natatomic

Why don't they just make it a vodka splashdown? It'll still LOOK like water.

I hate to be the loser who's asking about an inside joke everyone else gets, but what the deal with the rings?

I was a ride-op on Splash Mountain in 2007 as part of the Disney College Program (loved it, loved it, loved it). At the dispatch console. I have some other photos of me running the ride, but I'm afraid they might show too much "behind the scenes" stuff, and I don't want to get into trouble with Disney for "bad show" or ruining the "magic." You know how they are about that. Me in front of my laughin' place

^By several hours in fact!

Awesome pictures! What kind of camera do you use?

^Plus, when the economy is bad, people tend to cut back on luxuries, i.e. vacations. So instead of that week-long trip to Disney World Mom and Dad were gonna take Junior on, they decide to spend a fun, less expensive weekend at the local park (like Kings Dominion) instead.

^I agree with Erik.

I've not been to SFKK yet, but just from your pictures, it looks like it would just slightly rank below SFA for me (though I must admit that I only place SFA higher due to Superman: Ride of Steel. And maybe Wild One.) Have you been to SFA? How would you rank the two? Anyway, great TR!

Don't tempt me. I may do just that. Not for an insane amount, though - I ain't greedy - just enough for one of next year's TPR trips. I think that's reasonable for the amount of mental anguish I experienced due to that lackluster caption.

Ugh, it might as well be. Roar is AWFUL! (Sorry Jason ) Last year, it was the A that was blown over backwards, making it look like "Butwing." Add in one more T, and I think they've got it right. But really, have they ever heard of nailing stuff down (like your mom?) Or using super glue? Or even scotch tape?! Jeeeeeez. And that flag was missing last year, too! Come ON, SFA. At least PRETEND like you're trying. Anyway, great trip report!

The Large Hadron Collider will have nothing on us. Thanks for all the wonderful comments so far, everyone!

We only rode it the one time, and while we were loaded in the 80s, the first song in the medley was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which I'm pretty sure was not an 80s song. I don't remember any of the other songs, though. Robbie's gonna have to jog my memory on that. I don't think so. I only remember some sort of audio "how to" with the row letters/numbers on the floors, since it's not exactly the most GP-friendly method of loading. But honestly, I didn't pay much attention. That picture is one of my prouder moments, I must say.

That's true. I forgot to mention that the weather looked like this on the way there: It had stopped raining by the time we got to the park, but I'm sure it was enough of a downpour to keep away the other 12 people who thought about doing the park that day.

