Chapter 8: Last Day - Jan 15

Okay guys, I have a serious confession. When I am on vacation, every evening when I get back to the hotel I write notes to myself about the day so that I can write my trip report. I write down any funny thing that happened, our thoughts about things, what we did, what we ate and any mishaps. I do it every night or at the latest the next morning before I leave. But when I got back to the hotel on Jan 15th it was our last night, it was late, I needed to pack and I just wanted to spend a little time with Steevin enjoying the night on the balcony of our beloved hotel one last time. So I put it off, figuring I would remember as it would only take me a week or two to finish the rest of the trip report and the last day would still be fresh in my mind. Yeah... that didn't happen. LOL! So here we are 7 months after we got home and I'm struggling to remember what we did. Today is our final chapter and its going to be full of pictures and assumptions on my part.

Today was our last full day. We would be going home tomorrow. We weren't ready for our most perfect vacation to end so we knew we had to make today count. We got up bright and early. It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and plenty of sun. We had breakfast reservations (due to our leftover dining plan points) at Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club. It was a nice place. We realized we would have to go on a serious diet when we got home anyway (we both gained 5lbs on this trip!) so we might as well go out with a bang and we had the All You Care To Eat breakfast buffet. It was good. I remember there were tasty wafles. After we ate we took some photos around the beautiful lake that is surrounded by our hotel, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club resorts.

Beautiful start to the last day

Steev is ready to get the show on the road

We (of course) took a stroll to Epcot. We arrived before the World Showcase was open so we took some time before it was full of people to take some fun pictures.

Wheeeeee!

All alone in the UK

Strange animal found in the UK hedges

An even stranger one!

I assume the World Showcase opened shortly after that because our next pictures show that we went to Norway and Steevin bonded with a Viking and I (clearly wanting my diet to REALLY count when I got home) had one of my favorite Disney World treats ever... School Bread!

Eric Northman?

Me taking a picture of my School Bread

The picture I took of my School Bread

We headed to China after our treat and tried on hats. Steevin decided since he couldn't find a raccoon hat he liked he would get the adorable Panda hat he found in China. We then took a seat to take some silly pictures and soak up the ambiance of Epcot to try to hold us over until our next trip.

My big flower hat that I did not buy

Steevin's Panda Hat that he did buy

Bear Attack!

Panda Attack!!

"I'll make you pretty."

A-BEAR-ican Idol?! 

Hat Switch!

While walking around the World Showcase, Steevin spotted Snow White so he had to get his picture taken with her. Then we stopped in Italy and (I kid you not) got another snack to share. We had Snack Points to use too! We ate whatever tasty treat that was and took some more pictures. I think the theme of the day was Eat and Pics... which when you think about it isn't a bad way to spend a vacation at all.

Steev and Snow

Blowy Hair Beth

Lens Flare Steev

Soccer Ball Juggler

I recall that today was overrun with Cheerleaders. Annoying college ones who would stop right in the walk way and the male cheerleaders would flip the female ones up and perch them precariously on one hand while drinking booze and stopping traffic. We sat and watched them for a while in Paris half with annoyance and half hoping we got to see one of them fall. I was surprised Disney let it go on. It couldn't have been safe for them or other guests.

Also in Paris I had a Kir Royal (Kir liquor in champagne) and I ordered Steevin a Lemon Grey Goose Slush. It wasn't until I got all the way back to him that I realized they had given me Orange and not Lemon. Steev doesn't do orange. Ever. Ever. I felt bad so I got him another one, lemon this time and I clearly had to finish the orange one as well.

This is the right way to vacation!

Here, have some pictures from China. Did we go back? Were these from earlier when we tried on hats? I don't know. Never wait 7 months to write a trip report without notes!

Cute and "Normal"

Cute and Normal for us

Here, I seem to have a really long and in-depth conversation with Mulan while Steev stands awkwardly to the side.

Girl Talk

Hair Flip

"...and then I punched him."

Oh yeah... Steev's still here

Also... we went to Morocco. I'm sure we saw stuff and did stuff. Surprisingly, I don't think we had a snack here.

