Our last day at the parks! I decided that this would be a catch-up day for whatever we couldn’t get in during the other three days. Since we lucked out with the weather and wait times we were able to get in pretty much EVERYTHING from just the three days! We talked about it and Mom and Mrs. Charlotte decided to head back that afternoon so they could be settled for the stuff they had going on Monday (Mom with work and Mrs. Charlotte with keeping Courtney’s kids). One thing I love about Disney World is the opening of Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning. Cast members and characters ride a train to welcome everyone to the park and I thought Kye would love it. So I suggested that we finish the Disney trip how we started it, at Magic Kingdom.
Since we met Mickey Mouse the day before, Gramma and G-Mama wanted to give Kye their last little prize. He was STOKED about having his own Mickey Mouse!!! Sidenote: What in the world is Emily doing having her kid in those pjs?!?! Haha. I mentioned in an earlier post but we had problems with Kye’s air mattress deflating…it happened to him multiple times and caused him to wake up in the middle of the night the night prior and have a little tee-tee accident so new pants were in order for a quick fix 😉
Gah, I LOVE me some Magic Kingdom!!!
Ready to ride the ferry boat again (and this time I checked on the Disney website and the extra magic hour was in the evening which meant we’d have even LESS morning crowds!)
On the ferry Zach and Kye created a new game where Zach used my Mommy Hooks from the stroller to let Kye to pull ups…
He loved it.
showing off that upper body strength for the ladies!
Seriously, the kids strength really does blow me away. Since he was a baby he has just been VERY strong! He did this OVER and OVER again and never tired out!
My only disappointment from the entire trip was that we ended up missing the opening show. 🙁 I knew Kye would love it but with 5 people to get ready to go it was tough to make it in time, we barely missed it. We walked up right as the characters were waving goodbye from the train! I didn’t let it phase me though, Kye doesn’t know he missed anything special and it’s something to look forward to next time we go.
I’m SO glad we finished the trip with Magic Kingdom! Our first day was wonderful but it was also a little rushed and more crowded than I wanted it to be (thanks to the whole early magic hour thing). This time it was PERFECT. By that point we had everything down to a science, Kye was used to how things worked, and it was practically EMPTY. Plus we had no real agenda or things we had to do. We’d already done all the main stuff we wanted to do so it was just a chance to do even more and soak up all the magic we could before heading home!
Tip EVERYTHING I read said to do Magic Kingdom on your first day. While I’m not saying I would have done it differently, I am VERY thankful we had a second day to visit that park again. It’s confusing for a small child to understand waiting in lines and such and even the rides themselves can be a bit overwhelming for a kid who hasn’t ever experienced it. I found that as each day went on that Kye got more and more accustomed to the whole experience and seemed to enjoy it more. When we take Blitzen for his or her first time we’ll still probably do Magic Kingdom first, but will make sure to have time to revisit it again for the highlights like we did on this trip!
Our first stop was to ride Pirates of the Caribbean again since it was, by far, Kye’s overall favorite ride!
outside Adventureland!
super pumped to ride it again!
our theme song for the trip 😉
family picture outside the favorite ride!
We literally walked on the ride with no one even in our boat with us. We rode it three times in a row! Kye had the WHOLE thing memorized and would say the same little phrases each time. He was so precious to watch. He put his little hands up to feel the “waterfall” when we went under it (it’s actually just smoke). He said “the crab is gonna get the pirate” when we passed by some of the skulls with a crab in the sand by them. He said “the fire truck is coming!” to the pirates during the scene where buildings are on fire. We talked about the yucky, dirty feet of the pirate whose foot hangs over the boat and talked about how we need to clean it for it. He pointed out the kitties who were drinking some drink with a pirate. And he LOVED the dogs. He especially loved the part where the dog is getting the keys for the pirates who are locked behind bars and we told the dog to not give them the keys! He would have ridden the ride literally all day!!!
I LOVED just taking our time and stopping along the way to get some pictures and just enjoy it all.
Pirates put Kye in SUCH a good mood that he asked to get a picture!!!
We also went back to Fantsyland and viewed Phillarmagic again since that was one that we all loved (no, we did not revisit It’s A Small World haha!).
One thing we didn’t get to do on the first day that I knew Kye would enjoy was the train ride. I’ve never done it myself (as an adult at least) and didn’t even know where to get on it! It’s called The Walt Disney Railroad and you can board it in Fronteirland. It’s basically just a transportation to main street and back but we rode it all the way around so Kye got to ride the choo choo for a solid 25 min or so. It’s a real steam train which was neat and the ride was fun to see a lot of the park that you don’t typically see. It, too, was empty so we could all stretch out and enjoy some snacks!
