Mayhem on the High Seas!!! The Mousekecouple take a cruise, Part 4: Back on Land… the last 2 days.
Well, this is it… the last part of the trip… and likewise the last post of this report. Strap in and relax, Mousekecruising fans, because this is going to be the longest post of this report.
The morning of our last day at sea dawned clear and beautiful. Having already sent the bulk of our luggage off the night before, there wasn’t much left to do but get dressed, grab our carry-on bags, and head to breakfast. We cleaned up all the door decorations, of course… and it was kind of sad to throw away so much cool stuff. But what were we going to do with it…? (sigh).
Breakfast was at Animator’s Palette. Mouseoholic insisted on taking a couple of pictures, of course. Do you see all of those “pictures” that seem to be lit up from the inside? Well, those are more of those doohickeys that look like paintings, but are actually animation screens that are continually changing. It was pretty cool:
Here’s another “artsy” shot that Mouseoholic took of one of the larger animation screens:
(Mouseoholic loves those “Batman-tilted-room” shots for some reason.)
As a final duty, we were asked to fill out a comprehensive survey of our experience with Disney Cruise Lines. I gave them high marks on pretty-much everything, of course:
After breakfast it was time to disembark. The crowds were horrible, of course, and it took us at least an hour to actually get off the ship and pick up our luggage.
But we finally got all that done and had a nice drive back to WDW where we checked into the Boardwalk, where we would be staying for the last couple days of this adventure. We had a room on the top floor of the DVC wing, all the way at the end of a corridor, so it was a loooooong walk to get there. But it was worth it because we had a great view of the Swan and Dolphin, as well as the canal leading to Hollywood Studios (pics on that view later). Soarin’ was off work that day, so she met us in our room, and we chit-chatted for a little while and then set off to see what sort of mayhem we could stir up at Epcot.
(Footnote: I think I mentioned this before, but it was really funny how we still had our “sea legs” going for that whole day. I swear I could feel the ground moving under me for at least a whole day after we got off the ship… ).
We wandered around Epcot, stirring up whatever trouble we could find. We had sushi in the Japan Pavilion for lunch, then we did the “Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure”. I think I remember that we then had Jalapeno Margaritas at La Cava, followed by Spaceship Earth, and then we went on the Norway ride, amongst other things. We had an ADR for La Hacienda for dinner (we had decided to give them one more chance to make up for our disastrous experience on our last trip…
). It went really well, as I recall.
The rest of the evening is kind-of a blur in my memory, but we did stake out a good spot for Illuminations on the bridge next to the France area. After that it was time to head back to our room for some sleep.
The next morning, we got up early and took a taxi to our breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace (we were dropped off at the entrance to The Contemporary, and walked over to MK… most efficient way to do it…). Soarin’ had to work this day, so it was just me and Mouseoholic. After we ate, we went over to check out the new Fantasyland stuff. As you’ll recall, we had already done a sneak preview of the interactive show with Belle on our previous trip, so while the crowds were rushing to do that, we went straight to the Little Mermaid ride. The area surrounding the ride was beautifully done:
Yes, the ride vehicles were very similar to the Nemo ride at Epcot, as everyone has been saying, but they were still cute:
And the whole ride itself was very well done, in my opinion:
After the ride, it was time to go meet Ariel herself. The C.M. playing the part was really cool, and did a great job of it… she had a really good sense of humor too, and we really had a good time interacting with her:
After that we checked out Gaston’s Tavern and the rest of the B & B area. The attention to detail was fantastic:
Now having satisfied ourselves that we had thoroughly covered all the new stuff in Fantasyland, we decided to go back to basics. That’s right… Mouseoholic’s all-time favorite ride from childhood: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
The newly refurbished queue was nice:
…and Mouseoholic decided to try her hand at taking some artsy action shots on the ride:
…she even decided to try her hand at taking one of the obligatory “one-handed-self-portrait” shots that I usually do (not bad, eh?
):
Next we headed over to pirates. My favorite scene (are you seeing this, H?
):
By now the crowds were getting pretty heavy… what with all the BTG’s and such… but we decided to head over to Dumbo for one more ride before we headed out. By now it seems Mouseoholic has perfected the “one-handed-self-portrait” technique:
Now it was time to head back to the Boardwalk for a resort break. We just love the main pool and water slide:
After a refreshing spot of fun at the pool, we picked up some munchies along the Boardwalk and chilled for a while in our room. The view was awesome, especially at sunset:
Later that night we went back to M.K. to watch the new projection show on the castle (…forget what they call it…), followed by Wishes:
Then it was time to head “home” for the night. Since this was our last night of this trip, Mouseoholic couldn’t resist getting one last shot of the entrance to the Boardwalk:
The next morning we got up early, packed up the luggage in the trunk of the rental car, checked out, grabbed a quick breakfast, and met up with Soarin’ in the lobby. The plan was to get in as much mayhem as possible at DHS before she had to go to work and we had to leave for the airport. First item on the agenda at DHS was to grab FP’s for RnR and then go ride Star Tours:
After that we went around back to the Phineas and Ferb meet-and-greet:
We wandered around for a while doing this and that, and then decided we were hungry for some lunch. We didn’t have any ADR’s, but thought we would try to see if we could get a walk-up at Sci-Fi. Well, it was apparently booked up, and they were turning away walk-ups. But Soarin’ engaged the manager in conversation (explaining that she was a C.M. as well…), and he said that we could wait a while if we wanted to, and see if something opened up. So we decided that they would wait there while I went over to 50’s Prime Time to see if they were taking any walk-ups. Turns out they were! So I got our names on the list (about a 15 minute wait, I was told…) and whipped out my cell phone to call Mouseoholic. But right at that instant I got a text from her telling me to rush back to Sci-Fi immediately… the manager had got us a table! Awesome! So I canceled with 50’s P.T. and rushed back to Sci-Fi, arriving just as the manager was leading the gals to our table. It was a great table in a good location, and we had a fantastic lunch:
After lunch, we wandered around for while just soaking it all in. We thought about doing a few various things while we waited for our RnR FP’s to ripen, and finally ended up going to the Animation Courtyard to see if we could get in on one of the character animation sessions. Unfortunately we arrived just as a session was already filled up, and it would be at least 45 minutes until the next one, so we decided to just skip it. We did grab a quick shot of Wreck It Ralph on our way out, however:
Soarin’ had to leave for work soon, and we had to start heading back as well, so we thought about what to do next and realized that we had just enough time to go on GMR before parting ways. We got the cowboy this time. After that we said our goodbyes to Soarin’ and then ran to RnR to cash in our FP's, after which we headed back to the Boardwalk, picked up our car, and drove to the airport. The trip back was smooth and uneventful for a change, and our flight home was pleasant. We got home that night tired, but happy… another fabulous vacation’s memories fresh in our minds.
Well, that’s it folks. We have another cruise booked for October (hopefully we’ll be able to actually take it… long story…), but other than that, I’m not sure when we’ll be back to WDW. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this report, and I look forward to more mayhem on the boards as I can find time for it. Carry on….