avalon451
Errrr... what?
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
Thursday, October 16th. It was our last morning. I woke up on my own at 5 a.m., like I usually do when my internal body clock is screaming at me that I don’t want to be late for whatever. Otherwise it would be like my dream I had before we left—unable to get back to the airport in time for our return flight. But, today we had plenty of time to play in the parks before we had to leave, provided we got ourselves packed up and checked out before MM started at 8 a.m. So I hopped up, showered, and got ready. We had ordered quite a few groceries and only eaten maybe ½ of them, so I was eating the last muffin, a cup of yogurt, a banana, and drinking a glass of milk and of juice, trying to use up some of those things that wouldn’t travel back home with us. I woke Liz at 6. We had a big job ahead of us, trying to get packed up. We didn’t have a whole lot of extra room in our suitcases when we came—the extenders on the rollaway suiters were already out—but we didn’t have that much extra to come back, either. I had to take DD10’s light sabre out of the box, and Liz’s hat got squished flat, but amazingly, we managed to pack everything in, although I had to nearly sit on my suitcase.
Imagine my pride when we strolled downstairs to check out at 7:10 a.m. I really didn’t think we could make MM on our LAST day, but since we didn’t make it on our first MM, I was really pleased to be out in lots of time. The staffer at the desk checked us out promptly (and I was quietly rejoicing at the relatively low bill for 4 nights at the Ent rate!) and very kindly told us to skedaddle, he’d put our bags in the holding room for us.
We strolled over to the security tables, which weren’t open yet. It was about 7:25. We were probably 4th in line. One of the CMs, the one who was on the walkie talkie waiting for the “go” to open security, started chatting with us. He was so sweet! We were just joking around about the weather and I mentioned that I loved it, since I’d just come from the cold and wet in Seattle. “Seattle!” he moaned, “Don’t mention that, my daughter just moved there. I miss her.” Turns out she’s 25 and had a really nice house in Laguna Beach or some equally nice place, and she was in a condo on Queen Anne Hill till she finds a house. I was all impressed, and he was asking me if that was a nice neighborhood. (heck yeah, I WISH I could afford a condo on Queen Anne with a view of downtown!) He was telling us how she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and that’s partly why she moved, etc. And he was telling us about his wife of 43 years, the love of his life… and he gets out this picture of them when they were first married (they started out in Puerto Rico) and no kidding, they looked like movie stars straight out of some 50’s movie! It was so cute. Then he says, “Of course, I’m one to talk about boyfriend troubles. I first met my wife at a party at her fiance’s house.” I was shouting with laughter along with him, and just then his walkie-talkie crackled, and he declared security open, and off we went with a wave. It was a great start to a perfect day.
We were first at our gate!
Liz was so happy she started doing her Hare Hare Yukai dance, to the bemusement of the family behind us (to see the Hare Hare Yukai, see post # 20).
The gates opened promptly at 8 a.m., and we headed around through the right hand tunnels and walked briskly down Main Street. We’d decided we wanted to do Peter Pan again, and the rest of Fantasyland that we’d missed when we got there late on Tuesday.
We danced around opposite sides of the Partners statue. Most everyone else peeled off toward Tomorrowland and Nemo. So we were the first ones through the castle! For some reason, this just felt awesome. Like we owned the place. We walked through and the lady at the souvenir cart smiled at our smiling faces and said, “Welcome! You’re the first!”
We hopped into Peter Pan and were the first ones on. Yay! Liz was just bubbling. “This is awesome, we’re first! This is so cool!”
Then we went over to Dumbo; we figured we’d do it once to say we had. It was fun. Liz enjoyed making us go up and down. Next was Alice, and again, we walked straight on. Liz really liked this one; she’s currently reading the Alice books and is intrigued by the weirdnesses of it.
