12/27
Magic Kingdom. Breakfast at Crystal
Palace and lunch at Whispering Canyon Café.
Leaving to head to Chicago.
Our last day here in the “World”, the most magical
place on earth. We made sure to get up
early so we could head down to get our luggage checked in for our flights. This went well, no issues and they even told
us where we could get each of our carryon held until we got back from the parks
later. Our flight is scheduled to depart
at 7:50pm on Southwest. This departure
time had changed from our original time of 6:50pm so our Magical Express (yes,
it is tragically since we had to leave this happy place) was scheduled for 3:30pm. Let’s just hope there are no issues with our
flights like when we came down. As of
right now everything in on time.
We headed over to the bus stop for Magic Kingdom and
had no wait. It was great and wasn’t crowed. We meet a few families and were chatting with
them. It caused the time on the bus to
speed by. We arrived and made our way
thru bag check and then the tap stiles.
We managed to be there for the Welcome Show and enjoyed it for the 2nd
time we were there (so glad since they have now moved and changed it). We then headed in, and moved onto and up Main
Street USA. Again, I honestly think that
guests that stop short for pictures, or to look at maps or to try to figure out
where to go, or just to chat or if they don’t know what they are doing, that
they should be required to wear blinkers and break lights to warn others. It would make things so much easier. We wanted to get some pictures taken. We found a Photopass photographer just before
where the rail tracks come back together.
Here we had some pictures taken, but I also had my favorite shirt and
after he took a few, I put it on and we have a picture of us facing the castle
and waving, you get to see Mickey looking up, Andrea’s arm is around me and her
hand is just on his nose. We had lots of
fun with pictures today, in that we had some sad/pouty faces because we had to
leave today. We then headed off to
Tomorrowland Speedway. TP said the wait would
be 5 minutes. The standby line said it
would be 10 minutes. We could see the
line wasn’t long so hop in line. Well
neither of these were right, it seems they were having some issues and our 5
minutes ended up being 19 minutes.
Andrea got it the car in front of me and we waited until our “race” was
to start. She enjoyed herself. I had to slow down and even stop because her
car was much slower than mine. We
finished and she was telling me her car was so slow. I laughed and said if we had been in
different lanes, I would have passed her, maybe even passed her twice. We headed over to Tomorrowland Transit
Authority PeopleMover. We wanted to get
one more view from up here. It is
relaxing and fun. 
After this, we walked
around before heading off to our first FastPass+, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for
our last ride, ever. Ok, not ever as we
will be back. We knew that they took
pictures, so we had fun. The first
picture we are all smiling, hands up in the air. The second, we look unhappy, hands on the
handle. What we noticed that is funny,
is that the video that you get from the ride of Memory Maker, has the 2 video
clips in the wrong order, so it looks like we are sad, then happy. We don’t care, we loved the ride, again.
Now it is off to Crystal Palace for our
breakfast but first stop to get some pictures of the murals where you walk thru
Cinderella’s Castle. I managed to get
all 5 of them. Then it was time to check
in at the podium. In front of us was a family of 3 that did not have
reservations but they managed to get to go in, so it never hurts to try if you
don’t have reservations. We sat and
waited and then were led in to our table.
There were little Mickey Head confetti sprinkled on the table. Our server was Christopher. He congratulated us on our engagement and
then explained about the buffet and the characters, and how they would be
coming around. Pooh was not that far
away, so we waited for him before either of us went to get any food. After Pooh, Andrea went to get some food and
came back, then I went and picked up some.
We then had Eeyore, with Piglet shortly after and finally Tigger. They had the characters out and on the move,
much faster than at other character meals.
We even meet Pooh 2 times while we were there. Our
total time was about one hour. Which was
fine with us. If we had kids, I am sure
that they would have wanted to spend more time.
We both went to the buffet stations 2 times and we were pretty full when
we left. I didn’t get many pictures,
sorry. T
The food was fresh, with hot food
being hot and cold being cold. We both
enjoyed this. As you can see from the
pictures, her first trip to the stations, included banana, Mickey Waffles, cinnamon
pastries, cheese cubes, bacon, sausage, syrup and chocolate milk. David picked up, scramble eggs, a Philadelphia
Cheesesteak Frittata, sausage, bacon, cheese hash browns and ketchup, mickey
waffle, cinnamon pastries, a strawberry pastry and a cheese Danish, syrup and
Orange Juice.
This was only a sample of
what they offered. Andrea also had a ham
and cheese omelet. IT was all good.
Our
costs $68.16 and a tip of $12.80 for a grand total of $80.96. Was the food worth it. Well, with how much and what all we ate, Yes,
it was. The experience, we enjoyed it.
