Reminiscing Over Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

This was the last day of a 6 day trip to Walt Disney World, this day falling on June 12, 2016, and the second time I visited the Magic Kingdom that trip.  My Mom and I choose to make the Magic Kingdom the bookends of our trip, and it was a good way to finish our visit.

The rest of the words from this blog come from what I wrote in the Shutterfly book highlighting the trip I made.  (BTW, I highly recommend Shutterfly, or other similar sites, that turn photos into books.  So worth it.  Treasures, always.  My nieces have actually fallen asleep at bedtime with the books I've made them of past trips, and they remember the trips better because of it.)

"What a wonderfully fun day this was!  Our very last day at Disney World and we wanted to return to the Magic Kingdom.  Taking everything in, including the castle, we wandered down Main Street.  We did so much that day.  First we returned to Columbia Harbour House for lunch.  Mom ate the fish & chips again.  I tried the chicken pot pie with a side of broccoli.

 (not sure how I feel about the finger print scanners)

 

 

 "After this we hopped in line for the Haunted Mansion, which had a decently short line.  The room with the stairs was neat.  And then we road the Mark Twain around beautiful Tom Sawyer Island."

 "The weather predicted that in the afternoon we were going to be slammed by rain fall that would last until evening.  I was worried so many things were going to be canceled.  I kept checking the weather on my phone seeing a huge rain system nearing on the radar, which made me nervous, but I wanted to enjoy each moment.  After the steam boat ride we noticed rope was being set up early for the 3 o'clock parade, Festival of Fantasy.  I got a front row seat right up to the rope.  Mom sat close to the pin store atop a short pillar of bricks.  I loved the parade!  And then we bought too many pins!"

 "We went on the Jungle Cruise, which had a cool dark room scene at the end.  Waited in the long line for Space Mountain, which made us both queasy.  Then we went to Fantasyland to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid."

 

 "For dinner we ate pasta at Pinocchio Village Haus,

watching people load It's a Small World.

"After dinner we causally walked through Fantasyland.  We tried to walk through the castle, but it was blocked for the Electrical Parade, so we took a quaint stroll around the glowing pink castle.  The air pleasant, calm, and still.  No hint of a storm.  A miracle as I watched the storm circle around the park, dark streaks brushing the sky."

 "We didn't get a good view of the electrical parade, but got an amazing view of Celebrate the Magic, a castle light projection show, and Wishes.  Mom returned to the Pandora store while the Electrical parade made its second pass.  This time I got a very good view, enjoying the nostalgia."

"We pulled another all-nighter.  We left the Magic Kingdom around 11:30 pm.  This park is the furthest from the hotel and we still had to wait for the bus, so we got back past midnight.

"Going to bed didn't make sense.  The texi was coming at 3:30 am so we could make it to the airport by 4 am for a 6:15 flight.  We turned on the T.V., never getting under the covers, and packed away cloths and goodies.  We bought so many souvenirs!  It's amazing we were able to pack it all away in our limited luggage space.

"We left the hotel while it was dark, so exhausted by the whirlwind, amazed how quickly it flew by.  Sad to be leaving, but so glad we were finally able to experience Disney World.  We'll miss the Disney magic, but won't miss the humidity.  What an amazing week."

What wonderful memories.

I would love to return one day.

And my Walt Disney World posts are FINALLY finished! :D

Epcot: Exploring the World Showcase

June 9th, 2016, Day 2 at Epcot.

Our second day at Epcot primarily took place at the World Showcase, where 11 Countries are represented.  We spent most of our time at the United Kingdom, France, Morocco, and Japan, spending a little time in Germany, Italy, and China.  We barely saw the other countries.

Japan was my favorite!!  By the time we got there a two hour Summer storm hit, raining big drops, so we spent the whole time in the store, which was so big and full of so many treasures.  We bought umbrellas, having left our polka dot umbrellas at the hotel, but right when we left the shop the rain stopped.  In the evening, choosing not to see IllumiNations again, Mom and I decided to run from the UK to Soarin', barely making it, and riding it twice in a row even after the ride closed.

That night, around 12:30 am, there was a random, impressive firework show that we watched from the balcony.  All the parks were closed and it was far away, but it was still fun to watch.

 France

 I love all the little details.

 Morocco

 So many cool shops and places to explore.

 Japan

 Japan was by far my favorite!!

 The shop we stayed in for two hours, during a storm.

We had no idea there would be a sudden downpour, but this was the perfect place to be.  I was having so much fun looking at everything I didn't feel the time pass.  There were some items that I saw in Japan just the year before.  And I love the variety of things you can buy, and that there was nothing Disney in the store.

It was nice seeing Japanese geek culture fully represented.

(It would have been cool if there was a Tokyo Disney Store in the area, as they have completely different products than we do, so missed opportunity.  That would have been awesome.  I loved the Disney Store in Shibuya.)

 So many flavors!!

 Katsura Grill, another counter service restaurant.

The American Adventure

There's a Voices of Liberty show that I would have loved to see, but we were running out of time, and it seemed like the next few countries we did in a whirlwind.

Italy

 Germany

 Outpost

 China

Reflections of China.  Completely took me back to when I was a kid seeing the circle vision in Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

Norway

 Mexico

 We didn't see the Grand Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros, and the line was short, too.  We just ran out of time, and my Mom really wanted to visited the U.K.

 Canada

 United Kingdom

 We ran to do Soarin' again!

Only had a few minutes before closing time, and we made it, sprinting!!  Two more times riding Soarin' over California before this version was replaced.

So, in total, we rode this ride 3 times during our stay, the most of any ride, and it was awesome each time.

The random firework show we watched from our hotel balcony.