DAY 8 – Ian’s birthday, Magic Kingdom, Flight home – 16,547 steps

This morning, Sean and I woke early to pack the suitcases. Neither of us believed we’d actually fit all of the things that had been purchased in our suitcases, so we had asked about shipping options. Apparently there weren’t any immediately available. There might be a few places that would ship starting at 9 in the morning, which was too late to accommodate our plans. We were sweating it a bit.

We started pulling out a pile of stuff that could go in the trash instead of in our suitcase. I hate the waste, but it’s the best we could do at the time. I neatly folded all our dirty clothes and collected up our belonging and made a suitcase and stuff fortress around Sean so he could work through packing logistics. It took the better part of an hour, I think, but he managed to fit very nearly everything in our suitcases … even the things that were in the expendable pile. [Sean: Normally I just lay folded clothes flat in a suitcase but if you really need to maximize room I suggest unfolding them and rolling them tightly.  You will fit more stuff this way.]

While he was doing all that, I was ensuring kids were dressed and their backpacks were packed for the airport later. And we were both checking and rechecking the room for items we might have left. Everything accounted for, we left our bags at the hotel and walked over to Magic Kingdom for our final day at Disney.

For Ian’s birthday, given his love of Disney princesses, Sean booked a special breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table, the restaurant inside Cinderella’s Castle. Through a series of delays, we were cutting it very, very close when we finally walked up to the castle, but we made it. The six of us were seated. Trays of pastries and drinks were delivered. Food starting making its way out. And Cinderella herself walked about for a socially distanced visit with the restaurant patrons.

I know Ian was excited about seeing her, but I think because there was a crowd and she kept her distance, he didn’t realize he could interact with her beyond a cheerful little wave. When she came through a second time, Maya decided to help Ian out. She stood up and got Cinderella’s attention and explained that it was her brother’s birthday. I think he was still a little overwhelmed by the experience and I don’t think he could hear her very well, but he at least got to chat with her a little bit.

While eating, we were all given cards from Cinderella and special sparkly wishing stars. On the way out of the castle, the kids were each given the option of a sword or a wand. Naturally, our bloodthirsty children both chose swords.

Since it was Ian’s birthday, we let him choose which ride he’d like to go on first. He selected his favorite from our first day there – Splash Mountain. After waiting in line and discussing seating arrangements, we loaded onto the boats and got going. We were right in the thick of loud singing and animatronic mayhem, maybe a third of the way through the ride, when it stopped – the ride, not the music.

We had been on a number of rides at this point where we heard the “sorry for the delay” type announcement only to have the ride restart a moment later, so we weren’t overly fussed. This time though, the wait went on and on. Maya had told us earlier in the line that she had to use the bathroom, but we didn’t have an option to take her without giving up our line position. With this delay in the WATER RIDE, she was starting to get pretty squirmy. I didn’t mind the breaking down so much – these things happen. But the attendants that walked through asking if anyone was having any medical issues were really good at not making any kind of eye contact or acknowledging a polite “excuse me.” I think it was on their third time through that I had had enough. I was all but standing in my seat waving my arms around, hell-bent on getting someone’s attention so we could get our kid to a bathroom.

After initially telling us we’d have no choice but to sit and wait, they eventually evacuated us. Maybe they were going to anyway, I don’t know. Or maybe my pushiness got our kid to the bathroom a little more quickly. They had given us passes to ride the ride once it was back to functioning, but it remained out of service for the remainder of our time that day. [Sean: They were definitely not going to evacuate us when they did.  That was all April and her momma bearedness.  Disney has an order to evacuating and it doesn’t typically start from the middle.]

At this point, we were kind of stuck. Do we let Ian make another choice since his birthday choice was a bust? Or do we let Maya make a choice since she hadn’t gotten to pick yet? We probably only had enough time for one more big ride, given that we had a schedule to keep. Eventually, we landed on splitting up. Sean and Lolli took Maya to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, and Pop and I took Ian over to Space Mountain for another ride.

[Sean: In the video below, if you can ignore the boy in front of us who was terrified, you can hear Maya giggle at points in time.  She was having a blast. Still, she instinctively drops here arms every time we go through a tunnel.]

Big Thunder Mountain went according to plan, but Space Mountain’s 60 minute line took more like an hour and a half. Little Dude was having absolutely zero luck today! We did at least eventually get to ride it. He was happy, and then we high-tailed it across the park to make our lunch reservation at The Plaza Restaurant. Sean was able to get a Monte Cristo sandwich, which I think was another item on his hit list. They also have a giant sundae, which Maya had spotted and requested. But after yesterday’s cookies and the day before that’s ice cream sandwich feast, we were a little over the massive sugar intake portion of our trip. [Sean: Yes, the Monte Cristo was on my list but I booked The Plaza because I planned to get the giant sundae for Ian’s birthday but no one, other than Maya, looked up to tackling it.]

