After our great, long day at the Magic Kingdom, I climbed into bed feeling pretty exhausted. We had done most of our packing after returning from the park, so that made for 2 strikes against me 1) going to bed very late, and 2) our last night of BigTexs Excellent Adventure. Bogus! Heinous! I hate that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach knowing it is your last night on vacation. It is something that can only be remedied by a shot of that pink Pepto Bounce-back. Unfortunately, we had no bounce-back offer because we stayed off-site. Ugh. Somehow I still was able to easily fall asleep only seconds after me head hit the pillow.
Morning snuck up on us and it was time to get up before we knew what hit us. We proceeded to finish the last minute packing and did the triple-check of all drawers, floors, beds, etc. for anything we may have missed. Once we (meaning I) got the rental van loaded up with all of our stuff, it was off to Downtown Disney for breakfast at Earl of Sandwich. We are sure to eat at EoS every visit for lunch or dinner, but this was our first breakfast there. It was just as awesome as the lunch/dinner sandwiches. That bread is a vital part of the yum that is Earl of Sandwich. Our next trip I will try to make it over to EoS for breakfast at least once.
After breakfast we walked through some of the stores to do some last-minute shopping getting shirts and souvenirs for extended family back home. Then it was time to drive to the Tampa/Clearwater area. We drove out there and found a nice looking place to eat lunch on the beach a place recommended by an acquaintance of DW who lived around that area. I forgot the name of the place, but it was pretty good food and the views of the beach were great.
After we finished lunch and walked on the beach for a while, we drove to the Tampa airport. I dropped off the family at the departure area so I could drive the rental car back to the car return area. I met up with the family inside the airport and we went through security and off to our gate. The one great thing about flying out of Tampa is the security lines. Orlando airport has crazy long lines (as many of you are aware) and it can take quite a while to clear the security area. At the Tampa airport, there was no line at all. We just walked over to the security area and it was walk-on. Nice.
It was Super Bowl Sunday and it was weird not being plopped in front of the TV all day. And it was also weird knowing the Super Bowl was being held back home while we were in Florida. Luckily, our flight was due to land at DFW while the game was still going on so we wouldnt have to deal with the huge crowds of people coming in or leaving for the Big Game. And even though it has taken me over five months to finish this trip report, I still have not seen the game. I wasnt overly motivated to watch it though, since I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. If I had my way, both teams would have lost that game. But I digress
Wrapping up this trip report, I will say we had an awesome time. The only way it could have been better is if we had stayed on-site. The crowd levels were extremely low and the weather was perfect in the 70s every day. So we learned a lesson on this trip: no matter how much bigger the living space is, staying at the resorts trumps staying off-site for my family. The kids loved the trip but mentioned that it didnt feel like a true Disney trip because we didnt get to ride the buses (or stay in the Disney bubble.) Inconceivable!
I highly recommend a late January/early February trip to The World!
