Up and at 'em bright and early, it's time to check our luggage and tackle the Magic Kingdom for one last time (in 2009)!
Around 8am, I rode with the bellman and our luggage to the Hospitality House. Zach and the girls met me there (walking alongside our golf cart for a while ;)), and we got everything checked in. It was so nice to be able to forget about our luggage until we land in Dayton!
We got to the Magic Kingdom in time to play and enjoy the park opening, picked up a few last minute things we needed from the Emporium, and headed over to Adventureland. We rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and the Jungle Cruise, both of which the girls thoroughly enjoyed.
We walked through Fantasyland next, riding It's a Small World again and then making the long trek down to Pooh's Playful Spot. The girls had a great time playing here for nearly an hour, and I'm proud to say we successfully kept them from noticing the fountains! ;)
Around 10:45 we grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray's again, since it was the best meal to split. We had a burger meal, an extra order of fries, and the most delicious Sweet Cream Cheese soft pretzel (from the nearby Lunching Pad). Our dessert was a dole whip each (duh), and we were totally stuffed for our journey back north!
At about noon, we were due back at Old Key West. We picked up a few things we had checked with bell services, and roamed around the reading room, conch flats, etc while waiting for our Magical Express bus. The ride back was uneventful other than the sweetest family of kiddos EVER, playing with the girls. The youngest (~4?) even colored about a thousand coloring pages for each of us on the 25 minute ride back to the airport! :-P
Because Magical Express makes you get to the airport ENTIRELY too early, we did our best to pass the time. At this point, I just wanted to be home. I mean, of course I would have rather turned around and caught the next shuttle back to the World... but if that wasn't going to happen, then even this airport-lover can only spend so much time waiting to board!
The girls did catch another quick nap, which we were thankful for. We gave them their Nemo marshmallow pops on the way to the gate, thinking they'd be done with them quickly.... but were very wrong.
By the time we boarded the plane, Hartley's looked so incredibly disgusting that I'm surprised anyone let us on the plane. The flight home was about the same as always (once the marshmallow blob had disappeared!) - some crying, but overall very good girls and a mama and dada ready to be home!
People always wonder why Zach and I went to Walt Disney World before we had kids... why we took our girls long before even their first birthday when they certainly won't remember that first trip... why they'll have gone a handful of times before they're out of the terrible twos. I could list a dozen reasons for you, not the least of which is this idea of suspended reality (read: a break from reality), the magnificent attention to detail, the unmatched level of service and the ability to become children again. I'm pretty sure though, that if you've experienced Disney that way (and not just that "once in a lifetime" trip you went on as a preteen when you crammed your schedule from dawn until midnight in the blistering Florida heat thereby missing all of the aforementioned gems), then you know that doesn't scratch the surface of why we return time and time again. If you have read along with us and looked through hundreds of pictures of 14 month olds (and 8 month olds before that) filled with pure joy at the various sights and sounds there (and tastes - Dole Whip and Mickey Bars, to start)... and you still have to ask, then I don't know what to tell you :)
Next: Yeah, Yeah . . .
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