Mmk, let's see if I remember how to do one of these PTR things. It's been a while since my last one (which I never even finished - but listen, I'm really sorry about that. Promise. Does it help any if I say I feel REAL bad about it? 'Cause I do.) But really, what can I say about Freestyle Music Park that you couldn't guess yourself? We were there last Thursday when the park was open from 4-10pm, and we were basically 2 of 5 people that were in the entire park. Theming? Excellent. Rides? Not worth much more than the $16ish we paid to get in (Carolina discount, yo.) We had the park done in less than an hour and a half, and that included a separate lap for photos. The B&M: I loved the color scheme, and the ride itself was fun in a cute sort of way; but it's nothing to write home about. I actually liked the music incorporated into the coaster (except in the station, the lift, and the end course break run, where it was WAY too loud), but Robbie (All Clear) didn't seem to care for it. The odd thing about the coaster was that it was basically one long, continuous grey-out for me (which isn't something I experience too often on rides), but the coaster wasn't even what I'd call "intense." I have no idea how they pulled it off, but props to whoever engineered that oxymoron of a coaster. The ferris-wheel coaster (as you can see, I have the names of these rides totally chiseled into my rock of a brain) : I really enjoyed the lift, but the coaster part couldn't have been more than 30 seconds long, which was pretty disappointing. It was like riding Top Thrill Dragster without the thrill. Or the -ster. So that leaves us with what? Top Drag? Uhhh, yeah. The soaker coaster thing: Really rough. Rougher than any of the other soakers I've been on (which is a grand total of one, but who's really counting?) Robbie and I sat in the back to avoid getting drenched which worked out pretty well for the most part. My hair got a little damp, but we all gotta make sacrifices these days, eh? The kiddie: It was a kiddie. Fin. The other coaster I've not yet talked about: As far as mine trains go, it was probably the roughest I've been on. The speakers weren't working, so I don't know if that's something they're still working on, or if they'll just never play again. The only thing that really saved this coaster was a BIG FREAKING FIREBALL at the end, which I did NOT see coming; and it was that lovely fireball that ended up being the highlight of the entirely trip for Robbie and me. I love you, Fireball!!!! The dark ride: I never got to HRP when it was HRP, so I had no idea what was actually in the original dark ride beyond the fact that it was themed to an acid trip (which I'm sure you all know how TOTALLY FAMILIAR I am with those. Totally. I go trip on the acids all the time. Green acids...blue acids...I've, uh, tripped them all. Yep.) Still, I can GUARANTEE you the Nights in White Satin was better than what it is today, because it was nothing but motionless 2-d cardboard cutouts. Granted, the new owners had, what? Two months to completely gut the ride and put a WHOLE NEW RIDE in? So maybe it's temporary. Lord, I hope it's temporary. But it was just SO bad that Robbie and I just HAD to get shirts in honor of the ride, and part of me wonders if that wasn't exactly what the new park owners were going for all along. Sneaky b@st@rds and their reverse psychology. They're gonna make a fortune. All in all, Freestyle Music Park HAS potential. It is DRIPPING with potential. I'd love to see it make it and really become something, like the next Universal or Disney. But judging by what the park has to offer right now, judging by what the new owners have to work with, it's gonna take a miracle. (And shade. Holy crap, does that park need shade.) And then we left. Good timing too, eh? Look at the throngs of people rushing in. I felt so bad for these guys. No audience to sing to. :'( I guess they get paid either way, but STILL. My guilt complex overrides any ounce of logic I have in me. Completely empty restaurant. Kinda creepy theming... Theming theming theming.... Theming... But see that metal thing with