Jedi trippie - part 35

When Harry met Buzz

We were let into the park at around 8.40am to wander the area up to the big hat thing. We had already perused our park guide provided by Stan and were aware that there was a character meet and greet under the hat at 9am and we wanted to get some early morning autographs while everyone else was rushing for the Tower of Terror. We browsed a couple of the shops and made a note of a few items that may need purchasing later on and then hung around by the hat until the park opened and everybody rushed off to wherever they were going first.

At about 5 minutes after 9am the characters appeared and took up their appointed spots around the hat thing. We abandoned our buggies somewhere in the region and headed for our first target: Minnie Mouse.

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Just a couple of people got there in front of us but there was this group of 3 girls with identical jackets and identical haircuts who never spoke a word but just stood in the way and wouldn’t move, even when a CM pointed out the line. They just stared with these blank expressions on their faces, like Children of the Korn. :cry2: :cry2: :cry2: They were very gairy. Eventually their parents realised that their children were scaring the children and got them into line correctly. Minnie was a charmer of course, and after Minnie we went off and met Goofy all done up in his Santa attire.

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We had to be careful about our character choices after this though because the three identical girls were still in the vicinity and we had to check each line carefully for their presence before joining it. We managed to get a few more pictures and autographs though including Donald Duck whom Harry took a serious liking to. Harry just threw his arms around Donald’s waist and wouldn’t let go. Donald just stood there arms outstretched looking down in bemusement – well as bemused as a duck with a fixed expression can look anyway. Eventually we managed to prise Harry off of Donald with the promise of more characters later and can we please go and do some rides.

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We decided to take in the Great Movie Ride first as we were right there, everyone else was still lining up for Tower of Terror, we could all ride it, and those 3 girls weren’t in the line. We encountered here a novel little thing that those of you without buggies/strollers will probably not be aware of: valet parking for buggies. We approached the entrance to the ride and enquired as to stroller parking as it was not immediately visible and we were told to just abandon our vehicles and a valet would take it to the ride exit and park it for us. Outrageous!

No line for the ride and we are straight into our vehicle and on our way. There was only one set of vehicles running as it was so quiet and we got the gangster side. Our gangster was naff. That’s a British word for…well, naff. He had a terrible false New Yoik accent and I’m not expecting to see him in any major movie roles any time soon. The rest of the ride was as good as ever though and of course we all sang our way out of Munchkinland. Harry gives this attraction a “not too gairy,” rating with a proviso that the Alien scene is rated as, “quite gairy.” All of us enjoyed this attraction though, including Steven who wriggled on my lap all the way round, except for the part where he wriggled on to the floor of the car and bounced around there for a bit.

We collected our buggies from valet parking: I’m assuming we did not need to tip the CM who parked them for us and Steven had a quick milk break before we headed off to see the Muppets. The pre-show is still hysterically funny and the show itself never fails to disappoint. I’m not sure of Harry’s rating for this but he took his 3-D glasses off shortly after the show began so I’m guessing it must be around the, “a bit gairy” level.

After exiting Muppets we were heading back to the bookshop/coffee place for some much needed caffeine. However, as we passed the Al’s Toy Barn I heard a whisper that a character may be appearing very shortly. I made some further enquiries and was told that in the next few minutes an unknown combination of Woody, Buzz and Jessie would be appearing. Well we had to stop and get in line as Harry is Buzz Lightyear mad. He calls him Buzz Light and people often think he’s trying to order a Bud Light in error. We get in line and I am holding Steven who promptly falls asleep.

We only had to wait a few minutes before Woody appeared through the barn door. A couple of minutes after this he was joined by Buzz and Jessie. Result: all three in one hit. Of course I make the mistake of letting Ellie and Harry go in front of me and then have to wait for ages whilst Harry engages Buzz in a lengthy conversation about who knows what; probably worms in dirt knowing him. Every time he started to walk away he suddenly remembered something else he desperately needed to confide to Buzz and back he went again. Eventually Lisa persuades Harry to let some other people meet Buzz and I carry a still sleeping Steven up to get his book signed and a photo taken. The gang are very good about Steven and creep around him quietly ssshhing each other in case they wake him.

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Remember the bookshop/coffee place we were headed for. Well we’re headed there again. But wait. Ellie has spotted Miss Piggy in a side bit and dashes back for another photo before graciously allowing the grown ups to proceed toward their goal of a hot caffeinated beverage. And a large Mickey brownie.