DAY 5 -- CHAPTER 11 -- DO WE HAVE TO LEAVE?
Oh man -- even though this TR has already been completed long ago -- it is definitely hard to finally post the last chapter. It's been so much fun telling the story and interacting with all of you over the last few months! But -- as they say, the show must go on!
So we last left off with the most perfect ride on the Peoplemover. And we were incredibly pressed for time in order to make it back to the Poly to catch our 4:00 pm DME.
At this point, it was about 3:25 pm and I asked Kathryn if she wanted to hit up 7DMT as the last ride (yes -- we had a FP).
She completely surprised me though when she declined and said she wanted to go on the Carousel of Progress.
HUH? That can’t be right. She MUST be mistaken as to what the COP is.
I double checked with her to make sure she understood the decision, but she was emphatic that she wanted to do the ride with the dog, so I went ahead and cancelled the FPs.
Like I said – she likes the classics.
Only problem was that I was doing some math in my head at this point. As you may recall, we have to be at the Poly lobby by 4 pm, and it would be roughly 3:30 pm when we actually got into COP and the show is every bit of 20 minutes long. So we were going to need to leave COP and make it to the Poly in about 10 minutes. Even if I was by myself that would be a stretch – but pushing a stroller? I mean, I'm pretty sure Usain Bolt might have issues with this.
At this point, I figured if we missed the bus, we could always Uber to the airport. Not wild about that prospect – but squeezing in one last ride is always fun!
“To the COP!” I exclaimed.
Well, we get done with the show and she was super happy about her choice – so who am I to second guess her decisions.
I then told her that she needed to get in the stroller and we were going to have to RUN out of the park.
I’m shocked to tell you, but we were able to get from COP to Poly lobby just shy of 4:00 pm. We got to the express monorail right as it was coming into station and then I proceeded to run from the TTC to the lobby. Kat had a great time of yelling “RUN!!!!” anytime I slowed down to make sure I wasn’t having a heart attack. I guess all that training I’ve done for the All ride Disney challenge has paid off.
Another bit of fortune was that the bus didn’t arrive right at 4 pm, so I did have 5 minutes or so to catch my breath, get our bags from bell services, and cool down a bit before boarding the Tragic Express.
Trip home was uneventful (which is a good thing). We had a couple of hours in the United Club (which is when I actually started drafting this TR!) and we got really lucky with an empty seat in our row
so Kat was able to lay down and sleep.
Got home pretty late and more or less crashed at that point.
But man or man.
WHAT. A. TRIP!!!
While the weather didn’t cooperate with us the whole time – the trip was still absolutely amazing. So many wonderful memories were created, and I can only hope she will be able to remember them as well. I know I will never forget them!
Thank you again to everyone for letting me share this adventure with you all. Hopefully I've been able to convince at least one other Dad to make a Disney Dash of their own!
Looking forward to doing this with my youngest in a couple years.