the two arrow heads? You can't see it all from here, but that's where the AWESOME fireball happens (i.e. that's where MAGIC happens, mmmhmmm.) Mine train I think this one speaks for itself. Soak'd - I don't know what purpose it serves to leave out the E. Is it hip? Is it all the rage? Is the letter E offensive to some people? Is it the number 13 of the alphabet? PLEASE TELL ME! Kiddie A lone entertainer entertaining the only people in the park (who I suspect are her proud family coming to see her in action). Okay. Let me get this straight. You can disassemble an ENTIRE ride and redo it within a matter of a couple of months, but it's too much for you guys to replace the zippo lighter with a torch for Lady Liberty? Really? You couldn't take five minutes to whittle one out of balsa wood? Put a fake ice cream cone in there or something? Wow. It's official. FMP is run by commies. This little area was fun. *shrugs* This is a picture inside the queue. I'm not even kidding. I can see more with my eyes closed. Ohhhh...this thing. There were a couple of areas like this in the park, where, if I wanted too, I could have easily HAD MY FINGERS TAKEN OFF. I'm not kidding - I'm 5'4 1/2", and it would only have taken one tiny hop for me to grab onto the track. Obviously I know NOT to do that, but what about the GP? Doubt it. Remember the rolling head at SFoG? Anyone? Good thing no one goes to this park, else someone would've died by now. I'll admit, I like the new name they came up for this one. Yep...pretty British. Oh wait! You mean to tell me that this land in FMP is called "Across the Pond?" Well, I'll be! A look at the coaster across the pond. Hands off ladies, he is TAKEN. I was disappointed in this thing, because each falling stream of water is NOT it's own unique note. I wanted to play my OWN song, not whatever bought & paid for Led Zeppelin song is programed in there. So apparently a time machine is nothing more than a zeppelin with some spiderwebs and cogwheels on it. Who knew? The rest of the train was completely empty. I don't know what I took this crap photo for, but at least you can see where the camera is for on-ride photos. You can't tell in the picture, but that stuff on the walls is actually a mosaic of album covers. Okay, so as long as we're talking about crowds and how there weren't any, let's discuss operations. Ugh. They weren't too bad for the other rides, but this thing had one train running and it dispatched (no joke) approximately once every 15-20 minutes. Mmmm...B&M support goodness. It actually was crowded at the park, it's just that the Harry Potter books are TRUE and everyone had an invisibility cloak. I'm hoping when/if the park closes, they'll let me have the B&M test seat. *Insert your own Scare Force One joke here.* Children are invisible in South Carolina. Don't worry that FMP lowered its ticket prices. They're obviously gonna make millions on merch sales. Seriously, it was Robbie & Natalie & No One Else Day at the park. Myrtle's Beach? Myrtle who? Hmmm...I feel like there's an allusion here I'm just not getting... Awwww! Easily the most attractive people in the park. (Also the only people in the park, but whatever. LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT.) See? Pretty, pretty theming. I have a hunch that there used to be something sitting on that little red circle... OH MY GOSH ALL THE PEOPLE WE MUST KNOCK DOWN TO BEAT TO THE RIDES. (There are gonna be a lot of terrible oh-heavens-look-at-all-these-people-and-note-my-adorable-and-charming-sarcasm jokes, so you better get used to them now) I know HRP/FMP wanted to attract an older crowd, but I think they might have overshot it a bit. We arrived about five minutes after the park opened. As you can see, we did not beat what I'm sure was an INSANE rush. Hard Rock Parkway...I'd like to know how the street name isn't infringing on any copyright laws. This was the 4th billboard in a row within a 100 yard stretch of road about 40 miles away from the actual park. Then we didn't see another billboard for the REST OF THE DRIVE. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.

^My grandma would take my cousins and me to Lake Winnie all the time when we were little, and we would spend at least half the day doing nothing but that boat chute. It's every bit as awesome as it looks. Nice TR Kim!

And I could be completely wrong about this (not so good with the physics), but I think the longer train really enhances the airtime. On Behemoth, the front row just THROWS you unlike any row on any other coaster I've ever been on. I'm curious to see how Diamondback compares.

I can't say this anywhere else online because my uncle cyberstalks me on just about every social networking site I use - but he is DRIVING ME INSANE. I can't even make a simple status update/blog/note/etc. about the weather or an itch on my foot or...I dunno, a delicious pizza I had for dinner without my uncle commenting and making some snarky, nonsensical political statement in return.

^Well, it's not the first time I've made a grown man cry.

^What, did my trip report open up your sinuses or something?

Day 4: Universal Orlando Resort First of all, thank you for your patience with me. I'm well aware of my sloth-like speed at these updates. I'm sure you hate hearing excuses, but that makes me want to use them even more, so here they are: 1) I got some dust in my camera sometime last fall, and I have yet to figure how to get it the heck out. I've tried special cloths, special brushes, and everything else special that the camera store people could sucker me into buying (I've since returned it all, but still...). I could send it off for a professional cleaning, but it's $65 and I refuse to spend that much money on something I could (theoretically) do myself. Anyway, the downside of my frugality is that I have half a dozen black spots in every single photo I take, and I have to go through each one individually to photoshop the spots out. And I have a lot of photos. You can imagine the fun. 2) School started last week, and that always puts me in an unmotivated funk. It's a boring excuse, yes, but true and reasonable nonetheless. 3) I keep stalling, hoping that tomorrow - yes, maybe tomorrow! - TPR will magically get a nifty multi-photo uploading tool like facebook or myspace, which would reduce my TR-making time from 37 1/2 hours to 5 minutes and 14 seconds (I've done the calculations). Come on, Robb...you can do it! I will personally bake you a pie from scratch and send it to you if you make it happen. But on to the report. I got to do Universal all by my lonesome that Sunday, which was fine by me because through my numerous visits, I have come up with a very specific and efficient way of conquering the two parks, and I don't like anyone else's wants or desires dragging me down (I know, I'm so sweet, right?) Of course, the weather ended up being a giant monkey wrench in my oh-so-efficient plan - the rain came pouring down around lunch-time, it never let up, and I called it a day around 3:00, but with there being only about 5 people between the two parks all day, I was able to get almost everything in except for Dueling Dragons (which was closed most of the time due to the weather anyway) and all of Toon Lagoon. And thus concludes the Universal Orlando Resort portion. Magic Kingdom to follow. Some pretty buildings to wrap us up... Um, yeah, things were about to get real ugly, real soon. Psh...stupid Poseidon. DD was running again as I left, but I was cold and wet enough as it was. Plus, I saw a lightning bolt in the distance, so I knew it wouldn't be open much longer. Well, after about three hours of putzing around a couple of shops hoping for the rain to stop, I decided to cut my losses and call it a day. I went back the way I came, so I still didn't go through Toon Lagoon, but it's not my favorite land, so I didn't feel like I was missing much. This! Tadaaa! If you don't think that's hot, you better check your pulse. This is some Dino DNA they mixed with mine to create... I'm no paleontologist, but I'm pretty sure those temporal fenestrae aren't supposed be filled in. By the time I made it here, I was soaked to the bone. Haha, get it? BONE? Like dinosaur bones...? Ha...ha? Yeah? :/ After taking this picture, I then proceeded to make out with this sign. YES. After a while, I realized that the rain wasn't going to stop any time soon, so I made my way deeper into the park by dashing from covered area to covered area. This is the view from one such spot. I suppose I could have done this Poseidon's Fury thing with it being entirely indoors and all, but I was pretty peeved with them for turning off the water vortex tunnel a few days previous. Besides, I NEVER got over them changing to that stupid Darkenon story line a couple years back. Wasn't Poseidon the bad guy originally? And now they want us to ROOT for him against the lamest-named fictional character to have ever fictitiously existed? PUH-LEAZE. Yeah, no, sorry Universal. I'm starting a one-woman boycott against this attraction until you fix this mess. Awww, see?! Though as cute as he was, I still couldn't bring myself to buy him. Kinda regret that now. But if I have any fans out there, or maybe even a generous stalker