We got a late start this morning. Everybody did. I guess we were tired from Epcot. Hey, at least my cold seemed to have disappeared!
We went to Disney Hollywood Studios today to ride two thrill rides. We got a fast pass for Tower of Terror then went on the Rock ‘n Roll Coaster. We probably should have gotten the pass for this ride instead (since the wait time was longer), but we didn’t. While waiting in line, we saw a group behind us get absolutely drenched by a sudden tropical downpour (we were under cover). That was fun. We then saw the Decker/Adams’ get in the “singles” line. They got to ride in under half an hour, though one person at a time as seats needed to be filled. We waited 85 minutes. Unfortunately, Ashley saw how fast the ride was and freaked-out (she is eight). Mindy had to take her out the exit. I felt sad for my sister. Once out of the ride, we went on Tower of Terror. Even with the fast pass, it took us half an hour.
On the way out of the park, we got caught in a downpour so we got under some canopies and watched people get wet. It was fun. The sun came out as fast as the rain had come and now it was muggy. We exited the Disney complex and had lunch at a nearby Steak ‘n Shake (excellent food and service!).
Courtney in the rain
By 5PM, we were inside the Magic Kingdom park and it was crowded! Kevin’s family went left, my parents went straight to meet up with Chelsey at It’s a Small World, and my family went right to get a fast pass for Space Mountain. We got ours for 9:15PM.
We decided to go on a ride with a 40 minute wait, except that it was 65 minutes because the ride kept breaking down. It broke down twice while we were on the ride. The whole time we were in line, we had to listen to a family who could not have been very bright. The mom was obsessed with line jumpers and asked everybody around her to stay in order so she could spot the line jumpers. She also swore that the fast pass people were line jumpers. Her husband tried to explain to her about the fast passes, but he didn’t get it either. Actually, they weren’t the only unintelligent people I met at the park today. They seemed to be all around me! Maybe all the smart people, realizing that everybody would be at the Magic Kingdom today went somewhere else; maybe they only go to Epcot; maybe there was a TED convention nearby. Whatever it was, the smart people were not here today. I hadn’t got the memo, but I had no doubt that the park would be packed because it had rained all day yesterday so people had stayed home. Today was the only day we could go to this park, so we had no choice.
Anyway… by way of Karmic balancing, the lines for the Haunted House and for Pirates of the Caribbean were both shorter than advertised. Haunted House broke down while we were on the ride. We didn’t care; it was air-conditioned. They had made several changes to “Pirates” to incorporate the movies. I did NOT like the changes. There were three Jack Sparrow sightings and a lot of the dialog had been changed to fit the movies. It was cheesy and I thought it detracted from the original concept.
We rode a few more rides to fill the time, and then went to Space Mountain. When we got there, the fast pass line was way out the door. Someone had dropped something important on the ride, so they had to stop the ride, hold the lines, turn on the lights, and find the object. Once the fast pass line started moving, it kept moving, but it still took us half an hour to get on the ride. The non-fast pass line was more than two hours long. Those people were not happy.
I have decided that I do not like the fast pass system. It only benefits savvy, English-speaking people. It’s not fair to foreigners or stupid people, and there were a lot of those here today (Disney is very international, which I enjoy very much. The stupid people… not so much. It makes me extremely glad that I live in Silicon Valley).
Our plan was to exit the park before the fireworks went off. It worked too – the first firework went off just as we were at the exit (after plowing through a sea of humanity). We watched the fireworks from the monorail on our way to the parking lot.