Final Day at Disney

Jalen woke up Thursday morning and asked, "Is it another Disney Day?" Unfortunately, it was time to go home, but Wednesday had been another fantastic Disney Day - our last one.

We were going to take the monorail because on Monday the ferry took so long, but ironically, the ferry was much faster. It may have been because we got an earlier start and got to the park just as it was opening. 

We have worn matching shirts every day and have had people comment on them every day. But the bright shirts we wore yesterday were definitely the biggest hit. The designs were Mickey ears shaped like Tinkerbell for the girls and Tigger for the boys. I had at least three people ask me where we bought them.

We had afternoon fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. Normally we book the fast passes for the morning so we can get more after we use them, but because I had changed ours so late, only afternoon times were available. We wanted to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the lines are always long, so we headed there very first thing. Unfortunately, it was having a mechanical problem and was closed down. We were afraid that if we did't wait in line, we wouldn't ever get to ride it so my parents sacrificed and stood in line while the rest of us did rides that were close by.

We rode the Prince Charming Regal Carousel. (I cracked my shin on the foot rest and it still hurts!)

We were joined by Cinderella's wicked step mother and sisters.

Afterwards Baylie got their autographs. These were the only autographs we got all day. I'm so glad my kids don't care about getting autographs. We had asked them before we even came if they would rather wait in line for rides or autographs. They chose rides - YAY! (That being said, I think every little girl needs to meet the princesses at least once and Jalen did say he would have liked a Power Rangers Sing a Long.)

We rode the teacups again.

Disney has some awesome play areas where kids can play while parents wait in line. The ones we saw were at the Winnie the Pooh ride, Dinoland and this one at Dumbo.

Dumbo is always a classic favorite.

I am not a good selfie taker.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.

Family photo ops.

My mother has never met a stranger! Here she is making friends on the People Mover.

More people movers.

I ate a chocolate banana EVERY DAY! This was a favorite when I was a kid. The past few times I bought one at Disneyland, they were way too hard and I couldn't even bite into it. The ones at Disney World were PERFECT. I was in heaven. Another favorite is churros. We were buying three churros to share and the cast member told us he liked us and so he gave us two extra churros for free. Awesome! In all my times at Disney, I've never had that happen before.

We rode It's a Small World again. I love this ride. It's a classic, plus you can relax and cool off. It was kind of weird to have it start inside instead of being a huge outside ride like at Disneyland.

This girl and her poses!

My dad calls this part of It's a Small World the Celestial Kingdom.

Woody and Jessie from far away.

Buzz Lightyear a little closer up.

Riding the rails.

Jalen "read" this sign for us. It says you can sit, but not dance on the train.

Waiting for the Electric Light Parade. We sat up on the balcony at the end of Main Street. It was a great place to watch the parade and the Celebrate the Magic light show. We had to get there early and really hold on to our spot because people get pretty pushy once it gets close to show time.

Baylie had wanted to stay until the park closed at midnight, but she and Jalen were both too exhausted. We left at 10:00 p.m. They fell asleep eating popcorn and watching t.v. in bed. I think that was their favorite part of staying in the hotel.

Our Disney Days were so perfect. It was wonderful. It was crazy hot and humid - much more so than in South Carolina, but about the same as Houston - but we just ignored the sweat and heat and had fun anyway. There are some things I like better about Disney World and some I like better about Disneyland. The Magic Kingdom park at Disney World is much more compact than Disneyland. It's a lot easier to get from one side of the park to the other. I missed things like New Orleans Square, but it was nice that when there was a short line, we could get there quickly even if it was on the other side of the park.

We didn't have to wait in long lines. We had one 40 minute wait for Thunder Mountain Railroad the first day and my mom and dad had to wait over an hour for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train to get fixed. Other than that, we only had 20-25 minute waits. I think we rode every ride in the Magic Kingdom. We did the best rides in Animal Kingdom. We missed Soarin' in Epcot and the Rock 'n Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios. There was nothing else I would have wanted to do. I'm amazed at all we were able to accomplish.

We didn't do a meal plan (you can't do one unless you stay in a Disney property), but I think we saved a lot of money that way. We ate breakfast before we headed to the park, packed in a lunch and ate dinner in the park two nights and Chick-fil-a the other night. We had ice cream every day. I packed in snacks like fruit leather, dehydrated fruit, cookies, etc. We had our own water bottles that we just kept refilling (although the water was warm and not terribly refreshing).

I went back and found a picture of myself the last time I was at Disney World about 12 years ago. I was shocked when I looked at the pictures from the last visit. I knew that my energy level this trip was so much higher. My feet didn't hurt, I could fit on any ride I wanted to and didn't have to worry that the seat belt wouldn't fit. I was able to walk all day without getting tired. It was a completely different experience. There was one point where I was holding Jalen on my shoulders and my feet started killing me. I realized that I used to carry twice that amount around on my poor feet.

I noticed so many obese people at Disneyland. Many of them were on motarized scooters. I wondered if they were disabled or just unable to move themselves around the park all day. I'm so grateful that I am not one of them because I know that without this surgery, I would have become one of them eventually.

Because of my surgery, I am able to be the mother that I always wanted to be. I am able to keep up with my children. I am able to share their joys. I am able to more fully participate in my life and theirs.

Truly this was a perfect vacation.