or two, this would be an excellent present you could surprise me with. I'm sure you could find one on ebay. I'd give you my address so you could ship it to me, but, unfortunately, I'm not stupid. Still, a TRUE stalker would find out where I live. That's kind of their function, right? And I found Horton! He's so cute in stuffed form! I ducked into this shop for at least a half hour hoping that the weather would clear. Ah, then the rain came. It's nice too see that despite his depression over the Truffula trees, the Once-ler still has enough cheer within himself to decorate his house for Christmas. They don't allow flash photography on this ride, and since I had to use such a slow shutter speed on my camera, I'm surprised these pictures came out as well as they did. I'd love to work on this ride if for no other reason but to wear that awesome Cat in the Hat get-up. Just another crazy long line. As a huge fan of Dr. Seuss, this land is one of my favorites, despite the fact that it's quite tame, ride-wise. However, I can live without thrills, so long as they make up for it in cuteness. And they do. Oooo....scary dark clouds.... I know you expected to see Toon Lagoon next, but I decided to go back the other way. I'm tricky like that. I think this had about a 10 minute wait as well, but I got to use the single rider line which allowed me to ride 6 times in a row with no wait at all. Word of encouragement out there to the lonely and friendless - sometimes it's worth it. I love this room. That spider is brilliant. It's both decorative and functional, and I'm totally putting one in the living room of my future house. The Spider-Man ride always satisfies the occasional urges I have within me to fight crime against those who break the laws of physics and probability. Yeah, it's kind of a niche field... I think I had about a 10 minute wait for the front row. All the other rows were walk-ons. Still, the coasters at IOA are what got me into this hobby to begin with, so they'll always have a special place in my heart no matter what kind of brain damage they inflict upon my delicate cranium. (By the way, I apparently missed this photo in the de-spotting process. See 'em all?) I got to ride the Hulk before the rain, but I almost wish I hadn't. The B&M rattle is almost becoming too much for me. This thing needs a paint job. BADLY. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love the architecture of the buildings in the Port of Entry. Mmmk, enough Studios. Time for some I of A. Cyberdyne! Yet another name to add to my ever-increasing list of possible baby names to be used at a later date. Three seconds after I took this shot, rain fell down in BUCKETS without any warning. I mean, yeah, the dense gray clouds were kind of a hint, but there was just no gentle sprinkle to ease us into the downpour. Luckily, it only lasted for about 2 minutes. But it was a teaser of what was to come later. E.T.! I swear, if they ever get rid of this, heads will roll. Ohhh, you know what this is... Okay, BttF-bias aside, the ride was well done for what it is. Kinda funny, kinda obnoxious, totally Simpsons. By the way, this actually had a relatively long line. I'd say I waited over a half hour. Not because there were that many people in line with me; but they were only running ONE row in one theater. That tends to severely hinder capacity. Some pre-show stuff. At least they included an homage to Back to the Future in their queue video loop. Sigh... Are these those sphere things? I've just never seen them deflated before. They look like floating boobs. MIB never seems to be that popular, but I always make sure to ride it at least once. Any ride that has both competition and shooting is my kind of ride. It's where I shine. Honestly, when do you EVER get to take a picture of this shark without millions of other tourists in the shot? Yeah. There's no real purpose for including this picture, I just think the building is neat. By the way - have I mentioned how windy it was that day? 'Cause it was. Ugh, it looks tacky even from here. Sorry, Simpsons fans - I'm a traditional girl at heart. I think their buildings are anorexic. :/ Mummy is always my first stop. I rode it four times in a row, with no wait for the front row. It was magical. I'm telling you - NO ONE WAS THERE. And I don't think they can use severe weather as an excuse. I mean, it's Twister. *Twister* Twister was a bit slow to open I know they've probably got half the track up for the new coaster by now, so this photo isn't really relevant anymore, but eh...this is what the construction looked like nearly two months ago. I don't usually have many pictures of me in my trip reports, mainly because my photogenicity (uh, photogenicness...?) is not something that usually falls under the umbrella of my self-confidence. Also because my camera is really big and difficult to take self-shots with. But I needed a new facebook picture for my reserve, so I made the extra effort. I like to start off at the Studios first, and I really have no good reason for why other than that's how I've always done it, and I am nothing if not a creature of habit.

