Murphy’s Law Takes Vacation — The World’s Longest Dream Review (Part Four)featured

We were up bright and early (for us!) at 8:00 am for our day at MGM (yes, its current official name is Disney Hollywood Studios/no, I’ll probably never use that). We grabbed a quick breakfast at Sassagoula, hopped in the car and drove over to the park.

Bagels — $2.29

MGM felt crowded and busy, but in actuality, the crowds were completely manageable. We wandered a bit, making our way towards Toy Story Mania to grab Fast Passes to ride later on in the day (always the first thing we do here) and then made our way back to the front to hop on The Great Movie Ride.

After we rode TGMR (twice), we just kind of walked around the park a bit. There isn’t a ton of attractions we’re interested in at this park, but we just love it for some intangible reason. It’s nice to walk around and explore because it’s never exceedingly crowded (or, at least, it never is when we visit) and the movie theming is fun. And it’s fun to compare the fake NYC and San Francisco areas now that I’ve visited the real cities of both.

I got a kick out of fake!San Francisco, especially the skyline shot, because I have a similar shot from my trip to real!San Francisco last May.

Fake San Francisco

Real San Francisco

Mom and grandma went off to look at some exhibit and Stephanie and I took the Backlot Tour. I really wish the holding area water action part was voluntary because I feel like if you sit through it once, it’s enough. Even once every few years. I don’t need to see it every time I go on this ride. It never changes (and not in a good, nice-to-revisit-for-nostalgia way). I checked the weather on my phone and waited for us to be allowed through the warehouse and into the tram loading area.

Stephanie and I had heard (and seen) some amazing things about the cupcakes at Starring Roles Cafe, so we met back up with Mom and grandma, made our way towards Sunset Boulevard to get ourselves some cupcakes.

Starring Rolls Cafe is tucked away on a busy pedestrian area. They serve counter service breakfast and lunch (pretty average fare…baked goods…turkey sandwiches…etc), but their cupcakes are a hidden Disney treasure. Huge and delicious. We used two snack credits to split two cupcakes amongst the four of us, a Marble Cupcake and a Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake. My goodness, were they rich and delectable. I’m glad we split them all because I’m not sure I’d have been able to finish one by myself.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake — $3.99

Marble Cupcake — $3.99

We decided to walk around a bit more to work off some of that sugar, exploring the area outside The Great Movie Ride and taking a ride on that (again)…indoor rides with air conditioning were an amazing commodity in the thick heat and we wanted to keep grandma as cool and comfortable as possible. And, you know, it’s a pretty interesting ride, too (at least it is to me!).

We had a 2:00 lunch reservation at 50’s Prime Time Cafe, so we mosied over to Echo Lake about 10 minutes before our reservation. We saw people scouting for The American Idol Experience *everywhere*, so I assume they were short on talent or willing contestants. To be quite honest, I’m not sure how that attraction functions on a daily basis. I assume the talent well taps drier with each passing day.

While we were early for our dinner at 50’s PTC,  they were running about 20 minutes behind on reservations and we weren’t seated until nearly 2:30 pm. We were fine to wait, but some people were wearing thin on their patience. I can’t blame them.

Here’s the thing about 50’s PTC: the food is decent (old-style Americana fare, if you’re into that…I’m not, but Mom, Stephanie and grandma are), the service is hit or miss (if you’re server is into it and you’re into playing along, that adds a fun element to the experience. On this day, our server wasn’t really into it beyond making Stephanie set the table…again…but that was fine by me), but the theming of this restaurant is out of this world. Really. Every time we dine here, I feel like we’re back in grandma’s old condo in Chicago. We really lucked out and were seated at a television table like we were last time.

Grandma and I started off with some really refreshing iced teas, while Mom and Stephanie opted for diet Coke’s (maybe not the best choice in the Florida heat, but whatever floats their fun ship…).

Mom ordered the Caesar Salad with Chicken (Romaine lettuce tossed with Caesar dressing, grated Parmesan and garlic croutons), Stephanie opted for Dad’s Traditional Meatloaf (Blend of beef and pork topped with tomato glaze and served with mashed potatoes and green beans) and grandma and I both opted for A Sampling of Mom’s Favorite Recipes (Crispy fried chicken, fork tender pot roast and traditional meatloaf with all the fixings). Mom thought her Caesar salad was average, but that was fine because she ended up eating my fried chicken (I don’t eat bone-in meats) and she loved it. Stephanie thought the meatloaf was excellent and grandma enjoyed everything she tried (though everyone agreed that grandma’s recipe for pot roast was far superior).

