Disney 2016, Day 10 - We Close Our Eyes and Then Try to Hide, From the Sad and Trip Ending Airplane Ride

November 13, 2016

This final morning was marked, as always, with combing the rooms and assembling a mountain of luggage outside for the handlers.  Stashing “snack” milk in the fridge for the end of trip cereal was almost a decent plan, except that it froze solid.

To celebrate the Disney Dream Spirit, we had a show on about a guy who won a grant to study the effects of zero gravity on dancing.  I’m guessing the description was somehow truncated as the result seemed to be, “You can spin a lot more.” 

We kept trying to find another Castle reservation from when it was first booked; since we were worried packing out would keep us from making the one we had, late though it was.  I’d forgotten a key piece of Where Will We Go Next Guy data…it was us.

We made it to the Magic Kingdom shortly after opening, and well before crowd swell.    There was no line for Buzz Lightyear, and we jumped on for a last Space Ranger Spin because:

A) The FastPass I got for later was probably after we had to leave.

B) Its Awesome!

C) Whoo –hoo!  Ptchoo ptchoo ptchoo! YAY!

Before and after the ride I did some high speed, last day, last minute grid adjustment to move the FastPass to the small world almost immediately, then herded our family into Fantasyland.

I’ve run medical device design teams, with files audited by the FDA that didn’t require this level of Project Management skills.

There was no line for the small world, which is why the FastPasses were available. That’s kind of the biggest issue with the new system.  However, using them netted us a sweet farewell over and above the one granted by the singing dollies themselves. 

As we exited the ride, the screens that replaced some of the “farewell from all nations” signs listed our names, thanks to awesome/creepy Magic Band technology.

Already in Fantasyland, there was no issue reaching the check in for Cinderella’s Royal Table.

YAY!

The rest of the gang could do some mosaic sightseeing while we explained the one group with two reservations that are in three rooms cha cha again.  The wait was minimal, we got three PhotoPass shots with Cinderella, with Anabelle wearing her last legal in Park Cinderella dress and all was right with the world.

Normally we avoid breakfasting in the Castle, as I consider it difficult to get enough food for the value at that meal. I guess I hadn’t been there in a long time. The frittata I had with big chunks of grilled steak was definitely filling and worthwhile.

Amazinlgly, six years after the last time we were all in the castle, we got Sir David again as our waiter/fast talker/Happy birthday to Rosa (and Mom and Happy Anniversary to us) singer and cupcake presenter/Disney trivia expert/Wishing star and wand (and sword) dispenser/Generally awesome guy!

YAY DISNEY CONTINUITY!  At least some great things don’t change.

Veronica showed off her “Apple Girl” dress to Snow White, and in the picture ninja confusion, Snow left before Anabelle could give her the drawing she made. Luckily, as I may have mentioned thousands of times, Disney is Awesome. She came back and was very appreciative.

Aurora (ours) brought a shirt with Aurora (theirs) on it from the years of past much better than now shirts in Disney World. Aurora (theirs) signed it excitedly, leaving Aurora (ours) with a giant Disney smile!  YAY!

The meetings were rounded out by Jasmine in her new, much more comfortable in the air conditioning, costume, and Ariel who said, “Splash you later,” and other fishy type stuff.

Full of voluminous and fantastic food, we packed up to make the Friendship Fair Castle show. Thanks to the Holiday filming -our last morning was our first chance to see it as it hadn’t run since the day we arrived, but before we got there.

I’m pretty sure that last sentence made sense, but I’m afraid to navigate through it again to check.

It was a typical Castle show, fun, cute and Disneyish. Though, as in many other places poor Pluto got fired in favor of Daisy.

I think it’s wonderful that Rapunzel’s signature song is “I’ve Got a Dream.”  Not only does is fit in perfectly with Walt’s beliefs, but it insures the barbarian ruffians show up all over the place in shows and parades.  

YAY!

Anna and Elsa sang Christmas songs, which were fine for the show, but the presence around the park continued to mess with the themeing.  Luckily, with the filming finished, normal tunes returned to many locations.

Another first for the end of the trip was catching new Muppet history show done from out of the windows all around Liberty Square.   It had the appropriate level of Muppetyness, and also served as a lure into the Hall of Presidents…

They did not snag us with that lure.

Instead we went for our final FastPass to bid farewell to the family favorite Haunted Mansion.  A ride shut down extended both lines waaaaay out into the square. However, the Disney crowd shuttling machine was back in full swing and we got onto the ride in plenty of time for our planned exit.