We headed back over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
for our next FastPass+ and had a short wait before getting on the runaway
train. It was fun, again. Since this was our last day here, we were
hitting some highlights and now it was off to Frontier Rail Station to ride the
Railroad train one last time. In this
one, we went up to the very front.
Different perspective, still enjoyed it and it allowed us to get up to
Main Street to do two more things before we head to Lunch. We go down the steps and head down the Main Street
Confectionary. This is a tradition of
mine, it is either the last night or the day leaving Disney World to stop at
Magic Kingdom and go to the Main Street Confectionary. Sorry, no pictures. We had 14 snack credits to use and believe
me, we used them. To the tune of
$90.64. Fudge and other things can add
up quickly there. Some were for treats
to give to family and others to enjoy ourselves.
After this, we had one more FastPass+ to use
and any idea where we would go for our last FastPass+? We had to go and even pick on the Main Man,
uhm, I mean Main Mouse himself, Mickey Mouse. We again had fun and I love some of the pictures of this Meet and Greet
even more than others because you get to see Mickey on my back and Mickey
standing there too. (I somehow can't find the pictures of this Meet & Greet) We both picked on
Mickey about not proposing to Minnie. He
did everything to change the topic. Lots
of fun. We know he loves Minnie and
would do anything for her. Think about
how long those 2 have been together.
It
was time to leave the Magic Kingdom and we headed off over to the boat launch
to take a boat over to Wilderness Lodge.
This was a relaxing trip that allowed us to see the Disney Vacation Club
cabins being built.
They look very
nice. We walked around and then inside
and checked in at the podium. Our
reservation was for 1:15pm.
We didn’t
have a long before we were led to our table.
Our server was Dustin. He congratulated
us and then he went thru the menu with us and then took our drink order. Andrea ordered, yes you guessed it a Coke
with grenadine and David ordered a Sprite.
This was to be the start of the fun.
I told Dustin that Andrea would be requesting a lot of refills. He smiled and said he had the perfect glass
for her. While he was gone, we watched
someone ask for ketchup and the people run over to the table to bring bottles
and bottles of ketchup.
Now, I will say
that I thought that there would be more people but as you can see all the
tables weren’t full. Dustin arrived with
the drinks, mine a regular size mason jar glass, and then he out Andrea’s “glass”
in front of her, a huge Mason Jar.
Andrea got a huge smile and was pointing at it and back to herself. She loved it. She
got a huge smile and said “Now this is a drink”. As you
can see from the picture, it is a huge drink.
Dustin told us that it was ½ a gallon.
WOW, that is a big glass.
Dustin was saying that as our cousin, he
should be able to be in the wedding party and he was going to prove that he
could do it and we would have to have him in it. Now to the rest of the meal.
Appetizer – We shared the Gold Rush Western Chips with
Chili-Queso Dip and fresh Salsa (Serves Two).
The chips are corn chips and taste fresh and good. The dip, Andrea liked it more than
David. I would not order it again but
Andrea would so that means we will end up getting it the next time we come.
Dustin also brought out a piece of corn bread
with butter. Andrea didn’t like it, well she doesn't like corn bread anyway, but I
loved it. The corn bread was moist and
not bland.
Entrée – we got the ALL-YOU-CARE-TO ENJOY SKILLET –
Slow-smoked Pork Ribs, Barbecued Pulled Pork, Roasted Glazed Chicken, and
Western-style Sausage served with Mashed Yukon Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and
Cowboy-style Baked Beans. Let’s start
with what we didn’t like on this, the Cowboy-style baked beans. Not that they were bad, just we didn’t like
them, along with the fact that we were going to be flying on an enclosed plane,
no thank you we will pass. The corn was
fresh and tasted good, the mashed potatoes had some skin in them and were not
too creamy but had some texture to them.
Now to the main part of this, the meats.
The sausage had a bit of a kick to it, and when you bit into it, it had
a snap. The chicken was moist and
flavorful. The 2 best things here, the
ribs and pulled pork. The ribs had
plenty of BBQ sauce that added so much to them and then there was the pulled
pork. It was seasoned perfectly, moist,
juicy tender pulled pork.
Back in
Kansas, we drive from Great Bend to Wichita, about 2 hours to go to a place
called Pig In, Pig Out. Not a fancy
name, not a fancy place to sit down and eat but the best pulled pork we have
found so far. We will drive there and
order 3 full orders (that is 3 pounds of pulled pork) with the mild BBQ sauce
on the side, oh and an extra side of mild BBQ sauce. The pulled pork here reminded us of it. Loved it and when we finished what we had we
ordered more of it. Back to here, we had
him bring more pork, rigs and mashed potatoes.
There was someone at another table that Dustin was dealing with that
they only wanted more Mashed Potatoes and he was ribbing him, no pun intended
but he was getting on him about not getting more meat. He liked that we got more of the meat, made
it seem like he got paid based on how much meat he could bring out.
