After the teacups we heard from the big boys. They'd arrived!
We still had maybe an hour before we needed to head back to the Fort, probably less and of course we took more! We hooked up with the guys and headed to...
BTMRR.
Again.
We'd had some amazing karma with this ride, walking right on more than once and with the still crazy crowds, we decided to try it again. Briefly we contemplated SM but no one really wanted to get wet. Besides Goofy. And I just wasn't up for letting a 9 year old go by himself. Scrooge however REALLY wanted a snack and remembered that we'd been able to use snack credits for popcorn the day before at DHS.
So first, we had a mission. Popcorn for Scrooge! We found a cart in Liberty square and despite the absence of the little snack credit logo (the man didn't trust me!) sure enough, he could get popcorn.
Since popcorn and BTMRR was not really a good fit, we strolled through Liberty Square and into Frontierland, taking our time and doing a wee bit of browsing. This was somewhat bittersweet for me. At this point in the trip we'd been to the MK what, 3 or 4 times and I felt like we'd never really gotten to just enjoy it due to the crowds. Not enough hours in the day. When I add it up all we really did in MK was
- BTMRR 3x
- SM 4x (for some, 3 for most)
- Teacups
- Pirates 2x
- Haunted Mansion
- Speedway and Buzz lightyear (the night I didn't head over so I could put Wall-E to bed)
- WDW railroad (boys with Scrooge, waiting for Tink and I)
Not a single show aside from the Celebrations parade that we couldn't escape. I'd used the crowd calendars to plan, I'd used EMH. Other than giving up our lazy days or heading over early sans teenagers, I'm not sure there is much more I could have done but still, heading into the end of what I knew was our last day in the MK I was saddened by all we hadn't done.
But here's the thing...it was only ME that was saddened. Burdened with what could have been.
No Jungle Cruise
No Swiss family treehouse
No Small world and the rest of fantasyland
No SM.
No Tom Sawyer Island and Country Bear Jamboree
No Spectromagic and wishes had been from a boat
No laugh floor
And yet...upon polling, every kid stated that MK was their favorite park.
Hmmn. How could that be? For each, their favorite ride was elsewhere (a split between RRC and EE). We'd been rushed, pushed, crowded and stuck.
We hadn't shopped there (much), we hadn't eaten there (sit down anyway)
But it was their favorite park. Hands down. All of them.
Disney Magic.!
Meandering around and lost in my own thoughts, Scrooge spotted something and got that gleam in his eye.
Who knew. The man likes to shoot 'em up.
Anyone know where we are?
Poor Wall-E could NOT hold the gun up to save his life, those things are heavy!
And then it was time. Our last MK ride.
Fittingly, it was getting dark. The first time we'd ridden BTMRR on the trip had been in the dark. It is really really pretty in the dark, clattering through the ride and seeing all the lights.
Afterwards it was time. Time to leave the MK. We did not go quickly, soaking up the atmosphere but as we neared main street we did realize it was time to pick up the pace. For 2 reasons. One, most of the teens and adults really really wanted/needed a shower before dinner. Two, spectromagic was coming and we didn't want to get stuck!
Run run to the boat!
Aackkkk!
The boat is pulling away!
Now the beauty of FW and MK is the boats (one of the many beauties of the Fort). While there is a direct boat to the Fort, there are also many other ways to get there either from the Contemporary or WL if you take a different boat (to WL or Contemporary) or the monorail to the Contemporary. For that matter I guess we could have walked to the Contemporary and caught the boat from there as well.
We debated, and debated, and decided to wait for our "regular" boat. Which was a good 20 minutes. Upon landing at the Fort it was a bit of a wait for an internal bus as well. We'd planned to have at least an hour, hour and a half at the fort for decompression and showering and ended up with closer to 45 minutes.
And one tween who shall remain nameless who completely hogged the one bathroom. This, for me was the only night that the one bathroom was really a problem. I'd had a massage (think massage oil in the hair), then out in the sun by the pool (sunsncreen) and then had been somewhat hot and icky in the MK due to being over dressed in those darn jeans. I really wanted a shower!
But it was not to be. I was able to wash my face. Oh well.
It had REALLY cooled down so we all dressed warmly and headed out to the bus. It was pretty darn cool to be eating at our own resort for once, knowing transportation would be simple and quick. We were really looking forward to it. Had our lazy day actually been at the Fort I think we'd have explored a lot more than we did but the slide (and excuse to play at WL) had trumped the many cool things at the Fort. We will go back, there is no doubt. We had not had a bite to eat yet here, the only exception being that I'd filled up my coffee cup there on the way to WL that morning, that was the extent of my exposure to the food offerings before the Hoop. One of the big complaints people have about the Fort is the lack of a CS offering. And I concur. We would have used it more than once, had there been one. I think that the feeling may be that since the majority of guests are camping and the cabins have kitchens that no one needs CS. Just b/c we "can" cook doesn't mean we want to! We're on vacation! So while the mercantile was stocked with better than average grocery selections (I think), I do think they are really really missing the boat without a CS offering that is actually on the dining plan.
Crockett's tavern has plenty of room! A CS espresso bar....that's what they need, right on the porch. Giant muffins and old fashioned scones. Fruit. It would be so easy! lol. We never did sit in those porch rockers, yet another reason to go back.
Upon arrival we saw the huge line and got in it, not really having a clue what we were doing. Thankfully a CM directed me inside to pick up our tickets and we got our table assignment.
First we did the obligatory group shot. Which turned out surprisingly good (with the exception of Wall-E's VERY pink cheeks!).
It was COLD! I had my parka. I took it off for the picture but I was so glad I had it for the bus ride before and after. Scrooge made fun of me, as it usually does, calling me Nanook of the North but it was cold! I was happy I'd packed my scarf, that's all I knew
That done we had about 15 minutes to poke around outside.
Pin kiosk!!!! Sadly there wasn't a FW pin that we all loved. But there was a very cool mickey wings pin. As in pilot wings. For scrooge. It still lives on the jacket in this picture, that he put it on that night.
And then it was time to go in. I'd read reviews, I had a general idea of what to expect but found it hard to explain to the kids. I don't think they all cared much at this point. They were hungry and loved the sound of the menu.
But....would the tween and teen think it was cool? Funny? or be mortified....that was the real question.
Scrooge was just excited that the menu INCLUDED beer, wine or sangria.
It's the little things sometimes
Nope, not the 6:30am flight back - we're taking the 6:30PM Alaska flight back
