We woke up early and got to The Studios about 20 minutes before park opening. They had just opened the turnstyles so that you could walk past the Curio store and all of the Hollywood Blvd. gift shops and then they had it roped off where you can turn right onto Sunset and make a b-line to RnRC & ToT....which is of course what I think every single one of the hundreds lined up did. We were going to be particularly far back from the front until I went on a little scouting expedition through the gift shop where I found an unoccupied side entrance to Sunset in the form of an awning tarp to be rolled up at park opening. I got my party and we all moved up there, but others had found it by then too but we were still significantly closer.
They had a little opening ceremony with a family pre-selected to be the "Stars of the Day" or something where a director and actress talk about how beautiful they are etc. and then got the family to say "Lights, Cameras, ACTION!" and the park opened. We headed off down Sunset with the flood of people and snagged FPs for RnRC, then went straight to ToT. The man in front of us thought it was quite comical as I started to point out the flora in the ToT queue with remarks like "This is a varitible corncucopia of vegetation, remarkable specimens indeed!" We got on ToT and my g/f was very scared
Not of the drop but of the "creepiness" - the thing that really scared her and something I'd never seen before was during the drop there is like a mannequin standing on one of the girders/rafters in front of the elevator that is of a man leaning against one of the vertical girders non-challantly staring at you and as you fall lightning lights him up and he's featureless. It was pretty creepy and I think it's new! The first ride the drop seemed crappy but we jumped back on the line and re-rode and the second time it was an awesome series of drops and ascents!From there we headed over to RnRC which I absolutely adore! The takeoff into the loop is out of this world and I always pick up my feet at this part so I get the sensation of being airborne! (at Hulk btw I was "running" in my seat and "jumping" sort of like Dumb and Dumber and that was pretty cool too! I felt like Sonic the Hedgehog!)
From RnRC we headed off to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and grabbed FPs for the next show then it was off to the Great Movie Ride! They only sent out one car and it was the gangster car which is my fave, but sadly both the conducter and gangster weren't very good - especially the gangster, she didn't have the voice, didn't project, and didn't seem really into it I guess
I still love the Great Movie Ride though. My friend also had to get special Fourth of July pins at the hat as it was the only place that sold them in MGM. His nieces said they only sold them on that day and they needed them for their collection. He got each of them two, with Minnie and Mickey. I bought one for myself with Donald Duck and it's pretty cool, it's shaped like a star with Donald saluting and holding an American flag and under it attached by two little chain links is a rectangular piece that says "Walt Disney World Fourth of July 2006" After that we JUST made it into the Little Mermaid Show before they closed the doors on us. I love that show a lot with all of the puppets and my g/f adored it as LM is one of her fave Disney movies. The only problem is the parents who bring in their infants and let them SHRIEK at the highest tone they possibly can throughout the whole production. I'm not saying don't bring your babies to Disney World but if you're in a theater and they start crying so loud that it is disruptive to everyone else, bite the bullet and excuse yourself. We shouldn't all have to suffer because you do! (This happened again at Muppets 4-D and my friend almost said something to the parents to leave the theater) This type of behavior is just disrespectful to everyone around you. When my parents took me as a baby anywhere public I know for a fact they always excused themselves from wherever it was be it restaurant, WDW theater, etc. because they've drilled it into my head.
<Will continue later>
to Star Tours and snagged FPs for that instead then hussled back to the Backlot Tour which we did. It started to POUR when we were getting on the trams and we were getting SO SOAKED! It was nuts! In Catasrophe Canyon you couldn't even tell they had rain effects because the real rain was raining so much harder!
So we got to sit there for 5-10 minutes letting the food get cold waiting for him before asking another server for utensils. My food was pretty good but the portion was pretty tiny, my friend and g/f got decent sized portions but weren't thrilled with the quality of the food, which is kinda bad when you're paying 17+ for a meal. I know it's themepark food but it can still be good and fairly portioned i.e. most epcot restaurants, mythos at IOA etc. Then we waited for 15 minutes for the check, then my friend needed change and the change took another 15 minutes. I think I'll stick to Mama Melrose in the future.
I'm sorry! I just think they use the water fan projections wayyyy too much. It's a cool effect but I mean only to a certain point. I realize they need something to fill time while they change sets but it just seems excessive to me. It's still probably my fave Disney show though at WDW.