Disney World

Hollywood Studios and Home

After spending Friday morning at Animal Kingdon, we decided to hop the bus to Hollywood Studios. Man, it started raining hard as we entered the park. The Crossroads of the World above is a replica of the one located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. (With the exceptiom of Mickey on the apex!)

Our umbrellas kept the top two-thirds of our bodies relatively dry. The rain was so hard that it was actually raining horizontally. My Judy was so excited about the rain! (NOT!) I kept trying to convince her that all was well and we should try to find an indoor attraction.

We swam our way to Mickey's Sorcerer Hat which is the icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios. Built in front of The Great Movie Ride, The Sorcerer's Hat debuted on September 28, 2001 as part of the 100 Years of Magic celebration at Walt Disney World Resort. The structure was inspired by the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment in Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia.

First we dashed to "Mickey's Giant Head Gear." Then we went across the road to the Great (and DRY!) Movie Ride which takes guests through scenes from famous movies. The ride is located inside a re-creation of the famous Hollywood landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre. However, because the Walt Disney Company was denied permission to use the name "Grauman,"the building is simply called "The Chinese Theatre." (Also, at the time the attraction was opened, the actual Grauman's Theater was officially known as "Mann's Chinese Theater" as it was owned by the Mann movie theater group.)

Oh, where shall we swim to next? Muppet Vision- 3D lay ahead, so off to that show. The show was OK, but the best thing about it was it was dry! Upon leaving the Muppet show, we saw that it was still raining. It was time to eat, so we headed for the Sci Fi Dine-in Theater.

This restaurant has one of the more unique themes found in Disney World. Modeled after Drive In Theatres, you sit "under the stars" in 50's era cars and watch old clips from science fiction movies while you dine. These movies were made to be scary, but as years pass and movie technology becomes more sophistocated, the Sci-Fi clips are really funny. There were clips from "Plan 9 From Outer Space," the "Amazing Colossal Man," and other B-movie classics. The majority of cars hold 6 people sitting in three rows of two seats. There are a few tables in the back of the restaurant. One of the items that the Sci Fi is best known for is the milkshakes. The rest of the menu ranges from burgers, to pasta to sandwiches, ribs and salads.

The restaurant was not crowded - off season, cool, and RAIN!

Judy ordered a cheeseburger and I had the ribs. Food was good. Did I mention that the restaurant was dry? Note the car speakers on the right side of the picture.

When we left the Sci Fi Dine-in, the rain had stopped. We were definitely wet puppies, but we decided we would see one more attraction before heading to the bus.




Ahead is the Tower of Terror. Judy and I did not even think about getting into that newer attraction!

We worked our way down the streets of Hollywood and found our destination - the production of Beauty and The Beast.

As with all the productions we have seen in our stay in Disney World, Beauty and The Beast was professional and fun. It was a great way to close our Disney adventure.

As we left the amphitheater, it was becoming dark.

When we left the park, Mickey was atop the Crossroads of the World saying "Goodnight".

Back at the resort, Miss Judy got all our luggage packed. At 7:30 AM on Saturday the good bellman arrived and took us to the lobby where we checked in our bags (which we didn't see again until we got to Charleston), obtained our boading passes for the airplane, and then ate some breakfast. At 10:30 AM we boarded the Magical Express and arrived painlessly at Orlando Airport. (AirTran was our non-stop service to Charleston, WV.) We had a great flight. Dan and Pix met us with our van and helped load our luggage. We are certainly lucky to have them as friends.

When we got home, Joe Dennison was in the driveway with his four wheeler with his snow blade attached. There was so much ice and frozen snow in our driveway that without his help, we could not have parked in our driveway. Photos below show the snow as we saw it upon arriving back in Glenville.

So as our friend Diana says, "THE END!" Many thanks for reading our Disney blog. It was another great time and adventure for Judy and me!