T-Rex restaurant and Star Wars weekend (SWW) at Disney Hollywood Studios

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The two-day drive (for me) between Asheville, NC and the Orlando area (actually Kissimmee/Lake Buena Vista for Walt Disney World) went fairl uneventfully -- no highway blockages or major construction. Not thrilled about DGS singing along to his i-pod -- afraid he's inherited my nonmusical gene, poor kid, fortunately he has lots of other stuff going for him. Stopped about halfway in Richmond Hill, GA -- dinner at a marginal "Mexican" restaurant and stayed in an okay Days Inn ($39.95 with coupon). Included breakfast was also fine. DGS kind of melted down when I thought we were going to end up at a Dairy Queen for lunch, but I finally found a Burger King (he avoids "dairy" -- doesn't even eat ice cream, and was afraid there would be nothing there for him to eat and drink). I averaged about 47 miles in distance per hour, with all the stops we made (usually travelling just at the posted speed limit or slightly below -- am still in the "driving more slowly saves gas" mode, but I did go over 60 regularly). And 5-6 hours seems to be my limit when DGS is in the car with me -- maybe on a solo road trip I can cover a little more ground.

I've been trying to get some photos uploaded to use in the trip report, but it looks like I underachieved in getting the kind of photos that work well for that -- so they may be few and far between on this blog.

We got to our first destination at about 2:30 which was too early to check in to the Marriott Royal Palms (MRP), but they have a shower in the restroom by the pool, so DGS swam awhile before we gave up on getting our room and headed to Downtown Disney -- had a reservation at the new T-Rex restaurant, because DGS is still a major fan of reptiles and dinosaurs. We really enjoyed it -- the decor is excellent, the dinos are big and every 20 minutes or so, they do a little "show." The lights flash some ("meteor shower") and the dinos do some moving in place and roaring. We were lucky and got a 2-top right by the triceratops, which is his favorite. The food was okay, nothing to write home about; the kids meal included a banana which was nice. The bill was $41.69, including a beer for me -- which seemed reasonable. DGS had some spending money, so he rushed off to the Build-a-Dino place and blew a chunk on a spinosaurus , but I did get him to spend everything he had on outfitting it. It's very soft and cuddly. That got our trip off to a fun start.

Our first park (Sunday) was Disney's Hollywood Studios (DHS) -- hard not to call it MGM anymore. It was very easy to get there from MRP and we made it in time for "rope drop" to see the Stormtroopers on the roof over the entry gates. We got in to the "rope" where they hold the crowd until official opening and joined the teeming throng to get FastPasses (FPs) for Toy Story Mania, ended up with those for 12:15 -- three hours later (the FPs have a separate line that goes faster than the regular standby line, but there is still a wait). Got our photo with Darth Vader, then went on Great Movie Ride (DGS actually wanted to do that!). Spent some time in "Wicket's Warehouse" -- the additional Star Wars merch shop they have during SWW. Already the little folding seat cane that I found online has more than paid for itself for me, with my creaky hip -- it's invaluable for long lines and all the waiting around that happens at WDW.

The Toy Story ride is fun, although I'm not in favor of teaching kids to shoot at things, generally. Had lunch, rode Backlot Express, and played with the Singin' in the Rain umbrella -- glad to see it back and working -- it sprays a little water, if you step on the pad right. Makes a cute photo. Got FP's for Star Tours, then waited about 40 minutes to get photo with Chewbacca character, did Star Tours (seems pretty tame now), then decided we were pretty much done -- hot and crowded. Got back to MRP about 3:15, had a snack and then went to the big hotel pool -- which is a huge complex (no lazy river, tho, sigh). No food after 5 outside, though -- very odd. So, we went to Walmart and got dinner stuff, etc. (more ibuprofen, my leg was acting up -- got me worried about the rest of the trip, but I was careful and never developed major pain like I had in Europe).

Spent some time on the balcony discussing plans for next couple of days -- he tried negotiating about how much money he would get if we saved some by not going to the Kennedy Space Center!! He's really gotten into shopping lately -- we may have spent more time in the shops at DHS than on rides. He was quite shocked when I told him how much his WDW Annual Pass (AP) cost.

On Monday, we headed to Animal Kingdom, which is a long drive from MRP, and confusing to get back from. Usually we get Dinosaur FPs first, but now that my stamina is limited, I took a different approach to the day, that worked out quite well. We headed to the back of the park and got FPs for the Safari, then rode train out to Conservation Station -- there was an old gorilla in the Vet's area getting a check-up and a tubal (she'd already had several babies). Got photos with Jiminy Cricket -- a first for us, and a favorite character of mine (well, I have way too many favorite characters). Went back to ride the Safari and we had a row to ourselves, so we each got a window. Walked over to Asia area to get FPs for Kali River Rapids for later in the day -- didn't have to use our APs to get the FPs (don't you love all these acronyms!) as usual, they were handing them out -- that was helpful, because I could then get the FPs for Dinosaur without having to wait so long.

Had lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ, one of our favorites, because I like the food and beer there, and the tables down by the lake/lagoon, which usually has some some fish and a turtle to watch (no alligator this year), and they have 20% off with the Tables in wonderland (TIW) card, including the beer! Sam spent about half an hour in the Boneyard, which seemed enough for him this trip -- it's a huge playground area -- he said the bone-digging sand pit was too crowded and that's his fave. Rode Dinosaur, which stopped for a moment in a dark area -- too bad it wasn't by a critter. I thought I lost my camera, and DGS freaked out about that worse than I did -- but fortunately, he found it for me, where it had fallen out of my pocket. (We had other cameras along, and not many photos on that one -- but it's my new one that goes underwater, so I'm glad he found it).

I wore my "S-I belt" today, which helps my back and hip, since I had some leg trouble yesterday. So, when we went on the Kali raft, and we got totally soaked to the skin -- that got pretty uncomfortable (but being wet felt good as hot as it was) -- it seemed a good time to leave. DGS got even more soaked in a play fountain area on the way out. Went "home" and changed (I showered) and headed to pool -- there was a singer/entertainer, trying to get people to Karaoke, but he pretty much did all the singing -- no volunteers; he was okay, kind of fun -- it was oldies rock, so it worked for me. Had dinner in the room and DGS watched a movie. Can't believe we've been here 3 evenings, and have yet to make it to any fireworks!

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