a great ride! It is always more fun when the bus drivers have a bit of personality.
Because we were so early, there was virtually no line for bag check, and almost no line for the turnstiles. A cast member from the restaurant was there at the turnstile line to make sure we were on the list, so that we could go on in. And on our way in, we had to stop and take a few pictures of the empty street, which always looks just a bit strange without any people around.
Click for a larger view
There was another cast member at the end of the street to direct us on toward the restaurant. We were hungry enough that it really wouldn’t have been a problem – we knew right where we wanted to be. I was wondering if we would have to wait until our reservation time, because it was only 7:50 by that point, meaning we were 25 minutes early. But they took us right in and took us right to a table. Cool!
Breakfast was a buffet, so we were free to help ourselves to that. The waiter said he would get our drinks, which were included in the price, and he let us know that there was coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, soft drinks, and a few other things. Hearing the magic words “soft drinks,” I asked if I could start with orange juice and then switch to Coke, which he said would be no problem at all. I liked the place a whole lot more right then.
As we were getting our food, the characters from Disney Jr. started coming out to meet everyone. Handy Manny came by our table first, followed by Special Agent Oso. Then all of the characters and a couple of cast members did a song and dance number, although we couldn’t persuade any of our kids to participate in that. I guess they were too busy eating.
Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates came by next, followed by June from the Little Einsteins. We persuaded Zach to give her a kiss, capturing it in a picture. He will probably regret that sometime, I’m thinking.
It was a fun, if not exactly cheap, breakfast. We all enjoyed it. And I did get my Coke after my orange juice. Gotta remember that for next time. We all agreed that we were good and full after that.
Once we were all done at Hollywood & Vine, we set out to explore the Studios. Even though it wasn’t quite 9:00 yet, they had apparently started letting people in the park already. We made our way over to Toy Story Mania, but the line was already 40 minutes long. And the line for FastPasses was long, too. And on top of that, the return times for the FastPasses being distributed was already after 2:00 PM. Crazy.
After discussing it a bit, we decided not to tie up our whole day with a Toy Story Mania FastPass. We had enjoyed it before, but it really wasn’t worth it to everyone.
So instead, we headed over to Star Tours to see if the new version is really as good as everyone says it is, expecting to get a FastPass. But the line was only 10 minutes, so in we went. It was neat to see how the Starspeeder and other things in the waiting area were mostly the same, and yet different. The droid inspecting the baggage is hilarious, and the other droid sounds suspiciously like Patrick Warburton.
Soon, we were on the ride. And it was great! Darth Vader caught us trying to leave, we went to Hoth, and we went to Naboo. I thought it would have been just as good without the 3D, but that added even more to it. That was well worth the update!
While thinking about what to do next, we saw Stitch out for pictures, and Jaylin wanted his picture for Stitch. Which was fine, because there was almost no line. We took pictures, and then started to move on. Of the group behind us, two of the three were wearing Stitch hats, and Stitch went and gave them a big hug. The third of the group was wearing a sorcerer hat, and Stitch just waved him off. Too funny.
Click for a larger view
The Great Movie Ride was right there, so we decided to give it a visit. They were still letting people in the front door, which meant that the line was pretty short. And we didn’t even get to watch the movie previews in the theater; we just went right in. I do enjoy seeing those previews, but not having to wait is fine, too.
I found it interesting that of the two groups of cars, we were loaded in the second group. They had sent the first group of cars through empty, which we saw when we caught back up with them in the Wizard of Oz sequence. As we were riding through, I wondered how many of those movies the kids in our group had no idea about. Probably most of them, I would guess. I should have asked after we were done. I do enjoy the ride still – it is a great technological achievement. But I can see how some people think it might need an update.
We then went back to Star Tours for another flight. Once again, things went wrong and we had a Rebel spy on board. And it was Katie! I always knew there was something about her. We eventually made to safety. Again. Still not sure about this whole Rebel spy business from Katie, though. And she’s so young, too.
Feeling like our stomachs had settled a bit after our big breakfast, we went down Sunset Boulevard to see about the Rock N Roller Coaster. The line was long enough that we got FastPasses, which was okay.
The shops always seem to grab our attention, so we spent some time going through them to see what we could find. Of course, we can always find something. I think they have it planned that way.
We decided to do the Backlot Tour, which is always a favorite. For most of us. Some of the younger ones say they are scared by all the shooting and explosions in the water effects area, although nothing really happens there.
We got in line for the tour and made it all the way up to the front, and then we had to wait for the next tour. Just our luck. So we got to watch the video about the effects on the movie Pearl Harbor, which we still haven’t seen, although we do have the DVD in our cabinet at home. Watching that video makes me want to see the movie a bit now, so I suppose it served its purpose.
After the video, we were the first ones into the water effects area, which means that we were off to the side and couldn’t quite see everything straight on like those in the center could. But we could still see well enough, and we had seen it all before anyway. And then we went off and boarded our tram.
The last time we were there, it seemed like we had to wait quite a while for a tram. But this time, we moved right through the waiting area without much time to look at the props there. We told them there were seven in our party, and they sent five to one row and two to another row. I know this was so that they could get more on the rows, but we are used to being told three and four, because that is how our families break down. So I sat with the Riedels, while Laura and Jaylin were on the row behind us with three of their closest stranger friends.
The tour was fun as always, although not much had changed from our previous visit. And it just isn’t quite the same since they don’t actually do any production there any more. Catastrophe Canyon is always fun, except that our car didn’t rock during the earthquake. All the others seemed to, but ours didn’t. Probably not something a first time visitor might notice, but I was expecting it.
