Celebrating the Movies - Disney Style

Today's post is about our visit to Disney's Hollywood Studios with the opportunity to celebrate the movies and TV shows, especially those made by Disney and its partners. This is the smallest, and least busy, of the parks.

Drew on the Red Carpet entering Hollywood Studios

Breakfast

As I mentioned in last Friday's post as a Catholic I try to abstain from meat on Friday's, but as I have no idea what tomorrow evenings 10 course meal will be, and don't select the menu I decided to swop my Friday abstinence for Thursday this week. I'm sure someone who knows Canon Law better than me will tell me this is invalid, but it seemed best to make a little effort at penance in the midst of all this immense enjoyment. 

That being said, the range of breakfast items in the Club Lounge was so many that not eating meat was not that hard. Though I had got used to eating the Devilled Eggs most mornings, the bacon sprinkled over them meant they were out today.

So I opted for a breakfast of fruit: melon, watermelon, mango, pineapple, blackberries and blueberries. These were accompanied by a bagel with creamed cheese. Which went down well with the Orange Juice and Coffee.

Travelling to Hollywood Studios

After Breakfast we walked down to the hotel's bus station and caught the bus to the Studios. The bus left at 9.14am and we were at the park at 9.30am. 

As well as the red carpet mentioned above, the entrance to the park has a striking topiary creation of Micky and the brooms in the seminal Fantasia movie.  

Rock and Roller Coaster

Once we were in the park our first destination was our first FastPass+ ride - Aerosmith's Rock and Roller Coaster. This roller coaster was my favorite ride of my 2004 visit to Disney World and my 2007 visit to Disneyland Paris. So was a must do today. 

Our first ride was at 9.50am, and I loved it, as the picture shows. We noticed as we were going through the FastPass entrance that there was a Single Rider queue for those who were happy to travel separately from their family and friends (the 'Billy no-mates' queue as Drew would have it). So we made use of this line, while the wait was longer than for FastPass, it was 20 minutes rather than the 2 hours for the main standby queue. 

We did this twice and Drew became even more comfortable with the ride even to the extent of opening his eyes for the last ride. Given the number of threes, parents with one child for example, that were in the Standby queue, the single rider queue was regularly used. The first time Drew was in the car behind me and the second time only three cars behind, so there was no real delay and conversation is really not possible on such a fast bendy ride.

Star Wars

By 11.00am we had had to drag ourselves away from the roller coaster ready for our next FastPass ride - Star Wars The Adventures Continue 

On our way we passed the Jedi Training Academy, where younger visitors are invited to be trained as Jedi's and take part in a live action engagement with Star Wars characters.

We then moved on to the ride which hasn't changed much since our last visit, but now includes scenes from the more recent films. 

Another key aspect of this part of the Park is the Tatooine style layout of various food and shopping venues trading as Tatooine Traders. Of course this is all shortly to be joined by much more Star Wars action at this park when Star Wars Land is opened. 

Muppets

Moving from Star Wars we came to an area focused on the Muppets called Backlot with the Muppets, this includes the central attraction: Muppet Vision 3D. There is a fun area with various Muppet themes while you wait to go into the theatre and then the 3D film includes all the great Muppet characters in unlikely but funny settings making the most of 3D to engage the audience. We both laughed a great deal. 


The humour continued when we came out to see the PizzeRizzo place named for Rizzo the Rat, with lots of fun messages about the food, e.g. You got the dough we've got the cheese + Tomato loading zone. 

Walking from the Muppets to our next venue we passed through the centre of the Park, known as Centre Stage, where we encountered Star Wars characters on stage. We couldn't stopped as we were on our way to our first stage show of the day.

Afternoon in the Park 

Given our experience in Animal Kingdom yesterday, we adopted the same strategy today. Being busy in the morning and finding air-conditioned spaces when we were in the heat of the afternoon. Our first such space was the Beauty and the Beast Stage Show, this was in an open air auditorium called the Theater of the Stars which was open but also air-conditioned. While I've never seen the film, the story is, as the song says; a Tale as old as time. 

Our next stop was one of the oldest rides in the Park - The Great Movie Ride - it isn't the sort of ride we often go on, but as it is closing for ever on the 13th of August we thought we'd better get on while we had a chance. The queue was only about 20 minutes so we were quickly through and on the ride which goes through a range of Animatronics associated with Turner Classic Movies brand. The ride is, as to be expected of one coming to the end of its life, dated. But it had the benefit of referencing films I have seen or heard of, which wouldn't have been the case if it had been more modern films.

