I should note that my parents don't get around too well, so this was not exactly going to be a high-attraction-count kind of day. My parents really wanted to see Blast at the Hyperion Theater. I wasn't really keen on the idea as I generally don't like that kind of show, but mostly I wanted to do whatever my parents wanted to do since this was there first trip. We headed over to the Hollywood Backlot (HBL) section, but the section did not open until 11:30. While we were waiting I ran and got Fastpass tickets for Soarin' Over California (SoC). After a few minutes, when Goofy, Donald, mickey Minnie and some character I didn't recognize (Goofy's son, perhaps?) came out and greeted the crowds. Then a woman posing as a producer came out and gave an entertaining spiel just before they dropped the rope.

My Mom really wanted to see Muppet Vision 3-D so we did that first. It's a cute show, and I noticed that there were elements that are different from the WDW version. The two old guys look like better animatronics with more lifelike movements, and it felt like the theater underwent more "damage".

After the Muppets we went to Disney Animation, which was top on my list. We saw it when we were here last year, but we only saw two of the displays. This time we were able to go through all of the displays. The movie in the theater was changed from the Robin Williams cartoon to "Walt Disney - One Man and His Dream". I had seen this movie on my last trip to WDW, but was glad to sit through it again. There were too many folks trying to see what animated character they are most like so we didn't try that, but we did dub our voices to "Beauty & the Beast" - with me doing Beauty and my Mom doing the Beast. You don't get much rehearsal so we didn't do very well, but it still ended up very funny.

We then went to the 1:00 show of Blast. Basically, Blast is sort of a Stomp wannabe using horns instead of percussion. Actually, this is not completely accurate as Blast uses quite a bit of percussion as well. Essentially it mixes brass instruments, percussion, theatrical effects and dance. There were percussion and dance sections, and the show - which lasted perhaps 45 minutes - began and ended with big numbers with lots of brass instruments. The first number was Ravel's "Bolero", and I didn't recognize the final number. As I mentioned, I usually don't like this sort of show. After seeing it I can say this: my parents liked it. Actually, assuming it's still playing when we come back next summer I'll suggest we take the kids as I think they'll like it. But truth be told, I found it to be pretty boring.

After Blast we headed over to SoC. I'm really glad that I learned that the end time on your FP ticket can essentially be ignored. Our end time was 1:20 and we got over there at about 2:15. While there I grabbed some more FP tickets. Todd and I really had to convince my parents that SoC was an attraction that they would enjoy and that it wasn't a "thrill ride". Well, they loved it. In fact, my Dad wanted to ride it again but I thought we didn't have any FP tickets that were at their time yet. Actually, they never took two of the tickets but all three of us wouldn't have been able to go so we didn't.

After SoC we started just walking around the park. There is a path that basically circles Grizzly Peak, and that is the path we took. About the time we got to the entrance for GP - right in front of the Grand Californian, my parents told me that they were ready to call it a day. I looked at a map and pointed out that we were almost half way around, and it would be better to keep going than to backtrack so they would see more of the park. Besides, there are plenty of places for them to sit and rest along the way.

When we reached the Sun Court again we were all pretty hungry. My parents sat at a table in front of the Zephyr while I went to Award Wieners and got us all hot dogs and fries. Actually, I had a chili cheese dog.

After our meal I still had about 30 minutes before I was supposed to meet Todd, so I went back out with them to the parking lot. Unfortunately they got off at the wrong stop and had to walk longer than they would have if we had waited until the second stop, but after the tram looped around and headed back I could see that they were already at their car. I went back to the plaza and hung out while waiting for Todd. He showed up about 4:40 and told me that he couldn't come in because it was a blackout day. So we made arrangements for him to pick me up at 7:00 and I headed back to the park by myself.

I headed over to Paradise Pier (PP) and got FP for California Screamion' (CS). I really wanted to go on the Sun Wheel - another attraction we missed out on last year - but the wait was 30 minutes and it didn't seem like something that would be fun to do alone. I headed over to Maliboomer instead - another ride I's missed - and saw that it has a "single rider" line. I went up and literally walked right on - this when the posted wait time was 30 minutes. I love sky shot rides, and this is one of the best. They do a really good job of building the suspense, and the ride and view are awesome. After I was done I went right back on and did it again.

I went out on the west side of PP and decided to hop on the Golden Zephyr as it had no line. It isn't much of a ride, but it is pretty at night and the ride vehicles are really cool. I toyed with riding Grizzly River Rapids as there was no wait, but it was too cold so I skipped it. Instead I headed back to SoC and rode again. I would have ridden one more time - I had several FP tickets left - but I really wanted to ride CS twice and since my FP time was 6:35 and I was supposed to meet Todd at 7:00, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to. So, I headed back over to CS and got in the 25 minute standby line. The wait time was actually about 20 minutes and when I got off I was actually a few minutes early for my FP. I waited for 6:35 and rode again. Interestingly - and I guess I'm showing my age here - I was actually a little queasy after the second ride. It turned out I would have had plenty of time for a second ride if I'd done SoC again, but a third ride was out of the question.