Day 3, continued So long from Animal Kingdom! Next I'll be taking a break from Disney and doing the Universal thing. The very windy, very rainy Universal thing. I don't know what the hell that thing is on the bird. Is that it's heart popping out? That's just gross. Monkey Island or Monkey-topia or something like that... Whoops, almost forgot the must-take photo of Everest. And I took a picture of this because of the whole turtles-are-the-best-ever thing. I found this over in Camp Minnie-Mickey, and I thought it was so neat that I decided that when I have my own house someday, I (read: my husband) am gonna build one of these in my backyard. I took the picture so I'd have some sort of plan to go by. See, this is when you know a park is themed well - when the bathrooms are pretty enough to take a picture of Whoa, spoiler alert! View from It's Tough to be a Bug's queue Then is scared the holy poop out of me when it flew right by my face. I found this pretty bird sitting on a fence... And doesn't Disney already have, like, eight other attractions just like this on property? I mean, Wild Mice are soooo Six Flags-esque. Or at least Ma and Pa Amusement Park & Tackle Shoppe-esque. This is one of my least favorite lands in Disney - too state-fair like, too unmagical and gaudy. Turtles are my favorite animal, so I just couldn't help myself. Had to take the picture. Then I printed it out and put it under my pillow at night to keep me company. See what I mean? In the station, where they do NOT warn you about stepping on butterflies. At least they can't shoot you when we return if you screw things up since they don't tell you HOW to not screw up. But this guy gives me the willies. I don't like people who break the rules, especially the rule about smuggling in Dinosaurs from the past. Before you board, you must be debriefed by Mrs. Huxtable. This is a good ride, but it's just so darn LOUD. Every time we come up to the Carnotaurus right as they take you picture, I instinctively cover my poor, delicate ears. I've ridden this attraction at least a dozen times, so it's not like I have no idea what's going to happen, but even being consciously aware of it, I've yet to ride Dinosaur ONCE without losing control of my arms as they automatically dart up to the sides of my head. I'm kind of a Ride Phone enthusiast. Mmmhmm, how I'd love to run my fingers through that fluffy arm hair... Oh my stars and garters! What ever shall we do?! I would like to know what kind of plant food they give that tree. That is quite the vibrant shade of green. Up we go. I dunno, I kinda think the Yeti is cute. I like my men hairy. That's the real Mt. Everest, you know. Disney bought it, hooked it up to a trailer, and brought it over. It wasn't as hard as you'd think it'd be.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom I must be hitting a post-holiday slump because after I typed that first line, I stared at this otherwise blank box for about 20 minutes trying to figure out what on earth to say here. Um, Animal Kingdom is fun? Good times were had? What a wild park it is, yuk yuk yuk? (5 more minutes) Yeah, still nothing. OKAY. Animal Kingdom: Great time. The lines were not bad at all, again, thanks in part to the lovely fastpass. I got to ride the Safari four times, Everest twice, and all the other major attractions once, and I still had plenty of time to just putz around and wander. Granted, I didn't do any of the shows this time around, and I stayed as far away from Kali River Rapids as possible (no moisture must EVER touch my precious, precious hair once outside the shower, lest terrible, ugly things happen), so I'm sure that all has something to do with it. Primeval Whirl was also back up and running during my visit, but since they were only operating the one side that I already have in my credit count, I didn't bother. I seem to remember that PW is one spinning mouse that lives up to its name, almost to the point of being all painful and whiplashy, so coaster or not, it's not one that I need to do twice unless another credit is involved. (What you're about to read isn't all that exciting. It's a lot harder to make animals funny than you may realize. That being said, after uploading a million Safari photos and still having more than than half the park to cover, I decided to split the report of this park into two. I'll post the rest of Animal Kingdom later. kthx) Unrelated to the photo, but this TR is taking longer than I thought, and it's getting late here on the east coast, so I'm gonna end here and I'll finish the rest of Animal Kingdom in the next day or so. Promise! Or I'll try to promise, anyway. I waited around for 15 minutes to get a three second glimpse of the otters. Good thing they were cute. If my dad were writing this TR, he'd probably make some crack about his first ex-wife right about now. You can see my reflection, but I swear I am not at all that red. No, my skin is definitely closer to the color of...hmmm, plaster, probably. Yeah, that's how I'd describe it. Plaster white. These next few photos were taken on the little nature trail walk-through thing near the safari. You can't really tell here, but that island is actually a hidden mickey. This ostrich needs an intervention. The female made a decent appearance on the last go-round, though. This is the best shot I got of the male all day. Turns out that the feline animals are more active during the later part of the day (the opposite is true for everything else, so if you have the chance, you really should do the safari first thing in the morning, and last thing in the afternoon to see all the animals), so, blurry or not, I at least have one picture of the cheetah where I can confidently point to it and say, "There. There is the cheetah." There's a cheetah somewhere in this photo, I swear. Don't ask me where it is though, because I couldn't tell you. But everyone else in the truck was pointing and shouting, "There it is! There it is!" as we passed. Well, I never saw it, but I figured I might as well take the photo, that way I could search for it later at my leisure. Still, no luck. Almost forgot a picture of the "over 1000-years-old" tree. All of my tour guides let it be known to us that this was their "favorite view of the savanna." You'd think they were going off a script or something. I didn't get a great photo of the hippos this trip (out of all those go-rounds ftw?!), so I'm using this one from a past trip. Is that cheating? Every time we reached the crocodiles, everyone in the vehicle emitted audible gasps and moans as though they were worried that the crocodiles were suddenly going to leave their relaxed state of sunbathing, dart the 30 yards towards us, climb the 5 yard natural barrier separating them from us, climb in our truck, and eat us all alive, all within the 7 seconds it took us to drive past them. Birds don't have deodorant, so they have to air out their pits from time to time. Even though my safari trips were spread throughout the day, for efficiency's sake, I'm condensing the photos into one group. I think you'll all agree that the "& Bar" is the most important part. Obviously that tree isn't real, but are there any real tree in the world that are really that short and squat? The Tree of Life just always struck me as rather...obese.

