First visit to Walt Disney MGM Studios – Aug 1997

Here I am again, continuing with my experiences at Disney MGM Studios over the long weekend and also this weekend’s trip back to Magic Kingdom (It’s tempting to break-even on the seasonal pass price at the earliest, u know)

So, on the next day, a Sunday (31st August), we started for Disney MGM studios at noon. Of course, I had to forego my regular quota of sleep scheduled for every Sunday. But the very thought of the 150$ I spent on my seasonal pass spurred me to sacrifice my sleep. This day, I drove to MGM taking extreme precautions not to drain my car battery. The previous night’s experience was thrilling enough !

Since we all had our passes, we were spared of the ritual of standing in the long winding queues at the ticket counter. We proceeded straight to the Hollywood Tower of Terror, which promised a lot of thrill. We had heard from one of our office colleagues that it was the best of the lot. The way to the Tower was designed to be very very spooky. However, once I went near the Tower and saw the drop of the elevator down 13 floors, I immediately dropped the idea of taking the ride. I gathered enough courage to venture into the Tower but then took my way out at the nearest exit. My friends however went into the Tower of Terror elevator and after a short while, joined me at the exit. They told me that the ride was excellent, with all the ghost-like holograms, the drop down 13 floors and the way in which the terror was built up in the process. On their reassurance, I decided to visit the Tower on my next trip. I am not sure whether it will materialise, though.

We planned to go to the Great Movie Ride next, but we stopped on the way to see the Hercules parade scheduled at 2pm. The parade was in no way a grandeur as compared with the one we saw at Magic Kingdom the previous day. We felt we had squandered valuable time, seeing the parade. Then, we proceeded on to the Great Movie Ride. This ride’s concept was quite good, even though simple. It showed the various types of movies produced at Hollywood, with a small live demonstration of each scene, enacted nicely by the park workers. There was a nice little depiction of a western classic shootout, an alien encounter and a romantic scene from a renowned classic, Casablanca. Our next show was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

The show was held in an open air theatre which was filled to capacity in no time. There were live demonstrations by the stuntmen from the series of Indiana Jones films, which included scenes of a valley of an ancient civilization, an Egypt marketplace, and a small fight sequence in which a truck was burnt. It looked quite real.

We then went to the Star Tours show. A warning board at the entrance informed that we could experience sharp drops and turns. My fears again surfaced. However, I didn’t want to present a cowardly face yet again. I mustered enough strength to face all the unwanted thrills. Eh, how bad could things turn out ? Many kids were coming out alive. So, nothing could happen to me ! When I walked in to the Star Tours theatre, I was in for a surprise. Instead of the regularly featured roller coaster, this was actually a simulation show. There was a fantastic 3D simulation of a travel through outer space. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of the show. AND I came out unscathed !!!

We then inadvertently stepped into an open air theatre where there was a dance show of the tale The Hunchback of Notre Dame. After watching the dance for about 20 minutes, I became restless and decided to go out of the show, halfway. My friends followed suit. Once outside, they complained that they were pretty disappointed with my attitude. However, I felt no remorse. We spent the next half hour eating our lunch. Next, we proceeded on to the Studio Backlot Tour. We were taken around the studio in a train. We were shown the costumes room, the settings for the various films which included the New York Street, a posh bungalow, battered cars and planes etc. The train took us to a setting of a valley where we were shown how they created rain. Then, the train started rocking and when we least expected it, there was a huge gush of water coming down towards the train from the mountain in front of us. It seemed as though there was a dam breach and the water escaped from the dam with a great destructive force. It was a marvelous sight to see.

The Muppet Vision 3D show was on our cards but we were speculating if the time spent on it would be worthwhile, as these 3D films were screened long back, even in India. But our curiosity for seeing the technology here, got the better of us and we walked into the theatre. And we didn’t come out disappointed. There was mickey mouse seeming to come out of the screen, coupled with a handful of beautiful effects like soap bubbles falling on us, a flying kiss by mickey etc. What added to the effect was the real thing created by the theatre at the right moment. Like for example, there were real soap bubbles falling on us from overhead when the film actually showed the soap bubbles.

It was dusk and we were extremely tired. We decided to see one final show before winding up. And anyway, almost all the shows were closed for the day. MGM studios seemed to go to bed early as compared with Magic Kingdom. Our final show was the Journey of the Mermaid. It depicted how a mermaid wished to become human and how she achieved it and got united with her lover.

At about 8.30pm, we left MGM studios. It was an uneventful journey back home. After a nice little dinner, we hit the bed, savouring every moment of the weekend.

My trip to Magic Kingdom this weekend was also exciting, but the process of typing in so much more is NOT. So, let me have the pleasure of postponing it to my next mail.

Till then

See ya, Jagan