Last Chance to find Mickey!

This was the last day of visiting parks!  We all had agreed that the very last day was going to be a total chill out day - which I needed to see to believe!  But this was the plan for the day....

So many things we had not yet done, like breakfast at Dunkin Donuts!  Today was the day and, as always, not a disappointment!  We got a dozen to share and could not leave for the parks until they were all gone - too hot to leave them in the car!








The next step was to separate for the first time.  Alan and I decided to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom, with Corbyn taking his crowd to the Animal Kingdom to start with anyway.  He loved this park and was really looking forward to being a tour guide!  Before they reconnected with us after sunset, they also returned to Hollywood Studios and then the Magic Kingdom.  This was them making the best of the transport system!

Alan and I arrived at the Magic Kingdom on the ferry, which is our favourite way to get there.  On this trip we witnessed a near miss though.  There are people renting motorboats crossing the pathway and as we were getting close to the dock, we saw 2 boats being stopped on one side of the route.  But there was another boat coming from the other side and both ferries had to make the equivalent of an emergency stop!    I don't think the pilot of the little pleasure boat even noticed the chaos she caused!  But we could hear both captains talking about this situation as we disembarked.

View of the Magic Kingdom as the ferry approaches

Another very sweet thing, is the huge numbers of little girls all dressed up in various Princess outfits!

 They were all so beautiful, but I couldn't imagine coping with the costumes in the heat!

Our first goal was to do Space Mountain.  This has always been one of my favourite rides, even though I boycott all other roller coasters generally.  But this one is in the dark and does not bother me as much.  I also have a soft spot for this ride because the very first time I did this, we stood in line for about an hour (that has not changed!)  and as we were first to go, everything stopped.  There was a malfunction - all the lights came on and you could see the roller coaster aspects of this.    I was not happy and very worried about the malfunction.  My boyfriend at the time convinced me we were going to do this and I ended up being the first in the single file capsule heading into unknown territory!  I loved every second of it and had to do it again!  A trip to the Magic Kingdom would not be complete without doing this!  Oh, and I was first again this time!

On the way to Space Mountain, we walked along Main Street and introduced ourselves to Mickey's Fire Chief.  He was very pleased to meet a fellow firefighter and gave Alan some very special stickers only he gives out at the parks!

Going at our own pace and eating when we wanted to eat was a luxury we had not had this whole trip.  I must admit, though, I missed everyone.  We were able to watch the daytime parade and I took a photo especially for Whitney. With the excellent wifi all over the Disney parks, I thought she would get this if I shared it with her, but she didn't.  Oh well!  I cannot see Ariel without thinking of her!







Here are some other characters from the parade:

Cinderella and Prince Charming

Tinkerbell

And of course, Mickey and Minnie bring up the end of the parade!

The freedom of having only one other person to wait for allowed us time to play with our cameras!  

Here we took photos of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  This ride just opened a few weeks earlier, but I am certain it was a different ride before, and one I liked even though it is another roller coaster.  It is a "family friendly" roller coaster, read kid friendly!  But the lines were always over an hour and I was just done with waiting like that.  So here is a picture of other people enjoying this ride!

After messing around and playing with cameras, and all that, Alan and I managed to run out of time for dinner!  But all was not lost, he had been intrigued by the turkey legs. So we found a place to colonise for our evening parade viewing and then got the two biggest turkey legs ever!

They were absolutely delicious, but far too big.  They even defeated Alan!  But glad we tried them instead of wondering for years what they might have been like.

The travelling party caught up with us while we were eating.  I was really impressed that they found us so easily right before the night time illuminated parade. This was so beautiful and it was fun to watch Corbyn get greeted by so many characters. He even got his nose rubbed by one of Cinderella's mice!

And when that was over, it was time to say good bye to Mickey Mouse and all his friends, but only after the most amazing fireworks display!

"Just a reminder that fireworks look even more amazing when you're not constantly checking your iPhone."  Unknown quote from www.searchquotes.com