Heather and I woke up today, got ready and finished packing our things. Once we were packed and ready we called up a CM to help us with our bags.
We took some photos of the hotel from outside our room while we waited. We had a pretty decent view of the new Art Of Animation construction as well.
Once the CM got there, we followed him down to the lobby while snapping photos of the hotel along the way.
We checked our bags for the ME and checked our carry on bags as well. We took some fun photos in front of the hotel and then hopped in line to the Magic Kingdom so we could spend our last couple hours in the park.
We got into the park at about 10:30. We stopped to take a couple PP photos, some photos on Main Street and then headed to grab a quick breakfast at the Main Street Bakery.
As usual, Heather got her giant cinnamon role and I had a blueberry muffin. The bakery was pretty crowded and we were on a bit of a time constraint so once we were done we headed out.
When we walked out of the bakery to see that the Move It Shake Celebrate It parade was passing by. We moved to a somewhat clear spot to watch it and take some photos. The parade was so colorful! I loved the party feel of it.
After the parade ended we headed into Tomorrowland.
First up was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I really had no idea what this was or what to expect but I literally laughed the entire time! It was super funny and really cute. It was so cool that you could text jokes to the show while you waited in line and if they picked your joke they would use it doing the actual show!
After the Laugh Floor we headed to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. This was the Magic Kingdom ride that I was most looking forward to on this trip. The People Mover at Disneyland was my most favorite ride that was ever in the park. I am so jealous that WDW, even though different from the version at DL, still has this awesome ride. I loved it! I just love the view of the surrounding area you get and that you get to go through buildings and such. So fun.
After the TTA we stopped to take some photos of Chip & Dale in their Tomorrowland outfits. They looked super cute.
We made our way around Tomorrowland and started heading towards Fantasyland. On the way we stopped to take photos of Sunny Eclipse inside of Ray's Starlight Cafe real quick like and then continued on.
We took our time looking and photographing everything around Fantasyland. The stores, the rides, the castle and Cinderella's Fountain.
We also went and saw Mickey's Philharmagic. Words can't even describe how much I loved this! Oh man. it was awesome. A close second to the TTA as my favorite attraction at the Magic Kingdom.
We headed on into the Liberty Square area and it was super hot so I stopped to get something to drink at Columbia Harbor House. Just a quick iced tea with a Mickey Mouse straw of course!
We stopped for some PP photos near the Haunted Mansion and some couple daytime magic shots of the ghost carriage.
Next up was the Tiki Room! I was ready to skip this attraction since it is now the same version that we have here at Disneyland, but Heather hadn't had the chance to see it yet, so I made her watch it. She seemed to enjoy it and from what I hear, the Under New Management version was soo bad that anything really would have been better.
We continued on through Adventureland stopping to take some awesome pirate PP photos! Heather had read a tweet that there was a super fun PP photographer in the Pirates Of The Caribbean area and that we should head over there. So we did and he was super fun! He had tons of photos and poses for us and we were able to take our time since there wasn't a line up of people or anything.
After the photos we made our way around to Frontierland. We didn't ride any of the rides, but I wanted to make sure I got photos of both Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.
Another attraction that I was determined to see while here (much to Heather's dismay) was Country Bear Jamboree. I miss having this show at Disneyland so much! I honestly have no idea why I like it so much. I think it is just because it is silly and reminds me of all the fun times at Disneyland I had growing up. So not only did I drag Heather to see it, we seriously got stuck with the WORST seats in the house! We were in the second to last row, in the very back corner. I am pretty sure there were no speakers back there because we could barely hear anything and then to make it worse we were practically surrounded by screaming and crying kids. It was so ridiculous that it was just funny. Either way I am really glad I got to see the show.
After the show we headed back over to Haunted Mansion so I could get some photos of the queue. Took a couple photos along the way.
I really love the look of the Haunted Mansion there. The only thing I don't like is that you can't get real close to the actual house, so it makes it seem like you are not going inside it. You enter kinda under the house, it is a little weird. Either way, the whole look of the house and queue is pretty awesome.
After Haunted Mansion we started to make out way back to Main Street since we were going to have to be leaving soon.
Along the way we stopped to take some PP photos off the the Liberty Square side of the castle and some super cute frog kissing magic shots!
We moved along to the hub area and got a couple more PP photos there along with taking some of our own castle photos.
The Magic Kingdom marching band was making their way up Main Street so we stopped to watch them for a second while they passed.
The Celebrate parade was going to be starting soon so stopped to take a PP photo with all of Main Street and the train station behind us. I like these photos because of all the people lined up on the street waiting for the parade.
We moved down Main Street quickly looking through some shops on our way to see if there were any last minutes things that I wanted to grab.
The parade had just started and since it was blocking us being able to exit anyway, we stopped and took photos while it passed us. I really love some of the photos I got from this parade. We had a pretty good spot even though we were directly in the blazing hot sun.
After the parade we headed to the entrance of the park and said our goodbye's with some more PP photos and a "waving goodbye" photo. Then we headed out of the park for the last time =(
The next hour was pretty depressing. Waiting for the bus, getting back to our hotel, picking up our carry on bags and waiting for the Magical Express to come pick me up. Heather wasn't leaving till an hour or so after me so we had to say our goodbyes at the hotel. It was so sad!!
While I was exhausted physically and way more than ready to go home, I was soo sad to be leaving this amazing place and Heather! I took in the scenery on the way to the airport and just tried to relax before my long flight. Got to the airport, changed my clothes since I had been a sweaty mess all day, grabbed a Starbucks and drank that before heading through security.
I was pretty hungry so I stopped to grab some food to take on the plane with me. For whatever reason, the food took forever! By the time i got it and started walking to my gate, they were already boarding my flight! I got super lucky on the way home and had a whole row in the back of the plane to myself. I was able to stretch out and relax, which makes the long flight a lot easier to handle.
I was so excited to fly over the Magic Kingdom when we took off too!
Even though I came back with over 30 mosquito bites (ONLY ON MY LEGS), 3 blisters and super swollen feet, I am just so glad that I got to spend the time that I did with two of my favorite people at a place I have always wanted to visit! It was the best birthday I could have ever asked for and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Though it will probably take me a couple more years to save up the money =)
Lets see how I did on my "what I am most looking forward to" list! There are only 3.5 things out of 40 that I did not get to do!! I think that is pretty dang awesome!
1 - Finally Being Able To Scrap A Album - This is a work in progress. I haven't even started yet, so check back with me in like 5 years =)
20 - Splash Mountain & Space Mountain - I was a sweaty mess as it was so I was not looking forward to going on a water ride AT ALL. No disappointment here.
22 - Finding Nemo The Musical - I am sad about this. The show times clashed with our ADR. I am so glad we ate at Yak & Yeti though because it was one of my favorite meals. PLUS, we heard that the show kept having malfunctions the day we were there, so we probably wouldn't have been able to see it anyway!
30 - Earl Of Sandwich - At the time I was a little sad about this even though I was the one that didn't want to eat there. LOL! BUT, I now HAVE eaten at the one in Anaheim, so it's all good =)
34 - Animation Academy - We have this here at DCA so I am not too disappointed. It was either this or meet characters. I chose the characters =)
38 - Meeting Heather & Kendall
