As a final day visit to WDW we decided that our last visit would be to the Magic Kingdom and stay till the closing.

Today our Annual Pass runs out.  We do not plan to renew.  It has been crazy and fun but we are ready to move back to traveling and hiking in nature for a while.  Of course if we hear that family is planning to visit we could be talked into going at the same time.

The original plan for the trips last January and this was to ride every ride and watch every show.  Well we had not ridden the monorail from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot and back.  That had to be corrected so for our final day was split time between Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. We parked at the Magic Kingdom and road the monorail to Epcot for lunch and then back. Besides the food at Epcot is far better than what is available in the Magic Kingdom.

After having lunch in Epcot we returned to the Magic Kingdom to watch the closing ceremonies and fireworks staking out our location early directly in the front of the castle. As always it was a fantastic combination of projection on the castle and timed fireworks to the music.  I hope the video is allowed to stay up but Disney does block things like this so watch it soon.

We had one ride at Animal Kingdom that both of us thought was worth being at the rope drop.  So this morning we got to the park one hour before opening along with a few hundred new friends. (ok maybe a thousand)

​  It was worth it because we walked right into the ride.

One more time on the Safari ride.  Lots of babies and young animals were out today.

We were at the right place at the right time to hear the male lion give his morning roar. Then he walks over to the lionesses and is told to back off.  I don't think they were impressed.

We visited Epcot for our last time on our Annual Pass.  The Arts Festival is still going so the artists and special food was still everywhere.

This is just a tiny sample of the art on display.

England in the World Showcase had a British rock tribute band that was really fun.

A little shopping. Washing clothes. Resting.  Staying dry.  We have only three days left on our annual pass.  Tuesday afternoon another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled. We plan to drive over to watch the launch.
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We visited Magic Kingdom. The plan was to try to be in a good spot to see the parades and big show at the castle. In the past we usually ended up far back in the crowd or far to the left or right from center.

Mainstreet Dance parade.

Fun at the castle.

We will not even discuss how far off the diet we got on lunch.

We were in front for the big parade.

It has been fun. We will visit other parks next week.

We started our visit back to Hollywood Studios later in the afternoon.  The plan is to stay to the closing fireworks.

Last year the plan was to ride every ride and see every show.  Well we had missed one.  The Disney Junior - Live on Stage!.  Yes the intended audience was for preschoolers but every adult enjoyed the reactions of the children to the show.  It was very interactive with singing, waving, dancing, "snow", bubbles, and large disk confetti but at least one little girl thought she should go hug the characters.  Her parent was just barely able to stop her before she got to the stage.

Epcot was still in the Food and Arts Festival so we tried a few more of the artsy food preparations. Everything was very good.

The Muppet Mobile labs was out and hilarious.

More chalk art.

A first for us seeing five divers in the Seas at the same time.

I love the sidewalk lighting display in Epcot.

Off to wait for the fireworks over the lake.

Looking at the models and information on Toy Story and Star Wars.​

There was no wait time so we did a character encounter. We enjoyed meeting Star Lord and Groot.

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

The Muppets are always fun.

We were a little disappointed.  Ok I was disappointed that Splash Mountain will not open after refurbishment until after we have finished this trip to WDW. We did see the tests of empty and weighted cars.

Later in the day we switched parks to Animal Kingdom.  We had a fastpass to the new ride at Pandora.  Flight of passage was impressive.  Disney has set a new high bar for rides with this one.  We both enjoyed the ride which is a major advancement on Soarin'. The only problem is that would be like comparing Barnstormer to Expedition Everest.

Pandora is an area that must be visited at night to really appreciate.

Most of the time hot air balloons are totally silent except when someone fires off the burner to gain height.  When that happens they are pretty loud.  The first one passed almost directly over us the next several were a little off to the west.

Last week was SO busy!  We went into the parks Monday and Tuesday.  Then the rest of the week we drove to Tampa each day to visit the Florida RV Supershow.  It was pretty exhausting.  We used the weekend to recover.