Happy Endings

After a great week, you want your last full day and evening at Walt Disney World to be special. We had a nice lunch at the Nine Dragons in Epcot after visiting the countries we didn't get to yesterday - Mexico, Norway and China. After lunch we caught Mariachi Cobre's performance and Rick even had a chance to speak to one of the trumpet players. On our way out of the park, we went over to the Living Seas and saw Turtle Talk with Crush and did the Nemo ride before we went back to our room to put on warmer clothes for our evening in the Magic Kingdom.

Rick has loved the SpectroMagic parade since our very first trip in 1992. He thought he was too old to ever recapture the magic of childhood, but that parade, with its seemingly endless array of floats featuring all the familiar Disney characters he knew as a kid, along with its majestic music, did it for him. It's a must-do on every trip.

This time, we watched the parade from a new vantage point up on the railway station at the beginning of Main Street. Looking to our left, we had an unobstructed view from above as each float entered the parade route. If we looked right, we could see the whole line of floats as they proceeded up Main Street, around the hub, and past the castle. It was really beautiful.

We stayed at the train station, moving to just a little right of center (so the flag pole didn't obstruct our view of the castle), and held this prime spot for half an hour until the Wishes fireworks began. From this location, you can really see the entirety of the fireworks effects and appreciate their precise synchronization with the music. This was a new and memorable perspective for us.

We have most of tomorrow to get in our last looks. We'll have breakfast at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian and decide then what we'll do with the time that's left before we have to leave for the airport mid-afternoon. This trip fulfilled our objective to relax and temporarily forget about our usual obligations. It was definitely the escape from reality that Walt Disney World is supposed to be and what we really needed.

Other photos are here.