Today we’d decided to spend our last full day in The Magic Kingdom. As it was the half marathon, we knew there’d be a lot of road closures and that the journey would take a lot longer than normal, so we headed to the bus stop at 7.30am hoping to make rope drop but knowing that it might not happen. The bus arrival time kept getting pushed back, but it eventually came at 7.50 and amazingly, despite almost stationary traffic at one point, we made it into the park before 8.30. The girls really wanted to watch the welcome show one more time with the characters in their 50th outfits, so we had a look around the Emporium, chose their trip pin and met up with Steve who’d been on a Starbucks run to eat breakfast in front of the castle.
After the show we went on Mine Train and Pooh which both had next to no queues, and then met Merida by walking straight into her greeting area (we always joke that her line is consistently the same length regardless of day or time, so with it being non existent we couldn’t pass by!)
It seemed the traffic and road closures had a huge effect on crowd levels and we could have gone on pretty much anything without queuing, but the girls wanted to watch the Friendship Fare show. Again, the show was cancelled (we have no luck with this one) but the characters all came out onto the stage so the girls were happy. Next stop was our final 50th cavalcade, which I was worried about as I knew the girls were feeling very emotional about it.
As it turned out, they were fine during the cavalcade as they’d decided they were going to enjoy every minute of the day, and it was only afterwards that Polly got a bit upset and we had to have a big cuddle until she felt better (the mint choc chop ice cream we got her from the Plaza also helped a lot!)
We were going to go on Astro Orbiter but it had gone down so we saw Stitch and then headed towards Haunted Mansion. However, the girls suddenly decided they wanted to watch Festival of Fantasy so we stood in our regular shaded spot outside the Christmas Shoppe and waited a short while for it to arrive.
Daisy hugged both girls which they then deemed the perfect end to the day, so we just finished off by doing Haunted Mansion and saying goodbye to Mickey, before heading out of the park for the last time this trip.
We decided to head to The Boardwalk for a late lunch (we always forget to eat at actual lunch time in the parks) and grabbed a slice of pizza from the window there. I wish they still did the full pizzas for the old price rather than having to make one up by buying four slices, but it was still tasty. We then got photo booth photos of the girls with their elf to keep by their beds when he leaves before heading back to Yacht Club.
The girls love the quiet pool so we had a bit of time there before heading to the main pool for the lifeguard dancing and a last go on the slide.
We’d decided to try to see Fantasmic tonight, but the girls also wanted to watch the Frozen singalong again as they thought it was hilarious last time. We knew the 6.30 Frozen show could be a risk when trying to see the 8pm Fantasmic show, but went with it anyway. It was as funny as ever (the narrators are always so good) and whilst in there I ordered Ale & Compass to go for us to eat in the room when we got back as yet again, we hadn’t left time to eat!!
We got to the Fantasmic stadium around 7.15 and people were being let on so we knew we were ok. We needn’t have worried. It was practically empty at that time!
In fact, even when it started there was still plenty of space. We haven’t seen the show for a long time (Winnie was terrified of it and it’s cancelled so often in August that we stopped trying to keep the girls up late enough to see it) so Polly could only remember small details and Winnie had no memory (other than a funny feeling in her tummy when the dragon appeared!!) They both absolutely loved it. We sat at the front and they had a perfect view. It was such a great way to finish the trip and I got quite emotional.
It took a while to get out of the crowd but we were back at the hotel before 9 and had a lovely bed picnic with the good we’d ordered.
Tomorrow we are packing, cheering on the marathon runners and deciding whether or not to do one final park before flying home.
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 