We thought we were done and waiting on our bill but we
had one surprise coming from Dustin. He
brought us a cupcake with a candle and wished us a Congratulations and had the restaurant
all wish us a congratulation. We blew
out the candle and then he let Andrea, uhm feed me. She was to smash the cupcake to my face. And she did.
OUCH!
There was just one problem. I swear this had been in a very cold fridge,
cause the icing was cold and very hard.
Then it was my turn to do it to Andrea.
I was much more careful and just rubbed the icing all over her mouth,
nose, cheeks and chin, part of it even fall on the table. Andrea was laughing the whole time.
Loved it.
Cousin Dustin took pictures for us and proved that he not only could be
in the wedding party but that he was shooting for the top of it, the Maid of
Honor. Well, even though he did say he
looked great in a dress and had the perfect dress, we don’t think he will be in
our wedding party, well that is unless we get married at Disney World. Lots of fun.
Oh and just so you know, this is how much of the drink Andrea managed to finish.
Our
cost was $90.00 with a tip of $15.00 for a total of $105.00. Was it worth it. We both think that the food was worth
it. Was the experience worth it? YES.
For Andrea, as she said “This was the most fun I had at any place on
this vacation. So yes, and we will be
going back. We
asked Dustin if he had a minute and then we gave him one of our Thanks You cards. Andrea let him know that she thought he was truly
the best and that she had the most fun. Then
she asked if he could get the manager.
Dustin said “Sure but just play along” As he got us, he started to say “I
tried to do my best for you two and now you want to see the manager, I’m
getting fired. I can’t believe it. Here
you may as well take my job” He walked away yelling about he was losing his
job. It was great. The manager came out and we told him how
wonderful it was to have Dustin as our server and that he had made this one of
the most memorable, and the most fun meal we had the whole vacation. Also, that Dustin is the reason we will be
coming back, that he is great. Yes, this
place it worth it. We cannot promise you
will have the same experience but if you go there with the attitude to have
fun, we think you will. Oh also, they
did not have, I repeat, DID NOT HAVE the stupid coasters that you can flip over
to opt out of the fun. If you are going
here, you should be there because of the fun and the food but the whole
experience is part of it.
We then took a boat back to Magic Kingdom and walked
over to the bus stop for POP. We waved
good bye to the Magic Kingdom, this being the last time we would see it this
trip. Arrived at POP, and looked around one last time. At 2:56pm, I received a text from Southwest
letting us know that our flight from MCO had been changed, it now had an
estimated time of 9:30pm. I asked if we
could change our Magical Express to leave later and was told no, which means we
now get to sit at the airport, such fun, yeaaaaa!
I retrieve our carryon bags and we do a bit of rearranging
so that we can put all the snacks, the goodies we picked up at Main Street
Confectionary. Even though tempted to
eat some, well I’ll be honest, to eat them all, I resisted the temptation for
at least now.
We went over and waited with all the other people who,
even though they didn’t want to go, were waiting to get on the bus.
It arrived and we let the other people,
especially those with kids, to get on.
We climbed on and took the first 2 seats on the left (as you face the back)
Our driver was great. He let us know
what was going on and that we would not going to be taking the normal route to
the airport due to the construction and traffic jams, but that we would make it
there with plenty of time for the flights.
I’ve taken the bus but never this way.
It was interesting as we seemed to go thru several backstage type
areas. The driver would come on the
intercom about every 5 minutes or so and talk about what was going on and even
made some jokes. Must say in all my
times on the Magical Express, I never had such an enjoyable ride to the
airport. We arrived and waited till the
driver had given everyone their strollers and luggage. I can see where people don’t think of tipping
the driver, because we saw no one give the driver anything. We had an envelope with the tip in for the
driver. We thanked him and grabbed our
carryon bag and headed inside.
Our
flight was not scheduled to depart for over 3 hours. We figured out where are gate was and sat
down to wait some. I pulled up the app
for MCO and could see what the wait time was for the TSA. We also needed to charge the phones. We sat and relaxed and then I had to find the
bounce back information. I ended up
calling the Disney World reservation line and after waiting started to give the
information on our future stay. We just
wanted to get it in, since I knew we needed to get this done before 11:00pm on
the day we checked out, which was today.
It took a long time to get it done.
They transferred me and I had to go thru everything again. Finally, we get our bounce back reservation
and now it is time to get going, as I hadn’t noticed how much time I had been
on the phone.
I looked at the MCO site
and saw that the TSA wait time was only 5 minutes, so no problem. We will make it with plenty of time to
spare. Now it’s off to the dreaded
TSA. Well for me the dreaded TSA, as
what happened flying out of Chicago. I
was hoping that nothing would happen. I
made sure to not use any lotions and had even stopped in the restroom to use it
and washed my hands twice, just to be safe.
