FINAL DAY - MAGIC KINGDOM
Between knee pain and DW snoring, I didn't get much sleep Sunday night/Monday morning. Nonetheless, I got out of bed easily that morning (I'm one of those obnoxious morning people). For our final day, we were heading to Magic Kingdom and I wanted to be there for what (I thought) was going to be the final day of the old opening ceremony.
Everyone got up and out the door and we made it to the park with no problem. A little before 9, I noticed people - and not just those with breakfast reservations - were getting let back early. I decided to sacrifice seeing the final train show to get to Enchanted Tales with Belle only to find that today was the first day of the NEW opening ceremony. So, we headed toward The Hub.
But first, a family photo!
We had a pretty good view of the new rope drop ceremony. It was fine. Mickey does a little welcome and then I think the Blue Fairy tossed around some fairy dust. I don't remember much, honestly.
From there, we headed back to New Fantasyland for Enchanted Tales with Belle, where we had our first FP+. DD was obviously pretty shy, so she didn't get picked to play any of the parts, which was fine. She really enjoyed the show, though, and even went up to meet Belle (solo!). We were a little disappointed when the CM said Belle wasn't doing autographs, though.
DD got lots of compliments on her Elsa dress all day.
After Enchanted Tales, we headed over to Crystal Palace for breakfast. I loaded up on biscuits, gravy, sausage and bacon (I'm a bit of a carnivore) while DD and DW sampled lots of other food. While we ate, we got visits from Tigger and Pooh. DD continued her trend of being a little shy, but they both signed her "princess book," so she was very pleased. I think these were also the first (and only) non "face" characters she met during the trip and I was surprised at how well she did. She was afraid of Santa Claus and our college mascot back home!
After breakfast, we walked over to Journey Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid. DD really enjoyed that - Ariel is one of her favorite princesses - but the ride got stuck at one point, right when we were under Flotsam and Jetsam (the creepy eels). She was NOT a fan of that, but just covered her eyes. No tears.
We then immediately got in line for the Ariel meet-and-greet and DD scored another autograph.
After Ariel, we used our FP+ for Peter Pan's Flight. I like this ride, but I've never been able to figure out why it always has such a long wait.
Since DW has made it a tradition to get an ornament at Disney during each of our trips, we headed over to the holiday shop in Liberty Square. While she shopped, I caught a little bit of the new Muppets show above the Hall of Presidents. It was pretty good, but I'm also partial to the Muppets (wacka wacka!)
And, I snapped a photo of this cutie while DW was checking out.
At this point, DD was getting a little tired and ready to back to the hotel. DW wanted to grab a little snack so she wouldn't have to eat lunch at Pop, so we went over to Pecos Bill's. DD and DW split some nachos, I just had a water.
After lunch, we did a little shopping in the Emporium on Main Street, USA and picked up some gifts for our daughters back home and DW's mom, whose birthday was coming up. DD and DW then headed back to the hotel, but I opted to stay at the parks.
Rather than try to do as much as possible while they were gone, I took a spin on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before having lunch around 2 - a mac and cheese/bacon hotdog at Casey's corner. I then watched parts of the afternoon parade before heading over to Splash Mountain for one last trip on my favorite ride.
By the time I was done with Splash, it had been a few hours since DW and DD had gone back for a nap and they were now on their way back to MK. I walked over to Town Square Theater to wait for them, though they ended up taking another half an hour or so to get to the park.
When DW and DD arrived, we went to see the final character on DD's bucket list: Tinker Bell. The wait was relatively short and DD was really excited to meet Tink and get her autograph.
From Tink we headed up to fly with Dumbo. DD got excited as she was running up to the ride, fell and hit her chin and was in tears, but recovered quickly. We all rode together, which was nice.
At this point, we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants (no pun intended, Dumbo). DW and I still had FPs for Splash and I wasn't sure how much longer DD was going to last. It had been a long weekend, but she had been a tsrooper. DW had also been great about taking DD back to the hotel for naps/bed and I wanted to make sure she had as much fun as possible, too.
The wait for Tommorowland Speedway was too long, but I saw we could basically walk onto the Peoplemover, which we'd never done before. We got on the Peoplemover quickly, but then had to wait for maintenance to clean barf out of one of the cars. Gross. Who barfs on the Peoplemover??
Anyway, it was a really nice ride. The sun was setting, so the castle and Tomorrowland looked really great. I wish I had a photo that did it justice.
After the Peoplemover, we decided DW would go use one Splash FP, I'd cancel mine and take DD to County Bears Jamboree, then just start trying to FP whatever we could until DD hit her limit. The plan went south almost immediately when we found County Bears closed at 6 (it was probably 6:10 at this point). So, DD and I got in line for the Magic Carpets. There was a bit of a wait, but we got off the ride just as DW was getting out of Splash, so it worked out well and DD enjoyed the ride.
After Magic Carpets, the only FPs I could snag were for Winnie the Pooh around 8. I planned on DD/DW riding Pooh while I shot Wishes, but I didn't exactly share this plan with DW nor was I sure how she'd feel about me bailing on them...
Anyway, we headed over to Cosmic Ray's around 7 for dinner. I ate pretty quickly, keeping an eye on the clock. I knew getting a spot in front of the castle wasn't going to happen nor was catching the 7:45 (I think) show of Once Upon a Time. BUT...I wanted to try shooting Wishes from behind the castle once and I figured it wouldn't be too busy. I told DW about the Winnie the Pooh FP and we made plans to meet after the fireworks, she was fine with the whole thing.
I got behind the castle around 7:45 and DW texted to tell me DD wanted to watch fireworks with me. I said that sounded great and told them where to find me, which was a piece of cake since it was really quiet behind the castle.
As we were waiting for Wishes to start, Once Upon a Time ended with some really awesome pyrotechnics around the castle. I tried to shoot them, but realized I still had my lens cap on. Bummer, but something to try for next time!
Anyway, Wishes started and it was a really fun and unique experience to view them from behind the castle since you are essentially surrounded by the show. DD watched from her stroller and only once or twice pulled over the canopy from the stroller to shield herself from the lights and sounds.
Yet again, I came away with a few shots I was pretty happy with, though I was happier with my Wishes photos from Friday night and much happier with my IllumiNations photos. That said, shooting from behind the castle is MUCH less of a hassle due to the smaller crowds.
We slowly made our way out of the park after the fireworks and DD had zero problems, despite being up past her bedtime. In fact, during the bus ride back to Pop, she played "hide and seek" with a young woman. It was really, really funny to watch.
All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better final few hours at the parks for a couple of years. It was really nice to have some quality time with DD and DW.
Next...EPILOGUE
Bourbon lemonade sounds pretty tasty too!!
