Day Three (Part 3) Pirates or Swimming – it’s tomorrow

I met Bop and the kids in time to ride the Carrousel, choosing a horse beside Christian. Wow, where has the day gone? It’s after 8:15 p.m. now and time to head to dinner at The Plaza. We checked in at the podium and had about a 10 minute wait.  This is a cute, low key restaurant on main street with really good food. A little out of the main thoroughfare so, a quiet respite from the otherwise crowd-crazed day.  The kids all had chicken and fries, Bop – a cheeseburger and I had Tomato Soup and a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. It was very good, and Christian even helped himself to some of my soup. 

Savannah is a little tired

that's better, all smiles while waiting on food

As we finished eating, the nighttime parade was starting, so Bop took the kids outside to watch while I paid the bill. Later, I joined them outside on the side street with a front on view of the castle, a perfect viewing spot for the fireworks.  There were a few small trees and a couple of table umbrella’s at the edge of our viewing area, but they were low enough not to block the fireworks.  There was a sitting wall we propped on, while we waited.   Then, the Fireworks Nazi showed up, a cast member who was a little too enthusiastic about enforcing the rules.  She paced back and forth, barking orders like a military operation, for any people walking through, it was “ move on through, don’t stop!” and for us, it was “ feet behind the white line, don’t stand on the wall,“ …. Over and over and over for about 20 minutes.  I realize she was just doing her job, but this is Disney, be happy, my goodness!!

The kids loved the fireworks, and Christian stood in the stroller for a good view. We saw Tinkerbell fly from the castle, I never get tired of seeing that.

Time for Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear.  Kayna and I had a blast and with our fast pass it was a walk on to the ride. On our way out through the gift shop, I picked up our portable charger, now fully charge. That is pretty cool.   We met Bop and Savannah, and Christian was now sound asleep in the stroller, he was done for the night.  I sat with him outside while Bop took Kayna and Savannah on Astro Orbiter.

It was now after 11:30 and we walked through Fantasy Land where Savannah, Kayna and I rode Dumbo (with no wait – gotta love “extra magic hours” nights). Then we headed to Adventure Land to ride Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride.  We were all thirsty and looking for a drink, even just water, after 11:30 proved to be a challenge. I guess no-one should be thirsty at midnight in the Magic Kingdom (LOL).  Finally, I found a gift shop still open that had bottled water and used our last two snack credits for that. When I came back out, Savannah was sound asleep in her side of the stroller, gone for the night.

Flying with Dumbo

My favorite pic of Savannah

Kayna and I rode the Magic Carpet Ride and she dared the camel to spit on her – he did, of course, (always does) and she loves that.  I had promised Kayna that I would ride Splash Mountain with her as the last ride of the night.  I didn’t want to walk around the park after midnight wet, so if we were going to ride, it would be the last one. So onward to The Mountain.  My knee has a bit of arthritis in it, and was killing me now, as well as my blistered feet, but I hobbled my way up the path (after swigging down 2 Advil).  As we got to the entrance of the ride, we were met by two cast members that said, “ if you are headed to Splash, it is closed for the night” -  Oh man, I walked all this way and now it’s closed (ok, I didn’t say that out loud, I was nice and just said, “thank you”)! But I wasn’t happy.  Hmmm, let’s see, maybe I can make this work for my aching knee and feet.  I turned to Kayna and said:

Nana “ I have a deal for you, you decide, ok? 

We can ride Pirates of the Caribbean as our last ride of the night since we go right by it on our way out”  or… we can go ahead and leave the park and when we get back to the resort, we put Christian and Savannah to bed, let Bop watch them, and I’ll go swimming with you (it’s 12:45 a.m. now).

Kayna  “ Swimming!”

Wow, that was easy, she didn’t even have to think about it.  So now, the long trek out of the park to the buses. Loading the bus with a double stroller and two sleeping kids took some strategy, but we made it.  I got Christian out of the stroller first, and Kayna went to grab seats on the bus, I laid Christian down propped against her lap, then exited the bus to go get Savannah.  I brought her on, all the while telling the bus driver,  “ My husband’s coming with the stroller, don’t leave him J “     He shook his head, and said, take your time.

We made it back to the resort, and were the last stop (several people got off at the wrong stop and had to get back on).   Kayna and I put on our swimsuits quickly and I hobbled out to the pool at 1:30 a.m.  The water was warm and felt great on my blistered feet.  We didn’t stay long and by 2:15 a.m. we were both saying goodnight to one another in the bed.