Next was lunch and then one more parade.  We were proud of ourselves for packing our own food.  We tried the park food the first day and it was expensive and not that great. 

Lucas, looking for autographs.

The kid with a treat.  

Miss Cranky Pants.  She never did fall asleep today, little stinker.

But she does love a good parade.

Fake buildings...

And the last character that we got a picture with!  Army guy from Toy Story.

This kid is crazy.  She needed a nap, but never got one today.  We had plans to see the  F*ntasmic show at 8pm, so we grabbed dinner beforehand.  My dad had a coke, which both kids spotted immediately and took advantage of.  The funny result was the Ellen perked up for another hour and a half before crashing.  It worked out really well because we got another hour of fun out of her and were seated at the show when she fell asleep in my arms.  We joked that we need to keep some coke on hand at home...

Rest Day

We planned for Thursday to be a lazy day since we went so hard on Tuesday and Wednesday.

We did some swimming...

Some lounging and climbing...

 

 Played some checkers...

(this is a view of our unit)

And played with the ducks.  Or tried to.  

After playing outside a while, we checked out the game room.  Why do kids love to pretend drive these games?  It gets us every time we walk past one.  Luckily we had plenty of time today...

We are realizing that Lucas is really competitive.  And, he only likes to play games that he can win : )  Him and Jeff had a healthy game of air hockey.  Check out the pure joy on his face when he scores!

 
Next they played another round of checkers.  Jeff was teaching Lucas how to play and said he was getting the hang of it.

M*ckey's Very M*rry Chr*stmas P*rty

 We were told by some reliable sources that Mickey's Christmas Party was a must see if visiting Disney this time of year.  The way they do it is close the park at 7pm and by 8pm the only folks in the park are ones that have purchased another (yes, another) ticket to go to the party.  We were given the hint that even though the party starts at 8pm, if you have tickets to the party you can get in as early as 4pm.

So we spent the day lounging around the resort and going for a little swim.  The plan was for my mom to leave, us to go to the party by ourselves, and then my dad come tomorrow for Hollywood Studios.  We had such a fun time with my mom yesterday, that we decided that she should definitely stay for another round of Magic Kingdom.  So off we went.

They advise you on several sites to not purchase your tickets to this event until you are sure that the weather will be nice.  Wanting to ensure that every detail be as perfect as it can for this trip, I checked the weather every day for the past ten days and we JUST bought our tickets 2 days ago.  And then a front showed up on the radar.  Seriously?  Overcast and cool, but still okay.  As you can see the kids are in short sleeves.

Let the Memories Begin!

Since we have already seen the entire park, tonight was just about riding our favorite rides again and enjoying the festive events.  Lucas wanted to head straight to Splash Mountain, which was great for Ellen since she got to see Woody... again!

After a few rides we headed to where Mickey and Minnie were waiting in their holiday colors!  And, once again, we timed it so that we got our same spot on the sidewalk for the Christmas Parade.  Perhaps the best two hours of our trip!

I hope Ellen remembers this because she was loving every second of it!

Lucas spotted these autograph books yesterday and talked about it all day today, so Grandma bought it for him as part of his Christmas present.  

Sweet Ellen with Minnie : )

Ellen with her favorite character, Mickey!

Love this : )

One last hug from Mickey... today at least.

 Here we are getting ready for the parade to start.  Such a happy time!  It was starting to get cold though.  Poor Jeff was in shorts and I didn't have on socks, but the kids were pretty bundled up.  And we found the free cookies and hot chocolate, so we were set for a while. 

 The parade was so magical and amazing.  We all really loved it.  Maybe the best part of our trip!

 After the parade came the castle light show and fireworks.  Again, just amazing.  We said a few times that the price of the ticket was worth it just to see this.  LB didn't seem to agree as he was fast asleep by the time it started.  And Ellen soon after that : ) 

A great ending to Magic Kingdom 2011!