The rain turned into a bit of a downpour by the time we got to Epcot so we enjoyed a number of the indoor shows including the Energy Show narrated by Ellen DeGeneres. It was nice to sit down for a bit while we watched the shows, the last 5 days of 15+ miles a day plus all the standing in lines had started to take a beating on our joints, I felt like I was limping like a pregnant woman!
We ducked into to a Character spot to take photos with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Chip & Dale.





(Goofy had to give me a kiss lol)
One of the chipmunks was a big flirt and gave me his phone number, hah! The actors fit the characters so well. :)

One of my teen brothers was particularly forlorn that he didn't get to go on the trip with us so we took some photos with the characters and the "insert Nathan here" text and sent them to him.
They also had tvs playing old black and white Disney cartoons that got Brent and I all nostalgic, we ended up picking up a number of Disney Treasures when we came home (which we love to pull out every now and then to reminisce).
After the Character signings we headed over to the World Showcase for one final tour. Of course we had to grab food which included churros in Mexico, Schoolbread in Norway, wraps & fries in America and cheese tarts and chocolate eclairs in France.
After dinner, we headed over to enjoy one final Magic Kingdom parade and fireworks display. We also stopped in Liberty Square at the Christmas shop to pick up some ornaments. Every trip we take, we always try and pick up an ornament or two to commemorate the trip. Hanging the ornaments every year is always so fun. :)








It was a happy but tired couple that headed back to the Contemporary that night. There is something about a trip to Disney World that truly feels magical. We found the whole experience quite romantic. Love love love.

(The Contemporary Resort lite up at night)
The next morning our flights were scheduled to depart at noon. In order to use the Disney transportation service you have to check in 3-4 hours ahead of schedule. We were so tired we narrowly missed being able to have them check-in our luggage for us that morning and were told we would just need to check it ourselves when we got there. This ended up being a total Godsend because when we got to the airport, there was horrible weather in NY (we were scheduled for a layover there) and all flights had been scheduled. By the time we got to the airport all American Airline alternate flights had been booked both that day and Sunday and no rental cars or hotels were available. It was a mess. When we got to the front of the line we somehow got a super nice attendant who checked other airlines without us even having to ask and he managed to rebook us on another airline home at no cost to us! Meanwhile people on either side of us were having borderline screaming matches with other attendants who were not offering any assistance or alternate bookings. Total blessing!
The only catch was we head to get to the other side of the Orlando airport with all our baggage in 20 minutes to get it checked in and make it on our flight. Talk about booking it through the airport! We were literally running through the airport. We just barely squeaked in under the wire and got our bags checked.
It was a slightly stressful way to end the trip but thank goodness for that nice person at the check-in desk! And the fact that we didn't have time for Disney to check our luggage for us! If they had checked our luggage, AA would have had no way to retrieve our luggage for us in time for us to make the alternate flight. It's amazing how God even takes care of the little things! We were home by Saturday night and had a full day Sunday to unpack and get back into the groove before heading back to the work. It was perfect. There is no other way to describe it. I can't way to go back one day! Particularly when we had children of our own to share in all the magicalness. :)











2 comments:
Rainy days are the best because the parks aren't nearly as crowded! I'm so glad you shared these posts!
Love the firework pictures....and it is so much fun to go when you have kids :)
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