Day #6 Friday 5-1-09 Sunny and warmer
Day #6 was a mix of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom
Today they main goal for me was the 20th Anniversary of Hollywood Studios. When I fould out that HS was to turn 20 years old on May 1st and that I'd be there I was really excited! I was sure Disney would have some sort of tribute/celebration. WDW Celebrations had planned a fan community celebration that day called "Studio 20" They were the guys involved in Epcot's 25th Anniversary and Animal Kingdom's 10th anniversary. Brandi wasn't comfortable meeting strangers in the parks so I planned to go to park opening and take in some of the festivities associated with the anniversary and she would meet me later for lunch.
So I woke up at 6am. I quickly got dressed and headed to Captain Cooks to grab a quick coffee and cheese danish! I love those things! Then I took a bus to Hollywood studios to make it there for opening at 8am. I arrived to see some of the WDW Celebrations people already there with other regular guest.
I ended up meeting a few disney podcast celebrities Nathan Rose from Magical Mountain.net and the Magical Definition Podcast. I also met and talked with Matt Hochberg of StudiosCentral.com and WDW Today Podcast. I also met Lou Mongello of the WDW Radio Show podcast and autor of the WDW Trivia Books. All the guys were very friendly.
The opening ceremony was nice. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary there was special merchandise which included a T-Shirt and 4 or 5 limited edition pins. I picked up on a couple pins but didn't get the shirt. Hollywood studios was also serving a special cupcake at Starring Rolls. The WDW Celebrations group had a schedule of events for Friday and Saturday which included Scavenger hunt, ride meets and group photos. One main event I wanted to catch was a special interview with three Imagineer on the creation of the park. Tom Fitzgerald, Eric Jacobson, and Bob Weis spoke for about a hour on the creations and development of MGM Studios at the time. They even hinted that Sorcerer's hat may be coming down in the future.
Before entering this presentation I went over to Toy Story Midway Mania to get a fastpass for later.
The presentation was very good. After the presentation I was schedule to meet up with Brandi. We then went get Brandi a fast pass for Midway Mania so we could ride later.
I'm not sure of the particular order but here is a list of some of the attractions we rode. Star Tours, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (Brandi had never seen this show), Great Movie ride, I rode Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster, and Midway Mania.
So after doing a couple things on the list that I just mentioned we went eat lunch at Sci Fi Drive Inn at 12:15pm. This was Brandi's first time eating here, I had been there before.
We both had the burger but I got a "Comet" drink. It was great.
So after lunch we continued the touring of the park. Our fastpass for Midway Mania wasn't until 3pm so after riding that we decided to return to the hotel and rest before going to MK for dinner.
Oh on the way out of the park we stopped by Sid Cahuenga's to answer the movie trivia. We got them correct! and received a magical moment certificate.
After resting at the hotel for a little while we took the boat over to Magic Kingdom. Other than the monorail the boats are a close second as far as transportation is concerned.
WE walked around MK a little before it was time to eat. We watched this guy on Main Street blowing glass. Very cool.
So we checked in at Tony's Town Square for dinner at 7:30pm. We were quickly seated and ordered. Our food came out very quickly. We ordered salad and Chicken Parmesean. It was really good and they served us so much food that we could have shared.
After dinner we walked around and took some pictures while waiting for the fireworks.
We then watched Wishes from the Tomorrowland bridge and got a couple pictures take with photopass during the fireworks. They came out really nice.
Once the fireworks were over we decided to go ride Big thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion at night before the park closed at 10pm. Big thunder is a totally different experience at night from riding during the day.
On our way out were were hungry so we picked up a couple ice cream cones at the Plaza.
What a great way to end the night.
Next to come: Day #7 Downtown Disney and Epoct wrapup day.
