Trip Log:

Started off the morning sleeping in a bit.  We headed down to the Mill for breakfast around 8:15ish then off to the Studios a little after 9.  We walked out to Toy Story to grab a Fastpass then decided to wait in the Standby line since it was under an hour.  When we emerged from Toy Story it had started to rain.  We put on our rain gear and headed for the Great Movie ride to avoid the rain.   Then decided to give the Little Mermaid a try.   We just missed making into the show so we headed toward the backlot as the rain began to fall again.  Roamed around the streets and then into the Muppets.   After the Muppets grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet & the Backlot Express.  After lunch decided to give the American Idol Experience a visit and then wandered around Hollywood Blvd a bit before going over to Toy Story to use our Fastpasses from the morning.  I managed to score in the top 3 of the day!  Next up we visited the Animation Courtyard and the Character Meet & Greet.  We skipped the show.   Decided to head for a bus to the TTC then hopped on a ferry to the Magic Kingdom.  Caught the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade in its truncated rain form then stopped by to watch the glass blowing demonstration in one of the shops.  Walked out to Liberty Square and caught the Showboat Jubilee (yesterday some of the group missed the start and wanted to see it).  After the show headed for the Hall of Presidents then back out into the rain.  Walked briskly over to Main Street then cut through the stores to stay dry as we headed for the Monorail.  Took the resort line around the Grand Floridian.  Spent some time roaming around the lobby then headed out to dinner at Narcoosees.  After dinner took one of the boats back to the Magic Kingdom (by way of the Polynesian) and hopped on a bus back to the Riverside to call it an evening.

Thoughts & Observations:

• Toy Story is still one of the longest lines at Walt Disney World. Fastpasses disappear by mid morning. We arrived shortly after 9:15 and our return time was not until almost 2pm. The standby line was only 30 minutes so we jumped in there knowing there were not any Fastpass return people yet. Also it seems there are still not that many die hard gamers here. The top score for the month was under 400,000.
  
  
• We spent the morning dodging some rain drops as a cool storm rolled through. It started to rain right as we exited Toy Story and kept raining on and off most of the morning and early afternoon. Luckily we were able to find enough to do that was inside that it really did not slow us down too much.
  
  
• The Studios were not that crowded. Tower and Rock n Roller were both under 20 minutes the couple times I checked the line board. Toy Story crept up to over an hour. Even the dining choices did not have long lines. I grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet and there was maybe 3 people in front of me.
  
  
• Stopped by the American Idol Experience to see how it was holding up. The theater was only about 1/3 full..
  
  
• I thought it was a great addition to the Animation area that you can now walk straight to the Meet and Greet with no need to go through the show. I found it a little odd they actually had a CM at the exit making sure people did not walk into the area through the gift shop.
  
  
• Next we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Caught the parade coming down Main Street just as another rain storm blew through.
  
  
• One really fun thing to do on Main Street if you have time is to stop by and watch the glass blowing demonstration. The CM who was working when we stopped was great. He gave a very thorough explanation of what he was doing at each step.
  
  
• Stopped by to see the new version of the Hall of Presidents. Overall I think its a great upgrade. The clarity of the art work in the first portion is incredible. Integrating the Gettysburg Address into the show was a nice touch too. I really think its a better use of the venue to talk about the office and most of the redundancy with the American Adventure is now gone.
  
  
• The Resort Monorail line was taking forever this afternoon. It appeared there were only two monorails running on the line. As luck would have it we boarded the new Monorail Teal. This is the one that was put together using the parts from the two that collided last July. No real changes to the train except for the color strip outside. Also noted the audio in our car was out.
  
  
• Spent some time roaming the Grand Floridian before dinner. The new marble work in the lobby looks great and the characters really blend in nicely.
  
  
• We ate dinner at Narcoosees. It was an ok meal. I thought the quality of the meal was a bit sub par especially for a signature dining experience. I thought that the meals we had at Yachtsman and Le Cellier were both better. I found it interesting how when they seated you and went over the menu they made the claim that they have the best steak on Disney property. They did not say this in May (or I did not notice it). I order the filet and it was ok.. I do not know what they did to it but it was small, substantially smaller than the Yachtsman and Le Cellier and the taste was no where near the other two. Also I thought the bread they passed off as sour dough was at best a tasteless french bread.. it had no real hint of sour dough in it. Again it was a good meal but not a great one. I thought the meal we had there in May was substantially better.
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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