We go thru, they scan our ID’s and our boarding passes. Everything is well, no issues. Now to pick the line. We pick one and listen to the officer who
keeps going over the same things. You
don’t have to take off your belt, just put all keys and change and other metal
in your carryon. Laptops must go in
their own bins. If you are Pre-Trip TSA, you don’t have to take off your shoes
but all others must. Finally, we are at
the bins. Do everything we were told, step
thru the metal detector and get scanned.
Walk out and, did I make it? “Was
this going to be a repeat of Chicago?
There is a TSA officer steps in front and says, we need to do a pat
down, your right rear pocket area had an issue.” OMG, can you believe this. I had made sure my wallet, which I do
normally have in my right rear pocket was out.
I reach back and feel a folded paper, well it was a couple pieces folded
together. I pull it out and see that it
is our TP for the Magic Kingdom today. I
hold it up and open it saying all I have is this, it was our touring plan for
at Disney today. Then I stop, in the
upper left corner, is a single, only one small …… staple. A staple, are you kidding me, a staple is
going to cause me to have to have a pat down and of course, swab my hands. I am not looking forward to this. I tell him it is fine to do it here. I stand, arms out, legs spread and get patted
down, and now for the hand swab. I am
saying to myself, and God, please. Well,
he puts the swab in the machine and as I watch, I see the color. Yes, it is green, no problems. Now put on my shoes and grabbed the carryon
bag. Wait, where is the carryon? It is sitting off to the side where they
scan/ x-ray them. Why is it still there? I see a female TSA agent pick it up, bring it
over and ask if this is my bag. I say yes,
it is, is there a problem. She say “I
have to open it and go thru it” I tell her “No problem, whatever you have to
do. I watch as she opens it, pulls out
the goodies and then starts taking out the shaving kit that had zip lock
baggies full of ------ Trading pins.
Trading pins were what the main issue was because we had all of them
together in one area, they had caused a big black spot on the screen since they
cannot scan thru them. She checked the
bags, then went thru the rest of the bag.
We waited and then she asked if I wanted to pack it or if she
should. I said I would take care of
it. This is when I found out that it is
best not to put all the trading pins together, especially in a carryon. I managed to get everything back into the
carryon. We are now moving with a
purpose to make it to the gate, but we both are also thirsty. I stop by one place, and pick up a water and
soda. We then made it to the gate. They are already boarding, A1-15. We went over and got in our spot and
boarded. We picked seats by the
wing. Andrea didn’t want to be next to
the window because of our flight down there, her ears hurt, so I took it. Let’s just say,
it was not my best flight as once we got settled in, I realized my shoulder was
right against the wall. Oh, well I’ll
make due. Our flight took off at I
believe 9:35pm. We made good time. It was an easy flight. The problem I had was the decent. I have never had issues with my ears. I always have gum and know how to deal with
the pressure and getting my ears to pop.
This flight, my ear never popped.
Even after landing, my left ear didn’t pop. I know that my sinuses had some to do with
it.
Ok, we have landed and it off to luggage claim. We were waiting along with hundreds and
hundreds of others there for our luggage.
They had a number of flights land in a short time. It took about 20 minutes before the conveyor
started, and then the luggage started to come out. We had a total of 4 bags we were waiting on. Would we get them all? Our first bag didn’t show up until almost 10
minutes. It took almost 10 minutes after
to finally collect the 4th bag.
Yes, Southwest didn’t lose any of the suitcases. What they did managed to do is rip one of the
zippered pockets. This suitcase was
brand new as of Thanksgiving. Oh, and it
was also the same bag that Southwest had lost on the trip to Disney. We think that I just wasn’t meant to have
that bag. It is now off to the Customer
Service to report the suitcase damaged.
What ended up happening, is they replaced it with one of the lightweight
hard shell suitcase. Was I happy with
it, No, not at all but we both were tired and still had to get our car, pay for
parking, get loaded and then drive a little under 4 hours to her family. I ended up putting everything from the one
suitcase into the other one. After this,
I took a shuttle to the garage, then got the car, paid for the parking, $180
for parking. Then went and picked up
Andrea and our luggage and headed out.
The drive to her mother’s house was uneventful. We were exhausted when we arrived and slept
in the next morning.
Would we change anything, if we could? First off – Dealing with TSA issues both
ways, YES. Southwest loosing 1 suit
case, YES. Disney misplacing our
luggage, YES. Southwest damaging a
suitcase, YES.
With that said, and because of those,
it also made all the good and great times and experiences that much better and
let’s be real, if it hadn’t been for Disney misplacing our luggage, we never
would have run into the amazing CM Megan at Pop Century. So NO, we wouldn’t change it. It makes for one heck of a story for us for
the engagement.
For our final installment, we will condense things, do
some comparisons and out final thoughts on the total experience.
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