Life is a Journey

Today was the day we said farewell to Bonnet Creek and Disneyworld. I was up at 6.30am but let Kevin sleep in (or so I thought – later I found out he woke when I got up) till 8am. Then it was getting ready, final packing and checking the apartment before checking out.

This is us crammed into the lift with all our luggage.

We weren’t quite sure how we’d manage to fit it all in the van, with the scooter, but we got it all in.

Then it was off to IHOP for breakfast.

Being a Saturday morning it was rather busy so breakfast took longer than we thought. I ordered a peppermint hot chocolate and Kevin ordered a marshmellow one. I got served his and was really enjoying it until we realized it wasn’t the peppermint one. His was much nicer.

Potatoes for breakfast? Yes please :-).

Kevin and Athena both got combo meals and shared. This was the sweet portion..

Christy’s breakfast..

Then it was back on the rode for the drive to the Kennedy Space Center. When this drawbridge opened we drove past an accident – a car ran up the back of a truck – I assume when it stopped for the bridge. There was a man draped over the bonnet/hood of the car who we first thought was dead, then realized he was probably just resting as the two drivers didn’t seem concerned about him at all.

Finally we arrived to start “Kevin day” since we were here because he loves it so much and is always watching Space documentaries.

Since we didn’t get here till 11.30am we had to have a quick lunch.

You got to order from a kiosk stand and I got the make your own salad. It was so good.

Then it was time for our tour. The original one I had booked had been cancelled due to hurricane damage so we ended up doing the same one (with some variations) that we’d done on our last trip. Poor Athena was in a LOT of pain today but still managed to come along with us.

Both Kevin and Athena were most excited to see the Space X areas.

We didn’t get to go inside the Vehicle Assembly Building this time as it is being refurbed.

But we did get to see a tortoise.

We then visited the Saturn V building..

before the Shuttle Atlantis – which was here on our last trip but you couldn’t yet view it.

 

There was a slide here that Kevin and the kids did (Christy did it 3 or 4 times).

They then did the space shuttle ride but only Kevin was impressed with it. Probably not exciting enough for the kids, but Kevin felt it was very realistic.

A sad, but cool, piece of the shuttle Columbia.

Kevin always makes time to play with this.

We really didn’t get too see much of the KSC today but left as the place was closing at 6pm.

We then drove to Cocoa Beach, stopping to pick up Domino’s for dinner. The menu was quite different (and no garlic bread) so it took us a little while to work out our order.

Then it was onto tonights accomodation – some place we stayed in 2012 – but we got a bit lost on the way when Kevin took us to the other La Quinta in Cocoa Beach. Our one (on the beach) was literally around the corner from the Domino’s :-).

A lovely room but it was too dark to see the ocean outside – but we could hear the waves.

Kevin and Athena’s pizza…

My veggie pizza…

Christy had some cheesy bread. We all did own thing for a bit before having an early night.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

I managed to sleep in till about 8am this morning which meant I’d had about 6 hours sleep. As planned for it was a very lazy morning, luckily since I was in pain (as also expected after a late night). And of course we had to pack up today and deal with the mess that we had created during the last two weeks.

Kevin and Athena made a last run to Starbucks to get breakfast.

We then filmed our collective haul from the Disney Parks and Disney Springs and started packing. At 1.30pm (still midway through packing) we headed to Chipotle for lunch.

I got the vegetarian salad bowl. It was HUGE, and nice but a little too spicy for my liking. We all decided we like Sombreros (in Australia) better.

Right next door was a Dunkin’ Donuts so we bought some to have later. The peppermint ones were delicious.

Then it was onto the Florida Mall to visit a few shops we had missed on Monday. Like Forever 21…

and Hot Topic…

We were there much later than expected (as tends to happen). Kevin got himself an ice block so he was happy. There was also another trip to Torrid where Athena scored some more clothes.

And when Kevin and Athena went back to build a bear, Christy and I headed outside to sit in the comfy lounges they have there.

We left about 5.30pm just as the sun was setting.

The entrance to Bonnet Creek at night…

Back home we had our last Amy’s dinners. Athena and I got on with packing, while Kevin and Christy went to Disney Quest. They were gone a few hours and had lots of fun. Christy had fun designing and ride on her own roller coaster.

Athena (who had walked around the mall) and I were both exhausted by the end of the night.

Save

After a late night and disturbed nights sleep (with me eventually getting up at 4.30am) we ended up having a slow morning. I wasn’t really too good (had a headache and some fibro pain) but we left about 10.30 to go to World of Disney (at Disney Springs) to do our last personal and Christmas shopping. We didn’t get many photos as (1) Athena had the camera and (2) we were too busy shopping.

We then headed to Bahama Breeze for lunch. Most of the YouTubers I watch who visit WDW rave about this place.

We opted to sit inside since the theming was so cute and we had an awesome, fun server…

who recommended the lettuce tacos to me and they were delicious.

Christy had mac n cheese, Athena had baked chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and Kevin had empanadas.

Everyone enjoyed their meals and lunch was declared a big success. Such a relief after the Sweet Tomatoes failure.

After lunch we went back home and everyone rested up. Kevin and Athena had a sleep, I tried to have a sleep and Christy just watched Netflix.

Then around 5.30pm we set off for the Magic Kingdom.

for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. The kids didn’t know as it was a surprise from Nan & Pop.

Unfortunately this ended up being quite the ordeal. When we got to the ticket and transport center the monorail wasn’t working so we had to catch the ferry, which obviously had a rather long line/wait. Then there was some emergency on the unloading ferry which meant everything came to a stop. Luckily we were able to sit leaning against a wall, as we were there close to an hour, then once we finally boarded the ferry had to wait to dock and get off.

By the time we got the ticket booths it was about 7.30pm and after the official start of the party. We had hoped to be here by 6pm. The good thing was that it was indeed a surprise for the kids, who were puzzled when their magic bands didn’t work.

I love the Magic Kingdom at any time, esp at Christmas but night-time at Christmas is in a league of it’s own. Hence the number of photos you are about to see.

First up we had to get a family photo in front of the tree.

We then headed down Main Street.

And went to ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. Just a 5min wait.

We then got hot cocoas and snowmen cookies – they were pretty and blue but you can’t see that cause it’s so dark.

We took full advantage of the photographers tonight and were able to get a few family photos.

Next we rode the Haunted Mansion. I always see new things on this ride that I don’t remember from before.

We then walked around to Pinnochios Village Haus for dinner.

I couldn’t work out why it was so empty until I realized it was almost 9pm. We got a great table overlooking the It’s a Small World ride boarding area. We had tomato soup – which had been recommended – and was delicious.

And shared a caprese flat bread.

Then it was time to grab a spot for the fireworks. We managed to get a spot with seats, only to realize when the fireworks started was that it wasn’t a good spot and most of the show was blocked by trees :-(. It was however a good position to see Tinkerbell fly.

Luckily Athena moved off and found us a better, and less crowded spot, to watch them.

Then we went to the Winnie The Pooh ride, which we had missed out on the other day. All the characters were there and it would have been great to meet them but it was a 30min wait.

Even the ride had about a 10min wait.

Cute ride but so very short.

We were heading over to Tommowland when we spotted Club Tinsel.

Thee went and danced with the polar bears.

Another candy cane was spotted…

which meant….

The people mover was up next. Kevin started this weird way of riding the escalator.

Always good to have a nice sit down as you ride around Tomorrowland.

We then headed back up Main Street to find a spot to watch the parade.

We found a good spot by the entrance, but it meant the parade didn’t reach us until about 11.30pm.

Smiled the whole way through it. Disney sure do know how to do parades.

