Last day at Disney

Finally, our last day at theme parks! Oh, don't get me wrong. We had a blast all week long; it's just that we were so....TIRED! But, true to our habit of the last week, we were up early and ready to hit the parks. This was the day we would finish up everything we had not been able to squeeze in earlier in the week (yeah, right). After consulting our schedules, we decided to first head back to Disney-MGM. We discovered upon our arrival that it was Star Wars Weekend at MGM. Now, we like Star Wars fairly well, but we certainly are not what one would call "fanatics." However, there were many people there that day that could definitely be described as such. Very interesting, to say the least. Anyway, the first thing we noticed as we approached the ticket turnstiles were the Storm Troopers on the canopy above. We headed over to see "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It," a Disney version of the popular TV show. We happened to get in on a Star Wars edition, in which all the questions were about Star Wars. That kind of left us out of the competition a bit (in this version, the audience also has a chance to win prizes based on points you accumulate by answering questions correctly via the keypad), but it was still fun. When we exited the show, we ran into another Storm Trooper and the girls had their picture taken with him. We also saw Darth Vader, but we didn't want to wait in line to see him. Instead we walked over to the Muppet 3-D show. It was cute, but probably geared more for younger children. After we exited the theater, we ran into Buzz Lightyear and Woody, and of course, had to stand in line to get their autographs and pictures. At that point we weren't sure what we wanted to do next. We wandered by the Star Tours ride, which we weren't really interested in. However, we did see Princess Leia. We discovered that the Indiana Jones stunt show was just starting, so we popped in there. It was a really fun and entertaining show, especially if you have seen the movies. It was interesting to see how some of the special effects and stunts were done in the movies. After we finished with the show, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. We had wanted to see Beauty and the Beast, at MGM, but it was still several hours til the next show.

At Magic Kingdom, we headed first to Tomorrowland. Emily and I got a FastPass for Space Mountain, then headed over to Stitch's Great Escape, since Anna really wanted to ride it. Actually, it isn't a ride so much as a show. We really did not enjoy this as much as we thought. The harnesses that keep you in your seat can really make you feel trapped, and it can be a bit scary for younger children. Also there are some effects that are a bit...gross. After it was over, we returned to Space Mountain. I didn't really know what to expect, but it turned out to be a very fun roller coaster, with just the right amounts of twists, turns and drops. It was one of my favorite rides at the park. I wish I had had time to ride it again! From there, we went to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. The line was long and didn't move very fast, but we eventually got to the ride. Each car holds 2 people and I got to ride with Anna. The cars don't really speed very much, despite the name of the ride, but the girls had fun driving us for a change (although I had to help Anna because her legs didn't quite reach the "gas" pedal). From there we went to Cinderella's Castle to watch the "Cinderellabration" show. It is the story of Cinderella's coronation. It was really hot, standing in the sun watching it, but it was pretty good and Anna especially enjoyed it.

After the show, we went to see the Hall of Presidents show. I was afraid the girls would be bored, but they both enjoyed it, especially the animatronic Presidents. Emily and Brian rode the Haunted Mansion, which we had all ridden on the first day. However, once was enough for Anna, so she and I browsed some shops while we waited on the other two. We decided to eat supper in the park and ended up at The Pinocchio Village Haus, which had OK food. Our evening was spent in Fantasyland, riding various rides including Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, and It's a Small World. We also took one more ride on Big Thunder Mountain and watched the fireworks before heading toward the exit. On our way out, we stopped and did some shopping at the Emporium on Main Street. Of course, we didn't get to do everything that we wanted to do, but we sure made a valiant effort!