The Houghs' Return to Florida: Day VII

(contd.)

Day VII

Magic Kingdom

Heading into Walt Disney World, an hour before rope drop, for one last hurrah of theme parks on our Florida Vacation.

Didn't get to park as close as we did the day before at Epcot, but not too bad.

Magic Kingdom is, by far, the shittiest theme park to get to - out of Disney and Universals combined.  That stupid monorail system is such a pain in the ass.  For those of you who have never gone through this gauntlet of hell before, allow me to explain.  After paying your $25 for parking, you have to walk to this monorail station hub, where now you have to line up for security clearance (as they''re no longer doing that at the park entrance itself.)  So after standing around in line for a half an hour to get through security, you then have to wait in line to board the monorail that takes you to the park.

All aboard the monorail (I actually like riding these things - almost like a ride in itself, really.)

Waiting in line.  Again.  Can you tell they're having fun?

Long story short, we were on the monorail and heading towards Magic Kingdom by the time the rope dropped, which wasn't too bad - crowds were pretty heavy so it took us awhile to get through the previously discussed clusterf***.  Here, a ferry takes patrons from one of the Disney resorts to the park entrance.

Space Mountain.  Kris almost had Alayna talked into this one, but the ride never dipped below a 110-minute wait time, so we didn't end up doing it this year.  So yeah. . . . enjoy the hell out of this pic, 'cause it's the last you'll see of it.

The Magic Kingdom train station at the entrance of the park, from the vantage of the monorail station.

Coming into station.

My roommates, having the obligatory picture taken in front of the park entrance.

. . . . aaaaand a close-up.

After getting off the monorail - and taking those obligatory park entrance pics - we made our way down Main Street USA.

 

This castle has zero defensive function whatsoever.  I highly doubt it could withstand a siege.

There were lots of 'Merica stuff everywhere throughout this part of the park, as the Fourth of July was only a couple days off.

 

Again, pretty sure it's required by law to get a picture taken like this if you're at Magic Kingdom.  Kris was good enough to ask some old guy that didn't speak English to take our picture, and he was clearly confused.  Fortunately his kid spoke enough English to help us out.

Entering Liberty Square.

Side view of the castle, silhouetted (I'm artsy.)  Wanna know what's weird?  They drained the frickin' moat surrounding the castle.  Apparently they don't fear invasion around these parts.  Whatever.

I couldn't bring myself to entering this place.  I can't stomach the thought of a Trump animatronic.

Abby gets some U.S. History.

Stocks in the square.  We were gonna have the girls pose in them, but we were on a timetable.  Because we had to wait until after we had gotten our park tickets from the Voigts to reserve our FastPasses for the day, our choices were limited.  The big draws - Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain - were already spoken for, so we chose three other ones that can sometimes get long wait times:  Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight to Neverland (I know, I know - Abby really wanted to do it), and the Buzz Lightyear Spin Ride.  Each of these had a designated time slot, which was a ways off, so we decided to try our luck with the big draws in Frontierland first.

Heading out of Liberty Square and into Frontierland.

Splash Mountain.  This ride wasn't open yet, and was undergoing some maintenance, so we didn't have to worry about that one just yet.  We were going to do Thunder Mountain Railroad first, as it only had a 20-minute wait, but then Kris saw that Pirates of the Caribbean (my all-time second-favorite Disney World ride) only had a 5-minute wait.  I was kind of against this, knowing how popular Thunder Mountain Railroad is and everything, and said as much, but Kris insisted.  So I prepared my 'I told you so' for future use.

Looping around the back of our favorite Magic Kingdom restaurant - the Pecos Bill Cafe - we entered into Adventureland. . .

The souvenir store of Pirates of the Caribbean - we weren't going to have time to check it out this time around, as we were pressed to get to Thunder Mountain directly afterwards.  We made it a point to return to it later in the day.

Get ready for some swashbucklin'. . .

 

 
They have nearly ruined this ride with their PC-bullshit.  A female pirate?  Are you frickin' kidding me?  Stop it, Disney.

After our super-PC experience on Pirates of the Caribbean, we went back into Frontierland, where Splash Mountain - seen here - was still under maintenance.  We therefore continued on to Thunder Mountain Railroad.

The wait time had increased to 35 minutes.  I told you so, Kris.

Hopping into line.

These guys have done a really good job being patient in lines this week.  They handled it all like champs.

