On Saturday January 8th, Allison and I along with my Mom and Dad and Tara and Erik headed to the Disney MGM Studios. We arrived at the park and had a little trouble with our tickets but it was worked out quickly. Then we used the photopass to get some group shots in front of the sorcerer’s hat that is the focal point of the MGM Studios. The photographer ended up being from Attleboro and Mom got his life’s story before we made our way over to see the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous show. This show took place in mostly total darkness or at least it should have but people are illiterate and signs don’t apply to them. Prior to the show messages tell you that the show takes place in total darkness for 7 minutes or so. If your child cannot take 7 minutes of darkness, guess what, not the show for them to see. Step out of line and ride the teacups. So during the show there were two little kids in front of us who were using cell phones as light sources and it really detracted from the enjoyment of the show.

After that we headed over to go on star Tours and I’ll tell you the show is the same at Disneyland but the set is so much better. There is an ewok village and an At-At walker out front and then a place to take pictures on the speederbikes, which are not at all flattering so they won’t be posted when I actually do post photos. (They are coming, I picked out about 25 from the 300 we all took.)

While in Line for Star Tours we ended up right in front of Beth and CJ and Missy and Frank. So after the ride we chatted with them and headed over to see the Muppet 3D show. After the show we headed to a little Coffee Shop and ran into Shelby and Caitlyn. We spent a few minutes with them then headed over to the Great Movie Ride and then the Backlot Tour. Then Tara and Erik went their way and Mom and Dad and Allison and I headed off to get some lunch before our next attraction. We picked up a quick bite of pizza and then it was off to see the Beauty and the Beast stage show. After the show Allison and I went on the Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster. It was awesome but since I knew what was coming I wasn’t about to ride it a second time. Once was just enough for me. That was the fastest roller coaster I’ve ever been on in my life and when it was over my legs were all like jello and I had to give it a minute to stand back up right.

So with our quota of excitement filled for the day we checked out a couple of the more sedate attractions like the Life of Walt Disney who has always been one of my lifelong heroes. The man was simply amazing and the mini documentary on his life is fascinating. After that we went to the attraction about animation and saw how Disney Animators work on characters. That was a great presentation and afterwards we had an animation lesson on how to draw Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. We probably won’t ever be animators but it was a nice thing to do.

By the time we were finished with those things we were hungry and headed over to the Sci-Fi dinner theatre for some dinner. The interior of the restaurant is set up to look like a 1950’s drive in movie theatre where you sit in tables built to look like ’57 Chevy’s. The tables seat 6 people in 3 rows of 2. And all the cars are aimed at this giant movie screen that is playing clips from old monster movies as well as cartoons and clips for the refreshment bar. Dinner was also very good and I can’t quite remember what I had but it was pretty tasty, I do know that I had a chocolate shake that was really good.

After dinner Allison was wiped out so she went back to the hotel and I stayed to see the MGM night show called Fantasmic. It was a fire and water and laser show that features Mickey Mouse against all the villians from Disney Movies. It was a pretty amazing show, I was able to tape the whole thing and hope it came out decently.

After Fantasmic I walked around the shops looking for more pins. I think by this time I had the original 6 pins from the hat plus one I picked up when I got my number and stuff for the marathon and two more featuring Mickey on a motorcycle and Donald on a motorcycle as well. And while I was poking in and out of the shops I ran into my Aunts and Uncles and Cousin. Murph and Connie and Wayne and Cindy and Erin and Danny were in one of the shops and they gave me a ride back to the Pop Century because I needed to get some sleep before the big race on Sunday. But that is a story for another post.