Swart Life Continues: Disney - Day 5 - Friday - Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9--Our Last Day at the Parks 😢

Today is Avi’s 18th birthday!!!

(I had ordered her a Mickey Chocolate Cake at the resort bakery for this morning)

Mack is ready for our last day!😍

Waiting on the bus....with our oldest grandchild. We love you Avi!💕

7:57 am—Boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

8:21 am—Entered the Magic Kingdom.

8:25–We recreated the family picture from 1993–2022 -- almost 30 years apart😍

(the last time we went as a family of 5 was in July of 93 and now again in Dec. of 22)

(We may have changed "just" a little😂)

They no longer have that "ledge" to sit on, so had to improvise....

Magic Kingdom's "sparse" Christmas decorations..😒

8:30 am—We took our "last" family pictures in front of Cinderella’s Castle. (I had asked the family to wear the Swart shirts again for this picture, since we didn't get one with all 18 of us in the shirts on Tuesday). They graciously agreed and then brought other shirts to change into (since these were a little stinky 😁)

💖My dream come true....Disney with all my grandchildren!!!💖

So disappointed in the Disney photographer.....look at all those shadows. I had hoped these 2 pictures would be of good quality to make a canvas out of it for my family wall.....but they sure aren't!!😞

What I didn't know (but everyone else did) -- was that Jeff had a surprise in store for me....

This is what he wrote: 8:38 am—I proposed to Debbie—again! She didn’t realize that I was giving her a ring. She thought I had given her my wedding ring! In typical Debbie fashion, she was embarrassed and wanted to get it over with. I did get a kiss, though!

The grandkids gave me matching earrings (Thanks Michelle!)💕

50 years!!!💑💑

8:40 am—We walked to Tomorrowland.

9:06 am—We rode the People Mover again.

9:28 am—Jeff wrote: Some of us rode Space Mountain. Really rough! They changed the lap restraint system. So much better because the earlier ones hit me at the knees & I felt like I was coming out of my seat on every drop. I will never ride it again. I am almost certain that this is not the ride I have ridden before. The old one was more like a Wild Mouse at the fair.

10:01 am—Jeff again wrote: we all saw Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Copeland & Kipling were interviewed on camera during the show and were on the big screens (cool!). They were asked their names & Jonathan spoke for Kipling. When asked what he wanted to do, Copeland said, “Be a coder.” (like his Daddy--the Monster had no idea what he was talking about!😁), Kipling was shy & did not speak.

We have two movie stars!!💙💙

10:42 am—We rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Our last group ride at Magic Kingdom.

I didn't ride this in 2017 (stayed with Shep who was too little to ride). But I did this time and it's really cute. I liked it, even though it's a roller coaster!

A couple of miscellaneous pictures...Andy had someone make a "smart-alec" remark to him about his shirt😂

Cutie pie💕 (got a button that says "my" sister is having a birthday)

11:02 am—We all split up for each family to do their own thing with plans of most of us meeting again at EPCOT tonight for the light & fireworks show.

Josh's family, Andy's family and Rachel's family all stayed at Magic Kingdom until 2:00 when their park hopper tickets were valid and did "their" own thing...…although Rachel said they ran into each other numerous times 😁

Some of Rachel's pictures of what they did that afternoon.....Magic Kingdom...

Rachel enjoyed having her "big" kids all to herself for the first time this week......(the two oldest were always with their cousins the other days and Eisley was in our room at night)

Pirates of the Caribbean

Souvenir Pirate Swords

Christmas Parade.....

Some of Andy's pictures from that afternoon:

Mack waving to the Disney Characters💙:

At 2, using their Park Hopper Passes, Andy's family and Rachel's family went to Hollywood Studio

Raiders of the Lost Ark -- Hollywood Studios

Mack was concerned about what Indiana was going to do in his situation!

Rachel said some also rode Rockin' Roller Coaster one last time! Then Andy's family went back to the Star Wars area to look for souvenirs and her family traveled back to Epcot.

