Walt Disney World: Day Four -- MGM Studios

No alarms for Tuesday. We decided to sleep in and make it an easy day. As it turns out, we were up and out by 9:45 anyway, but we didn’t put any pressure on ourselves to get out by a particular time, and without that pressure (self-imposed or not), our morning seemed far more stress free.

We rolled up to MGM at about 10:00. Once again, there was plenty of parking, and we had no trouble grabbing a tram to the gate. The forecast for Tuesday was for 60 degrees, with the possibility of showers, but the day looked bright and clear as we entered the park.

The park seemed far different to me from the time I was there in 1992. I didn’t remember Mickey’s magician’s hat being so prominent as the focal point in the center of the park. And, of course, the Tower of Terror, looming off to the right, was totally new to me. We were all very eager to get into the park!

The Lights! Motors! Action! Stunt Show was our target attraction today – we’d heard so many absolutely wonderful things about the show, so we didn’t want to miss it. According to the schedule, the first show was at 10:45, so we had about 30 minutes to get there. We walked past Star Tours on the way to the stunt show, and with both Jake and me being huge Star Wars fans, we decided to fill the thirty minutes with a quick trip to the moons of Endor.

Star Wars fan or not, this simulator type ride still holds up and is very enjoyable all these years after it was first introduced. The ride is very well done, and seems very realistic. It takes some of the best scenes from the original three movies, and some new footage, and puts you in the middle of the picture. It’s a very enjoyable experience, and it really impressed Jake. We wound up riding it a total of four times during our visits to MGM, and each time was a lot of fun. (Seat Tip: As usual, seats in the middle are better, so try not to be first in line as they load the ride, if you can help it. Also, seats in the back of the 40-person cabin give you a better experience than seats up front.)

From here, after ushering Jake through the Star Wars shop with promises of a return later in the day, we hustled up to the Stunt Show. We got there just at 10:45, and it was packed. However, we managed to get great seats for the show, about three rows up on the right hand side. The show itself is nothing short of amazing. It’s cars. It’s motorcycles. It’s guns. It’s explosions. It's fire. It’s stunts. It’s guys falling off of buildings. It’s a lot of action and a lot of fun and it’s something that you simply don’t want to miss. This show is great!


After the Stunt Show, there were only two other things we definitely wanted to do at the park – well, three if you count the Tower of Terror, although I was the only one of us who really wanted to do the Tower. Sue and I didn’t want to miss the Rock n’ Roller Coaster, and none of us wanted to miss Fantasmic, the laser light show at the end of the day. Apart from those things, we were just going to play it by ear, and fit in what we fit in. MGM is small enough so that, on an uncrowded day, you can pretty much wander around and do things as you happen upon them. That’s exactly what we did.

We cruised over to the Rock n’ Roller Coaster first. To get there, of course, you have to walk along MGM’s version of Sunset Boulevard, which is kinda cool. There are great shops, with movie and studio themes (there's one dedicated solely to villains), and great props all over, from vintage cars to classic store fronts. It’s really a neat experience walking down a Hollywood street from yesteryear.

Of course, looming at the end of Sunset is the Tower of Terror. It’s quite an impressive sight, to be sure. And the screams that float down from the tower add a certain ambiance to the area at the end of the block. But more on all that later.

As we turned left at the end of Sunset, towards the coaster, Sue and I were both excited, but Jake was a bit nervous. He wasn’t sure that we meant it when we said that we were not going to make him ride the coaster, and he kept saying, “You’re sure I don’t have to ride it, right?” Of course, we had no intention of making him ride the coaster; we did, however, want to give him every opportunity to try it. But he was having no part of it. “It’s got loop-dee-loops!” which was all of the explanation we really needed.

The set up for the coaster is great. You enter a giant record company studio, and you see exhibits of all of the “stars” for the company as you walk through. You ultimately make your way into an observation area for a “live” recording seesion, where you see Aerosmith just before they head out to a show. It’s exceptionally well done, and your exit from the studio to your limo-coaster is way cool.

