Thanksgiving with Mickey again...a November 2016 TRIP REPORT! (DONE)

[ariane37]

Dina I just saw on FB and came here to see.....I am so sorry. For you, the kids, your dad and brother, everyone. I know this means nothing now but I truly hope you believe she's in a better place. I lost my dad 18 years ago and it's the worst thing ever so I know right now there's nothing anyone can say to take away the pain. My thoughts are with you

 

[piglet1979]

I am so sorry. My thoughts are with all of you.

 

[kittylady1972]

Dina I just saw on FB and came here to see.....I am so sorry. For you, the kids, your dad and brother, everyone. I know this means nothing now but I truly hope you believe she's in a better place. I lost my dad 18 years ago and it's the worst thing ever so I know right now there's nothing anyone can say to take away the pain. My thoughts are with you

Thanks so much. Yes we all know we will most likely outlive our parents but that doesn't make it easier. I just want to make sure my dad is okay right now as this was the love of his life and he adored her and took such great care of her. Keeping him busy this week has helped I guess but the next two days with the visitation and funeral are going to be rough I know...for all of us.

I am so sorry. My thoughts are with all of you.

Thank you so much.

 

[ariane37]

thinking of you

 

[kittylady1972]

thinking of you

Thank you so much.

I'm doing pretty well overall. Every now and then things hit me and I can't stop the tears. My youngest son also is taking things quite hard. I hate to see my kids so upset and I worry what's going to happen when they have to go through this all over again sooner rather than later with their other grandmother. I spent the last week or so doing my best to stay strong for my dad. I worry about him more than anything but I know in my heart he'll be fine...in time.

I'm trying to look ahead and think about our May plans. I can't wait to stay at Beach Club Villas again. The kids are going to love it there. I can't wait to see the new Pandora stuff at Animal Kingdom. I can't wait until next month when I can book our rides. I'm trying to avoid messing with our ADRs too much.

 

[piglet1979]

I am glad to hear you guys are doing ok. I have been thinking about you guys this past week.

 

[kittylady1972]

So with the official news of the opening of Avatarland for Memorial Day Weekend...I can only imagine how crowded AK is going to be that weekend. I think at this point we may just have to delay visiting that park until Tuesday. Of course, the park is now open until 11pm every night that weekend so maybe we can just plan to hit it for the last few hours of the night.

I am so excited about staying at Beach Club Villas again. The kids really don't remember it as it was May 2009 when they last stayed there and even then I think we were only there for ONE night. I'm excited that we have a lunch/dinner reservation for Beaches and Cream. I'm just really looking forward to this trip more than anything.

I've added several ADRs but still not sure which ones will stick. The family is insisting on Chef Mickey but that cost is just so crazy. I've decided to move it from a breakfast to a brunch because at least then perhaps we can consider it lunch and dinner and save money on other food. I never feel like I get my money's worth for breakfast so I'd rather pay a little more for lunch/dinner and get some real food out of it.

Life has resumed for me and has been busier than ever, but hopefully one of these days I'll get around to our next TR installment!

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok so I did find some additional photos from our day at Hollywood Studios. This one is a favorite...the boys LOVE Buzz and Woody!

And I don't know if I mentioned my 4yo did ride Tower of Terror with us that evening. He wasn't thrilled about it as you can see here:

That's us all across the back row! A little closer (that serious look on my 4yo nephew's face):

And on another note, while going through all of my mom's photos for her funeral service, I came across these gems:

My very first trip to Walt Disney world. My brother was probably 3 or 4 at the time, making me 6 or 7 and I'm guessing we are happily enjoying dessert here.

AND my first time riding Space Mountain:

That's me on the center right, in front of my dad with my brother in front of me posing. I'm sure mom didn't ride it...she never liked coasters. My brother probably didn't ride it either.

Loved seeing these!

 

[angryduck71]

Don't forget I have a ressie for you Sunday night of your next trip!

 

[ariane37]

So with the official news of the opening of Avatarland for Memorial Day Weekend...I can only imagine how crowded AK is going to be that weekend.

I'm so mad we miss it by 5 days but on the other hand, the craziness should have calmed down a bit by the time we see it in Aug.

I am so excited about staying at Beach Club Villas again. The kids really don't remember it as it was May 2009 when they last stayed there and even then I think we were only there for ONE night.

