Turn the Bus Around and Take Us Back to Disney! *COMPLETED*

[Jackiemarie21]

Looks like a fun last morning! Pirates league looks so fun! We really liked Chef Mickey's breakfast too! I thought the food was great and the character interaction was excellent!
I loved the picture of Maddie with her arms out she looked like she was really having a great time!

 

[Denovagirl]

Can't believe you all got to cm at 7:10! Way to go family! I had to laugh at the bowl of fruit loops (which we ate this morning for breakfast ), but whatever makes you happy on vacation, right?

We did the pirates league too!! We LOVED it and Olivia makes an adorable--I mean, totally scary--pirate! Hannah's makeup didn't last all day either unlike that face that never comes off. I was sort of glad...

And Maddie is too cute with her eyepatch!

Me too! And yea, to each their own on vacation I guess! Lol! Olivias makeup bandanna and everything was gone within like an hour and a half or two...there was literally no sign of her ever being a pirate by lunch...which kinda bummed me out... it was fun though and she got lots of goodies to bring home so I guess its worth it

Looks like a fun last morning! Pirates league looks so fun! We really liked Chef Mickey's breakfast too! I thought the food was great and the character interaction was excellent!
I loved the picture of Maddie with her arms out she looked like she was really having a great time!

Yea, I loved Chef Mickeys! I would go again this time but I think were gonna try Crystal Palace...I dont care for Pooh characters as much, but at least we can get in the park early! Which I do like! Maddie had a blast with that meal!

 

[Denovagirl]

Next we wondered around Adventureland, doing a few more rides and browsing around before crossing into Frontierland and having another go-round on Splash Mountain! We actually got a decent picture this time!



I believe we did a few more rides in that area…as you know I’ve lost my notes, so I don’t recall the exact order of things, but I know after some rides part of the group wanted to check out Tom Sawyers island…Margo, the girls and I weren’t really interested so off they went and we decided to give Country Bear Jamboree a go since it was about to start!



It was definitely cute enough, and the girls loved it! After the show the group was still on the island so we relaxed a little on the docks overlooking TSI… Margo snapped some great shots of the riverboat while she let me have a rest in her wheelchair for a minute!









Then we finally saw our family lining up to catch a raft back to us, so we took some pics of them!



We were just hanging out waiting for the very SLOW process of catching a raft when all of a sudden a Country Bear dance party started up!!











Some major Pixie Dust was happening!

Oh, and as you can see, we hadn’t even made it very far and already Olivia’s pirate look was coming undone… just an fyi, though I loved the experience it wasn’t as “lasting.” The bandanna, earring and eye patch wouldn't stay on, especially during rides and the makeup mostly sweated off, aside from the eyeliner, even that jewel thing on her face ended up coming off, a couple hours after PL there was no evidence she was ever a pirate!

By the time all this was said and done it was going on 11:30ish, so we all started to feel a little hungry, after all our breakfast was at 7:10!! So we decided to try Pecos Bills, I’d heard about the taco salads and that seemed like a good plan!

Man! Is that place huge! The seating was surprisingly full so we had to eat all the way in this very back room.

The taco salads were pretty cool! When you order they just give you the shell with meat in it, and then you visit the fixin’s bar, where they had grilled onions (yum), lettuce, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, shredded cheese, sour cream, and nacho cheese! I was actually pretty impressed by it! We also ordered some chili cheese fries, and our dessert was those little Disney cakes in the cups, nothing spectacular.







Sorry about the bad photos, guess we were hungry and forgot to snap a pre-eating photo!!

Coming up after lunch, The One With the Sword!


​

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

That's okay, even the half eaten food pics make me hungry for Disney food

 

[Denovagirl]

After lunch we made our way towards Fantasyland again. We stopped along the way to do some classics again, like It’s A Small World….



Maddie just LOVED that ride, she was so infatuated with all the sights and sounds!!

We hadn’t had a chance to ride Price Charming’s Regal Carousel yet, it was under refurb at the beginning of our trip, but it was open this day so we finally took a spin on that!





I just love the girls giant smiles they had this entire ride and most the rides, heck most the trip! Those are the smiled parents live for! That, my friends is EXACTLY why I pay to go to Disney, there’s just nothing like seeing your kids light up like this. It melts my heart.

