Okay... New Year's Eve.

So, since we stayed up late for EMH at MK the night before, we decided to sleep in. I actually woke up early and thought about going and hitting early EMH at MK, but I didn't want to wake anyone else up getting ready, so I just went back to sleep.

We blew off our 8:30 breakfast reservations at 'Ohana. I was upset about this because I have yet to eat at 'Ohana, as reservations are somewhat difficult to come by, especially during peak season, which is when we tend to be at WDW. However, I do have ADRs for 'Ohana in April, which is the only reason I allowed us to miss them.

So, we eventually got up and decided to go over to DHS. We got there around 10:00, probably. Of course, it was already crowded. This big group of people with strollers had just gotten into the park and they were stopped... blocking the way with their strollers. There were about eight strollers just lined up while the "drivers" were discussing what to do.

After we navigated our way around the crowd, Dad insisted on a "shop shortcut" which ran us around a corner onto Sunset Boulevard, making us miss the time board. Dad asked me what he should go FP, and I told him that since he took us past the times board, that he could just go on and FP RNRC because now we didn't know if all TSM FPs had been distributed (which I assumed they had), so we probably just wouldn't get to ride that. Dad thought that was funny. I suppose it was the way I said it... probably had to be there.

So, Dad went to FP RNRC (I then remembered the trial for a "queueless" wait, for which they moved the RNRC FPs over by ToTs and hoped that they weren't still testing that) and Mom, Rachel, and I bought fruit for breakfast. I got a massive apple, and they got some pineapple.

While sitting along Sunset Boulevard eating fruit, I figured we might as well go on to wait for the next showing of American Idol. We had yet to see this new attraction, and with lines so long, this was a good thing to go do.

We got to AI and they came out and did some recording of the audience cheering for this contestant named Matt from England. They wanted to make it look like we had a huge crowd, so they made us all bunch up together and be really loud and crazy.

The problem is, after we were done filming, the host said, "I'll see you guys inside," and many people thought that was their cue to head to the doors... which were shut and not opening anytime soon. So while people shoved their ways to the closed doors, we got squooshed together and had a difficult time keeping our family of four together. Then they opened the doors and everyone was pushing forward. And most parties were doing that thing when they hold onto the person in front of them and make a huge chain, pushing through the crowd. Well, I got squashed and cut-off, and Dad was way ahead of me, and Rachel fallen way behind. No idea where Mom was. I was frustrated (and I was sick... if these people knew how sick I was, they wouldn't have been shoving so close to me... I wonder how many of them caught my illness... ). So when we got inside, the CMs were angry at the people, telling them to move all the way down the rows and keep moving. The problem was that people had gotten separated trying to get inside, and now everyone was trying to get their groups back together.

I caught up with Dad, and we had to stand squished against a wall, being yelled at by CMs, until Rachel and Mom finally appeared in the crowd.

I was very upset by the lack of organization. The waiting area needs bars dividing rows to the doors. This would better control how many people go through each door and would keep parties from getting separated.

Okay, so their were three contestants for our show. The first contestant's brother had won the previous show. And she was very good. She sang Colors of the Wind. I was kind of expecting bad karaoke from the attraction, but she changed my mind. The second contestant was seventeen years old and she was here with her high school... the crowd consisted mainly of her high school. She was cute and young and bubbly, but I honestly didn't think she was that great of a singer. She was rather pitchy at some points, and I didn't think her voice was mature enough for the song that she decided to sing. I think contestant number three was Disney's attempt at humor. Shame on them. He was a British guy in his twenties who sang that Ricky Martin song... the crowd liked it because it was a song you could dance to, verses the first two contestants who chose slow, serious songs, but it was a British guy singing a Spanish song... what do you expect?

I did not care for the judges. And they tried to build up their background, but they didn't really say anything about where these people came from or why they were qualified to judge. To me, they were actors. And the actor who portrayed Randy Jackson must've been confused about Randy's sexual orientation. The lady that had Paula's role made Paula seem intelligent and sober. And the guy that played Simon was just a jerk. At least Simon knows what he's talking about and he backs up his negative statements with reasoning. This guy was just like, "You suck."

Anyway, the judges were clearly partial to contestant number two. Probably because she was young and cute. And the audience, consisting of contestant number two's high school, was clearly partial, as well. Contestants one and three didn't even have a chance. I voted for contestant number one, Mom and Rach voted for three, and Dad didn't vote. However, after comparing notes, we all thought contestant one was the best. But of course contestant two won... the crowd was her high school!!!

Yeah, overall, I wasn't very impressed with the American Idol Experience. Maybe it will get better over time, but they definitely need better crowd control. And judges that have their own opinions and personalities... not Simon/Paula/Randy copycats.

After Idol, we headed over to Muppet Vision 3D. Even the Muppets were crowded!!!

Then, we were hungry. Dad went to go get ToT FPs, and Mom, Rachel, and I went to Pizza Planet. We hadn't eaten there in a long time, and we were feeling pizza. Rachel and I got kids' pizzas, and Mom and Dad got pizzas. The kids' pizzas were kind of tiny, but between that and our parents' pizzas, Rachel and I were alright.

After that, we headed to the Great Movie Ride. We always ride this on New Year's Eve when it's crowded.