Saturday, May 10, 2014

Day Four – The Journey Home and Closing Thoughts


Monday morning, we all rolled out of bed around 8:30 a.m. and hurriedly packed the room up and started making the multiple trips to the truck to load everything. Breakfast in the food court on our way out (Kayna mistakenly put coffee instead of syrup on her pancakes – yeah, don’t ask – I have no idea how she confused the two), and then a quick stop by the arcade.  As a part of our package, we had 100 free tokens to use, so that meant one game each for the kids. Christian has just learned to play baseball this year, and never played an arcade came before – word to the wise: don’t give a 3 year old a hard ball for skee ball and let him do it himself.  Thank goodness the cage was not real glass, up top, because he threw a fast ball pitch right in the middle of the upper sectionAfter I caught my breath, and quickly looked around to see that we were the only ones in the Arcade that morning (thank goodness), Bop and I gave him quick skee ball lessons. He didn’t really get it, but still had fun trying J  The girls played a quick game of basketball. We said our goodbye’s to the beautiful Riverside resort and Mickey and headed home, leaving the purple signs behind, until next time.

Closing Thoughts

·         Magic Bands – We are big fans of the new Magic Bands. They are comfortable, waterproof, easy to use for both adults and children. Having your hands free while gathering food at the food court, walking through the parks and at entry, and late at night coming home to your resort hotel,  it is just touch Mickey to Mickey and you are done.

·         Fast Pass+ - Overall, we like the new system. I didn’t have to run across the park to grab a paper ticket (that I then had to keep up with) several times a day. I am a very scheduled person anyway, so pre-scheduling my fast passes was not a problem for our park touring life style. The week before we went, Disney added the ability to add a 4th, and more FP after your original three had been used. I am sure that helped our experience be more positive since we took advantage of that. And we were able to get a headliner (Space Mtn) very late in the evening, so the strategy works well.  It would be nice if when park hopping, you didn’t have to use your original three FP all in one park before you could add another one.  Being able to get Kayna a FP for Tower of Terror would have been nice. Disney is still tweaking this system so perhaps they will add that ability. If so,  the FP+ would get a 10 in satisfaction from me.

·         At 62 and 56, bad knees and some arthritis, and blister prone feet (since I was a child), Dennis and I will do the parks differently from now on.  We will probably rent a scooter for at least part of the day.  I love Disney parks, so why subject my body to pain for days after, when it’s not necessary.  Also, when taking small children on an extra magic night scheduled day in the parks, it is worth it to go back to the resort for a few hours and nap. Trying to nap in the park, just didn’t work for us. I’ve tried it both ways, and getting out of the park, for just a little while, is totally worth it.

·         After a 17 hour day in the park, we will not drive all the way home the very next day – we needed a rest day, or at least just drive ½ way home, rest around a pool somewhere, and then drive home the next day.  Our schedule did not permit that this trip, but we will make sure it does next time before we commit to going at a particular time.

·         Port Orleans (Riverside and French Quarter) is a beautiful resort area and still one of my favorites.

·         Favorite Rides of the day for all of us:

Bop                 Buzz Lightyear
Nana                Space Mountain
Kayna              Space Mountain
Christian          Buzz Lightyear
Savannah         Little Mermaid, Under the Sea

·         The meal plan is totally worth it for the way we do Disney with kids. We always have at least one (1) character meal, and we like to take a break and have a nice sit down lunch and dinner. It puts a little sanity back in the day and slows us all down.  Plus, once I start vacation, I don’t have to worry about the cost of the meal, it is already paid for (to me that is a huge part of enjoying vacation).

So I guess it is Kelsi and Lauryn’s time, the next time Bop and Nana visit The World, probably in 2016.  But first, Dennis and Penni may do a honey moon do-over (couple trip) for our 40th wedding anniversary next year ( hubby’s idea, and yes, I jumped at it).


That’s it for now –thank you for reading along.

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