Final Day – Magic Kingdom
Well, I hate to say it, but today is it. Even though we don’t leave until Friday and the Ultimate Pass allows us park entrance until closing on that day, we decided that this would be it. Jeanne has a cousin that lives in Orlando that we would visit on Friday. That being said, we got to the bus stop early yet again and had a moderated wait of about 15 minutes. Weird, but we felt like old pros on getting the stroller and getting into the part. Our first goal was to get some pictures on Main Street for a Christmas card. Mission accomplished. We decided to follow a plan very similar to our previous visit and base any changes on Crowds. We hit Dumbo first with just the girls riding this time. I went ahead and got FP for Phiharmagic. The next ride was over to Peter Pan – short wait and one of the kid’s favorites. We then went over to hit Pooh once again. Lydia really wanted to ride it again even though Sarah did not. From there it was time to catch the show at Philharmagic. This is definitely one of my favorites.
We then took our same route to Liberty Square where we did the Haunted Mansion again. Lydia rode with me this time and did great. This ride’s attention to detail is rather freaky when compared to the now defunct Haunted Theater at PKI. They just do not compare. From there we mastered the FP for Splash and Big Thunder. We got a FP for Splash Mountain and proceeded to grab a bite at Pecos Bills. After a little bit of shopping, we went and got a FP for Big Thunder, as our ‘window’ was now open. We rode Splash and had a great time. This could be the kid’s favorite ride. From there we snuck in The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (the girls and I) while Jeanne did some shopping around Adventure Land. That stupid camel spit right on my head. I will not stand for this and threaten to spit back but think better realizing what I might hit if I miss. After Aladdin, we catch our FP for Big Thunder. Another ride we all love. We then head over to Pirates of the Caribbean. The kids aren’t too thrilled but the wait is almost non-existent. The girls then wait for a character meet with Peter and Wendy and then we head over to the castle area for the parade. We get great seats that allow the Castle to be in the background in nearly all my pictures. Lydia begs and pleads for a Mickey / Minnie balloon and I have no change. Can anyone say popcorn? I grab a quick treat and we see the parade. The kids (and Parents) love a parade and the kids really love this one. From there, the kids ask about Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We stroll through and the place is a MOB. The line for Barnstormer is huge and Jeanne and I make the executive decision to just ride the train around the park. Fun ride. We then use the back path to Tomorrowland. The kids want to ride Astro Orbiter (okay, Sarah wants to but Lydia does not). We are running low on time so we grab some Ice Cream and call our families to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Something to be said about munching on an ice cream cone, wearing shorts, and talking to your family back home who is dealing with temps in the upper 30’s with snow flurries. From there, we check our pictures. Oh NO. Lydia has her eyes closed in one and in the other, the Castle is in focus but we are not. We decide not to buy and try and get one at night when we come back. The forecast is for the evening to get a bit cool, so we head back to the resort for some more shopping and a change of clothes. Unfortunately, we do not have the extra time to swim. After a quick bite to eat, we head back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We grab a picture on Main Street and stroll back to Frontier Land and get in line for Splash Mountain. The wait is all of 10 minutes. Jeanne begs out so it just the girls and I. Even better at night. From there we plan on doing Big Thunder. Much to our dismay, the ride is shut down for maintenance. The girls are not happy. I suggest the Haunted Mansion, but the fact that it is dark scares off the girls. We pass the Country Bears Christmas show but the girls show no interest, sorry Grizz. Well, let’s see, how about some shopping in Liberty Square. We then head back to Big Thunder and it is still down. We had hoped to ride this a couple of times during the first Spectro parade. No Luck. After buying a couple of ornaments, we go stake out a good spot for Spectromagic – very close to where we saw the parade earlier. The parade seemed to have bigger gaps than we remember but the kids don’t care, it’s Spectromagic. From there, we cut across the street to catch a bench seat for Wishes. After about a 45-minute wait (Lydia falls asleep) we catch Wishes for the final time. This thought brings a tear or two to our eyes. What an incredible view for this show and a wonderful way to close out the week. We start to head back to the picture place, hitting shops here and there as we walk when a CM guided us to a ‘Backstage” exit to the front of Main Street. Even this area was made up with Christmas lights and I only saw one or two bums curled up here and there with paper-bag in hand. We get back to the ‘production’ right at the Tree – beautiful. The pictures still seem more focused on the castle and not us but we come up with a pretty good one of the five of us. Five you say? Yep, some lady cut right into the picture behind us as the shot was being taken. Oh well, it will do the trick. Hey, this picture show sells pins. . .great. After this we realize we are in time for the second Spectro Parade. Neat to catch this show from this perspective. We turn in the stroller and catch the bus back to the resort. The kids are out before the bus pulls out. Once we get back to the Caribbean, we start to do some packing and call it a night.
