We needed some sleep this morning, and decided to sleep in, not arriving in the park until 11:45. Ruby on this morning, "Mom, did you know that you have 4 cheeks? 1,2 on top (showing Mom), and 3,4 (pointing to her booty)". And who forgets their phone every day? Mom. But on this day I remember being in the car about to leave the condo..."Wait, I left my phone. Go back inside to get it", then she used my phone to call it, and find out that it was in her back pocket. That was not the last time, but got the biggest laughs the first time, then it became a little weird.
And a note to self that we actually took to heart on our last day in the parks...Priority parking is way expensive...but if you are late to the absurdly large parking lot at the magic kingdom, use priority parking. Dear me, this is the first time I have had to take a tram into the park in a long time, and perhaps it is just the memories and horrors of trying to get a stroller on that thing, but it is not fun. We did enjoy the villainous voice of our tram operator that really did his job as the villain tram operator better than I have ever heard...he sounded straight out of the Haunted Mansion. Well done Mr. Villian tram operator. Well, this morning, I will say it was nice, but I wasn't thinking about when we left together will all the other thousands that night all wanting to get on that little tram.
In the park, we were already late and no rush to the rides already slammed with lines. We walked straight thru to see Micky, then made our way over to Tomorrowland, where we hit Buzz Lightyear (Davis kills us all from youtube tips and Uncle John/Colby tips...I am ridiculously horrible at that game, once getting less than 10K points). We then broke up letting the boys go ride Space Mountain, while we took the girls towards fantasyland...Wait, What! AstroOrbiter has NO LINE! Even on no crowd days, this ride has always had a line due to the sheer low capacity capability, but we walked straight to the elevator. Wow, it must have just opened and we just lucked up. Well it was fun, really just something to check off the list. But Magan was mad as she got a seat in front of me and Ruby to get the perfect picture with the castle behind us, and I think she did get it but I had my camera out too and it just wasn't good. I love having the pictures, but sometimes they become more important than the memory being captured. So where are we now future readers (no, not you guys that actually read these words in this blog, the imagined older children reading these blogs...stop laughing at me...I am pretty sure we still read in the future), what is our average screen time? Because it is currently insane, and making the movie Wall E look more real every day. So finish this blog. Lay your device down. Walk outside. Feel the sun. Hug someone. Then get back on device and call Dad, he will appreciate it.
One of my favorite pictures and memories of this day was getting to sit on main street after getting the girls their new Nuimos (I don't know, the newest way Disney pulls money from me). Ruby got a rapunzel, and Belle a Pooh. They were so happy and carried them around for the rest of the day. My sweet Belle is getting big, but the Disney magic brought her little souvenirs to life as they travelled all around with her...even hanging out in her mask as a little COVID hammock sometimes. Oh, and remember that 50th Anniversary shirt that looks like a Tomorrowland janitor...I found my size, and it is so cheesy looking...OK, I love it. I finally got it. You'll see it a few blogs from now.
We met back up with the boys when we traveled over to Tom Sawyer Island, where I had fun leading Ruby thru all the tunnels, while the others went over to the fort. Haha...me and Ruby actually got lost in the tunnels and went around and around in one area, having to leave where we came in at. Then going around to the exit, we found the way to where we got lost, and finally we knew the full path. We found the rest of our crew at the fort, where Magan and Sam did not have checkers, so he just suggested they play on the app on top of the checkerboard. This is a nice place to hang our when the lines are long, so we stayed until the island was closing for the night. Then headed back to the mainland to eat at Pecos Bill. Now this is another quick service really good meal that finally filled us all up.
Another ride of thunder mountain, and some sad faces at Splash Mountain, because it was down for the rest of our trip. Sam got all the kids to join him on the Pirate Adventure, which seems to be the last interactive game since they removed the sorcerers, but this ended up being a great fun activity for our kids. They did not have enough time to play thru a whole scenario on this day, but they all came back cracking up laughing. Apparently on one of the sections of this adventure, Sam initiated the game, and a snake came up and shot water directly at Davis. Davis was dodging, and Belle was laughing until the snake then shot water at her, then back at Davis...Sam thought this was the funniest thing and loved sharing it with us. I wish I was with them, but I am also they have this time together without mom and dad trying to get a picture of every moment. Time for them to just enjoy getting sprayed by a snake.
We then got a couple of Dole Whip floats to enjoy, and just as we got them back to the table, Davis spilt one and the ice cream dumped over onto the table. There was no pause at all, Davis immediately grabbed the ice cream in his hand, and put it directly back into the float of pineapple juice. There was a pause in the universe...All 6 of us surrounding the Dole Whip...We had three total floats, but we just stared at the one...none even noticed the slow drips of vanilla ice cream from Davis' palm. We knew what must be done...This is COVID times...This is a random table across from the Pirates attraction...Then I remember hearing Belle say "You know they are sanitizing these tables more right now". And we ate it. hahaha...It was gone as quickly as the other two. I mean, this was a Dole Whip float. Matthew 7:1-3.
We later just wasted some time before fireworks, even waiting in a 30 minute line for the People Mover! What is going on in this world? And Sam and Davis waited in an extremely long line to get Grandaddy's Mickey Mouse popcorn bucket before joining us for the fireworks. I have held each of our children during these amazing displays, and while not my favorite, I do see how amazing they can be to a young one. Perhaps I was robbed of some fascination with fireworks, as this seemed to always be the time we were supposed to be riding the rides as a kid. Ha, and I would probably be doing the same, but when you have this many days in the park, you can slow down a bit. I do remember little Ruby's hand on my neck, probably the last time I will get to hold her to watch fireworks like this...then as tinkerbell flew right over our heads...I asked "Where did tinkerbell come from?", and she looked past me with those big brown eyes towards the magic fairy flying above "THE SKY" she said in an amazed faint whisper. Walt...they are charging too much money these days, but you guys still got it.
We finished with a mad dash (yeah, with lots of other people too) after the fireworks over to Space Mountain, then hit Buzz once more as we closed down the park one more night. Sam finished his collection of EPCOT pins on this day. And before we left, I remember one person, who will remain nameless, asking if they should go to the restroom before we leave. "Hey, if you have to go to the restroom, it is no problem, this is the most magical place to wait". Then back out the gate again to the resort monorail, where this time, we arrived with some bad timing, and were the last ones at the gate behind one guy. So when the cast member motioned for that one guy to go ahead into the monorail that was pretty much packed I followed him..."hey, are you with him?" I just waved and continued into the first cabin, where Sam, then Mom, and the rest of them just followed right along saying "Well, we are with him" pointing to me. Sam and I cracked up, as we have seen this several times at Alabama games and joked about it...Some people just have the confidence to wave and keep going, and they can get anywhere. Well on this night, that guy was me, and with a little confident wave, we saved a few minutes not having to wait for the next monorail.
But we did do plenty of waiting, as I mentioned earlier, the tram line was extremely long, and we waited 20 minutes for a tram back to our van, then 20 minutes in line for McDonalds at 10:30 at night. Oh well, EPCOT in the morning...it opens later, so we could get a little more sleep.
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