Day 6 - Driving Home & Labor Day

I got Grammy & Grandad to the airport at the crack of dawn while David returned the rental car. We went back to the hotel and packed everything up and then decided to ride the Skyliner one final time.

We just rode it over and back. It was fun and felt like we were still in the park for at least a bit.

We knew we had a long drive ahead so we headed for home. I wanted to make a stop at the beach or in St. Augustine, but everyone else just wanted to get home. We were all grateful to be back in South Carolina.

Grandad found this cute pin so I bought one for me too.

I later found these cute pictures on Baylie's phone.

Our amazing Disney trip had come to a close. It was truly a perfect trip. We were so glad to have spent it with Grammy and Grandad. I don't want to let another seven years go by before we go again.

Day 5 - BYU vs. South Florida

Jalen and David love their super hero jackets. 

David and I went and got the rental van so we could all fit inside the same car. Grammy and Grandad swapped Grammy's electric scooter for a regular wheelchair. 

We decided to swing by Disney Springs and check it out. We to about three Disney stores, including a Marvel store. We quickly realized that we should have come here the first night for shopping and eating. It was a huge shopping area with lots of fun places.

It wasn't until after all of that we discovered World of Disney which is a humongous Disney store and where we should have started out on Day 1 instead of the character warehouse. We wasted a lot of time finding it and ended up rushing to the BYU Tailgate. I felt guilty, but later I would realize we could have stayed longer.

There were amazing Lego creations. I only took pictures of a few.

After a little over an hour and some detours, we got to the very tail end of the tail gate. We missed the games and the snowball fight. The Mexican truck wasn't serving food anymore, but we did get some good barbecue that we had to scarf down because they were cleaning everything up. I felt badly about that.

We did have time for Baylie and Jalen to get their faces painted. (Which quickly washed off because of rain and humidity!)

BYU was playing South Florida in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium. It was cool to be in a pro stadium, but honestly, the stadium was not that great. I'd heard the Buccaneers are cheap when it comes to facilities and it was true. Most college stadiums I've been in are nicer than it is.

We ended up waiting two hours for a tropical storm with lightening to pass through. That is a long time to wait with a bunch of other sweaty bodies in a stadium concourse.

But I was incredibly patient - as usual.

So was Baylie.

We ran into Hyrum and Tiana from my Optavia family. They live in Florida and came and found us. Hyrum's sister is married to my cousin John.

We FINALLY were able to go out and find our seats, which were actually great. We were on the front row of our section, on the edge and the seats were padded. It could not have been a better set up, especially for Grammy. 

The Buccaneer ship is the coolest thing in the stadium.

I also loved to see the tribute to Tony Dungy, even though he didn't like coaching here.

It took forever for the teams to come out. We were so glad when they finally did and we were able to start cheering.

The game was fantastic and the Cougars played really well. It was exciting and fun to watch. We were glad that BYU came out on top.

Grammy got very tired.

 

I love the tradition of BYU coming over to the fans and singing the fight song. South Florida's band tried to drown the team out, but they just kept singing.

Jalen explored the ship a bit. 

Because of the delay, we got back to the hotel much later than planned. Grammy and Grandad had a really early flight and we were worried Grammy wouldn't get enough rest. They got packed up and ready and we all hit the sack for the final time.

Day 4 - Animal Kingdom & Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Our final Disney day was at Animal Kingdom - my second favorite park. We wore our grey shirts with Mickey/Minnie in sunglasses. One nice thing about Grammy's scooter is that we always get to board the bus first.

 

I love Disney's Animal Kingdom. And now with Pandora it's even better than ever.

I woke up early again and bought us Avatar Flight of Passage Lighting Lane access and also booked the Na’vi River Journey Lightening Lane. Just like the day before, I was able to buy one and reserve another one.

The Pandora section of Animal Kingdom has to be seen to be believed. It was other worldly! Truly amazing. 

Flight of Passage was one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was completely all encompassing. We could have done it over and over. I thought it would make me nauseous, but it didn't. It was like actually being there. Mom was a little overwhelmed!

Na’vi River Journey was visually stunning. I wasn't ready for it to end.

The night blossom drink was fascinating. It was such a distinctive flavor and the little beads popped in the mouth when we bit into them. So cool! I definitely want to try and make this at home.

Quality time with my blue friend.

Pictures just don't do it justice.

We took the obligatory photos in front of the Tree of Life. 

Before & After with the tree.

The Kilimanjaro Safari is always a favorite. I didn't take many pictures, but the ride is always awesome. Grammy loves it. We went back later to walk the trail, but we didn't see as many animals as we thought we would.

We rode Expedition Everest without Grammy & Grandad. It's a jerky ride, but lots of fun. It's Disney World's version of the Matterhorn.

Grammy & Grandad joined us for the Kali River Rapids. They got soaked! (So did I!) It was a super fun ride, but we never really did get dry.

We went to the It’s Tough to be a Bug! 4-D show, which is always fun.

We watched a kite show and saw some musicians. 

We watched the Nemo show and when it was over, it was pouring rain again. We were grateful to be inside and decided to wait it out for awhile. They let us stay in the theater until it was time for the next show so we headed over to the DINOSAUR ride. None of us had ever ridden it before and it was actually pretty fun - kind of like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

When we came out, it was raining again, but they let us hang out in the gift shop so we waited until the rain had slowed down. Grandad and David went back to Pandora to get a plant Grammy had purchased and the rest of us waited. I didn't get a picture of it, but it was something like this.

We went to the big gift shop at the park entrance and did some final shopping and changed into our Halloween t-shirts.

Then we went to the Rain Forest Café for dinner. I had forgotten how cool that place is. After dinner, Grammy & Grandad headed back to the hotel and the four of us headed to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. My only regret is that we should have run back into Animal Kingdom long enough to see Pandora by night. It's supposed to be really beautiful at night. It closed at 6 p.m., but I think because we were already in there, we could have seen it lit up.

The sky was ominous and we were worried. We waited 45 minutes for the bus! If we had known it would take that long, we would have definitely tried to see Pandora.

But the weather held off and we had a great time at the Halloween party. Main Street looks very cool for Halloween. We'd never been there this time of year.

 

When we got there, the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular! had already started, but we got to see most of it. 

We went trick or treating throughout the park. Baylie wanted to ride Splash Mountain again, but I didn't want to get wet and the boys didn't want to do it. A lot of the rides were closed because of the stormy skies.

Baylie and Jalen rode the tea cups. 

We made it back to the castle to see Disney’s Not-So-Spooky Spectacular Fireworks, which were awesome. 

Baylie and I ran back to the Haunted Mansion and the boys saved us great spots for Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade. 

The parade was a lot of fun.

 

After the parade, the park closed and we walked out with the crowds of people. We were tired and wet, but it had been another perfect day. We were sad that our Disney days were at an end.

Note: Although the Halloween party was great, I prefer Disney at Christmastime with the snow that smells like gingerbread.