Friday Morning – What to do? We wake up at the same time and I head to the Food Court for some Mickey Waffles. Had to do it. YUM!! I almost forgot to mention, we bought the refillable mugs and used them a total of two times. Oh well, we bought them as a souvenir anyway. We rack our brains and try to think about what to do. Should we park hop to Epcot to catch Test Track and then the Animal Kingdom to do Festival of the Lion King??????? We decide to end the trip on the high note of Wishes and leave our home away from home and head over to Orlando to visit Jeanne’s cousin. Turns out another cousin was in town for the Holiday and we got to see her as well. Bonus.
Final Thoughts – The crowds were, I thought, big but we still got to do just about everything we wanted to do. The CM’s were great all week and especially on things involving Sarah’s birthday. The food was okay but I did not travel all that way for the food. We had a tremendous week and cannot wait to go back. Our original plan was to make it back in 5 years. We are now hoping that we can make it back in 2 to 3 years. The parks were all super. Clean and other than the initial smell at Animal Kingdom, everything we hoped. Our favorite attractions were Mickey’s Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Tower of Terror, and Spaceship Earth. The Parades were tremendous and Wishes and Illuminations were SPECTACULAR. We cannot wait to go back!!! :sohappy: :sohappy: :wave:
Well, I hate to say it, but today is it. Even though we don’t leave until Friday and the Ultimate Pass allows us park entrance until closing on that day, we decided that this would be it. Jeanne has a cousin that lives in Orlando that we would visit on Friday. That being said, we got to the bus stop early yet again and had a moderated wait of about 15 minutes. Weird, but we felt like old pros on getting the stroller and getting into the part. Our first goal was to get some pictures on Main Street for a Christmas card. Mission accomplished. We decided to follow a plan very similar to our previous visit and base any changes on Crowds. We hit Dumbo first with just the girls riding this time. I went ahead and got FP for Phiharmagic. The next ride was over to Peter Pan – short wait and one of the kid’s favorites. We then went over to hit Pooh once again. Lydia really wanted to ride it again even though Sarah did not. From there it was time to catch the show at Philharmagic. This is definitely one of my favorites.
We then took our same route to Liberty Square where we did the Haunted Mansion again. Lydia rode with me this time and did great. This ride’s attention to detail is rather freaky when compared to the now defunct Haunted Theater at PKI. They just do not compare. From there we mastered the FP for Splash and Big Thunder. We got a FP for Splash Mountain and proceeded to grab a bite at Pecos Bills. After a little bit of shopping, we went and got a FP for Big Thunder, as our ‘window’ was now open. We rode Splash and had a great time. This could be the kid’s favorite ride. From there we snuck in The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (the girls and I) while Jeanne did some shopping around Adventure Land. That stupid camel spit right on my head. I will not stand for this and threaten to spit back but think better realizing what I might hit if I miss. After Aladdin, we catch our FP for Big Thunder. Another ride we all love. We then head over to Pirates of the Caribbean. The kids aren’t too thrilled but the wait is almost non-existent. The girls then wait for a character meet with Peter and Wendy and then we head over to the castle area for the parade. We get great seats that allow the Castle to be in the background in nearly all my pictures. Lydia begs and pleads for a Mickey / Minnie balloon and I have no change. Can anyone say popcorn? I grab a quick treat and we see the parade. The kids (and Parents) love a parade and the kids really love this one. From there, the kids ask about Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We stroll through and the place is a MOB. The line for Barnstormer is huge and Jeanne and I make the executive decision to just ride the train around the park. Fun ride. We then use the back path to Tomorrowland. The kids want to ride Astro Orbiter (okay, Sarah wants to but Lydia does not). We are running low on time so we grab some Ice Cream and call our families to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Something to be said about munching on an ice cream cone, wearing shorts, and talking to your family back home who is dealing with temps in the upper 30’s with snow flurries. From there, we check our pictures. Oh NO. Lydia has her eyes closed in one and in the other, the Castle is in focus but we are not. We decide not to buy and try and get one at night when we come back. The forecast is for the evening to get a bit cool, so we head back to the resort for some more shopping and a change of clothes. Unfortunately, we do not have the extra time to swim. After a quick bite to eat, we head back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. We grab a picture on Main Street and stroll back to Frontier Land and get in line for Splash Mountain. The wait is all of 10 minutes. Jeanne begs out so it just the girls and I. Even better at night. From there we plan on doing Big Thunder. Much to our dismay, the ride is shut down for maintenance. The girls are not happy. I suggest the Haunted Mansion, but the fact that it is dark scares off the girls. We pass the Country Bears Christmas show but the girls show no interest, sorry Grizz. Well, let’s see, how about some shopping in Liberty Square. We then head back to Big Thunder and it is still down. We had hoped to ride this a couple of times during the first Spectro parade. No Luck. After buying a couple of ornaments, we go stake out a good spot for Spectromagic – very close to where we saw the parade earlier. The parade seemed to have bigger gaps than we remember but the kids don’t care, it’s Spectromagic. From there, we cut across the street to catch a bench seat for Wishes. After about a 45-minute wait (Lydia falls asleep) we catch Wishes for the final time. This thought brings a tear or two to our eyes. What an incredible view for this show and a wonderful way to close out the week. We start to head back to the picture place, hitting shops here and there as we walk when a CM guided us to a ‘Backstage” exit to the front of Main Street. Even this area was made up with Christmas lights and I only saw one or two bums curled up here and there with paper-bag in hand. We get back to the ‘production’ right at the Tree – beautiful. The pictures still seem more focused on the castle and not us but we come up with a pretty good one of the five of us. Five you say? Yep, some lady cut right into the picture behind us as the shot was being taken. Oh well, it will do the trick. Hey, this picture show sells pins. . .great. After this we realize we are in time for the second Spectro Parade. Neat to catch this show from this perspective. We turn in the stroller and catch the bus back to the resort. The kids are out before the bus pulls out. Once we get back to the Caribbean, we start to do some packing and call it a night.
Friday Morning – What to do? We wake up at the same time and I head to the Food Court for some Mickey Waffles. Had to do it. YUM!! I almost forgot to mention, we bought the refillable mugs and used them a total of two times. Oh well, we bought them as a souvenir anyway. We rack our brains and try to think about what to do. Should we park hop to Epcot to catch Test Track and then the Animal Kingdom to do Festival of the Lion King??????? We decide to end the trip on the high note of Wishes and leave our home away from home and head over to Orlando to visit Jeanne’s cousin. Turns out another cousin was in town for the Holiday and we got to see her as well. Bonus.
Final Thoughts – The crowds were, I thought, big but we still got to do just about everything we wanted to do. The CM’s were great all week and especially on things involving Sarah’s birthday. The food was okay but I did not travel all that way for the food. We had a tremendous week and cannot wait to go back. Our original plan was to make it back in 5 years. We are now hoping that we can make it back in 2 to 3 years. The parks were all super. Clean and other than the initial smell at Animal Kingdom, everything we hoped. Our favorite attractions were Mickey’s Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safari, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Tower of Terror, and Spaceship Earth. The Parades were tremendous and Wishes and Illuminations were SPECTACULAR. We cannot wait to go back!!! :sohappy: :sohappy: :wave:
