The Great Experiment

As arranged, I arrived at Disney/MGM Studios at noon.

I want his parking spot

Inside, I met Kurt Jennings, also known as the infamous MacBadger. Or, at least I met someone who claimed to be him. I was expecting a clumsy, accident-prone, crutch-ridden codger; instead I found a guy who runs thirteen-mile marathons.

Whether or not he actually was who he said he was, he was a very great guy! He presented me with two valuable gifts: a copy he burned for me of the soundtrack to the Millenium Celebration, and a map of the Orlando area. He also provided highly valuable insights about the area to me as I studied the map with him over lunch. The soundtrack, the map, and the insights were all very valuable things! Thank you very much, MacB!

There were a surprising number of rare walkarounds inside the park today:

Donald

Geppetto, womanizing

Foulfellow, stealing some poor kid's autograph book

Smee

Jessie, having found herself another man

Some green plastic army men laying down the martial law

Our first stop was the Disney Animation Tour. I've been through it before, but I really wanted to take a peek at the animation offices themselves... and my hunch paid off: there was plenty of "Lilo & Stitch" artwork to be seen laying around if you knew what you were looking at, and a complete storyboard for the dinner/transformation scene of "The Emperor's New Groove" was lining one of the walls along the way. I'm really looking forward to "Lilo & Stitch;" Stitch in particular looks like one weird little space alien doggie. Unfortunately no photos were allowed during the tour, and I didn't feel like finding out whether there were any hidden cameras watching me.

The Bear in the Big Blue Sound Stage (we missed the show this time)

Next stop: Star Tours.

Crowd control

Snowspeeders just don't work in Florida

My entire life is flashing before my eyes

Hey, where are the Rocket Rods? Oh yeah, they're in California

Uncle Owen, this R2 unit has a bad motivator!

The Star Wars store, redone to look Tatooine-ish

MacB showed extraordinary and much-appreciated patience in hanging back while I snapped lots of photos. This patience would be demonstrated again and again throughout the day.

[ Index | Day 6, part 3 ]