Caesar Salad with Chicken — $13.49

Dad’s Traditional Meatloaf — $14.99

A Sampling of Mom’s Favorite Recipes — $19.99

Grandma was far too full for dessert, so she picked at ours. Mom ordered the Apple Cobbler a la Mode, Stephanie went with the 50s Boston Cream Parfait (Layers of chocolate fudge, vanilla cream and pound cake, topped with whipped cream) and I opted for the S’mores. They were all…okay. Like I said earlier, if you dine here, it’s not for the food. We didn’t actively dislike anything and we walked away full, so all in all, a successful (free) lunch.

Apple Cobbler a la Mode — $7.49

50’s Boston Cream Parfait — $5.49

S’mores — $4.79

Overwhelmingly full, we decided to walk off some of that food and headed towards Muppet Vision 3-D, which was walk-on.

After that, Stephanie and I were almost within our time frame to use our Toy Story Mania Fast Passes, so we made our way back over to the Pixar area. We walked right on with our passes, but I’d never, ever wait in that never-ending queue stand-by. 90 minutes was the shortest wait I think I saw all day and I just can’t even imagine waiting that long to ride TSM. It’s a wonderfully themed ride and it’s fun for what it is, but the ride is incredibly short to waste an hour and a half in line to ride it. Oh, and Stephanie whooped my ass at every game.

Mom called Carnival while she and grandma waited for me and Stephanie to try to get an itinerary update for our cruise (you know, that pesky hurricane was still lurking around our western caribbean ports) and they still had none. We contemplated walking around and riding a few more rides so we could extend our stay through Fantasmic (the only Disney World fireworks show we have yet to see), but we just couldn’t do it. We decided, instead, to head back to the resort and relax, maybe take a nap or walk around the resort, and head to Downtown Disney for a late dinner.

When we got back to the resort, we’d forgotten to take the do not disturb sign off the door, so Mousekeeping had left us a bag with fresh towels and toiletries, which I thought was incredibly thoughtful of them.

I have no idea what everyone else did. I fell asleep for a few hours (ever since starting this full-time job of mine, sleep is a commodity that I’ll enjoy anywhere and everywhere, intentionally or non. At least I made it into a bed this time). Grandma just wanted to stay in because she was exhausted from the day, so I showered and Mom, Stephanie and I headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner via the POFQ boat launch.

We just wanted a quick, hassle-free dinner, so we grabbed a quick-service meal at Wolfgang Puck Express. Wolfgang Puck is almost always crowded (or, at least, it has been every time we’ve been there), but that’s for good reason: it’s a counter service credit on the Disney Dining Plan, they have a ton of options and the food is quite good. Tonight’s dinner didn’t disappoint. Stephanie had a Roasted Beets salad (Goat cheese, oranges, fresh greens and balsamic) and Vanilla Cheesecake, Mom had a Traditional Margherita Pizza (with torn basil) and a chocolate brownie, and I had the Chinois Chicken salad (Crispy wontons, cashews, ginger and sesame honey dressing) with Creme Brulee. Okay, let me tell you — the food here probably rivaled some of the table service meals we’ve had. Yeah, it’s busy and that translates to loud and the atmosphere leaves something to be desired, but the food is good. Mom’s pizza probably could have fed two or three (half went back for grandma) and my salad was ahhhhhmazing. So, so good. A little sweet, a little spicy, a lot of crunchy.

Roasted Beets Salad — $9.00

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake — $5.00

Traditional Margharita Wood Stone Oven Pizza — $11.00

Brownie — $3.00

Chinois Chicken Salad — $11.00

Creme Brulee — $6.00

We walked around some of the shops a bit after dinner. Downtown Disney was pretty crowded, but it’s always pretty crowded. After we had our fill of shops, we hopped on the boat back to POFQ.

I watched some X-Factor on TV, internet surfed on my iPad and passed out in bed somewhere amongst that. Disney always kicks my ass and tomorrow would be the biggest day yet — Food and Wine Festival!!!