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WDW: The Happiest Place In The Galaxy!
Posted by Curto on August 10, 2008 at 11:00 AM CST:
After back-to-back week-long convention coverage from Celebration Japan and San Diego Comic Con, where else would you think I'd go? I went to Disney World, of course!
No, seriously...this was a family vacation that had been planned for months, and my wife and 2 out of 3 of my kids (my son Alec was on a 2-week school tour through Europe, so don't feel too bad for him!) headed back down to Orlando, FL for a week of recreation. But even in the Happiest place on Earth, you can't get too far away from Star Wars!
Downtown Disney
After our flights, the Magical Express took care of everything, and we were whisked away to Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which was a really cool log cabin building that actually looks like it was built out of toy Lincoln Logs! Since I hadn't slept in over 38 hours (my flight from San Diego got in me home around 10:30pm, and we were leaving at 4:00am...there didn't seem to be much point in sleeping. Besides, I still had some SDCC reports to work on), I was pretty tired, so I passed out almost as soon as we got to the hotel room. So, after a short nap, we headed to Downtown Disney, where we ate at the wonderful Earl of Sandwich restaurant. Afterwards, we did a little shopping and patroled Pleasure Island and the west side of Downtown (our park hopper tickets didn't start until the next day).
While at Downtown, I went into Once Upon A Toy, the big toy store doen there, which was naturally crowded with kids and folks doing some souvenier shopping. I made my way back to the boys toys section and spotted a whole wall full of Star Wars toys! They had quite a few of the new toys from The Clone Wars line and a few from The Legacy Collection as well. I snapped a couple of photos, which drew some strange glances from the employees.
  
We went back to Downtown later in the week, and I picked up a few Star Wars toys as souveniers, which i'll be adding to our Photo Archive in the coming week.
Hollywood Studios' Backlot Tour
Since we could hop around between the 4 different parks (although we only hit Animal Kingdom once...it's not our favorite park), we hit up Disney MGM Studios, oops scratch that....it's now called Disney's Hollywood Studios (I asked a few people about this...apparently Disney wants to expand its audience to include more than just MGM movies, so they did not renew their contract) and after getting Fast Passes to the "Toy Story Midway Mania" ride (a FUN ride/game if you can get in!), we went on the Backlot Tour, and yes, you guessed it...there are several Star Wars items on exhibit. The Snowspeeder and the Desert Skiff sit in the boneyard, and you can ride past them, along with other nifty vehicles from past motion pictures.
   
After the tram ride, you are led into a neat exhibit where they had some of the villains from the saga on display. i couldn't resist hamming it up for the camera, inspired by my daughter's direction. Afterwards, you are led directly into a gift shop (almost every single ride at Disney does this of course), but there was plenty of Star Wars merchandise for sale, including a photo booth where you can pose with your favorite characters.
  
  
Star Tours
Down the street from the Backlot Tour is the attraction that most readers are probably familiar with....STAR TOURS. The gift shop is dubbed "Tatooine Traders" and there's a TON of stuff to buy in there. The first trip at this park, we just walked by and I took some photos of the exterior of the ride, which is done up in a Endor theme complete with an Ewok Vilage and an AT-AT. On the left side of the building the ride is in, there's a stage for the "Jedi Training Academy"....but more on that in a moment. We didn't ride the ride on this day, because my son was eager to get in line for the Tower of Terror and tAerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster, which were all the way on the other side of the park.
   
  
   
However, on our last day down at Disney, I made sure to come back to the Star Tours ride, where I was just in time to watch part of the Jedi Training Academy in session. This is a fun-filled stage demonstration where Jedi Padawans can hone their lightsaber skills by following the movies of a Jedi Master, and then later face off against the evil Sith Lord himself...Darth Vader! The crowd went nuts over this, which just goes to show that there's still plenty of love for Star Wars....from kids of all ages.
    
    
   
After the show, my kids and I went on the ride at last (my wife went on this a few years ago, and let's just say that the Force was not with her, so she won't go back....but hey, she tried it!). I of course took a lot of pictures of the droids in the queue, so my kids left me behind! But since I actually know the names of most of these droids in the pits from their action figures over the years...how could I resist getting some new photos of them?
The ride is pretty dated these days, as its focused on the Original Trilogy, but it's still got some great elements in it and is fun for the casualy fan. Of course you can't take pictures on the actual ride, but I snapped a few before we got started and after it was over. Since they rush you in and out pretty quickly, it's just pure luck that any of them even came out!
   
    
    
    
    
Of course, after the ride is over, you are back in Tatooine Traders, where I picked up a few small souveniers (coming soon to our Photo Archive!) and even found a Jedi Training Academy with my name on it! I didn't buy it, but hey, it was still pretty cool.
Outside, they had a Speeder Bike all by itself in a photo op booth, with an Endor backdrop. No, Jason & Pete, I didn't get to ride this one eihter...my kids had ditched me and I had to catch up to them. Then my son called my cell phone all the way from France, and I forgot to go back. Ah well...
   
   
Indiana Jones
I can't write up a report about Hollywood Studios without mentioned the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. We saw it last year, so we opted to skip it this time, but I still got a few photos of the sign and the kiosk outside the attraction. I also picked up a cool Indy souvenier, which i'll be adding to the Cool Toy Review Photo Archive in the coming days.
  
Where's Curto going next?
Well, since we got back home, I've had a LOT to catch up on, both here and at home (the lawn REALLY needed to be mowed!), and I got to check out The Clone Wars movie yesterday, which was pretty sweet. But I'm actually heading out again for 2 weeks on a trip to visit my folks in Mahwah, NJ. So if you're reading this are are from the area, drop me a line!
We leave in a few hours, but you never know what Star Wars news I might uncover!
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