Saturday April 21st Part II - MK / Last Day
We strolled down by the side of the Castle towards Liberty Square. The kids were getting a bit hungry as it was about 11am. I suddenly was in the mood for some funnel cake. So I pulled out my trusty ol iPad and used the food finder app once again, and saw that Sleepy Hollow does funnel cakes which was only a few yards from where we were standing. We all snacked on the funnel cake and rehydrated ourselves. Then, we made one last attempt at trying PoTC. And guess what? The rides was temporarily closed, again. Is that ride ever open??? DD wanted to see the Enchanted Tiki Room one more time. Personally, I could have done without it. But DD really took a liking to this attraction. She had been singing the Tiki Tiki Tiki
. song for the last three days! So we watched the show again and she loved it again.
We went back to PP afterwards for one last time to use our FPs. I think I lost count how many times we went on this one but I think it was 5. Or was it 6? Well, whatever the number was, it was clearly not enough for me to notice the scene where Hook and Pan are having a sword dual on top of the mast of the ship until this very last ride when I happened to look up and saw them. I said to DW I dont know how I missed that part after riding this so many times. And her answer was Hook and Pan are having a sword duel? I didnt see that!.
I guess it was fitting that PP was the last ride we went on at Disney for this trip. It was a big hit. It was almost 1pm so we headed to Crystal Palace for our ADR. I booked this one because I thought DS would really enjoy meeting Pooh and his friends. DS of course, fell asleep in his stroller on the way over there. When we checked in, the CM told us we could bring our stroller in since DS was sleeping in it. The characters were great. Pooh and Tigger showed up first and DS was still sound asleep.
Tigger quietly squatted down next to the stroller, and posed next to our sleeping DS by putting his hands next to his ears and pretending he was sleeping as well. DD bounced with Tigger. I told both Pooh and Tigger that DS would have LOVED meeting them and that he would be so disappointed when he later finds out he missed them. Eeyore and Piglet were next and by then DS woke up. He was not shy with them at all. He went over and gave each of them a bear hug. Piglet played with our Mickey balloon that was tied to our stroller, hugging it, and trying to pull it away.
When Eeyore showed up we instinctively gave him our autograph books and pens, he seemed to indicate that he couldnt sign them. DW and I immediately noticed that he didnt have fingers but more like mittens so we told him we were sorry. The kids hugged him from both sides. They asked to see his pinned tail. At the end, Eeyore pointed back to our autograph books and pens, and he went ahead and signed them which I interpreted as a special gesture. (Can someone verify this for me?)
DS then saw Pooh and Tigger in the distance and I knew we wouldnt be able to leave CP until he met them. So I asked one of the character handlers in the restaurant, explained that DS was asleep when Pooh and Tigger came by, and if there was anyway to see them. CM was extremely friendly and said Absolutely and told us that we can ask any of the CMs if he hadnt seen them before we left and they would make sure to squeeze us in. Well, it was only 45 minutes since we sat down and Pooh and Tigger had re-entered our section. I asked our waitress if it would be okay to sit here a little longer for DS to meet them, and she said we should and we could stay as long as we needed. (I made sure to give her an extra good tip!). DD in the mean time took off with DW to meet Tiana. It was almost 2:30pm when I looked at the time so I told DD/DW to try to get there in front of the pack because there would only be a 30 minute window for her meet and greet before she has to leave for the parade. DS loved meeting Pooh and Tigger when they came by our table for the second time. And they clearly remembered what I had told them when they were at our table earlier while DS was sleeping. They hugged him, played with his nose. Pooh leaned over to give DS a kiss and he actually made a kissing noise when he did. I just laughed out loud. Tigger showed DS how to bounce by holding on to both of his hands and jumping up and down.
By the time DS was done, DD and DW returned as they already finished their meet and greet. It was only 2:40pm and DW had told me there were about 8 or 9 families in front of them when she called. When I commented on how fast that was, she said there was something happening behind the scenes that got Tiana a little flustered and the handlers started moving the line really fast with Tiana spending very little time with each group. DD still loved it and got her pictures. But apparently Tiana got through the whole line in 10 minutes (instead of the scheduled 30 minute window), then had to rush off somewhere. Well soon find out why.
