barnaby Unplanned August 2010 Trip, Day 6 - Last Day

[barnaby]

Trip members:
Me, barnaby, 35 YO husband
Wife, age 35
Daughter, age 15
Son, age 9

Day 6 - Fri, Aug 25 – Magic Kingdom

This was our last day of the trip and we planned on spending the whole day at the Magic Kingdom. MK had evening extra magic hours until 1AM and we hoped to stay until then. So we woke up and took our time at the resort before heading over to MK, arriving at around noon. We decided to catch the next showing of the Dream Along with Mickey Show. While we were waiting for the show to start, I headed over to Peter Pan to grab FPs. After we watched the show, we headed over to Adventureland to eat lunch at El Pirata Y El Pirico. Before we left for our trip, my son said the only place he really wanted to eat was here and he wanted a taco. He had his taco, my wife and daughter had the taco salad, and I had the burrito. Everything was pretty tasty and my son’s taco craving was filled.

The 3PM parade was coming up so we headed over to nearby Frontierland to grab a spot. My son and I took some shots at the Shooting Gallery while waiting. We hadn’t seen the new changes to the parade, and we all enjoyed it. After the parade, I grabbed FPs for Splash Mountain and we then headed over to Fantasyland to use our FPs for Peter Pan. Following Pan, we rode BTMR before heading off to Tom Sawyer Island. Unfortunately, it was a quick trip to see Huck and Tom as the island was closing.

Our time for our Splash FPs had come, but the attraction was down so headed over to Tommorrowland. I had to get the Carousel of Progress in. I love the fact it is one the attractions that Walt had his hand in from start to finish. After the COP, it was over to the Laugh Factory again. My son wanted to go on Stitch again, so my wife and daughter went back into the Laugh Factory while my son and I went on Stitch. I checked the tip board and Splash was still down, so we rode Buzz and decided to walk over to Haunted Mansion. After HM, we hit Pirates and then saw that Splash was up and running. So we used finally used our FPs, and this time we were not so luck staying dry. We got thoroughly soaked before you go up the first climb, it seemed light every drop of water from the fountain spray got us and we got it good again at the bottom of big drop (Chickapin Hill?).

After Splash, I wanted to see the Hall of Presidents with its recent refurb. The A/C was cranked up nice and high but even through my shivers, I enjoyed the show. After HOP, it started to rain so we threw on our ponchos and headed over to the HM again. Upon exiting, we saw it had turned into a heavy downpour so the HM cast members where letting guests enter through the chicken exit to ride again. We hopped back on then waited outside a bit to the rain let up some. It was still a fairly hard rain so the MSEP was canceled with the possibility of Wishes being canclled too.
We decided to just go with the flow and headed over to Adventureland. We grabbed a late dinner at Pecos Bills and saw the Tiki room birds. It was close to 10PM and the rain still hadn’t let up. I spoke with some cast members and they thought that Wishes would be cancelled. We were a little bummed because we didn’t catch our first couple nights there and planned to catch it this night. Instead of heading over to possibly catch Wishes, we rode Pirates back to back, as we exited the second time, we saw that Wishes had started. It was raining pretty good so we just stayed undercover in the Pirates gift shop and tried to catch as much of the fireworks as we could. We were a little bummed, but oh well.

The rain finally let off and the park was pretty empty. We hit all the staples again – BTMR, Pirates, Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise and decided to end our night with one last trip through the Haunted Mansion. We strolled down Main Street at about midnight and did some shopping. I got to catch the end of the Kiss Goodnight before heading out of the park at around 1AM, tired but still smiling. I am usually pretty sad as we leave, but we had a good day/night and got a lot in.

Overall, we had a great trip. We had nice weather for Florida in August, not too hot with temps in the 80s all week. And because of the relatively small crowds, a lot less then we are used to, we got to a lot and see pretty much everything we wanted. It is always sad to end your trip, but this trip was fun and fulfilling so there was less of a sting.

We woke up Saturday morning, packed up our truck, and hit the road for NJ at 11:30AM. We stopped at the same Cracker Barrel in Florence, SC and got the same waiter. He hooked us up with sodas and extra biscuits for the road. We had a safe and fairly uneventful return trip, a little traffic for an accident between DC and Baltimore at 3:30AM, and we pulled up in front of home at 6AM. All in all, a fun trip and time with family that can't be replaced.

Can’t wait to go back, we are planning another family trip in 2012, probably August again. Then a trip in 2013 for my wife and I to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

Thanks for reading my trip reports. This was my first one so I hope I kept it interesting and I tried to be as informative as possible. Next trip, I am taking notes!!!

[Sam&Alex&Josh'sMOM]

I really enjoyyed your reports! Thanks!

[RedSoxFan]

Nice way to spend your last day --- in MK.
Enjoyed your reports --- great vacation.

[2MuchWDFun]

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us. Sounds like you all had a great time! You packed in a lot of fun on your last day!!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[Suz36]

A great last day at MK - that's how we end all our trips too! Thanks for the reports - I've enjoyed them!

[faline]

You really spent as much time as possible in the Magic Kingdom on your final day! Glad your trip home was uneventful and you are already looking forward to future trips!

[yjgirl32]

You did a great job on your reports. Thank you for sharing.