We got up Friday morning knowing it was our final park day for this trip. That was definitely bittersweet, but after a FULL week of Disney we were all dragging quite a bit. Our intention was to arrive at Magic Kingdom for the day just before park opening at 9:00am. We wanted to make the most of the time we had, but that did not happen. We were slow getting around, and the kids were grumpy. The kids being grumpy made Chris grumpy at them, which in turn made me grumpy with Chris. After some drama and some tears, we finally pulled ourselves together and walked over to Magic Kingdom. The weather was gorgeous . . . sunny, a cool 72 degrees, and a light breeze.
Our plan was to meet up with the S family as soon as we got to the park (at about 10:30am), but Brenson realized that he'd forgotten his pin lanyard as soon as we walked in the park. Chris agreed to walk back to our suite with him so he could get his pins while the girls and I met up with the S family in Tomorrowland. From Tomorrowland, we walked over to The Barnstormer. On our way over there, we were stopped several times by people saying how cute all the girls are. One lady even asked me if they were all sisters. All the girls had matching shirts that I had purchased for them before our trip, and they looked SO cute!
Caroline, Brianna, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Sadie
Caroline really wanted to ride with me on The Barnstormer, and Sadie wanted to ride with Brianna. That meant that Brooke got to ride with Ross, and Brecklyn rode with Tia. It worked out just right!
Brecklyn and Tia
Caroline and Chelley
Brianna and Sadie with Ross and Brooke in front of them
Chris and Bren made it back to the park just about the time we finished on The Barnstormer. The S family went to ride Mine Train while we met up with our guys to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway. Chris and Bren had ridden this earlier in the week, but the girls wanted a spin on it, too.
It was nice that the big kids were old enough to ride without an adult!
Brooke drove Daddy,
and Brecklyn drove Momma.
It was quite an adventure!
Brenson driving Bri
She looks like she can't get out fast enough, haha!
Only Brecklyn is giving a thumbs up, lol.
From the Tomorrowland Speedway, we headed over to the Astro Orbiter. The park was considerably busier than it had been while we were there earlier in the week (on Tuesday), so wait times were longer than we had seen on Tuesday. However, the posted wait time for Astro Orbiter was only 20 minutes. We ended up waiting at least an hour, and the queue isn't even neat or exciting. That was pretty disappointing, but we had never been on the ride before and didn't regret waiting!
I rode with Brooke,
Daddy rode with Brecklyn,
and Brenson and Brianna rode together.
The view of Magic Kingdom is pretty fantastic from the Astro Orbiter!
By the time we finished on the Astro Orbiter, it was already 1:00pm. I couldn't believe how fast our time was going on our last day! We asked the kids what they wanted to do next, and little girls said they needed one more ride on the Teacups. So, Teacups it was! Chris and the big kids were there too . . . I just didn't get a photo of them.
Once we finished on Teacups (thankfully it was a super short wait), we walked through Liberty Square just taking in the sites. The time away from the hustle, bustle, and noise of the rest of Magic Kingdom was just what we needed.
I thought the view from this bridge was lovely.
When I saw a photopass photog, I insisted we stop. The kids weren't thrilled, but this photo is one of my favorites from our trip!
This one is a favorite, as well!
As soon as we finished with the photopass photographer, a parade came through. It was the parade of princesses, and the girls were so excited to see them.
By this time it was pushing 2:00pm, and the children were hungry. We decided to grab lunch at Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn. Chris and the big kids went in, ordered food, and found a place for us all to sit while the little girls and I hunted for a place to leave the stroller. Like I said above, the park was significantly busier this day than we had seen any park on this trip, so finding a place to park the stroller was not an easy task. We found a place in Adventureland, then met back up with Chris and the big kids to eat.
Once we finished eating, we walked back over to Fantasyland to reunite with the S family. They had just finished riding Peter Pan when we got back to that part of the park, so the timing was just right. Up until this point, we hadn't gotten a photo of all of us together, so we decided to make that happen. We walked over to Cinderella's carriage where a photopass photographer was set up and got some pics taken.
Bren wanted no part of having his photo taken in front of Cinderella's carriage, haha.
Brecklyn, Sadie, Brianna, Caroline, and Brooke
How cute are these girls, though?!?
The whole group!
