The last bit of magic for a while

Sadly this would be our last visit to the Magic Kingdom, well at least for this trip, however we cannot complain, we have had a great time so we might as well put our best foot forward and enjoy the day.  Sarah had us out of the house in military style yet again.  Daniel was the one to hold us up slightly as we had difficulty getting him out of the shower.  

Arrived at the park using the boat for the last time, that of course was the slowest option as we had to wait as we just missed one.  Never mind, breathe take things easy.

  

I still love seeing the hotels around the lake and arriving by boat, it is a little more magical than the monorail I think.

Anyway we had a list of things to do this morning to finish off our visit.  Sarah went off hunting for some tickets for Peter Pans flight as this always has a huge queue and today was no exception.  We managed to ride some of our favourites again, even got a go on Pirates whilst it was working.  We did Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pans Flight, Philamagic and even ventured into Fantasyland to sit in a clam shell and do Ariel.

  

Would you believe it, this ride stopped as well when we were on it.  Is it something that we have done?  Sarah, our trusty planner, had managed to secure fast passes for this as well as this is another long liner due to its newness.

Tiredness or the heat was beginning to set in so the weary travellers sat down awhile.

  

We did have a smile this morning as we have all through the holiday looked at the families with their same coloured tee shirts saying "family vacation" etc.  When we turned around and looked we were all wearing t shirts of varying shades of grey, I wonder if the look is catching?

We decided due to weary feet that we would catch the train from Fantasyland to Main Street but not before going for a little look around the retail outlets in this area.

Some of the new looks created!

 

A last few looks at the Magic Kingdom in daylight and we returned home.

Now you would think that we would have had enough but oh no because we returned in the evening.  Well you see going on Splash Mountain in the day time is not the same as going on Splash Mountain at night.  So after a bit of a rest, a shower and a detour via Premium Outlets - more shopping Sarah - we were back.  By the way Sarah bought two more pairs of jeans and a jacket!

We managed Splash with the use of a fast pass and then a no wait ride, we got soaked. No pictures really as for once my camera was left at home.  However it did rain a little whilst we were there and the phone had to come out to snap these.

No he wasn't really asleep on his feet!

Doesn't he love this look?

Or is this one better?

Sarah and Daniel went off to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railway whilst I watched some of the Electrical Parade.  We had to have a final battle or two in Buzz Lightyear before heading home to bed.  

We found however we appear to have a glut of ice cream in the freezer and only a day or two to eat it, so guess what we did before we went to bed?

Hit the beach in a blizzard.............and then throw in some illuminations

Today was our final day at a waterpark and we chose Blizzard Beach, love the fact that you can see the snow on the mountain in the heat of the day as well as all the sleighs and toboggans that just happen to be lying around the place, these all add to the theme.

 We got there early enough, very few cars in the car park and we even managed to get some "sunbeds" in a good location.  Excellent a great start.  Well before I had even managed to sort out a locker for the important stuff like keys and purse, Sarah and Daniel had vanished.

Oh where, oh where had they gone?  One guess.  Summit Plummet hmmm not for me but they love it so let them happily go off.

  

In the meantime Martin had settled himself down in his reclined position, not to move from this position much for the rest of the day.  Meanwhile, I did the lockers and then sorted out the drinks and pottered around finding myself - I like to know where I am in relation to food, restrooms and lockers because inevitably when anyone else wants to know they ask me!  Finally I was allowed to get my book out and chill. ( I actually managed to finish my book here today).

Eventually the wanderers returned and we spent the time moving between the wave pool, the lazy river and them wandering off to do yet another slide.  By the end of the day even Daniel was exhausted.  Not as many photos here today as we were just relaxing and I desperately want to finish that book. 

 We did venture onto team boat springs as a family, yes even Martin was prised off his sunbed at that point.  I managed a grazed knee from the bottom of the wave pool and as Sarah was relaxing on the edge of the pool she was trodden on.  Apart from the injuries we were fine.  Guess who went to empty the locker?  Oh yes, little old me again.  

Daniel did come with me and of course he just had to stop for some cookies on the way out.....  We left about 4 so we had time to come home and get ready to go out again for the fireworks at Epcot.  I did manage to take a few photos on our way out.

Home again, home again.  Doesn't take long now as we seem to travel the route on a regular basis, well the sat nav knows the way.

Soon enough we were out the door again, cameras again at the ready for our trip to see Illuminations.  We had tried previously but the weather got in the way.  Tonight looked good.

We started off listening to Judi Dench again, I think it is the fact that Sarah likes making silly faces having her photograph taken that we have done this one so many times.  Next we decided to go and do Mission Space - has to be the green route I am sorry, but the others can do orange if they want to.

 Now when we came out of the ride some of the party just had to try on some of the special head gear.  Don't they look wonderful?

Test track was not an option tonight as there were no fast passes as these had all been distributed and the stand by line was 70 minutes.  We knew we would be returning so gave that a miss.

 Funnily enough some of our party were hungry again and so we went off to "The Land" to see what we could find.  

Our choice this evening was "Mongolian Beef with Vegetable Fried Rice"

and very nice it was too.  It became a little spicy towards the end but we had even seen it cooked so we knew it was all fresh.  That just filled a hole for the evening of fireworks.

Next we went to see the Circle of Life before joining Nemo and friends.

You just have to love some time with Nemo!

We had to keep an eye on the time as the fireworks were fast approaching so off we went to pick a spot without someone's head in the photo opps.  Alas that was not to be, having staked a site, some women then decided to stand right in front of me bah humbug.  Sarah came to my rescue and we swapped places so I could get some headless shots.

  

I love the fireworks and the globe opening up.  Lovely sight and a great way to end the day.