Cirlonde
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2014
Tuesday, October 26th
Day Four: Part 1
Day Four: Part 1
Rope drop at Hollywood Studios was quite the experience! We (like 90% of the other park-goers) were anxious to hit Toy Story Midway Mania. We were all let into the park about 8:40 and then held for a few minutes within the park before being slowly walked towards TSMM. Unfortunately, it started drizzling and spitting rain which kept up for most of the morning. On the positive side, at least we weren’t being forced to stand in blazing sun on hot concrete! However, the most “entertaining” part of rope drop was a very loud gentlemen who insisted on shouting across the heads of about a dozen people to his father.
This was mildly aggravating for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t really understand why he didn’t just weave his way over to his father. They were basically parallel to each other across the crowd, so “cutting” through the group wouldn’t have put him any further ahead in line and would have been much less disrupting. Second, the father was apparently having difficulty understanding his son anyway. So this shouted exchange went on for a good 5-7 minutes. Third, the son was about six feet tall, standing almost right next to me and had one of those voices that resonates. And lastly, why not make your plans for the day before you get inside the park?
Justice was served though, because (as the entire crowd soon found out) the son was explaining to his father that he was going to run over and get his child signed up for the Star Wars show, after which he would meet them back at TSMM in time to use his FastPass which would allow the rest of his group to ride TSMM at least twice. Now, this sounds like a pretty decent plan, right? Well, I have to admit that I chuckled quietly to myself because no one bothered to speak up and let the son know that the Star Wars show was currently closed! Also, he didn’t appear to have his child with him and I’m pretty sure they won’t let you sign up without the kid being present.
Why didn’t I politely mention it to him? Well, mostly because that’s totally not in my nature. I’m very much an introvert and generally go out of my way to keep to myself and avoid confrontation. On top of that, I got the distinct impression that this was the type of man who would have argued (loudly) with me anyway and it would have served no purpose. A very small part of me sort of wanted to follow the guy and see how the whole thing played out! Do your research, people!
Anyway, that was really the only even slightly negative experience we had the whole trip and it was just a mild annoyance. And soon enough, we were shuffling our way into the TSMM queue, gearing up to shoot things!
This was our first time to experience the stand-by queue as last year we only rode once with our FastPasses. But in hopes of getting a couple of rides in, we did stand-by first and then planned to use our FastPass. The line moved relatively quickly and within about 10-15 minutes, we were hopping into our car.
The first time through stand-by, there was a family doing their best to take a family photo in front of each section of the queue but the line was really just moving too fast and they were holding everyone up. There was one group between us and the picture-taking family. After about ten photos, the woman right in front of us darted up and threw her arm around one of the guys getting his picture taken just at the last second. It was the most hilarious photobomb I’ve ever witnessed! I’m not entirely sure how the family felt about it, but the woman definitely pulled it off well. She had them laughing with her about it and it stopped them taking pictures every two feet!.
The second time through stand-by, I spent a few minutes FaceTiming with my three year old niece. She’s absolutely adorable and I had sent her the video from our Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. She loved it (especially Sleepy and the skunk) and she wanted to show me the video, because you know…that’s how toddlers are, haha! I couldn’t turn that down and we had plenty of time while we stood in line. She sure helped the wait go by a little quicker! This time, there was a couple ahead of us who were probably in their late 60s, maybe early 70s. And they each had a paperback book in hand that they were reading as we shuffled along. This just warms my heart because I’m huge bookworm and I love to see other people who will take any opportunity to pull out a book.
Okay, I guess I’ve stalled as long as I can and I’ve finally got to show our embarrassing scores! The top right picture was our first ride on which I was blue and Jeremy was red. The bottom left picture was our second ride; I was green, Jeremy was yellow. And finally, the bottom right picture, I’m blue and Jeremy was red.
By the time we finished our three rides (battles), it was only 10am but was still sprinkling. So we decided to get in line for the Great Movie Ride, which we had skipped last year. I have to admit, the best thing about that ride was getting to sit down and be out of the rain. I was just not really all that impressed. However, I’m also not a movie buff, so I can see how it would probably be more entertaining for someone who was.
By the time we got off, the rain was starting to pass which meant it was getting even more humid. We had a FastPass for Tower of Terror so we started working our way that direction. Tower of Terror was one of the rides I was most intimidated by last year but I ended up quite enjoying it, so I was looking forward to a second chance on that elevator. Boy, was I in for a totally different ride this time!?! Last year, we were on the front row, which made for a much better ride photo and we only dropped two or three times and never a full fall. This time though…wow! I swear we fell at least five times and at least two of those falls were the full height of the building or at least close. Talk about exhilarating! My legs were shaking when we got off! I hadn't noticed the poor little girl in front of me while we were on the ride, but after I saw the picture I felt so sorry for her! She seems terrified!
Last edited: