Last trip to Disney

Well, we knew that this day would finally approach and towards the end of February was when our Disney annual passes were set to expire. We decided to make one last trip down to Florida so that we could get another use out of our passes. It was also decided that we would try to do it a little more special this last time and we would get the dining plan and try to hit as many of the character meals as possible. We didn't do character meals every time because they can be quite costly, but we thought it was appropriate for our last big trip to Disney for the foreseeable future. Since we decided to do the dining plan this time at the last minute we didn't know what kind of dinner reservations we would be able to get. It just so happened that we were able to get some of the most difficult reservations just weeks before our arrival. The kids were super excited and it just so happened that we would be there for Jennifer's birthday, too so we had lots to celebrate.

We continued with our normal driving technique and after I got off from working day shift we finished packing up the car and then headed out on our 12 hour drive south to Disney World! The kids were wearing their personalized hats and Jennifer made both mine and her hats.

The first place that we went on this trip was to Hollywood Studios. Jennifer's favorite ride in all the parks is Toy Story Mania. It is a really fun ride, but I have maybe only beat Jennifer at it once or twice in about 30 tries. It is so frustrating for me, but I just keep trying. I even looked up helpful hints online to try and help increase my score but to no avail.

The kids both got to participate in the Jedi Training Academy (even though Landon still wasn't old enough) and the kids enjoyed meeting Kylo Ren, the Storm Troopers, and Chewbacca.

Action shots of the kids during Jedi Training and then fighting against Darth Vader! These are so funny and I even filmed it so that they can watch the whole thing for years to come.

We got to see some old character friends and some new ones too. This time we got to meet Moana, but at the time we hadn't even seen her movie yet. It is always neat to see a real life character.

The next morning we headed over to the Animal Kingdom for a couple trips on Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is probably the least favorite park for us so we only spend a few hours there before going to a different park.

We met Pocahontas for the first time along with Baloo and King Louie again.

For lunch we grabbed a bite to eat and I decided that it was finally time for me to try the giant turkey leg. As you can tell it was pretty good. 

We took tons of pictures with the Disney Photo Pass workers. Any picture is made better with Cinderella's Castle in the background right?

We finally got a chance to meet Aladdin as well as seeing a couple of our favorite princesses, Rapunzel and Tiana. Our absoulte favorite person to meet though is Talking Mickey! It is such a cool experience to go in and actually talk and carry on a conversation with him. I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Disney!

After riding some rides at the Magic Kingdom we headed over for our reservations at Be Our Guest for dinner. This is quite possibly the hardest reservation to get and I think it has something to do with the fact that after you eat you get to meet the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Landon was so tired that he fell asleep during dinner. Brinley also really enjoyed the grey stuff because it's delicious.

The best part of eating at Be Our Guest is that after you finish eating you get to meet the Beast! He was very nice and pointed to Brinley's shoes that lit up and acted out like he wanted a pair. I told him that I didn't think that they made them in his size. Definitely worth the money if you can get reservations because there are very few ways that you can actually meet the Beast!

Jennifer and I stopped after dinner for a picture of just the two of us.

The next morning was Jennifer's 32nd birthday. What a way to celebrate your birthday at the happiest place on Earth. This was actually the second time in 3 years that we were here on her birthday. Jennifer made herself some birthday Mickey ears to wear around. She also made me some Kentucky basketball themed Mickey ears too! (I just wish that the basketball team hadn't been beat by 22 points just a few nights before by the Florida Gators.) I did run into quite a few Kentucky fans while I was walking around that day.

Riding some rides around the Magic Kingdom. 

We also scored some difficult reservations at the Cinderella's Castle for lunch with the princesses. It was a lot of fun eating inside the castle and seeing the princesses, but I am not sure that it is worth using 2 of your fine dining meals to pay for it.

The appetizer, meals and desserts were all very pretty with their presentation. I particularly liked the dragon that they decorated the plate with in the bottom right corner. Those are the kind of small touches that make Disney so special.

We had somehow never met the Disney characters in the Storybook Circus area so we made our way over there and got to meet Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, and Donald all dressed in unique outfits. The lines were not actually all that long either.

Later that day we had some snacks to help with the relatively hot February weather. I think it was in the high 70's, but the sun made us all crave something cool. 

That night we headed over to Epcot to ride some rides. Brinley loves Test Track, but Landon isn't tall enough so Jennifer took him over to get in line to meet Anna and Elsa. We had no idea that she would get through the line so quickly, but they did and were finished by the time we got over to them.

Since Brinley missed out I stood in line again so that she could see the princesses Anna and Elsa one last time.

The next morning we all went out to play a round of golf. We played the winterwonderland 18 hole course. Landon actually hit 2 hole in ones and Brinley hit 1!

Picture of us before going into Chef Mickey's for lunch. Landon was being silly and wouldn't smile. It also looks like he was trying to steal some of Mickey's fruit!

After the miniature golf we headed over to Chef Mickey's for lunch. We had been here before, but it is just so much fun to see all the main characters come around while you are eating lunch. The kids had a lot of fun and I got some of my favorite Mickey shaped waffles since we were there for brunch.

We got in one last ride on the kids favorite ride, The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!

This was going to be our last full day at Disney and we wanted to spend the whole afternoon and night at the best park, the Magic Kingdom. We ended our night with some cotton candy while watching the fireworks. It just so happened to be extra magic hours so we got to ride more rides until the park closing time. The kids decided that they wanted their last ride to be on the Astro Orbiter which we had only rode one other time on our trips to Disney. They loved it, but were ready to go pick out their souvenir. For the entire year we had never bought anything in the parks other than food. So, this trip we spent a little time going in some stores to see if there was anything they wanted to remember the year of Disney. 

Well, small problem was that when we were going to exit the park we were going to pick up the souvenirs the stores were all closed. Total bummer because this was our last planned day at the Magic Kingdom. We had a couple of upset kids so Jennifer got online to see if she could buy them and get them sent to the house. Before she was able to buy the stuff online I told her that we would just make a quick trip back over to the Magic Kingdom before we left in the morning. It would only delay when we would be getting back home by a few more hours.

Our last morning we went to Hollywood Studios for one last ride on Toy Story Mania. I couldn't believe it when we got to the end and I actually beat Jennifer! I was so excited and afterwards she told me that it was only by a couple hundred points. I thought I had figured out how to beat her and we got in line again, but this time I lost. I guess I should learn to quit while I am ahead.

Before we left Hollywood Studios I wanted to get one last ride on quite possibly my favorite ride, the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone that will ride it with me.

Since I had messed up with not being able to get our souvenirs because we were riding rides up until the closing time the night before I made the decision that we would return for a quick trip back to the Magic Kingdom for a little treat and to pick up our souvenirs. 

Now our real last picture looking at Cinderella's Castle. Although we love Disney World I am not sure when we will be returning. There are so many other places and things I want to see in this world. So, for now it is goodbye!

We even got a ride on the tea cups and our final ride on It's a Small World. In the end I couldn't think of a better way to end our time at Disney.

We also stopped for one last set of pictures in front of the castle. What a great way to sum up our year long passes. These two really do love Disney World and no matter how much the cost I would have done this past year of  Disney all over again! I am not sure that it will ever happen again for us to have annual passes, so this might have been a once in a lifetime adventure! We had some pretty awesome experiences and I hope that the kids remember some of our time exploring the happiest place on Earth! If they don't then they can check out all the pictures and read about all the fun times that we had. Thanks for reading and God bless!