Adventures in Orlando: Day 14 – AK and going home

[caroley]

<b>Carole : (40) Organiser and chief adventurer. Compulsive shopper.
Stephen : (43) Head beer drinker, and food taster. Trainee shopper.</b>

<I>As this was our third year running at Orlando, the plan was to take it all at a slower pace, and enjoy the atmosphere. No queuing and no commando tactics. We have annual passes for Disney and length of stay passes for Universal. We’re giving Seaworld a Miss this year rather than try to cram too much in.</I>

Day 14 – Friday 26/10/01
Today’s planned itinerary – The journey home
Weather – Warm with a nice breeze

We were up early to do the last minute packing. We checked in all the drawers, under the bed, in the safe etc. in case anything had escaped us. We had express checkout so just had to call the MIB to fetch our cases. They loaded up the car for us and we said a reluctant goodbye to the Hard Rock hotel. I loved that hotel, and I’d go back there in a shot!

We’d phoned our Virgin rep, to ask what time we had to be at the airport and were told that the desk would open at 11.30 and we could check-in any time after that, or 3 hours before the flight. Bearing that in mind, our plan was to lose the luggage (not literally, you understand) and head for a park to get some lunch and have a last look around. We got to the airport without any problems, and left the car in short term parking. Got a trolley for the cases and headed for the terminal. We had a tour of levels one and two, before Stephen finally admitted that I was correct in saying that we needed level three . We arrived at check-in at 10:45. A trifle early, but we were first in the Manchester queue. I sat on the floor with the luggage and a book, and dispatched Stephen to find coffee. By the time we’d drank our Starbucks (yummy) there was movement behind the desk, we checked in, got our pre-booked seats, and by 12:00 we were on our way to Animal Kingdom. We’d decided to have lunch at the Rainforest café.

Got to AK and went straight up to the elephant to get seated. The woman told us there was a short wait but if we ate at the bar we could eat straight away. We went into the bar, and found no seats available . By this time there was a huge queue at the elephant so we decided to skip it. We went in to the park and the nice guard who searched the bags promised to have a ball of Florida sunshine ready for us when we left, so we could take it home with us. Wasn’t that sweet… aaaahhhhh!
Went straight to Kusafiri and I had another of those scrumptious wraps, and Stephen had roast chicken.

We wandered through the Maharajah jungle trek, saying goodbye to the animals, and then strolled through the gardens around the Tree of Life. Having said goodbye to our favourite park, we felt a bit peckish for dessert, so decided that only a sundae from Ghirardellis would do. Off to Downtown Disney we went, in order to feast upon something cold and gooey. By the time we got there it was quite hot so an icey was a welcome idea. I had a banana split and Stephen had a cable car. Both yummy.

Time now to return to the airport. Stephen decided to go a different way and ended up on the road parallel to the one he should have been on. The situation wasn’t helped by my not being able to map read. I can’t look at a map in a moving car without getting very travel sick.

We got to the airport eventually, dropped off the car and walked past the huge queues at the check-in desk, and yes we did have smug looks on our faces. It took us maybe 10 minutes to negotiate security and we were at the gate by 4:45. Stephen got changed, I already had long trousers on, and we settled down to wait. Isn’t it amazing what some people call hand luggage, by the way?

The flight was uneventful. Once again our plane was Wild thing. We watched a couple of films, Legally blonde, and Spy kids. I had the Salmon for dinner, Stephen had the chicken. Had quite a long wait for the shuttle back to the Posthouse to get our car, and I think this has confirmed our decision to use the Radisson next year.

So, back home again. The countdown timer has been re-done for next year’s holiday, when we’ll be taking my 25 yr old niece for her first ever visit to the US. She’s very excited .

Things that stand out in my mind now that we’ve been back for a while:

<b>The Hard Rock Hotel.</b> It was exactly how I imagined it would be, only much better. I loved the atmosphere, the room, and most of all – the perks!
<b>Cirque de Soleil.</b> Fantastic! Can’t wait to take Jo to it next year.
<b>Illuminations cruise.</b> A must do, if at all possible, for next year. Preferably shared with some UK Disers.
<b>The Hard Rock Café.</b> I’d never been in one before, and I’ve fallen in love with the whole concept. Have just had lunch, pins and a bear at the new Birmingham café and it took me right back to Orlando…..sigh.
<b>Pin collecting.</b> Sigh, expensive habit, this one, but they don’t take up much room in the suitcase, which is a bonus. Although I’ve bought a wide variety of different pins on this holiday, I think I’ll be concentrating on the Hard Rock guitar pins. I’m currently in the middle of making display cases for the ones that I have so far. Stephen very kindly bought me a circular saw to help me with this .

Thanks for reading, and for all your kind comments, and I hope I didn’t ramble on too much .

 

[Edayy]

Carole

I just had the chance to read all your trip reports and i just wanted to say thank you for posting them again here at our new home as it has allowed me to catch up and i really enjoyed them.

Eda

 

[Minniespal]

Thanks for the wonderful reports - luv reading them!!!