Slushing for gold.

A lot of interactive mining crap to do while queued up in the line.  No idea why that lady's making such a gross-ass face, but now it's immortalized in this blog post.  I'm sure she'd appreciate that.

The girls were looking forward to this one.  They loved the Hippogriff and Woody Woodpecker coasters at Universal Resort, and this one is very similar to those, just about three times as long.

The girls asked me, as they looked around the line queue and saw all the bird cages, what was up with all the bird stuff?  So I had to explain - much to their horror - why miners used to carry birds in cages down into deep mines.  Parenting 101, folks.

Tom Sawyer Island, as see from Thunder Mountain.  We didn't end doing this part of the park.  Honestly, I don't see this area of Magic Kingdom remaining much longer.

I want this sign for my master bathroom.

We finally boarded our 'train,' both girls incredibly pumped for the ride.  This would end up being Abby's favorite ride of the vacation.

Alayna was a fan, too, but her favorites were those rides with big drops where you get wet at the end - like the Jurassic Park ride, and Splash Mountain.

Good times.  I love this ride.

Morale high as the womenfolk exit Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Getting off Thunder Mountain, Kris checked her phone - we both downloaded the Disney World Resort app, which, like its Universal counterpart, gave ride wait times, shopping options, online restaurant ordering, etc. - and saw that Splash Mountain was finally up and running, with a half-hour wait time.  We headed straight over, Alayna super pumped.

We stood around for about twenty minutes, when all of the sudden an announcement was made that the ride was closed due to maintenance work again, and that they weren't sure when it would be operational again.  About a third of the crowd left at this point, but we stayed in line and consequently moved up pretty far up in the queue.

Kris makes a pit stop at a water fountain along the way.

After about ten more minutes, they came back on and said the ride was closed indefinitely for repairs.  People were pissed, myself included, so I accosted a line attendant and asked what could be done, seeing how we had wasted a half an hour in line for nothing.  Terrified by the infamous Hough temper, she told me to go to the closest Customer Service building, located next to the Hall of Presidents in Liberty Square.

The empty queue at Splash Mountain.  A rare sight, indeed.  Had to capture it.

Note the lack of boats plunging down this final drop.  They would be working on this ride on and off for the majority of the day.

With Kris and the girls struggling to keep up, Yours Truly angry-walked/stormed through Frontierland and into Liberty Square, arriving at the Customer Service center just as another dad was bitching to a helpless representative about the ride shutting down after he had waited in line for a long time.  He was awarded FastPasses for the ride for his trouble, so when I walked up to the counter after him, and repeated the same grievance, they gave me the same reward:  FastPasses to walk right onto Splash Mountain, good so long as they weren't used in the same window as our existing FastPasses.  Done and done.

With all due spoils having been award to the victors, we saw that it was time to utilize the first of our three FastPasses:  The Haunted Mansion.

This is, hands down, my favorite ride throughout the four parks of Disney World.  If this ride had been closed for remodeling or whatever while we were down here, it very well could've ruined the whole trip for me.

If I had millions in the bank, I'd 100% for sure build a house designed like this.  Like, totally identical to it in every way.  How awesome would that be?

 

Only had to wait about 5 minutes for the group ahead of us to clear out of the entrance room before we were able to go in.  Not too bad at all, considering by this point in time the wait time was hovering around 40 minutes.

Welcome, mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. . .

After the ride, posing out front.  Both girls loved the ride (though perhaps not as much as Yours Truly.)

Alayna shits her pants.

Preparing to exit through the gift shop, Memento Mori.

The girls and I checked out quite a few things in here before Kris started to get bored.  We decided we'd come back later in the evening to pick up a few things.

They have this cool sticker-collecting program here at Magic Kingdom, where store clerks can ask kids questions, and if they get it the correct answer(s), they get a ride-themed sticker.  The girls only ended up doing it a handful of times (not every ride does it), but it was still a cute distraction.

Droppin' knowledge.

Leaving Liberty Square and heading into the chaos of Fantasyland.

Abby requested a picture of her in front of all this Tangled stuff.  She still really gets into the animated Disney Princess thing.

It's a Small World.  No one's favorite, I'm sure, but you kinda have to do it when you're at Magic Kingdom.  We vowed to do it at some point in the day, if only to show it to the girls.

