Yesterday Rebekah and I stopped in at Disney-MGM Studios to take pictures of the Toy Story Mania construction progress. Afterwards we had some extra time so we decided to ride a couple of attractions. We first did the Backlot Tour. This much maligned attraction is one of my favorites. Obviously, it lacaks something since there’s no real backlot to tour anymore, but having grown up in Southern California with regular visits to Universal Studios, I appreciate a “studio” tram tour.
As much as I love Disneyland, my favorite childhood theme park memories involve Universal Studios and the tram tour – Battlestar Galactica, the Six Million Dollar Man tunnel, the Psycho house, etc. I really loved the place where you used to stop half way through to get off for lunch and see “props” from the Incredible Shrinking Woman and lift the van. I spent a few hoours at TheStudioTour.com one day and had a grand old time. Highly recommend for a trip down memory lane.
Anyway … the tour was still fun. Saw quite a few props I hadn’t seen before. It’s nice to know it’s still regularly updated. It’s also great to go through the shop areas to see what stuff is coming up at the parks. I didn’t notice anything this time but in the past I’ve definitely seen work being done on upcoming signage, etc.
Then we went on Star Tours. It was my very first time riding Star Tours here at WDW. With the elaborate exterior queue are that Disneyland doesn’t have, I expected the inside to be different as well. But once you’re inside it’s pretty much the same. I did not know they had 6 ride systems as opposed to Disneyland’s 4. It has been years since I did Star Tours. Once I reminded myself this wasn’t Mission: Space and I’d been on it a hundred times before, I was able to calm down and enjoy the ride just like old days.
And aside from the deluge of love bugs on the way out … it was another great Disney Day.