Awesome! Something else to look forward to on your vacation

The family is insisting on Chef Mickey but that cost is just so crazy. I've decided to move it from a breakfast to a brunch because at least then perhaps we can consider it lunch and dinner and save money on other food. I never feel like I get my money's worth for breakfast so I'd rather pay a little more for lunch/dinner and get some real food out of it.

That sounds like a good idea doing brunch. It's been years since we've done CM and they didn't have brunch then but I know it's $$.

Life has resumed for me and has been busier than ever,

Glad you're getting back in the swing of things, I know it's hard

 

[kittylady1972]

Don't forget I have a ressie for you Sunday night of your next trip!

Don't worry...I've got that on my schedule too! I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[kittylady1972]

I'm so mad we miss it by 5 days but on the other hand, the craziness should have calmed down a bit by the time we see it in Aug.
That sounds like a good idea doing brunch. It's been years since we've done CM and they didn't have brunch then but I know it's $$.
Glad you're getting back in the swing of things, I know it's hard

Believe me, I'm not really happy about the likely craziness at Animal Kingdom that weekend...as well as the other parks. Hmmm...we plan a return in August as well...maybe we can meet up then??

Brunch at CM should allow us to at least get some real food (meat!) at least and hopefully fill up a bit. Maybe that will just be our ONE meal of the day!

Thanks...I have mostly good days, lots of people offering condolences and I'm able to thank them and talk about things without getting too upset. Of course I posted a photo on FB this morning, my SIL posted on it, and I cried a bit. I do miss her.

 

[kittylady1972]

Sometimes it's just nice to have a place to just let it all out.

February is not my friend right now.

Today I attended the funeral of a good friend of mine's husband's mom. This is a friend who is more like a family member to me, and while I know she has had her difference with her MIL, it was her family. Her husband is an only child and he lost his dad about 10 years ago...in fact it was 10 years to the day on Feb. 8th that he lost his dad...a day shy of his 70th birthday. On Feb. 9th, his dad's birthday (and coincidentally my dad's birthday as well) his mom passed unexpectedly. So my husband and I attended the funeral mass, and then instead of heading to the cemetery we went to the house to setup the food for everybody for afterwards. It was a long and tiring day but I wouldn't have it any other way to be there for my friend, just as I was when her mom passed two years ago and she was for me just over a week ago for my mom's funeral.

In other news, because today's events were quite a distance from our home, we knew the chances of getting back to pick up the kids from school today were going to be tough. DH and I were going to drive two cars, and then last night I threw out the idea of letting our 16yo drive them all to school and back instead. This was a scary thing to consider...but we did it. Big deal to us.

Then my dad calls me at home this evening. He calls to tell me he just had some bloodwork done recently and he got a call from his doctor a few days ago saying to call her back urgently due to the results. He calls...they don't know what he's talking about...somebody finally calls him back today. They want him to have his bloodwork done again and to stop taking one of his meds for cholesterol. He doesn't recall what they said the condition was that was so urgent. He says he feels fine. There is a part of me trying not to worry about him. I am hoping he'll hear back about the retest and he says he sees his doctor on Wednesday.

This weekend is a big celebration here...my husband's parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday. The 7 of us are going out to dinner. This will most likely be the last wedding anniversary they have together so it's a bit bittersweet.

I'm ready for all happy stuff right now in a big big way. At the repast today, I was talking to my friend and her family (her dad and sister) and his dad mentioned wanting to go to Walt Disney World. Her sister mentioned the same...and taking her 16yo son as well. We talked about our plans for October and we're now thinking they will all join us. We are looking forward to that and can't wait to plan that trip with them.

 

[kittylady1972]

WILD ANIMAL WEDNESDAY

So we had two days left of vacation and still one more park to visit. Here was my original Wednesday plan:

WEDNESDAY Nov. 23rd: This is our Animal Kingdom day and I have a late breakfast (more like brunch) at Tusker House. So I hope we can arrive early at AK and do the safari at least and maybe one or two other rides and/or shows before brunch. I have booked Tusker House for meals for us SEVERAL times on prior trips and I have yet to make it there. I think this one is a priority to keep. After we eat, more time at the park and hopefully catch Finding Nemo and Lion King shows. I have FPs for this day starting after 3pm at EPCOT - that one is Turtle Talk. If we've already managed to see that, then we would need to get to EPCOT no later than 4pm for our next FP which is for Frozen Ever After and we also have one for Spaceship Earth, probably not needed for this late in the day but it's something to have on hold. Older kids may want to do Test Track since I don't have a FP booked for that one at all this trip. We have dinner at Kona Cafe this evening, which I'd like to keep as it's another potential time to do a 70th birthday celebration for my mom.

