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[Aveen2008]

Day 3: The studios!

Today was time to head to the Disney studios!      Again goofy woke us up with his morning call at 7:15 but we still had no enegry for going to breakfast so we moved as quick as our limbs could go and got ready for another fun day!

By the time we got into the studios it was after 10am and the characters were out doing meet and greets, I avoided this as the scrums looked awful, so we headed into the front lot store.. I seen another great photo of Walt and Roy and had to take a pic...


I thought the shop looked well with extra windows, a lot brighter and airy..


The weather this morning was dull and misty and I was just hoping it would clear up, the tower of terror was surrounded by fog and mist..

although it kind of adds to it's creepiness! :wink:

We then decided to wait at Place Des Stars to see Good morning Walt Disney Studios...mainly as I wanted to film it (even though I have seen it before)...as always the characters are predictable...




There was also lilo, stitch and clarice, mickey and cruella - same as usual really!! :roll:

Anyway I knew there were some attractions in the studios that I hadn't done before and I wanted to hit them with gusto...first up cinemagique! I have to say I didn't really like it and I think it's a bit dated and not something a younger audience would enjoy really. After the inside effects (you will know what I am talking about if you have been on it) my nerves were a wreck wondering what else would happen.. i don't know what but i felt freaked out! :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  Mum thought it was good though hehe!

It was near lunch and the only place we had ever eaten in the studios was En Coulisse restaurant. This time though we thought we would keep up the trend and go somewhere new... so we chose Rendez vous des stars restraunt - all you can eat buffet! This is the first time I have done a meal like this, I have to say I enjoyed the experience and the food was pretty good!

   I was wondering what time Remy came out and told myself it was possible I wouldn't see him but as we were tucking into our food out came Remy and his chef friend....Remy is sooo cute.....


at one point the chef stopped with Remy right at our table, it was great!    


I liked the lay out of the restraunt it seemed bright, clean and spaceous, although I think they could do with a little more theming of some sort...


it was a good experience and I would definately go back.

High school musical was on constantly throughout the day, it seemed to have at least 2 stop spots in the studios, I didn't mind too much, although the songs got stuck in my head and I don't like HSM..


I finally became queen on the ice world..woohoo..


Next is my mums favourite attraction ( unless tigger counts as an attraction)....The stuiod tram tour!! Thankfully the queue was short! She loves castastrophe canyon! I just wish we didn't have to look at all the boring stuff to get to that part! I filmed it though and it was good!

my next stop was the pin trading store in sunset boulevard....well I wouldn't call it a store, you walk in the door and hit the wall ! lol I did some pin trading and asked about pin boardsbut the guy didn't have a clue what I was saying...oddly enough though about an hour later the pin board was out and a new guy was now serving... the pin board was really bad to be honest, pretty much all core pins, plain, nothing exciting....which was the same for the cast members lanyards! My best trades where with the hotel shop staff! another shock was that a plain lanyard to buy was 7.50 euro, I didn't buy one, it seemed to much for a lanyard with nothing on it! I did buy a set though so got one lanyard!

It was just 10 minutes before Stars and Cars began so we ran to get a space and I thankfully got a rather decent one.... I only have a few photos as I filmed it! I don't think it's a great show really I only seen it once! I think leaving the car's as a parade would have been better!.....
mulan...

daisy and donald..aww..

snow white...

lilo and stitch

mary poppins..

sulley..


Next it was on to the Art of Disney animation..


I have to say the disney movie medley to music in the first room where you sit down just pulled at my heart strings and it was very hard not to cry during "baby mine"!! :cry:  That's the magic of Disney! I was a bit disappointed in teh next room where you put on earphones to hear the translation, no matter what I did I never got English and it spoiled it for me! Mum let me put on hers but I could still hear the french speaking even with my headphones on and it took some serious concintration to listen properly! I ended up just giving up knowing what mushu and co were saying    

Thankfully the sun was now out and it was nice and warm so we headed for Aladdin's magic carpets! After hearing so much about the queues for crush coaster I was surprised to see a low wait time of 30 mins and hardly anyone about outside the ride, that must have been a rare happening! :wink: We walked around by toon studio only to see Emile standing with hardly a person in sight so we thought we would share the love with him...little did I know my camera was on the wrong mode and the photos came out extra bright...

opps!

we then took the backway walk towards the tower of terror, only to pass this sign...
I have to say there wasn't much going on behind the baracades! :?

on the way past I also took some photos of the walls around the art of animation, I think it's beautiful...



The studios seemed pretty quite I am not sure if this was because RNRC was closed, alog with 2 sets of toilets in the park or if families find there is less to do in the studios.

I really wanted to go to see Playhouse disney but everytime I looked the next english show was always over 40 minutes away!  However we still got to see stitch luve which was really funny! I have seen it before and although the basic routine stays the same it's still briliant!!! =D>  =D>  /  /  /  /  /

I didn't feel there was much else to do in the studios...