We also got a chance to try to pull the sword from the stone, because there was no one around!!



This is my FAVORITE photo of my three loves from the trip. I think its soooo funny that even Maddie grabbed the sword and struck a pose! How cute is my family, y’all?!?!?!

Then we continued our way around Fantasyland, where Chris popped into Gaston’s to grab the infamous La Fou’s Brew. It’s good, but SWEET! The girls loved it!



We stopped to do VoTLM again before taking another spin on Dumbo. It was pretty hot out, so we opted to go wait in the Big Top, even though there wasn’t really a line and just let the kids play for a bit! We also posed with the Dumbo out front!



This play area is too cool!! I loved it! Great dim lighting and cool for a breather, that’s for sure!











When we were ready, we hopped on our flying elephant..



Bye Dumbo! See you next year!

Next was another spin on the Teacups!





And then we headed off towards Tomorrowland!

Our first stop was the Speedway… the boys didn’t want to ride so us girls hopped in line. While we waited Chris helped himself to a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich!




This was so fun! Most car rides like this I’ve done you are not actually controlling the car…this one you do! Even the speed! How neat! And, they let the kids drive! Here at home we have a six flags, and they don’t let Olivia “drive” due to her height, but it’s not even really controlled by the driver so the whole thing is ridiculous. Boo six flags, yay Disney!











Love that smile again, with the wind blowing through her hair! All these cars need is a radio so we can jam to “Life is a Highway” or something! The track is also pretty long!

After this the family was starting to get pretty worn out. It had been a long week and we were all running out of steam. We talked about leaving the park early but first I wanted to ride the Astro Orbitor.

Chris, the girls and I went, the rest of the fam hung back to rest on a bench. I have to say…the line wasn’t long at all, but the line still takes quite a while for this ride. I guess it’s the whole elevator thing, what a pain. BUT the ride was pretty neat, it went a lot faster than I was expecting and Chris was quite surprised that babies could ride this, he was holding onto her for dear life! Hahahah!!





While we had been waiting in line for the AO I had an epiphany…this was my last day in Disney World for who knows how long, why on earth would I want to leave a second sooner than I had too??? Chris and I decided that we would stay, just the four of us and close out the night. Somehow, waiting in that line gave us our second wind, and afterwards we parted ways with the extended family and we continued on our quest for fun!!!

Next, the one with the four of us!


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[STLMickeyMom]

how brave is Olivia on splash mountain with her hands up! she looks like she is having a blast! and she looks so cute dancing with the bears! that was a fun surprise!

oooooh, that taco salad! we ate there too and I had the same thing. I was in love with it. how can a taco salad taste so delicious?!? Disney magic, I guess!

how adorable are the girls on the carousel? I love maddie's grin!

and the sword in the stone picture!!! that needs to go in a frame! maddie's little hand on there is too precious!

i'm so jealous you got to try lefou's brew and do the astro orbiter! gaston's was so crowded I couldn't get in the door and the line for orbiter was always too long....next time....

Olivia looks pretty comfortable driving that car! watch out mom--16 will be here before you know it!

 

[Denovagirl]

After saying goodnight to grandparents we decided to head back towards Main Street USA for some shopping!!

Along our way we bumped into a lonely PP Photo with no line, so we decided to take a few more castle pics! It worked out well because these were the ONLY photos of the four of us with the castle!! Maddie was always sleeping before or we had the whole group!! FYI- this was my Christmas card photo this year too!





After our photo session we took our time browsing around Main Street. There is so much to see there, it must be impossible to see it all!!

By the time we made it up near Town Hall a parade started so we watched it go by us!





I didn’t snap many pictures, but it was pretty fun!

Afterwards we stopped by Casey’s Corner and grabbed a meal. We walked over to the vacant Tomorrowland Terrace seating area to enjoy it. Chris got the BBQ Hotdog, with pulled pork and coleslaw on top, he said it was great. I got the chili cheese dog, which was MESSY! The fries were fantastic here! For dessert Chris got cracker jacks and I got cotton candy. The kiddos split with us!





