In which we hope against hope that O'C will be chosen to participate in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular

We should be all tanned, rested and ready for DHS on Friday. I have to admit, I still call it MGM Studios, because I want it to be MGM Studios, but time marches on.

This is a fairly easy park to manage. Hit Tower of Terror and Aerosmith first thing, with FP for Toy Story Mania. Given that we’re with O’C, we probably have to go on Star Tours a couple of times, so one FP goes there. After that, I’m not quite sure. Nothing else looks terribly hard to get into in a reasonable amount of time. And some things, like the Great Movie Ride, you really want to stand in the line as long as possible to see all the coming attractions. We should be able to hit everything pretty much without any hassle. I'll probably do FPs for return trips to Rock n' Roller Coaster, if nothing else presents itself.

Food is a big issue at DHS. I was pushing for something different, but O’C used fiat powers to demand a return to Sci Fi Diner. Kate used fiat powers to start MK with Space Mountain, come to think of it. And general fiat agreement put us into Germany for the closing dinner ceremony on our last night. So if someone really wants to do something badly enough, the group will do it. If someone wants to wander off and get Cinderella’s autograph—yet again—on the other hand, they can wander off alone. O’C has said that he may do Star Tours a couple of hundred extra times, just being who he is and knowing that the word on the street is that this batch of rides (there’s a variety of possibilities for each time you ride it) will change after this year. Perish the thought he misses the Jar Jar Binks side trip to Balaclava. Anyhow, as I said, I was pushing for something different mealwise, like maybe the Brown Derby, because there’s ways of tying in your lunch with special seating at Fantasmic!, but I’m not against SFD, not by any means. I don’t even think the food sucks, although that’s the general consensus on the blogosphere. It’s a burger. How bad can it be? Meanwhile you sit in a convertible and watch coming attractions of 50s SF movies. Nothing wrong with that. As Kate and O’C both said, it’s an attraction in and of itself.

I do miss the old Disney-MGM Studios, though. Real animators on-site, the recreation of the old TV shows (one year my mother was in the soap opera, while another year I was the bearded guy from Home Improvement), and the really elaborate backstage tour, complete with Siskel and Ebert. Oh, well. S and E are both dead, production is long gone from the property, and all the great MGM memorabilia and merchandise has been sold off never to be seen again. I had this t-shirt I really loved, with a big Leo the Lion on it…