Lisaj13
09-02-2011, 02:07 PM
Day 9 (August 24) – Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom
Our last day. I think the weathermen in Florida must have a job description similar to police. Boredom and paperwork interrupted by moments of sheer terror. I swear every morning the forecast is exactly the same – currently 76, going to 92 later today, with 50% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. Nevertheless, I check the forecast every morning. After watching the news about Hurricane Irene I’m sort of glad that we’re leaving bright and early tomorrow. I realize that it’s not supposed to impact Florida, but I would be worried about flights being affected if we were leaving later.
It’s morning EMH at Animal Kingdom so we leave a little earlier. The bus pulls up as we’re walking to the bus stop (of course) and we’re riding Expedition Everest by 8:25. We get fast passes and go looking for a shop we were in on our first day. Eventually we find it and I spend way too much money. But after all, it’s our last day!
Now we’re off to the Magic Kingdom. We wait a few minutes for the bus to the TTC and when we get there, there is a huge line-up for the monorail to MK. The line-up for the ferry was long too, but it obviously holds a lot of people because we all make it on.
Once again I head to bag search with a huge bag of souvenirs. Will I ever learn? Probably not. We have an early lunch at Columbia Harbor House, where an incredibly enthusiastic gentleman is welcoming guests. When we leave he’s still outside welcoming people, and even singing.
I drop the kids at the Pirates gift shop while I go to Big Thunder for fast passes. When I return the Pirates wait time is only 10 minutes so we hop on. This time the ending of the ride is a bit different. A Cast Member continues Captain Jack’s song with “Yo ho, yo ho, it’s time to get out of my boats.” He even sounded like him!
We agonize in the gift shop, as we know it’s our last chance. T-shirts are bought and we head for Big Thunder. I don’t know how the ride is different this time, but my glasses get sprayed with water three times. We stop at Aloha Isle for a snack and rest. The kids are leaning towards leaving. I’d like to ride Space Mountain again, so I’m willing to go check out the wait time and possibly get fast passes, but DD1 says it’s not fair that I’d be walking all across the park and back. We compromise. I see on the map that there’s a Tip Board on Main Street, so we all head for it. The wait is too long for the girls so we work our way back via the shops (as usual) and get another person checked off our list. Almost done!
After our monorail trip we have cold drinks and then go to the shop at the Poly, Bou Tiki. The last gift is bought! After showering and supper we slowly begin to pack.
We only walked about 5.5 miles today. A stroll in the park!
Departure Day (August 25)
The alarm went off at 3:15 a.m. What’s worse is I was up before it went off. We are at the front door at 4:00 a.m. as instructed and after stopping at the Grand Floridian we’re off to the airport. At the airport by 5:00 a.m. My suitcase just makes the weight requirements – 48 pounds. I have GOT to start packing lighter.
Going through Security we meet a guard with a sense of humour! “Pick the shortest line. This isn’t Disney World, you don’t have to stand in the longest line.”
Our flight is uneventful (my favourite kind) and filling out the form for Customs keeps me awake. In Toronto we breeze through Customs, transfer our bags, and head for our gate. The girls are hungry so we stop at Tim Horton’s. Where I realize why we’re hungry. It’s 11:30 and breakfast was at 3:30. Being the most sensible person in our group I nap on the plane.
So that was our trip. To sum up, Intercot advice was correct. Arrive at opening, have a plan, and you’ll be amazed at what you can do. My arthritis never bothered me a bit, and while the heat and humidity were hard on us we knew when to take time for an ice cream and when it was time to call it quits. We saw lots of cranky kids/families, but we managed to keep it all in perspective and enjoy ourselves. And I’m still amazed at how great the buses, ferry and monorail were. Ten minutes was the longest we waited for any transportation.
We didn’t get everything done we wanted to, but that just means we’ll have to go back!
Our last day. I think the weathermen in Florida must have a job description similar to police. Boredom and paperwork interrupted by moments of sheer terror. I swear every morning the forecast is exactly the same – currently 76, going to 92 later today, with 50% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. Nevertheless, I check the forecast every morning. After watching the news about Hurricane Irene I’m sort of glad that we’re leaving bright and early tomorrow. I realize that it’s not supposed to impact Florida, but I would be worried about flights being affected if we were leaving later.
It’s morning EMH at Animal Kingdom so we leave a little earlier. The bus pulls up as we’re walking to the bus stop (of course) and we’re riding Expedition Everest by 8:25. We get fast passes and go looking for a shop we were in on our first day. Eventually we find it and I spend way too much money. But after all, it’s our last day!
Now we’re off to the Magic Kingdom. We wait a few minutes for the bus to the TTC and when we get there, there is a huge line-up for the monorail to MK. The line-up for the ferry was long too, but it obviously holds a lot of people because we all make it on.
Once again I head to bag search with a huge bag of souvenirs. Will I ever learn? Probably not. We have an early lunch at Columbia Harbor House, where an incredibly enthusiastic gentleman is welcoming guests. When we leave he’s still outside welcoming people, and even singing.
I drop the kids at the Pirates gift shop while I go to Big Thunder for fast passes. When I return the Pirates wait time is only 10 minutes so we hop on. This time the ending of the ride is a bit different. A Cast Member continues Captain Jack’s song with “Yo ho, yo ho, it’s time to get out of my boats.” He even sounded like him!
We agonize in the gift shop, as we know it’s our last chance. T-shirts are bought and we head for Big Thunder. I don’t know how the ride is different this time, but my glasses get sprayed with water three times. We stop at Aloha Isle for a snack and rest. The kids are leaning towards leaving. I’d like to ride Space Mountain again, so I’m willing to go check out the wait time and possibly get fast passes, but DD1 says it’s not fair that I’d be walking all across the park and back. We compromise. I see on the map that there’s a Tip Board on Main Street, so we all head for it. The wait is too long for the girls so we work our way back via the shops (as usual) and get another person checked off our list. Almost done!
After our monorail trip we have cold drinks and then go to the shop at the Poly, Bou Tiki. The last gift is bought! After showering and supper we slowly begin to pack.
We only walked about 5.5 miles today. A stroll in the park!
Departure Day (August 25)
The alarm went off at 3:15 a.m. What’s worse is I was up before it went off. We are at the front door at 4:00 a.m. as instructed and after stopping at the Grand Floridian we’re off to the airport. At the airport by 5:00 a.m. My suitcase just makes the weight requirements – 48 pounds. I have GOT to start packing lighter.
Going through Security we meet a guard with a sense of humour! “Pick the shortest line. This isn’t Disney World, you don’t have to stand in the longest line.”
Our flight is uneventful (my favourite kind) and filling out the form for Customs keeps me awake. In Toronto we breeze through Customs, transfer our bags, and head for our gate. The girls are hungry so we stop at Tim Horton’s. Where I realize why we’re hungry. It’s 11:30 and breakfast was at 3:30. Being the most sensible person in our group I nap on the plane.
So that was our trip. To sum up, Intercot advice was correct. Arrive at opening, have a plan, and you’ll be amazed at what you can do. My arthritis never bothered me a bit, and while the heat and humidity were hard on us we knew when to take time for an ice cream and when it was time to call it quits. We saw lots of cranky kids/families, but we managed to keep it all in perspective and enjoy ourselves. And I’m still amazed at how great the buses, ferry and monorail were. Ten minutes was the longest we waited for any transportation.
We didn’t get everything done we wanted to, but that just means we’ll have to go back!