Hollywood Tower of Terror

Our third FastPass selection broke into our stage show watching, but that wasn't a bad thing. The ride is the Hollywood Tower of Terror and like the Rock and Roller Coaster is one we enjoyed both here and in Paris. The ride has a Twilight Zone context and at its heart it is ride up and down the abandoned lift shaft. This happens four or five times, with each stop open to the outside. The picture reveals the kind of response, ranging from the enthusiasts, to the child on my right trying to hide himself (from the ride not from me!!). Even Drew was smiling at the fun of the ride.

Back to the Stage Shows

Having enjoyed the Tower of Terror we were just in time for the Frozen sing along at 3.15pm. Drew got me to watch Frozen over the Christmas holidays when it was shown on BBC, so I am now fully au fait with Olaf, Christoph, Elsa and Anna. It may be that Drew had second thoughts about helping me to prepare for this show, as it was designed to be a sing-along and I threw myself into that activity with gusto. <<Co-pilot's note: There is something, dear readers, about the sound of a Haydibabes and fifty six-year old girls singing along with Olaf, the snowman, that is completely bewildering to the rest of humanity and any sensible person who considers themselves to be a part of it.>>

In a way that could only happen in a Disney park, as we ran from the end of one show to the start of the next we passed a couple of Galactic Storm Troopers on their way through the park.

We were headed from the Frozen show to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid this is a film I've not see <<Co-pilot's note: To my relief as there was more singing.>> this allowed us to immerse (pun intended) ourselves in key moments from the film, it was light and enjoyable.

Our visit to Hollywood Studios ended with a live concert by a concert orchestra. This was the 5pm performance of The Music of Pixar Live!. The performance was some epic fully orchastrated music played to a background of video scenes from Cars, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and Up. All culminating in a final singalong of 'You have a Friend in Me.' with the whole audience standing up and singing this enthusiastically.  

Dinner

When we planned the holiday we looked at nice places to eat in each of the parks, but Hollywood Studios didn't provide anything to tickle our fancy. But as the Park is close to Epcot, and there were nice places to eat there, we had decided to end our trip at 6pm and travel to Epcot for Dinner.

The journey from Hollywood Studios to Epcot is via a Boat Ride. The boat left Hollywood Studios at 6pm and travelled via the Swan and Dolphin Hotels, the Yacht Club Resort and the Boardwalk arriving at Epcot at 6.30pm.  

The boat arrives at the International Landing, near the French part of the World Showcase and we walked from there to our chosen restaurant - Coral Reef.

The Coral Reef was our choice (a) because the food looked like it would be really good (b) you eat in a venue with a live coral reef and its attendant fish just through a window and (c) in my intention to do my abstinence on this Thursday I could choose fish from the menu. 

The menu was as pleasant as I expected and our difficulty was in their being so many lovely things to choose from. Drew opted to begin with Caesar Salad which, as is normal, was served with Parmesan Cheese and Croutons. Drew thought this Caesar Salad (and he is an aficionado of such so should know) was an excellent example of the dish, with just the right amount of sauce to flavour the salad while allowing it to remain crunchy.

I opted for crispy Rhode Island Calamari which was served with roasted Corn Relish and Tomatillo Sauce. I'm afraid the reflection of the water which permeated the restaurant means this photo is not as good as was the food. The calamari were whole squids, not just the rings that we often see in the UK. So it moved from crisp legs, to soft and juicy bodies with a lightly spiced sauce. I would certainly have it again if I saw it on a menu.

For mains Drew chose seared Mahi Mahi with toasted Coconut Rice, Jerk Seasonings, Avocado Crema, Mango-Shrimp Salsa. Mahi Mahi is the fish better known to us by its Spanish name of Dorado. Drew's comment was that the avocado cream didn't add much, but the mango really enhanced the flavour of the Dorado. 

Being down in the American South it was time for me to select a regional recipe from somewhere a little north of here - Shrimp and Grits. This was some delightfully sautéed shrimp with cheddar grits, corn succotash and creole spice emulsion. I could easily be back in New Orleans with this range of flavours, and they worked together very well. Eating, what is effectively maize porridge with a main meal is somewhat alien to the British palate, but I have travelled enough in the Southern USA to have got a taste for grits and these were finely made with a strong cheddar flavour, the bits of corn and fava beans in the succotash added a crispness to the overall meal. It was lovely.

Drew finished the meal with Key Lime Pie with a raspberry sauce and tropical fruit glaze. Unlike the cheesecake from the night before this was a proper Key Lime pie with a real sharp lime flavour, causing Drew to wince, but in a good way, as he bit into the Pie.

We left Epcot at 9.30pm and caught the Monorail back to the Grand Floridian, getting back at 10.00pm and to bed by 10.15pm. Only 17 hours since I got up this morning, but I seem to be becoming used to these long days while here.