Jake was able to go along for the whole pre-ride tour because there’s an exit from the ride right before you enter the loading area for the coaster. (The exit takes you right into the gift shop, right by the exit from the ride, so older kids -- and the more faint-hearted family members -- who don’t want to ride can wait right there for you.) Meanwhile, you can get in line and start filling in the seats for the limo. You can request front or back seat, so don’t be shy: Ask the Cast Member for the seat you want, and they'll direct you to that section of the loading area to wait in (at least they do during the low season; I suspect they try to keep the line moving faster when it's busier). If you decide to wait for front seats (and you should, if you can), the line takes a little longer, but it’s worth it. As coaster aficionado’s know, front seats, back seats, and middle seats all give you a different kind of ride, and some rides are better front-seat rides while others are better back-seat rides. The best ride on the Rock n’ Roller Coaster is front seat – no doubt and without question, so if you’ve got the time and the inclination, get yourself a front seat and enjoy.

The ride itself is amazing. Apart from the fact that you’ve got some great Aerosmith tunes blasting in your head as you settle in, the ride is fantastic. 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds. Jake’s “loop-dee-loop.” Corkscrew. Fantastic artwork. And a great finish. (Okay, truth be told, it could be a tad longer. But, that’s my complaint with most coasters – too short.) Overall, this is one great ride, and well worth the wait. (To compare, in my opinion, this is far more worthy of a lengthy wait than Mission: Space. The Coaster is worth whatever it takes to get in. Space, to me, is a ride to ride if you can get in without wasting a lot of time waiting. But that’s just me.) Oh, one more thing. They take a picture of you as you launch (and there’s no other word to describe your departure). You can buy a copy of your picture in the gift shop at the end of the ride, and here’s your tip: try hard to keep your eyes open if you want a good picture!

As we left the Coaster and its gift shop, I asked, casually, if anyone wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. I wasn’t surprised when my request was politely, but hastily, turned down. “But don’t let us stop you,” Sue said. “We’ll wait right here for you.”

I couldn’t pass up the chance to ride the Tower because I’ve heard so much about it over the years. I’ve ridden Free Fall, at Six Flags Great Adventure, which is thrilling in and of itself. But that’s a simple take-you-up-and-drop-you-down ride. I knew the Tower would be special, and it was.

First of all, the decor in the hotel in spot-on. It’s as if you’ve stepped back into a Hollywood hotel, circa 1940, that hasn’t been touched in more than 60 years. Then, there’s a perfect back-story, a la The Twilight Zone, with Rod Serling and the whole shebang. Then, there’s the build-up as they take you up the tower. I don’t want to spoil it, but suffice it to say that it’s not a simple straight-up-and-straight-down ride. It’s up, and down, and up again, and down again. It’s dark, it’s light. The windows in the tower open, and close. It is a thrill-ride-and-a-half, another must-do ride, and it’s well worth the wait. Fast Pass it, or wait for it, but do it. It’s scary, thrilling, exciting, exhilarating – all of these, and more. Do it. You’ll be glad you did.

Sue and Jake were waiting patiently, and I couldn’t wipe the silly grin off my face as I walked up to them. They both knew from my expression what I thought about the ride. I invited them to go, but I didn’t push it on them when they politely refused. But I figured I’d work on them later to see if I could convince them.

The skies were starting to get overcast as we strolled back down Sunset. We decided to try the Great Movie Ride, which was kind of fun. Lots of clips of classic movies in the pre-show, and some fun displays and events during the ride itself. It’s a fun little attraction, great for the movie buff.

By the time we got done with the ride, we discovered that we’d missed one of the rain showers forecast for the day. Rain ponchos and umbrellas had sprung up everywhere, but we were nice and dry, thanks to the Movie Ride. This is one of the little facts of life about a Florida vacation. Some time, some where, you’re going to get rain.

