You can read Day 3 here.
Stitch calls us at 6:30. We're on autopilot today, though it's kind of weird. Today is technically our last full day, but this is the first trip where we don't have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make a flight. We'll actually have the chance to visit a park on the last day, so the downheartedness that usually ensues on this day of the vacation isn't there.
We have ressies at Hollywood and Vine over at the park formerly known as Disney MGM Studios at 8:05. Now, we know that MGM is pretty close to Pop, but we weren't sure about how often the bus made the trip, so we decided to head out to the bus stop around 7:10. Sure enough, at 7:15, up rolls a bus to MGM. We're one of the only folks in the queue and are soon on our way. 7:25, and we're at MGM.
Now what?
We head to the turnstiles because there's nothing else to do, and there seemed to be around 15 others there. All the families had kids, and, after a few minutes, the kids start running around. Hey, they weren't hurting anything or anyone (nobody was there, so there was tons of room), so, what the heck?
Aaron tries to get one of the boys in a stroller to come out and run, but he doesn't seem like he wants to. Aaron starts talking to him, and it looks like the other one doesn't really want to talk a whole lot. I start to tell him to head back out to run, but the mother of the other child tells us that he's autistic and could benefit with some interaction. Aaron's talking to him got him smiling a little and talking some, so all was well there.
The CMs (who looked like they were about to turn into ice cubes…thin-blooded Floridians) let us through about 7:40-7:45, and we do the obligatory pic with the hat (size is 342 3/8 btw) in the back.
We make our way to H&V and talk with some of the parents while we wait. Sensing that everyone else must be freezing as much as they are (@#%!*$ thin-blooded Floridians), the CMs bring out some hot chocolate. Great, loop the kids up on sugar and caffeine before we bring them into your restaurant. You asked for it. We all got some and, before we know it, our name is called to go inside. This is our first time here, so we take a moment to figure out the place. We get to our table, request drinks, and head up to the food.
At first glance, I'd definitely give the nod to the Crystal Palace for food and environment. For the characters, however, especially the interaction, the award definitely goes Hollywood & Vine. We sit down with the food, and, a couple of minutes later, Jojo comes out. We're the first table that she sees…Eric is completely caught off-guard because she materializes out of nowhere right behind him.
Goliath comes up a minute later…
We eat for a minute before the spontaneous singing and dancing starts up. I had a great video of the two of them singing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but it was lost with the hard drive crash.
A little more food, a run to the potty (where I realized that the 50's Prime Time Café is connected to Hollywood & Vine), and June and Leo…
…followed by some limbering up for some more dancing…
...followed by some more dancing…
...and we pay and run out!
For kids under the age of 5 who are into Playhouse Disney, this is an ideal character meal!
We head out and notice that it's about 3 minutes until opening. The opening ceremony is actually going on around ten feet away from us with the Streetmosphere folks. The park opens, and the poor Streetmosphere characters run for their lives as everyone bolts for RNR and ToT (remember...this is 2007 - before Toy Story Mania).
We leisurely stroll down towards Muppetvision 3D. We didn't get to do this in October during the Moose Meet, and we didn't get to do this on Day 1, so I was going to make darn sure we were going to do it today!
Notice anything weird in the following pic?
Ghost town!
We looked around…
I thought I saw a tumbleweed drifting by.
We hop into Muppetvision 3D and grab our glasses. I've never seen the net full of jello or the key under the mat, so I make it a priority to find them. It was hard with all the people in there:
Darned if I couldn't figure out where they were...I'm blind.
We beat the horde into the theater so we wouldn't be stuck at the end of the aisle and grab what's left.
The other group that came in jokingly started to sit right in front of us. Sheri retaliated by pulling out the camera. There were 8 of us in the theater!
Now, I have to preface this with the notion that I am by far the Muppets fan in the relationship. Sheri tolerates this attraction, while I'm usually on the floor laughing even though I know all the jokes.
Two very bad things happened in here for Sheri:
1. We discover that Aaron has my fondness for Muppets…he was on the floor laughing right along with me.
2. (even worse) I caught her actually laughing out loud a few times.
We push our way out of the theater in front of the rest of the audience and head over to the gift shop. There is nobody else in there, which prompts me to enter DISboards mode and complain that there are too few people here and, thus, my vacation is ruined. Wifey decides that I haven't been slapped enough this trip and starts to make up for it. Afterward, we head over to Animation Courtyard in the hopes that the Little Mermaid show is back up. It is!
We hop in and mockingly curse the fact that there are something like 25 people in there with us. The way Eric freaks out with things, I was a bit worried about the rain and thunder in the show, but he took it in stride and liked the dog character.
Day 4, Part II is located HERE
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