Disney 2017 Wrap Up!

We headed home on Friday, September 22nd.
This was how we were feeling:

Silly Shep!!  Tried to get a smile out of that boy all week and when I tell him to look sad, he smiles! 😂

Our flight left around 2:00 p.m. Florida time

Little guy tuckered out!

 We arrived in NWA at 3:30 p.m. Arkansas time!

After taking Andy's family to their house, we made a quick stop by Rachel's.  It would be Jeff's last visit to their Roger's home before they moved and we had a little gift for the 3 kiddos:
Toy Story character set for Copeland:

Mini Princesses set for Eisley

Small Mickey for baby Gideon

Then we went to On the Border in Rogers for a nice quiet meal before heading to Kansas.  As I was sitting there looking at my magic band, still on my arm, I posted this on Facebook:

I'm going to be really sad to take this Magic Band off when I get home. It was magical!❣️It gave us access to our Cars suite (where someone cleaned up after us every day, made our beds, gave us clean linens, etc!) We used it for meals, snacks and souvenirs. Disney photographers swiped it for each picture (we have over 600 pics to upload). And, of course, it gave us permission to enter whatever Disney park of our choosing. Man, it's going to be tough to go back to real life! 😪♥️

So true!!

The magic bands arrived about two weeks before we left on our vacation:

I did want to brag on my grandkids!  As you saw from each posting -- we walked a lot of miles each day.  It was hot!  But the girls did so well with it all.  Laine never complained once about the walking and Ellie only a few times.  DeDe did rent a stroller for her the last day since she had been so good about not whining.  And Mr. Shep did great!  He rode in his stroller 90% of the time without a complaint.  He would take a 30-45 minute nap each day in that stroller and then be good til late bedtime (he's use to taking a 2 hour nap a day and going to bed at 7:30 p.m.)!  They were sure troopers all week!!       💖💙💗

As I said in the other postings, you would never have known Shep had the accident.  He didn't mess with his bandaid or stitches at any time.  This picture is after he got home -- wearing his sister's Mickey ears.  Too cute!

When they took him to the doctor to get his stitches out, he did great.  Doc said it is healing well.  We will see if he carries his "Disney" scar the rest of his life or not.  His Daddy does -- slammed his thumb in the van door on our way to Florida when he was 7 years old.  That thumb is still black!

It's looking good this week:

It was a wonderful, memorable week and we look forward to going again hopefully with Rachel and family, Josh and family and probably Andy and family.  We made Carman a "Disney" fan :-).  She loved it.  This is what she put on Facebook as we were leaving our resort for the last time:

Well the verdict is in...Disney World really is the happiest place on earth! ❤️❤️❤️
See ya real soon, Disney!
#swartdisney

Rachel and I sure want to go during the Christmas season since we have never done that.  I would love to go when it's not so hot!!

Just for memory sake (and to remember the next time), these are some of the rides that were shut down for renovation or we didn't have time for that I sure want to do next time:

Astro Orbiter

Avatar Flight of Passage (2-3 hour wait)

Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage

Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival

Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade

The Hall of Presidents (it was closed this time)

Splash Mountain (it was being refurbished) Girls would have loved it!

Walt Disney World Railroad

I think we did really well though in seeing/riding all that we did in 5 days!

And yes, I'm guilty of still checking my Disney app on my phone to see how long the wait times are on the rides - ha!!

I wrote the posting below in 2010 after our 6th visit to DisneyWorld (and twice to DisneyLand).  So now we add #7 to the list and hopefully a couple more times before we are too old to go (or the Lord comes)!

http://jeffanddebbieswart.blogspot.com/2010/06/disneyworld-swart-history.html

Thanks, Disney, for all the priceless memories!!! 

DisneyWorld 2017 - Post #7 - Magic Kingdom - Sept. 21

Day 6 - Our Final Day at DisneyWorld - Magic Kingdom

Since we didn't get to bed til after midnight, we got up a little later Thursday morning and didn't arrive at Magic Kingdom till 11:45 a.m.

One more time -- family pictures with the Castle in the background

 

Andy, Carman and girls then went to "Enchanted Tales with Belle"

They got to interact with the story of Beauty and the Beast

And then got their picture with Belle (one of my personal favorite Princesses with two of my precious granddaughter princesses)😍

While they were doing that, Jeff, Shep and I once again rode "It's A Small World" and the carousel

Then all but Shep and I rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train a second time (Jeff in first car and Andy's family in second car)

The girls and Merida

Country Bear Jamboree -- such cute bear audio animatronics!  The talked, sang, cracked jokes, etc!

We then did the Jungle Cruise -- what a "coincidence" to ride the Irma cruise boat (recent hurricane name!)

I think this is the only picture Jeff and I took of just the two of us.  I had already sweated off all my makeup and the humidity did a number on my hair!

Then the crew rode the Thunder Mountain Railroad (except for Shep & I)

It was finally time for us to do the Haunted House!!  This has always been one of the Swart's favorite rides at DisneyWorld.

Shep was sleeping in his stroller, so Andy said he would stay with him and the rest of us could go ride it.

DeDe made a major blunder!!  While standing in line, I told the girls we would be seeing "ghosts" and "goblins."  Well that scared Ellie!  She had ridden every roller coaster she was allowed to ride and loved them, but was so scared of this ride.  Carman said she hid her face in her lap the whole ride.  And it's not a scary ride, I promise!

And wouldn't you know it -- as we are passing the "party" scene with the ghosts dancing, etc., our ride breaks down!!  For over 15 minutes--most of that in TOTAL DARKNESS!!

I heard Carman call out, "Bathroom Emergency!!"  No response......and poor Ellie couldn't hold it!

So as soon as we got off that ride, Carman and Ellie headed to the bathroom (and missed the pictures below)

Our hitchhiking ghost 😨

Ellie had soiled all her clothing.  Andy & Carman went to Guest Services and was given a voucher to go and purchase new clothing from one of the Disney stores.  So Ellie got the cutest little Disney dress, high top black tennis shoes with sparkly Mickey ears, panties, and socks!!  (Over $130.00 all for free!)   Third thumbs up for Disney Customer Service! 👍👍👍

However, much to DeDe and Papa's dismay, the Haunted House will NOT be one of Andy's family's favorite Disney rides 😢

(Ellie in her new outfit-picture above was taken after we got back to hotel room late that night)

Below - the girls with Rapunzel

and with Princess Tiana

While the girls were meeting the above princesses, Jeff, Shep and I rode the cute Winnie the Pooh ride.

Many of our family rode the Barnstormer

Then most of us rode Dumbo the Flying Elephant

Laine in front of Ellie and I and Andy and Shep in front of Laine

As our day was winding down, we were trying to get in the last few rides that we hadn't done during the week:

Carousel of Progress

I first got to do this ride at the World's Fair in New York City in 1964 when I was 11 years old.  It will always be a special ride to me.

The audience seats move in a circle to different stages of mankind and how we have progressed.  All the stages have the audio-animatronics.  It is really cute!  Even that dog moves and barks!

Our last ride was the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover (it was actually after dark we rode this)

And then one last time--the fireworks show....and it's always so bittersweet knowing this is the last night at Disney!! 

😢😢

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!!

Goodbye, Disney!!  Thank you for a magical week! We hope to see you soon!! 💕💕

We left Magic Kingdom at 10:05 p.m. (only because they were closing)

Total steps for the Day:  13,297

Total Miles for the Day:  6.36 miles

We arrived back at the hotel at 10:30 p.m.