Unca’ Donald
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2018
Happy Easter! I hope everyone's having a great day. It's time I wrapped up our final park day of this trip.
Friday, November 30, 2018 - Part 3: Late Afternoon/Evening at Hollywood Studios
After Riding ToT we walked over to check the wait time for the Olaf meet and greet. We had walked by there a couple of times earlier in the day. Both times it had a 15 minute wait posted, but the line stretching outside the building looked a lot longer than 15 minutes to me, so we moved on both times. This time the posted wait was higher, at 20 minutes, but the line was only half of what it had been earlier, so we got in line. We only waited like 10 minutes before meeting him.
I got a FP for another ride on Star Tours before our 5:50 ADR at Hollywood & Vine, but we had some time to kill. I wanted to watch Muppet Vision 3D, but Michelle didn't want to. She wanted to walk around TSL to look around, since her only time spent in the land had been for our 1:00 SDD FP. I had no interest in walking around TSL when I had already spent 2 hours there during EMM. So we split up and would meet back up in front of Star Tours at 5:30.
It was great seeing Muppet Vision 3D again. I hadn't seen it since our May 2013 trip. When we met back up and rode Star Tours with our FP. Michelle ended up being the Rebel spy. It was the first time that had happened for one of us out of our 6 rides on it during our trips.
We arrived for our 5:50 ADR for Minnie's Holiday Dine and it was by far the longest wait we had to be seated for any of our ADRs on this trip. I think we waited no more than 10 minutes for any of our other ADRs, but we waited outside for this one for about a half hour. Even if we had been seated right away this still would have turned out to be a disappointing dining experience for us. It was very crowded and took a long time for each individual character to make it over to our table. I didn't want to bug anyone one seated near us to ask if they would mind taking our picture each time a character came over, so Michelle and I had to take individual pictures of each other. The only picture we could have gotten together was the one with Santa Goofy before we left the restaurant, but by then Michelle didn't even feel like being in the photo. There was very little food at the buffet she could eat, so she wasn't in a very good mood by the time we were ready to leave.
This past trip has gotten me more interested in photography, but I have yet to start messing around with editing photos. All of the pics I've posted in this report are exactly as they turned out when I took them. I did end up cropping these pics of me with Mickey, Daisy, Minnie, and Donald though. There was just something really unappealing about these photos when there was a half eaten plate of food in front of me on our table.
When we exited the restaurant it was dark out, and Echo Lake looked really cool with all of the lights reflected on the surface of the water.
I noticed we were near Backlot Express and I remembered they had a Chocolate Chestnut Pinecone I wanted to try. I hadn't really eaten much at the buffet, so I felt I'd be able to handle it. I opened the door to walk in, and the restaurant only had one couple seated at a table. It also looked like they were beginning to close up behind the registers. I looked at the time and it was 8:00, which was the park close time. I hadn't even realized we had been inside Hollywood & Vine for almost 2 hours. I was disappointed I wouldn't get to order the Chocolate Chestnut Pinecone. I had read that it was really good, and I was planning to take it over to Baseline Tap House, and order a Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter to enjoy with it.
We had nearly a half hour before the start of Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! so we decided to walk down Sunset Blvd to check out Sunset Seasons Greetings, but when we got there there wasn't much going on. I didn't really feel like just standing around waiting for something to happen, so we then walked over to TSL to see what it looked like at night. It was pretty crowded, so we didn't walk too far into the land, but it did look really neat all lit up in the dark.
As we exited TSL we could hear something going on over the speakers, which happened to be the audio for Disney Movie Magic. We stopped where we were and began watching it. We didn't have a very good view, with palm trees in the way, so we ended up moving a little towards the center after a couple of minutes. Once the projection show was over we wanted to move back for a better view of the upcoming fireworks, but the area was packed. We gave up trying to find a spot and began making our way down Hollywood Blvd toward the exit. We stopped next to a lamp post about half way down, and watched the fireworks from there. As we watched the fireworks, hundreds and hundreds of guests passed us on their way to the exit.
As we arrived at the POFQ bus stop just before 9:00, the queue was completely full, and spilled out into a mass of people on the sidewalk. The POR queue next to it was completely empty. I heard people saying something about the boats not running. I'm not sure if they were talking about the boats to and from Hollywood Studios, or the boats that transport POFQ and POR guests to and from Disney Springs. Either way, I'm not sure why either situation would have an impact on the bus transportation from DHS to these resorts, yet here we were. Someone made the decision to have all of the guests from both resorts all pile into the same bus line, and the individual buses for those resorts would transport guests of both resorts. No one could understand why they didn't just keep separate buses for each resort and use both queues, and guests were getting frustrated with the situation as the area was completely overcrowded. Some guests trying to get by started walking in the parking lot right where the buses pull up. The security guy next to us told them they can't walk there and a guy yelled back at him about how there was no room to get by on the sidewalk. This was the first time I'd ever seen a guest yell at someone in frustration, and I thought there was going to be an altercation. The security guy just let them continue on their way, and I just wanted to get on a bus and get back to the resort. Thankfully multiple buses began to arrive for the Port Orleans resorts, and it didn't take long for us to get one one. It felt like a long ride back to POFQ, and I could have easily fallen asleep right in my bus seat if I'd chosen to let myself.
