The Great Experiment

Here are some more photos from the park, as the sky continued to get darker, and thunder rolled in the distance:

This place is bigger than I thought

Sooty goat dances with amorphous blob monster

The goat puppet

A star greets his public

And another emerges from his trailer to catch a bite to eat

Of course, you have to have props

Muppetvision 3D

Even better than a Bell & Howell projector

The Muppet store

At this point, the clouds opened up and we were treated to a genuine tropical downpour, complete with thump-you-in-the-chest cracks of thunder and bolts of lightning that lit up the sky. Fortunately, I had my umbrella with me... but I was one of the few people who had one, as the park didn't seem to sell umbrellas, just rain ponchos.

The invasion of the bright yellow aliens

So while throngs of people left the park, it was time for us to stick to more sheltered attractions. We rode the Great Movie Ride, and then when the lightning passed and the Hollywood Backlot Tour reopened, we rode that, too.

Hitchhiker or delicacy?

The getaway sub

The tour itself had a few interesting things to see. First off, a poster along the way advertised the "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins" animated direct-to-video (VHS and DVD) movie coming out on August 8, presumably to kick off the animated TV series. The props warehouse included the jet pack and helmet from the movie "The Rocketeer," and part of the tour offered a good glimpse of work being done to paint new scenery for Star Tours (specifically, two full-size paintings of the side of a Star Tours shuttle; I wonder if this has anything to do with the new version of Star Tours in the works?).

In case of imminent danger to Earth

The Gadgetmobile

Speeder bikes

We also went to a fun show called "Sounds Dangerous," starring Drew Carey, which consisted of wearing headphones and sitting in pitch darkness while we listened to him playing an undercover policeman out on a case.

Nothing to see here

By the way: MacB has a frighteningly good memory. He often recited the various attraction spiels word-for-word as they were being announced. It was more than a little bit eerie.

At this point, we decided to head out of the park and look for dinner.

"Tower Of Terror looks too intense for me"

These Eeyores really want to play with the trains

[ Index | Day 6, part 4 ]