So my daughter and I headed up to The Studios yesterday morning. Yesterday was her birthday. We had the certificate that you print up online and she took it to the Will Call ticket window and got her ticket and a birthday button.

What can I say about the crowds? How about THEY WERE HUGE!! Recession my foot. This, I'm sure, was due to 2 things. A 3 day weekend and February vacation in parts of the country.

The first major line we hit was at the scooter rental area. There were at least 15 people in front of me. It was for both scooters and strollers. Eh, MGM... it's small, I felt pretty good so I decided to walk.

We immediately headed to the Tower ofTerror. 50 minute wait so I got a Fast Pass. The Little Mermaid was about an hour from another show so we did the Walt Disney walk through. Then we went to The Great Movie Ride. Another 50 minute wait but we got in line any way. Sometimes the posted wait time isn't as long as they say but, in this case, it was. I don't know why but I took a lot of ceiling photos today. This one is from the wait area of the GMR.









After that it was time for my ToT ride. I was right in front of a group of hearing impaired young adults. They had a woman with them who was signing the whole preshow and that was really interesting to watch. The ride was AWESOME! They dropped us the entire height of the building 4 times and during one drop we had at least 3 seconds of air time. Cool!



After that I wanted a snack and decided I'd get some French fries and a drink because it would be fast. Well it might be fast anywhere else but the stand on Hollywood Blvd was un-freakin-believable. They serve 2 things there. French fries and soda. I waited 20 minutes. Yeah, there was a line but it was not that long. Some of the other people in the line were cracking me up. One woman said she could have grown the potatoes and cooked them 7 different ways while she was waiting for these fries.

We continued to walk around looking for attractions that might have a more manageable wait time. That wasn't happening. The low point of the day came at PIXAR where the Toy Story wait time was a whopping 170 minutes!!!





Needless to say, we didn't get in that line.

We were in the back lot area and I noticed this. I don't know if this is new or if I haven't been very observant in the past. The effect was amazing.



By now it had gone from mobbed to claustrophobic. Both of us wanted out! So we fought our way to the exit. Just before we got there the parade started so we watched that.





It was pretty cute and also short... two things I like in parades.

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Now it's only a little past 3 pm so we went off to DTD. After the walking I'd already done, this was really not a good idea. We went all over the place from the West Side through the now defunct Pleasure Island, all over DTD and then back to the car which was parked in front of the movie theatre. Yikes!

Here's some photos of various things we came across.



















And there's this new restaurant there called T-Rex. It's sort of like the Rainforest Cafe with dinosaurs. Good for kids but really loud for adults.



After all that walking, we were both starving. My daughter is a vegetarian so finding food at Disney for her can be tough. Not that they don't have vegetarian food there but it's mostly all the same. I suggested Boma's so off we went. The wait time there was about 40 minutes so we went out to see the animals after resting in the lobby for a few minutes while we tried to get our legs to stop screaming.



Honestly, if we had sat there for much longer, both of us would have fallen asleep!

Most of the animals were off quite a ways but these two zebras wandered over.



Dinner was awesome. Boma's has been my favorite Disney restaurant for some time and last night's meal did nothing to change my mind. Our waitress gave my daughter a birthday card signed by the staff and at the end of the meal she brought this over.



Note the hidden Mickey made from blueberries.

It was a different type of day than I thought it would be but fun in its own way. Our next trip will be when there are no school vacations though.

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Great Pics! Just reading about the people, lines and waiting make me tired!

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

I love your photos and now I want to go to WDW again. It was nice of you to spend so much time uploading them for everyone to enjoy. Thank you!

Thanks for the pics. I remember that when my daughter was in high school they had the cheerleading competition in Disney every Feb. The lines were crazy.

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Sometimes the elevator often the shaft

Did you see Tom, Katie, and Suri Cruise? I saw that they were at Disney World yesterday.

I just can't handle crowds at all... I forced myself to go one time because I wanted my kids to have the experience. Maybe in another few years, we'll try again. The kids sure have fun.

Thankfully NO.

If you want to avoid the crowds, try the 2nd and 3rd weeks of September.

Moderate crowds but worth it for the Flower and Garden Show at EPCOT...the month of May except the Memorial Day weekend. Normally the beginning of the month is better than the end because it's not as hot.

The last two weeks of August are usually quiet too if you can stand the heat.

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Your photos are awesome...That was really nice about the card and treat. Disney has it's magic, don't they ?

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Live, Love, Laugh

great pictures

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

Yes great pics! My DS keeps on telling me he wants to go to WDW. Maybe when he's about 2-3 years older so he'll remember it. He's only 7 now.

My kids were 9 and 11 the first time we went and both have really strong memories of that trip. Still there's something about seeing a young child's reaction to WDW. They might not recall all of it but their parents will have some wonderful memories.

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Thank you for posting the pictures and telling us about your day. I haven't been to a Disney property in over 25 years and it was neat to see how things have evolved.

I especially liked the picture of the horses in the crazy pajamas.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I also enjoyed your pictures...they are great! ~Lisa

Lordy, it's been a long day. When I read that I was It took me a few seconds to figure out what you were talking about.

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Very cool! Thanks for sharing those. I love WDW. . .I just wish it wasn't so far away. The first year we went, was for 10 days at the beginning of Dec. That was awesome and it wasn't crowded at all. Everything was decorated for Christmas too. I took my oldest daughter back the following year for her birthday at the end of Oct. It was more crowded and unbeknownst to me. . .schools in England were on holiday and we were surrounded by Brits. That made it kind of fun though.

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"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
- George Orwell Animal Farm

Op simply wonderful photos and while I will miss Disney, we as a family have been there so many times and I promised myself the next time will be when I am a grandma which will not be for perhaps another 2 or 3 years.But again great photos thanks for sharing and boy oh boy do I remember when my kids were young and the heat and the long lines. But honestly looking back it was totally worth every moment . Peace. Catherine