[PapaPumba]

Wednesday, October 13th - our last day of planned park going, and last day of our 3-day tickets. Because we couldn't hop, and because we were going to see Fantasmic, we slept in 'til about 8:00, had a very light breakfast at the CBR food court, then got dressed and headed to MGM about 10:15. We picked a good day - it felt like the lightest attendance of anything we did during our trip.

I love MGM. This was my 4th visit to that park. I'm partial to it, I suppose, because in spring of 1997 I was part of a corporate meeting that rented out the park for about 1000 people after official closing time. We had unlimited use of TOT, a few other attractions, a special show of BATB, and then a live rock concert, with open bar the whole time. It was a truly magical experience. It's been one of my favorites ever since.

We hit the gate about 10:40 and headed straight for Al's Toy Barn. We knew we had all day for TOT, so we wanted to make sure DS got his picture with Woody and Buzz. He had waited all trip for this moment. The Toy Barn was not there on my last trip, but it was easy to find and there were only three people in line but no Woody or Buzz. I asked a guy waiting and he told me they were scheduled for 10:45. Looked at my watch and it said 10:47, and as I looked up the door popped open and out sprang Woody, Buzz, and Jesse! Perfect timing!!! We waited maybe 5 minutes, got some great pictures, and were relieved to scratch that one off of our list.

Walked around the corner as Mama Melrose was getting ready for lunch, so I checked to see if there was anyway to move back our PS from 4:00, but they were completely booked. Kids are pretty much out of Muppet stage, but there was no wait for Muppet Vision, so we walked right in and they enjoyed the show. They rank Bug #1, Philharmagic #2, and Muppet #3 as far as the 3D shows go.

Neither kid has seen the Indiana Jones movies, but we thought they'd get a kick out of the fire and explosions, and again, there was no wait at all and the sun was getting strong so we ducked in and enjoyed the show. Grabbed a quick ice cream cone as lunch, then headed over to BATB. Got all seated then I ran to get FPs for TOT. Worked out perfect - we had our window after BATB show.

Then we hit a bit of a snag.... after saying she would try TOT, DD heard too much screaming and I guess it just freaked her out. She's only 11... but right at that stage where you know it's not real, but have just enough fear about accidents and stuff. I'm not the forcing type, so I gave away two FP's and let DW and DS go. I guess we could have done the swap, but I didn't feel like riding by myself and making her feel bad about being the only one who didn't go. No big deal.... we'll try it next time. Of course, little DS came out smiling and saying it was "cool". 6 years old and not an ounce of fear in his little body.

Now it was about 2:30 and the kids wanted to see playhouse Disney. They're both a bit old for it, but they watch so much other stuff on Disney Channel that they're familiar with all of the shows from TV. We got in the 2:45 show and they loved it. (Although sitting on the floor was a bit rough on PapaPumba's rear end.) Then we thought we'd check on the line for the backlot tour to see if we could get it in before dinner at Mama's. The line was o.k, and I asked if we'd be done by 4 and the CM said yes, and sure enough we were getting off of the tram at 3:58. Kids enjoyed the tour, but I had read that they had scaled it back a bit and it was not what it used to be. That turned out to be true. The Canyon is always impressive, but the rest of it was pretty weak. One thing that's neat - you get a bit of a sneak peak of the new stunt show attraction they are working on. It will seat about 5,000 people per show. It's themed in a european fishing village - reminded me of a cross between a Bond-like film and "Ronin" for those of you who saw that.

So, to those of you who wonder if you skip lunch and walk the park all day, will you be hungry at 4:00? "YES" !!! We were all starving and really ready for a break from the sun and heat. Mama's was dark and cool, and we were seated about 4:10 and we had a great dinner, great service, and then got that all important paper ticket for our Fantasmic seats. Todd, our server, suggested that we get there by 6:45 for the 7:30 show. So we had about an hour to kill. We played a few games at Pizza Planet, then did the long loop back around to HISTK playground.

On the way, by accident, we bumped into Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. This is also a favorite movie of ours and we wondered why we hadn't seen any characters. The Monsters garage(?) is not so easy to find. We jumped in line and I think we were the next to last before they cut off the line for the night. More great pictures! (DW wonders if the recent announcement of a split coming between Pixar and Disney has any effect on how Disney promotes prior Pixar films. But Incredibles is Pixar, n'cest pas?)

A few minutes in the playground and then I had to push everyone out to head for Fantasmic. It was an eerie feeling walking through the park... it was nearly empty and I got a bit nervous that even with our package we were going to get a rotten seat because we had waited to long. I grabbed DS and tossed him on my shoulders to pick up a little speed. We were sweating a bit when we got there, but we had great seats near the top in the Ursula section, 2nd from the right. This was my first Fantasmic show and it did not dissapoint. Well worth the wait, and the package was well worth knowing we'd get a seat. There were more than a few folks in the SRO sections with little ones on shoulders and asleep in arms.

All of my DC reading warned me to just relax and go with the flow on the way out. There really is no reason to rush - why spoil the magic of the evening by shoving your way through the crowd. But of course, there were plenty of folks doing just that. The line for the CBR bus was not too bad - much better than I expected and I think we got the 2nd bus that pulled up.

Our last day, Thursday the 14th, was originally planned as Universal Day, but we scrapped that ahead of time due to the budget. The kids had forgotten all about it, so we didn't even mention it and they didn't seem to care. They were totally immersed in Disney Magic, so why spoil the fun ?!?!?!?

We packed up, checked the bags with the bellman, then took the bus to Dwntn Dis for a little shopping. DW always teases me that I become Mr. Hyde on the last day of vacation when the money is gone and the end is near. But this time she said I was still so calm and happy. It's got to be the pixie dust! Our food budget blown on Character meals and California Grill, we had lunch at Mc D's and then shared a sundae at Ghiradelli. It was still so much fun to be together.

We took the bus back to CBR, got the bags and headed for the airport. Made it home safe and sound. Found out there is a work conference in Orlando March 30 to April 1, 2005, so maybe I can find a way to get back!

Thanks DC -- you all are the best. I'm not a commando, but I do believe you have to have a plan. The people that you see not having fun or arguing with their spouses always appear to be bright, well-off people who think they are "smart enough to wing-it" or can make it up as they go along. Wrong!

Thanks for all of the tips, tricks, etc. Safe travels, health and happiness to all. PP.