And so our time in the parks had come to an end. I'll be back next time with our departure morning and some final thoughts on our trip.
Friday, November 30, 2018 - Part 3: Late Afternoon/Evening at Hollywood Studios
After Riding ToT we walked over to check the wait time for the Olaf meet and greet. We had walked by there a couple of times earlier in the day. Both times it had a 15 minute wait posted, but the line stretching outside the building looked a lot longer than 15 minutes to me, so we moved on both times. This time the posted wait was higher, at 20 minutes, but the line was only half of what it had been earlier, so we got in line. We only waited like 10 minutes before meeting him.
I got a FP for another ride on Star Tours before our 5:50 ADR at Hollywood & Vine, but we had some time to kill. I wanted to watch Muppet Vision 3D, but Michelle didn't want to. She wanted to walk around TSL to look around, since her only time spent in the land had been for our 1:00 SDD FP. I had no interest in walking around TSL when I had already spent 2 hours there during EMM. So we split up and would meet back up in front of Star Tours at 5:30.
It was great seeing Muppet Vision 3D again. I hadn't seen it since our May 2013 trip. When we met back up and rode Star Tours with our FP. Michelle ended up being the Rebel spy. It was the first time that had happened for one of us out of our 6 rides on it during our trips.
We arrived for our 5:50 ADR for Minnie's Holiday Dine and it was by far the longest wait we had to be seated for any of our ADRs on this trip. I think we waited no more than 10 minutes for any of our other ADRs, but we waited outside for this one for about a half hour. Even if we had been seated right away this still would have turned out to be a disappointing dining experience for us. It was very crowded and took a long time for each individual character to make it over to our table. I didn't want to bug anyone one seated near us to ask if they would mind taking our picture each time a character came over, so Michelle and I had to take individual pictures of each other. The only picture we could have gotten together was the one with Santa Goofy before we left the restaurant, but by then Michelle didn't even feel like being in the photo. There was very little food at the buffet she could eat, so she wasn't in a very good mood by the time we were ready to leave.
This past trip has gotten me more interested in photography, but I have yet to start messing around with editing photos. All of the pics I've posted in this report are exactly as they turned out when I took them. I did end up cropping these pics of me with Mickey, Daisy, Minnie, and Donald though. There was just something really unappealing about these photos when there was a half eaten plate of food in front of me on our table.
When we exited the restaurant it was dark out, and Echo Lake looked really cool with all of the lights reflected on the surface of the water.
I noticed we were near Backlot Express and I remembered they had a Chocolate Chestnut Pinecone I wanted to try. I hadn't really eaten much at the buffet, so I felt I'd be able to handle it. I opened the door to walk in, and the restaurant only had one couple seated at a table. It also looked like they were beginning to close up behind the registers. I looked at the time and it was 8:00, which was the park close time. I hadn't even realized we had been inside Hollywood & Vine for almost 2 hours. I was disappointed I wouldn't get to order the Chocolate Chestnut Pinecone. I had read that it was really good, and I was planning to take it over to Baseline Tap House, and order a Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter to enjoy with it.
We had nearly a half hour before the start of Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! so we decided to walk down Sunset Blvd to check out Sunset Seasons Greetings, but when we got there there wasn't much going on. I didn't really feel like just standing around waiting for something to happen, so we then walked over to TSL to see what it looked like at night. It was pretty crowded, so we didn't walk too far into the land, but it did look really neat all lit up in the dark.
As we exited TSL we could hear something going on over the speakers, which happened to be the audio for Disney Movie Magic. We stopped where we were and began watching it. We didn't have a very good view, with palm trees in the way, so we ended up moving a little towards the center after a couple of minutes. Once the projection show was over we wanted to move back for a better view of the upcoming fireworks, but the area was packed. We gave up trying to find a spot and began making our way down Hollywood Blvd toward the exit. We stopped next to a lamp post about half way down, and watched the fireworks from there. As we watched the fireworks, hundreds and hundreds of guests passed us on their way to the exit.
As we arrived at the POFQ bus stop just before 9:00, the queue was completely full, and spilled out into a mass of people on the sidewalk. The POR queue next to it was completely empty. I heard people saying something about the boats not running. I'm not sure if they were talking about the boats to and from Hollywood Studios, or the boats that transport POFQ and POR guests to and from Disney Springs. Either way, I'm not sure why either situation would have an impact on the bus transportation from DHS to these resorts, yet here we were. Someone made the decision to have all of the guests from both resorts all pile into the same bus line, and the individual buses for those resorts would transport guests of both resorts. No one could understand why they didn't just keep separate buses for each resort and use both queues, and guests were getting frustrated with the situation as the area was completely overcrowded. Some guests trying to get by started walking in the parking lot right where the buses pull up. The security guy next to us told them they can't walk there and a guy yelled back at him about how there was no room to get by on the sidewalk. This was the first time I'd ever seen a guest yell at someone in frustration, and I thought there was going to be an altercation. The security guy just let them continue on their way, and I just wanted to get on a bus and get back to the resort. Thankfully multiple buses began to arrive for the Port Orleans resorts, and it didn't take long for us to get one one. It felt like a long ride back to POFQ, and I could have easily fallen asleep right in my bus seat if I'd chosen to let myself.
And so our time in the parks had come to an end. I'll be back next time with our departure morning and some final thoughts on our trip.
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