Honeymoon Day 11: The Early Birds Get The Royal Treatment

Today was the day I said "see ya" to all those well rested mornings. We woke up at 5:00 am (yes, it was as horrible as it sounds) to board a shuttle back to the airport so we could hop on the Disney Magical Express to our hotel. Thankfully we had our choice of seats.

Why so empty? Two reasons really:

1) Mid-January is one of the least crowded times of year at Disney
2) Who in God's name wants to be up and on the Magical Express at 6 am? Jürgen, that's who!

We arrived at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort in no time, and shockingly (note the sarcasm) didn't have to wait at all to check in. Of course our room was not ready as someone (not me!) was probably sleeping. After checking in they gave us our park passes and two buttons with the images of Prince Charming and Cinderella emblazoned on the front of them with the words "Just Married!" We were advised to wear these during our stay. Best. Advice. Ever.

We had some time to kill before we could catch the 7:45am bus to MGM...oh wait...I'm sorry it's Disney's Hollywood Studios...ridiculous new name. So here are some photos Jürg snapped. He likes to do that.

Not quite PSV....but it certainly had it's own special flair.

When we arrived at MGM (I refuse to conform!) we were the FIRST people in line. Yes it's true. Have you ever heard of such madness? We had over an hour before the park actually opened which gave us plenty of time to chart our course of action for the day. At about 8:30 two Disney crew members approached us and offered their congrats (this is what happened everywhere we went due to the magical powers of our buttons). Then, much to our surprise, they asked "Would you like to open the park for us?"

Being attention whores we said yes, and were immediately let through the gate into a VIP waiting room. This is how I felt about all of this:

"What is going on??"

We were informed that we would have lines we would have to say in front of the entire crowd, but it would be easy and we would be told what to do. For the next half hour we had no idea what was going on, but we did get to stare at everyone behind the rope while we had access to the empty streets of Disney. Freakin' sweet!
Getting ready to be stars. Maybe they had seen my Zune commercial?

A candid moment caught while we waiting for our close up.

It had been years since I had been to Disney World, in fact the last time I was there I couldn't drive and Bill Clinton was in office. Suffice to say, times have changed. Nowadays before they let anyone into the parks they put on some kind of "show" just to rev you up and make you irritated (I don't think that's the actual intention...). The premise of the MGM show is an old Hollywood actress turns the corner in a white car and she will be starring in a new film called "Celebrate You!" (you have to say that with TONS of energy). We were to be the young Hollywood Couple alongside a "famous" film director and his quirky assistant. We were introduced, the crowd cheered for our newlywed status and we were prompted to say our big line:

"Hollywood Here We Come!"

This woman was very intense.


Can't you just sense their irritation?



The whole thing took at least seven minutes, but in the end we were driven to the Rock and Roller Coaster where we got to ride the coaster all by ourselves.


That will certainly wake you up! After our solo ride, we were given fast passes to any ride in the park and told there would be a gift waiting for us at the hospitality suite on the way out.

My Advice: Get thee a "Just Married" Button. Honestly when we go back with my family in August we are gonna rock them all over again. Don't tell anyone!

The rest of the day was a blast. We rode the Tower of Terror three times and the Rock and Roller coaster twice. We saw the car stunt show, the Indiana Jones show, Fantasmic, the Muppet 3-D movie and so many others. However, without a doubt, our favorite ride of the day was the Toy Story Midway Adventure. An amazing 3-D experience of all kinds of Midway Games. We rode it three times that day and came back a few days later to ride it again. Jürgen always beat me, but I excelled in the accuracy department. Now I ask you, which is more important?

Mr. Potato Head entertains you while you wait (longest personal wait time: 90 mins)



Tomorrow: Epcot!