Day 5 continued - More of the Magic

Ready to burn off those breakfast buffet calories, naturally we headed left from The Crystal Palace (see post below) and into Adventureland. We got a taste, firsthand, on how long lines might be for rides throughout the day. Our first stop was the Swiss Family Treehouse. After the first set of stairs, Grandma Gertie felt she'd better turn around while she had the opportunity and sit this one out - Grandma's not quite Tarzan material. Rudy, Bianca, Dominic, Donovan and I took each and every step feeling the pain of the mileage we put on our legs from days prior.
While the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean were ridiculously long waits (2+ hours), the gang went to view The Enchanted Tiki Room, while I dodged my way through parade viewers over to Splash Mountain for FastPasses (return time 2:20 pm). Rounding the corner into Frontierland, the boys went to play in Tom Sawyer Island while some of us caught a quick wink or two:

This attraction was quite popular!
(Grandma discovered Papa's comfy seat.)

Once the boys returned, to kill even more time, we boarded the Walt Disney World Railroad and enjoyed a scenic roundtrip excursion around the park. We made it back to Frontierland in perfect time to experience Splash Mountain. Rudy and Dominic rode in front of Bianca and I. Bianca was eyeballing the nearest exits before we even boarded! I forced her into the boat and was surprised that she actually lifted her head to scream down the mountain:

Rudy and Dominic in red; us girls, bringing up the rear!

We ended up seeing the tail end of another parade in route to have some lunch in Liberty Square. If I remember correctly, we all got to ride It's A Small World (and never forget the lyrics!) before Rudy and I had to be back to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at our FastPass Return time.

Venturing toward Main Street (or the quickest exit?) we were in search of hunkering down for the evening for fireworks and the Electric Light Parade. Our search came to a halt as we were trapped in a sea of wandering people going in different directions..and some, not going anywhere! So we, too, stood our ground and actually got an excellent view of the Holiday Wishes Fireworks display over the top of Cinderella's Castle. The castle was gorgeous all aglow with lights. Oftentimes, the light shining on the castle would change from white to light blue to almost purple. Beautiful! And because we stood here for so long, watching a near 45-minute display of pyrotechnics set to music, Donovan became hateful of "the castle". The castle was now a landmark he didn't want to see again. I'm guessing the loud fireworks and pure exhaustion mixture didn't please him. Somehow, we were able to maneuver our clan closer to Main Street and discovered a wheelchair/ECV only area (with guests!) for Papa to park. Hooray! With front row seating for the SpectroMagic Parade, Donovan was sound asleep between my legs on the cold ground. He missed the entire parade!

We exited the park knowing we'd be back the next day. But first, of course, we had to stop for that Kodak moment.. a tired one: