Last day at Disney! After being away from home for two weeks (almost three, if you count our pre-anniversary trip to Pennsylvania for DISer InkedUpMomma’s wedding and Disney California Adventure for a photoshoot with the Roots!), I was ready to go home.
But first, we woke up and staggered downstairs to The Wave to meet pal and fellow Disney bride Jonni for brunch. The Wave’s vaguely Southern-style breakfast buffet is my favorite at Walt Disney World, and Jonni and I are trying to make a tradition of eating there whenever we’re in town at the same time. So far we’re 2 for 2!
I guess we were all too hungry to take any food photos, but I can guarantee you I had sweet potato pancakes with pecan butter, cheddar-bacon grits, a biscuit and gravy, more bacon and hashbrowns, and I probably put an egg benedict on my plate because I’d forgotten how weird The Wave’s hollandaise sauce is.
It’s always fun to see Jonni because she shares our interest in vintage, well, everything. I think the last time we’d met up with her was for the Queen Mary’s 75th anniversary party. This time she told us about her efforts to bring together two museums—one dedicated to explorers Osa & Martin Johnson and the other a Florida aviation museum that holds two of the planes they used on their explorations—to launch a joint exhibit. Jonni always does the most interesting stuff!
After breakfast Patrick and I went back up to our room to finish packing and check out. Any ideas why I made Patrick take this photo…?
A) I thought up a funny caption for the Massage/Health Club icon, which I’ve since forgotten
B) I wanted to remember our room number
C) I thought I might need to make a phone call later
After we’d dropped our stuff at Bell Services, we took the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom to meet Twitter pal @zzgator for a Citrus Swirl. Things we saw along the way include…
I should warn you now that the few photos we took on our last day are kinda random. It was sorta hot and SUPER crowded and we spent most of our time wandering aimlessly (again!) trying to find things to do that didn’t have massive lines.
It was fun to meet @zzgator for reals this time—I think the first time I was passing her as she stood in line in the blazing sun for something. This day, none of us had anyplace we needed to be for a while, so we ended up wandering aimlessly together. Here’s a shot of us together…
Even Small World had a 35-minute wait, so we ended up hanging out with all the air-conditioned-nap-takers in the Hall of Presidents.
In the middle of the show I was stricken with a coughing fit and had to leave the auditorium so I wouldn’t wake anybody up. So I didn’t get to see how it ended—did we win?
After the show, @zzgator suddenly remembered she had to go meet someone else from Twitter who was possibly doing something more interesting than wandering aimlessly and complaining about the crowds, so we said our farewells (in 140 characters or less, natch). Then Patrick and I put on our riot gear and waded into the fray in New Fantasyland to go get our vow renewal planner, Elena, a souvenir.
After agonizing over what kind of thank-you gift to get Elena, I’d decided this Beauty & the Beast-themed candy dish was the perfect gift because it’s a rare piece of merchandise unique not just to the Magic Kingdom, but to New Fantasyland specifically, and it’s also subtle enough (I’m looking at YOU, light-up plastic castle goblet) that she could have it out on her desk and no one would know it was a Disney thing. After all that, I forgot to take a picture of the darn thing, so here are a couple from the Interwebz….
Once that mission was accomplished, we were back to being aimless until the occasional flash of inspiration would send us off in the direction of something like the Peoplemover.
Amazingly, Big Thunder did not have a huge line, so we rode that and made wishes on foreign coins in the queue’s fountain (I will tell you now that these wishes did NOT come true, as our flight home was anything but uneventful..).
I think Big Thunder might be the most picturesque thing in all of the Magic Kingdom. Even more than the castle, just cause its coloring looks SO nice against those blue Florida skies.
And then…. we saw a DUCK!!!
We tried to get into the Plaza for lunch, but the place was packed, so we cut our losses, got our bags and car, and hit Downtown Disney for something we could take to the airport with us. Something like…
This was before they reinstated the Holiday Sandwich year-round, so I got a roast beef and Patrick got an Hawaiian (appropriate!). We supplemented these with milkshakes from Ghirardelli and hit the road. (A Ghirardelli chocolate shake with their peanut butter sauce swirled in blows Beaches & Cream’s No Way Jose shake outta the water!)
We got to MCO, got on our plane, and then had to get right back off because the shocks on one of the wheels were busted. Eventually they found us another plane, but that put us back into LA at 11pm instead of 8:30pm—not long enough to get any kind of recompense from United but long enough to be totally annoying. So much for those Big Thunder Mountain fountain wishes!
….And there endeth “Aulani to Walt Disney World: Our Fifth Anniversary Vow Renewal Extravaganza!”
Eileen
August 12, 2013I guess my joke fell flat. You posted a picture of a duck a seagull and a crane…get it crane? Like the bird.
Carrie
August 12, 2013OOOOoooh! Now I get it, Moma! You’re silly…
Eileen
August 11, 2013I noticed the big crane that was sitting on the castle.
Are they rebuilding WDW? I thought maybe they were turning Splash Mountain into a new ride called Watch Your Step as you Climb Down the Mountain.
The Dole Whip comment was yummy funny!
Carrie
August 12, 2013That crane was either the one that takes the Christmas lights off or one they were using behind the castle to build the Sven Dwarfs Mine Train ride.
Claire/Chilly
August 6, 2013I’ll take wandering aimlessly around MK over being at work any day!
Carrie
August 6, 2013Where were you that day?! I just needed someone to shake me and give me that kind of perspective. 🙂
Claire/Chilly
August 7, 2013I was at work, wishing I was at MK 😉
Hope
August 5, 2013Your last day sounds like such an AP thing to do: wander around aimlessly. 😉 lol
Carrie
August 5, 2013Totally! It’s just kind of a drag when that’s all you can think of to do at a place you can’t visit every weekend the way APers do Disneyland!