We were headed out of the park and on our way back to POR for a little rest and swimming. The plan was to come back to the MK to watch Spectro and enjoy evening EMH. The park was scheduled to be open till midnight so we could technically be in the park until 3 AM
..hmmm
.well see how that plays out!
We boarded a bus back to POR and, of course, Isaiah got a jump start on his resting!
We got back to our room shortly after 4:00 and decided it would be really nice to just take a short nap. So we all got comfy and set the alarm for 5:00.
so nice to just close our eyes and rest in the nice air conditioned room! What a treat!
But
.we
ARE on vacation and there are lots of things to do (says the commando side of me)
.so at 5:00 we pulled our lazy bottoms out of bed!
OFF TO THE ARCADE!! We had received the free 30 minutes of arcade time with our room package and decide this year we were going to use it. On our 2007 trip we never even
found the arcade. So off we went to play some video games! I love this picture of my boys from the back!
(I should note here that Daniel did not join us on this arcade excursion. He was tired and not at all ready to get up from his nap, so we let him sleep. Remember that
and remember how he has been making poor food choices throughout the week
.just a little foreshadowing of whats to come! )
Now, I am not a big video game girl, but my boys enjoy it. I remember playing some skee ball and a few other games, but the boys used most of the 30 minutes. Jeff and I did play some Guitar Hero
if you read my PTR you know that I am a little bit of a Guitar Hero addict
so we just had to play! At one point, Jeff was finishing up his game and two teenage boys were watching. They were all smack-talking about how they could do as well as Jeff, etc, etc. So
when Jeff was finished, they stepped up and chose their song and played it on the hard level. LOL!! They got boo-ed off the stage in like 3 seconds! Jeff was cracking up! I didnt take many pictures in the arcade, but heres the one I do have!
Not willing to pay for any more arcade time, after our half hour was up, we left the arcade and decided to make a quick pit stop at the concierge desk on our way back to the room. A little background here
Jeff works hard and because hes in management, gets no overtime pay and very little gratitude for the work he does. All of his co-workers knew he was going to WDW and very much looking forward to it. The day before we left, his boss called me and told me that she wanted us to go out to a nice family dinner while we were on vacation and submit the receipt to her. So nice
.like I said, Jeff feels underappreciated a lot of the time so this was a very kind and generous gesture. Obviously too late to make ADRs, we knew wed have to try to wing it when we got there. We had talked about it and decided we wanted to try to eat at a nice TS restaurant on our last night so we wanted to stop and see what was available. We had kind of been talking all week about where we might like to eat, so it was just a matter of what we could get on short notice. It was Sunday afternoon, and we were looking for an ADR for Monday evening. We stopped in the lobby at POR and began talking to the CM about what we needed. She asked us where wed like to try first, and I said
.Le Cellier!!
Why not?? We were going to be in Epcot and ADRs get cancelled sometimes so I figured it was worth asking, right?? She literally started laughing!
HA! I knew it was a long-shot, but it cant hurt to ask. Jeff just cracked up right along with her
.and of course, after checking, there was nothing at all available at Le Cellier. Oh well
cant win if you dont play! Next I asked about Akershus in Norway. I was under the impression that the princesses were only on hand for breakfast, but apparently they are there for every meal. So
even though they had some times available, my boys just wouldnt go for it. Shoot
.strike two. Next up
..Biergarten in Germany. We loved our CS meal at Sommerfest in 2007 and had already had tasty frankfurters and soft pretzels for snack this trip. WOO-HOO!!! We got dinner reservations at Biergarten for 7:35 the next day! I guess the third time really is the charm!
Mission accomplished
..next up
a dip in the pool! We got back to the room to change and literally had to force Dan to get up and come to the pool with us. He was just not acting right and we thought maybe getting up and getting moving would snap him out of it. We all changed and headed for the quiet pool just outside our building. It was almost 6:00 and most of the afternoon crowd was gone. We pretty much had the pool to ourselves. Jeff snapped this picture of me on our way back to the room.
Okay
so the swim didnt snap Dan out of his funky mood. He was just not right
I could tell
mommy intuition you know. After a quick change in the room and gathering all our stuff for the park that night, we made our way to the Riverside Mill to get some dinner before going back to MK. Maybe some food is what he needs. We had not had a meal here yet, on either of our stays, so we were interested to see how wed make out. Jeff and I ended up choosing the Make-Your-Own Pasta which was fantastic! I remember adding artichokes and mushrooms, but there were a TON of choices of veggies and either a marinara or a creamy alfredo sauce. I got the cheesecake for dessert while Jeff chose a cookie. Jonah got the kids spaghetti and Isaiah chose a Bacon Cheeseburger with a rice crispy treat for dessert. Dan got only orange juice. UGH
now he was complaining of a sore throat. STINK!
If any of you read my PTR, you may remember that on our 2007 trip, Daniel got sick on the night we were supposed to watch Spectro. He was more tired and run down than anything, but he is the kind of kid who just cant push and push. At some point, he just gives out and his body says, NO MORE! That was one of those times. Jeff ended up taking him back to the resort while Jonah and Isaiah and I stayed to watch the parade. I was disappointed, but tried to hide that as I knew Dan would be upset about letting me down.
Fast Forward to this current trip. Its happening again. Despite our best advice about choosing water or juice and eating healthier, and despite the fact that we had scheduled down time into this vacation
.Dan was shutting down. And we had a very late night at MK planned
and it was our night to see Spectro. Jeff and I both decided that rather than push Dan to join us we would offer him the option of staying at the resort and going to bed. I figured it was better to just offer that option now rather than get to the MK and have to come back or push him so far that the next day would be ruined. Yes
I was disappointed
.and he sensed that, but chose to stay and rest. I, again, tried to not let it show how much that bothered me. Needless to say
.Dan has yet to see Spectromagic. Jeff walked him back to the room, gave him instructions about staying in the room, calling if he needed us, etc. I really expected that he would just turn on the TV and fall asleep.
**sigh** One family member down, we headed off to the bus stop to go back to the MK.
We arrived on Main Street just after 8:00 pm and jumped right on the train to head to Frontierland. My last experience with watching Spectro from Main Street had taught me a lesson, so we were going to go to Liberty Square and scope out a spot. The parade was scheduled to start at 9 so it was perfect timing. By 8:30 we had our spot just in front of the Liberty Bell right next to a popcorn cart. Jeff got us some drinks and a tub of popcorn to enjoy while we waited. Jonah enjoyed trying his hand at the hula hoop!
Jonah posing in front of the Liberty Bell
sorry about the devil eyes. I forgot to fix that before uploading it to Photobucket.
Before too long, we heard the parade music and knew it was making its way down Main Street toward us.
The one down side to our location was that we were on the corner so we couldnt see the parade as it approached. The floats only came into our view as they turned the corner
.it was a good spot, but I did miss seeing the whole effect of the floats coming down the street. My night pictures are never great, but heres Spectro!
I love the look on Jonahs face in this picture! Notice his pirate face paint held up pretty well through two meals and a trip to the pool!
I tried to get a good one of my favorite Princess, but this was the best one I got.
Man do I love that parade!! I am a sucker for Christmas lights
they make me giddy
.so combine that with Disney characters and music and Im a happy girl! (Still sad Dan missed it, though.)
Things get fuzzy here as far as what order we did things in, but I know we went to ride Haunted Mansion next. I had been waiting all day to ride this one in the dark! Oh no
.as we approached, we saw that it was temporarily closed so we decided to head to BTMRR. I had never been on any of the rides in the dark, so I was so excited! We also rode Splash Mountain and were able to catch some of Wishes from the top of that ride. SO COOL! Jonah bought a cute SM t-shirt that showed Mickey and his pals dripping wet. We explored some gift shops and really just enjoyed the quiet of the park late at night. Haunted Mansion was open again on our next trip by, so we went on that, of course!
SPOOKY!
Pirates of the Caribbean was definitely on the list
cant get too much of Captain Jack! Jonah found some accessories to make his pirate look complete! Its kind of like Jack Sparrow meets Minnie Pearl! LOL!
Just some fun night time pictures of the park
There were a few things in Fantasyland we wanted to do, so we made our way there. We had a date with a certain Flying Elephant! Even at 11:30 we waited in line for about 15 minutes! I cheated a little and took this picture AFTER our ride!
I think we rode IASW again and also Snow White
no lines is always nice. The line for Peter Pans Flight was still 45 minutes so we skipped that. We had a run-in with Zurg
..
We finally got on the Tomorrowland Speedway as well. Its a ride we wont spend a lot of time waiting for so riding during EMH was perfect
.and cool to do it in the dark! Jeff and the boys rode Astro Orbiter while I waited below. I had heard that it was not great for those with motion sickness so I decided to sit it out.
Although we are big fans of Stitch, I was not a big fan of the ride when we rode in 2007. But
.again it was late and there was NO wait, so the boys talked me into giving the little blue guy another chance. Surprisingly, it was not as bad as I remembered it being and we had fun!
By now it was nearly 1 AM and we were starting to feel it! We had covered a TON of ground and EMH was a huge success! The last thing we wanted to do was head back to Adventureland to get one last Dole Whip for the road!
The pretty castle on the way by
With Dole Whips in hand, we strolled by the Jungle Cruise and although the CMs were calling out for us to ride, we decided we were done for the night and walked right by. Sad now
.I wish we had tried that one in the dark. We sat down at the tables outside Caseys to enjoy our late night snack. Heres what Jeff looks like at 1:30 AM after a full Disney Day!
Thats my boy
.still SMILING!!
By 1:50 we were on the bus and heading back to POR
.sweet dreams everyone!
Next up
..OUR LAST DAY!
But I can't wait to hear about your last day. 
(If you ever get there... 
)
I understnad the last days blues and you have to do it twice here on the boards....
and itsn't that funny we both had mad scientists 
