Thursday, Sept. 3 - okay people, one more sleep and they're kicking us out of here!

We're out of food, out of money, out of time (well, almost!)
So what to do on our last full day of vacation at Disney

So many choices, so little time - and, it's cloudy out again. At least that helps limit choices - no one wants to lay by the pool with clouds out.
Pat and Rob had a plan in place already - off to Animal Kingdom for the morning, then finish their day at Magic Kingdom and Wishes.
So we made a plan - do whatever comes to mind for the day, then finish off the last night with Fantasmic with the girls - Jamie had never seen Fantasmic and it's been a while since Brooke saw it, so it would be the perfect ending to our holiday together
Keeping with that theme, the four of us headed to DHS for the morning so we could get some fastpasses for later that night. When we got there, Bob actually decided to go on ToT with us - we were in shock, but he's been on it before and just doesn't enjoy it like the rest of us do. He managed just fine and even said it was fun - once was enough for him though!
Then he waited while the girls and I went on RNR - last year I didn't even go near this ride, and this year I went on it three times and loved it! Maybe getting older numbs my senses or something!
On to the fastpasses for Toy Story Mania - they were for a return time of 4:30-5:30, so we would just use them later before watching Fantasmic. The girls found the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, so DH and I found a bench for a while. Then we had to go find them because we wanted to keep moving - I felt like I was looking for my four and six year old boys so many years ago!

We finally found them after splitting up and went to do something new none of us have ever done - the American Idol Experience.
Now I must say, this is truly a wonderful show. I wish we would have seen it last week so we could have done it a few times this trip. We got to see an amazing girl who was 14 like my DD - I forget her name, but she had long red hair, an amazing voice and she was from Myrtle Beach, S.C. She would be in the 7pm finale show, and we were going to try and see her in it later if we could.
By now it was almost 1pm, so we decided to head back for lunch and maybe some pool time since the sun was back out now. So we had lunch, and so did the MacDonalds, then the girls went to the pool with them. Bob decided he wanted to go to Disney Quest for a couple of hours one last time, so I walked him over to the DVC ferry and told him I'd meet him outside of DQ at 5pm so we could have a nice dinner just the two of us on our last day.

(we were pretty much out of any good groceries anyhow, so that helped us decide to eat out - the girls could fend for themselves with leftovers!).
Before I headed back to the room, I snuck into the Goods to Go at OKW and grabbed another favourite snack of mine while I was alone so I didn't have to buy anyone else one - a Toll House ice cream cookie sandwich - yummy

I ate it while I walked back to our room - exercising while eating ice cream cancels out the calories, right?
So alone at the room on my last afternoon, I decided I might as well pack as much as I could. That done, I went and caught a ferry for downtown around 3:30 by myself. I love the boat ride to DTD - it's so peaceful and pretty, just good for the soul! I got off at the Pleasure Island stop and walked over to the World of Disney for some last minute shopping. More browsing than shopping really as I didn't find anything else I just had to have. I did get one last free chocolate square from Ghiradelli's though (shhhh!). One last visit to the Christmas store to inhale the wonderful aroma they have

and then I waited for the ferry from Marketplace to the West Side since I didn't feel like hiking on foot all the way back to Disney Quest.
When I got off the ferry, I had been trying to think of where we could eat. DH had never tried the new T-Rex restaurant, but I ate there already with my sister last year. We both love Wolfgang Puck Express, but we've ate there so many times! While walking to DQ and thinking all this, I glanced up and noticed I was right beside the House of Blues

We've never ate there, and look, not busy!!! So I went into the gift shop of DQ and sat on a bench by the exit to wait with anticipation for DH to come out. At exactly 5pm, just as promised, he came out and I dragged him across to the menu posted outside to see what he thought - reasonable prices, lots to choose from - great, let's eat! Boy, was this a great idea. We had a wonderful server, and the food was great. We'll be eating here again!
This is what's left of my pizza - we could have shared, it was huge and oh, so good! DH had the turkey club sandwich with the most amazing house fries, and we each had a side of cornbread too. Loved it all!
So now with our tummies full (more than full actually), we headed back to the villa to collect the girls and get to DHS for the evening. We didn't get there until about 7:30, so we missed the American Idol finale. We rode Toy Story Mania with our fastpasses - I enjoy this ride so much, I think we like it even more than Buzz Lightyear, and DH still beat me on this ride too!
We had decided to see the 10 p.m. showing of Fantasmic instead of the 8:30 show. The girls wanted to ride ToT one last time though, but DH and I were nervous about not getting a seat for Fantasmic - with Disney not showing it every night, whenever they did show it, it was packed. So we got in line before the first show let out, and told the girls we'd be up near the front and just excuse themselves through the crowd to find us when they were done riding. Well we stood there sweating in a huge crowd of mashed together people watching the other show let out, and we were convinced the girls would never find us! Suddenly, there was a tap on my shoulder (I was standing by the wall so this surprised me), and there were the girls in the bushes walking through the landscaping. They jumped down and got in line before they got in trouble (I don't think a CM could have got to us if they tried). I guess they had been trying politely to get through the crowd, when they tried to get by one lady and her family by saying excuse me, our parents are up ahead - she stood firmly in front of them and said, "oh really, well my parents are up ahead too, so maybe I'll follow you!" Brooke said she was really rude and just shook her head as the girls pushed on through. I really wished I could have went back and said "Here I am, do you believe my daughter now?"

Oh well, we got in shortly after that, so I'm glad they found us. We would have just watched it separately if they hadn't, but it was so much nicer since we were all together.
Here's the moon while we were waiting:
And here's a couple of my many pictures (the rest didn't turn out very well)
Jamie loved the show, we were so glad we all got to see it this trip. And it didn't rain!
That was our last hoorah, so we shuffled out to the buses and back home to pack the rest of our stuff. We didn't have to be out until 11 am, so we still had time in the morning to sleep and pack.
We all sat around reviewing our activities of the day, then went to bed not wanting the day to be over.
Up next - my last installment and a neverending horrible evening at the airport!!!