Adventures of Mama-Dirtyfoot: Disney-ed Out!

We are home - and Disney-ed out! I know that Grandma (and friends) have been anxiously waiting for the last round of Orlando photos....so here goes. Sorry for the delay but we had some action packed moments trying to make the most of the rest of our time in Orlando.

Knowing that we would be at the Magic Kingdom until very late, we decided to sleep in. More importantly, we allowed for Madeline to sleep in an get energized for the long day ahead. After arriving at the park, the first thing I thought is that we should've spent more time at the Magic Kingdom during the week. Disney, in general, was quite slow during the week but PACKED on Saturday.

Oh well. The only thing we felt we *had to* do was see Madeline's favorite Disney Princess, Ariel (from the Little Mermaid). And so, we stood in line for about 45 minutes. Luckily there was a water spouting play area for the kids to run around in that amused Madeline for a good part of the wait.

After seeing Ariel, the three of us just picked and chose rides that had lighter wait times.

I am sure there were some "favorites" out there that we missed but David and I saw all of this last year and Madeline could care less about any specific ride....she just wanted to ride *any* ride. And therefore we bopped around the park, spending the majority of our day in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

Now, before I continue with the rest of our adventures I must repeat myself.....I am Disney-ed out. After my 4th day in the parks, I was done. Yes, Disney is a wonderful family vacation but if I don't go again for another 5 years or so, I am completely fine with that. I really, really, really don't understand why some people go year after year after year - every single family vacation they take.

Now, don't get me wrong, if an opportunity to tag along with David on another work conference comes up again next year, we would probably take advantage of that. My goodness, with David's air and hotel taken care of how could we not?? Yet, families out there go year after year and pay top dollar for this. The world is sooooo much larger than Orlando! Okay, I will now step down from my soap box.

During the evening on Saturday, we were able to meet up with my sister, Margaret, and her family. Yes, you read that correctly! My sister and her family arrived in Orlando late on Friday night. We did not plan to have our time in Orlando coincide, it was just a coincidence. So, we took advantage of this. With Margaret's kids being older, they certainly didn't care to hang out in the Magic Kingdom all day so they started their day in Epcot and met us in the Magic Kingdom at dinner time. Margaret, Mark, Chris, Kate, David, Madeline and I were able to share dinner time, ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (in action ride photo below with David), watch the evening's SpectroMagic light parade and watch the fireworks. Madeline was in her glory because she was able to tag along with her cousin, Kate.

And while the 3 guys chatted, I was pleased to be able to have some silly sister time......which made me that much more excited about my upcoming sister time in the beginning of December. Although we left the park after the fireworks, so did the entire rest of the park....so getting back to our hotel took quite a long time. However, Madeline was so exhausted that she fell asleep on my shoulder on the shuttle bus.

On Sunday, our flight did not depart from Orlando until after 6pm. David, Madeline and I slept in and then enjoyed a leisurely poolside breakfast before heading into the swimming pool. This was a wonderful relaxing cap to our time in Orlando (late hotel check-outs are a wonderful thing!)

Our flight back home was an uneventful direct flight....which is a good thing! Madeline's Usborne Sticker book got Madeline (and therefore me & David too) through the flights both to AND from Orlando as well as several restaurant trips while there. That was definitely the best $9 I ever spent in my life.

After a good amount of family time, I am saddened that David had to head to work this morning.