But I don't have anyone to supervise me- a mostly solo November 2017 TR *completed 9/10*

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry to hear you had no voice

The figurine you were given at the conference is so cute! And I love the pic with Minnie & Mickey

Glad you were able to get a little time in at Epcot. Love the spirit jersey on you!

 

[cindianne320]

Ugh- so sorry that you didn't have a voice! And also that the conference wasn't what you were expecting- always a bummer! I hope you felt better for your last full day!

 

[ashw100]

I'm sorry to hear you had no voice

It definitely sucked, but I made due

The figurine you were given at the conference is so cute! And I love the pic with Minnie & Mickey

Thank you, I was so excited to be able to meet them together in their OG outfits

Glad you were able to get a little time in at Epcot. Love the spirit jersey on you!

Thanks, so happy I went ahead and bought it

Ugh- so sorry that you didn't have a voice! And also that the conference wasn't what you were expecting- always a bummer! I hope you felt better for your last full day!

Thanks, it was all good. In the end I got a really nice trip out of it, so that's all that matters.

 

[ashw100]

Day 7: Part 1
Just Older Youth

I was up bright and early this morning, feel a little better, my voice had returned slightly. One thing that I totally appreciated about traveling alone, was the ability to actually get to places early. With three boys we are usually lucky to make it just before rope drop, but that day I was at Epcot so early, I was there before they even opened the bag check.

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Once we were let in, we were held at Spaceship Earth until the official start of Extra Magic Hours. At rope drop, I booked it to Soarin with the rest of the guests.

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I got A1, which I was really excited about.

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Although not as good as B1, I was still excited because I have never gotten the front row. After our trip around the world, I got on Living with the Land.

I don't think I've seen this hidden Minnie before


Someone didn't get the Christmas memo yet
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Maybe not the best use of my EMH, but this is a must do ride for me and I had yet to ride it this trip.

I loved how they had the different ingredients for food and wine.



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Leaving the Land Pavilion, I made my way across the park to Test Track. The single rider line was open so I jumped in that, passed the design section and basically got right on.

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When I got off the ride I grabbed my sunglasses and saw that they had broken during the ride. I cannot go anywhere without sunglasses, I have every sensitive eyes. I had seen these adorable Mickey sunglasses that I have avoided buying for at least the last 3 trips and now I had the perfect excuse to buy them. I had been texting an old friend throughout the morning to try and meet up. She was on her way to the park, so I figured I had time for another ride on Test Track. The line was slightly longer, but still only about 15 minutes. Sadly, no picture from this ride though.

After being thoroughly woken up thanks to Test Track, I walked over to meet my friend. Donna was someone I worked with way back in the day at Starbucks, so we figured what better place to meet up than Starbucks in Epcot.

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She was there with her family but they were waiting on her sister to get to the park, so we just hung out drinking our coffee for close to an hour. I actually knew her mom and brother, because they were regulars, so it was really nice to catch up. We parted ways with one more picture and I was in such a good mood. It was so nice to hang out with other people, plus my voice was coming back. I had a fastpass for figment, so I headed there next.

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Then I watched the Disney and Pixar shorts.

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I seriously love this show, it has some of my favorite shorts from the last couple of years. It is a great way to rest your feet and get into some A/C.

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The world showcase was about to open, and I was ready for some food, so I walked over. My first, and only booth of the morning was Greece. I got the Greek nachos, pita Chips, Meatless sausage crumbles, and vegan tzatziki.

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I was worried about the vegan sausage, but it was so good you couldn’t even tell with it mixed up with everything else. This was one of my favorite dishes, so light and flavorful. I walked over to Mexico, not hungry, but certainly not full.

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Even at 11, all the booths I passed had long lines and I just couldn’t be bothered. I went into Mexico with the hope that at 11 the line at La Cava wouldn’t be long. Low and behold there was no line, but only because it doesn’t open until 11:30. So I decided to ride it’s a small Mexico to pass the time.

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It was still not 11:30, but La Cava was open.

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I still had to wait what felt like an eternity, but finally after all these years I got to try the avocado margarita.

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I absolutely loved it so much, it was creamy and refreshing. I took my drink outside and watched Mariachi Cobra perform for a bit.