We were all up early enough to have a quick breakfast in the room I believe. Then we headed to the bus stop. I think this was the morning when the time for the bus arrival just kept increasing. When we finally DID catch a bus...it was PACKED.

However I couldn't help snapping this photo of the seats to my right where a guy had his STUFF sitting in it. Despite a packed bus. Standing room only. Unbelievable. Sometimes towards the middle of what ended up being a long bus ride he did end up asking if I wanted to sit. I declined. I will say we had a VERY entertaining bus ride and our driver was fantastic, kept us entertained the entire way. We took what seemed like a backstage road into the park that I don't ever recall also. It was a crazy ride but the bus driver made it easier.

Finally arrived at the park pretty close to park opening. We did some photos outside at the tree and then headed inside the park.

First order of business was Expedition Everest. For some reason the photo with DH and I did not turn out. Here are the kids:

And my brother and family (minus the little one who stayed behind with us when we child swapped because he wasn't big enough...and he wasn't happy)

My brother hates rides and he was miserable the rest of the day after this. Still we trudge onward. I think we headed into Dinoland next. The little ones rode Triceratops Spin while DH and the two boys got in line to ride Primeval Whirl.

After 2 or 3 rides on TS with no wait, we took the little boys over to the Boneyard to play for a while as we waited for the rest of the crew to ride PW.

Such a great place for kids to work off energy and adults to sit!

It was a very nice day at AK.

We were now approaching our 10:45am reservation at Tusker House. I had almost cancelled this one but my brother really wanted to do it. I have made ADRs at TH about 3 or 4 times on previous trips and always cancelled. So as much as I wanted to save money, I was looking forward to this meal.

It didn't disappoint. It may have helped that my SIL asked if they could make mimosas out of the jamba juice they served us...and I didn't want her to drink alone!

I have nothing but good things to say about this meal. The food and the service and the characters were all great!

We managed to get breakfast foods and the changeover to lunch, which was great. I wish I wasn't so full from breakfast foods and could have had more of the lunch foods. It was all good.

So with no FPs and now close to noon we wanted to to a few other things. Since everybody could do the safari, we headed there. I think the wait was over an hour...but what else could we do. It was a very long wait for sure but at least our bellies were full.

And the boys had a stroller:

We eventually made it on the ride which was fun as always.

A selfie near the tree:

I think we did some shopping for a bit, caught It's Tough to be a Bug, and then had some ice cream. It was approaching 2pm or so when this was taken...and we had to be at EPCOT no later than 4pm or so for our FP+ reservation for Frozen Ever After.

Sadly we didn't catch ANY of the shows I wanted to see. It's unfortunate as I think the boys would have loved them. However Frozen ride was something I knew we only had one shot to ride...so we had to head there next.

We did take some time to do some family shots the tree outside the park before leaving:

So we caught a bus over to EPCOT.

 

[kittylady1972]

Sorry for the lack of updates...been updating my OTHER PTR (see siggy link) with the latest developments on those trips.

I really have only one more day here for the most part to update...and it was probably the BEST day of the whole trip...Thanksgiving Day! Last days are always the sad ones but I feel like this one really did work out well. There will be a small post about Friday, but that was mostly our drive home and not much to talk about there.

With any luck I'll get to it soon!

 

[kittylady1972]

WILD ANIMAL WEDNESDAY CONT'D

So when we last left, we had a pretty full Wednesday at Animal Kingdom Park but we had some rides to complete over at EPCOT. Ok really there was ONE big ride to do here...one new for all of us and the ONLY time I could snag a FP+ for...Frozen Ever After. Apparently the boys are HUGE Frozen fans...so this would be fun for them. Plus we were interested to see it as well, having been fans of Maelstrom.

First we had to get some photos at the front of the park:

Since we had some time, we headed to Mexico first and figured we'd ride the ride there, since the littlest one was a big fan of Donald. The adults wanted adult beverages as well. So we waited for them to get those and had the kids explore the market there:

Doesn't everybody take this photo at least once while visiting here?

More hats:

We occupied the kids further here, and then TEARS ensued when we tried to tear them away before the finished coloring their bears...OOPS!

On the ride:

At some point we also visited Imagination, but that may have been after Frozen...can't recall. So we were surprised to discover we had a photo taken on the Frozen Ever After Ride:

After these 3 rides, we headed out to catch the MONORAIL over to the Polynesian as we had an ADR for Kona Cafe!