About this time I realized the last M&G of the day for Merida was over! She was the only other Princess on our list we needed to see so we ran over there as fast as we could, sadly the line was already closed. Now, I’m not too proud to beg, especially on the last day of our trip. And surprisingly, it worked! The CM took pity on us and allowed us in!!

While we waited a group that was in front of us asked us to go ahead of them because they wanted to be last. Come to find out it was a small group of girls doing the DCP. One girl and I chatted for a while in line and I asked what her job was, she said she was a character actress. Well naturally my next question was which characters was she…being the good CM she was, she simply said “Well I am VERY close friend with the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as well as Winnie the Pooh!” How cute was she?!? I also asked her if boys were sometimes in the girls characters… she said yes! I found this quite amusing as I just can’t imagine a guy in say a Minnie Mouse costume or something! LoL!

Finally it was our turn, and the girls got to meet THE BEST MERIDA! This girl was GREAT! Seriously, look at these expressions, she had us cracking up!













So glad we got to meet her!!

We were pretty happy campers after that!! It was getting later and we wanted to find a good spot for Wishes, so we decided just one more ride before we settled down! We asked Olivia what she wanted to ride and she picked Little Mermaid again, so we rode it. How funny, we started and ended our trip with riding the VoTLM! Such a cute ride!

Finally we made our way back to the bridge that runs from the castle area to the Tommorwland area and plopped down on a bench area right under the Tomorrowland sign! I’d heard this was a great spot because Tink flies right over you, and we didn’t get to see Tink during the last Wishes because we were inside the Castle eating, so this was a must do for us!



While we waited Chris ran over to Adventureland to grab another Dole Whip.



First we watched the gorgeous Celebrate a Dream projection show thing on the castle. The, finally, after a lot of waiting we got to see what we’d been waiting for… Wishes!!!

I took no photos of this show because I had decided while sitting there with my family to just BE and fully enjoy our last moments in the park together. No worrying about grabbing photos, just loving each other’s company and fully taking in all the magic.

This was EXACTLY how I’d envisioned us ending our trip to Disney, by watching Wishes together on our last night and making a wish to come back again soon! It was a magical evening. Maddie fell asleep during the show, but Olivia stayed awake through it all, and you should have seen and heard her gasp when she saw Tinkerbell fly over her head. I think she was truly and utterly amazed at the magic. I am so glad she got to experience it.

The only downside to staying until closing was the crowds, we were stuck in a big one to leave and it did take a while to board a bus, and the kids both fell asleep at that point, which was hard to carry them and the stroller with just the two of us, but it all worked out and we would do it over again to have the magical evening we did!

When we got back to AoA we used our last remaining CS credit to grab some pasta and a monster brownie to eat before bed and soon we were out.





Next up, the one where we go home.


​

 

[Denovagirl]

That's okay, even the half eaten food pics make me hungry for Disney food

I COMPLETELY agree!

how brave is Olivia on splash mountain with her hands up! she looks like she is having a blast! and she looks so cute dancing with the bears! that was a fun surprise!

oooooh, that taco salad! we ate there too and I had the same thing. I was in love with it. how can a taco salad taste so delicious?!? Disney magic, I guess!

how adorable are the girls on the carousel? I love maddie's grin!

and the sword in the stone picture!!! that needs to go in a frame! maddie's little hand on there is too precious!

i'm so jealous you got to try lefou's brew and do the astro orbiter! gaston's was so crowded I couldn't get in the door and the line for orbiter was always too long....next time....

Olivia looks pretty comfortable driving that car! watch out mom--16 will be here before you know it!

You're so right! She will be 16 before I know it! She turns 5 this week and I don't even know how it's possible!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

just saw you posted some more, so of course i had to read it!

DHs hot dog from casey's looks delicious!

and i seriously just teared up reading about your magical end of the day with wishes. isn't it just the best to be there with your family and enjoy it and make a memory? love it.....

and tell Olivia

 

[Denovagirl]

just saw you posted some more, so of course i had to read it! DHs hot dog from casey's looks delicious! and i seriously just teared up reading about your magical end of the day with wishes. isn't it just the best to be there with your family and enjoy it and make a memory? love it..... and tell Olivia

Awww thanks! I will pass along the birthday love! She's so excited for her party next Sat that I'm sure time must be passing insanely slowly for the poor thing!

 

[Dugette]

Hi, just joining in here at the end! I found your TR a week or so ago and have read the whole thing. Loved it! What a great trip!

I started reading because Maddie was the same age as our daughter on the trip we just took. However, seeing how much Olivia enjoyed everything gets me excited for trips a few years down the road too! Oh, and happy birthday to Olivia!

Sounds like your family had an amazing time!

 

[Denovagirl]

Hi, just joining in here at the end! I found your TR a week or so ago and have read the whole thing. Loved it! What a great trip!

I started reading because Maddie was the same age as our daughter on the trip we just took. However, seeing how much Olivia enjoyed everything gets me excited for trips a few years down the road too! Oh, and happy birthday to Olivia!

Sounds like your family had an amazing time!

Hi there! Thanks for reading!! We did have an amazing time, I am so excited to go back in Oct!!! I already started my PTR because I was sooo excited, lol!!

I see you have a TR going! I think I will pop over there! Always looking for more fun TR's to follow on!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Oh my gosh you guys had the picture perfect end to your trip! I loved it. It was serisosly like reading the script from a Disney commercial.

You are so right though, Disney can charge their insane prices and I will keep paying because you can never recreate that type of experience anywhere else! It looks like you all made so many wonderful memories. You could tell in your pics the girls were truly having a wonderful time! We really enjoyed Casey's and your pics made me so hungry!

I am sorry the pirate makeover didn't last, but she sure was cute! The bear dance party looks like lots of fun too!

 

[Chicago Mo]

OHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO it's over...

Here you are again with this MASSIVE update! the Picture from splash is just adorable. she is trying so hard to be like you guys! Love she is a an adventurous little squirt!

ALL food looks delightful.. I want it all...

the PP by the castle is my favorite spot for pictures! no one in the background of the sides of you.. just you your family and that beautiful castle in the background!!!

your end of day is..... is.... just... awesome. you, your fantastic family and wishes. nothing can beat this...

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Aaaaaaah, that is the perfect end to the perfect trip!!! I hope your next one goes as well

 

[spiritsim]

After saying goodnight to grandparents we decided to head back towards Main Street USA for some shopping!!

Along our way we bumped into a lonely PP Photo with no line, so we decided to take a few more castle pics! It worked out well because these were the ONLY photos of the four of us with the castle!! Maddie was always sleeping before or we had the whole group!! FYI- this was my Christmas card photo this year too!





After our photo session we took our time browsing around Main Street. There is so much to see there, it must be impossible to see it all!!

By the time we made it up near Town Hall a parade started so we watched it go by us!





I didn’t snap many pictures, but it was pretty fun!

Afterwards we stopped by Casey’s Corner and grabbed a meal. We walked over to the vacant Tomorrowland Terrace seating area to enjoy it. Chris got the BBQ Hotdog, with pulled pork and coleslaw on top, he said it was great. I got the chili cheese dog, which was MESSY! The fries were fantastic here! For dessert Chris got cracker jacks and I got cotton candy. The kiddos split with us!





About this time I realized the last M&G of the day for Merida was over! She was the only other Princess on our list we needed to see so we ran over there as fast as we could, sadly the line was already closed. Now, I’m not too proud to beg, especially on the last day of our trip. And surprisingly, it worked! The CM took pity on us and allowed us in!!

While we waited a group that was in front of us asked us to go ahead of them because they wanted to be last. Come to find out it was a small group of girls doing the DCP. One girl and I chatted for a while in line and I asked what her job was, she said she was a character actress. Well naturally my next question was which characters was she…being the good CM she was, she simply said “Well I am VERY close friend with the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as well as Winnie the Pooh!” How cute was she?!? I also asked her if boys were sometimes in the girls characters… she said yes! I found this quite amusing as I just can’t imagine a guy in say a Minnie Mouse costume or something! LoL!

Finally it was our turn, and the girls got to meet THE BEST MERIDA! This girl was GREAT! Seriously, look at these expressions, she had us cracking up!













