Bricker Family Disney World Trip Report — Pt 3
Our main reason for stopping at that shop was so my dad could purchase a pin. He’s actually quite the fan of pin trading, which surprised me at first.
Before our last trip with my parents, we gave him a bunch of pins we had purchased on eBay (yes, I know this is controversial–I think the controversy is ridiculous) and a rainbow Figment lanyard. I don’t even remember why we did it, but he had a great time trading with Cast Members.
This time, he didn’t have the lanyard, but still traded pins and interacted with just about every Cast Member who had a pin trading lanyard. He also purchased a few full price pins, but at least the ‘starter’ set we got from eBay was only ~$1/pin.
I mention this because I think it underscores how you never know who will take to pin trading. It’s certainly not for everyone, but some people (who might surprise you) end up loving it…so maybe give it a chance?
You don’t know my dad, so it probably doesn’t mean anything to you that he took to pin trading, but it sure caught me off-guard.
Also on the agenda at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were Toy Story Mania, One Man’s Dream, and MuppetVision.
I do not like losing, and I frequently lose when we play Toy Story Mania, therefore I do not like Toy Story Mania.
I do love One Man’s Dream.
I haven’t had a chance to write about it yet on the blog, but we went to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and wow, what a place.
I’ll have a post on it in the near future (hopefully), but if you go to San Francisco before then, do not miss that museum. It’s an incredibly well-done museum (I’d even take people there who aren’t Disney fans).
I don’t know when it changed, but I was incredibly relieved to see the “old” preshow restored to MuppetVision 3D.
Some new-to-me additions include these LCD posters. There’s also a TRON one, but my photos of that were out of focus. Sorry.
PizzeRizzo is not open for dinner and rarely has a crowd, which is probably due to its location in the back of the park. Also, maybe guests are finally becoming more discerning about pizza? (Nah, it’s the location.)
After this, we wandered around a bit, enjoying the ambiance of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. With the Sorcerer’s Hat gone, the park finally has much of its old Hollywood charm restored, which is a big plus.
We managed to stay at Disney’s Hollywood Studios until 5 p.m., which I considered no small accomplishment.
At this point, we decided to head to Epcot for the rest of the evening.
Everyone else took the Friendship Boat, but I wanted to get some photos of Beach Club, so I walked.
In a race between me and a Friendship Boat, I’m betting on myself every time. I might have to stop for photos, but the boat has to stop to load and unload.
(Seriously, even if you walk at a normal speed, it’s faster to walk than take the boat.)
I had some time once I got to Epcot before they arrived, so I wandered around World Showcase taking photos.
They arrived and we were supposed to meet up at Journey into Imagination; it didn’t look like the sunset was going to do anything special, so I headed that way. Right as I began walking up to the pavilion, the sky suddenly went crazy.
There was a double rainbow in one direction with reflected sunset color behind it, and a stunning, multi-color sunset the other direction. It was 360-degrees of beauty, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. It was a scene truly befitting of imagination. Here’s a photo so you can see it for yourself.
Unfortunately, the above iPhone panorama is the only photo I can share of that amazing sunset/rainbow skyplosion. I really wish I had thought to take a panorama like this with my actual camera.
This sky was relatively short-lived, but there was some nice color for a while, so I continued taking photos while they were doing Journey into Imagination.
After that, we headed to Spaceship Earth, which we had missed during the previous day’s festivities. This was high on my mom’s list of things to do.
My parents left after Spaceship Earth…
After that, we had to get some photos of the Figment topiary lit up in all his nighttime glory.
Whenever we do these tripod selfies, there are a number of shots of me awkwardly running to the camera. I’d share them, but I think my “good” material already makes me look dorky-enough.
We debated where to eat after this. We both used to get so excited about eating at Sunshine Seasons, but it seems like we’ve done it so many times that it’s become old hat. I still think it’s one of the strongest counter service restaurants at Walt Disney World, but there’s nothing I really crave there.
We ended up eating there anyway because we couldn’t come up with anything else (we stopped by Coral Reef to see if they were accepting walk-ups, but they were not).
It’s sort of weird feeling indifferent to Sunshine Seasons when this once was one of my favorite restaurants at Walt Disney World. This is especially the case when I don’t think the quality has gone downhill. Maybe a menu refresh would change this…or perhaps I need to try ordering something different?
There are other restaurants at Walt Disney World that I like less (overall), but that have menu items I find myself craving. Odd how that works, I guess. (Hopefully this makes some degree of sense.)
After that, it was time for IllumiNations.
This photo is a 157 second exposure.
During the show, we met up with one of our friends who works at Walt Disney World. He joined us for Extra Magic Hours afterwards.
It’s been a while since we did Living with the Land at night.
In addition to that, we did Test Track, Gran Fiesta Tour, and Frozen Ever After. The last was via standby, and we got in line around 10 minutes before the end of EMH, and waited maybe 30 minutes.
All in all, a productive evening EMH.