.to be continued..

[Aveen2008]

day 3 continued...

unfortunately Playhouse Disney just always seemed to have a very long wait time for it's next show in English, I did try again to catch it on friday my last day but actually the wait time started at 61minutes and when I went back half an hour later it had inceased to 148mins! and Then again to 178!! :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  I am not sure what was happening but I was sad to miss it!

We were unsure what to do about our tea time and as my mum needs to have a regular meal (shes diabetic) we decided to look in the new blockbuster cafe. There was very few in it and from a distance I have to say I prefered the HSM section! The pirates part was too dark! It alsmot gave the impression of still being under construction. The menu didn't suit so it was tea at the reliable old En coulisse Restaraunt  :wink:

I have to say trying to spend the whole day in the studios was dificult for me and it was a little disappointing, I guess if you don't like thrill rides that takes away TOt, RNRC (even thought it was closed) and nemo. Then playhouse Disney was having large wait times and the stunt show seemed to only be showing once a day and I didn't catch it  :?

all in all it was a good day though:), on the way back to the park via the villiage I noticed these on the ground...




unfortunately i forgot to go back and photograph the others.

It was great to have our room so close by and we had easy access to the village! which was very handy when we became very hungry late at night and had a midnight feast at Mcdonalds...it was lovely jubly hehe!    

Day 4 coming asap!

Thanks for reading so far!.........

[davewasbaloo]

I am glad you had a good time, and your report defiantely show how differently people experience the parks. For us, Cinemagique is a highlight of the resort and even my 4 and 6 year olds love it. Whereas we care little about the characters (well my kids like them a bit). Lol. That said, WDSP has often been the better park for less hassled meet and greets.

I must admit, I was a little surprised on some of the things you have not seen or done at the resort given the numerous trips you have taken. Of course, that is what is so wonderful about DLP, even to this day I keep finding new things too.

And your comments on Blockbuster Cafe are as I feared - decor changes do not matter if the menu is not appealing. And then the decor has not really changed much for the better.

As for pin trading, sadly we now are at the point where we have a couple of pins in a bag on standby if we see something exciting, but there is little of interest in pins at DLP anymore. Sadly our last trip, we wanted to buy some Phantom Manor pins and they did not have any in the whole resort, then I looked, you would be lucky to find maybe 10 pins that were park related, even in Hollywood Pictures. I was shocked, and angered.

I really wish DLP would renew their park collections.

[MizzRabbit]

Loving it! Fab report!!! I don't understand how you could spend an entire day in the Studios. I get why you had a difficult time doing it. Even though I like thrill rides I've never been able to stay there for that long. I always mix it up with the two parks as I like the variation. And what exactly is tea time?? I know people from the UK have it but when is it? And do you eat or just drink tea? Too bad about the pin trading board selection. Maybe I was just lucky on my trip. *hugs*

[MizzRabbit]

I agree DWB!! Not enough Phantom Manor pins! In the NYC store they had so many Haunted Mansion pins I almost fainted of joy. I only bought two as I was low on money but the selection was amazing compared to DLP. They had REALLY great pins!

And yes, everyone experiences DLP differently. I haven't been on the Studio Tram Tour or Crush yet for instance. But that's the awesome thing about Disney. Even after 4 trips in two years there are still lots of things I haven't seen or tried.

So glad you had a good time Aveen! Can't wait to see what merchandise you got!

I am glad you had a good time, and your report defiantely show how differently people experience the parks. For us, Cinemagique is a highlight of the resort and even my 4 and 6 year olds love it. Whereas we care little about the characters (well my kids like them a bit). Lol. That said, WDSP has often been the better park for less hassled meet and greets.

I must admit, I was a little surprised on some of the things you have not seen or done at the resort given the numerous trips you have taken. Of course, that is what is so wonderful about DLP, even to this day I keep finding new things too.

And your comments on Blockbuster Cafe are as I feared - decor changes do not matter if the menu is not appealing. And then the decor has not really changed much for the better.

As for pin trading, sadly we now are at the point where we have a couple of pins in a bag on standby if we see something exciting, but there is little of interest in pins at DLP anymore. Sadly our last trip, we wanted to buy some Phantom Manor pins and they did not have any in the whole resort, then I looked, you would be lucky to find maybe 10 pins that were park related, even in Hollywood Pictures. I was shocked, and angered.

I really wish DLP would renew their park collections.

[davewasbaloo]

Not that I want to take this too far off topic as that would be unfair to Aveen (perhaps we could move this if need be), but pin trading used to offer an amazing aray of different pins for all tastes, so you could get characters, or characters dressed up as other characters, but also pins for holidays, attractions, hotels, restaurants, different pins of things inside attractions even.

I spent a fortune in the early years (we have over 500 pins including every DLP release from the 1st 2 years of their trading). Sadly this last trip, we bought 1 pin. We honestly did not see any we liked. I came to the following possible conclusions:

Pin trading is not popular in Europe?