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I had a fastpass to use, so I walked over to Norway.

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I checked out the paintings by Larry Dotson and they were so beautiful.

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I wanted to buy one so bad, but I was overwhelmed by the choices and ended up walking away empty handed. I sucked down the last of my margarita and got a brain freeze.

This picture also showcases the glasses I bought
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I used my FP for FEA.

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The more I ride this ride, the less I like it. Is that weird? I think it just doesn’t have the same charm as old school dark boat rides, it’s not as re-ridable I guess?? While exiting the ride I was walkign behind a woman wearing this shirt.

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Juts older youth, should be my new mantra.

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[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great time in Epcot! You had a really successful morning riding Soarin, LWTL and Test Track twice! And you had an excuse to buy new sunglasses So nice that you could meet up with a friend too!

 

[ashw100]

Sounds like a great time in Epcot! You had a really successful morning riding Soarin, LWTL and Test Track twice! And you had an excuse to buy new sunglasses So nice that you could meet up with a friend too!

It was a great morning. I loved the sunglasses, but sadly they didn't last long

 

[ashw100]

Day 7: Part 2
I'm a TV Star

I walked through the World Showcase, on a mission, but I stopped to take pictures as I went.

Miniature train in Germany







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My mission led me here.

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I was determined to finally see the Voices of Liberty. I got there early enough to get a bench seat, unfortunately it was were they had their backs facing when the show started. I moved for the last song though.

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I really loved it, they sounded beautiful and the show filled me with patriotic pride. I walked the rest of the way around the world showcase in the mood for more food. The line in Canada, was long, but I didn’t have anything else to do so I got in line. I ordered and ice wine and cheddar soup.

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The soup was delicious as always, but the wine was so tiny and $6. It was the only time I truly felt ripped off. I love ice wine, we tried it for the first time at Le Cellier on our last trip, and it was good but $6 worth???? Probably not. I had my final FP to use at SE.

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There was no one in the FP line so I walked right to the second check point. The CM there was busy looking at her phone though so she let the entire queue from the standby line into the ride before she even bothered to look up and see guests waiting on the FP side.

naptime
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SE was great as always. It was around 1:30 and I had done pretty much everything there is to do in Epcot, so I headed out. But not before stopping at the Leave a Legacy. My favorite boy band from my youth has their pictures there and I though it would be fun to get a photo.

Nsync



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When I got back to ASMo, I refilled my mug and went on a photo tour of the resort.

Statues in the lobby




Fantasia Pool


Pongo


Perdita
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A very kind custodial CM offered to take my picture in the TV.


Mighty Ducks Pool






Andy's Room










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When I got back to my room, I started cleaning up and packing my stuff. I also called reservations to book a bounce back deal for September.

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That trip is now a little over a month away!!

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[missangelalexis]

So cool that you found the Nsync legacy squares! One day I will find them myself!

Great pics around the resort!

 

[ashw100]

So cool that you found the Nsync legacy squares! One day I will find them myself!

Great pics around the resort!

They were super easy to find, just got to remember to do it.

 

[ashw100]

Day 7: Part 3
Let the Festivities Begin

While I was packing Tammie texted me to see if I wanted to take a Minnie van over to the party, for research you know?? Since I didn’t want to have to deal with my car after the party, I started my trek over to Boardwalk to meet up. I took the first bus available, which was Epcot. I was very hungry so I stopped at the Cheese booth. My favorite dish had been the cheese trio and I figured that had to have come from the Cheese booth right? I got the cheese trio there and what they handed me was not the same one I had gotten with Joe a few days prior. It was fine, but the cheese wasn’t nearly as good as the other one, which I had picked up from the booth next door at Food and Wine. No picture, because I was eating on the go. I downed all that cheese before I even got to the UK. I walked over to the Boardwalk and met Tammie in her room. Tammie ordered the Minnie van on her phone and it took about 20 minutes, I think, to get picked up by a driver.

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If you don’t get picked up in an certain amount of time it just drops off and you have to request it again, that happened to us twice. We passed the time chatting and me checking out the lobby.

Creepy chairs


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We were finally picked and I was so excited to ride around in this cute car.

