Feb 16th
Started the day with a quick 2 miles – it was quite warm! It was nice to finally get some real heat.
Took a while before everyone else got up after I got to the room – all the walking yesterday burned everyone out!
Lunch was pizza at the hotel then an hour of swimming in the quiet pool. Just a beautiful area with a great mix of sun and shade.
Then a bus to Epcot!
Walked into Epcot and right onto Spaceship Earth.
We then stopped for treats – popcorn and ice cream by the main fountain.
We then had a quick stop to check on the special DVC fast passes – they were not showing up in app anymore – asked fast pass folks and they confirmed they were still there and active. Excellent.
Used one of the specials for each of us to do Test Track – Heather did not ride though.
Next was Ellen’s Energy Adventure.
Then we went in and saw that the wait for the Sum of all fears simulator was not very long. So our son and daughter and I went on it. I had done it before with our son but it was our daughter’s first time. He went on his own this time and I went with her. They both had a blast and loved the designing aspect of the ride.
Sun was starting to set right at about now – great colors in the sky!
Then we did the walk over to Rose and Crown for our supper reservation – it was quite good.
Then a look around United Kingdom / England pavilion before walking to the fast pass area for Illuminations viewing. We had never done the fast pass for the fireworks show before – what a great area to view the fireworks!
Magic hours tonight so we still had lots of time to do stuff after fireworks…
First we walked around the world and had a beer in Germany.
While there we saw them open the bridge to let the globe out of the lagoon – that was pretty cool – we had seen the globe and other barges come out to the lagoon before but never leaving for the night.
Wandered back to do the Character Stop and saw Mickey, Minnie and Goofy then did the Finding Nemo ride, the Journey into Imagination with Figment ride and then went to check on Test Track again but it ended up being down. One more trip on Spaceship Earth then Mouse Gear for a final bit of shopping for the night.
We were pretty much ushered out of the store and then wandered out to the buses. One was waiting for the hotel that we ended up running for. Last ones on before it headed out.
Got out at main entrance of the hotel and went to the food court that was still partially open. Got some snacks and headed back to the room for a bit of tv and then to sleep. Another day up after midnight.
Feb 17th
3.68 miles this morning. There were lots of ladies out running this morning – Princess Half Marathon folks are showing up
Received Magical Express transportation notice for the 18th but it had no pickup time – called and got it set up. 3:30pm
Lunch at hotel then off to Magic Kingdom for our last full day.
Magic Kingdom:
- Steam train to Story Book Circus
- Run around and shop in that area
- Over to Tomorrow Land
- Bought Heather a purple magic band
- Rode People Mover
- Used special fast passes to do Space Ranger spin – it had been closed for a refurb when we here a few days ago but now it was open again but my question is what did they do doing refurb? Both my gun and Heather’s were wonky.
- Splash mountain
- Looked at using special fast passes for Heather and our daughter to go another time on Splash Mountain but it was too long a fast pass line
- Back over to the Tiki Room
- Then to hub and caught end of Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it
- Then hub grass for a bit before checking in for supper at Plaza – bit of a wait – supper was not too bad – lighter sandwiches which was nice for a change
- Then some shopping before Wishes – got a nice spot on main street
- Then over to Space Mountain for fast passes
- Then the Tomorrowland dance party
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Then Goofy’s Barnstormer – couple times for the kids including a back to back ride without having to get out
- Dumbo
- Ariel meet and greet
- Under the Sea ride
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Thunder Mountain to end the rides for the day. Just realized we conquered the Magic Kingdom mountain range again today!
- Then got Kaia a Shellie May just before the stores closed and then off to the bus and back to the room to pack…
Feb 18th – checkout day
Just an easy day today as we finished packing and got all of our stuff over to the airline check in desk. However there was an issue with the type of flight we had from Delta and we weren’t able to check our bags at the hotel unfortunately.
So we dropped the bags with the concierge folks and did some wandering and shopping around the hotel (including using up the gift card we got from the DVC tour).
Eventually it was time to get on the Magical Express and head to the airport. It is always sad to leave but at this point we were all getting anxious to get going and get home to see the pups.
We had some more fun at the airport with our bags and then our flights but we got on the plane fine and it was all good in the end – just more stress than we had been hoping for.
Off the plane in Minneapolis and caught the shuttle to the hotel where we had parked the van. It was pretty late by the time we got there and checked in but the TGI Fridays that was attached to the hotel was still open so we had some appetizers to fill the bellies and then off to bed.
The next morning it was near freezing and raining – it was lovely loading all our stuff in the van!
On the way home we made some stops for more running gear shopping and supper in Grand Forks before heading toward home. There was risk of freezing home the last couple hours of driving so that added some extra fun right at the end of the trip.
Kids off to bed as soon as we got home and we did some quick unpacking – and then I was up and at the kennel picking up the pups first thing on the 19th.
Ahh good to be home!