Seeing how we had done my two favorite rides at the park already, and had either done - or at least locked in - the girls' favorites, Kris decided it was high-time to get her favorite ride at the park out of the way:  Mickey's PhilharMagic.  There was only a 5-minute wait on it, so why the hell not?

Besides, nobody at this point was going to complain with sitting down in some air conditioning.  Not sure if you can tell by the previous, bright-as-f*** pictures, but it was already in the low 90s.  And it wasn't even noon yet.

(I didn't upload a video of this ride, because the Youtube videos that I found were all converted from 3D to 2D, and the quality more or less sucks.)

After the show (which both girls enjoyed), we exited into yet another gift shop and Abby began trying out ears. . .

She requested her picture taken with various ears on so she could look at the pictures and see which ones she liked the best.

Ultimately she didn't like any of them, and so the quest - much like Alayna's previous ring quest a few days prior - continued unabated.

Back into Fantasyland. . .

Pretty sure this is all that remains of the Snow White ride. . .

Creepy-ass squirrels.

Abby gets dramatic.

We passed through the back of Fantasyland, through the remnants of what used to be the great 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction, many, many years ago, towards the Little Mermaid ride, which the girls wanted to do.  Here, in the distance, you can see Beast's Castle, where we ate once.

Strolling through a pocket of Beauty and the Beast-themed restaurants and shops.

Yeah, right. . . as if they serve beer at Magic Kingdom.  Thanks for getting my hopes up, Disney.

Ariel's Castle (well, technically I suppose it's Eric's, since she's clearly marrying into his family - they don't show him with some gross-ass fish tail at the end of the movie, right?)

We all really wanted to swim in this shit while standing out under the hot sun.  The wait time when we got into line was only ten minutes, but right after going in someone in front of us said it had gone up to 30 minutes.  The girls both wanted to do it, so we were kinda screwed.  Fortunately, this was the only time this happened throughout the day.

Trying to cool off in the shade.  This weather kicks the shit out of little kids.

Kris and I put the kids on a separate shell so we could hang out together without kids for FIVE FRICKIN' MINUTES.

After our break in some air conditioning, we set off under the hot Florida sun. . .

Backtracking, we once again found ourselves right in the heart of Fantasyland.

Still not too congested at this point in time, we weren't yet bumping into other sweaty tourists, so that was cool.

Kris stocks up.

A pleasant surprise in Liberty Square we sorta caught as we walked by (we didn't stop, unfortunately, having places to be.)  I love The Muppets, and if anyone makes fun of them in my presence I will fight them.

We walked right through Liberty Square and directly towards the back of Frontierland, towards Splash Mountain.   It was FINALLY time for us to cash in on our FastPasses.

The wait time was only, like, ten minutes, tops.  We more or less walked right in, which was great for us because the stand-by line was over 60 minutes at this point.  Whatever. . . we had put our time in earlier, I felt no remorse for those peasants.

Abby was a little nervous after seeing the infamous drop (despite the fact that she had loved the even-bigger, and scarier, drop on the Jurassic Park ride at Universals,) but we kept urging her on.  Alayna was straight-up pumped for this ride.  I don't even like to think about how morose she would've been had she not gotten to go on this one.

These signs definitely didn't help put Abby's mind to ease, that's for damn sure.

Enjoy.

After the ride, the Cannonball tried out a hat (though didn't end up buying it, as it was kinda big) while we purchased our family's picture from the ride.  We've had many opportunities to buy pictures of our family on various rides at Universal and Disney, but they never turned out well - we either are talking to each other, or have our eyes closed, or look super bored, or distracted, etc.  This time around, we bought ourselves an 8 x 10.

You know, I guess I could've scanned the 8 x 10 we purchased and uploaded it here - God knows the picture quality would be way better, and there wouldn't be those annoying picture watermarks on it - buuuuuuuut I'm a lazy, lazy man.  I guess if you want to see the real deal you can swing by my house and check it out.  Our family all looks super awesome here, no doubt about it, but I honestly like the family in front of us even more.  A dad who clearly looks like he's checking his phone, a mom who's totally losing her shit, a mentally handicapped son, and a stereotypically-bored teenage girl.  I sincerely hope they bought their 8 x 10 as well (and hopefully appreciate the other dad sitting in the far back impersonating Arsenio Hall.)

Abby was wanting to buy another lollipop, having spent three hours consuming her last one at Islands of Adventure, but we told her 'no' this time around, as we were about to catch some lunch.