Great TR Roxanne! So was it really not that busy? That'd be a good thing to know in case I want to plan a summer trip up there in the next year or so.

Wha? Did you take a sidetrip to Utah? I thought Midway Mania was great, too, last October; alas, I rode it but once. (Hmm--actually, I'm pretty sure it'll be great next October, or any other month, for that matter. Just thought I'd clarify my comments a bit.) Um, whoops. Sorry, doped up on cold medication. Fixed!

HAH! Showed you! Day 2 - Disney's Hollywood Studios Since Christa had to work early, it was just Chris and I for most of day, right up until he had to go to work as well and I was left all by my lonesome boo hoo hoo blah blah blah. Anyway! It was unsurprisingly busy, but luckily DHS doesn't have too many must-do rides for me, so by the grace of the all-mighty Fastpass, the crowds weren't too much of an issue. I heard some only-so-so reviews for the new Toy Story ride, but I actually liked it well enough. Of course, I didn't have to wait two hours to ride it. Plus I totally dominated Chris at all the games because I have killer aim. So. All good. Also, the Osborne Lights? ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Oh my goodness, I almost thought about crying (sorry - stone heart. I haven't shed a single tear since the late 80s. It's tragic, really.) Oh, one last thing before I get to the pictures: Somehow I didn't manage to get a single photo of the one and only coaster in the park. I don't know how I can even call myself a coaster enthusiast after that. Sorry. Just stone me now and get it over with. Having said that, here we go - (UPDATE: I accidentally uploaded two wrong photos, and when I uploaded new versions, they went all the way to the bottom of the trip report. Sorry about that. Is that fixable?) Farewell from Disney's Hollywood Studios. Next up: Animal Kingdom But we all lived to see another day and to take a picture of a Turkey Leg stand. After this room on ToT, the doors closed and the spiel continued, but we didn't move. And we sat there in pitch black for about 2 minutes, which isn't too terribly long or frightening, unless you have an itty bitty fear of the dark. And plummeting to your death. Not that I'm describing my own fears, but I suspect that if I was scared of such things while stuck in that car, I might have suddenly found myself convinced that something had gone tragically wrong and we were all in fact seconds from our untimely deaths. And I might have panicked a little. Good thing I wasn't scared of that stuff then, huh? Ha. Ha. Ha. Pretty sure this was another head-as-a-tripod shot. Alright, back to the rest of the park. (Yes, some of my photos are a bit crooked. Explanation: with me being so short, people's heads were blocking most of the lights in my photos. So I ended up balancing the camera on my head, standing as still as I could, snapping a picture, and hoping for the best. Needless to say, I got a few odd looks.) So beautiful, no captions needed. Enjoy. Osborne Lights! The End. Then I turned into a smokin' hot dragon. Literally. Look! It's me! Natalie Maleficent Visage. That's right, Mickey. Cover your eyes, so I can't see you. That's how it works. Right up until she fell. Haha, no, just kidding. Trick o' the camera. Ahh, so romantic and graceful. Yeah, I bet he likes her in that pose. Mmmmm...trippy. Sort of Flamboyant Mickey Pontificating Mickey Oh, wait, no. It was just the show. Well, that was kind of disappointing... Then I died in a a tragic Wave accident. But ZOMG! WHITE-LIGHT-AT-THE-END-OF-THE-TUNNEL POV!!!! OOOO! WAVE POV!!!!!!!! The Wave. Didn't expect that in a large crowd with nothing to do but wait until the show starts. By now Chris had left for work, so I had the pleasure of saying, "No, I'm not saving these seats for anyone because I'm at a theme park all alone which is completely normal so stop looking at me like that mmmk?" more times than I'd like to remember. And my kids