December 2001

Day 3- Thursday December 6th.

    After a breakfast at the Gasparilla Grill, we drove over to MGM. On our way in to the park, my camera back popped off my waist. The plastic closing hooks on the digital camera broke off. Luckily a few pieces of tape kept the battery 
compartment closed. Hey- a great reason for a new camera.
    Our first stop was to have our photo taken by the Disney photographer. With the Sorcerer hat as a backdrop, it was a 
perfect photo opportunity. We stopped in to the Sorcerer’s hat and played a couple of the trivia games. After leaving the 
‘hat’ we walked over towards the ABC Commissary and NY Street. There was a long line at the ‘Bookstore’- Julie Andrews was signing copies of her latest book. We strolled up NY and over towards Animation ‘alley’. We stopped in at the Walt Disney exhibit. What a nice tribute to Walt. It was neat to see some of the original Disney ideas and works. The movie at the end was well done and quite touching. 
    On our way out of Animation Courtyard, we stopped to take pictures of the cool Fantasia Sorcerer Mickey and 
Broomstick topiaries. Very Cool! We then headed down Hollywood Boulevard and I jumped right over to Tower of Terror. I asked both Karen and Dad to join me but the both declined. There was no line at all at TOT so got on quickly. After leaving TOT, I started looking for Karen and Dad. We were supposed to meet just outside of TOT. Not seeing them there, I made my way over to Rock 'N Rollercoaster. Not waiting there either. The line was very short so, I took advantage of the situation and jumped on. I knew they were chicken to ride. The wait was very short-less than 5 minutes. 
After leaving Rock 'N, I met up with Karen & Dad and we all had lunch. We continued down Sunset Boulevard and 
towards Hollywood Boulevard. As we neared the junction, we came across quite a crowd. People were gathered for the Disney Stars and Motorcars parade. After picking up our photo from the morning and picked a spot just outside the store and watched the parade. A neat little parade. Believe it or not, this was our first Studios parade since Hercules during our 
Honeymoon. 
    We made our way to the package pick-up where dad picked up his package. The crowd had thinned and we made our way to the tram and out to the car. Back at the GF we all took a much needed nap. After slowly awakening, we decided that our planned dinner at Prime Time Café at 5:30 was not going to work out. We changed out time to 7:20 (the latest they had) and would see Osborne Family lights before (rather than after). We cleaned up a bit and picked the car up for our return to the Studios. 
    We made our way to New York Street and picked up our 3-D glasses to enjoy the 'snow flake' lights. The Osborne Family lights were even more cool this year. There were a lot more than before. What was even more noticeable was the number of red, white and blue lights. Another neat addition was Mickey/Minnie silhouettes made from the rope lights. Karen made me take a picture so that I can make one for our front yard for next year. One notable missing item this year was the Santa hat on the Earful tower. Oh well!
    After the lights we made our way to the 50's Prime Time Café, one of our favorite restaurants. We had Aunt Liz as our server. A very nice lady. She gave us the "elbows off the table" a couple of times and introduced us to our 'cousins' from LA in the next table. She even sat with us for a short time to talk about our trip and what we were having for desert. We were somewhat disappointed because they didn't have the turkey dinner as in the past. Liz mentioned a lot of people have been complaining so maybe they will bring it back. I had the pot roast (a 50's Prime Time favorite). Karen and Dad had the meatloaf- also very good. We shared the Apple Cobbler for desert and enjoyed it thoroughly. After dinner we strolled down a deserted Hollywood Boulevard and out to the car. Back at GF we strolled through some of the shops and listened to the Christmas music in the lobby. (1st H20 Electric parade from monorail). After our walk through the grounds was stopped by Gasparilla Grill for dessert (yes, our second of the night- but it's vacation so it's ok). Back at the room we changed into our bathing suits and went for a quick swim and a Jacuzzi soak. Afterwards, sleep came very quickly.

Day 4