One of my favorite countries to visit in the World Showcase

We headed towards Future World and bought a few souvenirs. In our effort to always be on the lookout for Photopass people we saw two brand spankin new Cast Members earning their ears and getting trained on Photopass. Their trainer asked if we would like our picture taken and if we'd mind if they took it a little slow since they were training. OF COURSE! So we chatted with them a bit and their trainer showed them how to work the camera, how to angle us, how to get us to pose and then *boom* we were some Cast Members first photopass picture guests.

Not bad!

We got in "trouble" for this one since she was training. LOL!

Good job, new Cast Members!

 We took a ride on Spaceship Earth and then picked up our CD of Photopass pictures. This meant it was all drawing to a close. But Steevin had a surprise up his sleeve. He told me before we headed over to The Polynesian for O'hana he wanted to go back to the Magic Kingdom. Him. Steevin. To the Magic Kingdom. Of his own accord! We we did. I can't remember what we did. I'm sure it was wonderful. So have some random "Magical" photopass pictures instead since I don't know where they go.

Last ride on Spaceship Earth

Stich in a box

Hello, Tink!

Baby Simba

Tink! You're back!

After what I can only assume to be a magical afternoon in the Magic Kingdom we took a boat covered in bugs to The Polynesian. We were early for our reservations so we looked around at the decor and shops and then headed up to the bar where we had 3 drinks each and were sufficiently buzzed. While we were there a large group came in celebrating an engagement of their friends that had happened on their boat ride over. We learned that they were a group of Disneyland Cast Members and we had a few mutual friends. We toasted them and wished them well and then it was time to eat. Dinner was delicious. I wish we were less full from our pina coladas. LOL! We enjoyed the rest of our time there and I snuck two lei's from two case members who were playing ukuleles on our way out. We got back to the hotel and enjoyed the last little bit of our evening and then left the next morning (after getting muffins at our bakery one last time).

Hawaii in Florida

1 of 3

Probably a tipsy Steevin. He looks tipsy.

Ukelele Guys

  This trip was amazing. Like, so amazing I am still glowing from it months later. Steevin is the best travel buddy I've ever had. Besides the fact that I just love him like crazy, we like the same things in a vacation and never let hiccups deter us from having a good time. I can't wait to go back again. I know we only came home 7 months ago but you know me... I always love to start planning early. Thank you for joining us on our trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures at least half as much as I enjoyed writing about them. Until next time...

See ya real soon!

Chapter 7: Magic Kingdom Ahoy! - Jan 14

We were pooped today. Wiped out. Exhausted. Running on empty. So we slept in this morning and our bodies and tired eyes thanked us. We took our time getting ready and decided to just skip breakfast since we got up so late and we had lunch reservations. We strolled over to Epcot (Have I mentioned yet how AWESOME it is to be able to just walk out your room and be 5 mintes from your favorite place? Because it is... awesome!)

We had lunch reservations at Le Cellier so we went to Canada, checked in, and were seated shortly there after. I didn't take any food pictures. I can only assume it was too dark in there with the cozy ambiance. We loved the pretzel bread because we just love bread in general but Steev decided to try and spare his tummy room and just ate the middle out of his bread and left behing a hollow bread carcass. For my lunch, I ordered the Steak and Potato skillet but left behind most of my potatoes. Don't get me wrong, they were really tasty but I was still feeling slightly full since we'd been eating what seems like non-stop since we stepped off the plane. Steevin had the Korean BBQ Sliders which he described as "So good!!"

We left Canada and took some pictures. And then we headed to where the giant Christmas tree had been a few days before because I wanted a picture for maybe a Christmas card this year but when we got there... GONE! So we used the extra large area to set up our tripod and take some cute pictures sans tree.

Bear in Canada

Cute guy in Canada

Who needs a Christmas tree?

Smooch!

I love this guy.

We decided to go to Norway to ride the awesome Maelstrom and I found a hidden mickey in the mural in the queue. We also watched the last half of the Norway movie after the ride. My notes say "Sleeping Guy & Kids Painting". Was this in the movie and I thought it funny or important? Was this happening in the theater? We will never know... and again... this is why you don't wait 6 months to finish your trip report.

