DAY 4
April 27th, 2015 - Monday
Breakfast at Ohana, and Heading Home!
I woke up well before my alarm, as usual, because as we've already established... I can't sleep in beds while on vacation, apparently.
I'd done most of my packing up the night before, so I had very little to do. I took my time, and lounged a bit, but finally decided to just head on over to my ADR destination early. I called Bell Services and had them come get my things, since I had to drive the ECV upfront and my suitcases wouldn't fit on it. Once they picked up my bags, I looked around my room, took a deep breath, and said a sad goodbye to it. (I always hate leaving my Disney resort room for the final time!
)
When I got up front, I spent a little time perusing the Jackson Square gift shop. Amazingly, I didn't buy anything! I found a few things I liked, but nothing that really spoke to me. I was also making an attempt at being conservative with my cash at this point, as I was keeping in mind that anything I didn't spend would go back towards my savings for my December trip. So I left empty handed.
I took the ECV over to Bell Services to return it, and let them know I'd be pulling around in my car in a few minutes for my bags. I'd left the car parked up front rather than driving it closer to my room, so it was a quick walk to get it, and bring it around. A nice CM loaded my bags in my trunk for me, and away I went!
...Halfway to my destination, it dawned on me that I totally forgot to tip him.
This REALLY bothered me, and actually still haunts me a bit. I'm NEVER that person. I just had 1,482 things on my mind at that moment, and I just honestly forgot. I felt, and still feel terrible, about it. I wanted to go back and find him, but I was on such a tight schedule this day, there was just no way. BAD BILLIE.
After a harrowing drive which including me going through the wrong side of the Magic Kingdom entrance plaza then have to cut across ALL TEN LANES in the middle of beginning-of-the-day arrival traffic, I finally got to where I needed to be... The Polynesian Village Resort! (Yes, I'm embracing the newly reclaimed "Village" part of it's name. As a
travel agent, I force myself to use the proper names for Disney things, even if I don't want to, because I need to be in the habit.)
Even though I was plenty early, I actually sprang for valet parking again this time, just so I could avoid the walk out to my car and try to save myself some time after breakfast. which actually turned out to be a wise choice. (That, and I think after having done valet at AKL on my arrival night, I was just a little bit spoiled now!)
And on into the newly renovated lobby I went! It was SO NICE not to have construction walls everywhere anymore, because that's all I saw in September!
See all those people on the right side? That was the line just to check-in for their ADRs at Ohana.
Rather than brave that line quite yet, I decide to wander, and found myself in here:
Such a cute store, with such nice things! And I found a pink Vera Bradley bag that I fell head-over-heels in love with. Sadly, as is often the case... the strap wasn't quite long enough, so I put it back. Sigh. I did, however, pick out some cute little baubles to wear with my new short hair...
Afterwards, I still had PLENTY of time to kill. I decided to do something that regrettably got skipped on my last trip...
Yep. Just a quick little sight-seeing trip on the monorail resort loop. It gave me a chance to say goodbye to MK in passing, too!
Back at the Poly, I was looking at the length of that ADR check-in line, and had no idea how fast it would move, so I went ahead and hopped on into it. I snapped a couple pics of the new lobby while I waited...
While I'll always miss the waterfalls, of course, I do think that they did a nice job with it!
I finally got up to the podium, but I was still about 45 minutes early. I told the hostess that right upfront, and she said it's fine, she could go ahead and check me in, but I'd still have to wait. I was 110% okay with that, so she gave me my snazzy pager!
Before finding a place to wait, I headed over to the windows for a few more snaps...
Satisfied with my sightseeing now, I headed over to the waiting area for Ohana, and found big comfy cozy chair, and settled in...
...
...
...and fell asleep.
Who's surprised? Anybody? Show of hands?
The worst part is that I'm pretty sure I was snoring a little this time. And I was surrounded by people. Whatever. Like everybody hasn't seen a grown woman asleep and snoring in the middle of a hotel lobby before. Right?
