Rhonda Horinski & Family - December 2008

The Horinka Family - Disney Christmas
Day 5 – Tuesday, December 23 - Disney Studios
Cast of Characters: Rhonda, 44 years young, single mother of 3 awesome punks and lover of all things Disney, Sharon, 19 year old DD, Morgan, 16 year old DD, and Payton, 12 year old DS.

Today was Disney Studios day, and I was stressing just a bit about how the day would go. There were so many things we wanted to do and we wanted to see all of the shows this time (we always see about half of them on any other trip). When we arrive at 8:20, I grab the Times Guide and start working it all out – when to fit rides in around Be Our Guest, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Lights, Motors, Action, and Indiana Jones. It's looking like Indiana Jones might be the sacrificial show as the only time we can see if without sacrificing the other shows is about the time of our ADR at Sci Fi Dine-In. I already know that we are going to see Osborne Lights at 6:30 during the first Fantasmic showing and then we will see the second Fantasmic show at 8:00. It's going to be a long day and I'm just hoping I can fit everything in.

The park opens at 9:00. Sharon, Morgan and Payton are by Sunset Blvd. to ride Rock N Roller Coaster while I secure FPs for Toy Story Midway Mania. I am one of the first at the rope, so I'm one of the first to get FP's. We have a return time of 10:00! I head over to Sunset Boulevard and ride Tower of Terror with Sharon and Payton while Morgan takes the chicken exit (she always does this and is quite comfortable with it – she likes to see the pre-show, however). I find out that Morgan did not ride RNR with Sharon and Payton, but I suspected that she wouldn't. After ToT, we head in to Villains of Vogue while we wait for Payton to secure RnR FPs for later. I stock up on my Villain merchandise. Shirts and hats are all 40% off here, too. We then head over to Toy Story Mania for what I tell the kids will be the only ride of the day as FPs are already about gone. The ride was totally and completely awesome, as was the queue. The best thing ever happened when we finished the ride! There was a Dream CM handing out DREAM FAST PASSES!!!!! This is the first time I have even seen a dream giver in my three trips this year, and we got the best dream of all! (well….next to a castle stay, of course!) The moment those FPs hit my hands, it totally and completely took ALL of the stress out of planning the day around the shows, collecting FPs, dinner, etc. Now it didn't matter what time our FPs were for and what time shows were – we were SET! When I thought about this later on, I truly couldn't imagine a more perfect park (for me) in which to get Dream Fast Passes. After a series of high-fives and hugs, we headed back over to Sunset Boulevard for the 10:45 showing of Be Our Guest – Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage. It was an AWESOME show! I hadn't seen this one since 1995 and I forgot how good it was. After the show, Sharon, Payton and I headed to Rock N Roller Coaster while Morgan roamed the gift shop. Payton and Sharon went on Tower of Terror twice (once is enough for me – although I love it, I'm not too keen on the drop thing more than once a day) using their Dream FPs and then Morgan and mine while Morgan and I ate at Rosie's American Café. They have veggie burgers there, which she loves. After we ate, Sharon and Payton were done with their second ToT ride, so they grabbed a bite and we headed over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It was a cute show and we had always skipped it, so were glad to see it this time. We then rode Toy Story Midway Mania again using our Dream FP's. I scored 115,700! The kids were impressed!

At 1:30 we headed over to Lights Motors Action and loved it as always. It's a personal favorite of my son, of course. We then road Star Tours and stopped for a frozen banana while heading over to Rock N Roller Coaster again. We had our three FPs that Payton secured earlier, plus our dream FPs, one of which would not be used by Morgan. When we got in the line, Sharon gave our extra FP ticket to a guy standing in the single-rider line since Morgan would not be riding. He in turn gave us two FPs for the ride because he said he would not be able to use them. After Sharon, Payton and I rode RnR, Sharon and Payton stay behind to ride twice more on those two gift FPs and our original FPs while Morgan and I went to the photo shop to have her SD card transferred to a DVD. She had filled her 2 gig card, but mostly because she did movies of a lot of the shows. Sharon and Payton met us there when they were done and we headed to Sci Fi Dine In for our 4:45 reservation. I didn't think I would enjoy this one too much, but I thought it would be something different for the kids to do, and they aren't into the whole 50's Prime Time experience. It turned out that the meal was absolutely awesome! Our waiter was great, the Blue Cheese Steak and Salad was one of the best meals I had during our trip, and the restaurant itself was just very, very cool! Our waiter made hidden Mickey ketchup blobs on our plates and give each of us a Sci-Fi "Non-Drivers License" to take home after our meal. After we ate, we bolted over to Indiana Jones for the last show of the day (we were about 5 minutes late but have seen it many times before so it was cool) and then headed to the Streets of America for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights, and what a Spectacle it was! We spent quite a bit of time just checking it all out as it was not overly crowded (the first Fantasmic show was going on). I love when they synchronize the lights to the music. Just a very festive place to be! After, we stopped at the Camera shop and picked up Morgan's DVD and SD card before heading over to see Fantasmic. We were seated in the theatre at 7:15 with middle row center seats. The show started at 8:00 and we were out of the park at 8:45. We've always love this show and it was a fabulous end to a very busy, very happy day.

We arrived back at CBR at 9:00. I headed out to do laundry while the kids got mug refills and then watched TV, showered and relaxed in the room. I was in bed around midnight.

Tomorrow – Christmas Eve at the Magic Kingdom

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