The rain didn’t bother us, though, as we headed off to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. I remembered this show from my visit in ‘92 and, at the time, it was an amazing show, so I was really looking forward to it. But you know what? Over the years, and especially after having seen the Lights! Motors! Action! Show earlier in the day, the Indiana Jones show feels slow and pretty outdated. There was far more talk and set-up than I remember, and far less action. It also didn’t help that the rain made them cancel that portion of the show involving the attack on the plane, so we got a shortened version of the show (or at least what I remember of the show). It’s still a good show, with stunts and explosions and all. But you can get by with skipping this show, if you want to. If you do want to see it, I would suggest that you go to this show before you do the Lights! Motors! Action! Show. That way, you get the flavor of Indiana Jones, followed by the non-stop action of Lights! Motor! Action!. Doing it the other way makes Indy feel like a let down.

We took a break for lunch next, and this is where our plans had to change. I had originally reserved a table at the Sci Fi Drive-In. However, the day before, while we were strolling through Epcot, I’d gotten a call on my cell phone from Disney. Seems they’d had some plumbing problem (the details of which I really didn’t want to know), which forced them to cancel all reservations for Tuesday. They did give us another reservation for lunch on Thursday, but that left us to our own devices for Tuesday. We wound up grabbing some burgers at the Back Lot Express, which were actually pretty good. The lesson is: don’t fret if you don’t have reservations for every meal. The counter service is pretty darn good, and, in addition, the freedom of eating on the fly made the day seem easier.

After lunch, we planned on taking in “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” which is a live version of the TV game show, but without Regis or Meredith. On our way down Mickey Avenue towards the studio, we saw one of those little trailers you’d expect to find some Hollywood star in, and who did we see? DONALD! It was Donald Duck! Serendipity! One of the “tough gets” of characters, and there he was! Things work out best when you don’t plan them! Jake grabbed a spot in line, and Donald was wonderfully friendly and nice. We got several pictures with Donald along with his autograph, of course.




Basking in the glow of the newly added signature, we continued on to the Millionaire set. It’s actually pretty neat to walk into the studio. If you’ve ever seen the show, the studio is an exact replica of the TV set. What’s more, every member of the audience has the chance to play for a shot at the “hot seat.” There are buttons on the back of the seat in front of you so that you, too, can play the fastest finger game. However, I discovered that there is a down side to this: with a couple hundred people in the studio, including kids of all ages, it’s entirely possible that someone can randomly rap out the correct sequence of letters more quickly than you can come up with the actual answer to the fastest finger question. So, although it took me only 4 seconds to come up with the answers C-A-B-D, about three other people in the audience had already rapped out C-A-B-D on their keypads in about 2.5 seconds. As a result, the winner was a nine-year old girl, who got to play the game with her mother. (When the studio host asked, the girl said that she’d just randomly pushed buttons as fast as she could, which is how she won. I mention this only because you should know: don’t go in expecting to have a realistic shot at getting into the hot seat. Getting on-stage is simply a crap shoot and, most likely, you’ll just be along for the ride.)

Anyway, the game play in the studio is identical to the TV show, with life lines (although, instead of a friend, you call a random stranger on the streets at MGM), poll the audience, and the 50-50. And, instead of playing for money, you play for Disney character pins, with a Disney cruise as the ultimate prize. Of course, it’s as hard in the studio as it is on TV to get the grand prize, and the girl wound up taking home 10 Disney pins. Also, it appears that they only set aside time for one contestant, so if you decide to do the Millionaire show, plan on enjoying the show, but don’t plan on being a contestant. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and it’s a fun show, so I would recommend making time to check it out. But don’t go planning to play the game, because it’s likely that you won’t.

We next took the Backlot Tour, which I also recommend for a little taste of what it’s like behind the scenes. There’s a little special effects show at the beginning of the tour, for which they take volunteers from the audience. It looks like a lot of fun, but there is a great deal of water involved, so keep that in mind if you decide to step up. After the special effects, the line for the tram ride part of the tour winds through a warehouse with all sorts of neat little props, costumes, and the like. Waiting in the line is almost as interesting as the tram ride itself as you see items that could have been in any number of movies – and probably were!

The backlot itself is also pretty cool, with some behind the scenes looks at the Lights! Motor! Action! Show and a ride through Disaster Canyon. Grab a seat on the left side of the tram, if you can, for the best view of the canyon.

We did skip a few things at MGM. We didn’t do the Beauty and the Beast show, or the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, or One Man’s Dream (although Jake really wanted to see what Walt Disney was all about). We also skipped the Magic of Disney Animation, and the Character Parade through the park as well. We did check out the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set, where Jake got to run around through the giant hose, grass, and insects. We also saw the Muppet 3-D movie, which was good, but not nearly as good as Mickey’s PhilharMagic over at the Magic Kingdom. (Unless you’re a muppet nut, or unless you really need to sit down for a few minutes, you can probably skip this movie. If you stay for it, the same “don’t be first in line if you want the best seats” rule applies.)

By this time, it was nearing 6:00 p.m. The only thing left to do was Fantasmic, the end-of-the-day show at MGM that we’d heard was wonderful, so we didn’t want to miss it.

We’d heard that if you wanted to get seats for Fantasmic, you had to plan on getting to the show about an hour before start time. But it was such a beautiful night, and we’d had such good luck with all of the lines, we decided against sitting on the bleachers for an hour. Instead, we headed back to the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster, where we once again tried to convince Jake that he should try it – to no avail. But we did get the chance to ride the coaster again, which was a nice bonus. This time, we rode in the very last seat, and here’s your tip from that: Don’t. In my experience, the last seat is a decent although different ride from the front seat. However, I didn’t like the last seat at all on the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster. It seemed too “draggy,” if that makes sense. But, we did get to ride it again, and it was still a very fun, very exciting ride.

After the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster, we took a leisurely stroll to MGM’s version of the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. We were fortunate because, in January, we didn’t really have to fight the crowds and we didn’t really have to worry about getting to our seats an hour before the show. I can definitely see this place filling up quickly during the high season, though, so plan your trip accordingly. By the way, you can make dinner reservations at some of the restaurants at MGM that also include preferred seating at Fantasmic. You should explore this option as you’re planning your trip. But if you’re going in the low season, you don’t have to worry about seating so much – we strolled in at about 6:45 for a 7:00 show and found three seats together, about half-way down, without any problem. Of course, your results may vary.

As for the show itself, this is another must-see. It’s a classic Disney good-vs-evil tale, with some of Disney’s best music, a laser-light shows combined with a water show, and some really unique special effects. It is well worth your time, so make sure you make time for it.

After the show, plan on spending a LOT of time getting out of the Amphitheater. As good as the show is, that’s how poorly designed this facility is. There are at least ten sections of bleachers, but only main exit and entrance. Disney is usually very good with its shows, and rides, and the entrances and exits, but the Amphitheater is an exception. They pack a LOT of people in for the show, which is great. But the aisles all funnel towards a bottle neck before they exit and it is painfully (and inexplicably) slow going as you leave. We talked to one of the cast members as we were waiting to exit, and he told us that it takes between 20 and 25 minutes just to get out of the amphitheater at the end of the show. That’s a little crazy to me.

We finally did make it out of the Amphitheater and were able to wander down Sunset Boulevard under the night sky. It was really nice, actually, with all of the marquees lit, and the neon signs flashing.



It was about 7:45 by now, and MGM was closing for the night. We had plenty of time to get over to Epcot, if we wanted to, to catch Illuminations. But we hadn’t eaten, and we really were tired, so we decided to grab dinner away from Disney (I know!) and then call it a night. We knew we would have the next night to do Epcot's Illuminations.

We wound up eating at a Chevy’s mexican restaurant in the Crossroads Shopping Center, across from our hotel. We’re very familiar with Chevy’s, and dinner was actually very good. (Plus, the homemade tortilla chips put the Tostitos chips they used in the San Angel to shame.) We had a nice, leisurely dinner, and then retired to the room for the night. We had The Animal Kingdom scheduled for the next day, and from everything we’d read, we knew we wanted to do the safari ride first thing, because the animals tended to go into hiding as the day grew warmer. So, with images of dancing gorillas in our heads, we settled in for our next-to-last night in Orlando.