I was awoken from my light snooze by my pager going off in my hand. Hooray! Time for COFFEE!
Oh, and food. Food is good, too. But... COFFEE.
A nice CM lead me to my table, asking me where I'm from, and turns out he's from North Carolina, and we chit chatted a bit when we got to my table. And I got a good one, too!
Yes, I was against the window. Yes, that's Cinderella Castle in the distance. No, I have never scored a table this perfect in all of the times that I've been at Ohana at night during Wishes. Murphy's Law.
Then I met my server, who was a super nice dude also, and the food began to arrive...
As usual, I will spare ya'll the food details, but if you're interested, it's all over on my Dining Report, which you can find
HERE! I will say this much about my breakfast, though....
It was deeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!!!
After I finished eating though... Still no characters. The tables near me, with little kids, I could hear the parents getting pretty cranky about it. Finally I saw them making their way to us, table by table. I was getting a little antsy because I needed to get on the road myself, but I didn't mind waiting.
Pluto was first up!
And is wasn't too terribly long before he was followed by my main man, Mickey Mouse!
They were both delightful and fun! One of the servers was nice enough to take both of the above photos for me!
Next came Lilo...
She was neither delightful nor fun. In fact, she didn't seem to want much to do with me at all. (She and Daisy from Pete's Silly Sideshow should get together and go bowling.) It's cool, Lilo. Whatever. I like your dog better than you anyhow.
Speaking of...
Stitch was AWESOME. And funny, And kept hugging me over and over. He has his own PhotoPass CM that follows him around (the other characters do not) so she snapped pics for me with my phone. I heard her go "Ewww, Stitch! That's gross!" Then I realized why...
...Because he was totally picking his nose.
I just died laughing. In retrospect, I wish I had held it together, and picked my nose with him. Because really... That would have been pretty much the most EPIC photo ever. Hindsight, man!
So now that I was all full of coffee and noms and happy, I paid my check and made my way out of the restaurant, stopping to say bye to this grumpy dude...
...and then on out of the resort lobby, and over to the valet desk to have my car brought around, which they did in record time. (And yes, I remembered to tip the CM this time!!!
)
As I was leaving, I spotted the overpriced Hess station, and decided to pay for the convenience of not having to stop again. I pulled in and filled up, then went in and much to my delight I discovered that they have Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee there! And it was CHEAP! I got a HUGE one that I nursed all the way home, and it was less than $3 bucks. NICE.
And with that, I said good bye to Disney World, with the promise to return in December. The drive home was uneventful, no traffic, no accidents. I may have been speeding just a TINY bit... I was trying to get home in time to return the car before Enterprise closed at 6pm. And well... My normally 5-6 hour drive only took me about 4.5 hours. But hey! I made it back to Beaufort around 5:30pm, returned the car with no issues, and all was well!
Mama was there shortly after to pick me up, and take me back to my apartment.
So that concludes my quick & dirty trip report, ya'll! I want to thank ALL of you for joining me and helping me relive my memories of it! My next trip is already planned and booked for my big birthday celebration, December 4-11. And this time, my aunt and uncle will be joining me for what will more-or-less be their first trip! (I say "more or less" because neither of them have been since they were little children in the 1970s, and that totally doesn't count!) Of course there will be a Trip Report to follow our adventures, but in the meantime, I would love it if you'd join me on my PTR for that trip:
It's My Birthday & I'll Disney If I Wanna! ~ A Dec. 2015 PTR
Otherwise, I'll see you around the DIS! Kisses!
The son followed his lead. It was so weird.
I'm kidding! I was born and raised here. It's a boring place for a kid, as there's not a lot to do that interests kids, even the closest mall is 45 minutes away. I moved to bigger cities several times, but eventually settled back in Beaufort when I was 27, and I absolutely love it here now. (About the only reason I would leave here is if I got an opportunity to move to the central Florida area and be closer to Disney!) 