While the kids shopped around, Kris used her Disney app to place an order for us at the Pecos Bill Cafe, our go-to place to eat at Magic Kingdom.

This whole process was ridiculously easy to do.  Those cafeteria-style restaurants always get super busy, and the lines and seating are extremely hectic to navigate.  This app allowed us to place our order and pay for it, so all we had to do was signal when we arrived and our food would be waiting for us.  That cuts down, like, 45 minutes of stress right there.

While Kris ordered lunch, the girls played a game of ole' timey checkers atop a barrel.  When in Frontierland. . . 

Heading out of Splash Mountain

Time to munch on some grindage. . .

Like I just said, there was no hassle with this place when ordering via phone app - we just picked up our food and sat down.  No wait time in line, no jostling for position with other hungry tourists, nothing.  Kris and the girls nabbed a spot easily while I began picking up napkins, drinks, etc.  Within five minutes we were all seated and devouring Mexican food.  Es muy bueno.

Lunch with the Hough girls

Following lunch, which we ate later on in the day to avoid the lunch-time rush congestion, we saw that the daily afternoon parade was starting.  We didn't want to see this (obviously), and didn't want to be caught up in it (also obviously), so we took this side exit out of the back of the restaurant and headed left towards Adventureland.

Rapunzel and Flynn Rider zoom by as we bypass the parade that was making its way through Frontierland, and beat a hasty retreat from the area.

Back in Adventureland. . .

Remember how earlier in the day, when we first got into the park, we had gone on this ride and skipped the gift shop all together?  Well, now it was time to revisit the store and sift through some plunder. . .

Way more swords here than there used to be.  Clearly they sell a shit-load of plastic swords to young boys, because that's nearly all the store consists of anymore.

Seriously - look at all that plastic weaponry.  There used to be pirate-themed glasses, knick-knacks, artwork, etc. to be found here (I used to drop serious bank at this place.)  Sadly, those days are in the past now.

Coincidentally, I used to own an Oaxacan sword that had a hilt shaped just like that, but it was unfortunately stolen while I was in the Peace Corps.

Alayna bought some fancy plastic jewels in a little pouch (we couldn't dissuade her from this purchase, so whatever.)  I didn't find much worth buying, the only thing that honestly caught my eye was the ride soundtrack on picture disc vinyl, which I had very wisely purchased prior to leaving on this vacation.

We left the souvenir store, myself a little bummed there wasn't more cool shit to acquire in there, and set off to check out the rest of Adventureland.

Cannonballs (the Tween didn't want to pose with them this time.)

Again, you're not fooling ANYONE, Disney - we all know there's not a drop of rum to be found anywhere in that whole damn 'tavern.'

Not interested, Disney - I've actually drank from the real deal before.

Here's a famous park ride we didn't go.  After watching a Youtube video of it, and explaining the concept of the ride to the girls, neither one was interested.  "Why would we wait 40 minutes in line to watch animatronic animals after seeing real animals at Animal Kingdom?" asked Alayna.  And she was 100% right.

Instead, we decided to check this place out, if only because there was practically zero wait time and it was in air conditioning.

. . . this ended up being a very, very boring move on our part.  Holy shit is this attraction ever boring.

'Entertaining' the patrons awaiting the next show. . .

We ended up waiting about three minutes, practically walking right in.  That's always a bad sign.

This was the most boring fifteen minutes of the entire day.  I honestly think I'd rather be waiting in line outdoors out in the sun.

After nearly being put to sleep in the Enchanted Tiki Room, we decided to get the girls some ice cream to cool off with (the heat was horrible), and do some shopping.

Again, Disney has completely screwed up their shopping experience by incorporating movie merchandise into unrelated shopping outlets.  Where you could once find unique African, Asian, and Middle Eastern sculptures, artwork, knick-knacks, toys, plush animals, etc. in these shops, now there's only Lilo and Stitch stuff.  Seriously.  Disney, that movie was set in F***ING HAWAII.

There was a 15-minute wait time for this, and no one felt like bothering with it.

Hanging out in Adventureland while the kids finished up their ice cream.  Again, Kris used her Disney app for this and was able to buy the kids their Dole Whips without waiting a minute in a line that was probably thirty-people deep.

Even after some frozen treats, the girls were beginning to grumble.  This was the hottest part of the day, nearly unbearable, and everyone was snapping at one another.  We needed to go on another ride that wasn't soul-crushingly boring, and needed to do it fast.

