Disney Vacation Part 6: Day 4 (The Last Day)

On day three, we promised Blockette that we were going to see the super late fireworks at Magic Kingdom, since every other night we we were too tired for fireworks. Mrblocko and I had a long discussion after Blockette went to bed as to how we could possibly accomplish this. The conclusion was that we HAD to take a nap at some point.

Blockette was not receptive to this idea because, c'mon, we were at Disney World and she was not going to sleep away any possible moments of fun time. We explained that if she wanted to not take a nap, that was OK, but we were NOT staying up late for fireworks. She very reluctantly agreed and we began our last day at Disney World.

We had reservations at The Grand Floridian for The Supercalifragalistic Brunch with Mary Poppins. The Grand Floridian is a swanky Victorian-Southern Hybrid themed hotel located in Magic Kingdom. One part of it looks like the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. When we were planning our vacation, for exactly 30 seconds I debated staying at the Grand Floridian, then I saw the prices and came to my senses. It was a cool hotel, but I'm glad we chose the Coronado Springs in the end. It was perfect for what we wanted and needed on our vacation.

Anyhow, back to the Breakfast... we saw Tigger, Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter and of course Mary Poppins herself. Blockette was terrified of the Mad Hatter. She did not want her picture taken with him. I was able to convince her to take a picture of me with him.

I'm not sure why she was so scared of him. She had not even seen Alice in Wonderland! Maybe she thought he was Mad, as in Angry. I explained that he was not Mad, meaning Angry, but Mad meaning crazy. This did not help one eentsy weensy bit. I did, however, get scolded by Mary Poppins. If you look carefully at the picture above, of just Blockette, you can see several gummy bears on her plate. It was then that Mary Poppins came to the table and commented on the fact that we were feeding our offspring candy for breakfast.

Oh Mary Poppins, if you only knew. We had been having the hardest time getting her to eat through the entire trip. Due to our nap and late brunch reservations, we weren't planning on having lunch until 2:00. If we couldn't get Blockette to eat something for breakfast she was going to wake up at nap time VERY hungry. And then no one would get a nap.

So yes. I bribed my child with gummy bears to eat her breakfast. Why else would they have gummy bears at a breakfast buffet. I can't think of any other reason! Can you?

After brunch and wandering around the Grand Floridian for a while, we headed back to the hotel to go SWIMMING! Blockette was pleased as punch. She had only been begging to do this since we arrived in Florida.

Doesn't the pool area have a neat play ground next to it? I wondered why there were no kids playing on it. Then I remembered, duh, we are at Disney World. Why would a kid want to play there when they could go to the park and do fun stuff there! As you can see, there was hardly anyone at the pool. It was a warm day, but windy so it didn't feel as hot as it had the previous days. Whether this was the reason for the lack of people at the pool, or duh, they were all at Disney World, I'm not sure. Either way it was nice to not have to deal with lots of splashy kids.

The pool was so empty that there was a mamma and her ducklings swimming in it. (See above photo, bottom left.) One little baby could not get out so one of the grown ups in the pool quickly scooped him out. He got severe scolding from the mamma duck AND from a human mamma at the pool who went on this rampage about how you are not supposed to touch wild animals. Yeah, but I think with all that chlorine from the pool there was little chance that the man's human scent would have lingered on that little duckling.

After our swim we were ready for lunch and grabbed the most enormous plate of nachos and quesadillas at the food court in the hotel. With full bellies we went back to the room for a nap. Blockette claimed she was NOT tired, but she was so not tired that she was the first one to fall asleep.

After a nice long nap we headed back to Magic Kingdom where we went on lots of fun rides. Blockette wanted to ride "it's a small world" over and over, but Mrblocko and I could only stomach going on it once without going into convulsions. After lots of rides and snacks we went to the area in front of the Castle to get a good view for the light parade, and fireworks. I couldn't get any good pictures of the light parade but it was very cool. My camera takes good night pictures, but the picture has to be still and so do I. Since the parade was moving, that meant no good pictures for me.

As we were waiting for the parade to start, the castle kept changing colors. I told Blockette it was her job to let me know when the castle changed. It gave her something to do, and kept her less bored waiting for the excitement to begin. After the parade, there was a 15 minute or so interval before the castle show began. We made a mad dash for the potty, and luckily, we were able to find a good spot in front of the castle again. The castle show was like a movie projected onto the castle itself. I don't know how else to explain it, but it was awesome. Unfortunately, since it was moving, I couldn't get any good pictures of that either.

Then came the fireworks. The fireworks start out with Tinkerbell flying from the top of the castle. Talk about neato. This was not a light show or other special effect, but someone on a zip line zooming through the air. I don't think I could be brave enough to do that, but I guess it's less scary if you are wearing a lit up Tinkerbell costume.

The fireworks were some of the best ones I have ever seen. I tried to take a picture or two but gave up and decided I would have more fun if I just sat back and enjoyed the display. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried more than a little during the show. I looked over at Blockette at one point, sitting on her daddy's shoulders, totally exhausted but happy as she could be, and I knew this was the best possible end to our first family vacation!