This was one day I intended to take advantage of early entry, to ride TOT.  We took longer than expected getting
out and didn't get to MGM until 8:30.  By then the ride board was showing a 90 minute wait for TOT.  The moral of
the story is if you really want to take advantage of early entry, getting to the park before the opening is key.
Since I didn't feel like waiting 90 minutes, we walked over to Muppet Vision 3D and caught that show.  From there we
grabbed the Backstage Tour.  They have a new house on residential street - George of the Jungle's tree house, but
the tour is pretty much the same as it was when we took it in December.  

Afterwards, we checked out Superstar Television, but since it was already close to the 10:10 show, and they had picked
half the stars, we went to the new ABC Saturday Mornings show.  Formerly Monster Sound Show, the new show was based
on a scene from ABC's new 101 Dalmatians cartoon.  I liked the old Chevy Chase film better, since it seemed funnier
when the sound effects were out of synch with the film. Also, the human characterizations are naturally more funny
and better suited to the idea of this attraction.  

Back to Superstar Television for the 10:50 show.  I went up front and got picked to be the newscaster, after flashing
my best Ted Knight smile.  I think I was most impressed that they had a jacket my size.  Judy preferred to stay
behind in the audience to watch.  I love how the CMs all make you feel like a star.  I bet they tell even the worst
performer what a great job they did <g>  

We came out in time to see people lined up for the Zero to Hero parade and found a spot along the tape to settle into
with only five minutes to go.  Not bad timing.  I had decided that I wasn't going to bother to wait for any of
the parades, especially because they take place in the middle of the day when it's the hottest, and we didn't have
the kids with us.  But, we ended up seeing most of them, because we always seemed to time things just right.  

It was 11:45 now, so we then walked to the Backstage Theater for the 12:30 first showing of The Hunchback of
Notre Dame.  Getting there forty minutes early isn't as bad as it sounds, when you consider that you get seated well
before the show starts and there is a little pre show before hand, as a juggler warms up the crowd.  Either way, during
busy times, to be guaranteed decent seats, you should be on line 30 minutes before show time.  As the lines fed in, we
cut across the middle row and got great aisle seats right at the edge of the runway.  It's a good suggestion to go to
the other side as everyone fills in the near side rows first.  So even if you're not near the front of the line,
you can get pretty good seats.  

We then caught "The Making of George and the Jungle", a good middle of the day show to rest and cool off to.  When
we got out, we still had time to kill before our 3:45 priority seating at Mama Melrose, so first we walked over
to TOT, planning to just go to the shop to buy a T-shirt we owed our oldest daughter from our December trip.  But, the
wait for TOT was only 30 minutes, so we took the opportunity to ride it.  Maybe my memory is failing, but it
seems that each of the three times I've ridden TOT, the drops were different.  This time, there were three drops.
the first after you see the gray walls, then one after the doors open out to MGM and one more after that.  Either way,
I enjoyed this ride the most, since my heart was no longer in my throat as it was on the two previous times and I was
able to observe more of what was going on.  Next time, I'm going to try the penny trick.  

It was getting close to our reservations, so we headed over to Mama Melrose.  We got there 30 minutes early, but still
were seated within five minutes.  I had the Aunt Maria's Oak Grilled Chicken with a Caesar's Salad and Judy had the
Grandma Grace's bottomless pasta bowl, for which she still needed to take back a doggie bag, and a house salad.  

We had to go back to our room to wait for a call from our kids.  They didn't call until 9 (we were expecting the call
at 7, which had us climbing the walls <g> After which there was still time to head back to MK for a few quick rides.  

On our trip to MK, we got Dawna D, the singing bus driver. She led the bus in all the popular Disney classics, and for
those of us who didn't know the words, she was more than happy to teach us.  We arrived at MK at 10, just in time
for the fireworks.  We stood in the middle of Main Street, which is probably one of the best viewing spots there is.
Then, we went against crowds to Liberty Square and walked right onto Haunted Mansion.  From there, we went to
Frontierland and waited forty minutes for Splash Mountain. This is the one attraction I have yet to find a good time
to ride, without getting up early and racing the younger kids for.  After Splash Mountain, we had to wait for
Spectromagic to pass by and stopped at Pirates of the Caribbean for last ride on the way out.  Got Dawna again as
our bus driver on the ride back, but I think everyone was too pooped to join in with her singing.