Disney Studios and Fantasmic!

Nemo at Animal Kingdom took longer than we anticipated and we didn't get out of the show until almost 3:45, which was problematic as we had a 4:25 reservation at Hollywood & Vine at Disney Studios. We hustled to our car and headed off to the Studios, where luck would have it, we were parked in the most remote corner of the lot. Janie and Rebecca waited for the tram while J. R. fast-walked to the gate. J. R. got to the restaurant right at 4:25 while Janie and Rebecca were held up by the tram and arrived about five minutes later. But we were soon seated and enjoyed a great buffet dinner. We always liked this one because of the mussels and shrimp, although Janie got frustrated by a woman who had to ask about every piece of bread and picked up and inspected each one, holding up the line. Rebecca enjoyed the desserts, especially the chocolate covered marshmallows and strawberries.

Knowing the big rides would have long lines, we decided to visit some of the lesser rides, starting with the Great Movie Ride. This ride is in desperate need of an update as they haven't even updated the movie portions. It's time to get rid of some of the 'dioramas' and put in some screens so movies can be updated frequently. After GMR, it was time for Indiana Jones. Rebecca didn't remember ever seeing this show, so she enjoyed it. She caught on pretty early to the 'stuntman' volunteer but she wasn't completely sure. After Indy, we did the 20 minute wait for Star Tours, and we took a trip to Hoth, Thomas' favorite planet, so we had to text him and let him know we had been there.

The reason we had booked dinner at Hollywood and Vine was for the Fantasmic Dinner Package, and it was about time to go there after Star Tours, so we walked over. We ended up with very good seats in the Mickey section. It was quite chilly, but we had bought a blanket early in the week at Downtown Disney so Janie and Rebecca shared that. J. R. went and got some popcorn and drinks and we settled in for what we thought was a long wait. It was then we realized Fantasmic was at 8:30 and not 9:30 as we thought, so we only had about a 15 minute wait. The show was great as always, but could use some updates. It got rather chilly with the mist blowing in our faces, but thankfully the show isn't that long and they bring out the fire later to warm you up. We ended up with a relatively early night, back in our hotel before 10PM, with another early morning planned for tomorrow.