theDIBB - Scottishnellies 5th Element 2019. Day 12 Magic Kingdoms 4th July Fireworks (on the 3rd) & McDonalds

Lazy morning today as we are off to Magic Kingdom to see the 4th July fireworks. Which they do a practice run of on 3rd July so you get to see them when it's not quite as busy as 4th.

I slept til 8am and Kevin was up same time as me. We sat out at the pool with our coffees watching our very own nature programme as usual. First kevin caught a wee water snake from the pool and put it back in the lake

then Mr Hawk was out on the prowl. But he got chased off by a gallus wee bird who chased him away from the nest area, all the way back to his big tree. Then he flew round Mr Hawk pecking at his tail feathers and not giving him a minutes peace. Gutsy wee thing!

We had just been saying in the hot tub last night about some of the wildlife changing this year and how we hadn't seen the cranes. They must've heard us as they popped by to say hello this morning. There's usually 2 adults and a wee one. Just 2 adults so must've been no baby this year.

as well as this wee guy for his morning bath

And these in the trees

I caught up on the dibb, updated my index, answered some messages, added ride photos to the comments in the Hollywood studios day - even though the ToT ones are brutal!

It took me an hour to put last nights report up so I don't always have the time to do all these other wee dibb bits to tidy things up. I must be gabbing way too much in them! So I try to do them when we get some down time.

Caitlin had been up for her coffee then back to her room. No sign of Hannah yet. The boys went a walk and had a game of mini golf up the clubhouse

While they were out they saw a turtle. You can just see him under the surface of the water.

Then we just spent the day lazing around really.

We all had a very late lunch then started getting ready to leave at 4pm.

While getting ready I pointed out that there was 40% chance of rain and gave each of the girls and Kieran a poncho if they wanted to loop them into their bumbags to carry them. Nope. Too cool for that. I had packed my rain jacket into my Kipling multiple. I hate getting wet as I just get freezing.

Stopped for gas on the way and reached magic kingdom parking at 4:45.

Onto the monorail and through security, walking down Main Street by 5:05. Much quieter than 3rd July 2 years ago but still busy.

We met the sniffer dogs who all had their wee shoes on to protect their wee paws from the burny tarmac. This pic is especially for you disneydianne!

As we were walking through we heard the thunder rumbling and I wondered if BTM would still be on but I checked the app and it looked ok. Just as we reached it, sure enough, I got the message to say BTM was closed due to inclement weather and we now had a multipass to use on any attraction at any time today.

All outdoor rides are closed when there is lightning within a 10 mile radius. They reopen when it has moved outwith that radius. Hannah wanted to move on to some other ride but I was looking at the sky and seeing that 80% around us was blue. There was just one dark corner. So I wanted to hang on til maybe 6 o'clock then move on if it hadn't reopened. She was throwing her face about but agreed.

Guess what? Mammy was right!

At 5:45 it reopened and we headed straight on in. Only people in front of us now being the people inside the building who hadn't abandoned their place in the queue when it closed. We got on at 5:55 And now still had the freebie fastpass to use. Result! Still a pity you can't use those on seven dwarves though.

We took Caitlins obligatory Nugget Way photo. A must for any Glaswegian.

We loved thunder mountain as always. All the way round in the queue I was trying to persuade Hannah to let us use the free fastpass on splash mountain but she was determined she didn't want wet. It was really hot n sticky so the rest of us were quite up for it.

Hannah eventually agreed on condition I let her wear my rain jacket. So we went there next. It was 85mins standby. The things you see in Disney these days. This is a 6'4” bloke in black hot pants, fishnet tights and trainers. I kid you not

We had a good laugh with the girls behind us who thought Hannah looked hilarious with her hood up!

splash mountain was really good fun. We did get our hair wet which meant us 3 then had to sit outside the restrooms for 10 minutes while our girls preened away and made themselves instagramable again.

By this time there was definite thunder above us and a few spots of rain. I kept the rain jacket out just incase!

We passed Tomorrowland speedway which had a 25m queue so the kids says they wanted to come back to go on that after space.

Walked over to space mountain for our next fastpass arriving at 6:55. Standby was 140minutes and like last 3rd July we had to join a fastpass queue right across Tomorrowland. We got on at 19:25 so a half hr wait with the fastpass. It was very very shoogly!

When we came off the kids went to the speedway and Kevin and headed to the people mover, agreeing to meet up at the entrance to buzz for our last fastpass.

We joined for People mover at 7:35 which was a 20minute wait, but there was a dance party thing in playing everything from 80s pop to Beyoncé to Bruno so it ended up being really good fun as all the families were dancing about in the queue. Right up my street. I love a good dance. Lots of party music and a great atmosphere.

I love the people mover! I like going through space mountain and buzz. We could see the new Tron ride being built.

Off at just after 8 and the kids were waiting for us having taken photos on speedway. Notice Hannah's boyfriend in the top right hand corner. She's even FaceTiming him while she is on rides!

We Joined the huge fastpass queue for buzz and got on it 10 minutes later.

Once out it was time to find a spot to watch the fireworks. Which is anywhere really as, unlike Happy Ever After, the Independence Day celebrations happen right round the perimeter of the entire park, so you can watch from pretty much anywhere. They put these big blue things up so you know roughly where you will get a view.

I chose to end our fastpasses in Tomorrowland on purpose, as last time we watched them here they had opened an exit just beside buzz that took us a huge shortcut to the park exit and we were out and away to the car no problem. I was hoping for the same tonight.

Took a seat to wait at 8:40 with the fireworks due at 9:15

There was a bit of Lightning and some light rain for 10 mins or so. They announced that the celebrations would be delayed due to the inclement weather. Uh oh.

They started up the dance party again which was fab! Me n the girls were dancing about mad.

At 9:30 the fireworks started and they were fab. All around you and lasted a full 15 minutes with a patriotic narration and music score.

I didn't even try to take photos this year as when I did last time it was pointless. I would get a tiny wee square that just didn't reflect that it was happening 360 degrees around us. But I pinched one from Caitlin for you as she took loads.

Show over at 9:45 we headed out through that exit to the left of buzz lightyear underneath the people mover. This brought us out right at the bottom of Main Street again and out of the exit

this is where a huge dibb tip REALLY comes into play. Always get the RESORT monorail. NOT the one to the Transport and Ticket Centre or car parking. There are thousands fewer people heading to the resorts than the car parks so this line is MUCH quieter. It still stops at the TTC as its on the same circular route.

They were herding everyone to the TTC one saying parking that way only. We got caught in that throng until Hannah pointed out to me there was no way from there to the resort line. So I called over to the CM that we were staying at the contemporary and had got in the wrong line. She moved the barrier and let us slip through. We were on and off the resort monorail and walking to the car park at 10:25.

Here's a wee non dibb tip. Whack a great neon green pool noodle on your car ariel to help you find your car!

Headed home and stopped at the McDonald's down the road for some food.

Caitlin works in McDonald's part time at home and had brought her staff discount card (she is definitely her uncles neice eh? Clever girl). This took the bill down from $30.70 to $20.42. Not bad eh

When we got home they had missed out a Big Mac but added a set of chicken nuggets instead so Kieran just had nuggets instead.

The girls went off for showers, Kevin out to the spa, and I asked Alexa to play ‘country heat' and settled down to upload the trip report.

It's after midnight so will be straight to bed for me now.

Night all x