Next we checked the Matterhorn, wanting to ride the Tomorrowland side of it; but it was not yet running for some reason. Sooo, Liz said “How about the teacups once more, Mom? They weren’t bad!” Well, they weren’t the first time, but this time, just about when I was expecting the “teaparty is coming to an end” announcement, instead I heard the “safety rules” announcement—apparently they’d hit the wrong button or something, so we kept going for another round! Yikes! That was too much! I was pretty dizzy by the time we got off, but thankfully it wore off pretty quickly.
So we stumbled off teacups and I dizzily wove my way over to Toady. Surprisingly, it already had a bit of a line out into the small courtyard. We had to wait about 15 minutes for it. But I love Toad and we’d missed it on Tuesday, so we waited and were rewarded with Mr Toad’s car, himself. Liz was laughing as we ended up in a far warmer place than she’d been led to expect, after all the catechism classes she’s attended!
We went to Space and rode, of course. Then it was nearly 9 a.m., so we walked across the hub and headed over to get our HMH FPs, and we rode while we were there, too. Then we did PotC, the last time for my favorite ride. Every time we rode, I noticed something new.
Now it was 9:40, so we headed over to DCA for opening there. We went to rope drop and waited for a few minutes. When it dropped, a huge wave of people rolled over the main walkway and across the bridge at the Pier. We figured we’d be a ways back on Screamin’, which was our objective. Nope! Nearly everybody was headed for TSMM! So we walked right onto Screamin’ and asked for the front, and we got on the front of the second run! It. Was. Awesome! If I ever go back, I am ALWAYS going to ask for the front of Screamin’. It was soooo great to stare down that clifflike drop and scream our lungs out! Liz and I were bouncing and high-fiving each other as we exited. Liz kept saying, “That ride is the BEST!”
Next we went over and did TSMM, in the single rider line. Liz and I were in lines next to each other, and I asked the guy next to me, who was also a single rider, if he’d mind switching with her so we could ride together. No problem, so this time we got to ride together and compete. She annihilated me, so of course that pleased her! Then we went to do ToT again. Liz enjoyed it even more this time, since she knew what to expect and wasn’t scared!
Now we said goodbye to California Adventure. We strolled back over to DL, and went to pick up Space FPs. Then we went over to Blue Bayou for our lunch. We had PS’s for the first seating at 11:30. Per DISboards recommendations, I got us there at 11:15. There was already a crowd jostling around, trying to plead their way in for a table without PS’s. It was nice to walk up, give our name and our waterside table request, and be invited inside, “Come on in, Gail, we’ll seat you in a just a couple of minutes.” The waiting room area was already standing room only, so I was surprised when we were the first ones called! We were lead to a fabulous table right at the railing, overlooking a boat on our side, and the guy on the porch on the other side. We did get a little tired of the “plink plink” of the banjo by the end of our meal, like a newbie musician trying to pick out “Oh Susannah,” but the atmosphere was indisputably cool. Our waiter, Lonnie, was very prompt and courteous. Because we were first seated, and we decided very quickly what we wanted, everything happened smoothly and fast. Our drinks, rolls, Liz’s salad and my gumbo appeared very quickly.
That gumbo was GOoooooOOD!
Liz liked her wedge salad, too:
Lonnie took our picture:
And then we took pictures of each other:
Liz was enchanted. It was such a different experience, again, from the last time. Back then, she was feeling rotten. She shared a plate with her sister and hardly touched it. We were seated far back in the room, with several noisy families around us. DD6 spent the whole time whining that she didn’t like it in there, it was too “dark and creepy.” Now we were truly enjoying our experience and the bayou ambiance!