Catching some shade while the womenfolk use the restrooms between Adventureland and Frontierland.

 

Having had a bathroom break, we finally left Adventureland and set off for the far side of Magic Kingdom. . .

As we crossed in front of the castle, there was some stage show going on, where severely underpaid Floridians were forced to dance around in forty-pound costume rigs for the amusement of fat, sunburnt tourists.  I do not envy them in the slightest.

An Anti-Semite and his Mouse.

Clouds roll in over Main Street USA

Whatever the hell was going on in front of the castle only got a few sideways glances from the Houghs, who didn't bother stopping to check it out.

Welcome to Tomorrowland.  Probably my least favorite part in the entire park.

This whole area seems totally outdated.  With a few exceptions it appears to be frozen in the 1980s.

 

It was time for our third FastPass of the day: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

There was a 40-minute wait for this ride, too, but we got on in about five minutes.  The system works.

Wakka wakka.

 Once again, I destroyed my roommates on this ride.  Wasn't even close.

All hail the Champion.

Nice effort, Abby.  Pfft.

We would've bought these, but the kids are obstructed from view by the stupid guns.

Yours Truly, totally in the zone here.

Following the Buzz Lightyear ride, I attempted to get the fam on this classic gem, but Kris the Buzzkill wasn't having it.  She has no soul.

Any time you see one of these, you have to pounce on it.

Abby embraces the mist.

Heading into a souvenir store/snack bar to get something cold to drink. (Catch the Shakespeare reference, there?  Very clever, Disney.)

Kris bought the girls some pop, which bought us some time in the hot afternoon sun.

We wanted to take the kids on this classic, which Kris and I used to call the Foot Rub Express (back in the day before we had kids, when we used to take it around three times in a row, sitting across from one another and massaging one another's feet after a day of walking around the theme park), but it was down for maintenance.  After awhile, it opened back up, and we walked right on, and would've continued to walk right on, had Abby not all of the sudden been stung by a bee.  Her very first bee sting ever.  At Disney World.  Of course.

By the time we got back in line for this ride, we had to wait 15 minutes, which is waaaay too long for this 'ride,' but we wanted a chance to sit down and see all of Tomorrowland without having to put forth a lot of energy, so we let the kids drink their pops down and bided our time.

Ascending up the escalator to the ride's loading area.

 

We had to toss our pops out - each was about half full, so we basically threw $5 in the trash - and set off on an incredibly slow and chill cruise around Tomorrowland.

Just look at all the fun Alayna's having here.  It's out of control.

Abby, too.

Abby nearly fell asleep, which was fine with us - she needed it, this heat kicked the shit out of her.

Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

 

Looking out at the bridge that leads from the Castle into Tomorrowland.

 

The Tomorrowland Speedway.  We decided, upon passing over it and having the kids perk up, that we should do that next.

Coming back into the station, one last view of the castle.

We disembarked from the People Mover and walked over to the Speedway.  Clouds were looking pretty perilous at this point, but we decided to press our luck regardless.  There was a 20-minute wait, but the line appeared to be going fast.

 

This ride, like a lot of Tomorrowland, seems incredibly dated.  I can see them replacing this any year now.

Heading to our cars.  Kris teamed up with Abby, me with the Cannonball.

 

Kris and I both had the same approach:  we'd work the pedals (and film with our phones), while the girls steered the car.  Seemed to work out well.

 

Preparing to take off.

 

Jesus, just look at those clouds. . .

Hell on Wheels.

Something tells me I won't be making this face in five years. . .

The girls liked that one, but were ready to shop a little back in Fantasyland.  We decided to back that way, as by this point in time we had some serious time to kill:  our last FastPass - for Peter Pan - wasn't for another three hours.

On the way back into Fantasyland, the girls stopped off to get on this Mad Tea Party Tea Cup ride.  The wait time said ten minutes, but they walked right on.

Kris and I used this time to sit in the shade and NOT spin around in nauseating circles.

When you spin the inside of these cups, they rotate around faster and faster.  That doesn't even sound like fun.

Nope.

At least they're having fun.  I guess.

Heading into the heart of Fantasyland.

Abby finally bought herself some Disney Ears.  She loves rainbows, and we didn't have the heart to tell her they were gay pride ears.  More than one gay dude gave us knowing smiles throughout the rest of the evening, though - or outright said "I LOVE those ears, GIRL!!"  Sweet Jesus. . .