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Our CM was great, he talked all about the service and his job. We asked questions about the Minnie vans, remember this was a research trip. When we ran out of Minnie van topics our sweet CM, Neil, told us WDW trivia.

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We got dropped at the Contemporary, so we could check out the gingerbread castle.

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I was happy it was Cinderella and not Frozen again. Next, we then took the monorail to the Grand Floridian.

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We got on the elevator to go down and in came a family with us. The wife was snapping and her husband and it was super uncomfortable and then the door closes and the elevator doesn’t move. Which then causes the wife to get more agitated with her husband. Thankfully the doors opened for us and we took the stairs down.

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Sadly the gingerbread, wasn’t completed and the shop not open. I know Tammie and I both were hoping to buy some gingerbread. We got back on the monorail for our last stop of the night, Magic Kingdom.

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Like the MNSSHP I attended last year, they were directing everyone attending the party to the Main Street bypass.

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We got our first cookie of the night and photopass.

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We got in the line to take a picture with the ornament, but a CM came by to tell us that they would move it to the hub later in the evening, so we decided to wait until then. It was just about 6, so we got a spot in the hub for the castle lighting.

Before Lights




After lights


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I was blown away, by how beautiful the castle was lit up with lights. I have seen it in pictures a hundred times, but no photo does it justice. I was overwhelmed by emotions and tearing up, in disbelief that I was actually there to see the castle looking so beautiful.

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Neither of us had any big plans other than to just enjoy the party. We walked to Tomorrowland first.

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We got our snow cone and another Santa cookie there.

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We enjoyed our treats, well kind of I don’t think either of us cared about the snow cone. Then we took a spin around Tomorrowland on the Peoplemover. We had both decided that we weren’t going to bother with meet and greets, but then we saw the line for Nick and Judy. I didn’t look bad at all, so we got in line.

Gonna meet some characters
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We sat there for about 15 minutes and THE LINE DIDN’T MOVE. I used the time to call Joe and the boys. I had been texting with Joe that night after I told him I booked our next vacation. He had been asking me all these questions about our resort and what kind of room we were staying in, ect. I was nervous, because Joe really has no concept of how much everything costs, so I was worried he was online checking out the price and trying to shoot our trip down. When, in actuality, he was so excited about our next trip that he was just doing his own research. Joe fell in love with the WDW on our first trip, but I could never put him totally in the fan category, because he doesn’t know anything other than what I take him to do. He doesn’t research restaurants or resorts, but now he was and I celebrated that fact that I had finally turned him all the way to the dark side.

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Once I got off the phone, Tammie had left the line to sit down and I wasn’t patient enough to see if the line would ever move, so we decided to go with the original plan and not meet any characters.

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[missangelalexis]

I love the inflatable snowman on top of the sign as you enter MK!

So fun seeing the gingerbread houses!

Sounds like you were having fun at the party so far. Seeing the castle lit up like that is so magical

 

[nettii]

I am so loving your tr! I love love love the picture of the monorail under spaceship earth! And idk what you do but when i grow up i want to do Disney research!!!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Cute photos from MVMCP! I like your strategy of no character pictures. After I waited an hour for the 7 Dwarfs...I felt like half the party was over by then! So next time at these parties I'll just do a few of the magic shots and then go on a bunch of rides. We're doing MNSSHP in a few weeks and I know my sister wants to wait for characters but I think Steve and I will just do other things.
I love that your hubby was looking up stuff for your new trip. My hubby just told someone that he's never been to MNSSHP. We did. On our anniversary too. Sheesh.
Good job on the Disney research!

I think we're just missing each other in Sept. I'll be there from Sept 1-9th.

 

[ashw100]

I love the inflatable snowman on top of the sign as you enter MK!

So fun seeing the gingerbread houses!

Sounds like you were having fun at the party so far. Seeing the castle lit up like that is so magical

We were having the best time, it was the first time I had slowed down to just take it all in.

I am so loving your tr! I love love love the picture of the monorail under spaceship earth! And idk what you do but when i grow up i want to do Disney research!!!!