Liz was just tickled to watch all the PotC riders float by. A few of them waved at us, and before you know it, she was waving at EVERY SINGLE BOAT. She’d take a bite, wait till they got in range, and then wave with a cheerful smile. She started predicting which boatloads looked like wavers, and which looked like “non-wavers.” She saluted some, waved especially at little kids (who usually enthusiastically waved back) and even got a few people to call out things like “What’s for lunch?” and “How is the food?” Since we were just before the big drop, a couple of times she called, “Say your prayers!” Till, finally, I hushed her (the tables were starting to get crowded around us), and told her she didn’t have to wave at EVERY boat, for pete’s sake. She grinned and said unrepentantly, “Sorry, Mom,” but when another boatload came by a few minutes later that waved at us first, and I waved back, she said, “Hey! How come you get to wave and I don’t?” So then she went back to waving at every boat, again.
I had Tesoro Island Chicken. It was good. Not fabulous, but good.
Liz had the beef ribs. She hesitated, because she’d had ribs the night before at Napa, but these were really tasty, too, so she was glad she ordered them. If I’d known how good they were, I’d have had them, too.
I told her to save room because I wanted to get the cookie boat. So we didn’t finish everything on our plates. The potatoes were ok but not wonderful, although I did scarf all the white asparagus, yum! So we had a little room left for….
Mmm, this was yummy. The cookie part tasted warm and melty, like it was fresh from the oven. Again, we couldn’t finish it, but that was ok—it was all about tasting it and enjoying it, not stuffing ourselves.
The only problem with it, was that Lonnie got slammed by the hostesses with like 4 tables in a row, so he kind of disappeared on us for around 20 minutes. The couple of times I did see him, I couldn’t catch his eye. I flagged down a hostess and asked her to pass on our dessert order, and still didn’t see him for awhile… when I saw her again, she said, “Oh, Lonnie hasn’t been by yet?” and looked worried. A couple minutes later he dashed up to our table and apologized, and told us our dessert was already ordered and on the way. So that was fine. I made sure to ask for the bill and get it ready to go while we ate dessert, so we didn’t have to spend more time waiting for that. We didn’t really mind, though. We had such a nice table. So that was a great experience for our last Disneyland meal.
When we emerged, blinking into the hot midday sun in NOS, I intended to find a pressed penny machine I’d seen around the corner the day before. As I walked down the alley, who should appear but that consummate pirate himself, Jack Sparrow!
Ok, let’s just be honest here. I love my husband, and wouldn’t trade him for the world.
But Jack is HOT.
So I was standing to one side taking the above picture. There was the usual crowd of admirers around, though not too thick yet. Imagine my surprise when he wheeled around, saw me, and grabbed my elbow, and commanded in that delicious English accent, “Walk with me, love.”
Oh. My. Gosh. Sure, Jack, yes, anything you say!
We strolled a few yards down the alley together, and he paused while Liz started shooting pictures. She was laughing and loving it, since I was so obviously star struck!
Ok, people, somebody tell me how good of an actor you have to be, to shoot a molten leer like this at me sideways! Oh, he was GOOD. And I look like the biggest star-struck mom-ish frump!
It just cracks me up every time to see this goofy grin on my goofy face, while Jack shoots me this look that could melt kryptonite.
I thanked him sincerely, if somewhat breathlessly, and walked away muttering, “YEeeesssss!” Liz was laughing hysterically at me.
It really made my day! Maybe even my trip…? 
After I came down from cloud 9, we had some unfinished business in Adventureland. I was bound and determined to see the Billy Hill show. I’d intended to see it on Monday, but it got shuffled aside repeatedly during the week. Liz was less than enthusiastic, because she hates country music, although I tried to explain to her that it was more comedy. So, we walked into the Golden Horseshoe with just a couple of minutes to spare before the 1 p.m. show. There were no seats left. We went up to the balcony and stood behind and between a table, looking over the railing. Once the show started, I didn’t care! The Billies were so good! Liz started out with her arms crossed and her eyes rolling, but by the time it was halfway through she was laughing and clapping, too. I loved their “Dancing with the Stars” choreography!
Then we went to Haunted Mansion Holiday and said goodbye to Jack Skellington on our last trip through. We knew it all by heart by this time. Liz was saying the dialogue all the way through.
