Last full day

So it's our last full day... I am a bit sad to leave, ending a vacation is always not much fun. But on the same hand I am just about ready to sleep in my own bed, have Maddie in her own room and have some nice home cooked food instead of another resteraunt meal.

This vacation has been about perfect in terms of both length of stay (if we had left today I would have been sad, but I am okay with leaving tomorrow) and how Maddie has performed. She has had her meltdowns and whiny moments and all the other things you expect from an 18 month old... but she has those at home as well. She has been mommy and daddy's little princess and both Shalisa and I have commented that we are glad we came.

Since I didn't post last night here is a quick recap of yesterday afternoon. We showed up at the Magic Kingdom right at 3:00 right as the parade was starting (we thought it started at 4:00, good thing we showed up early) and literally walked out from under the railway station right into perfect parade viewing seats. Once again Maddie was absolutely THRILLED with the parade and loved everything about it (we took tons of photo's). Right near the end of the parade it started to rain (first rain we have had all week) so we whipped out the rain cover for the stroller and the umbrella we brought along. As we started into the park comfortable and dry as hordes of people were abandoning the park to avoid the rain. We walked over to Pirates figuring it would be a nice indoor ride to wait out the rain. Unfortunately the line was too short (we got right on) and by the time we got out the rain was still going strong [also as a side note, Maddie did fabulous this time around, never once even crying].

The rain had actually picked up a bit and was a full fledged Florida thunderstorm, so we dashed across the walkway under our umbrella and walked over to the Country Bear Jamboree. After we got done there it was STILL raining, so we walked under the covered walkway over to the Dole Whip station where we ordered 2 more dole whips and sat under the awning enjoying our Dole Whips (it was still like 85 degrees out, even while dumping rain). From there we hiked back under the awnings to the Enchanted Tiki room and watched that show. This was our first time in the Tiki Room and Maddie really liked it (although she got a bit scared when it was dark by the end she was literally dancing on the floor).

By that time our ADR was due and we went and had dinner at Liberty Tree Inn. This was one of our most favorite meals, Maddie absolutely LOVED the characters and was dancing with them, hugging them, kissing them, and as the park was closing early (night of joy) we were one of the last people to leave the resteraunt so she got TONS of attention and was yet again a little star for everyone around us to watch.

Although the park was closed to us (we didn't have a wrist band) we really wanted to take Maddie on the carousel. We walked over and asked the guy running the entrance and he looked around and said "sure, why not" so that was a treat to get on. Maddie was even able to ride the special horse (Cinderella's, for those that don't know, it's the one with the ribbon on the tail).

We left the park, came back to the room and went to bed.

Today we went to MGM where we started off with dad riding the Tower of Terror. I never understand WHY I ride that ride, I don't really like it, I never have much fun, and I am always left a bit queesy when I get off for about 10-15 minutes. But I rode it anyway, stupid me.

After that we treked over and rode the Great Movie Ride. It's an older ride but still fun. Maddie got a bit scared during the loud gunfight, but by the time the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz were all singing she was fine again. After that we went over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Maddie absolutely loved yet another playground, and rode down probably the biggest slide she has ever ridden. The best part is she did it all herself, when she would get to the bottom she would climb all the stairs back up to the top and ride it with just mom and dad sitting back and watching her. It's exciting to see her express her independence and do things on her own, but a bit sad as well. After an exhausting run in the playground for 20-30 minutes we went over and rode the Backlot Tour. It's one of those rides that is fun the first time, but I don't know why I keep riding it. It never changes and Catastrophe Canyon is alright, but the ride takes like 30 minutes so meh... maybe next time we will skip it, but I doubt it. After that we ate lunch and then headed out of the park.

Maddie took a quick hour and half nap (while dad watched football) and then we headed out for one last romp in the pop jets. She played in the water for about 30 minutes, we went back to the room to change, and then headed off for Epcot.

The first thing we did in Epcot was get our picture taken in the Innoventions Plaza. Every Disney Visa Card Holder that has their picture taken there gets a free 5x7, so hey, free is a good price. After that we headed over to Mission Space. I wasn't going to ride it (it's a big spinny ride after all) but decided to give the "Green Team" (Disney's code word for non-spinning wuss version of the ride) a try. It's basically the same ride, only instead of spinning you around they just have the motion simulator lean further forward or backward to create the effects of liftoff and zero G and what not. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. The non-spinning version of the ride still felt very realistic when you blasted off and what not only with 100% less vomit inducing naseua! After the ride I met up with Shalisa and Maddie in the pavilion where they were playing around. Maddie had found this tube thing for kids that you can crawl down (think ball pit tube thingy's) and she was hooked. I even took her up to the "big kid" version which was up some stairs and went through it with her. It took us like 15 minutes to crawl through the whole thing, my knees may never recover, and I think I knocked myself in the head about 50 times but it was SOOO worth it, she laughed and giggled the whole time and absolutely loved it.

Exiting Mission Space we headed over to Mexico to walk around the worlds in Epcot. We enjoyed looking at each of the nations and finally got to Germany where we ate dinner. The food in the biergarten was really good, Maddie loved the live polka band that was playing, and we enjoyed talking with our server who was from Munchen (Munich) about our trip to Germany last year. After we exited Germany we continued around the world, picked up our free photo near space ship earth (the lady even gave us a second free photo, of Maddie kissing Mickey since she said it was the cutest picture ever and we had to own it but we had chosen the family portrait instead, so that was really cool) and then rode the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. At MK Maddie hula hooped in the street with some other little kids while dad ran over and bought her her first Mickey Ears. We bought them in the kid size (not infant size) and had them embroidered with her name. We bought them late since we knew she wouldn't wear them (she goes in and out of hat phases, she is currently "out" of a hat phase) and figured it would be a fun thing to bring back in the future.

We rode a bus back to the resort, picked up some ice cream for everyone, and then finally made it back to the room. Maddie is sleeping now and dad is just getting ready to watch Sunday night football as soon as I finish this post.

Because I want to watch football, and this internet connection is like the slowest thing on the planet, I am going to cheat.

Here are a TON of photo's for you to enjoy of Ryan, Shalisa and Maddie in Disney World, courtesy of PhotoPass.