Since Lolli and Pop had a long drive ahead of them, they took their leave after lunch. The kids really, really enjoyed the fact that they were there for part of the trip. It provided them a little lift just when they were starting to wear out on the less fun aspects of a Disney vacation. Lolli and Pop had been to Disney with their other grandkids and were wanting to go one more time so they could go with our kids as well before calling it a day on their Disney adventures. And it took nearly two years for it to finally happen.

After Lolli and Pop left, since Splash Mountain was still broken down, we used the lightning lane passes we’d been given to ride Haunted Mansion one more time instead. Maya and Ian decided that they would like to ride together! This worked out well because for whatever reason, the ride photo of me and Sean hadn’t shown up in our photos from the park. We were happy to have another chance. I do not have the knack for being photo-ready most of the time, and that caught us this time as well. Oh well.

We had a few more photos taken on our way out, and then we had to collect our bags and head to the airport. The Magical Express got us to the airport in plenty of time. The line to check bags was absolutely insane, the security line marginally less so. But none of that really mattered because our flight was delayed about an hour and a half. We were already traveling pretty late so we could get a nice direct flight, and this pushed us even later. In the end though, that delayed flight was our only real hiccup, and we made it home just fine.

I have conflicting thoughts about our trip. Sean is an absolute Disney fanatic. Taking his kids to Walt Disney World is something he has wanted to do for quite a long time. And then this stupid pandemic happened, and we kept having to cancel our trip. Because we had wanted to go for so long and because we were going at Christmas time, which is pretty special, we were a little splurgy on this trip, when the trip itself is already kind of a splurge to begin with. Discounts that could be counted on in a pre-COVID environment never materialized. Disney’s renowned wonderful customer service has been hindered by cost-cutting measures and COVID-era policies. The value for money is a tough one for me.

Still, we loved our trip. We did and saw so many amazing things, and it was still all pretty magical for the kids. Park and hotel staff were always friendly (or in-character unfriendly), and tried to be accommodating within corporate limits. Because we had been stuck delaying the trip, Ian was now tall enough to ride everything he might want to ride, and he loved it! We rode banshees. We piloted the Millennium Falcon. We conquered mountains. We went to China and Mars and Pandora. We watched fireworks from our hotel balcony.

Like all parents, we had a hard time balancing all the things we wanted to do and see against the wishes and needs of our kids. Things I generally didn’t write much about were all the times I offered a bathroom stop only to have a kid ask for one ten minutes later when we had lined up for a ride. Missing are the dozens upon dozens of times someone asked to go to a shop, wanted to stop and trade pins, or wanted to buy a squished penny. They were bored in line, bored standing at shows, oh and also, their feet hurt. These are all normal things, but they wore at the adults after a while. And even though we did so many spectacular things, I think Sean wound up feeling a bit disappointed at the stuff we missed. As the trip planner, he had a wonderful view of all the things we could have seen; I was fortunate to mostly be unaware.

[Sean: By and large the trip was spectacular.  I lament that some things have not aged as well in real life as they have in my memory. I am looking at you Country Bears.  Some things have been stripped of the magic they once had. Disney at least had sense to bring Figment back but what’s become of the Imagination Pavilion is shameful.  There were times where the kids just didn’t seem to get what they were experiencing was phenomenal (Joe Rohde is a genius). But then they turn around and ask if you in all earnestness if they really just went to space and you say yes because that is just how powerful the magic is.]

But Maya and Ian did a great job waking up and going in the morning. They stuck it out all day long, and those step counts at the top of my posts are adult steps (albeit a short adult), not kid steps. When Sean told them to try and approach things differently (look around, see the scenery, hear the songs, there are stories to go with these rides), they legitimately tried to do so. Lolli and Pop probably see the kids through rose-colored glasses, but they even let us know they thought Maya and Ian did great. It was just a long week for all of us.

There are probably solutions to all these things. If we went more frequently, we could go for less time and focus on only a park or two and maybe not stay at the swankest place since it wouldn’t be a giant, long-awaited special occasion. The kids will constantly be growing and becoming better able to manage their own bodies and their own expectations. Sean will eventually complete the brainwashing and pull me fully into the Disney-verse. In the meantime, in writing up our adventures and focusing on all the fun we had, I’m feeling comfortable that we provided a good vacation for our family.