Dinner was good as usual. I recall not being terribly hungry, but I got a salad and sticky wings (my favorite there) and we all had a pretty nice meal. The server left a lot to be desired, I do remember that. He was slow and just not very good at all. I was a bit frustrated with him...and this comes from my own experience YEARS ago as a server. I don't tolerate much.

We headed back to the resort after dinner because we wanted to get to bed early. I warned everybody...the next day was THANKSGIVING and I wanted to be ready to board at bus at 7AM! My brother asked my SIL if I was kidding...and she said "I don't think so". After slacking most of the week on leaving, and not really worrying about rope drop, I knew this would a be crowded day and if we wanted to accomplish what we wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom we needed to hit the ground running early!

Up next: THANKSGIVING WITH MICKEY!

 

[kittylady1972]

THANKSGIVING WITH MICKEY

So we've reached our final day of the trip, and this would be the first time of our trip that we would truly attempt rope drop. We woke up and got ready for our day QUICKLY! Getting a 2yo and 4yo boy out of the house early in the morning isn't easy...but we were determined. I wanted to catch a bus close to 7am and I think we were out the door pretty close to that time.

Our building at SSR was basically between two bus stops. While our room was closest to one stop, in the morning this was the SECOND pickup stop so we always aimed for the stop that was further away from our room to give us a better chance of getting a seat in the morning. Why is this important right now you ask? Because as we walked out of our building that morning, and my two boys were out of the building before us, they headed to that 1st bus stop. However as we glanced over we saw that a MK bus was pulling away from that stop...and heading to the second stop and we wanted ON THAT BUS so we all started RUNNING to the 2nd bus stop to catch that MK bus and get to the parks. I'm pretty sure even my brother and SIL were leaving their two young boys BEHIND to catch that bus (so proud!) but DH picked up the 2yo boy and ran with him. Meanwhile there was no sign of OUR two boys...who were on their way to the 1st stop. As we rushed and ended up catching he bus we realized...yes...OUR two boys were not on the bus of course. They were still waiting at the earlier stop so what did we do of course? On this lovely Thanksgiving day, a day about family....we stayed on that bus and called our two boys to tell them...we are on our way to MK and catch the next bus and meet us there!

It's a good thing the boys are pro at navigating the Disney parks system I guess!

Needless to say, another MK bus was not far behind and we basically arrived at the bus stop at the MK almost at the same time so they caught up with us very quickly and we were on our way through the security gates. We even managed to catch the opening show..we were that early and it was great to see it, not knowing it would be going away not too long after that!

Once through the gates, my brother got the boys a stroller and we headed down Main Street and on our way to FANTASYLAND!!! We had some rides left here and I couldn't wait to show everybody the big reason to arrive so early...a VERY empty Fantasyland!!

And by just after 8am we were riding Peter Pan!!! So great, boys loved it of course!

What was next...well we had to head back towards Tomorrowland and my SIL needed COFFEE!!! First though a ride on these:

Always a favorite!

Next was some food since we needed some and the kids didn't need coffee...but they did need these:

And what else completes breakfast on this great morning?

Popcorn of course! This refillable popcorn bucket was such a lifesaver! My dad bought it on the one day he was in the parks with us and we carried everywhere and took advantage of the free refills! It was great!

Yep here we are with an empty bucket!

With our bellies full, we needed something to ride. I think we sent my brother and the little boys and one of the bigger kids off to ride the Astro Orbiter! I think actually while we were eating the first bucket of popcorn my daughter was off riding that with them.

Next up...we noticed Buzz Lightyear had a 30 minute posted wait..which seemed like it may move quickly.

It didn't...but we had opportunities to eat more popcorn...and take more photos!




The boy cousins:

More of us:

I believe next up was our 7DMT FP+ reservation so we headed there next.

This is by FAR my favorite ride photo:

So some of us are happy...and some of us are not...but THIS is pure joy:

The two year old next to his mom with his hands higher than anybody! He just LOVED this ride, the only "real" coaster he could do (besides Barnstormer) for this trip but next time for sure he'll be ready for everything!

When the ride ended...he cried and the people on the ride thought he hated it. Nope...he was sad because he had to get OFF the ride!!

Next up was another ride we had yet to do...Little Mermaid time!

In line:

and a ride photo:

We also had a Space Mountain reservation, and the 4yo would finally get to ride this one.

How do you think he did?

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[DMGeurts]

I am just so far behind here!

I don't think we are friends on FB? I am so very sorry that I didn't know about your mom, due to not checking in here... Sending you much love and hugs!

It seems like you have had a lot of loss in your life lately...

Now that my TR is over - I am trying to take the time to catch up on all of my Dis friends updates... Sadly - I'll likely only have time to catch up on the most recent ones. I will try to do better in the future.

I love all of your Epcot pictures! It looks like everyone enjoyed the activities... So, how did you like the new Frozen ride? You picture turned out great!

I totally agree - getting everyone at the bus as early as possible on TG day is a necessity!

Hahaha about making your boys take the next MK bus... I would have done the same thing.

What a wonderful morning and an EMPTY Fantasyland photo!!! So cool!

I just loved the 7DMT photo too! HOw cute!!!

It looks like a great day was had!

D~

 

[kittylady1972]

I am just so far behind here!

I don't think we are friends on FB? I am so very sorry that I didn't know about your mom, due to not checking in here... Sending you much love and hugs!

It seems like you have had a lot of loss in your life lately...

Now that my TR is over - I am trying to take the time to catch up on all of my Dis friends updates... Sadly - I'll likely only have time to catch up on the most recent ones. I will try to do better in the future.

I love all of your Epcot pictures! It looks like everyone enjoyed the activities... So, how did you like the new Frozen ride? You picture turned out great!

I totally agree - getting everyone at the bus as early as possible on TG day is a necessity!

Hahaha about making your boys take the next MK bus... I would have done the same thing.

What a wonderful morning and an EMPTY Fantasyland photo!!! So cool!

I just loved the 7DMT photo too! HOw cute!!!

It looks like a great day was had!

D~

Well hello there D.... nice to see you here!

No worries about not knowing my heartbreaking news about my mom. I think I have your business as my FB "friend" but you are welcome to add me..."".

We are going through a lot right now. My mom was pretty unexpected. We bought our Disney APs in November because the thought was we knew my husband's mom was sick and most likely wouldn't last the year, and we knew we'd need to have some happy memories and probably would take my FIL with us on one of our future trips...had no intention of losing my mom as well. So that's the reason for my other PTR linked in my siggy...as I plan out those future trips.

Glad you liked the photos...we did have a GREAT first day at EPCOT and yes for our 2nd time to EPCOT we really really enjoyed the new Frozen ride. I'm hoping to get a FP for it for May for sure!

Good to know I'm not the only "Disney" mom who would leave her kids behind! Of course, it would have been a different story if I didn't know that they knew how to navigate the Disney transportation system already.

We honestly had a super trip and for my nephews' first Disney trip I can't say I would have done much differently. We are hoping to return with them again maybe in another year or so because the littlest one is going to LOVE being able to ride the bigger coasters and he was ALMOST there for this trip!

Thanks for stopping by here and don't be a stranger!

 

[kittylady1972]

THANKSGIVING WITH MICKEY CONTINUED

Sorry to leave you hanging like that. When we last left, we were approaching Space Mountain. Now earlier in the trip, the girls had all ridden this one, but now we had FPs and everybody else would ride...except my brother (who really doesn't like coasters) and my youngest nephew. So we were off to space!

And here is how that went:

I think my SIL was worried about her son falling out...or maybe she was just comforting him!

And here's me looking like I weigh about 200 pounds:

Anyway I think my nephew was okay with it overall, but was in no hurry to ride it again.

From here I believe we made our way over towards New Fantasyland. Actually we may have done SM first, and THEN Little Mermaid based on my photo order so my mistake.

That makes sense because I'm pretty sure we did Little Mermaid, then headed over to Storybook Circus to catch the train. The boys LOVE trains so that was a must do for us!

My SIL took a great selfie of all of us on the train...too bad I don't seem to have it anywhere.

Anyway I can't recall if we did a full circuit, but we may have just taken it over to the Splash Mountain area and gotten off there because our next and last FP for the trip was BTMRR!

At some point as you can see my SIL had my newphew's fact painted...like Buzz Lightyear...so definitely sometime after SM and before BTMRR! I think he enjoyed this ride a lot more.

I think we may have considered a ride on Pirates but the line was too long? Actually I feel like everybody else DID ride Pirates as perhaps the last ride that day...ah yes I remember now. While at the gift shop at SM, we allowed the kids to each order a special MagicBand and they would take a while for them to be completed. We walked everybody else over to Pirates and had them all ride while DH and myself headed back to SM gift shop to pick up the MagicBands. We eventually met back up with them right outside the Pirates ride...and then it was time to head out and say goodbye to Magic Kingdom...and take a few last photos there:

Photos done, we headed to our bus stop:

And on a side note...why are there no bathrooms near the bus stops? I only ask because I recall that as we waited for a bus...the 4yo really needed to use the bathroom but our bus was arriving and we had a dinner reservation to make. Let's just see my SIL had to take him somewhere as private as possible near the bus stop to take care of things and leave it at that.

Where was our next stop?

This was where we had Thanksgiving dinner in 2014 and loved it. I had so been looking forward to sharing this with my mom and dad since the last Thanksgiving Dinner we had in Disney with them...was at the Concourse Steakhouse in 2007 I think...and it was bad.

Boma just does Thanksgiving right!


Food porn:

And dessert:

It was delicious and since we had a somewhat early reservation, we had some time to wander the lobby and gift shop.

We headed back to our resort...let's see how did we do that? Oh yes...I remember now...I think the boys went out first and decided to catch a bus to maybe EPCOT and then they would transfer to an SSR bus? I think we caught the very first bus we saw...but I don't remember only that the boys had theirs first...and did the same. It may have been another park but that memory is gone. Either way, a bus transfer was involved of course but it was fine. Soon we were back at SSR with some time to kill. We did most of our packing since we'd have to leave the next day. However it was a nice night...and the pool was heated and we had yet to use it....so....

My SIL put the boys (and herself) in swimsuits and my daughter also put on hers and we headed to the pool!

The boys loved the slide and I just sat back on my lounge chair and watched, happy that my kids have reached an age where I don't need to get into the pool with them anymore and I can watch from the sidelines!

It was hard to get them out of the pool, but I think we stayed about an hour or so and let them enjoy it and then headed back to the room.

It was approaching 8pm...and my SIL was talking about having not ridden Rock N'Roller Coaster...and we were VERY close to the HS park which still had another hour or so until closing time.

There were no FPs available. However we were up for the challenge...and so another GIRLS NIGHT OUT!

My SIL handed the little boys over to their dad to dress for bed...and we grabbed our ears and the keys to our SUV (this was the first time all trip we had driven to a park...usually we drive to them all of the time when it's just the five of us) and we headed out to Hollywood Studios.

It was crazy...I ended up having to loop the parking lot a second time because I didn't find a spot in the first row I turned down and of course that meant I would have to go the wrong way...or leave the park and come back in...which I did. Finally we parked and BOOKED it to the entrance. We had hardly anything with us, no bags to weigh us down and I realized I didn't even have my cell phone. Had I left it in the car? Had I dropped it while running in the parking lot to catch the tram? Who knows...we had no time to waste!

And of course, what would happen but all THREE of us get motioned over for the "random" security check...and we have to head over and quickly empty our pockets and run through the metal detectors. Don't they know we are on a MISSION?

First stop...Rock N Roller Coaster...which showed a 70+ minute wait and the line sure looked that way. We only had one hour and we also wanted to do TOT. So we got in the Single Rider Line hoping it would move more quickly as it was shorter. So we waited...and we chatted other people also doing the same thing. And after a while we happened to glance down to look at the regular line below us...and it was GONE!!! WHAT??? And then it got crazy as we headed back out of the line, down the ramp, back into the "REGULAR" queue which had no line, and into the building where we had a much shorter wait for sure. So strange.

Soon we were off:

Ride one of two done!

Now it was close to closing and time to finish off the trip with Tower of Terror again. We walked fast/ran over there where we had a few minutes to spare and got into line and soon our mission was complete:

This is success!!!

This would end our night, our park visits, our trip overall for the most part.

We headed out of the park, walking through some gifts shops on the way and also glancing to watch the new evening show a bit. And then we had ONE LAST RIDE!

We were one of the few on the tram, and we ended up in the very back. As the tram driver headed to the parking lot, he dropped most people off except for the 3 of us and maybe 5 others towards the front. As he approached the end where they make a U-turn, and the announcer mentioned it being our last ride of the night, the three of us held our hands up in the air. The tram driver definitely hit the gas and we made the U-turn at what I'm sure was a less-than-acceptable rate of speed according to Disney standards...and it was GREAT! We screamed with delight...and then got off and walked back to our car and headed back to the resort. One last sleep in Disney would soon be here.