Mike and Suzy got up early the next day to go back to MGM studios. Transportation didnt take that much longer than it would have taken from the Polynesian, so moving to the new hotel and saving beaucoup bucks was looking pretty good. They got in and grabbed fast passes for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but even though they were pretty early, the wait for their fast passes was still a few hours so they looked around and decided to catch a show;
Mike had been meaning to see the Broadway production of Beautify and the Beast for a while now, but for various reasons he had never gotten around to it. He was quite happy when he heard that there was a version of it playing at Disney World and looked forward to seeing it. Even though the Broadway version is a lot longer, has a much bigger cast, and is more adult than the one Mike and Suzy saw, they both have one thing that makes it all worth while. They both have the Bimbettes:
It was an enjoyable quick show and did have great costumes;
Afterwards they headed over to the Great Movie Ride;
The wait was long enough that they saw every preview for every movie in the waiting room at least once. Mike has fond memories of seeing those previews for the first time when he was deeply into being a film buff. Back then, it was fascinating for him to watch previews for movies that had long since come out because back then you really couldnt do that. Nowadays anyone who wanted to could watch those same previews on you tube or on a DVD extra, but back then, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, it was something you couldnt see unless you were in the film industry. After the previews were over they got in the in the cart and enjoyed the best animatronics that 1989 had to offer:
When they got off the ride Mike spotted Pizza Planet from Toy Story. He was very curious to check it, hoping that it would be an uber-version of Chuck-E-Cheese with originally games to play that would woosh him away to a different time and space, but such was not the case. It was just a standard fast food pizza joint. Shrug:
Suzy passed by a fountain on the way to the ride, and Mike continued his effort to make sure that no aspect of the trip would be undocumented and told her to not just stand there, (let's get to it), Strike a pose, there's nothing to it;
Finally Mike and Suzy got in line for the Tower of Terror;
Suzy had never heard of the Tower of Terror and asked Mike what the ride was about. Thinking that the best surprise is one that is actually a surprise, Mike told her that it was like the Haunted Mansion. The good décor in Tower of Terror backed him up;
And Suzy got into the ride expecting a quiet non-exiting ride in which she merely watched things. And for the first part that is what she got. The Tower of Terror really does have some great special effects and its not surprising that Suzy thought that was the main point of the ride, right up until she dropped three stories without warning.
Suzy freaked out. She had no idea that was coming* and when the ride dropped it really gave her a jolt. And then they flew back up. And dropped. And rose. And dropped again. And Suzy was clutching Mike with a death grip the whole time. Heh heh. Mike is evil. EVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
* Well, mostly no idea. Mike made sure her seat belt was buckled and that was a slight give away, but she really was surprised.
After their hearts got back in their throats they passed the Broom from Fantasia throwing flowers instead of water. Disney really does have some nice horticulture;
Mike used to be really into animation, so it was a natural that hed drag Suzy along for the animation tour;
The sculpture of the Rémy from Rattattoie was really cool. It looked like it had just popped out to the movie;
And the colors man, the colors . . . ;
There was also only a two hour wait to shake hands with a college student in a sweaty suit;
As they were walking out they passed a model of Disney Sea which Mike had never even heard of but that looked very cool;
They also caught the Little Mermaid show. Now long, long ago, Mike remembered reading how the Little Mermaid show was actually performed under water and that the actors swam around and gulped air out of a hose. This was not the case with this show, which was performed in the ghastly air. Does anyone know if Mike was just hallucinating or if there really was some Little Mermaid show which was performed under water?;
On their way out to make their reservations, the happy couple passed a line of Toy Story Aliens all in a row on the street. Why were they there? Who put them there? What was there purpose? The world may never know;