Our last day had arrived, but at least we still had a little while! We finished
packing and got our luggage (and ourselves) checked into the airline, and headed
to Epcot by about 8:45. It was absolutely packed again! Once again we prepped
Emmersyn and Hartley for not doing much, but it wasn't really necessary. They really
get Disney World, and take in the atmosphere as much as the attractions -
even if they're too young to verbalize that.
We waited about 15 minutes
at Character Connection to say one last hello to Mickey and friends.
Next we headed to Living with the Land, and checked Hartley's height for Soarin.
At this point she was fine (without question, says the CM), but the real test
would be when our Fastpass return time rolled around. We had debated whether to
try again or just let it go with just one heartbreak, and thought we would try
our best to prepare them, knowing it might not work, and see what
happened.
Next, each girl wanted a different "last ride", so Hartley,
Ryder, and Zach went on "Figment" while Emmersyn and I rode "Nemo". We met back up
at Club Cool for one more round of Little Girl Pop, and got lunch at Sunshine
Seasons. Then finally, it was time.
...And I'm so glad we went with our gut, as the girls came out of Soarin beaming
that they got to ride again! :)
We didn't get to have our now-traditional
Mickey Bar by the fountain because Soarin took us up to our last available
minute, but it was well worth it. We headed to the airport and got settled in,
nobody quite ready to leave. Because I had tried to be conservative in
negotiating the car rental extension, we had more time to kill at the airport
than we would have preferred. The girls lucked out though, because they ran
into one last character.
Boarding was smooth, as was the first leg of the flight. And then the rest of
the night wasn't. Lost stroller, screaming baby the second leg
(how many
flights we've been on, and have never had "that kid"? *sigh*), no dinner,
etc. It stunk.
But we made it to Columbus, eventually our stroller was
tracked down, we got McDonald's at 9:30pm and were all in bed just after 11.
Not awful, but we'd definitely sleep well - dreaming of our next trip!