Not yet - still had another couple hours to go, still.  Kris and I both regretted making the FastPass for so late in the day, but Abby was still looking forward to it.

We decided that it was time to finally tackle this Disney right-of-passage, whether we wanted to or not.  The posted time was a little conservative, as we were on in about 15 minutes or so.

This clock scares the shit out of me.

Oh, the humanity. . .

After the ride - which of course stopped for about five minutes at one point, as it always does (if only so you can hear the same f***ing song another few times), we stepped back out into Fantasyland.  We continued to the right, heading back into Liberty Square to revisit the Haunted Mansion gift shop, Memento Mori.  Here, I bought a coffee mug to use during the Halloween season (also known as October), along with a Haunted Mansion-styled 8" x 10" picture frame.  Abby had her portrait done, via holograph, and we figured we'd use the frame for it.  The Memento Mori folk took her picture, then used a computer to digitally create a second one that looked like a rotting zombie skeleton based on her facial features, then super-imposed the two on top of one-another, so depending on the angle you're looking at the image, it looks like Abby at first, then a ghoulish face (that still somehow resembles Abby, it's creepy.)  Much like you'd see on the ride.  Pretty cool souvenir.

Kris and Alayna waited outside for most of this.  When we finished up, we gathered up the rest of the fam and headed out of Liberty Square to do some shopping on Main Street USA.

 

Still no thanks, Trump.

 

Adventureland, in the distance.

One more picture of the kids in front of the castle.

Despite the scary as hell clouds, it never once rained.  We really lucked out on this trip.

It's some pretty scary skies indeed that make an ice cream parlor look absolutely terrifying. . .

We popped in and out of various gift shops along this street, the girls picking up things from time to time, getting frustrated, and ultimately putting them back.  Not much was jumping out at them.

Kris talks Abby about spending $35 on a Baby Minnie plush, while Alayna stubbornly insists she's spending $7 on a small pack of sour gummy worms.  At least Abby put the plush back.

Hey look - that guy's shirt matches Abby's ears.  Wonder why. . .

We had thoroughly canvassed Main Street USA, and still had an hour to kill, so what would we do with our remaining time before Peter Pan?  All of the outdoor rides were closed, as the weather forecast looked insane. . .

We pulled the trigger, once again, on Pirates of the Caribbean, which had a ten-minute wait.  I was 100% cool with this.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me.

After our second time on the ride, exiting once again into the gift shop.

Still didn't find anything worth buying this time around, either.  Oh well.  There's always Amazon and Ebay.  And Discogs.

Another shot of the beer-less, rum-less Tortuga tavern. . .

By this point in the evening, it was finally time to head towards Peter Pan.  We proceeded on through Liberty Square. . .

The Riverboat Queen, at night.

The Tangled area, at dusk.

Fantasyland.

Finally.  Let's see if it's worth the twelve-hour wait. . .

The Carousel, as seen from the queue.  It, too, was closed on account of weather.

Finally ready to board the ride after a short, ten-minute wait.  Standby was still something like 70 minutes.  I'll never understand why that ride is as popular as it is.

Sweet Jesus, it was horrible.  Even Abby said, upon exiting the ride, "Well, that wasn't what I was expecting."  I felt bad for the kid, but at least now we'll NEVER HAVE TO GO ON IT AGAIN.

The Castle, at night.

Main Street USA, lit up for the night.  Abby wanted to stay for the light show (like we had done at Hogwart's Castle at Islands of Adventure), Kris was indifferent, and Alayna and I wanted to leave and beat the post-light show hordes.  Finally, I had to put on my Dad pants and inform the family that we were, in fact, leaving.  Abby could watch the fireworks over shoulder as we made our way out of the park. 

While many people had the same, exact idea as us, most folks were sticking around for the show.  This allowed us to move quickly through the crowds without losing much time.  We paused here to watch the fireworks for a minute or two before continuing on.

Just look at all those idiots atop the train station. . .

Because of my superior male brain, and ingrained leadership and planning skills, we walked directly onto an awaiting Monorail train and practically had the entire cabin to ourselves.  With zero waiting.  Upon exiting, we paused here so Abby could continue watching the fireworks for awhile.

Here's what we (partly) missed.  Thank God for Youtube. . .

A fitting farewell to parks.

To be continued. . .

- Brian