So glad we got to meet her!!

We were pretty happy campers after that!! It was getting later and we wanted to find a good spot for Wishes, so we decided just one more ride before we settled down! We asked Olivia what she wanted to ride and she picked Little Mermaid again, so we rode it. How funny, we started and ended our trip with riding the VoTLM! Such a cute ride!

Finally we made our way back to the bridge that runs from the castle area to the Tommorwland area and plopped down on a bench area right under the Tomorrowland sign! I’d heard this was a great spot because Tink flies right over you, and we didn’t get to see Tink during the last Wishes because we were inside the Castle eating, so this was a must do for us!



While we waited Chris ran over to Adventureland to grab another Dole Whip.



First we watched the gorgeous Celebrate a Dream projection show thing on the castle. The, finally, after a lot of waiting we got to see what we’d been waiting for… Wishes!!!

I took no photos of this show because I had decided while sitting there with my family to just BE and fully enjoy our last moments in the park together. No worrying about grabbing photos, just loving each other’s company and fully taking in all the magic.

This was EXACTLY how I’d envisioned us ending our trip to Disney, by watching Wishes together on our last night and making a wish to come back again soon! It was a magical evening. Maddie fell asleep during the show, but Olivia stayed awake through it all, and you should have seen and heard her gasp when she saw Tinkerbell fly over her head. I think she was truly and utterly amazed at the magic. I am so glad she got to experience it.

The only downside to staying until closing was the crowds, we were stuck in a big one to leave and it did take a while to board a bus, and the kids both fell asleep at that point, which was hard to carry them and the stroller with just the two of us, but it all worked out and we would do it over again to have the magical evening we did!

When we got back to AoA we used our last remaining CS credit to grab some pasta and a monster brownie to eat before bed and soon we were out.





Next up, the one where we go home.


​

oh my that brownie looks so good......I want one like that....yummy

 

[Denovagirl]

Oh my gosh you guys had the picture perfect end to your trip! I loved it. It was serisosly like reading the script from a Disney commercial.

You are so right though, Disney can charge their insane prices and I will keep paying because you can never recreate that type of experience anywhere else! It looks like you all made so many wonderful memories. You could tell in your pics the girls were truly having a wonderful time! We really enjoyed Casey's and your pics made me so hungry!

I am sorry the pirate makeover didn't last, but she sure was cute! The bear dance party looks like lots of fun too!

Haha, thanks! It's hard not to feel like you're in a Disney commercial when everything is going as planned and just so wonderful!! I hope next trip goes just as smooth!

Aaaaaaah, that is the perfect end to the perfect trip!!! I hope your next one goes as well

It really was!!! I hope the next one is just as good, or maybe better! I have a feeling that knowing our way around, and having more knowledge of what we're doing is going to make this trip flow even smoother! Plus no bog group traveling this time, which is great because it allows more freedom, but also bad because no extra hands to help with the kiddos. But I think that will be fine!

oh my that brownie looks so good......I want one like that....yummy

I barely had a bite of that! I was soooo full!!! But it was good and huge! I got that at the AoA food court.

 

[spiritsim]

well I wanted to check out the AoA resort anyways now I really have a reason to go.........

 

[babynala]

Enjoying the pictures from your last day in MK. I love that one by the castle with the four of you. The kids on the carousel are adorable.

I took no photos of this show because I had decided while sitting there with my family to just BE and fully enjoy our last moments in the park together. No worrying about grabbing photos, just loving each other’s company and fully taking in all the magic.

This is a nice way to spend your last night in the parks...and Tink flying overhead.

 

[Denovagirl]

Enjoying the pictures from your last day in MK. I love that one by the castle with the four of you. The kids on the carousel are adorable. I took no photos of this show because I had decided while sitting there with my family to just BE and fully enjoy our last moments in the park together. No worrying about grabbing photos, just loving each other’s company and fully taking in all the magic. This is a nice way to spend your last night in the parks...and Tink flying overhead.

Awww thanks!

I really do want to grab some photos of the fireworks and tink this coming trip tho! But well see them a few times so I think I can do it this time. But sometimes it really is just great to not take them, especially your last few moments together!