June 10 – departure day

We were up early for breakfast at Ohana’s. Not too early, just enough to get them dressed. We decided the easiest would be to take a boat to the Contemporary, then the monorail to the Poly. Good plan! 

I would LOVE to stay there some day! It was really beautiful. The breakfast was fabulous. The sausage & potatoes & bread & Mickey waffles & some heavenly juice...it was all delicious.

    

We saw Stitch, Lilo, Mickey & Pluto. Emily had to go to the bathroom before Pluto got to us, & he was walking away as we got back. We called to him, & he came back to give her a hug! He was her favorite all trip, so I was so happy he did that!

After Emily’s last episode of eating, then getting on a boat, we were a little nervous about the small boat back to FW.  We discussed taking a bus to AK, then bus back to FW, but our cart was at the marina. I wanted to run get FP for Safari, but we decided that would take too much time. We took the monorail around to MK & get the big boat back, instead. This worked out well & we had no incidents this morning. The only green park today was AK, hence the going for FPs, but we’ll see what it looks like when we get there. IF we get there!

I put up some pics of the cabin & the surrounding area, for those of you interested. It was really nice. Disney without being too Disney. Not that I MIND too Disney, but it really reminded us of our last big vacation in Montana. It was small, but we didn't really feel crowded. The bedroom slept the 4 older kids just fine. Danny & I took the Murphy bed in the living room, & Joshua slept on the couch.

   

Danny took all of our suitcases on the cart to RAC. We had 7 coming back!!  Then we had to get the carry-ons over there & turn in the cart. Alec’s day one purchase of the wooden sword doesn’t fit in the luggage.  And the front desk doesn’t have a box to fit it, so we have to trek over to the Meadows Trading Post, where they have a box for us to ship it home in. Good grief!

We finally made it to AK about 11. FP return time on KS was 1:42!  Kinda late. We needed to be headed to the bus by 2, so we can make our DME bus at 3 to the airport. We decided if we don’t get to it, that’s fine. We still had to get our Photopass pic from behind the Tree of Life. We got rained out on our first day here, so that was our next stop. And there’s a line. It’s ok. We do it & get some good shots, including our only special shots, with Simba & Tink. Bryce & Alec decide to do EE single rider while the rest of us walk the Pangini trail. We hadn’t done this before, & it was pretty cool. Hard to pull Joshua away from the fish.



Those gorillas are smelly, though!!  As we’re walking in, Danny says that he’d really like to eat at Rainforest. I say, ok, I’ll find the number & call. I get us in at 12:45!  I called the boys & they met us over there. I held things up by wandering into shops trying to find a hat I saw the first day. BUY IT WHEN YOU SEE IT!!! I found it, but needed second opinions after lunch. Lunch was really good. Kind of nice to be able to get an appetizer!

 

I had a picture of the Rainforest Cafe sign from our trip in 1998. Bryce with Danny's aunt.



The kids all get something from the gift shop, of course, & I drag them back in to find my hat. I get a bucket hat with several pins on it that I like. We get one more photopass pic on the bridge on the way out. Alec has the bright idea to see if we have any snack credits left & get some waters.  Apparently we had 8 left! I also found safari hats, crushable & light-weight, with sun protection built in, for $7 a piece!! I buy the only 2 I see. Danny has since stolen one to wear to work in. 

Joshua falls asleep on bus back to FW & sleeps half-way to the airport.

 

We got some pixie dust here, though.  Some TSA workers send us to the other side, with no lines, then they usher us into the line for people with strollers & wheelchairs! Dinner in the airport. What else are we going to do with a flight that leaves at 6:45? Joshua did get to go into the cockpit on our stop in New Orleans. We were waiting for Emily to get out of the bathroom.

 

3 flights & 1 storm later, we’re home about 11:30 CST. That detour around the storm coming into Amarillo was better than going through it, but still too much for Emily’s tummy on top of a whole package of fruit snacks.  Next time, she’s going on the Dramamine, too!

We had a fabulous trip. Relaxing and enjoying the family & the Mouse. What could be better? We're already talking about going back. We enjoyed WDW as "thems" and LOVED it the TGM way!! And now the kids want to go on a Disney cruise, too!!