MScott1851
<font color=font color=royalblue>Got a link for th
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2002
- Messages
- 3,198
Well...Sunday is sadly our last day. Following last night's debauchery, we sleep in until our late checkout at 12:30. Considering we didn't go to sleep until almost 6am, I thought that was really good...
As soon as we got up, we headed offsite and had lunch at Burger King, and dropped off the film at Walgreen's 1-hour so we would have them before we got home. Thanks to my trusty Dramamine, we headed back to Islands of Adventure to hit the high points again. We rode the Incredible Hulk, the Spiderman, Dr. Doom's Fearfall, and Fire and Ice, all within an hour and a half. Soon afterward, a rainstorm began, so we exited the park. Picked up the pictures, kind of disappointed because there wern't more of us together. There were so few people in the parks that we felt like we were imposing to ask people to stop and take a picture of us, so we spent an ungodly amount on the pictures that the parks take and sell at $9.95 a pop. Clint had heard about a record store called Vinyl Frontier near downtown, so we headed there and spent a couple of hours browsing the stacks and listening to music before heading to MCO for our 7pm flight. We also picked up an employment guide and an apartment guide, since we are looking to relocate January, we figure that Orlando is as good a place as any! Clint works for a television station and has already made some contacts, and I am a nurse, so I am very mobile!
Once we got to MCO, there was no trouble turning in the rental car. We returned the keys, got our receipt, and were on our way. Let me say this however: Beware renting a Neon from Dollar! We went with the Neon looking forward to the great gas mileage. The thing got 17 mpg on the INTERSTATE! The night we drove to Jacksonville, the little devil sucked down an entire tank of gas for a 240 mile round trip! We bought three tanks of gas in six days, and we stayed on property and utilized WDW and Universal transportation most days! But enough about the car.. we arrive at the check-in counter, and Delta has this IDIOTIC self-check in kiosk where you have to swipe your credit card, then enter your reservation number, etc, etc...it was horrible, and I am computer literate.. I can only imagine what people with no
computer skills were doing. Well, yes, I can. The Delta representatives were having to help us all! I say, bring back the customer service! Bring back the people skills!
Our flight home was uneventful, other than the fact they oversold our flight to Atlanta and were asking people to give up their seats...Clint and I almost took advantage of this, except that the flight out was leaving Orlando at 10:00pm, and there was no connecting flight from Atlanta to Huntsville, so we would have been stuck in Atlanta. If they had offered to keep us in Orlando overnight, we would have jumped on it!
We arrived in Huntsville at 10:00 pm, and realized that no one was there to get us. We hated to call someone that late, so we took the world's oldest cab home. $20.00 for just ten miles! But, oh, well...it was our honeymoon!
We finally got in the apartment around 10:30pm, put a load of clothes in the washer, opened a weeks' worth of bills, and thanked God that we had cleaned before we left. While we loved WDW and Universal, the best feeling in the whole wide world was falling into my own soft, king-sized bed with Clint spooning me. I think I was asleep in under a minute!
Some final thoughts on the trip:
I know people reading this trip report are thinking, "That doesn't sound very honeymoonish. They argued while they were there!" I live in the real world, and just because we were at Disney didn't mean that everything was perfect the whole time, and people who go there thinking that are setting themselves up for disappointment. Still, I read everyone else's glowing reports of their magical honeymoons/trips and wonder if we missed the boat, or if they just don't divulge details like I do...
We actually spent very little money! Our total for the five days at WDW charged to our room was $378. At Universal, it was only $160. And we ate when we were hungry, did everything we wanted. One thing that redeems us is that we don't buy souveniers. We kept the refillable mugs, and we had the Congratulations! cards from various places, I kept the menus from places, receipts to put in my scrapbook, etc, etc. So we saved a bundle on that. We spent about $200 cash on incidentals outside the parks, like dinner offsite at night, gas money, and going out in Orlando. Still, we got out for well under $1000 for the week, so I was quite proud of us.
Next time, we will be more relaxed. So what if we aren't the first ones in the park? We have all day! And since I will wisely plan our next trip for the same time of year, the crowds will be comparable.
It went by too fast...I guess I will keep reading these boards to get my "fix" until we can get back!
As soon as we got up, we headed offsite and had lunch at Burger King, and dropped off the film at Walgreen's 1-hour so we would have them before we got home. Thanks to my trusty Dramamine, we headed back to Islands of Adventure to hit the high points again. We rode the Incredible Hulk, the Spiderman, Dr. Doom's Fearfall, and Fire and Ice, all within an hour and a half. Soon afterward, a rainstorm began, so we exited the park. Picked up the pictures, kind of disappointed because there wern't more of us together. There were so few people in the parks that we felt like we were imposing to ask people to stop and take a picture of us, so we spent an ungodly amount on the pictures that the parks take and sell at $9.95 a pop. Clint had heard about a record store called Vinyl Frontier near downtown, so we headed there and spent a couple of hours browsing the stacks and listening to music before heading to MCO for our 7pm flight. We also picked up an employment guide and an apartment guide, since we are looking to relocate January, we figure that Orlando is as good a place as any! Clint works for a television station and has already made some contacts, and I am a nurse, so I am very mobile!
Once we got to MCO, there was no trouble turning in the rental car. We returned the keys, got our receipt, and were on our way. Let me say this however: Beware renting a Neon from Dollar! We went with the Neon looking forward to the great gas mileage. The thing got 17 mpg on the INTERSTATE! The night we drove to Jacksonville, the little devil sucked down an entire tank of gas for a 240 mile round trip! We bought three tanks of gas in six days, and we stayed on property and utilized WDW and Universal transportation most days! But enough about the car.. we arrive at the check-in counter, and Delta has this IDIOTIC self-check in kiosk where you have to swipe your credit card, then enter your reservation number, etc, etc...it was horrible, and I am computer literate.. I can only imagine what people with no
computer skills were doing. Well, yes, I can. The Delta representatives were having to help us all! I say, bring back the customer service! Bring back the people skills!
Our flight home was uneventful, other than the fact they oversold our flight to Atlanta and were asking people to give up their seats...Clint and I almost took advantage of this, except that the flight out was leaving Orlando at 10:00pm, and there was no connecting flight from Atlanta to Huntsville, so we would have been stuck in Atlanta. If they had offered to keep us in Orlando overnight, we would have jumped on it!
We arrived in Huntsville at 10:00 pm, and realized that no one was there to get us. We hated to call someone that late, so we took the world's oldest cab home. $20.00 for just ten miles! But, oh, well...it was our honeymoon!
We finally got in the apartment around 10:30pm, put a load of clothes in the washer, opened a weeks' worth of bills, and thanked God that we had cleaned before we left. While we loved WDW and Universal, the best feeling in the whole wide world was falling into my own soft, king-sized bed with Clint spooning me. I think I was asleep in under a minute!
Some final thoughts on the trip:
I know people reading this trip report are thinking, "That doesn't sound very honeymoonish. They argued while they were there!" I live in the real world, and just because we were at Disney didn't mean that everything was perfect the whole time, and people who go there thinking that are setting themselves up for disappointment. Still, I read everyone else's glowing reports of their magical honeymoons/trips and wonder if we missed the boat, or if they just don't divulge details like I do...
We actually spent very little money! Our total for the five days at WDW charged to our room was $378. At Universal, it was only $160. And we ate when we were hungry, did everything we wanted. One thing that redeems us is that we don't buy souveniers. We kept the refillable mugs, and we had the Congratulations! cards from various places, I kept the menus from places, receipts to put in my scrapbook, etc, etc. So we saved a bundle on that. We spent about $200 cash on incidentals outside the parks, like dinner offsite at night, gas money, and going out in Orlando. Still, we got out for well under $1000 for the week, so I was quite proud of us.
Next time, we will be more relaxed. So what if we aren't the first ones in the park? We have all day! And since I will wisely plan our next trip for the same time of year, the crowds will be comparable.
It went by too fast...I guess I will keep reading these boards to get my "fix" until we can get back!