Thank you so much. Not going to lie I waited near Spaceship Earth for a good 20 minutes waiting for the perfect shot, glad it was appreciated. Also, if you become a travel agent, you too can research Disney for a living

Cute photos from MVMCP! I like your strategy of no character pictures. After I waited an hour for the 7 Dwarfs...I felt like half the party was over by then! So next time at these parties I'll just do a few of the magic shots and then go on a bunch of rides. We're doing MNSSHP in a few weeks and I know my sister wants to wait for characters but I think Steve and I will just do other things.
I love that your hubby was looking up stuff for your new trip. My hubby just told someone that he's never been to MNSSHP. We did. On our anniversary too. Sheesh.
Good job on the Disney research!

I think we're just missing each other in Sept. I'll be there from Sept 1-9th.

Our no character thing may have changed throughout the night My husband thought Toy Story Land wasn't opening for a few more months, and we've had muitliple conversations about it being open, so don't feel bad. They're just lucky their wives are so awesome and plan these trips for them

 

[ashw100]

Day 7: Part 4
Once Upon a Christmastime

The only rollercoaster I hadn’t been on yet was Space Mountain, so I asked Tammie if we could ride that. She was so laid back and go with the flow, very easy to tour with.

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The line wasn’t long, maybe 15-20 minutes, but people were jumping the line and walking through the FP side and the CMs didn’t seem to care and just let them do it.

Looking the wrong way
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We had a plan to get some more cookies and ride Dumbo, since it’s so beautiful at night. The cookie in Storybook Circus was peppermint chocolate and so delicious.

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It ended up being my favorite of the night. They also gave out Nesquik chocolate milk. We saw Scrooge McDuck out meeting, so I snapped a quick picture.

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Then we noticed the line for the 7 dwarfs was not long at all (considering how long it usually is at parties. We had no plans and time to kill before the fireworks, so we decided to wait it out. The CM predicted an hour, but we figured the picture was worth it. We met some awesome people in line and chatted, but an hour has never passed so slow. We lost hope throughout the wait, second guessing our crazy decision, but did I think it was worth it???

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Yes!! I love the picture, the dwarfs were fun, and it’s not like we had something better to do. I stopped in the shop there to pick up some MVMCP pins and a reindeer antenna topper. I so badly wanted the shirt, but like I said, I had enough Disney Christmas shirts and restrained myself. We stopped at Friar’s Nook for some Dove chocolate and sparkling cider and then Pinocchio’s Village House, to grab some more cookies.

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We sat inside there and enjoyed our hot chocolate and cookies and rested our feet. It was getting close to fireworks time, so we walked back to the hub.

Did they forget people can see the back??

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I saw Winnie and friends out meeting and so badly wanted to meet them, but we had to move on in order to see the fireworks.

The projections on the castle looked so good
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The stage show was going on when we got to the hub. The first section is their weird emoji sequence, where they all have cell phones.

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To say I hated it would be an understatement, seeing emojis floating on the castle seems like such a departure from what I think WDW is, an escape from reality. I just really didn’t like it. The rest of the show was okay though.

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We moved into position for Holiday Wishes and didn’t have to wait long before it started.

Mickey snowflakes
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I have to say I wasn’t really looking forward to the fireworks. To me so much of the Disney fireworks are wrapped up in the music and I didn’t care for the music before attending the party, I have to say I was very wrong about the fireworks themselves. The pyro of the show blew me away, I have seen Hallowishes twice and I though the pyro was so much better that Hallowishes, and that is saying something because I love Hallowishes. While I still don’t care for the celebrate the season song, the rest fit beautifully and I can’t believe I ever didn’t are about Holiday Wishes. Of course I got emotional again, I don’t think I will ever tire of seeing the castle decked out for Christmas.

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Tammie led the way, to the spot she wanted for the parade. We still had lots of time before it started, and I was hungry. All I had eaten all day was the foot booths samplings 10 hours earlier, the cheese and too many cookies. I needed something substantial in my stomach and with Casey’s being so close, that was my pick.

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It was actually less chaotic in there than normal.

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I went with corn dog nuggets, fries, and plastic cheese. Not picture, because I inhaled it, but it hit the spot. While we were waiting for the parade, PP CMs had the little signs and we took every opportunity to take a picture.

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The pictures I got of the parade were not great because we had a huge spotlight shining at us, that blinded my camera, but I’ll share what I have.

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The parade was cute, I still like Boo to You, but I am glad I did it.

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[ashw100]

We had one treat stop that we hadn’t gone to, so we booked it over to Adventureland before the party ended.

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The last treat was served from Tortuga Tavern was a soft pretzel snowman.

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After all the sweets all night, this is just what I needed.

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We walked back to the hub to get our final pictures. Bewared pretty much the rest of this post is of every angle showing off Main Street . I couldn't stop taking pictures and I could decide what to include, so you get to see it all

Found the ornament picture we had skipped earlier



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I realized we hadn’t seen the snow on Main Street and with the party officially ending, I thought we missed it. No worries though, because the party ended with a blizzard.

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We just couldn’t leave yet, so we took some more PP pictures.

This time, with the castle lights in the background


I'll never have enough castle lights pictures

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Need a million more pictures of Main Street in all its Christmas splendor.

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Last, we went to the top of the train station for some final pictures.

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We finally drug ourselves out of the Magic Kingdom.

Tammie and I parted ways at the bus. It was so nice to meet a new Disney friend during the trip and I was sad to say goodbye. Thanks for the company Tammie! I took the bus back to ASM and promptly passed out when I got back to the room.

 

[missangelalexis]

Those peppermint cookies are sooo good! They were my favorite too.

Great pic with the dwarfs!

I'm glad you enjoyed the fireworks and parade!

Love the pics at the end of the night. And you got to see the snow!!

 

[ashw100]

Those peppermint cookies are sooo good! They were my favorite too.

Definitely the best

Great pic with the dwarfs!

Thank you

I'm glad you enjoyed the fireworks and parade!

Oh they were so good, can't wait to go back

Love the pics at the end of the night. And you got to see the snow!!

I loved the snow, such a cool experience

 

[ashw100]

Day 8

I had planned on waking up and getting to MK in time for extra magic hours, but they started at 7 and after the long night before, it just didn’t happen. When I finally pulled myself out of bed, I got packed up and dropped off my bags at the airline check in counter. I drove over to MK, because I was going straight to the airport from there. Even with my “late” start I was parking and on the tram by 7:45.

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Joe hates the tram, so we never take it, I took advantage today. I was also sad to discover that my day old sunglasses already had a scratch on them. I took the ferry over to MK.

Love how open it is here




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Once I got into the park, I was feeling pretty hungry. So I did what every responsible adult does for breakfast, got a dole whip.

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I was still recovering from the night before and wasn’t in any huge rush to do a ride, so I enjoyed my whip and people watched. My first attraction of the day was the Haunted Mansion.

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Now that I ensured a hitchhiking ghost would follow me home, I decided to lighten the mood with Mickey’s Philharmagic.

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I had my first FP to use for PPF.

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I didn't really have anything in particular to do, but I just wanted to enjoy the ambiance of Magic Kingdom.

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While I was taking pictures, the Trolley Show started.

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For lunch, I had an ADR at Be Our Guest.

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I had ordered ahead, and chose the West Wing.

I got the croque monsieur and grey stuff cupcake



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While I was eating, my friend Donna, from the day before was also eating at Be Our Guest, so we chatted for a bit. On my way out I took for pictures of the ballroom decorated for Christmas.

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I had a fastpass for SDMT next.

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I was chatting with a mom in front of me, we ended up being seated together, and she was talking about using rider swap. I was tired of feeling weird for being solo, so I just nodded along like I was there using rider swap too .

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I had one more FP to use, I think for Space, but I was not feeling up to it. It was the first time probably ever, that I was ready to leave. I just missed my family so much, and was ready to get home. So I opted to ride my last ride on my favorite ride, The Peoplemover.

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And that is a wrap for this TR. Thanks to anyone who followed along. We are about to head out on our next Walt Disney World adventure in 4 days! See ya real soon

 

[missangelalexis]

Dole whip sounds like the perfect breakfast to me! Sounds like a nice final morning, though I am sure you were ready to get home to your family.

Have a great time on your upcoming trip!!