Day 6 (evening) - Magic Kingdom
Hi everyone!! So sorry it's been so long since I've updated! Life has been really busy, but I'm glad to have some time to sit down and write my next segment of my report!
So, last I left off, it was just before 2pm on Day 6 of our trip, and we had just finished our Keys to the Kingdom tour. We were a little exhausted from an early wake-up and a busy morning, and we didn't have a plan set in place for the rest of the afternoon.
So we wandered up Main Street. We heard the Casey's piano player out, who we hadn't gotten a chance to see yet, and spent a little bit of time enjoying his music. Then after that, the Dapper Dans went by, so we spent some time listening to them again as well. We then decided it was time for a snack, and grabbed some ice cream cones from the Main St. ice cream parlor. Delicious use of some snack credits!
We had hit most of our must-sees in the Magic Kingdom, so we kind of wandered without a plan for a little bit. We headed towards Tomorrowland to pick up FPs for Space Mountain, and on our way there, ran into PUSH (the talking trashcan). We'd followed PUSH around many times on our family trips, and although Aaron and I tried many times on our last trip, we never ran into it. We got lucky, and spent a few times watching some children interacting with PUSH, and seeing how quickly we could find the operator in the crowd (answer: pretty quickly, once you know what to look for).
We then hit a few rides that we hadn't yet gotten a chance to do - walked over to Fantasyland to see Mickey's Philharmagic (and I believe we picked up FPs for Pooh for my folks), and then back to Tomorrowland for all of our first experience with Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. The show was fun, but we had bad luck with the people chosen for the audience participation. Two of the people chosen basically didn't speak English (one literally communicated through a translator)...it was a little awkward. But still enjoyable, I'd go again if there wasn't a wait (we must have caught it just as a show started, because it seemed like quite a long wait to get in to the auditorium).
After that, it was time for the two couples to split up once again. Aaron and I headed to use our FPs for Space Mtn, and Mom and Dad left to use their FPs for Pooh. After Aaron and I enjoyed one last adventure on his favorite ride from his childhood visit, we headed back to the hotel, to get changed before our dinner reservation. The two of us were dining that evening at California Grill, Aaron's favorite restaurant from our first trip. We got changed, took the bus back to the Magic Kingdom, then took the monorail (which WAS working this time) over to the Contemporary.
We checked in, and they escorted us up to the dining room. When they were about to bring us to our table, Aaron asked if they had any seating available in the side wine room, where we had sat last time. They didn't at the time, but allowed us to wait for a table to empty, and sat us in the wine room. We were thrilled, because it's simply so much quieter in that room.
We were using our dining plan credits, but each ordered an extra appetizer to start - why not, right?! Our first three pictures here are: bread basket, Aaron's fried squash blossoms (AMAZING) and my ravioli (their signature appetizer, but weirdly it didn't thrill me).
Next, our entrees. Mine was the snapper with risotto and corn (wonderful!!), and Aaron's was duck two-ways:
Finally, we came to dessert. I got a chocolate creme brule, while Aaron ordered their bananas/caramel dessert. But ADDITIONALLY - they told us that for our anniversary, they were giving us a huge slice of chocolate cake (which we had them put straight into a to-go box), and they also brought us out complementary glasses of champagne! On top of all that, Aaron and I also used our drink-credit from the meal to get some fun nontraditional options, so I got a virgin daiquiri and Aaron got some fancy coffee (cappuccino? Shows what I know about coffee.)
We truly enjoyed our dinner there once again. It was an earlier dinner, we were not planning to stay there for Wishes, although we did take a peek out on the balcony at the beautiful view.
After that, we headed out to take the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and meet up with my parents. But, guess what...it was broken again! We waited around for a while, then were told that they were sending buses to shuttle people over, or we could walk. We've never done the walk between the Contemporary and MK before, so we decided to just give that a try! The walk over was nice and easy.
To jump back a few hours, while Aaron and I were doing all this, here's what my parents were doing: First, they went to ride the Pooh ride (my Mom loves Pooh characters, especially Eeyore!). After that, before their dinner, they headed to the base of Main Street to watch the flag retreat, which really is a beautiful ceremony if you've never taken the time to see it before.
After that, my parents were right where they needed to be for their dinner, at Tony's Town Square. Dad had a steak, and Mom had the chicken parm - both said the entrees were good, but especially Dad commented that he felt spoiled after the wonderful steak at Le Cellier.
We all met up briefly, and checked in with my parents, who after dinner, staked out a parade spot at the top of the train station, one of their favorite spots they'd seen the parade from in the past. We met them there, but we didn't want to see the parade again, so we headed out. My parents stayed to watch the parade, then after, tired from a long day, they headed back to the hotel.
Aaron and I left to get in one more ride on each of the other two mountains. Since it was during the parade time, we basically walked right on to each of them. We first rode Big Thunder, then Splash. While we were on Splash, the ride stopped a few times, including once just after we went around the turn at the very front by the drop, and were waiting to go up that slight incline. While we were waiting there for a few moments, we couldn't hear the announcements, but at one point, they actually turned the lights on and clearly illuminated the stairs by the side of the ride. No CM ever came by, and then they just started up again. Not sure what was going on! Here's the best view I got of that:
Then, Aaron and I headed over for a last ride on Haunted Mansion (always fun at night), but made the poor decision to head over there right as the parade had gone by, so the crowds were jamming the walkways, and I got stuck behind the hugest double stroller, lol. We took our ride on the Haunted Mansion, then after we wanted to catch Wishes before heading home. We headed out towards the front of the park, but forgot that we'd have to take the long way due to the fireworks, so we basically got to Tomorrowland when the fireworks had started. We ended up pausing just at the end of the Tomorrowland bridge, to the right of the main hub. Not a great view, blocked by some trees, but it was fine.
That was the end of Day 6 - we headed back to the hotel, and got ready for our last partial day in the parks, and our ride home. Coming up in my next few segments - our last few hours in the Magic Kingdom, and then our trip home on the Autotrain! Hope to catch up with you all soon!
This was my first one, and I really enjoyed doing it, just for myself and my family; it was a nice perk that some people like you read it as well! 
We got to the park just after 9am, but weren't planning on rushing to anything at rope drop. The one attraction that we hadn't hit yet, that was still on the guys' to-do list, was the Hall of Presidents. Mom and I didn't care to see that again, but the guys both enjoy that patriotic historical stuff 
