Disney Day 2: Hollywood

We start the day waiting for groceries. We had placed an order online before we left NY. We have ordered fruit and yogurt, and the other kinds of things it can be hard to find when you are far from home. We brewed some Ithaca coffee, and breakfasted on bagels and yogurt, and made a late-morning start for our first full day.

Every day starts at he bus stop, where the family of ducks that live in our lagoon ask Papercup Mixmaster for a piece of his orange. (Yes, PM occasionally eats a piece of real fruit.) We are still getting used to waiting for a bus to go everywhere, because we are spoiled car-drivers by habit. By the end of the week, I realized that this Disney bus system is far more reliable than any municipal bus I have ever ridden, or waited vainly for. but this first day it seems like buses are going everywhere except Hollywood Studios which is where we want to go.

We go right to Star Tours, Wuggie Norple's pick for the day. You have to go through the Ewok forest to get there, and there we adopted his new Ewok, Teebo. Expding PopTart and Papercup Mixmaster picked Muppet 3D, which was every bit as charming as going to the Muppet Show in person. Later Wuggie Norple asks "When that guy says 'Everyone else thinks I'm talking to them, but I'm really just talking to you' how does he do that?" We try to explain that 3D looks that way to everyone, but he remains skeptical.

Exploding Poptart's boss mentioned that last time she went to Disney World she went to "the one with all the shows" I realize what she means. Most of what to do here at Hollywood Studios are is some version of sitting and watching. We are not used to this from our brief visit to Disneyland. We are more ride-centered. We are generally not in favor of waiting in any more lines, so we slip into "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular" standing room only and watch cool acrobats and stunts, and some lame banter by the host. It is still pretty breezy and overcast, but warmer than the day we arrived. We notice that Disney seems to be doing a brisk business in fleecies.

After our lame dinner the night before, we got reservations for "Hollywood and Vine" which had a great buffet and a yummy dinner was had by all. Poor Wuggie was flagging at times. Perhaps the late night the night before and all the walking were catching up to us. We Went home to get ready for "Fantasmic," the famed evening show at Hollywood Studios. We had been warned that seats filled up, and were not interested in another SRO event. So we got there almost an hour early, general admission, like watching a show at shoreline. We read our new Star Wars book ("Last of the Jedi") , ate popcorn, and got a cool Buzz Lightyear toy that spins light-up tenticles and looks really cool in the dark.

The show was the strangest mix of things: Disney meets Las Vegas meets Burning Man. It was a Gesamkunstwerk using live action, lights, fire, puppets, and (most originally) animated projections casting light on huge sheets of spraying water. And for the finale, all your favorite Disney characters riding illuminated boats (like a moat-parade around the stage) and fireworks. We went back to our hotel happy and tired.