1994 Walt Disney World MGM/Disney Studios (3/19/1994)

Saturday, March 19, 1994

It was decided to have a big breakfast, so we left a little later this morning. Arrived at MGM/Disney Studios closer to 11:00. It did not seem at all crowded. Parking lot tram was ride #14. We received a map and schedule, and decided not to rent a stroller. Headed down Hollywood Boulevard with lots of shops, and the Grumman Theater as the centerpiece. Walked past the green dinosaur ice cream shop in the middle of a pond, and heard rumblings from the Indiana Jones building.

Dinosaur Gertie's Ice Cream of Extinction

We joined the line for the Monster Sound Show (#6), which was not supposed to be scary, but had a haunted house theme. There was a short film with Chevy Chase and Martin Short, seen as original. Then volunteers were cued to provide sound effects, and the movie was shown again with the added effects. Funny, and the audience’s “look out!” changed the ending! Outside the exit were Sound Works creating your own effects. Brynne loved it when Kent dubbed the voice of Roger Rabbit, and it was played back! We went in search of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, and ended up in the New York City set.

New York City set

You could see it was just painted boards, but it was very realistic looking. We wanted rope-side seats for the Aladdin’s Royal Caravan parade at 13:00, so we staked them out. We brought water, juice, and snacks. Pretty soon, along came show #7, not a tremendously long parade, but wonderful! Aladdin and Jasmine, the Genie and Jafar. Everyone was there!

Leah, Tamiko, and Brynne wait for the parade

Here comes the Genie!

Wait! It's the Genie again!

Marketplace from the Aladdin movie

Aladdin and Jasmine, on Abu as an elephant

Jafar has clean-up duty at the end of the parade

Next for show #8 was Jim Henson’s Muppet Vision 4-D. We were given 3-D glasses, and the theater provided more effects for a delightful movie. Beauty and the Beast was next on our list, but was not starting yet. We did find the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set (ride #15) to climb giant Cheerios, slide out of a film canister, get wet from a hose leak, and hear bees buzzing overhead. Brynne and Leah spent most of their time getting wet.

Brynne on film canister slide

Brynne and Leah on a giant Cheerio

Trick fountains

Kent and Kathy went to stand in the Beauty and the Beast line, while the rest of us watched (show #9) the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flip around.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

For Beauty and the Beast (#10), we sat in the first row behind the seats for the handicapped. There were some Hispanics drinking beer and posing in front of the stage during the musical show. Brynne and Leah loved the familiar characters and songs, and they were right there in front of them!

Beauty and the Beast: Mrs Potts, Lumiere, and Cogsworth

The Beast and Beauty

Belle and the Beast as a human

We returned back down the New York City street to join the line for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (#11). We finally reached the grotto-like theater and were misted during the multi-media show with video, slides, puppets and a real person mermaid, lasers, etc. Quite a show. Back out in the light, we boarded the Backstage Studio Tour (ride #16) right away. We were taken through costuming, past movie and TV set houses (just façades), props, and vehicles of all sorts.

Pacific Electric Railway car

Past the Earffel Tower, a water tower with giant Mickey ears. Then into catastrophe canyon, a movie set in action. A tanker truck gets caught on fire, and a flash flood gets us wet.

Catastrophe Canyon fire

Catastrophe Canyon flood!

Mixed reviews from the girls. They wanted to get wet, but this was too scary! We disembarked at a sort of museum of props, costumes for the Nightmare Before Christmas, which was not familiar to us. We found the Backlot Express for a lunch of fruit and chicken sandwiches. I ended up taking Brynne then Leah for a BM run. Mike and Kent went off to do Star Tours and Indiana Jones, and Kathy and I took the girls to the Great Movie Ride (#17).

From the Indiana Jones show

Replica of Grauman's Chinese Theater

We had to circle around a presentation about Hulk Hogan who is making a movie with Disney. We were taken through movie sets with Audio-animatronics of the likes of John Wayne, Mary Poppins, and Clint Eastwood. We were in the middle of a gunfight when our driver disappeared and a gunman took over. We had to hide the girls from the Alien. The gunman was overcome with greed for a jewel on a tomb and our driver came back. A montage of film, and the ride was over. Brynne and Leah were wary of rides now, because there was always a scary part!
We went to the Magic of Disney Animation (#12) showing a film with Walter Cronkite explaining the process, and Robin Williams was the tourist as the example. We went through a studio where there was a guy with a rat on his shoulder. Mostly pretty entertaining, but the girls loved the last part, a montage of Disney animated movies. A fitting end for the day at MGM.
As we waited for the dads, I went to change the reservations for breakfast for Minnie to Monday. We left as the park closed at 19:00. The tram to the car was ride #18. We drove to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, where our parking receipt for MGM got us in for free. The tram to the Transportation Center (#19) and the monorail (#20) brought us into the Magic Kingdom. We had time before the parade, so took the train (#21) to Frontierland where we would watch it. We did the Pirates of the Caribbean (#22) and the Tropical Serenade with the Enchanted Tiki Birds (#13), before getting rope-side seats for the Spectromagic Parade (#14).

Spectromagic Parade Dragonfly

Spectromagic Parade Peacock

It was indeed magic, with each character and float covered with hundreds of colorful mini-lights. Quite spectacular! After the parade we watched the fireworks show (#15). Off in the distance you could see Tinkerbell’s flight downward from a high castle window. The fireworks were actually off to the left from our view on a bridge of Frontierland. We then took a ferry (#23) to the Transportation Center. From the ferry we glimpsed the Electrical Water Parade, with floats on barges in the water. Took the tram (#24) to the car and were “home” by midnight.
Next: Airboat Ride and Kennedy Space Center.