Day 20: Magic Kingdom et al
Summary: Magic Kingdom for Seven Dwarfs, park train and Tianas after a successful morning Virtual Queue confirmation. We did have Big Thunder but it was delayed so decided not to wait around and head to Port Orleans to get some fluffy Beignets. Then on to Hollywood for yet another Galaxys Edge extravaganza with some Slinky Dog and Micky Mouse thrown in for fun. Left to catch the drone show at Disney springs but traffic was busy and we missed most of it. Managed to grab some food and treats for our shortlist though before heading home. Great day to end a great holiday.
Last night was a LATE one but up early to Virtual Queue Tianas (and by early I mean 06:55, which was my third fail safe alarm, but it worked!). And we got it this time around - KAPOW!
Magic Kingdom
Walked by ~~Elsa’s~~ The Frozen stage show which I really wanted to stay and watch but the rest told me to leave it so I let it go (I’m sorry) queue for for Pirates was only 5 minutes so good time to say goodbye to Captain Jack Sparrow.
Then across the park to jump on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We’re at the back today and seemed to be a little bumpier than normal because of that.
Beauty and the Breakfast
Stopped by Gaston’s Tavern for some coffee and those huge cinnamon rolls. I think today is mostly going to comprise of snacks as there’s still a few we haven’t tried yet especially at Disney Springs. So we’ve made a good start!
We were going to head over to Big Thunder next however we got details that it was closed for the time being so just jumped on the train at Fantasy Land instead. The train takes you right around the park stopping at Main Street and Frontier Land (which is right next to Tianas and Big Thunder and the the stop were disembarking).
Tianas famous Beignets
And we arrived right outside Tianas as our Group number was up. Nice timing! Got a few photos on the ride this time and it was the first time I was on my own (just call me Han SOLO!l). It was good to get this done a second time but the beignets looks too good so we decided to leave Magic Kingdom and head to Port Orleans - French Quarter to get some real beignets!
And before we left we got one more family photo on Main Street next to Walt at the same place as our first photo we got on the day we arrived at MK.
Now you can get the boat to Port Orleans but after yesterdays Skyliner debacle, we chose to take the car instead - it was only about 10 mins away.
Now arriving at Port Orleans is a bit of a sore one for us. This was the hotel we had all booked up back in 2019 - we had everything meticulously planned down to where we were eating every night and what food we were ordering. It was months of planning that ultimately didn’t go anywhere - we decided to delay it a year because Galaxys Edge wasn’t complete. And with Covid that years delay turned into five years. There’s some regret there but ultimately we made the right decision but still going to Port Orleans is still a little raw.
Anyway we arrived and it was lovely, It was the French Quarter side (France - grrr) and the Jazz music from Scat Cats Club playing off in the distance was nice and relaxing. So they make the (Mickey Shaped) Beignets fresh here (unlike from Frozen at MK) but they also do Baton Rouge Beignets which are regular beignets with a pipette of liqueur and you get TWO - so I opted for Baileys and Kahlua ones - they were amazing! The other enjoyed their beignets with chocolate and strawberry dipping sauces. They were so light and fluffy (and soaked in delicious alcohol). Great detour and well worth it. We may well see this again in our future, here’s hoping.
Return for the Jedi
So after a nice little light and fluffy treat, we headed off to Hollywood Studios AGAIN! Just can’t get enough. We’d been talking and although Magic Kingdom is fully of nostalgia, the park we’ve loved the most is Hollywood so decided that we could do another few hours there on our last day - it just made sense. We’re going to head to Disney Springs later for some food and maybe catch the drone show, but we want to get a few more rides in here before that happens.
And first up is Mickey & Minnie’s, only been on this once so good to try it a second time and see how the my do the magical screen transition to enter the ride (so they slide the screen up). Still comparable to Remy’s but the rest of the crew don’t think so.
And then Smugglers and me and Robert were pilots with Patrick & Ann Gunners, followed by our trusty engineer GG. I think this is our best crew configuration (maybe because I suck at shooting). And we beat our score again getting 8054 and moving up to the rank of Pirate! Somebody stop us!
And it sounds so repetitive now but yes we did Rise of the Resistance again. We were in the second cart this time which was our first ever time doing so, so seen new stuff again including the officer on the AT- - so cool!
Slinky Dog in Toy Story Land to break up the Star Wars scenery (not that that bothered me at all). Sitting on my lonesome again and at the back so really feel the momentum as we hit each of the peaks.
The Trench Run
Umm so the plan was to finish strong (with the force) so Smugglers then Star Tours and finally Rise of the Resistance except what we actually did was Smugglers then Rise then Star Tours then Star Tours again and finally Rise one final time. Ann just loved BB-8s boops and R5’s squeals so just had to do double digits to finish off our last day. Did we miss out most of the park in favour of just doing Galaxy's Edge yet again? Yes we did. Did we have immense fun doing so? Yes, yes we did! Doing Star Tours back to back we crossed Kylo, flew with the Falcon on Jakuu received a message from Poe and Yoda, fought against a fleet of Star Destroyers over Exagol and battled the Trade Federation over Coruscant.
And that was us really really done with Hollywood and our final park this holiday, and we finished it our way.
Disney Springs, Drones & Dole Whip
Not quite done with the day just yet we headed off to Disney Springs for some food, more snacks and to see the Drone Show. But of course not realising it was a Saturday night ran into traffic and parking issues so just caught the tail end of the drone show as we got into Disney Springs Proper. And as it was packed we got caught up int he flow of people who miraculously led us to one of our key stops - Gideon’s Bakehouse!
There’s a queue but Ann managed to get into the queue while it’s was relatively short. They also keep it quite secretive only letting so many people into the actual store though I suspect this is partly because it’s a small shop. When you get in though the smell of chocolate and orange hits you like a freight train (their special is a chocolate orange pecan cookie at the moment). And it’s amazing! And the decor is dark and eerie, it’s great, really sets the tone. So we order a few cookies and they are these thicc ass fat boys. We were after some proper food so the cookies all packed up we headed off to track down the next store - The Daily Poutine. We did want to try a few things but with time getting on, it now after 10pm, we all just ordered some poutine or loaded fries with various toppings for dinner. It was pretty good and another success from the list. Last to try was a Dole Whip Sampler - 3 smaller dolewhips of differing flavours. They did have chilli and lime last we checked which sounded amazing but must’ve changed it recently as it was no longer available, but all the flavours were still nice and refreshing. We where all pretty shattered by that point so headed home after that a good end to an amazing day.
We swung by Walmart to pick up a few last minute things but it had just closed so we’ll be back up first thing in the morning as we pack the rest of our stuff before leaving for the airport. We broke our daily steps record today and reached the 150 mile marker - a few more miles will see us reach our six marathon too! Once we’re all settled in the airport will do a wrap up with some final stats tomorrow.
Todays Stats
- Step Count: 23.2k (new record)
- Starred Rides: G.uardians, Rise, Smugglers
- Total steps: 351.6k
- Total miles: 152.6 miles