Because of our big breakfast, no one was really getting hungry for lunch. Except for me. So I got a hot dog from the hot dog place after our backlot tour, which was quite good, I thought. Just what I needed, too.
By that time, it was time for our Rock N Roller Coaster ride, so we walked down Sunset Boulevard to get there. The whole FastPass procedure was working well, and the five of us who were riding were inside in no time at all. We boarded our super stretch limo and zoomed all along our way. That fast take-off is still just great, in my opinion.
After our ride, we met back with the others. Brant still had two FastPasses, because he had gotten them for their whole family. Zach said he would ride it again. No one else was wanting to again, so I went along with Zach. Can’t just let Rock N Roller Coaster FastPasses go to waste, after all.
We got through pretty quickly again, and we were seated in our limo. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith counted down from five, and the music played loudly. Except that we didn’t go anywhere. We were still sitting there not moving. So then the music stopped for a couple of seconds, Steven Tyler counted down again, and this time we went. Pretty funny just sitting there the first time, though.
By this time, the FastPasses for Twilight Zone Tower of Terror were all distributed, and the wait was almost an hour. That wasn’t a problem for anyone but me, because I was the only one who really wanted to ride it anyway. But I didn’t want to wait an hour, so we moved along on our way.
We took in some more shops, and I took in some of the citizens of the area doing their thing. Those folks are always so entertaining. One man said to one woman, “Is that a new dress?” “Yes, it is. Does it make me look fat?” “No,” he said, “That dress doesn’t make you look fat.” “It’s all that cake and ice cream you eat that make you look fat.” Good stuff.
We were needing some refreshments by that time, and Cokes and popcorn or ice cream seemed to hit the spot for everyone. It was a warm day out, so something cool was nice.
After our snack, we went over to MuppetVision 3D. When we had passed by earlier, the line was long, but this time it was short. In fact, we went right in, finding ourselves at the back of the crowd seeing the end of the pre-show video. Which I think is just as funny as the main show. But I have seen it enough that missing it isn’t that big of a deal. The movie was fun as always, although it does bring to mind all of the Muppet performers who either aren’t around or have retired from performing these days. Ah, the good old days.
After wandering around a bit more and visiting the shop at Star Tours for some purchases, everyone was starting to get hungry for supper. Our place of choice was Toy Story Pizza Planet. We usually eat there at lunch with a pretty big crowd, but perhaps because it was supper time, there weren’t many people at all. We didn’t have to wait to order, we got our food quickly, and we found a table in the upstairs seating area instead of sitting outside with some of us sitting on the low wall. In fact, we found all the tables upstairs, because there was only one other family up there eating. We almost had the place to ourselves, which was nice. And it was also nice to sit down for a while, because once again we had been on our feet much of the day, or so it seemed.
We strolled around a bit passing the time, while waiting for the proper time to go see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We stopped in the Vinylmation store, because several in our group wanted something from there. Hard to pass those things up, for some reason.
As we were walking, we heard someone say, “Hey, we know those people!” It turned out to be our friends the Roverys from back home. But we didn’t know they are going to be there. We see each other a couple of times a week at church, and then on Facebook, too. But we hadn’t mentioned our trips to each other. They had been there the whole time we were there, and we finally ran into them on our last night. Figures.
Once it was dark enough, we went over to the Streets of America to see the lights. The Osborne Family lights are one of my favorite things about Walt Disney World at the Christmas holidays. So many lights covering all the buildings and just about everything else. And then they start “dancing” to the music. And when they aren’t doing that, it snows. Not real snow, of course, but I will take the fake kind on a warm Florida night over the real stuff any day. It always makes me want to go home and put lights all over our house instead of the more reserved way that we usually decorate. I wonder what the neighbors would think?
We spent lots of time looking around to make sure we saw all that we wanted to see, and that we enjoyed enough snow for the night. After we had finished looking at the lights, the Riedels decided that it was time for them to head back to the hotel. But first, we took one more ride on Star Tours, just to see what different stuff we might see. The line was once again short, with the wait posted at 10 minutes. And we all enjoyed it again. So cool how it isn’t the same each time.
As the Riedels made their way back to the entrance, we Burnses made our way back for one more trip through the Osborne Lights. I wanted to take a few pictures with my tripod, and all the people earlier had made it hard to find a good tripod spot, so I was hoping that some of the crowd had left already.
Jaylin saw that there wasn’t a long line to have your picture made with Lightning McQueen and Mater, so he and Laura went to do that while I started on to the Streets of America.
Once I got there, I found that I was right – several people had already left, and there were not nearly as many people in the street as before. I tried to stay near the end of the street where we came in, so that Laura and Jaylin would be able to find me when they were finished.
Click for a larger view
After looking around for a while, we started making our way to the entrance, not going too quickly since it was our last night in the parks. We stopped at some of the shops on Hollywood Boulevard that we hadn’t been in earlier in the day. We took some pictures of the area, including some that I set up my tripod for. The street was pretty empty for a while, but by the time I got my tripod and camera set up, the crowd from the showing of Fantasmic! started coming down the street, so they ended up in my picture, too.
Click for a larger view
Out in front of the park, a PhotoPass photographer was taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree, so we got him to take our picture, too. Might make for a good Christmas card picture for next year.
We then went to the bus stop, where there was a bus waiting for us. Not a big tour bus like we had the night before, but we weren’t too upset about it. Back at the hotel, we made one last trip through the gift shop, and then went back to our hotel room to get our last night of sleep there.
It had been another fun day. And another fun visit to the parks.
All parts of this series:
Part 1 - Introduction, Getting There
Part 2 - Disney's Animal Kingdom
Part 3 - Epcot
Part 4 - Magic Kingdom
Part 5 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
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