I’m not sure why, but I really like this display at the end of Living with the Land. It feels very much like EPCOT Center to me.
I didn’t have as much time on the way out on this evening, so I focused on photos of Norway.
The sky was looking awesome with the full moon illuminating the clouds; rather than wasting more time in World Showcase, I decided to head up front for some Spaceship Earth vantages I’ve been waiting to try until conditions were right.
However, you’ll notice the sky in the above photo is really dark. That’s because when I used a longer exposure, the sky was basically orange instead of deep blue with distinct clouds and the full moon peaking out.
I have a few working theories as to why this happened, the leading one involving Gremlins (the mean ones), Nic Cage, and a lasso. Another possibility is that the cloud cover got thicker as I was heading up front, and the sodium-vapor lighting from the parking lot lights reflected off the clouds to produce an orange sky. While the latter is based in science, you cannot definitively disprove the former theory, which somehow makes them equally credible. Given that I have intense disdain for science, I choose to believe the former theory. Many people are saying that Scott Pruitt agrees with me.
We’ll pick up the following day at Magic Kingdom in Part 4. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World trip, read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for comprehensive advice, and the answers to just about every frequently-asked question.
Your Thoughts
Do you have any fond memories of the Disney-MGM Studios? Looking forward to the park’s future, or lamenting its past? What do you think of 50’s Prime Time Cafe? Thoughts on pin trading, Sunshine Seasons, or anything else we discussed in this installment of our Walt Disney World trip report? Share any questions, tips, or additional remarks you have in the comments!
The beginning of this post when you were talking about Hollywood Studios and Epcot not being as good as they used to makes it sound like you really don’t like Disney World anymore. I know that isn’t true, but reading all that negativity really bummed me out.
[email protected]
Sunshine Seasons is stil one of our favorites, we love the vegetable pita and if we don’t eat it, we miss it. I always pack a lot of stuff for us, but after we ride living with the land we have to eat some veggies!
1. I was wondering if they even still used live actors in the cowboy scene.
2. What you call a problem with that fisheye shot is one of the most awesome things about an already-awesome photo . . . a subtle “signature.”
3. What you politely referred to in Day 2 as “synergy” is what I call Disney’s shameless (but effective) “cross-promotion.” They are the masters of it!
4. ‘Love that photo of your parents by the pickup.
5. I would honest and truly buy a coffee table book of your WDW photos.
Thanks for the kind words! Maybe someday on that Walt Disney World coffee table book. I hope my best days are still ahead of me photography-wise, so look for something around 2071. 😉
I know it’s been gone a long time, but I wish I could share the long backlot tour with my kids because I loved it. Learning about all the behind the scenes stuff fascinated me. I remember the sound studio part with the 3D sound booths was SO cool to me, not to mention the animation tour, etc., and I was 21 at the time.
I remember the diving ladies part of TGMR working and shouting to Chewbacca as he came out of a building to get a photo and he mauled me (affectionately, but not in a weird way).
Our most recent experience at 50s PTC was ok. There were 7 of us, so we sat at the back table, which isn’t fully themed. We could see the others that were, but add a waitress that English was not her first language – her service was fine, but the “act” was 1/8th hearted at best. Nothing against the woman herself, we just were expecting the act to be there. I think a waitress more in tune with the place would have fussed at us about why we had to sit at the kids’ table and maybe next time we’d be at the grown-up table or something, you know?
But at least my son and I could share pulling the rope at Indiana Jones and hearing, “Oy! Stop mucking around with my dig!” (Or something close to that).
Lastly, I encourage anyone going there soon to look at all the little details before they are gone. Look at the back of buildings where you can, look at the names of the businesses and residents, they’re not all tributes.
I miss or will miss things, but think that the future is bright and can’t wait to see the new stuff because imagineering has been hitting so many home runs lately. It will be great even if the focus is a bit different than it was originally.
You do a WONDERFUL job with your writing to bring out the nostalgic feelings. There is something extra magical to being able to enjoy Disney with parents. The love you have for your Dad is really heart warming. I can sit in my living room in California and be filled with emotions from just your words and pictures. Have you ever thought about making documentaries? Your attention to detail and planning accompanied with your storytelling would make for a great fit. And not to make your head TOO big but out of all of the Disney sites when I go to research something I usually Google but then after trying to find what I need on another site I end up coming to your site for the REAL reviews and thoughts. I get the feeling sometimes your truths are not always the most popular but in the end the truth always wins out over rose colored glasses and half truths.
Thanks for the kind words. Personally, I don’t think I’d be good at making documentaries, so I’ll leave that to others. 🙂
I realize that some of my opinions are unpopular, and are not well received as a result, but I think/hope regular readers understand that I’m sharing my honest opinion on whatever topic I cover (and the bases for said opinion). That way, even when there’s disagreement, people get why. It doesn’t always work out that way, and my style might be a turn-off for some readers, but it’s impossible to please everyone.