We left Crystal Palace and turned down Main Street. DW and DD went into the Emporium to the some more souvenir shopping. It was 2:50 so I figured I could take DS out on to Main Street to watch the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade since he didnt get to see it on our full MK day due to his nap. I positioned myself standing behind a family that was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk and holding DS in my arms so he would be able to see. Thats when I heard the faint music of the parade coming from the direction of Liberty Square and the Hub. So not only did it sound like the parade was coming from the opposite direction, but it appeared to have started early. A CM for the parade line was standing near by so I asked her about it. She said that because of the storm moving in on the radar, the decision was made to start the parade at 2:40pm and start from Frontierland so that it could end at Main Street a little after 3pm. Ahhh, so thats why Tiana was flustered. She had to finish the meet and greet in time for the early start of the parade! Anyway, DS loved the parade. He was pointing out all of the characters. Even yelled out when he saw Captain Hook and Pluto! After a week in Disney, he had become an expert on all of the characters and knew who all of them were. He had a great time watching the parade. I think this one is quickly becoming a favorite parade of mine as well. The music is catchy and energetic. There are a lot of interactions that happen with the characters walking the parade. I also saw how hard the non-character dancers were working. You could see how much they were sweating but amazingly kept a smile on their face the whole time. I cant even imagine how hot it must be for those who are underneath the character masks. Yikes!
Once the parade was over, we caught up with DD and DS in the stores and did a little more shopping. The Emporium was packed! I asked one of the CMs if the store was usually this crowded right after the afternoon parade and she said not this much. She thought that there were a lot of people about to leave the park due to the weather and they were filtering through the stores on their way out. At 3:45, we left the store. On our way to the exit, the Main Street CMs with the hoola hoops were out in front of City Hall. So, DD wanted to try it again. Sometimes its the little things, but for some reason, I just loved the idea of the kids playing with hoola-hoops in Main Street!
We said our goodbyes to Magic Kingdom as we exited the park and hopped on the Resort Monorail. What a great day we had! To me, this was my favorite MK day probably it felt like a complete bonus. I woke up thinking we werent going to do much because of the rain. By the end of the day, the kids got to go on a ton of rides, we had an impromptu Crystal Palace lunch, and we capped it off with a parade! So, even though we were all a little sad that we had to leave MK and eventually Disney, we were still mostly all smiles because we had such a great time. Well, DD did cry a little bit as we were exiting the Park because she didnt want to leave.
Plan was to head out to the airport from Poly around 4:45pm. So we hung out at the lobby of GCH while DD took a nap on one of the couches. DW did one more last minute shopping. There was a small group of people gathering in the set of couches next to us. Appeared like a wedding party. There was a gentleman dressed as though he would be officiating the ceremony. A Disney photographer was also standing there who we chatted with. It turned out to be a vow renewal and was going to be taking place at Sunset Pointe. Meanwhile the dark clouds were moving in by the minute. I think they were able to get the ceremony done before the real rain hit, at least I hope they did.
There was one more business that had to be taken care of before we headed out. Our Mickey balloon. Last year, DW tried to somehow salvage it by letting the air out and packing it. Didnt work too well when we tried to re-inflate it at home. But I didnt want to just let it go into the sky either. It was only 4 days old and probably still had a few more days in it. I waited until the kids went to use the bathroom with DW (because I knew they would throw a fit if they knew I was getting rid of the balloon), then I took the balloon to the front desk. I told one of the CMs that I didnt want the balloon to go to waste and would like to have another child play with it. She said absolutely and said she would give it to one of the kids that would be checking in that day.
So now we were all set. We got in the minivan, and headed to the airport. The rain started coming down just as we were exiting Disney World. We returned our rental, packed up the kids cars seats, and checked them in at the airline counter. Rode one last monorail ride to get to our gate. And we were on our way home.
All of us were happy to be home even though we missed Disney like crazy. DD said she loved being back in her own bed that night.
Every Disney trip is different so its difficult to compare one to the other. This was the longest weve spent at Disney AND we probably did the most while we were there of all our trips. We all had an absolutely wonderful time. And even DW who before the trip was set on not going back for at least two years, raised the possibility of a short trip!
Sunset from our plane home
Sounds like a really nice interaction with Rapunzle 
Those two things can really put a damper on a day. Bummer 
