Day 9 Part 2: September 2nd: DLR and our final day!
After we got off HMH, we stepped right back out into the boiling heat and went in search of some things.
My dad needed to use the bathroom at this point and wanted to wet the cooling towel and my mom and I got water and popcorn (and forgetting the don’t refill the bucket. They seriously need to get on that). My dad came back in a not so good mood because the mens bathrooms in NOS had to be closed for cleaning and he had to ask the Blue Bayou CM to use their bathroom (which they graciously let him do). So again, be warned that sometimes in the heat chaos will ensue. And always thank CMs. We continued to relax and figure out our next step.
After relaxing for a bit, we then hitched a ride on something we haven’t been able to ride at WDW for a while: the railroad! We did get a small glimpse and lots of noise when we had to stop in the toontown depot. That is one place I will definitely be running to the next time I am back!
The dinosaur part made me instantly think of the infamous Sheldon Cooper line “I’ve always thought that’s what 1972 smelled like”. Seriously what is that smell lol. We did rather enjoy our time on the railroad though and it made us long for WDWs.
Not gonna lie, i loved being able to look out and see the other park from here. Love seeing water and resorts in WDW, but this was something special.
We then made our way back to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and caught Jason before we entered, who was happy to see us again! While it was awesome to see what Walt envisioned and what made history, imagine our shock at hearing both the Blue and Gray song and the finale song from the American Adventure in the show. We know what you did EPCOT lol! (And while the American Adventure pavilion show is usually our nap time, we did not nap through this mainly because we were so engrossed by how similar certain sections are!)
We then exited out to more of the Halloween costumes Fab 8 (I’m including Daisy and the chipmunks in this) and headed out to DCA. Yes we finally used our Park Hoppers. Probably would’ve used them more if it weren’t for the heat. There is a reason we hopped today though! The other day at Ralph Brennan’s, my mother surprised us by saying she wanted to go on Guardians again. This is someone we practically had to drag on ToT last year! So once park hopping ensued I snagged a lightning lane for 1:30.
This is one aspect of genie plus I do not like at all: the park hopping stacking. It’s very confusing for first time users, and even after making suggestions of what I wanted, the genie was still recommending DL versus CA.
There she is in all her glory!
We made it on again and this time had “We got the Funk”! If this is any indication of Cosmic rewind, we are gonna love it.
I then stated how much I really wanted to see the Spider-Man show. As a fan of the Mythbusters, I was heartbroken when Grant Imahara passed away before he could see this fantastic animatronic be completed in real time. I owed it to him to see that. So my parents decided they were gonna get a drink and sit over at Pyms so I could take some pictures and watch the next spiderman show (which was 2:15 according to the app and it was appx. 1:50 now). I did ask my mom to take a quick picture of me in the illusion black and white floor of the sanctum before we separated, and it came out pretty good!
Right after my parents and I split up, the Dora Milage came out. For some reason they were up atop Avengers headquarters and not on the ground. I got some quick footage and then at 2 pm meandered over to spiderman to snag a spot.
Around 2:10 my Dad texted me they were in Pyms and Mom was getting food and where to meet them.
Then it was time. This animatronic is a thing of beauty and worth it to see in person. I’ll admit I shed a tear or two. I hope Grant is proud!
I love that it’s a whole show before and after the animatronic too! I didn’t wait in line to meet him, because I was hungry and needed to be out of the Sun lol.
I meandered over to Pym’s where my parents had gotten one of those giant pretzels, the kids PB&J meal, a proton punch for me and sodas and water for them. This was the meal that made us true fans of Pym’s. Something as simple as a giant pretzel and kids PB&J was brilliant and satisfying.
(I remembered to get a photo this time lol)
We sat a bit more, and I ran across the way to the Schwarma stand to get one of the Iron Gauntlet drink holders. I made it back and we finished up and saw Ant Man and the Wasp atop Avengers Headquarters and Iron Man meeting and greeting below.
On our way out by Guardians, we saw the arrival of Thor and Mighty Thor. While I didn’t get pictures with them, it was nice to have genuine interaction to seeing them without fussing about a camera. All in all a great day so far for characters.
We made our way back to DL (I keep wanting to call it MK and then I face palm myself and realize my mistake lol) at this point, we just wanted to relax and walk around as my dad wanted to see the flag retreat. We meandered around the shops, we stopped to buy a shoulder Grogu (Baby Yoda) and inquire about sizes of certain things and if they would be in DTD. We sat in the Great Moments lobby and waited for the 4:30 flag retreat while my mom went to the confectionary to get (delicious and giant) cookies.
Then we headed over around 4:15 to town square to wait for the ceremony. I don’t ever recall seeing this in WDW, and admittedly -again not wanting to get political-I have had many a time in the last half a decade or so where I have not been feeling patriotic at times. And it’s a shame, because I do recognize and honor my family and friends who have served and are currently serving because they deserve it. I do appreciate what we have as citizens of this country. But as I said, its hard. I am one of those people who wishes their vote counted more then it does in every election from local to federal, but it doesn’t feel that way a giant chunk of the time.
But, seeing this flag retreat, and seeing all the veterans step forward during their respective branch’s song (including those in the band) was a beautiful sight. And it honestly made me forget for 20 minutes and allowed me to reflect and recognize those who stepped forward.
(Plus whoever arranged the vocals for the Dapper Dans and the orchestrations for the band deserves a raise!)
I do recommend you try to see it. It’s under 20 minutes, and if you know a veteran recommend it to them after thanking them. It is worth it to see in person at least once, and we hit a day where there were 10 veterans and it was brilliantly done. The square fills up quickly, but I did see quite a few people watching from the train station plaza (which must’ve been a beautiful view to look out as it was going on).
The square and Main Street -pre retreat.
After that we headed into DTD to do some final shopping before heading back to drop off the ECV and then the hotel. We were sad to leave, but also excited to be heading home. We shuffled our way back across Harbor Drive and into the Fairfield Marriott.
We started packing and getting rid of things we no longer needed or that had run out. My mom debated doing a final load of laundry (she had been doing it though out the week) but ultimately was like nope I’m done for the day.
Around 7:30 we meandered our way to Panera for a light dinner before heading back up to finish packing. My mom however went to print the boarding passes and this is where our tales of woe with American Airlines starts to ensue. It took over 30 minutes for the human on the other end of the phone to understand we just wanted to print our boarding passes from the site, not email them to us.
After eventually going to check on my mom and heading upstairs, we showered and settled in for the night, and fell asleep shortly after the fireworks stopped.
And with that was the start of the end of our trip.
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