will all be fluent in both these languages. Yeah, they're going to be the coolest, least-nerdy kids in school. One day, I'm going to live in a house exactly like this. Minus the giftshop inside. I've never seen this store open before, so this was a pretty big moment for me. Okay, so they're more impressive at night, but we'll get to that shortly. Sort of... Christmas lights! There's a crazy rumor that this attraction might not last much longer, so I took a picture because, you know...the picture would. I don't know who they're fooling with that sky mural. I mean, it was pretty obvious after I stared at that wall for a half hour and realized that those clouds weren't moving. Duh. This guy, whose back of the head you're looking at, was with his family and on the VIP tour (note the guy in the plaid vest), which meant that he was either 1) rich or 2) rich and Somebody. Chris SWORE that he was some VP of some monorail department at Disney (he would know, because he's a monorail pilot as well as a Disney Corporate who's-who buff), so I took this picture for him. Then Chris saw his face and realized he was wrong. But it made for a good story, right? Well, it made for a story, at least. Chris also insisted that I take this photo of him by the poster because he is obsessed - OBSESSED - with this show. I was all, "Psh. Nerd," (by the way - pot, meet kettle), "but fine, go pose." And then when I got home, I downloaded the first episode, and next thing I knew it was a whole day later and I had caught up to the current episode of the season. And my life was better for it. Thanks, Chris. Some people like to spend an hour in line to get their photos taken with characters. I like spend 3 seconds of my time taking pictures of characters with other people. Maleficent? Me? Little, sweet, innocent ME? Eh, yeah, that's probably right. I'm pretty cold. Chris was Tarzan, which I thought was pretty spot on. I mean, they're bot guys, so that's pretty good, right? Lumiere also helps people figure out who they are, you know, on the inside. Like draw! And let me just say, after seeing how great my characters turn out during these lessons, I could TOTALLY be an animator. Just so long as I had someone showing me how to do it step-by-step. They'd do that, right? This park isn't big on ride-able attractions, but there are lots of little interactive things to do. I insisted on having my photo taken in front of this log cabin, which made perfect sense given how Lincoln Logs were one of my favorite toys as a child and, like an true southerner, I grew up in a log cabin. Chris insisted on having his photo taken in front of this part of the wall, which I didn't get seeing as how he is neither a Sheriff nor from the 1800s. It spoke to my childhood. Another well-themed queue. Yes, this photo is a bit anachronistic in the report, but the wait time of the ride was steady on this number all day long. TGFFP. (I think you can figure out what that means.) The Pixar area is pretty heavily Toy Story themed for now, but I hear that it may be a bit more varied in the next year or so. I swear, it took me 15 minutes to find the "me." Most of this was new since I'd been there last. It just doesn't have the same ring as Disney-MGM Studios. :/ I HATE drop towers, but I love, love LOVE Tower of Terror. I assume it has something to do with the fact that I can't see the ground (nor my potential death) rushing toward me. I never quite got what a wizard hat has to do with Hollywood. Shouldn't there be a giant movie camera, an super-sized Oscar, or at least a Democrat Party headquarters as the centerpiece instead? First stop - Sid Cahuenga's for some trivia time, which, between Chris and I, we had all the answers, thus the nifty certificates. For some reason I took a photo of the welcome sign, but not the sign of the name of the park. Just so you know, I'm at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Not Welcome World or something like that.