June 13th, Last Day at Disney.

Jul 062012

Well the time comes for all things to end and this is the last day that we will be spending in the parks. Tomorrow we go home! Anyway, today we were headed to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Epcot because we didn’t get to ride Mission: Space, and we didn’t get the last stamp in the kids country passports.

So we headed out and took the monorail to Epcot. We were not planning on doing a whole lot there but we wanted to get the last stamp in the kids books and ride mission space since we missed it. Well, we did both! It wasn’t hurried and since we knew what we wanted to do, it was easy to hit both and get some really good lunch at the same time. Well in order, not at the same time.

In Mission space there is yet another secret lounge that is available to Make A Wish kids. This one is inside the building and looks out over the line and then the game area of Mission Space. It was my favorite one, they had computer access and Tristan got to sit and watch Mickey Mouse on a huge computer screen. We also had a special door into Mission: Space. We never did make it into the lounge in the Magic Kingdom, but we hit both of them in Epcot. Go figure.

After lunch we boarded the monorail again and went back to finish up everything there was to do in the Magic Kingdom. This mainly included riding our favorite rides one more time. But first, we had to see Rapunzel again. Amelia nearly knocked her over giving her a hug that really looks more like an open field tackle.

We then rode the train around the park, and hit the Jungle cruise, where Amelia got to drive the boat! We spent the next few hours riding the Pirates, haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain, It’s a Small World, Peter Pan, and a couple of them twice!

With rain threatening we did see a show in front of the castle, and luckily, the rain never hit. We finally ended up behind the castle for the fireworks show. It was cool. The fireworks are set to go off “behind” the castle when viewing it from the front. We were behind the castle, so the fireworks were even behind that, well most of them. Some were on the sides of the castle, so we would look first one way, away from the castle, then toward the castle as the fireworks went off all around us. That was something we don’t get to see very often.

Finally, the park was closing so we hit the last few times riding Space Mountain before we headed back to walk through the castle. If you haven’t seen the walk through of the castle, there are some huge tile murals of the Cinderella story inside. I am talking 10 feet wide by 20 feet high. They must have taken a long time to do. And it did, I found THIS ARTICLE about it. Click for the story.

Finally, it was time to make our way out of the park, and Disney World. We didn’t hurry but took pictures with all of the photopass photographers down Main Street and finally bid our farewells to the Magic Kingdom on the Ferry back to the parking lot. It has been a great trip, with tons of memories made and fun experiences tucked in our minds.

It has also made me see just how good people in general are. We read so many bad news stories about people doing horrible things to each other, but the love and kindness that was heaped on us over these 10 days was overwhelming. Thanks again to all of those Disney Employees and Give Kids the World people who made this trip truly a one of a kind, magical, humbling, and above all special experience for our family.

Thanks again, enjoy the video.

-Justin