Farewell to Disney



On Friday, we headed back to Magic Kingdom for one last day... 

 

Ready for one last day of park rides and character spotting.  Let the memories begin, indeed! 

Good morning, Magic Kingdom!

After spending the better part of the week there, we finally had a system worked out.  Arrive right before the park opens, and go immediately to a ride that issues a FASTPASS.  Then, during the hour or so before your FASTPASS time comes up, pick a different ride or character line to wait in.  By the time that ride/character meeting has finished, it's time to go back to your FASTPASS ride.  After the FASTPASS ride is over, find another and repeat!

Riding in elephants and in teacups, on trains and on boats

I loved these windmills in "Holland" on the Small World ride

Oh, and for figuring out when and where to find your favorite characters?  There's an app for that!  I'm not kidding.  The one we used was called My Disney Experience.  It had several features, but we only really used it to help us find particular princesses. 

Even with this technology at our fingertips, serendipity still had a role to play in our visit.  For example, Alice (in Wonderland) just happened to be on the teacup ride at the same time that we were, and Amelia didn't even have to wait in line to meet her afterward!  I just love these pictures of her with Alice: a sweet hug, making grumpy faces (Amelia had very kindly asked Alice to sign her sister's book because Ramona was being a grump), and giggling together.  So cute.       

Some quality time with Alice in Wonderland

We actually got very lucky on Friday.  The only character we had really planned to meet was Tiana -- who was so nice, and the only character who offered to hold Louisa for pictures! -- but, in addition to Alice, we also happened to run into Wendy and Peter Pan, and Cinderella's evil stepmother and stepsisters (who were a riot, and very in character).  Not a bad day.   

Meeting more characters!

Another fun location?  Rapunzel's little corner of Fantasyland.  The princess herself wasn't there, but the girls had a great time admiring the banners and lanterns decorating the square, picking out pictures of characters from Tangled, and hunting for little Pascals (Rapunzel's chameleon) everywhere.  Disney did a great job incorporating Tangled into the park!

Tangled come to life in Fantasyland

A few attempts at a family picture... Ramona was NOT into it.

 

By late afternoon, the girls had just about had enough, which was good timing, as Chad's parents needed to head to the airport.  We hopped on the train in Frontierland and rode it two-thirds of the way around the park back to the main entrance, returning to the hotel for dinner and BED. 



Riding the Magic Kingdom train with my sweet littlest

My big girl.  She walked EVERYWHERE all week and never complained once.  So glad that we took her!

 

The girls each got to pick out ONE toy on our last day at the park.  Even though we already have each of these princesses (in not just one size, but two or three sizes for most), Ramona had to have these.  Pretty much just because of Belle.  Because her dress is yellow, and yellow is Ramona's favorite.  She certainly knows what she wants! 

While Friday marked our last day at Disney, it was not our last day in Florida.  I had originally hoped to make it to the beach on Saturday for some low-key sandcastle-building and seashell-hunting, but even the closest beaches are about an hour away from Orlando (and the one I wanted to go to was closer to two hours away), and Louisa spiked a mild fever on Friday night.  Needless to say, we decided that spending several hours in the car and then out in the sun might not be the best thing for her.  So we ended up staying at the hotel. 

 

Luckily, there were plenty of things to do there!  So we took turns relaxing with Louisa indoors while the others entertained Amelia and Ramona: swimming in the pool, playing on the playground, going on a surrey bicycle ride around the property...

 

So much to do in Florida!

 

 Louisa seemed to be back to normal by the evening, so we ventured out to dinner at the T-Rex Café in Downtown Disney.  I can't say that I would do it again... When I put our name in, I was told that we would have about a 40-minute wait.  Okay, not so bad.  There was quite a bit to look at outside, including people in elaborate costumes posing as statutes and giant Lego displays.  I assumed that, when our name was called about 45 minutes later, that our table was ready.  Nope.  Instead, it was our turn to stand in this OTHER line, along the entrance of the restaurant.  After roughly 45 MORE minutes, our table was finally ready.  At this point, it was after 7:00, and more than an hour later than the girls usually eat dinner.  Amazingly, they held it together relatively well. 

 

Dinner at the T-Rex Café in Downtown Disney

 

And the inside WAS pretty cool.  There were several different areas of the restaurant -- including an aquarium part, an "ice cave" part, and the jungle part where we were seated -- and there were big animatronic dinosaurs around every corner.  Then, every 20 minutes or so, the lights would dim and there would be an "meteor shower," during which all of the dinosaurs would move and roar.  It was awfully loud the whole time, but the food was actually pretty good and the girls had fun, which was what the whole trip was all about, anyway!

 

Thus ended our visit to Disney/Orlando... On Sunday morning, we got up, said goodbye to my parents as they left for the airport, finished packing, and headed to the airport ourselves.  We all had a great time, but it was one of those vacations where you get home and feel like you need another vacation, you know?  We'll definitely go back, but probably not for a few more years... Like, when everyone can walk on their own.  J

 

And now I'm only about a month and a half (and at least five posts) behind... Hope to catch up more soon!