Back row: Ross, Tia, Brianna, Brenson, Chelley, Chris
Front row: Brecklyn, Sadie, Caroline, Brooke
After photos, the S family headed over to ride The Haunted Mansion, and Brianna decided she wanted to go with them. Isn't this photo funny?!?
Meanwhile, Chris, Bren, and the twins got in line to ride Splash Mountain. The queue was about 40 minutes long, but they weren't deterred.
Ready to get wet!
For the kid that was scared of everything at the beginning of our trip, Brecklyn was loving all the rides at the end of the trip!
Initially, I was set to ride Splash Mountain with my crew. However, I quickly decided that it didn't seem too appealing to me after all. I ended up spending almost an entire hour wandering around Frontierland without anyone else from our group. I watched a parade, facetimed my niece, and did a lot of people watching. It was amazing, and I had no idea how much I would treasure that time!
Chris and the kids finished on Splash Mountain about the same time that the S family and Bri finished at The Haunted Mansion. Ross, Tia, and I decided to take all the girls to Country Bear Jamboree, while Chris and Bren went to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Our party had to split up at Country Bears, so Ross took Brooke, Sadie, and Brecklyn,
while Tia and I had Brianna and Caroline.
This show is so cheesy, but so great!
Bren really surprised me by being such a thrill ride seeker. He can be slow-to-warm and cautious, so I didn't expect that out of him. He loved the coasters, though, and thought Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was much better than Country Bear Jamboree :-).
As soon as we all finished, we met up again to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Tia bought all the kids lemon pops to keep them happy in line (it was a long queue), but the girls still weren't so sure about a pirates ride. They were concerned it would be scary.
Even though the queue was long, it had lots of neat things to look at. All the younger kids had tired legs, so Ross and Chris had them take turns riding on their shoulders.
Spooooky!
All boarded and ready to go . . . Brecklyn is still giving a thumbs down :-)!
These ride photos are the best! Caroline and Brecklyn stayed snuggled close to me the entire ride.
We had never been on Pirates before, and it ended up being one of my favorite rides of the day! If we ever go back to Magic Kingdom, it will be on my must-do list, for sure.
After Pirates, Chris took the twins for a bathroom break and to get our stroller (that was still parked from before we ate at Pecos Bills). While he did that, Tia, Caroline, Bri, and I made a stop at Aloha Isle for Bri to have her first Dole Whip. She was a fan!
And, while we were enjoying our treat, Ross took Sadie and Bren to ride Space Mountain.
They ended up riding it twice . . . once on the Alpha track and once on the Omega track. Bren's goal for the day was to ride Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain. He was thrilled to get to do all three, and I was thrilled that I didn't have to ride with him on any of them!
As soon as we finished our Dole Whip treat, we met up with Chris and the twins to eat at Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square. I've had several people ask me just how expensive Disney is, and the anecdote I always share is from this particular moment in our trip. We bought corndogs and fries for everyone at Sleepy Hollow, and the corndogs alone cost $12 each! A $12 corndog is pretty pricey, in my opinion!!!
Once Ross, Sadie, and Bren finished at Space Mountain, we met back up with them in Fantasyland. The S family decided to call it a night and headed toward the park exit to go back to their suite. It was dark by this time, and the castle was SO pretty!
Chris and I had agreed that we would leave the park by 7:00pm, but we just weren't quite ready to call it a night yet. We decided to do Mickey's Philharmagic one more time before leaving the park, and I'm so glad we did! Even though we waited quite a bit longer than the posted wait time, it was the perfect way to end our trip. Philharmagic was our first experience at Magic Kingdom earlier in the week, so it seemed fitting that it was the last thing we did, too!
Upon exiting Philharmagic, we had to stop and take in the castle just a little more.
Then, I noticed there was a photopass photog set up not far from where we were. I used my pretty pleases to get the family to agree to stop, and I'm SO glad we did. I love these photos!
💓💓💓
We knew we had an early flight the next morning, and we still had to get everything packed up and ready to go. We didn't want to leave, but we needed to. Not without taking one more photo in the park, though!
Good-bye Magic Kingdom! Until next time!
We walked back to our suite at Bay Lake Tower, and made it in a little after 8:00pm. The kids helped us get a few things packed up before we settled them into bed. It took Chris and I a while to get all our bags packed and ready to go for the next morning, but I had no regrets that we stayed at Magic later than we had planned. We were able to get everything done and get our weary bodies into bed before it got too late, so everything worked out just fine.
