Knucklehead and Bo Bo's Return to WDW (AKL, SOG & CSR) - Day 7

[Stitch Inside]

Thursday, Cinco de Mayo, The Happiest Celebration on Earth! You would think EPCOT would not be the park to go to since it closes at 3:00, I mean 15 hundred. Hah, I scoff at conventional wisdom. We're going to EPCOT! No matter where we went that day, we were planning to come back to the resort early and rest before going to the Hoop Dee Doo. Our original plan was to avoid all Disney parks and do Sea World on the 5th. I was having none of that. I came down here for a Disney vacation. Plus, the parks weren't anywhere near as crowded as some here were predicting.

But first, we needed breakfast. Aloha! We ate with our cousins over at 'Ohana. Everyone ate well, even Knucklehead. The sausage was quite tasty and they had the Mickey waffles DW loves so much. The character interaction fit with the restaurant theme. It was laaaaid back.

Between bites, Bo Bo plays with Goofy.

Mickey commented on how well the boys ate. Knucklehead looked like he could already use a nap.

After breakfast we rolled over to the TTC and caught the monorail to EPCOT. I was excited. I couldn't wait to do Soarin'. Before we could fly, we had to do Test Track with Knucklehead. DW, Grandma and Bo Bo strolled over to the Land for Fast Passes to Soarin'. Grandpa, Knucklehead and I walked on to Test Track. I asked for a Baby Swap ticket at the entrance and the CM wanted to see the baby for whom we were getting the ticket. "He's over there somewhere heading to the Land for Soarin' Fast Passes." For a second there, I thought the guy wasn't going to give it to us. Once he did, we got in line and waited our turn. When we exited the ride, Grandpa wanted to know how fast we were going. He didn't believe me when I told him only did about 60. "It seems so much faster."

The ladies and Bo Bo met us at the exit. It was there that we exchanged Bo Bo for the Swap Ticket and told them that we would be right there in the shop or in the back with the cars. It was also there that DW, Grandma and Knucklehead managed to walk right past us without us seeing them nor them seeing us. It was a miracle! My Dad and I are not small men. And we kind of stick out pushing a stroller with lime green ribbons dangling from its handle. How they missed us we'll never know, but DW was in a foul mood when she did find us 30 minutes later. They assumed that since they didn't see us in the Test Track exit area, we must have gone ahead over to Soarin'. Oh well.

Knucklehead, Grandma, DW and I rode Soarin'. Grandpa sat out for fear of motion sickness. Soarin' was awesome! I was not expecting the scents. And the scenes were amazing.

 

[Stitch Inside]

I'll be finishing up day 7 here later tonight.
OK Shelby5514, maybe tonight.
Besides being away for Memorial Day, we've started planning a trip for the end of July.

 

[Stitch Inside]

There we were, landing in the Land, so we ate. We got something quick at the foodcourt there. They had a wide variety, and it all looked good.

We decided to head back to the SOG and swim while Bo Bo napped. Of course, it started to rain when Knucklehead jumped into the pool, but he didn't care. My parents showed up and I was able to procure a couple of top shelf margaritas (Cinco de Mayo! Remember?) at Evergreens for a whopping $7 total for two drinks. I had to ask the bartender to make sure she rang up both of them. Grandma and I sat under the giant umbrella and enjoyed our drinks while Knucklehead and Grandpa swam in the rain. The sun came out in time for Knucklehead to get out and warm up before going back to the room to prepare for the Hoop Dee Doo.

I thought by leaving SOG at 5:00 (oops...17:00) we'd have plenty of time to walk around and check out Fort Wilderness. We all walked over to the TTC to catch the Express Monorail to MK, but for some reason they weren't allowing people to board the Monorails there. Everyone was ushered to the Ferry Boat in order to get to MK. From there we walked over to the Fort Wilderness/Wilderness Lodge Launch. Had we been in a hurry to get to the WL, I'm sure the boat would have stopped at FW first. Anyway, I made it to the Hoop Dee Doo to check in at exactly 19:15.
The food was good and filling (Fried Chicken and BBQ Ribs), but the show was pure entertainment.

Grandpa drawing attention to himself.

Perhaps he should have been less conspicuous.

Bo Bo enjoyed Grandpa's stage debut. Had I not been laughing so hard, I would have had a picture of Grandpa's performance. I promised him I would never tell anyone what an Angel he was up there under the lights. I told Grandpa not to worry. He'd never see any of these people again...except at MK later that night, and while walking through the Poly, and the next day at MGM and at the SOG. He had total strangers coming up and commenting on the wonderful job he did. I have moving pictures of the incident that I've hidden for safe keeping until his next Marine Corps reunion.

Knucklehead joined in on the fun at the end.

We sailed back to the MK after dinner and ditched my parents. They went back to the resort while the rest of us went into MK for one more ride. Knucklehead and DW raced over to Splash Mountain while Bo Bo and I tried to ride the Magic Carpets before Wishes started. We boarded our carpet and the strangest thing happened when the CM started the ride. It sort of lurched/bounced forward a couple of times and stopped. The young CM asked everyone to exit the ride and he'd have it up and running again in no time. We weren't willing to wait, so we strolled over to Splash Mountain and waited in the store at the exit to the ride. Wishes had begun so I tried to keep Bo Bo's attention elsewhere. I bought him a little plastic train that rolled with Mickey engineering.

When Knucklehead and DW finally appeared from Splash Mountain we walked slowly out of Frontierland and were shooed away from entering Fantasyland so we made our way to the castle...

and out the front gates. I love being one of the last people out of the park at closing.