Krista ordered the Tonga Toast, and I ordered the pineapple macadamia nut pancakes, and we shared with each other. I have heard so much about the Tonga Toast over the years, but I was a bit disappointed in it. It didn’t have very much banana in it, and was basically just a chunk of bread. The pineapple macadamia pancakes were very good. While I enjoyed my breakfast at Kona Café, I probably wouldn’t make the effort to go back there unless I was staying at a monorail resort.
After breakfast, we took a bus to Disney Hollywood Studios. We arrived at the studios around 9:30, and went back to grab fast passes for Toy Story Midway Mania. The fast passes were for 1:00 in the afternoon, so we had some time to kill before we could ride.
Since neither of us had seen the new version of Star Tours yet, we decided to make that our first attraction. We were on the ride within ten minutes. I don’t want to give out too many details about the attraction, but I have to say that I love what they did with it. There are over 40 versions of the movie, so you can have a different experience every time you ride. Part of the movie we saw made me think of Mission: Space (ease it right, back to center). They seemed to tame down the motion of the ride a bit--it wasn’t nearly as jerky as I remember.
We took a second ride on Star Tours, and once again got on within ten minutes. The movie this time was a lot different than the first time. We both agreed that we liked the second version we saw better. The first time we rode, we were in the second row, and felt that we had a better view of the screen. The second time we rode, we were in the back of the vehicle, and we thought that you could feel the motion of the vehicle a lot more back there.
After our ride, we headed to the Great Movie Ride. The line was a bit longer than usual, so we had a bit of a wait, but not ridiculously long. This ride is always on my must do list. It’s just so much fun, although I wish that they would update the scenes a bit (for example, take out the alien scene, and perhaps shorten the western and mobster sections so they can include some other great movies).
After the Great Movie Ride, we headed down Sunset Boulevard to the Tower of Terror. The ride sign said it was 20 minutes long, and we were going to wait, but the line was out the front gate, so we decided to wait. As we walked by the ride sign again, the time had increased to 30 minutes!
I headed over to go through the single rider line at Rock ‘N Roller Coaster twice, while Krista went to see Beauty and the Beast. I wound up in line with the same guy both times. The first time, they actually put us in a row together. It was fun chatting with him while we waited in line.
I met up with Krista, who also grabbed fast passes for Tower of Terror. We then headed over to One Man’s Dream, and quickly made our way through the building to see what time the next movie would start. Since it was only a few minutes, we waited to go into the movie. This movie is definitely a must see for Disney fans. It’s great to see video of Walt, and hear his story.
We had a bit of time before our lunch reservation, so we took another ride on Star Tours. Our ride was very similar to our first ride (including the Mission: Space part). We both agreed that the second one was our favorite.
We then headed over to 50’s Prime Time Café for lunch. We arrived early, and sat in the lobby to wait. We had a bit of a wait, but were soon seated. A foreign couple came into the restaurant while we were there, and the woman looked like she dressed specifically for the restaurant. She was wearing a long poodle type skirt (though it didn’t have a poodle on it), and was excitedly taking pictures all round the lobby. It was interesting to watch someone so passionate about the restaurant. She must be a 50’s fan.
Our server was good, but she wasn’t the most interactive sever I’ve ever had at the 50’s Prime Time Café. She didn’t even yell at me for having my elbows on the table. At one point during our meal, Krista spilled a lot of her chocolate shake on the table, making a huge mess, and causing her to say a word that would make Mickey Mouse sad. When our server came over to see the mess, I told her that Krista said a word that would make mom want to wash Krista’s mouth out with soap. The server asked me what Krista said, and I told her that it wasn’t a word that you would ever hear come out of my mouth.
Krista ordered the meat loaf, which she seemed to enjoy. I ordered the pot roast, which is my usual meal at the 50’s Prime Time Café. The pot roast wasn’t as good as it usually is. Normally, the pot roast is very tender, and you can pull off pieces of the meat with a fork. This time, it was more like a brick of beef, and it required cutting it with a knife. It was still good, but I prefer it when it is tender.
Since I was a member of the clean plate club, I decided to order s’mores for dessert. I can’t go to 50’s Prime Time Café without getting some deliciously gooey s’mores.
When we walked out of the 50’s Prime Time Café, it was pouring out. We made a quick dash for the shops on Hollywood Boulevard, and browsed through the shops for a bit. When the rain slowed a bit, we made a dash back to Toy Story Midway Mania to use our fast passes.
We then headed over to the Tower of Terror to use our fast passes. Since there was no line, we decided to ride it a second time. This is my favorite ride at Disney Hollywood Studios (even if I did fracture my tailbone on it once).
We browsed through some more shops as we made our way out of the park to head back to the Contemporary. We were originally planning on spending some time by the pool, but it was raining again, so we just relaxed in the room for a while. When the rain stopped, we wandered around the resort for a while to take some pictures.
As we walked through the 4th floor concourse in the Contemporary, we saw a bride and her entourage. A little girl excitedly ran over to the bride, thinking she was a princess, and wrapped her arms around her. The little girl’s mother pulled her away and apologized to the bride. The bride just smiled and said it was al lright. I have to say that if it were me, I would think it was magical to be mistaken for a princess on my wedding day.
We eventually made our way to the Contempo Café for dinner. Krista got a pepperoni pizza, and I ordered a roast beef sandwich. My sandwich was surprisingly good for counter service. It had a lot of flavor, and the meat was very tender. It was served with roasted potatoes. The potatoes were OK. Some of them were undercooked.
After dinner, we headed back to the room. We were planning on watching the fireworks from the observation deck at Top of the World, and I also planned the evening so that I could be in the room to watch the opening of the Emmy Awards. Krista went out on the deck to wait for the fireworks, while I watched the beginning of the Emmys. I was hoping that the Glee cast would join Jane Lynch for the opening number, but alas, they did not. I was hoping to catch the announcement of the award for best supporting actor in a comeday, as I was hoping that Chris Colfer would end up winning the Emmy, but unfortunately he did not.
I joined Krista out on the deck. There were some guys standing near us drinking and smoking. I don’t think you’re supposed to smoke out on the deck, but that didn’t stop one guy from chain smoking up there the entire time. Someone actually confronted him about it, and the smoker was really nasty about it. I guess his cigarette is more important than anything else.
It was fun watching the fireworks from the observation deck at Top of the World, and the soundtrack was piped in. It wasn’t the best vantage point for the fireworks, though. You see the fireworks shoot up from behind Space Mountain. If you are staying at Bay Lake Tower, and have access to the lounge, it’s worth watching the fireworks from the deck, but if you have never seen them, you are much better off watching them from inside the park.
After the fireworks, we walked over to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours. We headed towards Adventureland, and took a ride on the Jungle Cruise. We then went to visit the Tiki Birds. I’m glad that they went back to the original. I find Iago to be a bit grating because Gilbert Gottfried is so annoying, so it was nice to have the traditional show back.
We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain with very short waits. We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion. We went through the Graveyard queue, so we had a bit of a wait. While it was nice to have things to look at and interact with while we waited in line, I wasn’t overly impressed by the interactive queue. On future rides, I’ll probably use the faster queue on the right.
We then wandered around Main Street for a bit, and headed back to Bay Lake Tower.
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