Disney days 6 and 7

You will be glad to know that we are at the end of our pictures from Disney.  We had such a great week.  I cannot believe we have been home for a week already.  But we are looking forward to company coming next weekend, and getting our tree, and visiting Santa.......it is good to be back.

Day 6 - we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  This was our longest day in the parks.  It started early - it opened for people staying on property at 8am.  And we decided we were going to be there.  We did pretty well.  The kids were excited because this is everyone's favorite park, so they didn't mind getting up a little earlier to make the most of our day.

When we got there, the park was already full of people.  It wasn't terrible - but there were people everywhere in santa hats, red shirts, Christmas outfits - just very strange.  We didn't think much about it until we got into the park and there were cameras set up all over main street.  We asked someone near by and they said they were filming the Christmas parade that day.  (The one they show on TV on Christmas day).  That was pretty cool.

There were pros and cons to this going on in the park.  Cons were - main street was very crowded.  We weren't going to be doing much down in front of the castle that morning either (like take the Christmas picture I wanted to) because they had a large stage set up for performers. 

Pros were - the rides were smooth sailing.  Only pro my kids needed.  We walked on every ride without a problem for 3 hours straight.  Finley and Arlington and Mat rode Space Mountain 6 times in a rode with no wait.  Cainan and I rode 7 rides before we met up with the other three to ride things together.  We had been able to ride just about everything in the park before lunch time.

We had a great day.  At 7pm, the Mickey's Christmas party started.  This is an extra cost, but something that Mat and I used to do with the kids when we lived in Florida.  It is worth every penny.  the park basically clears out, and we are given a special wrist band to stay for the evening.  It runs until 12am.  Arlington was determined to stay until the end.

The Christmas party is great for a lot of reasons.  They do a special Christmas parade that is fabulous.  You get as much free hot chocolate and cookies that you want all evening.  (anything that is free is Disney is a huge plus).  The characters spread themselves all over the park and dance with the kids.  It snows on Main Street.   Holiday music streams out of every available speaker in the park.  You could never been unhappy during a party like this.  It is amazing.

Finley and Cainan and I made it until 11pm.  I don't think either of them have ever stayed up that late ever.  They were troopers.  And hopped up on cookies.  We left and Finley fell asleep on the bus ride home.  Arlington and Mat stayed until 12am!   I knew she would do it.

So a very long, but a very full day.  And it was our last day in the parks, so we went out with a bang.

Here are pictures from our day.  The camera started acting crazy near the end, so some are blurry, which is disappointing!

(Day 7 details are below the pictures)

The castle with a big stage in front of it for filming the parade:

 Cainan driving me in a car on the speedway.  I took this because he NEVER wants to drive, and I talked him into it.  We had fun:

 Mat and the kids on the tea cups.  I don't do spinning:

 Finley waiting for lunch:

 Cainan waiting for lunch:

 Arlington pretending to be me:

 On the new Ariel ride.  Mat being a total goof:

 

 The new Ariel's castle in New Fantastyland:

 Belle's castle in new Fantasyland:

 Carousel time:

 Today's outfits - Christmas all around!:

 Arlington participating in a show with Jack Sparrow:

 The girls and Cinderella:

 The girls and Sleeping Beauty:

 The girls and Rapunzel.  This was the first time we got to see her, so they were excited:

Getting ready for the Christmas party:

 This is where they belong:

 Enjoying our hot chocolate and cookies during one of the dance parties:

 Finley's favorite Character is Eeyore.  She was so happy when she saw him:

 This picture didn't turn out, but these are the signs that let you know there was hot chocolate and cookies available!:

 Waiting for the Christmas parade:

 Parade time:

 I loved how the castle looked.  Totally amazing:

 Day 7 was the day we left.  So sad.  Our plane wasn't until 3pm, so we had time to relax and get up when we were ready in the morning.  The kids slept until 9am.  We were already basically packed, so we had breakfast, and got ready to go.  Our shuttle picked us up at 12:30pm, and we headed to the airport.  We were able to have lunch at the airport and relax before we left.  We had a very good flight on the way home, and when we landed the kids were excited to see that it had snowed.  It was hard to leave 80 degree weather and land in a snow, 29 degree night.  But it was good to be home.

We had a great trip.  We made a lot of wonderful memories that we were always treasure.  Most of all, we are happy that we are able to give our children these experiences.  Especially Finley.  We want to fill her visual memory with as much as we can, so that she always remembers. 

Enjoy the last few pictures:

Our house keeper would make cute things for the kids:

 The tree in the lobby of our hotel:

 Our lobby was really pretty:

 Outside the front of the hotel:

 At the airport.  Cainan wouldn't take his picture with a princess. :)