With having lost that 90mins at the start of the evening and having to wait so long for the parade we didn’t get to do everything we had wanted/planned. So at 11.45pm (with the park closing at 12am) we raced back down Main Street and over to Peter Pan. This ended up being a mistake as Athena ended up being in a lot of pain (due to us not getting them a wheelchair for the line) and Christy was upset to have missed a show. Again, cute ride but very short.

We did manage to catch the second half the 12am show. I don’t think it was that good anyway (certainly not as good as the last one we saw). But it was a nice way to end the night.

Heading back up Main Street for the last time we were all rather sad.

We did visit a few shops and I bought a print (something I had wanted to get this trip).

And we finally left the park about 12.30am. By the time we caught the ferry back and then walked to our car and drove home, it was about 1.30am. Definitely the latest night I’d ever had a Disney. And surprisingly I wasn’t even too tired (yet).

Save

Save

This morning we were up and headed to Hollywood Studios about 8.30am. By the time we arrived the park was already open so once we’d gone through bag check and ticketing we headed straight to Toy Story Mania.

It said a standby time of 20mins but I think we only waited just over 10 mins.

It’s a fun ride but I still don’t get the mad obsession with it.

Kevin was happy to get the highest score of 139,000. Athena got 115,300 ; Christy 91,000 and, not surprisingly, I was last with 80,800.

Next we walked though One’s Man’s Dream, which I always like.

Then we checked out some shops – Christy later bought this Todd with a very long tail.

Athena did some pin trading.

Then it was fast pass time for the Tower of Terror.

Some people, won’t name names but I’m sure you can guess, wanted a snack from this shop.

Which he took to eat while waiting to see the Beauty and the Beast musical. I ate a banana and yesterdays popcorn :-).

Athena bought a candy apple which they shared with Kevin (after he’d eaten his carrot cake cookie.

The show was wonderful, as it always is. And we were in the front row (perks of having a scooter) so had a great view.

We then used our fast pass for Rock n Roller coaster. Still the coolest ride if you ask me.

We headed around to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and saw that Princess Sophia had a short line so Athena went to meet her and get a photo.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid is so clever. Love all the puppets.

By now we were ready for lunch. We found a table and Kevin went to order for us again. Athena and I had baked potatoes – which as you can see were huge. I don’t think I even got through a half of it.

Christy then headed off to do Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller coaster by herself. Athena went to meet Doc McStuffin and Kevin went to watch some Star Wars thing.

Then Athena and I went to watch the Disney Junior show (where Kevin joined us). Didn’t think I’d be back watching it again but Athena really wanted to see it.

Our only other goal today was to see the Frozen Singalong. On the way we saw the Storm Troopers marching by. We had seen them earlier and they must do this every hour or so. Loved the music they had playing.

We were lucky enough to get into the Frozen Singalong on stand-by.

Very cute show. We all really enjoyed it. Even if only some of us sang along :-).

We headed home about 4pm and it was nice to be able to put our feet up for a bit. Kevin and Athena had naps.

Around 6.30pm we headed to Disney Spring – with Kevin wearing his new lights (that he got after seeing his youtube girl-crush wearing one).

We ended up getting here later than planned and at the wrong end of Disney Springs, but were able to get a good view of the drone show. It was cute (and impressive that it is all drones) but not something you definitely must see.

We then got tickets to see Moana at the Dine In movie theatre.

We had a bit of time to kill so visited the Coke store to buy a present and Kevin posed for a photo (in a very strange position).

The theatre is VERY different to our Gold Class theatres in Australia. As you can see you have a table in front of you and a waiter who takes your order when you sit down. And a button you can press for service during the movie.

Christy had some fries, and a later a (huge) popcorn. Kevin and Athena had burgers and chips, and I got the quinoa burger which was delicious (and came with fruit I was too full to eat).

The movie was really good. Definitely well worth seeing. Athena and I (and maybe Christy) are planning to go again when it opens in Australia after Christmas. So cute. And the music is really awesome.

It was quite a late night and we didn’t get back until about 11pm.

Save