Our last day of vacation.

Sigh.

When you stay on property, your vacation begins when the Magical Express picks you up at the airport.  And that bus is the most exciting, wonderful bus EVER when that happens.  Unfortunately, the Magical Express is also the bus that takes you to the airport when you leave Walt Disney World.  This makes it the most depressing, awful bus EVER when that happens.  We were dreading that bus ride from the moment we woke up that last morning.  Why can’t we live at Walt Disney World?!  (Because we couldn’t afford to live there.  But still.)

That said, we got up, got the rest of our bags packed, and headed down to luggage drop-off, only to be told that because Southwest acquired AirTran recently and hasn’t changed all the official documentation over with the Magical Express, we were being registered as having flown in and out on two different airlines, making it impossible for them to check our luggage.  No biggie.  We could check it ourselves when the time came, and in the meantime, we could leave the luggage with them, enjoy the parks, then come back and get it all before we had to head to the airport.

It just meant our time in the parks would be shorter. 

Sigh.

We pushed through the sadness and arrived at the Magic Kingdom (of course we’d pick that on our last day) just in time to see the welcome show before rope drop.  It was, as always, spectacular.

This picture doesn’t adequately convey the excitement that was rolling off both girls.  Which it was, of course.  They really honestly thought that Mickey was talking just to them.  Which he was, of course!

As we do on most of our last days at Walt Disney World, we made sure everyone would get their favorite ride in.  That meant that we headed to Fantasyland first, because Small World?  Is ALWAYS a favorite.  We FastPassed Peter Pan while we were there and headed over to Frontierland, stopping at the most incredible restroom in all of WDW. 

No, I didn’t take pictures IN the restroom.  This one of Wes posing outside will have to suffice.  The restrooms are, essentially, all that’s really there at Rapunzel’s tower, and they’re as well themed inside as they are outside.  Ana and Emma thought it was a ride — it was that well done.

Before we could get to Frontierland, we had to stop for this picture.

Because you HAVE to do it if you’re there, right?  Right.

I couldn’t convince Ana to get back on Big Thunder Mountain again, so I went with another favorite of mine, Pirates, only to discover that it was closed.  What?!  The girls felt so sorry for me that they were willing to ride the Haunted Mansion again (which they don’t like for some reason), but I assured them that what I REALLY wanted to ride instead was the Magic Carpet ride.  (Yeah, I didn’t really care either way.)  They girls were elated with my choice and declared that, “You RULE, Mommy!”  You heard it here first — I rule.

Afterwards, we headed back to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan, Philharmagic, the carousel (again!), Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, and this one, which is a new favorite.

It hasn’t trumped Small World yet, but it was definitely high up there on the girls’ list of favorites.

From there, we stopped by Pinocchio’s for lunch, where Emma discovered a delightful thing called gelato. 

“Hey!  This is like chocolate ice cream!”  And every bit as messy as chocolate ice cream, unfortunately.

It was now time for Papi’s favorite — the People Mover.  Yeah, Papi’s getting kind of dull in his old age.  No complaints here, though, because we could put our feet up and relax.

Ahh…

Our time was drawing to a close, and we still had snack credits to spend, so we headed down to the confectionary on Main Street, stopping to watch the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade roll by.  The girls caught Donald’s attention, and it was, as always, completely magical for them.  THIS is why we do Disney, y’all.

So fun!

NOT as fun, however, as shopping for purses.  Oh, yeah. I have a real problem, y’all, and it’s called Disney designer handbags.  I would take full responsibility for this problem, but honestly?  Wes is an enabler and has surprised me with most of them.  (And by “surprised me,” I mean that he bought them after I pointed him in that direction with several loud hints.)

Anyway.

I always go straight for the Dooney and Bourke section, just to see what’s new.  And would you believe it?  I didn’t like any of the new stuff this time around.  Gasp!  I know, I know.  However, they did have some Harvey’s bags that were super cute! 

How adorable are those?!  I was gifted a Harvey’s wallet (in Minnie print, no less) and have been so pleased by the quality, so I reasoned with myself that buying one of their handbags would be a great investment… except I actually found myself admitting that I already have enough purses.

!?!

Excuse me, let me say that again.

!?!?!??!?!?!

Wes, who had already begun pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, very nearly passed out right there when I told him I was good without a purse this time around.  And poor Ana was so confused when we left without a bag, that she said, loud enough that everyone could hear, “But, Mommy, why didn’t you do your ‘I need a purse’ dance there in the store so that Papi would buy it for you?” (It’s an awesome dance, y’all.  And it always sends Wes right to the check out counter, purse in hand.  All women should have such a dance to properly motivate their men, if you know what I’m saying.)

Anyway.

All this said, when the Vera Bradley Disney line hits the Magic Kingdom this fall?  I’m going to be ALL OVER THAT.  I already have a gift card, specially given to me on Mother’s Day for that purchase, and since I showed some restraint this go-round, I think I’ve earned myself a few extra minutes of shopping for the next time.  I can’t wait!

I’m totally getting a large tote in that black print.  Happy Mother’s Day to me!

Okay, so back to our last day at WDW.  (See?  Talk of Disney purses just sends me off on a tangent!)

We headed to the confectionary (without a purse), where Wes, Ana, and Emma spent the last of our snack credits on chocolate and found a place on the sidewalk to eat it while we watched people walk down Main Street towards the castle.  People who were only just beginning their vacations, while we?

Well, we were at the end of ours.

With one last wave at the castle, we headed out of the park gates.

We weren’t even out of the turnstiles before Emma began sobbing, telling us, “I don’t WANT to go home!”  Oh, my.  On and on she went, telling us that she wants to live at Walt Disney World.  Don’t we all?  We were able to get her calmed down by the time we got back to the hotel, telling her that maybe one day, she can get a job at WDW.  Which would give us even more of a reason to go visit, wouldn’t it?

On to the dreaded Magical Express with our luggage, a quick trip through the airport’s food court, then onto the plane, where Ana and I were able to identify two of the parks from the air — Epcot, thanks to Spaceship Earth, and Magic Kingdom, thanks to Space Mountain.  We waved goodbye once again and said…

“Bye bye, Mickey!  We’ll see you REAL soon!”

And we will.