Well those Osborne Family Lights were really over the top. After taking our pictures we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to watch the light show on Cinderella’s Castle.
This was it, the last thing on the list, the real final night for me at the parks. Tomorrow I was headed to Miami to finish out my vacation. So far it had been a great time. South beach wouldn’t be this exciting, that was for sure.
But what a finale the castle made!
We’d been at the Magic Kingdom for over 2 hours and still no call for a scooter. My back wasn’t going to hold out much longer. That was when the parade started rolling through the square headed for Cinderella’s castle.
There was Mickey
and Minnie
Donald
and Goofy.
Even Chip and Dale
and the Genie
We were dancing in the street!
As the parade wound down we made our way back along main street enjoying the series of windows portraying “A Christmas Carol” with all the Disney characters.
We lingered for the the Barbershop Quartet and then headed for the boats to the hotels. It was time to see what kind of decorations the Disney Hotels had to boast.
Finally it was the day I’d originally envisioned. It was time to visit the Magic Kingdom. I’d been here for Christmas once before and although the park was wall to wall people that trip, I remember the decorations were spectacular.
The mono rail was not running to the Magic Kingdom so everyone had to get there by boat.
We lined up and waited, and waited and waited. There’s no place to sit or lean. It didn’t take long for my newly improved back muscles to start a downhill slide.
As soon as we reached the park I rushed to get through security and ticketing.
I had my eye on the ECV (electric convenience vehicle or scooter) rentals. Too late, there was a waiting list. I was #2 on the list. They would call our cell phone as soon as one came back in. They don’t take reservations so you just take your chances that one will be available. This was the first time I’d struck out.
We headed into the park.
Even though this is consider a slow week the Magic Kingdom was full!
Because of my questionable ambulatory abilities we stayed close to the square but there was plenty to see there.
We started out by taking the train ride around the park.
You never know who you might run into.
The goal is to just have fun.
We got back in time to see the horse drawn trolley pull up and enjoy a rousing show of song and dance.
It was the last show of the day. They only do these shows in the mornings so we were lucky.
And even though the park was crowded, we still had front row places. Great for memorializing the event in pictures.
As they unhitched the beautiful Clydesdale from the trolley I could almost hear him say, “That’s all folks”.
There was only a 10 minute wait to see Tinkerbell so like little kids we hopped in line. I may be a grown up but I still love the character visits.
Joe seems to like these visits too even though his job keeps him in contact with them all the time. He had to get his “selfie”.
This was the first picture taken when we arrived at Disney. I love Tinkerbell!
By now you’d think that we’d have had enough of the Magic Kingdom but Joe wanted us to see the fireworks plus we still needed to get dinner.
Everything in the Magic Kingdom was booked. Unless you had reservations you were out of luck. We finally ended up with hot dogs on Main St. ( They were very good hot dogs too) We started out sitting on the brick wall but someone finally gave up a table.
Joe spotted it first and I saw him take off at a run. He got there almost before the ladies were out of their seats but it was a good thing because there were other people right on his heels.
The table turned out to be a great seat for the Fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle too. After dinner and before the show Joe, Saralyn and Tim wanted to go shopping for souvenirs but we didn’t want to lose the table so I elected to stay put and guard our seats.
Good thing I did.
Before the fireworks was another show where pictures taken by the Disney photographers of people around the park are projected up onto Cinderella’s Castle. They seem to melt and shimmer as they change. I couldn’t make out the faces too well where we were seated. It was a bit far for my eyesight but it was still pretty and fascinating to watch.
Cinderella’s Castle was changing colors which was quite lovely all on its own.
We were in the perfect spot for the fireworks over the castle and that moment was fast approaching.
And then it was over and time to fight the crowd back to the bus.