Epcot (3 parks in one day for the McCrary's and Andy's crew)

Journey of the Imagination--Figment!

A picture from Josh as they were leaving Magic Kingdom that afternoon:

Josh's family headed back to the resort to rest a while and then freshen up for an outing to Disney Springs for Avi's birthday.....

Josh texted me a couple of pictures of their evening:

The family waiting on the bus to go to Disney Springs....

Josh had booked a nice meal at Morimoto's (a Japanese restaurant) to celebrate Avi's 18th birthday

Back to Jeff and I from Jeff's notes:

11:15 am—We saw Hall of the Presidents at the Magic Kingdom. It's really neat how they make all those audio-animatronics to look, talk, etc. just like the U.S. presidents.

11:45 am—We are lunch in Frontier Land

12:35 pm—We purchased caramel apples from the confectionary on Main Street

12:45 pm—We left the Magic Kingdom & walked to the bus stop.

12:55 pm--We boarded the bus for the Caribbean Beach Resort

1:28 pm—We arrived at our hotel room.

We split one Carmel apple with nuts and Debbie made herself a cup of coffee.

Debbie made a reservation on the Disney app at the Mexican restaurant in EPCOT for 5 p.m.

2:00 pm—We took a nap! Wonderful!!

3:00 pm—Got up feeling refreshed!

3:30 pm—Debbie writing: We walked to the Skyliner (I hadn't got a picture of Jeff and his walker all week, so decided to get one at this time). I was the one to encourage him, in the weeks before our trip, to take that walker (he wasn't using it at home since he had healed from his back surgery). At first, I think he didn't think he would need it....but he is SO glad he took it. It was a lifesaver for him!! Getting old is the pits😉! I loved it as I could store stuff in the seat! And as I said on the first day....it allowed us to get on the airplane first!

3:42 pm—Rode the Skyliner to EPCOT

4:00 pm—Entered EPCOT

4:09 pm—Watched the neat video in the Canada Pavilion: Far & Wide—12 minutes.

4:45 pm—We arrived at San Angel Inn (had a 5:00 reservation)

Such a pretty setting while eating....there is a small river below us, etc....Whenever we were at Epcot for all other Disney trips with the kids, we always ate at this restaurant. However, it's gotten very expensive and does not have a kid-friendly menu, so we didn't encourage the rest of the family to eat here with us this time.

After eating, we rode the boat ride in this exhibit....(Mexican scenes with Disney characters)

5:50 pm—We left the Mexican exhibit & walked toward Soarin' where we were to meet others. We ran into Andy & Rachel’s families on their way to buy their kids souvenirs.

6:15 pm—Thought we would ride "The Land" but the line was 30 minutes long. So we sat down to wait for our time for Soarin'.

7:00 pm—We boarded Soarin’ Around the World

(one last time!! Again, my favorite ride at Epcot)

While most of us rode Soarin', Rachel, Gideon and Kipling rode "The Land" as the little guys thought Soarin' was scary.

7:30 pm—We finished Soarin’ Around the World & sat & talked while everyone napped and/or snacked.

8:12 pm—Jeff: Some went to ride the Mexican boat ride & Frozen and I walked to France to wait on them (however, the boat ride was too long of a line so they didn't ride it).

8:40 pm—Jeff watched: Impressions of France—180 degree screens—18 minute film

Rachel, Jonathan, Gideon and Kipling rode Frozen again while the rest of us headed to France to ride Ratatouille one last time....

9:09 pm—We got in line for Ratatouille (Jeff joined us as well).

9:20 pm—We Rode Ratatouille .

9:35 pm—Andy’s family went home (3 parks in one day and they were tired!).

9:35 pm—Jeff wrote: Laser, video, audio, water, light, & fireworks show began. Smallest crowd that I have ever seen for the show. Not even 2 people deep when it is usually 10 or more people deep. A few seconds after the show started, I walked up to the rail to see the show in France. Rachel's family really enjoyed this show💖