We woke up on July 5th knowing that this dreaded day would eventually come -- the day that I’d write the final installment to this trip report, er oops no, the day we’d have to leave our beloved Kidani suite and the rest of “the World” and head back home to the “real world”.
We had to get up early, 5:15 am for me, in order to meet the Magic Express bus for a 6:30 am pickup time. It was tough waking the kids. It was hard enough during the week, but now we had no “park incentive” to lure them with. Eventually we got everyone up, showered, and dressed. We finished off the last of the cereal and packed the few remaining things that we had needed that morning. Then we herded the kids and suitcases out into the hall while I did a final “once through”, as I like to call it, to see if we left anything behind. It seems like I did find something, maybe a sock or something, but I don’t remember exactly what now.
We got down to the lobby right at 6:30 and Judy went out to the bus, while I stopped at the front desk to check on something with the bill. When I went out to the bus, Judy told me the driver was about to pull away since we weren’t there yet. I figured he’d be late, but we were his first stop.
Oh well, now he’ll be late at the next stops, helping out the people at those resorts who are having trouble getting up that early.
Our ME driver was a very friendly guy and we talked throughout the ride. He had retired from factory work around Chicago and followed his kids down to the Orlando area. He rattled off the number of ME arrivals over the past week or so, and the most had been on the day we arrived. Figures.
We went over to Pop Century for the next pickup, and I thought this golf cart looked pretty cool, so took a picture through the open door of the ME bus.
I learned from the ME driver that the in-bus movie is kicked-off by GPS -- it starts when they reach a pre-determined point on the highway. The same system is used for the boats at Port Orleans to control the change in music when you go from Riverside to French Quarter. He said “the movie will kick in right about the time we get to the second palm tree on this on-ramp”, pointed his finger at the dashboard, and after a pause the movie started in.
We arrived at the airport and checked-in. Once at the gate I took a couple of pictures. Even though we were leaving, we were still smilin’.
Right after I took these pictures we looked up at the TV monitor and were shocked to see the news that there had been a monorail crash overnight and a monorail driver had been killed. We’ve since learned that the driver killed was a young man named Austin Wuennenberg, who loved his job and was great at interacting with park guests, as so many cast members are. This was such a sad event and shows that even the magic of Disney World isn’t always immune to life’s realities. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Austin’s family.
This was a sad note to end on, but we had a truly wonderful week. I think back on the fun times we spent at the fishin’ hole in Port Orleans Riverside, watching Yeehaa Bob Jackson, braving new and bigger rollercoasters at the parks, playing in the pools, going to DHS with DSiL and DN, and eating in some great restaurants. We made some great memories, and now we can’t wait to go back.
There is no “next installment”, but I’ve started a Pre-Trip Report for our next trip in June 2010. If you haven’t already signed-on, please feel free to stop by and say “hi”.
Well, I noticed it and went back to edit it and include it....but I'm really surprised that you didn't get on my case about it! How did you miss that? 
All7OfUs!!!
