Paul's Down-Home Page

That would be Tim, who now has a real blog.

On our previous visit to MGM, we had a great time but didn’t hit most of the big-ticket attractions because we went around dinnertime. This time, we hit the park first thing in the morning. We started off with the Indiana Jones stunt show, which recreates a couple of scenes from various Indy movies. It’s actually quite cool. Thomas was particularly enthralled, since now he knows how to throw a character punch (plus there were lots of explosions, always a plus for the 5-year-old set.)
Mom, Thomas, and I rode Star Tours, which was mildly amusing; it’s a simulator ride through a Star Wars space battle. I rode the Tower of Terror— it was great. You go up in a Twilight Zone elevator, then you free-fall a random distance, then you repeat that cycle a few times. Matt has since taken great delight in pointing to the Tower every time he sees it and intoning “Tower of Terrrrrr!”
David, Mom, and Thomas went to the Drew Carey “Sounds Dangerous” show, which the non-Disney guidebooks all describe as lame. They all liked it, though. For lunch, we had reservations at the Prime Time Cafe, where the schtick is that you’re eating at home with “Mom”. Our waiter, Mickey (yes, that’s really his name), was very zealous at reminding the boys to keep their elbows off the table, and he wouldn’t let Arlene or David order dessert because they didn’t clean their plates. He also did something that I found incredible: after Thomas popped Matthew’s balloon sword, Mickey went next door to the Indiana Jones shop and bought Matt a plastic sword to replace it. Try that at Burger King.
I didn’t keep any notes on them, but there were two other noteworthy activities. David and I played Millionaire, which was loads of fun. It was wicked cold in the the studio, though. I squeezed in a ride on the Rock-n-Roller Coaster. I’m not a huge Aerosmith fan (as in, I wouldn’t have them over to dinner), but this ride was particularly good at providing an immersive environment– you see a projection of them in the studio, then descend into a very realistic parking garage for a “limo ride” to the concert. A very fast, smooth launch and several corkscrews.
Then we went back to the hotel and ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, one of our favorites. The food was excellent and served in large portions (I recommend the Parmsesan-crusted snapper). We got a coupon from the hotel concierge that gave us head-of-the-line seating and a free appetizer. The animatronic animals are pretty neat, and they play some really invigorating background music. The fish tanks are impressive, too. Note that there are two of these restaurants here: one in Downtown Disney and one in Animal Kingdom. Then, to bed.
Pictures:

For day 3, we went to the Magic Kingdom. It was, well, magical. We got up, ate breakfast at the bus stop, and caught the shuttle to the ticketing and transportation center, where we caught the monorail. The boys and I sat in the front cabin with the driver, giving us a great view of the lake and various Disney resort hotels on our way. When we got there, Arlene rented a stroller and we set off for Fantasyland, but not before seeing Cinderella’s Surprise Celebration. This was certainly a surprise, since we had no clue it was going to happen. Thomas particularly liked it; he has a real crush on Cinderella.
Last time, we hit pretty much every ride in Fantasyland. This trip, the park was more crowded and we had, shall we say, a difference of opinion among the boys over what they wanted to do. We hit it’s a small world, the Peter Pan ride, and Mickey’s PhilharMagic, a simply brilliant 3-D film with terrific effects (including a 3-D apple pie with accompanying scent.) I thought it was one of the day’s highlights.
We also finally visited the Haunted Mansion, on which Thomas hid his head the entire time. David seemed to like it pretty well. (Hopefully on Monday we’ll go back and hit Winnie the Pooh, which was a big hit with David & Thomas last time.
We had lunch reservations at the Crystal Palace for a character lunch. The food was quite good (but pricey), and the boys were delighted to visit Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore, and Piglet. After lunch, we hit Tomorrowland. To my disappointment, the ExtraTERRORestrial Encounter ride was closed, but we managed to ride the Tomorrowland electric railroad and the famous Tomorrowland go-karts. David and I each drove one; Matt was busy napping. After Matt woke up, David, Matt, and I went on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin; Arlene and Thomas had already been. We squeezed in a visit to Frontierland at some point, but I honestly don’t remember when; all we did there was visit Goofy’s Diamond Dance Jamboree– country music, line dancing, Toy Story 2‘s Woody, Jessy, and Bullseye, and, of course, Goofy. We all loved it. (We also rode the steam train, but darned if I can remember when).
We had burgers from the Starlight Cafe for dinner, then we navigated over to Main Street for the Spectromagic parade. Although this was billed as all-new, much of it was familiar to use from our previous visit. Matt in particular seemed to enjoy it, but we hightailed out of the area before the fireworks started. Here are a few excerpts from the day’s pictures (actually, they may be from other days; I’ve given up trying to keep track):