“choo choo!”
snackin’ it up
We enjoyed seeing ALL the work they are doing in Fantasyland. It’s going to be REALLY neat. They had a big framed picture of what it will look like and they are adding the castle from Beauty and the Beast as well as a Dumbo expansion and more emphasis on princesses. I’ve heard they are also expanding the pirate section in Adventureland so I’m eager to get Kye back to see that!
After the train ride we decided that it was a good chance for Zach, Mom and Mrs. Charlotte to get to ride Splash Mountain. Mom and Zach didn’t get to ride it on their afternoon out because it stormed too bad and closed right before they got to do it. Tip I had read about a playground RIGHT by Splash Mountain! I never knew it was even there and it is the PERFECT spot to take your kids to play while the grown ups right the stuff the kids can’t go on. I didn’t mind the break and was glad that they got to ride it. Kye had fun playing on the playground and interacting with other kids so it was really a win-win situation!
While we were there I talked to a TON of parents and found it interesting that they ALL said their kids (some older than Kye) were terrified of Pirates of the Caribbean! Also many of them would make their kids ride stuff even if it scared them. I, personally, am very against that! To me, it’s supposed to be fun for EVERYONE and if our kid isn’t enjoying it, how could any of us?!?! One mom I met had a daughter named Ava and she talked to me about how she thought the name was so original when she picked it and now it’s in the top 5 most popular names. I told her that I’ve only met one other Kye (other than the one we picked the name after) and that I was pretty sure it’d stay unique for awhile. I’m not kidding…after she left the very next person to sit next to me was letting her son play and his name was Kai…how ironic is that?!?! Now he’s the second one I’ve met. Both Kye’s (or Kai’s) I’ve met have been younger than my Kye and have been from outside of America. The first is from Hawaii (the name is Hawaiian and means “ocean”) and the Disney Kai was oriental. So I still think I’m good on the uniqueness 😉
Kye really enjoyed the playground but did have his first Disney injury on it! Turns out parts of it were like legit rock…and he fell and hit his head on it. He doesn’t typically make a big deal out of boo-boos but he hardcore cried and it turned black and blue on his forehead pretty quickly. That afternoon for nap he actually asked me for some medicine, I think he may have had his first headache from the fall!
After Splash Mountain it was starting to get a little late and I really wanted to be back in plenty of time for Kye’s nap so we decided to end the morning with one more ride on Pirates 🙂 Kye sang throughout the whole line and I had to snap a picture of him with this cannon. It was a Big Brother-type moment when right after I took this picture someone came over the loud speaker and said “no flash photography allowed” haha I knew they were talking to me!!!
When we left the Pirates ride…Kye was very disappointed. He cried and didn’t want to leave. Once we got going he had a great time riding on Daddy’s shoulders and kept singing “yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life for me.” It was PRECIOUS but, of course, every time I tried to catch it on video he’d stop. Haha. I did capture the tail end of him singing it in this video! And we FINALLY got him to sing it for real in this video 😉 score!
On our way out we stopped in front of the castle for a few last minute pictures. Mom and Mrs. Charlotte didn’t have any super good ones of just them with Kye so I thought it’d be a good idea. Notice the HUGE crane by the castle! Luckily I was able to make it pretty much disappear for the best ones 😉
My favorite of Kye and Gramma
gettin some Gramma kisses!
Mrs. Charlotte makes some awesome faces doesn’t she? 😉
My favorite ~ Kye with G-Mama
Why not snap a couple more family shots too?!?
Mom and Mrs. Charlotte did a little last minute gift buying on Main Street and Zach and I let Kye finish watching the show going on at the castle (I think it was Dream Along with Mickey) then met them at their store to go. It was right at lunch time so Kye chowed down as we headed for our last Disney ride, the monorail!
He had so much fun playing on one of the poles on the monorail…he was a fireman people, not a pole dancer 😉
happy boy!
walking to the car
Having Mickey and Nemo wave bye-bye to Disney World!
I was nervous about it being our last day at the park as I wasn’t sure how Kye would handle not coming back. I believe in being upfront with him (as much as is age appropriate of course) so I told him that morning that it was our last day and continued to say it throughout the day. We talked about the things waiting for us back home (our pets, getting to watch a movie in the car on the way home, school, etc) and about how much fun we’d been having on the trip to Disney World.
It was a WONDERFUL way to end our vacation and I loved that we were able to ride things again that Kye had really loved and try some new things too. Kye had a blast and we all left Magic Kingdom tired yet completely happy 🙂
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