To continue trip report, on Wednesday we went to Disney Hollywood studios. We used Lightening lane MP but probably did not need it as the lines had relatively short wait times. After ROR and Smugglers run, most of the rides are pretty average – although we skipped Slinky Dog Dash. I hope Disney ups their game at HS with the new Monstropolis area. Overall a pretty mild day. We left the park mid afternoon and went to Epcot – and got hit with the worst rain storm of our visit. We were drenched before we could get our Panchos on, it was one of those Walls of Water the hit really quickly. Did some shopping in Epcot, had counter service food for lunch/dinner and went back to the VGF for a break. Returned to Epcot in the Evening to watch the fireworks show.
I really miss the Great Movie Ride and some of the other old time HS Studios rides (disaster canyon). Since we did not do TOT or the Muppets roller coaster, it was a short day for us at DHS.
This day really showed the advantage of staying on site with a parkhopper ticket. We were able to take a significant rest break going back to our resort without losing a lot of time.
On Thursday, we went to Animal Kingdom. We hit all the highlights except for Expedition Everest. With Dinosaur gone, Animal Kingdom is a little short of attractions – this was also a short day. We went back to the VGF in the early afternoon for a rest break and then headed out to go to the Hoop Dee Doo revue. This was a blast, the food was great and the entertainment put a big smile on our faces. Overall, another great day.
Friday was the big adventure, we got up early to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I had not told my wife what we were going to do so she was really surprised. She knew about the tunnels but did not know they did a tour to let you see it all. If you are like us and grew up in the 50s and 60s, and are into all the Disney history and the background of Walt and his vision for WDW, then this tour is worth it. My wife was over the top with getting to see the behind the scenes tour.
After the tour we did a couple of easy rides, and then had a late lunch, early dinner at Be our Guest. I have seen a lot of negative comments about Be our Guest for food quality but our food was excellent. Truly enjoyed this experience. Went back to the VGF and spent some time in the pool.
Saturday, we went to Epcot and rode GOTG again (when I thought we would not be able to ride it on Monday, I had purchased LLSP for it on Saturday). After that we took a boat launch to Broadwalk and caught a bus to Disney Springs to do some Disney shopping. This area has really expanded on the shopping since the last time we were there probably 7 years ago. Since we live in a large metropolitan area, we have access to all the same shops at home so we did not go into the shops except for World of Disney and the Christmas store.
We did not spend much time at Disney Springs and headed back to the VGF to spend time by the pool and do some packing.
All good things must come to an end, so on Sunday we checked out and headed to Universal. I will put the final part of my report under the Universal section of this forum.