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November 16, 5 pm, Disney's Hollywood Studios
You know how Disney mimics different parts of society and, well, Disneyfies it? They totally did this for Hollywood. You will not find women dressed in 50’s clothes blowing kisses from a float in LA. Or creepy bellhops waiting to send you to your doom. Or absolutely NO drug addicts. But, (in case you haven’t noticed) that’s what makes this place absolutely, positively GREAT!
And if you guys want to know why (That is why you clicked on this in the first place, right?), I’m happy to oblige. Some things I would kind of have trouble decribing (i.e. The American Idol Experience! That took SO LONG, I don’t even want to try to form it into words), but the rest I am ALL OUT for talking about.
So, who wants to hear about my super-zealous-fun filled day?!...Awesome.
Let’s start with the most informative…. INDIANA JONES! (Never really thought of that as informative, huh? Maybe indulgent...mildly traumatizing) I know that sounds weird, but this was a thirty minute show taking you behind the scenes of basic stunt performances, complete with real size sets and stunt doubles. It’s just you know, Indiana Jones. XD
Anyway, our experience was GREAT, and we were just regular audience members. The cool thing is though it’s very interactive and personal, you don’t really notice. Now, I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I’ll just give you the things that stuck out the most in my memory (now that I think about it, those are the spoilers. My bad.):
My favorite parts were towards the beginning, along with all those unrealistic fighting sequences. (They used REAL freaking explosives!) Let me lay it out.
When it starts, it shows a set from Raiders of the Lost Dark. Indiana (or his stunt double, ;D) swings down from a rope 40 feet up, stopping just 2 feet from the floor. He breaths hard, looks around, and slowly starts walking toward a shrine with priceless treasure. He takes a step… and sets off a booby -trap of underground spikes, followed by stone statues reaching for him with cages from the walls, and triggers a wire that sets off pockets of red hot fire! Sweating, Jones barely reaches the shrine. He looks longingly at the piece of loot, and carefully switches it with a rock of the same size. Nothing happens for a second, and then… BOOM! A 15 foot high boulder barrels down toward Indiana; he just barely escapes.
That’s pretty much the theme of thing; it explains how on earth that’s possible, with a bit of humor and cast members thrown in. You should see what happens when they bring in some audience members! One of the teachers at my school, Mrs. Hill, brought her husband and two sons to Disneyworld a while ago. Her husband was picked to be fake-shot, and when her little 3 year old saw his Daddy acting like he died… Oh, man, the poor thing.
But if you like seeing fake-shooting, be my guest. I dare you not to smile!
Okay, so that was the person to person stunt show. With Disney being, well, Disney, they have given us tourists to see another explosive movie sequence, but this time with… CARS! It’s a little boys dream.
This alleged dream-come-true performance is called Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. Sounds exciting enough. The theme: you are watching a action movie being made. And it is fairly interesting. The cars were AWESOME. You know how in some scenes the cars drive backwards real fast? The driver is actually driving forwards. It’s possible; just involves some wiring. I liked the stunt men (or women). Some were on motorcycles, some on jetskis , one fell from 30 feet up, and one caught on FIRE. That takes some serious guts.
And they weren’t kidding about making a movie, either. Cameras were everywhere. (It makes really hard to focus. Have you ever tried to watch a giant screen and on stage performance at the same time? Jeez.) Granted, it was an overly acted, super short, definitely B-movie, but it was a movie just the same. Bring your kids; they might just get picked to "drive" a real life car.
Later,
P.S. Just so you know, I’m not advertising Disney, or trying to persuade you to blow your money. I just really like movies.
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