Day 21 – Goodbye Mr. Mouse | The First Time 2011

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24th August 2011

Magic Kingdom, Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café and Bahama Breeze

And here we are, our last full day in Orlando. Not quite the last for my reports as I still have our final/travel day and perhaps a full review…I’ll see what time I get. With me typing this over two months since we came home, my memory is already starting to become a little hazy >_<

I’ve so enjoyed typing up these trip reports – re-living the days, looking at all our photos and videos again and reading the feedback from those that have read my reports. ^_^

Having missed most of Magic Kingdom due to torrential rain, we decided that our last full day should be spent at the House of Mouse. Looking back, I’m so very glad we did!

Not wishing to waste today, we were up early and making the relatively short drive to MK. The roads were lovely and quiet and I knew that I’d miss driving out in the States. (Two months later, more than a year later, I still miss driving out there!)

We were parked up near the Ticketing & Transport Centre and walked to the ferry boat. We figured we should see that view of the castle one last time.

We were there for rope drop. There were a fair few people already through the gates and hanging about in the forecourt, so we held back and bit and didn’t go through the gates just yet. We watched as the train pulled in with several characters on board and they performed their song and dance with a family up there helping to open the park. Magical stuff!

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We made our move through the gates and into Main Street USA. We decided we would just go with the flow – it had been our strategy throughout our whole time in Orlando, and worked for us – it was relaxed and it meant we could take in all the little details rather than rushing from attraction to attraction.

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Deciding first to go on the Walt Disney World Railroad for a train ride around the park.

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First stop was Frontierland and then a full loop back to Main Street USA as the stop in Fantasyland was closed for the refurbishment of that area.

The train was practically empty and I loved seeing all the bits behind the attractions (as I did when going on the railroad in Disneyland Paris)

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A quick pit stop to fill up with water and we were on our way back to the start. It took around 20 minutes or so to do the full circuit.

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On exiting I spied that it was just a five minute wait to see the Princesses (oh, how they lie!) and we went in to line up. I had already told Liam about the time his dad had gone to Walt Disney World and met Snow White and after that he was quite keen to meet the laydees! And what a proper Prince Charming my boy was! Bowing to them as he greeted Cinderella, Belle and Princess Aurora, kissing their hands and generally flirting! I loved how each Princess played her part of being shy and coy – it was hilarious yet quite sweet!

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We then wandered up Main Street and into a shop to buy a fridge magnet since we didn’t get a chance last visit and then moved towards the castle before turning right into Tomorrowland.

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Our first port of call was Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. We seemed to be waiting ages in the holding area for this one, but finally we were in and seated. It was very funny and I think well worth going in to watch.

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Out of here and across the way to Stitch’s Great Escape. This is a weird one…you walk through a section as cadets having to deal with different level alien criminals. You’re a rookie so only need to deal with level one…but lo and behold, palava afoot as a level three comes bounding into the facility in the form of Stitch. You go into this next part when you are all sat around a big unit, then these shoulder harnesses come down over you and a giant animatronic Stitch appears and makes mischief. There is the most odd smell in there and I can understand why people say it makes them feel a bit queasy. I LOVE Lilo & Stitch – I did not love this ride. I didn’t even like it a little bit – it was pants!

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In Disneyland Paris, Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin was very popular, and from the line that had formed outside this ride, we realised it was popular here as well. We grabbed Fastpasses for it and made our way to Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover (phew!). We found out that Chip ‘n’ Dale were doing a Meet & Greet nearby and promised Liam we would go see them after this ride.

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The ride starts off quite slowly and I thought it would be a gentle meander around to view the park from a different angle, but it didn’t half speed up!

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The ride stopped for a bit whilst we were behind Space Mountain before we moved on to complete the circuit.

As promised we walked down to queue up for Chip ‘n’ Dale who were as usual great fun! We’re all going to miss these guys!

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Next up was Tomorrowland Speedway. I sat this one out and watched Liam and Steve from the viewing area. Steve said it was ‘meh’ but Liam loved it!

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Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was next – wasn’t sure what to expect but it was entertaining and a great historical journey and well worth a watch. I hear it isn’t always open, but glad it was when we were there.

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Our FP time was due so we went to Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin. I think my shooter was broken >_< it’s the only excuse I have for my poor score lol! Size wise it was fine for me as it was in Disneyland Paris.

