Hello Loyal Readers!! Are you ready for an update!?!
When we left off we had just witnessed a shoplifting teenager after riding Pirates. Mom was on a mission. She was headed to Big Thunder Mountain.
Now I've ridden this before both as a child and adult but for some reason I've developed an irrational fear of fast rides. I told Mom that I would go any ride she would so she dragged me into the 40 minute line.
This was the longest I waited all week. It was a tad ridiculous, it was really hot but the line moved fairly fast and I think we waited about 30 minutes.
As the line moved closer to the coaster, I was getting more and more scared. I know! I'm a total wimp. Finally we made it and what do you know, we were the second to last car, I was worried I was in for an even scarier ride.
It wasn't as bad as I feared and I had fun. Mom laughed at me the entire way because apparently instead of yelling or screaming on a coaster like a normal person I was making these short little yelps during the ride that just cracked her right up.
Whenever we talk about our trip to Disney she imitates me. I wish I could get an audio track of her imitating, it's really funny.
I'm not longer afraid of Big Thunder but I will say this, being on the taller side I was afraid my head was going to be taken off by a few of those things that jet out from the caves. SCARY!
After our ride, I needed a rest. We sat down on a bench and Mom treated me to a Mickey bar ice cream.
While we were sitting, we were treated to some music.
After our ice cream we went into the Country Bear Jamboree. When we went to Disney when I was 5, my mom bought a Country Bear tshirt and she wore it for years and years. So this was one thing I really wanted to do with her again.
After the show, we headed to Liberty Square. We sat on a bench for a few just soaking it all in. I
Liberty Square. Of course after our rest we headed to the Haunted Mansion. We got stuck for about 5 minutes at the very end of the ballroom scene. It was neat to be able to really look around at things you don't always get to notice.
After Haunted Mansion we headed to Mickey's Philharmagic. Mom LOVED it. She was jumping and reaching out to touch things, I love experiencing things with people for the first time. It's so much fun to see their reactions.
Next we walked through Fantasyland, Mom took this picture.
We didn't really want to wait in any of the Fantasyland lines so we moseyed our way over to Tomorrowland. And of course I had to have another cream cheese pretzel.
Yum.
Yummm.
Yummmmy.
YUMM-O!
If you can believe it, Mom didn't like it. She likes ice cream better. I like carbs better. Nuff said.
After my most delicious pretzel we headed to Carousel of Progress. We got right on and settled in. We got through the first scene with the family and then...WE GOT STUCK! It was AWESOME. It was the best ride to get stuck on. You know what happens? You watch the scene again!
We were also on the ride with this gentleman who was having a grand ol' time watching the show. He literally would belly laugh at all the corny jokes and it wasn't a making fun of laugh, it was a honest to goodness THIS IS HILARIOUS laugh. Mom and I kept looking at each other and just giggling.
We had a really good time. We went over to Monsters Inc next up. While we were waiting for the next show Anita aka wigdoutdismom called me. Yay! I had missed the call but I texted her to let her know I'd head over to Main St after the show.
I knew to sit towards the back of the audience because I am not fond of being a participant. I nearly had a heart attack in the show because all of a sudden see my shirt on the big screen....luckily they picked the lady in front of me so I was in the background. It was terrifying.
After the show we needed to hit up a bathroom, so I texted Anita again I think...it's getting foggy at this point and we headed towards Main St. We went to the bathroom near the Noodle Station and when we came out, there were Anita, Marc & Baylor waiting for us! Apparently they had waited for us outside Monsters Inc and we had totally missed them. Oh well.
We walked towards Main Street chatting and comparing stories. She also gave me a DIS update of course. She gave Mom & I each a flashing jelly ring which we wore for the rest of the night. It was a nice little DIS meet but it was starting to get super crowded for Wishes and I didn't want to get stuck in the Main St. crush of people so took some pictures and said our goodbyes.
You can tell Anita is at the beginning of her vacation and I'm at the end of mine looking all frazzled.
Mom & I debated while we walked down Main Street. Did we want to go to the Poly Beach to watch Wishes? Did we have time? Did we want to stay? We went back & forth and then I decided we should take the boat over to the Poly and watch from there. So that is what we did.
We had a lovely boat ride and talked to this nice couple who live in Florida. We also had this family on our boat with the coolest stroller ever. The little boy was strapped into a car seat and it was on wheels! So they could just keep him in his seat and put him on the boat and then when they got off the boat they pulled up the handle and started pushing him along. It was just really neat and Mom was wishing they had those when I was little.
