Second Star to the Right... With pics! the end is here

[mrp4352]

Up and at 'em! We got places to go and people to see and new digs to check into!

After a lovely breakfast at Parrot Cay, we boarded our bus and said our final farewells to the lovely Disney Wonder.

We arrived at Port Orleans-Riverside where we got the completely unexpected and joyful news that our hotel was overbooked - would you mind staying at Saratoga Springs instead? Um, let me think - YES!!! We'd be thrilled! They sent a van - just for us!

Then we were checking in and exploring our lovely studio suite in the Paddock.

We had a lovely meal at Artists Palette then headed to the boat dock. Along the way, we spied someone else enjoying the free dining at Disney...

Can you believe this little guy was up on the porch of the restaurant just like he belonged there? We couldn't have been 15 feet away and he absolutely did not care if anyone saw him or came close.

The boatride to Downtown Disney was relaxing and then we did our part in keeping the local economy strong! Luckily, we could have items shipped to the resort so we didn't have much to carry around. However, this has the unintended consequence of helping you forget how much money you spent until the bills come due... I wouldn't know anything about that, I'm sure.

Back to the room to recover - the heat and humidity is oppresive again. Mom did a little laundry, and just as we decided to head out for the evening the storm broke. WOW! This was almost on the scale of the storm last Friday (the one where Disney actually gave rainchecks on Mickey's Not So Scary). So we decided we'd stay safe and dry and let the pizza delivery man get out in this mess.

 

[mrp4352]

I woke up to the Room Service Delivery Lady bringing in coffee for us! Oh, wait, no room service here... It's Mom - it was her turn to wake up super early and go exploring! Luckily, she came back with coffee and breakfast for all!

Eve decided to go back to bed and try to kick the cold that was slowly making it's way into her respiratory system. So Mom and I went out to finish the shopping we had left undone all along the trip.

*WinterSummerland - for a wonderful little keychain with a view finder of WDW pictures on it
*Animal Kingdom Lodge - to try and find a Tusker Beer that we could sneak home (one of Mom's coworker's father used to work for Tusker in Africa), no luck this trip, though - but many thanks to the CM in Animal Kingdom last May who let us sneak one out when he heard the story.
* Wilderness Lodge - my brother needed a grow-your-own-seqoiya-tree kit
*Downtown Disney - lunch at Mickey D's and misc wonderfu little trinkets from the World of Disney

Then it was back to the room to rest up for our big evening - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!

We arrived right at 5pm and watched the Flag Retreat on Main Street. If you haven't done this, it's a lovely ceremony, very short, but very patriotic. Then right in to Tony's for our dinner. We had a lovely meal right in front of the window's with the shadow of Lady and Tramp out back. It was interesting to note that our waiter confirmed to us that there was a slightly restricted menu because of the free dining that month. But we didn't notice anything really missing except the dessert selection.

After the nice big dinner, we decided for slow, relaxing rides on the TTA - twice through actually! Then it was time to head to the hub for the evening. We hadn't ever seen the Villians Dance Party - fun!! Although the 80's costumes of the dancers made us laugh. Then it was parade time! It was awfully crowded, but we still had pretty good viewing. We slipped over to the Tomorrowland Noodle Station to get a spot for Hallowishes. These are about the best fireworks at WDW's Magic Kingdom! The finale is great!

The it was off to the Haunted Mansion - with Auntie Bellum out front greeting everyone. (How do you fix a jack-o-lantern? With a pumpkin patch!) It was good to see her out - we used to enjoy seeing her on the Liberty Belle. A quick spin through Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (much better after dark) and Pirates with some shopping on the way out right at 1am. Since it was way past our bedtime, we went straight to bed!

Favorite costumes of the

*The Malfunctioning Invisible Man Costume (just a t-shirt that read Malfunctioning Invisible Man Costume)
* The grape lady (lots of purple balloons - but how could she ride anything in that???)
* the Dad dressed like Cruella De Ville surrounded by wife and children dressed like puppies - and he did a great job in the heels!
* the Mom dressed like the Fairy Godmother with her daughter as Cinderella
*there was a young lady dressed like Tinkerbelle - who looked spot on!
* the Claus' on vacation - Mom and Dad were Mrs. and Mr. Claus, and the kids were elves - all in shorts with holiday touches
*Goofy - jeans, orange shirt, brown vest, a painted nose and the big Goofy ears hat they sell

 

[mrp4352]

Can it be? No, I don't want it to be... No, don't make it our last day - PLEASE!!!!!

Especially not since we ended up sleeping almost half the day away after the late night at the party! Mom and I headed up for breakfast at Artist Palette, leaving Eve sleeping off the cold medicine. By the time she was up and joined us, they were serving lunch! We sat with her while she dined, then picked up our 18,387,621 packages that had been sent to the hotel from Downtown Disney. Lugged them back to the room and packed... for the last time this trip... sigh...

Wait - there's still 2 inches of space in our bags! Off to MGM! I'm sure there's something we haven't bought there!

Actually, all we did was shop and watch Streetmosphere (they're always such a treat!!). Then we bussed over to the Contemporary and monorailed to the Magic Kingdom just in time for the afternoon parade. We watched from the Train Station (about 3 rows of people back) and hopped on the train as soon as the parade was over so I could go see Mickey! Can you believe I had managed to go two weeks without hugging the main mouse?? That had to be changed!

Ummm, Magic Kingdom on Saturday - there are a couple few people here. So, we decided to stay out of the way as much as possible - by shopping, of course! That and watching cartoons in Casey's. We couldn't leave. We have a Royal Invitation for dinner!

We had an absolutely lovely meal at Cindy's Royal Table. The Fairy Godmother was spot-on and the mice adorable!

And you must admit, the room is spectacular! (And I recommend the chocolate buckle over the poached pear)

We decided to make it an early evening. Our 3am wakeup call and 4:30 Magic Express bus were looming over head and the masses were teeming in front of us. But it had been a fantastic trip to our Neverland!

 

[vaTiggerGirl]

I am SO glad that I am helping you deal with your WDW withdrawal and the long, long gap until your next trip at New Year's by escorting you back in just a month!! We were flipping through Princess' 2-year-old book this afternoon, and had such fun looking at the Christmas lights. I explained how she is going to be seeing those soon. Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy...!

What a wonderful, amazing trip you had, beautifully long, packed with all kinds of adventure and delight. I can't believe you were bumped to Saratoga Springs. Maybe it was the Dream Team, just invisible! Thank you for all the work you put into this report. I loved it, as always. You're a great storyteller, and reading your stories is almost as good as being there. (Almost!)

Here's to the next one!