After the movie, Steevin and I went on a Photopass mission and were determined to find as many Photopass people as we could for the rest of the day! We found two in Epcot before heading over to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the afternoon and extra Magic Hours.

Steev is not amused by my antics

So I Bear Attack him! 

One last one before we leave Epcot for the day

We left Epcot and went to grab a monorail to head to the Magic Kingdom. Now you may have noticed that here I am on chapter 7 and this is the first time we've stepped foot inside the Magic Kingdom. Steevin told me before we left that this isn't his favorite park, in fact he wouldn't mind if we didn't go there at all. Its too much like Disneyland and we've been to Disneyland a million times and he's not really a fan of Disneyland either (I know... sacrilege!). So when planning this trip I only planned one single solitary half day at the Magic Kingdom because this is OUR trip and I don't want to spend days someplace Steevin isn't enjoying. So today was our half day at the MK! We arrived and it was packed to the gills We made our way down Main Street shopping and Photopassing all we could! Steevin got a smile on his face and said "Oh yeah, I do like this place." And much to our joy, MK was overflowing with the bounty of Photopass people! I will now smother you with a barrage of photopass pics that we got all within 30 minutes of each other.

Let them begin!!

Ow! My ear!

XOXO

We wanted a pic in the other direction since we had so many of the castle. But the photopass guy said "Trust me." and we got a cool firework shot!

No one ever takes their picture in this direction! We do.

Kids at heart, always!

We hit our Tomorrowland Favorites and watched Carrousel Of Progress and road the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (It will always be the Peoplemover to me). We decided we'd like to go on the Haunted Mansion but it was a 45 minute wait. We were feeling cold so we went to the Harbor House for coffee and a sit. I really like this place. I just like the ambiance and sitting in the top floor with all the nautical themeing and being able to people watch out the windows. We just relaxed, talked about our trip and how much we were just loving it. After we warmed up we went to go see the Country Bears.

As we were leaving we saw the Main Street Electrical Parade. Since our pathway was cutoff we went back around to Adventureland and road the clip-show version of Pirates and the Jungle Cruise. There was a little girl on the Jungle Cruise who was SO into it and her parents were into it with her. It was adorable and kind of a little magical, if you know what I mean.

We had reservations at the Crystal Palace for dinner. We had made them the night before when we realized we had extra meals available to use. We got there just in time for the fireworks. It was PACKED. We checked in and tried to find a spot to wait. People were crowed all over the place to see the fireworks. But we found a bench and got to accidentally see the fireworks without having to wait on Main Street for them. We were finally called for dinner. The food was okay. It was nothing special. Average buffet. The highlight for Steevin was getting to see Piglet. I guess he had never seen him before and he was really excited. I had no idea he had a soft spot for the little guy.

Perfect "Waiting for Dinner" entertainment

Me and Eeyore

Steev loved Piglet. Who knew?!

After food we decided to try the Haunted Mansion again. We were hoping a lot of people left after the fireworks. And they did! We found more photopass people on the way (Score!) and then found out that the line for Haunted Mansion was only 15 minutes. (Double Score!) Steev and I enjoyed the interactive queue a lot. After our ghostly ride we went to catch Philharmagic. We also spotted Tiana and Naveen and got our picture with them. There was a cute sleigh in front of the Christmas shop that we were going to take our picture at but the camera died just as we got situated. Oh well!

I'm getting this hottie's number

Sad Steev

Naveen and Steevin are clearly bonding over how hot their ladies are.

What's over there?

Trying to stay warm

We hit up Cosmic Rays for french fries and gelato (You gotta dip the fries in the gelato because its the best) and some entertainment from Sonny Eclipse. The fries were SALTY. Like, super salty. Its a good thing we had the sweet chocolate gelato to cut down on the salt. It was so salty that The Salt Guy from Cava del Tequila yesterday wouldn't have needed to add a thing.

After eating our weight in sodium we decided to stand in line to meet the princesses. And after spending our time with them it was late, late, late and Magic Kingdom was closing so we headed out to the busses to ride back to our beloved hotel and hit the sack in The Worlds Comfiest Bed.

Steevin looks so happy!

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil