Day 9

As I understand Bear is now going to be a permanent fixture at MGM; it was originally only supposed to run for 6 weeks in the Summer - it may be an idea to move the show from a Soundstage to a proper theatre. Even allowing for the restricted view though, it was still a funky show with some groovy songs from the Disney Channel TV show.

As we came out of the bear show, we spotted Mickey Mouse at the photo point in animation Courtyard, so we queued to have Beth's photo taken with him. We actually cheated though, and took our own pictures, whilst stood next to the Official Photographer, thus getting some great photo's, whilst saving a few $$$'s!

It was then time to head back to Rock n' Rollercoaster, for our Fastpass appointment with Aerosmith. We settled Beth at a table in Catalina Eddies Café, with a huge cookie and a drink, and left her with Rachel whilst we joined the queue. When we entered the recording studios, there they were - 'Aerosmith', putting the final touches to 'Walk this way'. This is definitely the best pre-show in any ride on the planet Earth. (Can you tell we are huge fans of theirs, having seen them play in the UK on about five occasions.) We hung around the studio like real groupies, then finally entered the alleyway to join the head of the queue. (Even the queuing area is cool!).

From this point you can watch the limousine-shaped ride cars as they disappear at great speed into a black hole. This put San off a little, as her legs turned to jelly. She is not a fan of roller coasters, and even threw up once after going on the Waltzers, but she was Amazing-ly brave, and didn't start Crying, or go Crazy, whilst she was Living on the Edge. She was a Dude (looks like a lady), determined to do this ride, as she Don't want to miss a thing and although she was thrown around like a Ragdoll, she was tickled Pink with Sweet Emotion, (OK enough Aerosmith titles!).

As we set off, I believe from 0 to 60 in three seconds, we could hear Peter in the car behind us singing along at the top of his voice to Love in an Elevator, Dude looks like a lady and other Aerosmith hits. This ride KICKS ASS - BIG TIME and is without a doubt the best ride I have ever been on, even San agrees, she even let go of my hand at one point, (probably to cover her eyes!). As Peter climbed out of his car, he had a glazed look on his face. One of those "What the hell was that?" faces!

San now insists that after riding RnR, she will ride all the other roller coasters this year. After seeing the RnR in the light on the Disney Consumer Arcade recently, however, she may have changed her mind. Her reaction of "Did I really ride on that?" sort of gives it away. I think the fact that the ride is in the dark and you didn't know which way up you were meant that it didn't seem so scary.

I then spent a fortune in the RnR/Aerosmith shop and bought T-shirts, caps, guitar plectrums, pencils, etc. Even San got bored, (in a shop), and went to wait outside - for some fresh air!

We collected Beth, who had spent the time taking photographs of the Tower of Terror with her own fun camera. Her intention had been to take a picture of us all standing in front of the Tower, holding our socks, as one of out WDW holiday planning videos says that the ToT "really blows your socks off"! We didn't get the photo last time, but will make sure we do it this year.

It was turn to choose our next destination, Muppet Vision 4D. A cunning 3D effects show with Kermit, Miss Piggy and their pals, that even has bubbles blowing out from the stage. Again, Rachel didn't want to see this show, so she loitered outside. She is strange at the best of times and must have been scared of the bubbles incase they made a clean spot.

By now we were hungry, so it was time to eat, we made our way to the Studio Catering Co Café. San and I checked out the menu, whilst Peter and Beth went missing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. We soon realised that the kids wouldn't eat anything on the menu so decided to head for the Backlot Express, instead. This meant finding Peter and Beth who were nowhere to be seen in the playground. I had to go in myself and it took ages to find them. The sun was now at it's hottest and by the time I'd found them, I was melting and not best pleased. (Another kid's playground that should be under cover.) We then headed to the Backlot Express and found a more child-friendly menu. Beth chose chicken nuggets, which made a welcome change from burgers, and it came in a snazzy Tarzan lunchbox.

Halfway through her meal, Beth decided that she was too tired to eat, so we made a deal with her. If she went to sleep in her pram, whilst we had a look around the shops, we would go back to the hotel for a swim, after the Mulan parade, and return later on for the Fantasmic show. Surprisingly, this seemed to work, as she knew she wouldn't miss out on anything. We took this opportunity to take a look in the shops along Hollywood Boulevard and stroll around the park taking in the sights. We saw Aladdin and Jasmine outside the Great Movie Ride, but decided not to wake Beth up, as she needed her sleep.

Rachel wanted to go and do her own thing, as she was bored just looking around the shops, IN DISNEYWORLD, so she went to see the Doug show. Her only comments were that the guy who played Doug was fit!

As we strolled down Mickey Avenue, Beth was beginning to wake up. It must have been a strange experience for her, because she stirred, just as we were next to a character greeting area, where Pluto, Minnie and the Big, Blue Genie from Aladdin were holding court, and needless to say, this woke her up. Beth has been saying since she was very young, that she is going to marry Pluto, so she wanted to have her photograph taken with him. She was wearing a Blues Clues T-shirt, which Pluto kept on hiding with his paws, much to her amusement.

As Beth had co-operated with our 'deal', we bought her one of those pretend stiff dog-leads that were for sale at the handcarts, pink of course. She called it Lucky after her favourite Dalmatian. This dog-lead later gave San a cracking black eye, so she had to wear her sunglasses INDOORS.

This accompanied us to the Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmatian's, and the lady who was our tour-guide kept on saying, "Only Dalmatians allowed" to Beth, who each time proudly replied "It's Lucky". When we came out of the tour, we came across Cruella De Vil, who must time her appearances to coincide with the end of the tour. She was suitably horrible to the kids but did grace us with an autograph.

We then crossed the park to the Theatre of the Stars for the Beauty and the Beast show. We arrived early and managed to get good seats on about the fourth row. We caught the end of the warm up act - the Four for a Dollar acappella group. The seats in the theatre must have been comfy because as soon as I sat down, I fell asleep. The few snippets of the show that I saw between nodding off were quite hazy, but San said it was very good. By this point I wished somebody could push me around in a pram, whilst I sleep.

It was now about 3.45, so we decided to choose our spot for the Mulan parade. We actually found an empty bench, opposite Keystone Clothiers on Hollywood Boulevard, and took up residence. As we were waiting, a Cast Member named Glen, approached us and asked Peter and Beth "Would you like to help with the parade?" Of course they both said yes, as they thought that they were going to be IN the parade. Instead they helped to set out the metal poles, and ropes that cordoned off the street, creating a pathway between the crowds who lined the parade route. Beth's job was to make an arrow on the floor, using masking tape, which needed a couple of attempts.

When they had finished, I bought them both a well-deserved ice cream from Dinosaur Gertie's Ice cream of Extinction. It was so hot that Beth ended up wearing most of hers, as it had melted.

The parade eventually started with Mushu being driven around in a rickshaw. It was very colourful, and some of the costumes were huge, of Electrical Light Parade proportions. There were Chinese Dragons, and Sword Jugglers along with characters from the movie.

I cannot remember the tune for the parade, but there aren't any memorable songs in the film either. (I do hope the parade in MGM this year is Toy Story 2, or Tarzan, because Mulan wasn't up to much.) The best parade we have seen was the Hercules parade at Disneyland Paris.

As the parade made its way through the rest of the park, we decided it was time to go back to the Hotel for to relax, swim and get something to eat. We returned to MGM at around 9 O'clock and tried to get a Fastpass for Rock n' Rollercoaster, only to be told that they had already given their whole allocation out already, so we just took some photos of the huge guitar outside. We made do with the Great Movie Ride, which seemed to be the only ride that was still open. This was different from the excitement we were expecting from the RnR, but was entertaining in its own way.

The park was now closing, so we headed for the Hollywood Hills for the 11 O'clock Fantasmic show. We seemed to queue for an eternity in the pitch black, before being allowed to enter the ampitheatre, and after jostling through the crowds, we were able to grab front row seats for the show. (The queuing area for Fantasmic definitely needs to be altered in some way, either to make it lighter or larger).

Some sad cleaning woman character tried to entertain us before the main event, but was far too annoying to be funny. This show is breathtaking, worth the entry fee all by itself. We were sprayed with mist from the water screens and fountains, singed by the heat from the flames, and amazed by the sheer size of the dragon. Beth managed to stay awake throughout the whole show and commented "What a lot of baddies for just one little mouse". The highlight of the show was when the steamboat came around the lake at the end of the show and I spotted Meg, from Hercules. She is my favourite Disney babe, sad I know, but here she was in the flesh, and she waved right at me, Honest! San took a great photo of her for me.

We expected a decent show, which is why we stayed at MGM until 11 O'clock at night, and we were not disappointed. This is definitely the best show that Disney has to offer. Again I drove back to International Drive, whilst half asleep, arriving back at the hotel at around 1.00am, and after eventually finding somewhere to park, we were all asleep within minutes, after a full day of Movie Magic. (Phew! I'm tired just typing this).

Tomorrow:- Shopping/2nd day free at SeaWorld