A different trip report part 3: DLP and home

[Fieldway]

Friday, already our last day
Although we were in bed late the night before we all agreed to get up early and hit the early magic hours. My alarm went off at 7.15, everyone else slept through it!

I showered, dressed and packed a bit, dh woke up and did the same and eventually dd and ds woke up, they both leapt out of bed and dressed quickly. Why don't they do that on school days?!
We had an expensive oj from the mini bar to share and tea/coffee for adults plus a cereal bar each and left. We were in the park by 8.10! Main Street was so quiet, it was lovely!

We rode dumbo with no wait and then Peter Pan with no real wait. Then we wandered over to buzz and rode that with no wait.

We had breakfast paid for in the hotel, it was from 7-11 so we were planning on leaving just before 10 to go back and eat and get our stuff out of the room before coming back in. By now it was just after 9 so we joined the queue for star tours which said 5 mins. It was not 5 mins, more like 40. The ride was amazing but it was annoying to wait so long.
We got back to the DLH just after 10 and headed straight to breakfast. It was still busy but there was a fab selection. We were all starving and made the Most of it, having worked up an appetite, more than we usually do at hotel breakfasts so it had been a good plan.

We left there at 10.45, it was nearly empty by this point.
Mickey was doing a meet and greet outside so dd and I joined the very short queue while the boys went back to the room to sort the bags.

There is a character outside inventions every morning 8-11. No one asked if we were hotel guests so maybe others could go in. It was quicker than every other character wait I saw. Mickey was in great form!

We sorted our bags and left them in reception and went back into the park.
It was so much busier by this point! We headed to snow whites scary adventure which still had a fairly short wait. At this point we spilt up from the boys to maximise everyone's favourites!

DD and I went to ride Casey Junior again 😍 followed by the fairy tale boats.
DH and DS used the hotel fast pass to ride their favourite Thunder Mountain.
Then they rode Indiana Jones which Ds didn't enjoy as much as it went upside down which he is not so keen on.
Dd and I headed to the studios park to ride Ratatouille using our hotel fast pass. The fast pass queue was long, it took about 20mins to get on. By this time it was 1pm approx and really warming up, it had been 4 degrees when we left the hotel at 8am by this point it must have been 20! We were hot and a bit tired and stopped for a cheeky lemonade and to check on the boys progress.
They were on their way to the studios to ride the soldiers drop. DS hates roller coasters that go upside down or are very dark so didn't want to ride rock n roller coaster/crush (which we did last time, traumatic!) or tower of terror!

We knew time was limited now so headed to DDs fave: small world! And then watched the show to the side of the castle.

Time was running out by now. The boys were on their way back to meet us but ds decided he would rather ride Casey than watch the show so they did that! DD and I headed to the big shop on Main Street for a few bits. She is a tsum tsum collector and they had limited edition ones for the 25th!

We met the boys on Main Street and bought an ice cream from a window heading toward the entrance. We turned to admire the castle one last time and headed back to the hotel with a heavy heart.

Back at DLH we used the facilities and got our luggage and headed to the station.
It had been such a quick visit that we hadn't been into the village at all 😬
The station was ok, scruffy and somewhat chaotic. It all seemed to take ages, including standing on the platform for twenty minutes waiting. The train was a bit late in the end but fine. We had bought some snack and DH got us some odd pasta and a salad to share. (The queue for the food was huge, it took him ages)
The baby behind cried the whole trip 😱 I felt sorry for the parents but when they eventually got him up (after ebbsfleet!) I saw he was at least 18months and just wanted a walk up the aisle. He was fine when he was walking around.
St pancreas was easy. The children, esp dd were shattered and we got an Uber home in the end. Dd slept a lot of the way and still went straight to bed when we got in. Home by 8.30! What a massive day! We couldn't believe how much we had done!

I know there's a lot we missed out in some people's eyes but we did all our essentials and we knew that a short trip meant missing some things. It all The about the feeling and atmosphere as much as the rides. I'd go back anytime and would love to have longer, but I'm thrilled we went at all. I'll be 40 in 2019, a Disney park will be part of my celebrations, I don't know which one yet! If I get in a Disney park before then it's a massive bonus.

My 4th Disney trip and I finally wrote a trip report! I have rushed getting it done before work is back but it's a start, maybe next time I'll get more detail in.

Thanks for reading!

[Tubbsy]

You packed so much in in such a short time! Amazing!
25th anniversary rain tsums... I know where my FEd money is going!
Thanks for writing the report.
I love reading them. It gets me so excited for my trip