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DAY 2 – Sunday January 20 – Park 2 - Hollywood Studios
Walked out of Epcot and headed to my car in the third row of Journey parking lot. I wasn’t sure which park to hit next, but I figured since I was close enough to the Studios, I might as well go there. I never EVER plan these things out in advance. No silly spreadsheets, no stupid color coded index cards. No ADRs, no schedule. Go with the flow.
I pulled into the lot and was immediately directed to the far end of the parking lot. A quick talk with the guy directing traffic and I was allowed to turn right while everyone else went left. I walked over to the park, past the bag check, and into the park. My first stop is usualy Sid Cahuenga's to see what they've got in stock. A long time ago, I picked up some great stuff, including a Robin Hood mobile, which I still have. I also picked up lots of black and white Disney movie stills. Now they're picked clean on Disney-related things, featuring a few posters and lots of autographed pictures. The rest of the store is Hollywood books and autographs, so there is rarely anything for me to buy when I visit. The great thing is that I noticed many of the autographs I have in my collection looked similar to those they are selling as authentic on the walls of Sid's, so I hope that means mine are real too.
I decided I’d visit Star Tours, but needed to get a Fast Pass for the attraction. Since I had some time, I walked around the rest of the park. Toy Story Mania had a crazy wait time and the Fast Passes were gone. I wasn’t impressed by the ride the first time, so I haven’t gone back since. But it’s fun to see what sort of line others are wasting their time standing on to ride it.
Yeah, that's not happening...
I haven’t seen the Streets of America, or whatever they’re calling it these days, in a while without it being lit up for Christmas, so I thought I’d stroll through. I quickly realized why I don’t go there. There isn’t anything to do.
So I should, what, stand under this umbrella for a half hour or so? Outta here.
I remembered there was a meet n’ greet with Lightning McQueen and Mater, and since my nephew is a huge Cars fan, I wanted to get a photo and show him who Uncle Mikie hangs out with on weekends. The line was short. Shorter than Fineas and Ferb. But since I have never watched the show, I didn’t care how long the line was. So, I stood between two trucks that made motor noises but didn't talk.
Quite the meet n' greet, I tell ya.
It was time for Star Tours, so I used my Fast Pass and took the only ride I’d be on in the entire park. This time, I had the Storm Trooper segment followed by asteroids, then pod racing, then Naboo. Yes those new movies were awful, but these they made for interesting segments on the ride. I quickly got out of the gift shop and noticed that the speeder bike was removed from the area across from the exit. Not sure how long that has been missing.
Take a few minutes out to take in the details and you catch little gems like this one. Bye Captain Rex.
After that, I went over to have lunch at the Commissary. Nice chicken sandwich, soup and chocolate mousse. No ADR's, no problem.
Time to start wrapping this place up. My wife hated the Muppets movie thing so I have now sworn it off until they update it or finally bring in a new show with 3D technology worthy of a Disney park. I already saw the Captain Jack exhibit online, so figuring that it was going to be the same exact thing, I decided to skip it. Instead, I walked through One Man’s Dream exhibit, and since I have never seen the movie, I decided to sit through it. Not a terrible film. But again, it’s a one-and-done thing.
Clever bit.
Next I walked through the Animation area but missed the left turn and kept going straight. No characters of interest (Frozone and Mr. Incredible, two Wreck-it-Ralph characters, and others that I don't remember), so I left and walked around some more.
The last remnants of Roger Rabbit in the park.
There was a parade about to start, so I ran over to the Villains shop (which finally has some villain merchandise back in there and not just Nightmare Before Christmas stuff), and then over to the art shop to check for sketches. I headed back over towards the main gate, walked through the gift shops and out to the exit. 3:05pm… on to Animal Kingdom.
Two and a half hours later... time to head over to Disney's zoo.
Originally Posted by HauntedGabe 
