What a glorious, wish filled day! Today started out just beautifully!
We decided to take the boat across to the Magic Kingdom this morning.
We waited until we were all the way up to the Partners statue to get our picture taken. It was really cool to have so few people in the background of the pictures. (Unfortunately, Memaw was extra tired today, so she was only able to join us for a small part of the afternoon and evening.)
We were a little early for our breakfast reservations, so we walked around in the nearby shops while waiting for our reservation time.
In one shop, the girls and I were told to make wishes while being sprinkled with pixie dust.
Breakfast was at Cinderella's Royal Palace. When we first entered, we were greeted by Cinderella herself. When the girls asked about Jaq and Gus Gus, she pointed out where they were looking down on all the people.
During our delicious breakfast, we were greeted by Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine. Each princess took the time to speak with our girls and even share a dance or hug. We also participated in a special wishing ceremony, with the wands Ella and Emma received as part of the experience.
After breakfast, it was on to the wishing well for a few more wishes before heading to Tomorrowland.
Today we tackled Tomorrowland and the New Fantasyland. We again had great success with timing, FastPasses, and luck to be able to ride all the rides we wanted at least once. Our girls loved their first ride on Space Mountain, as well as getting to drive the cars at Tomorrowland Speedway. The Seven Dwarves Mine Train was another favorite we would have loved to ride twice, but the line was just too long. We had the most interactive experience we've ever had at Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. Bryan was featured in one of the before show pictures with a funny saying, Ella got to answer a question, one of the jokes we submitted was used, and Datt was "That Guy" who was picked on the entire show. It made the show that much funnier to have been such a big part of it.
There were a couple of not so good moments, but not many. Ella got a little overheated and her cough made her sick while in line for Dumbo. But, once she cooled off and got some ice for the cough, she was fine. We also had to wait out some technical difficulties at Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin:
We dined this evening at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. Another delicious meal!
After dinner, Datt and Memaw went back to the hotel to get rest and repack, while we rode a few more rides. Once it was dark, our plan was to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad one last time, then find a spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade near the beginning, then quickly catch a boat back to the Polynesian and watch the fireworks from the beach there. We thought we were doing well with our plan, until we learned the great seats we had for the parade were actually at the end of the parade route instead of the beginning. However, that gave our girls some extra time to share some magic. Before the trip, based on a recommendation I had read on someone else's blog, we had bought several containers of glow bracelets. Our precious girls gladly shared about 40 glow bracelets with all the kids near us on the parade route. They made extra sure to give bracelets to anyone who didn't have a light up toy. It was so sweet to see them walking back and forth, happily sharing the magic with other kids! We had several parents come and thank us as well for making their child's evening more magical.
As soon as the parade was over, we tried to make it back to the Polynesian, but the fireworks started while we were still on the boat. It was a beautiful site to see them reflected on the water, even if we weren't quite in the location we had hoped to be watching from.
Another beautiful ending to a wonderful day! It was a late night packing, but worth staying in the park a little later for the parade. It's hard to believe we are going home tomorrow.
We are extremely proud of these two girls! They behaved very well, with little complaining (even with all the coughing and exhaustion.) They were a joy to travel with.
Goodbye Orlando:
After a nice, albeit long, flight home, we discovered Bryan's keys are lost. Memaw and Datt took the girls home with them while we waited for Grammie to bring us an extra key. In the meantime, I literally aired all our dirty laundry in the airport searching for the keys with no luck. We will contact all the places we've been to try to find them. (Updated: they were found in our room on the cruise ship, and Disney gladly mailed them back to us.)