We went up to the Hunny Pot and I got a couple of treats to take home, including a tigger tail or two. Yummy. Then we took the raft over to Pirates’ Lair. We wandered about for a bit, but we weren’t all that excited about it. When we came back, we went on BTMRR.
Now it was 2:15. We had to leave the park by 3 p.m. We knew what our swan song had to be, and we had 2 FPs apiece, so we ran for Space Mountain to do it twice in a row! It was getting very busy by this time, the Utah crowd must have been in full force. The wait was around 30 minutes. But we walked right on.
During our trip, we rode this ride at least 11 times for sure, maybe more. Liz had the safety spiel memorized and was chanting it. So when we were on the ramp down to the loading area, I pulled her aside into one of the alcoves and had her do it. So you can hear the noise of the ride loading in the background:
http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view¤t=100_2603.flv
On every ride that had pictures, we started planning our picture poses. By the third day, we’d just say to each other, “What are you doing?” and we’d either coordinate it, or go “freestyle.” On our last trip through Space, we both put our fists up to our eyes like we were crying, “Waaaahhhh! Last ride!”
So, we ended our incredible DL adventure with Space Mountain times two. Quite appropriate.
As we walked through Tomorrowland, Liz commented to me, “This is just right. I had a great time, and now I’m ready to go home.” Really, we both felt that way. We’d done Disney to our heart’s content, and we were content. Even after we got home, neither of us seemed to feel that all-too-common “post trip letdown”. We just had a great time and then we were done!
We hadn’t got Dad’s souvenir yet, so we stopped briefly on Main Street and picked out a hoodie for him. It was brown and black, with a skull and crossbones and “Dead Men Tell No Tales” on it. Perfect, because he needed a new sweatshirt. His old Mickey one was older than DD10—I remember because he was wearing it in the hospital when she was born!
On our way out from Main Street, I snapped some goodbye pictures.
Main Street, appreciably busier today than the last few days!
The firemen’s band had just finished jamming in front of the firehouse…
And there was my BFF Cruella, hanging with her fire boys!
Bye, Churros cart!
Bye, Railroad!
Bye, Town Square…
And then my dear daughter walked under the tunnel for the last time, looking over her shoulder and waving good bye to our magical trip to Disneyland…
Goodbye, Disneyland. Thanks for everything.
Imagine my pride when we strolled downstairs to check out at 7:10 a.m. I really didn’t think we could make MM on our LAST day, but since we didn’t make it on our first MM, I was really pleased to be out in lots of time. The staffer at the desk checked us out promptly (and I was quietly rejoicing at the relatively low bill for 4 nights at the Ent rate!) and very kindly told us to skedaddle, he’d put our bags in the holding room for us.
We strolled over to the security tables, which weren’t open yet. It was about 7:25. We were probably 4th in line. One of the CMs, the one who was on the walkie talkie waiting for the “go” to open security, started chatting with us. He was so sweet! We were just joking around about the weather and I mentioned that I loved it, since I’d just come from the cold and wet in Seattle. “Seattle!” he moaned, “Don’t mention that, my daughter just moved there. I miss her.” Turns out she’s 25 and had a really nice house in Laguna Beach or some equally nice place, and she was in a condo on Queen Anne Hill till she finds a house. I was all impressed, and he was asking me if that was a nice neighborhood. (heck yeah, I WISH I could afford a condo on Queen Anne with a view of downtown!) He was telling us how she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and that’s partly why she moved, etc. And he was telling us about his wife of 43 years, the love of his life… and he gets out this picture of them when they were first married (they started out in Puerto Rico) and no kidding, they looked like movie stars straight out of some 50’s movie! It was so cute. Then he says, “Of course, I’m one to talk about boyfriend troubles. I first met my wife at a party at her fiance’s house.” I was shouting with laughter along with him, and just then his walkie-talkie crackled, and he declared security open, and off we went with a wave. It was a great start to a perfect day.
We were first at our gate!
Liz was so happy she started doing her Hare Hare Yukai dance, to the bemusement of the family behind us (to see the Hare Hare Yukai, see post # 20).
The gates opened promptly at 8 a.m., and we headed around through the right hand tunnels and walked briskly down Main Street. We’d decided we wanted to do Peter Pan again, and the rest of Fantasyland that we’d missed when we got there late on Tuesday.
We danced around opposite sides of the Partners statue. Most everyone else peeled off toward Tomorrowland and Nemo. So we were the first ones through the castle! For some reason, this just felt awesome. Like we owned the place. We walked through and the lady at the souvenir cart smiled at our smiling faces and said, “Welcome! You’re the first!”
We hopped into Peter Pan and were the first ones on. Yay! Liz was just bubbling. “This is awesome, we’re first! This is so cool!”
Then we went over to Dumbo; we figured we’d do it once to say we had. It was fun. Liz enjoyed making us go up and down. Next was Alice, and again, we walked straight on. Liz really liked this one; she’s currently reading the Alice books and is intrigued by the weirdnesses of it.
Next we checked the Matterhorn, wanting to ride the Tomorrowland side of it; but it was not yet running for some reason. Sooo, Liz said “How about the teacups once more, Mom? They weren’t bad!” Well, they weren’t the first time, but this time, just about when I was expecting the “teaparty is coming to an end” announcement, instead I heard the “safety rules” announcement—apparently they’d hit the wrong button or something, so we kept going for another round! Yikes! That was too much! I was pretty dizzy by the time we got off, but thankfully it wore off pretty quickly.
So we stumbled off teacups and I dizzily wove my way over to Toady. Surprisingly, it already had a bit of a line out into the small courtyard. We had to wait about 15 minutes for it. But I love Toad and we’d missed it on Tuesday, so we waited and were rewarded with Mr Toad’s car, himself. Liz was laughing as we ended up in a far warmer place than she’d been led to expect, after all the catechism classes she’s attended!
We went to Space and rode, of course. Then it was nearly 9 a.m., so we walked across the hub and headed over to get our HMH FPs, and we rode while we were there, too. Then we did PotC, the last time for my favorite ride. Every time we rode, I noticed something new.
Now it was 9:40, so we headed over to DCA for opening there. We went to rope drop and waited for a few minutes. When it dropped, a huge wave of people rolled over the main walkway and across the bridge at the Pier. We figured we’d be a ways back on Screamin’, which was our objective. Nope! Nearly everybody was headed for TSMM! So we walked right onto Screamin’ and asked for the front, and we got on the front of the second run! It. Was. Awesome! If I ever go back, I am ALWAYS going to ask for the front of Screamin’. It was soooo great to stare down that clifflike drop and scream our lungs out! Liz and I were bouncing and high-fiving each other as we exited. Liz kept saying, “That ride is the BEST!”
Next we went over and did TSMM, in the single rider line. Liz and I were in lines next to each other, and I asked the guy next to me, who was also a single rider, if he’d mind switching with her so we could ride together. No problem, so this time we got to ride together and compete. She annihilated me, so of course that pleased her! Then we went to do ToT again. Liz enjoyed it even more this time, since she knew what to expect and wasn’t scared!
Now we said goodbye to California Adventure. We strolled back over to DL, and went to pick up Space FPs. Then we went over to Blue Bayou for our lunch. We had PS’s for the first seating at 11:30. Per DISboards recommendations, I got us there at 11:15. There was already a crowd jostling around, trying to plead their way in for a table without PS’s. It was nice to walk up, give our name and our waterside table request, and be invited inside, “Come on in, Gail, we’ll seat you in a just a couple of minutes.” The waiting room area was already standing room only, so I was surprised when we were the first ones called! We were lead to a fabulous table right at the railing, overlooking a boat on our side, and the guy on the porch on the other side. We did get a little tired of the “plink plink” of the banjo by the end of our meal, like a newbie musician trying to pick out “Oh Susannah,” but the atmosphere was indisputably cool. Our waiter, Lonnie, was very prompt and courteous. Because we were first seated, and we decided very quickly what we wanted, everything happened smoothly and fast. Our drinks, rolls, Liz’s salad and my gumbo appeared very quickly.
That gumbo was GOoooooOOD!
Liz liked her wedge salad, too:
Lonnie took our picture:
And then we took pictures of each other:
Liz was enchanted. It was such a different experience, again, from the last time. Back then, she was feeling rotten. She shared a plate with her sister and hardly touched it. We were seated far back in the room, with several noisy families around us. DD6 spent the whole time whining that she didn’t like it in there, it was too “dark and creepy.” Now we were truly enjoying our experience and the bayou ambiance!
Liz was just tickled to watch all the PotC riders float by. A few of them waved at us, and before you know it, she was waving at EVERY SINGLE BOAT. She’d take a bite, wait till they got in range, and then wave with a cheerful smile. She started predicting which boatloads looked like wavers, and which looked like “non-wavers.” She saluted some, waved especially at little kids (who usually enthusiastically waved back) and even got a few people to call out things like “What’s for lunch?” and “How is the food?” Since we were just before the big drop, a couple of times she called, “Say your prayers!” Till, finally, I hushed her (the tables were starting to get crowded around us), and told her she didn’t have to wave at EVERY boat, for pete’s sake. She grinned and said unrepentantly, “Sorry, Mom,” but when another boatload came by a few minutes later that waved at us first, and I waved back, she said, “Hey! How come you get to wave and I don’t?” So then she went back to waving at every boat, again.
I had Tesoro Island Chicken. It was good. Not fabulous, but good.
Liz had the beef ribs. She hesitated, because she’d had ribs the night before at Napa, but these were really tasty, too, so she was glad she ordered them. If I’d known how good they were, I’d have had them, too.
I told her to save room because I wanted to get the cookie boat. So we didn’t finish everything on our plates. The potatoes were ok but not wonderful, although I did scarf all the white asparagus, yum! So we had a little room left for….
Mmm, this was yummy. The cookie part tasted warm and melty, like it was fresh from the oven. Again, we couldn’t finish it, but that was ok—it was all about tasting it and enjoying it, not stuffing ourselves.
The only problem with it, was that Lonnie got slammed by the hostesses with like 4 tables in a row, so he kind of disappeared on us for around 20 minutes. The couple of times I did see him, I couldn’t catch his eye. I flagged down a hostess and asked her to pass on our dessert order, and still didn’t see him for awhile… when I saw her again, she said, “Oh, Lonnie hasn’t been by yet?” and looked worried. A couple minutes later he dashed up to our table and apologized, and told us our dessert was already ordered and on the way. So that was fine. I made sure to ask for the bill and get it ready to go while we ate dessert, so we didn’t have to spend more time waiting for that. We didn’t really mind, though. We had such a nice table. So that was a great experience for our last Disneyland meal.
When we emerged, blinking into the hot midday sun in NOS, I intended to find a pressed penny machine I’d seen around the corner the day before. As I walked down the alley, who should appear but that consummate pirate himself, Jack Sparrow!
Ok, let’s just be honest here. I love my husband, and wouldn’t trade him for the world.
But Jack is HOT.
So I was standing to one side taking the above picture. There was the usual crowd of admirers around, though not too thick yet. Imagine my surprise when he wheeled around, saw me, and grabbed my elbow, and commanded in that delicious English accent, “Walk with me, love.”
Oh. My. Gosh. Sure, Jack, yes, anything you say!
We strolled a few yards down the alley together, and he paused while Liz started shooting pictures. She was laughing and loving it, since I was so obviously star struck!
Ok, people, somebody tell me how good of an actor you have to be, to shoot a molten leer like this at me sideways! Oh, he was GOOD. And I look like the biggest star-struck mom-ish frump!