When we got to the Poly, Mom went to go get us some Pina Colavas and I snagged a bench on the Poly dock. It was very peaceful.
We had a great view for the fireworks and I was very happy with how we decided to spend our last night.
It was just the perfect way to end a Disney vacation. We explored the Poly a bit, Mom was impressed. She was saying how she would have to stay there with Dad when we came down as a family again. I told her to go for it. She was impressed that you could rent boats and such, a great activity for my Anti-Disney father.
We decided to pay a taxi instead of going back to Magic Kingdom and dealing with the buses so that is what we did. It was well worth the $20! We got back to All Star Music and quickly went to bed. We were both exhausted.
I'm just going to finish up our departure day since it was pretty uneventful and I have exactly ONE picture.
We had called and requested a late checkout and they had given us 1PM. So when we woke up we decided to repeat the pool experience. We snagged ourselves a table, Mom went to get breakfast again and I sat on a towel this time instead of a chair. I had another delicious breakfast sandwich, read my book and swam. It was a lovely morning!
Soon though we had to go back to the room, shower and finish packing. BOO! I'll be honest though, I was ready to see Marc and ready to for my feet to stop hurting!
We headed to the food court and had some lunch. Here comes my one picture!
The most delicious taco salad ever! YUM! I can't remember what Mom had but she had something.
We had our luggage all around us and were just reading in the food court waiting for our 3PM Magical Express. There was a big group next to us with some teens and younger kids, an extended family trip it sounded like. The kids were bugging to go to the arcade. I just happened to have my 30 minute arcade card so I went over to the parents and offered them my card. They were very thankful and made their children thank me. It was quite cute.
Pretty soon, Mom & I headed outside. I decided to trade my last few pins I had brought with some Cast Members so I kept going in and out while waiting.
Soon enough the bus pulled up and we piled on. When we arrived at the airport there was a HUGE line at Southwest. HUGE. We had already checked in but had to check our luggage. Is there a better way to do this next time?? Then there was a HUGE security line and I nearly yelled at these two people. First off, I was in front of them the whole security line and their annoying children. Sorry, usually I'm patient but the little boy kept banging into me and he was doing it on purpose. I had patiently sat there for what seemed like FOREVER while this kid kept banging into me. His parent oblivious. His sister even tried to tell his Mother that he was bugging me but Mom ignored. WhatEVER. So then we finally make it to the xray belt and detector and the father cuts me. And then he can't get through because he has a necklace on. The son starts freaking out, the Mom is dealing with the daughter and I have to sit there for another 10 minutes while they take off all their jewelry and such. WHY didn't they do this before. Mom had already gone ahead of me and security wouldn't let me go in the middle of this family. The woman kept apologizing to me but at this point I was DONE. I nicely said, it would haven't been a problem if you husband hadn't cut me. Finally I made it through and Mom had already grabbed my shoes and carry on for me, the fake monorail pulled up and I pushed Mom onto it before I even got my shoes on because I had to get away from that family before I lost it.
Then we get to our gate and more than half the flight is kids. I know I shouldn't be surprised but I was on oblivious parent/rude kid overload. Especially when there were kids with balloons heading onto the plane. I don't know if I have ever conveyed how much I hate balloons. I love to look at them, but a kid and balloon that could pop is my idea of h e double hockey sticks!
Mom and I were one of the very last to board since we had checked in so late to the flight. Luckily we were able to get two seats together in the very last row of the plane. We then had this gentleman sit next to us. Poor mom squished between the two of us, I felt bad.
Finally we took off and our seat mate introduced himself. His name was George. Can I just say that George was the best seat mate ever? He entertained us the whole flight. I wish I could fly with him every single time. He had asked for a beer after take off and they gave him one for free since it was the last flight of the day....well 7 free beers later and George was very entertaining but not in an obnoxious way at all. He even gave us his business card.
I can't even remember everything we talked about but it was lots of fun and Mom & I both agreed it was the quickest flight home ever.
When we landed, George was kind enough to get our carry ons down for us and we said our goodbyes. We got our luggage and found our men. We had called them when we got our luggage and they were waiting at McDonalds down the road from the airport, within a few minutes. I said a quick hi/bye to my Dad, hugged Marc and jumped into the car. I was home and I was glad to be home. I won't lie, I was feeling a little Un-Magical about this trip. It took me about a week to get over the rain, the foot pain and such to realize that I really did have a great trip!
Coming up....final thoughts!
Sounds perfect to me!