“Hurry Baaa-aaaack”

You don’t need to tell us Leota!

We split on the way out for some last minute souvenir peeking, snack cashing, and PhotoPass posing.

My family reached the end of Main Street first and got a lovely music and comedy Disney send off from the Dapper Dans.

YAY!

 Anabelle chatted with them a bit before we stopped for a stranger send off to watch veterinary cast members try to get a burr off the bill of one of the local Egrets.  Then we exited the Magic Kingdom for the last time…

*sniff* 
(Which when you think about it...is an anti-sigh.)

As with every Disney trip I’ve ever been on, the final bus wait was the longest, amplifying the melancholy atmosphere.

The kids broke that atmosphere thoroughly by playing “Disney Meet” on the final ride to the POP.

We collected our bags and piled them in a booth in the cafeteria.  I bought Grandma a thank you plush Chewbacca and hid it in her carry on.  With all the last minute stuff adjustment, she didn’t realize was hers for at least several days.

We grabbed a counter service lunch and then made even laster minute snack runs to finish all our dining plan points. 

After we all ran to the bus stop like lunatics, we learned it wasn’t as “laster minute” as we thought, when the bus didn’t come for a half hour after the scheduled time. 

Because Disney understands how people move.

The extra time was just enough for Kim to realize she lost the paper that would have gotten her on the bus, find it, and start breathing again.

The Magic Express video was tailor made for our family:

Tumble Monkeys

Alice and the Hatter

The Dapper Dans

The Confectionary Store

And the Hoop Dee Doo.

They sure know how to rub it in, don’t they?

It also explained how the Mine Train video automatically went to your account with the Magic Bands, which would have been nice to know earlier.  Way to drop the ball, Stacy.

The airport lines were, as expected, much less Disneyish.

Still the magic of the land osmosed a bit.  The security guy was going into detail about removing “all matter” from pants pockets. “If it has mass, remove it.” Airport physics jokes, yay!

He also reacted to Anabelle’s gags about anti matter, and stated that not having pants would be a whole other set of problems.

Yay!

I learned from the signs that you can’t fly with eggs.

Um, is that actually an issue?

Kim repeated her paper troubles with her smartphone as we were getting on the tram from security to gates.  Further evidence that maximum effort Where Will We Go Next Guying burned us all to a cinder.

We ran for the gate…well, first we ran for the bathrooms, and then we ran for the gate.

The kids got their names announced by the pilot for the chocolate bar gifts.

Yay! Thanx Auntie Kim!

On the flight from Orlando to New Jersey it was one hundred percent correlation, every single person with a Disney bag looked like they were going to pass out in the aisle.

I finished the Dirk Gently books on the way back and started some comics.  Mom read a bit, Rosa slept the whole way, as did Kim and Dave I think.

The kids, however got their second three-hundred-and-fifty-second wind, and considerably raised each other’s moods from the normal Disney return doldrums.  

Yet another reason to travel together.

We took off a bit ahead of schedule and caught a tail wind, allowing us to land early.

YAY!

And then waited an hour because the scheduled flight ahead of us was still in the gate.

Significantly less yay.

I was pleased to have proven myself worthy of the title with our youngest traveler, when Morgan started dragging his carry on, looked up at me grinning and asked, “Where Do We Go Next Uncle Jeff?”

The rest of the kids looked out the airport window and said, “We can’t see our house, can we go back to Disney now?”

Again, *sniff*

As we gathered ourselves to head to baggage claim, the girls executed the last, extra sad, moose face of the vacation.

Thanks to amazing Disney efficiency, our bags came home on an earlier flight.

Thanks to less amazing what passes for airline efficiency, getting them delayed us further.

We foolishly believed baggage retrieval from the back room would follow the “check the number on our tickets method.”

Silly us.

The airport actually followed the “come back here and find it yourself in the vast piles” method.

I wonder how many people instead availed themselves of the, “Pick the most expensive looking bags since they’re not checking method.”

The too big to fit in the airport garage model van triple parked in the street, allowing us some excitement and acrobatics to load it with our luggage. The kids finally conked out on the way home.

We transferred everyone else’s bags into our cars at Grandma’s house, drove home to pass out in the  middle of the night, before having to face school and work the next day.

Exhausted, worn out, behind, barely functional….

But magically happy.

Thanx again Grandma!

YAAAAAAY!

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“Daddy, with them being fixed, I never got to try the Rock n’ Roller Coaster, or ride my second favorite, Big Thunder Mountain.”

W Minus 1008…