It just cracks me up every time to see this goofy grin on my goofy face, while Jack shoots me this look that could melt kryptonite.
I thanked him sincerely, if somewhat breathlessly, and walked away muttering, “YEeeesssss!” Liz was laughing hysterically at me.
It really made my day! Maybe even my trip…? After I came down from cloud 9, we had some unfinished business in Adventureland. I was bound and determined to see the Billy Hill show. I’d intended to see it on Monday, but it got shuffled aside repeatedly during the week. Liz was less than enthusiastic, because she hates country music, although I tried to explain to her that it was more comedy. So, we walked into the Golden Horseshoe with just a couple of minutes to spare before the 1 p.m. show. There were no seats left. We went up to the balcony and stood behind and between a table, looking over the railing. Once the show started, I didn’t care! The Billies were so good! Liz started out with her arms crossed and her eyes rolling, but by the time it was halfway through she was laughing and clapping, too. I loved their “Dancing with the Stars” choreography!
Then we went to Haunted Mansion Holiday and said goodbye to Jack Skellington on our last trip through. We knew it all by heart by this time. Liz was saying the dialogue all the way through.
We went up to the Hunny Pot and I got a couple of treats to take home, including a tigger tail or two. Yummy. Then we took the raft over to Pirates’ Lair. We wandered about for a bit, but we weren’t all that excited about it. When we came back, we went on BTMRR.
Now it was 2:15. We had to leave the park by 3 p.m. We knew what our swan song had to be, and we had 2 FPs apiece, so we ran for Space Mountain to do it twice in a row! It was getting very busy by this time, the Utah crowd must have been in full force. The wait was around 30 minutes. But we walked right on.
During our trip, we rode this ride at least 11 times for sure, maybe more. Liz had the safety spiel memorized and was chanting it. So when we were on the ramp down to the loading area, I pulled her aside into one of the alcoves and had her do it. So you can hear the noise of the ride loading in the background:
http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view¤t=100_2603.flv
On every ride that had pictures, we started planning our picture poses. By the third day, we’d just say to each other, “What are you doing?” and we’d either coordinate it, or go “freestyle.” On our last trip through Space, we both put our fists up to our eyes like we were crying, “Waaaahhhh! Last ride!”
So, we ended our incredible DL adventure with Space Mountain times two. Quite appropriate.
As we walked through Tomorrowland, Liz commented to me, “This is just right. I had a great time, and now I’m ready to go home.” Really, we both felt that way. We’d done Disney to our heart’s content, and we were content. Even after we got home, neither of us seemed to feel that all-too-common “post trip letdown”. We just had a great time and then we were done!
We hadn’t got Dad’s souvenir yet, so we stopped briefly on Main Street and picked out a hoodie for him. It was brown and black, with a skull and crossbones and “Dead Men Tell No Tales” on it. Perfect, because he needed a new sweatshirt. His old Mickey one was older than DD10—I remember because he was wearing it in the hospital when she was born!
On our way out from Main Street, I snapped some goodbye pictures.
Main Street, appreciably busier today than the last few days!
The firemen’s band had just finished jamming in front of the firehouse…
And there was my BFF Cruella, hanging with her fire boys!
Bye, Churros cart!
Bye, Railroad!
Bye, Town Square…
And then my dear daughter walked under the tunnel for the last time, looking over her shoulder and waving good bye to our magical trip to Disneyland…
Goodbye, Disneyland. Thanks for everything.
Just because I was very focused on noting things like where we went, what we did... special moments... because I knew I'd want to report it back here. I kept a small notebook with our touring plan in it, and noted what we actually did, and when we deviated. Sometimes I jotted down a few phrases about the atmosphere, how I was feeling at the time. The result is that I was able to re-live it as I wrote this TR, get some perspective on it, and realize how truly blessed I am to be able to do such a trip with my sweet girl. 
