Friday, 11/22/13 - Day 7 - Our last full day. Sniff Sniff! :-(
Today I woke up feeling that dreaded feeling of it being our last full day. We had overcome the terrible stomach bugs, but with this unexpected sickness for DS and I, I just didn’t feel ready to leave. Today was our day to play "catch up" on all the things we missed because of having to rearrange everything due to our sick days. I wanted a pool/relaxation day, but that was not going to happen on this trip. We were "getting it done!" lol!
We got breakfast at Roaring Fork and headed to Animal Kingdom – DS wanted to do Expedition Everest and had missed going to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday so our plan for the day was to do a little park hopping to do some things he missed. While DS and DH went on Everest DD and I wanted to do something quick (she had no interest in Everest) so we decided to try Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I didn’t know what to expect, but basically you get on a safari train (the Wildlife Express Train) for a ride to a section called Rafiki’s Planet Watch. It is literally a few monkeys and a very pathetic petting zoo. There was the Conservation Station where they make the food for the animals, and we did get to meet Rafiki himself.
DD wanted to check out the Wilderness Explorers, too. We didn’t have much time and it seemed like such a waste of time. We should have done the Safari instead with all the time we spent there – we had to wait a while for the train each way. To me, Animal Kingdom is just “ok” and Rafiki’s Planet Watch is something I don’t need to revisit next time.
We met up with DS and DH to get the bus to Hollywood Studios – literally felt like we waited 45 minutes. Ugh! I know we went to HS before but we didn't really spend an entire day there, and wanted to do a few more things. And we just love HS! And again, it is DS's favorite park and we still felt SO BAD that he had to lay in bed sick for 2 days in Disney. :-( DD is always game for everything. Plus, we had done a full day at Epcot and felt like we got to do everything there that we needed to do, so this was good.
DD and I headed to Toy Story right way – we got there too late to get a paper Fastpass (since, at the time, we could do both Fastpass + AND the old system of Fastpasses) and had to wait 45 minutes to get on. DH and DS were doing Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Rollercoaster again. They ended up doing Toy Story afterwards and of course had a long wait, too. We then all met up at the ABC Commissary – a GREAT counter service place and the ONLY counter service place where we did not have a long line. SCORE!
Here's the beautiful and delicious cupcake I got, although I'm always too full from the big counter service meals to eat much dessert!
We got cheeseburgers and they were yummy. Will definitely go back to this place! After lunch DD and I headed over to meet Sofia the First – her favorite Disney princess! The wait was not terrible, and she was so adorable!
Then we saw Muppet Vision 3D which we all love so much! We headed to Rock n’ Rollercoaster to use the Fastpasses. I went on with DS first – wow! My first time and it was so fast but I really loved it! DD didn’t want to ride so DH then went on a second time with DS. I was so happy we could “make up for lost time" here at HS another day!
After that, we did some shopping with the kids since they had giftcards they wanted to spend and this was our last full day at Disney. DD got Sofia the First figures. DS got a Rock n’ Rollercoaster shirt. We needed to head back to Magic Kingdom because we had one last dinner reservation – this time at Crystal Palace which I was really excited to check out.
So as we headed into Magic Kingdom it hit me that I don't think we ever got any Photopass pictures taken and I wanted one really good family picture for our Christmas card, so I told everyone they had to be on their very best picture behavior because Mommy was getting a really GOOD Disney picture in front of the castle and it better be good... or else!!!
The sky was really cool - it was going to be sunset soon and there was a really neat swirl of clouds and sun, so it was a great opportunity for a picture. Here's the one we ended up with, I was thrilled with it!!!
I love the Christmas wreaths hanging over the street. Awesome!
We only had a short time before we needed to get to Crystal Palace for our very last Disney dinner. Boo.
We only had time to do one quick ride – of course, we wanted to do Space Mountain but there was not enough time. We did Stitch’s Great Escape which is NOT our favorite ride but the only one we could squeeze in. Oh well. We noticed things were getting really crowded in all 3 parks we visited that day – it was the Friday before Thanksgiving. We were glad we had most of the week before the heavy crowds came that weekend!
We made it to Crystal Palace for our 6 pm reservation. Here's a pic while we were waiting outside to be called in... it's such a pretty view of the castle!
The dinner was a buffet. Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet came to the tables. DD was in Heaven –she LOVES these characters! The restaurant was beautiful – all decorated for Christmas and so pretty! I felt very bittersweet because I wanted to enjoy the meal but was very sad to leave the next day.
We did our usual “How do you feel about having to leave tomorrow?” frown faces for our last pictures of the week. How do you feel about leaving Disney tomorrow?
The meal , food-wise, wasn’t fantastic but we loved the characters and the setting. I’d try breakfast here, though. We left the restaurant and the Very Mickey Christmas Party was going on – we didn’t have tickets but very well could have stayed for the parade, however we decided to just go back to the hotel. I could totally feel the crowds were very heavy at that point, you could barely walk. It was neat because there was fake snow falling on Main Street and that was very magical.
We decided to go back and pack, and DH took the kids to the arcade at the hotel. My parents had left them each a $10 giftcard for the arcade at the front desk before they left – well apparently the cast member at the desk did not feel that $10 would “cut it” so she added $40 to EACH GIFTCARD – giving each of my kids $50 to spend at the arcade. Amazing. They played in the arcade for quite a while and they still have money on those cards to save for the next trip! They had some more Disney giftcard money to spend so we went to the hotel gift shop for what seemed like a loooong time for DD to decide. I bought a Wilderness Lodge mug which I use just about every time I drink coffee lol. I LOVE that mug, it’s like one of those very heavy campy time ceramic mugs. My very favorite. We went to bed a bit sad knowing we were leaving to go home the next day. :-(
