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Pearl Harbor day dawned far warmer and less blustery than the previous day. My aching feet felt a little better, and the sun was shining, so I took a shower and grabbed breakfast in the lobby, and was on the road by 8am. My destination was the Disney MGM Studios for another internet meet with my friends from Tagrel.com.
I arrived at MGM at about 8:40 and waited patiently with a crowd of Guests for the park gates to open, looking around all the while to spot any of my friends who might have been in the crowd. I needn't have bothered; they were about 4 lines over and slightly behind me, but I didn't see them until I was inside the park. I'm a little dense that way; I've been know to walk past my own brother in a shopping mall.
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The group gathered in front of MGMs Crossroads information kiosk, and when we had all arrived, we began heading toward the Rock-N-Roller Coaster. But on the way, we were stopped by one of those Disney photographers for a group photo and wound up taking several shots with personal cameras as well. When we arrived at RnRc, we all got FastPasses (the Stop portion of the meet) and headed to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the Drop portion.
The Tower of Terror isn't exactly my favorite attraction at MGM. I truly love the lobby and queuing areas, and most of the ride is a phenomenal visit into Rod Stirling's twisted world of weirdness and wonder, but I have always hated free-fall rides, and ToT is most definitely that. So, I never get on ToT unless I have friends dragging me on, kicking and screaming.
This morning, I had enough friends with me that we filled one half of a ride car all by ourselves. And when we made the plunge, or actually, plunges, I whipped up my camera and took a couple of shots out the window, with WDWDen yelling at me from 3 rows back, "Don't do it Will!" I guess he thought I'd get thrown out of the park for taking pictures inside the ride. But when we got off the ride and looked at the official photo, none of the Disney CMs said anything to me about my camera, so I guess they don't care if you take pictures out the window.
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Our ride photo, however, turned out quite well, and both Tagrel and SusanL bought 5x7 copies. Susan also bought a sheet of wallet-sizes, which she handed out to everybody who rode.
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After we left ToT, we returned to RnRc, but our FastPass time had not yet arrived, so we sat outside for a little while and played a Disney World trivia game, courtesy of AliciaG, with prizes and everything. I won a Tagrel.com mouse pad.
After trivia, we rode RnRc, again leaving bags and cameras and miscellaneous junk in the care of those who were not riding due to medical conditions (such as Coaster Chicken Syndrome). As always, RnRc was a great ride, made even better by the fact that we were experiencing it together with our friends. When the coaster was over, the official meet was done, but the group stuck together for a while yet, touring the Haunted Mansion movie set before going on to Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Play it! Although Millionaire had been at MGM Studios for several years, and I do enjoy the TV show, I had never taken the time to sit in on a show at Disney World.
My reflexes aren't great, so even though I knew most of the answers, it was tough for me to push the button fast enough; but as the questions got harder and fewer people knew the answers, my score climbed. I think with a little practice I might be able to get into the hot seat one day and do fairly well in the game.
When the game was finished and we filtered our way out of the Millionaire arena, we all decided to ride Star Tours. After making our way across the park, we found the stand-by line for Star Tours was a meager 15 minutes, so instead of getting FastPasses, we stood in line and continued chatting until we got to our Starspeeder 3000.
I love Star Tours. It's my favorite attraction in MGM, maybe my favorite in all of WDW.
When we finished the ride, we spent at least 20 minutes milling about the gift shop, trying on Yoda masks and looking at the various Star Wars toys, models, clothing, etc. I was particularly amused by a t-shirt showing Yoda in a Santa suit, above the caption "Silent Night, Jedi Knight." I even took a picture of it.
Digital cameras are great. I was even taking pictures of t-shirts.
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Then it was time to split up. Some went one way, others went another, and I made a beeline for the ABC Commissary, because I was starving. I could not recall ever having eaten in the Commissary before; I'm sure I must have at some point in the past, but the memory escapes me. The Commissary is a counter-service venue with a Hollywood flair; some of the dishes are a little unusual for a Baltimore kid like me, but I was hungry and I was in the mood to try something new. I settled on a Cuban sandwich, which was sliced pork, ham, turkey, swiss cheese and pickles, on a flat bread that reminded me of a thick pita. The sandwich was excellent; I enjoyed every bite, right down to the last chunk of bread.
I took this time to rest up a little, write out some trip notes, and call home to my friend Frank. While in Orlando, I was using Frank's dial-up internet service provider, and I had forgotten to set my laptop up properly before I left home, so I needed to get his username before I could log on tonight back at my hotel.
My next stop was MuppetVision 3D, another of my most favorite attractions at WDW. I grew up with the Muppet Show, and everything about Muppetvision, from the model of the Swinetrek in the lobby to the Swedish Chef running the projector in the richly detailed, totally accurate re-creation of the Muppet Theater, takes me back to some of the most pleasant memories of my childhood.
I nearly had dreams about my childhood during that show, however, because I came very close to falling asleep. I don't know what it was sapping the energy out of me, but even though it was only lunch time I was in desperate need of a nap, especially considering that I was going to Pleasure Island that night. So after the Muppets blew a hole in the theater wall, I left MGM and headed back toward my hotel. Tired or not, however, I decided to make one brief stop on the way, at the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores, which housed the Character Corner Disney outlet store and was less than 1/4 mile from my hotel.
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Character Corner is an outlet store selling Disney World merchandise, usually last year's stock, at significant discounts. There are 4 such outlets in the WDW area, but I think Character Corner is the best. The other stores tend to have a better selection of merchandise, but Character Corner's discounts are usually much deeper. Today I found a very nice sweatshirt with last year's 100 Years of Magic logo on it; originally selling for $40 in the parks, it was marked down to $10.99. And on top of that, all the 100 Years of Magic shirts and sweatshirts had an additional 20% taken off that weekend, bringing the price to $8.79. Including tax, this $40 sweatshirt cost me a grand total of $9.40.
I bought two of them, extra large.
After leaving Character Corner I went back to my hotel for a nap. After about an hour, I changed into a fresh shirt and jumped back into my rental car to return to Disney property in search of a good dinner.
After one of the most packed monorail rides I've ever experienced, I realized why the Polynesian's restaurants were all so mobbed: there was another edition of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tonight, and this was the pre-party crowd getting dinner before heading into the park. When I got off the monorail at Contemporary, I took a look at Chef Mickey's and the Concourse Steak House; both were just as mobbed as the Poly restaurants. Oh, well, off to the food court.
I had never before seen the Contemporary's food court, so I had to follow signs through the building to find it. In such a large Deluxe resort, I was expecting something larger and more elaborate, but Contemporary's food court is actually quite cozy. The place is set up caffeteria-style; Guests place orders for hot foods (sandwiches, burgers, fries, etc.) at a window, and the food is made to order, guaranteeing a hot meal. Sides, drinks, and cold foods, such as salads and deserts, can be obtained from refrigerated cases nearby, and you must pass through the cash register lines to leave the ordering area. I ordered a chicken bacon melt sandwich and fries and grabbed a drink and a slice of cheesecake to go along with it. The food took about 10 minutes to come out.
I took a small table near the entrance to the arcade and listened to the various hoots and bells of the games while I ate. The sandwich and fries were good, but personally I thought it was not as good as the food I've had at the All-Star resorts' food courts. The cheesecake, however, was absolutely top-knotch.
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I still had plenty of time before my meet at Pleasure Island, so I went back up to the Grand Canyon Concourse and selected a comfy chair in the Outer Rim Lounge to relax and make some trip notes. At about 7:30, after a bathroom break (for some reason I always seem to use the bathroom under the monorail station at Contemporary), I got on the monorail and rode back to Polynesian. Since I was not pressed for time, I went outside and took some night-time lagoon pictures from the Poly grounds. The views there are excellent, and make for some beautiful pictures either day or night.
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At about 8:50 I went to the Adventurers Club lobby, where Stinkerbelle, her friend Reid, and Reid's girlfriend Satomi were waiting. It didn't take long for the rest of the group to arrive, including LimeGreenCheri, BetsyAnn and her mom Elaine, Tagrel and his wife Kristen, and AliciaG. Reid and Satomi didn't stay with us, but the rest of the group went into the Adventurers Club and enjoyed the New Member Induction ceremony, a great show in the main room where several characters explain what the Adventurers Club is all about and teach the Club salute. Next, we went into the library for a presentation of the Balderdash Cup, a fictional award given to the bravest and most adventurous member of the Club. Three or four characters come on stage in turn to tell stories of their adventures in order to compete for the Cup, and the stories, as well as the characters' attempts to knock each other out of competition, always have the entire audience in stitches.
When the Balderdash Cup show was over, we made our way back out to the main lobby. Several of the group picked up beverages at the bar, and then we all gathered in the Mask Room (a room with various primitive masks all over the walls) for a group photo.
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Our next stop was the Comedy Warehouse, where we waited outside for 10 minutes or so before being admitted to one of several scheduled shows. I love a good comedy show, and this one was a little different, as it was entirely unscripted. After getting a bunch of ideas from the audience, the troop had several different comedy exercises to perform, using the audience ideas as catalysts or themes. The entire show was terrifically funny, and we all enjoyed it immensely.
When the comedy show was over, and we exited the building through a rear door that left us on the lake side of Pleasure Island (where I had never been), we decided to make our way to the 8-Trax dance club. I'm not a dancer, and neither, apparently, was anyone else in our group, but we did enjoy hanging out on the upper level of the club, listening to the music and watching other Guests perform on the dance floor below. We also posed for another group photo.
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As midnight approached, we made our way back outside to the West End Stage, where a band had been performing off and on all night, and waited for the nightly New Years fireworks. By then, I was pretty tired, and it was getting a little chilly, so when the group broke up I too headed back to my car, stopping briefly in Downtown Disney's deserted West Side to take my own picture at a bench that was set up for Guests to take Christmas portraits. Since no one was around, I simply set my camera on self-timer, put on my pocket tripod, and set the camera on a counter next to the sidewalk. The picture turned out pretty well.
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On my way off Disney Property, I made a slight detour to the nearby Reedy Creek Fire Department, which is lit up beautifully at night. I had driven past this wonderful building earlier in my trip, and had decided to return for some pictures later. Since it was nearly 1am, and the roads were pretty deserted, this was a perfect time. I pulled my rental car over into the median, set my camera and its pocket tripod on the roof, and snapped several long-exposure shots.
Once finished with my photographic escapades, I returned to my hotel, finally getting to bed about 1:30am.