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A tub of awesome that I wish I had bought….!!

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With most of what we wanted to do here done (we didn’t try Space Mountain as I had been told that it has over the shoulder harnesses and didn’t want to risk it) we decided to go to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café for lunch.

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It was very busy in here, from what I remember there were different queues for burgers and chicken. We were handed a menu whilst waiting in line by a Cast Member (it didn’t help, it was in Spanish >_<) and we decided on burgers and hot dogs. After queuing for what seemed like forever, we got our food, helped ourselves to toppings and sauces from the salad bar and bagged a table outside.

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I got a burger which was fine, and Steve got his chilli dog! Liam had a plain hotdog, and with drinks the total bill was $40.29.

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After lunch we pressed on into Fantasyland.

Right…what did we do next… *taps noggin*…think, think…oh yes! We met Pooh and Tigger! Tigger must be eating some radioactive oranges to be the colour he is!

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And then, as we walked round to it’s a small world, we bumped into the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. He proceeded to tell off Liam’s Chip ‘n’ Dale, indicating to us that they were crazy!

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Ensuring that we didn’t take up too much of his time (we don’t want him to be late, do we?!) we walked into it’s a small world. A not too long a queue and not quite as good as the Disneyland Paris version. But I found myself singing along lol. It’s such a twee ride, but it is the quintessential Disney ride, so we had to do it!

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We missed quite a lot of the rides here – the queues were pretty long for a lot of them and I just didn’t fancy waiting…looking back, we should have just queued…oh well!

We wanted to see Mickey’s PhilarMagic, so dashed in there just as rain started to fall. This was great – I love Donald Duck and the animation was outstanding, especially when the screen seemed to just consume you. Wonderful!

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We exited into a shop which from my photos looks like it sold candy!

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The rain was really coming down now, and we donned our ponchos to head over to the Haunted Mansion. A wait time of an hour really put me off – I don’t know if I was becoming a misog because I knew we were going home tomorrow, or the weather was getting me down or what, but we all ended up getting snippy with each other >_> After kissing and making up we walked back to Main Street USA to do some shopping.

I got my Mickey Ice-Cream…

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Liam got a souvenir drink mug…

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And we took a photo of ourselves in the rain…

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Before heading off to the monorail to go home and finish off packing…

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We hadn’t taken the monorail before and it was nice to take a different view back to the car park and see the resorts on our travels. I also remember the monorail stinking >_>

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With a heavy heart and a tear in my eye, I (we) waved goodbye to Mr. Mouse and the Magic Kingdom, and let it be known that we will be back one day!

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After driving home in the rain, we finished up packing and got dressed to go out for dinner.

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Since our favourite restaurant had been Bahama Breeze, we decided to visit it one final time.

Our itemised receipt for this has gone astray, so I’m going to have to guess from the photos! The total bill though was $102, with a tip it was bumped to $121.

I remember having this fish chowder. It had a nice spicy kick to it.

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We also got some quasedillas (or are they empenadas?) and corn fritters to share between us all. Which were all well received.

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Looks like steak was had (by me). A lovely tender piece of meat which mash and broccoli, but the herb butter wasn’t very nice at all…I think it may have had dill in, which I’m not very fond of. I don’t remember reading anything about a herb butter being on it on the menu, but didn’t want to create a fuss. I wiped as much off as I could!

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Both Steve and Liam had the ribs which were very tasty.

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We then got our desserts to go – all picking our favourites – Liam the chocolate cake (these are photos from another day!), Steve the pineapple cake and me the banana bread.

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It was only a short drive back home from Bahama Breeze.

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Back at the villa, we spent the night chilling and chatting about our wonderful holiday in Florida. It was a bittersweet night as we knew it was our last night in Florida. I mentioned to Steve that maybe we could come back one day…and he agreed.

My apologies for a sketchy trip report – I didn’t write much down at all!


All photos from this day can be found on my Flickr!

Read the next day:
Day 22 – Going Home: Animal Kingdom, Rainforest Café and MCO-Gatwick

Read the previous day:
Day 20 – Swimming with Capricorn: Discovery Cove

Read ALL the days:
Orlando, Florida Vacation, Flashback Friday Series Index

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