Have I properly rhapsodized about the French squishee stand yet? If not, oh squishee stand, how I adore you.
I'm often torn between the Grand Marnier and the Grey Goose varieties, this day I was in an orangey mood.
Wingnut had never experienced one of these before, and seemed to enjoy the sip he stole from mine (I share...in moderation...
). The squishee made up for the decidedly meh crepe, and my mood improved immensely. We sat by the fountains and enjoyed the sunlight and squishee (well, I did).
By this point it was ::checks timestamp:: almost 2, so Wingnut and I decided to head back to the Yacht Club for our afternoon break. As much as I enjoy trying to soak up as much Disney as possible, I am a big fan of an afternoon break, particularly during this trip.
Heading back, I finally took some pictures of the resort!
The tree in the lobby. Unsurprisingly, a nautical theme!
After we got up to the room, we discovered that we didn't have waters, so I volunteered to meander down to the gift shop to get some. While there, I also picked up a Mickey hand shaped mouse (wireless too!) for my dad. And I took a picture.
Around...::checks another timestamp:: 4:30, we headed back out to start our journey to dinner at Narcoosees.
We took the boat to...
...
...
wait for it...
...
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!!!
Even the ducks were surprised we headed this way.
Hollywood Studios is one of Wingnut's favorite parks, so we decided to get another visit in. Plus, we had skipped the backlot tour the first time around, and Wingnut LOVES that ride.
No, that was seriousness.
See?
Since they redid this ride, I can take it or leave it. I certainly don't see a need to go on it every trip, since you see the same few things every time, give or take a few movie posters. ("We're coming up on the water tower, everyone!")
For Wingnut, however, it would not be a trip to Disney without a little Catastrophe Canyon. But he goes on Figment for me, so I just think of this as his one little spark.
We unfortunately weren't able to spend TOO much time in DHS before having to leave, but we did of course visit another essential, the Muppets, before heading out to the bus stops.
We hopped on a fairly crowded bus heading towards the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian. I'm sure those of you who've stayed at these resorts are well acquainted with their bus systems, but I was a bit surprised to see these three sharing a bus. It seemed incredibly popular, and, while I am well-trained in the "leave a ton of extra time to get where you're going in WDW" motto, this took a while.
We weren't worried about missing our reservation though, so we sat and enjoyed the ride through the parking lots of the resorts we haven't stayed at. A bit later, we arrived for
our dinner at Narcoosees.
Wingnut's so good to me, isn't he?
After dinner, Wingnut and I were both tired, so we decided to get a cab back to the Yacht Club, rather than finagling with Disney transportation. Hailing a cab at the Grand Floridian is a bit of a fancy affair, rather than waving an arm, the CM's here ring a little bell. I'm not sure if there's any other behind-the-scenes bit to this, as the bell was a bit teeny, and even standing next to them, I'm not sure that that would have signaled me to do much. But the system worked, and a cab quickly pulled around, and soon dropped us back off at the Yacht Club.
Despite being tired, there was one thing that had been gnawing at me. If you've noticed, our evenings had consisted of, well, not that much. We hadn't gone out, or seen any of the fireworks shows.
Yes, we had both been tired. This was an exhausting trip for both of us.
But, oh how I love Illuminations.
I really really do. Illuminations is my absolute favorite. I sing the music in my head all the time. Like right now. No, wait, that's the
Tapestry of Nations.
Does anyone else remember that parade? How awesome was that?
Anyways.
Wingnut knows how I adore Illuminations, and tired as the beleaguered man was, offered to take me to see it. He insisted on renting me a wheelchair, even though I insisted back that we were only going to go as far as the bridge by England and France. He pointed out that I would have to stand and wait, and it would just be better to have a seat if need be.
We went BACK out (have I mentioned yet that Wingnut can totally take or leave firework shows?) and went into Epcot (yep, I knew we wouldn't be able to only visit once that day), rented the wheelchair, and made our way to the bridge. The Illuminations crowds were already gathering, and had staked their claim along the closer railing of the bridge.
"It's fine, it's fine," I insisted so Wingnut wouldn't roll me further, and pointed to the increasingly filling up "back railing" of the bridge. We parked there, and waited in the now cold. (Have I mentioned how good to me he is?)
Cold, waiting Wingnut
Cold, waiting Stringbean
It's starting!!
We all know what part this is
Special holiday ending
Illuminations seen, Stringbean very happy, Wingnut happy that Stringbean was happy, we headed back to the Yacht Club.
that's okay! I laugh at my own expense all the time! (especially over that one 
) 
for Wingnut for remembering! He is so good to you. I hope one day there is a Stringbean & Wingnut wedding. Is that too forward of me?! 
Time to catch up!
I really need to remedy that. Looks you guys had a great day!
) and were going to be for a bit longer, so I was able to push the dread of packing aside for a bit longer. 
) we decided to just head over to the AK, and be the obvious tourists holding maps and blankly pointing. 