Pin trading is aimed at children now?

Disney have lost interest in pins?

It is a shame, as there are so many details, DLP could do some amazing pins:

Special one from the Disco night the other night.
A series of MMP pins (including the fab 5 in disco gear)
Playhouse Disney characters with DLP logos for the new attraction
A series of phantom manor ones (including the ghosts getting out) - I would buy pins showing the house, Melanie, the Phantom, the Saloon Singer, the dog, the doors, Mdm Leota, The playing card ghosts etc.

It is very sad in what has become of trading. The only thing worth trading is foreign guest pins as all the cast members have the same cheap pins from the lanyard collector sets.

[davewasbaloo]

Loving it! Fab report!!! I don't understand how you could spend an entire day in the Studios. I get why you had a difficult time doing it. Even though I like thrill rides I've never been able to stay there for that long.

Lol, it is funny how experiences do differ. We are easily able to spend 1 - 2 full days in the Studios, the only thing that stops us is poor dining options, so we tend to head to the Village for lunch on days where we spend the day in the Studios. If they had a highly themed and entertaining table service option that took reservations, we could very happily be in the Studios from open to close (2 adults, a 4 year old and a 6 year old).

[Masamune]

I can happily spend a full day in the Studios. I tend to pass the time by going on Tower of Terror over and over.

I'm surprised you didn't like Stars and Cars very much. I really love that show.

[Simbasgirl]

really enjoying reading your trippie Aveen!!!! /

[kiki_304]

Really great report.

Loving the pics, and your mother looked like she had the best time ever.  

[Elaine]

I'm loving your trip reports Aveen  / .

I have to say, the Studios is mine and my DD's favourite place to be, outside of Fantasyland that is. Neither of us are into thrill rides, last trip on one day we arrived at the Studios just after 10am, and only left at 3pm to head over to the main park for the OUAD parade. After which, we came back over to the Studios and stayed until park close at 7pm   . We visited the Studios again the following morning too.

DD is 8, and she loves Cinemagique - she's at the stage now where, as soon as we sit down in our seats, she's looking to see if she can spot "George". We both love Animagique and Stitch Live too, but didn't even sit down on the carpet the one time we went into Playhouse Disney Live - we're both too old for that!
We've had loads of great character pics and autographs in the Studios, including Remy and Buzz with no more than a 5-minute wait in a queued meet n greet, we both love Cars and the Flying Carpets (Tram Tour too if theres no queue) - and the major attraction to the Studios for us now is Cars n Stars - but not the show on stage! The show backstage with the characters is absolutely hilarious, never the same twice, and so much fun we go see it every day we can  / . DD has got pics and autographs with Mulan, Dopey, and the Wicked Stepmother there too (plus I got a kiss from Woody  :lol: ).
Can you tell I quite like Cars n Stars  :oops:  :oops:  :oops: ??

[loladelorean]

Hey again Aveen...as I said after reading day one, we were there the same time as you...but we never got to do the tram tour! I guess this day was the Wednesday? We were in the studios on the Tuesday and Thursday and the tram tour was shut both days. Tower of Terror was also shut most of Tuesday, not opening till mid afternoon with of course a mad rush. Along with RnRC being shut this was a bit disappointing for us.
You're lucky you got to do the tram tour at  what must have been the only time it was open that week!
We  also saw Cinemagique for the first time, and we loved it. I really like Martin Short and found it really clever and funny.

[Javey74]

Another great read Aveen..  

You seem to have a mix of excitement and disappointment with the Studios in general. I know I spend about 3/4's of a day in the Studios, but then again I like thrill rides, well other that RnRC, it's just the music I don't like on that one.. :mrgreen:

I must say I like the picture in this shot featuring Walt and Roy..  :wink:



I take it was display only, it looks to be behind the till..    You see I'd buy pictures like this. They'd make a fortune if they sold A2 or A3 copies of pictures like these..  

It's rather like in your earlier instalment the upstairs in the Disney Gallery featuring the Castle in the cabinet. They should sell Castle models that you can build, so that you can have your very own at home to view any time you wanted to, now how nice would that be..  /  /  /

Thanks again for sharing your views on the Studios..  :wink:  Onto the next instalment..  :mrgreen:

[davewasbaloo]

It's rather like in your earlier instalment the upstairs in the Disney Gallery featuring the Castle in the cabinet. They should sell Castle models that you can build, so that you can have your very own at home to view any time you wanted to, now how nice would that be..  /  /  /

Not of the same quality, but they used to, as well as the 3D puzzle of the Chateau too.

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for posting a great update Aveen, sounds like you've had a great trip so far. And I agree with Javey too, they could make a lot of money selling some framed photos like the one in your photo (Walt and Roy) :wink:

Thanks for sharing your report, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest