Disney Trip, Day 7

Okay, okay...I know those of you that have followed our Disney Trip through my blog are probably wondering what happened on the last day. All apologies for the delay as work has kept me pretty much distracted from important things like blogging since our return.

The last day was probably our best day at Disney of the whole trip, although it had a good chance of being disastrous since we knew that we couldn't go home in the afternoon if the kids got tired. We pretty much had to stay at Disney until we left for the airport around 5:30pm for our 8:00pm flight home.

The idea was that we'd let the kids sleep as late as possible and then leave the townhouse right at 10am, our check out time. Of course, they were up at 7am wanting eagerly to go to the Magic Kingdom one last time, so that plan was shot from the very beginning. We got everyone ready to go and headed out. Even with some extra traffic from the Disney Marathon that morning, we were off the monorail and at the front gate just as the park was opening at 9am.

Again, there was almost no crowds and we walked right straight onto most rides. The longest wait we had all day was about 35 minutes to meet Ariel in her Grotto, but that was basically because they cut the line off just before us and we had to wait for a "character exchange". Apparently, it's not as easy for the mermaids, complete with fins instead of legs, to quickly slip away and be replaced when their shift is up. Most of our waits the rest of the day were basically the length of time it took to walk back and forth through the queues to the loading area. Because of that, we saw more attractions in one day than any other time.

Here's my recounting of what we did on Day 7, approximately in the order we did it:

• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Tomorrowland Indy Speedway (twice without even getting out of the cars)
• Mad Tea Party
• Met Alice and the Mad Hatter just outside the Tea Cups
  
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Cinderella's Golden Carousel
• Peter Pan's Flight
  
• It's a Small World
  
• Met Ariel in her Grotto, and played in the jumping water fountains
• The Haunted Mansion
• Stopped in the Christmas shop in Liberty Square to get some ornaments
• Ate lunch at the Columbia Harbor House (yeah, no McDonald's!)
• Saw Mickey's Philharmagic 3-D movie
• The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farms (twice)
• Met the Princesses and several other characters in Toontown Hall of Fame while a thunderstorm passed
• Saw Minnie's Country House, then got caught in another rain shower
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority
• Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
• Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (twice)
• Space Mountain (Jarrett only) while everyone else saw the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
• Ice cream sundaes at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
• Saw the Family Fun Day parade on Main Street USA

At this point it was about 4:15pm and getting close to leaving time. We asked the kids what the one ride they wanted to do again before we left was. I was definitely thinking it was going to be Dumbo or Buzz Lightyear, but both of them adamantly demanded that we ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority again (go figure!).

After circling Tomorrowland one last time on the TTA, we made our way back to the forecourt of Cinderella's Castle just in time to see a performance of Dream Along With Mickey, a character lead stage show which the kids loved. The show turned out to be the perfect way to end our week at Disney and after the grand finale, complete with pyrotechnics, we ambled down Main Street USA toward the exit. Along the way, we stopped in the Emporium and bought the kids their choice of Mickey Ears as souvenirs and saw the flag retreat in front of City Hall before boarding the monorail for the Transportation Center.

An hour later, we were at the Southwest gate at Orlando International Airport, exhausted and ready to come home. If we'd realized that when we landed, it would be almost 40 degrees colder than it had been that afternoon in Orlando, we might not have been so eager to return :)


Day 7 was probably my most memorable day of the whole trip and a fabulous way to end our week. I took many, many pictures the last day, including some of my personal favorites from the whole week. I also took a lot of pictures of the character show in front of the castle. One of my pictures from the show even was awarded a Diamond Award on Flickr! You can view all the Day 7 pictures here.