Disney Day Seven (and day 8)

Magic Kingdom.  Take Two.

 

This is the shuttle we took each day from our cabin

So sad to get to the last day of your vacation.  But what a great day it was.  At least we ended at our favorite park and with a beautiful day.

Today we had the chance to use "Extra Magic Hours" and enter the park 1 hour before the general crowd.  This is something that is offered to guest staying on Disney Property.  And it did make a world of difference.  

We were up early and went into the park by 8am to take advantage of getting on the rides a little easier before the general public came in.  We headed straight for Fantasy Land, since this is where the majority of the rides are for the little ones.  Mat took Arlington right to Space Mountain - their big roller coaster - so that she could ride that a few times first thing, in case it got busy.

My dad took Cainan on Buzz Lightyear's ride in this park, and my mom and I broke off with Finley and took her on rides she loves in Fantasy Land.  Unfortunately, this girl loves to spin.  So she had us ride the tea cups.  Blah.  I hate to spin, but rode it with my girl.  She and my mom spun the car, and I took pictures of her having the time of her life.

Once we all met up, the park was starting to get slightly busy, but not terrible.  We took that as an opportunity to go to different rides in the park away from Fantasy Land.  We didn't have to wait long for a single ride the whole day.  We were able to ride every ride in the park, and repeat things that the kids wanted to ride again.

 We ate our fill of snacks, and ice cream, and park food.  One last big hurrah before heading home.

We tried to meet Rapunzel, but that is the one thing we couldn't do.  The line for this popular new princess was 2 hours long, and that was a bit much for us.  So we elected to skip it and the kids were okay with that.

It was a great last day.  As the sun went down, and we rode the last of our rides, I was sad to think that the next morning we would be getting on a plane back home.  It was so great to spend this week with the family with no distractions, no work, no deadlines.

 

(Aunt Betty and Helen Branthoover joined us for our last day in the parks)

Were we tired?  Yes.  Were my legs about to fall off because of all of the walking?  Yes.  Did I enjoy every single minute and wish it didn't have to end?  Yes.

But such is life.  Vacations come to an end, and it would soon be back to real life.  I am so happy we did this now.  This trip for Finley.  For all the kids, really.  Disney makes wonderful memories.  I know that the crowds, and the heat, and the monstrous amount of people who have no regard for personal space can be a bit overwhelming at times.  But those are minor problems when you look at the whole picture.

The kids were happy.  Truly happy.  Disney is magical for them.  Their imaginations are still filled with castles, and happy endings, and fantasy.  Their eyes light up everytime they see a character their recognize.  And that makes it all worth it.

Here are some more pictures of our hotel, so you can see what our cabin looked like (courtesy of my mom's pictures)

 

This is the shuttle stop outside of our cabin

This is the porch on our cabin

We had the whole cabin - each cabin was stand alone - so nice!

The next morning we got up, got everything together and headed for the airport.  Once again, the trip was very smooth.  We were able to check our luggage in and get our boarding passes right at the hotel, so we only had to get ourselves to the airport.

 We were on the ground at the airport by 1:00pm, and it was hard to look out the window and see snow instead of sun and palm trees.  But we made a lot of really great memories, and in my head I am already planning our next trip!

I hope you have enjoyed all of our trip details!  And if not - I apologize!  Over the next few days, look for pictures of Finley making her "rounds" at Connellsville and also some exciting news on the research front!

See you tomorrow.