So, right now it's 9:36 pm on Saturday, February 8. What comes below is what I typed into a Word document in the car as my husband was driving at about 9:30 a.m. this morning. I saved it thinking I would post it when we got home - which should have been right around midnight. Well, you know what they say about those plans you make . . .
About an hour into our drive, my husband really started to feel sick. Mostly his stomach, but also a headache. Ugh. I do very little of the driving on our long road trips - he actually prefers to do it and he's generally better at it than I am. (All those years driving around in a police car maybe?) I tend to get totally sleepy after about 2 hours. He can just go forever. But these were desperate times, so I took the wheel for a good 5 hours of driving time (with some wake-up breaks in between.) At around 7ish he said he felt ok enough to at least drive for a while, and then around 9 we decided to stop for the night (we're in a lovely, Holiday Inn Express in Petersburg, VA.) We'll have about 5 more hours tomorrow, and hopefully he'll feel better. He's already sound asleep.
So, here's the last day of our vacation for anyone interested:
OK Im typing this in the car as my husband drives. Ill post it when I get a connection at some point. Where did I end with my last report? Ah yes, our last full day. How sad.
On Friday (did I mention I was sad because it was our last full day?) we headed over to DTD at around 10:30 a.m. mostly to shop for gifts for some peeps at home. We had lunch at the Earl of Sandwich at around 11:30 a.m. It was already pretty crowded, but we got our food and sat outside. It was overcast and a little cool, but nice to be out there. My husband got the Capresse (Mozzarella and tomato) and I got the Holiday (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce.) We shared an order of bacon mac & cheese. I thought my sandwich was out of this world. My husband also liked his and he really loved the bacon mac & cheese. The lunch cost $23.
We drove over to the Magic Kingdom since that was the only park we had only one visit to. Of course we couldnt take the monorail because its not running most of the day right now, so we hopped on the ferry. Im happy to say that the MK and I have kissed and made up from our little falling out the other night.
When we arrived we took the train from Main Street over to Frontierland. We had a FP+ for Thunder Mt. Railroad, which as always was a blast. We walked over to the Hall of President, which I always enjoy and would feel very unpatriotic if I didnt visit. My husband wanted to take a ride on the River Boat, which we did. I was a little chilly, but it was fine. We also had a FP+ for Space Mt. so we did that next. It was around 3:30 by then and we would have hung out longer (for our 4:00 pm FP+ to the Haunted Mansion) but I wanted to get back to the hotel to Skype with my son again from Europe. (Hes in the middle of graduate school admissions, and he wanted to chat about some decisions.)
We hung out (and yes, I napped) until around 7:30 and then we headed out for dinner. We wanted to eat at the Big River Grille, but of course they said the wait would be an hour. I have to say (AGAIN) as we walked by the windows, there were plenty of empty tables. Down the block at ESPN (which we headed towards) there was a line of people out the door waiting, and you guessed it, tons of empty tables inside. I dont get it. If I have to pick one thing I truly dont understand about WDW (and dont particularly like) is why there always seem to be empty tables, yet they cant seat you when you walk-up to a Disney restaurant. I thought the whole cancellation fee for ADRs was supposed to remedy no shows or whatever. Oh well we walked over to the World Showcase to see what we could find.
Our first choice was Via Napoli, where wed had that wonderful pizza a few nights before. Of course, they had no availability. How shocking. No problem, we tried next door at the other Italian restaurant, Tutto Gusto. They were able to seat us in what appears to be the lounge not their main dining room. The food was delicious. My husband had the polenta with braised short ribs (which he said blew away the short ribs we had in France) and I had the shrimp risotto. Yummy. We shared a piece of Tiramisu, which was probably the best dessert of the week. The bill was $158. (Of course we had a couple of drinks . . .)
It was time for our last walk back to the Boardwalk Inn.
Our last day at WDW was wonderful. Im so glad we went back to the Magic Kingdom. It was a great afternoon there.
We hit the road at 9:00 a.m. for the trip back to NJ. We toyed with the idea of hanging out for a few hours, but the weather wasn't very nice, so we decided to get an early start. Of course, its been raining the entire way.
One interesting note about our bill which I received via email this morning. Glad I really checked it then and there. There was an extra charge from LeCellier on it, for $264!!! It was right after our correct charge. I called down to the desk and she checked and told me that was for a party of 8!! Im thinking it must have been for a party of 8 that was on the dining plan and this charge just covered drinks and extras since it comes out to only about $30 per person. Pretty sure it would be impossible to actually eat a meal there for that little, right? So it was no problem and she immediately credited our bill and emailed me a new copy. I guess the lesson is to be sure to always check your itemized bill carefully!! I always do.
General "positives" and "minuses" of this vacation?
PLUSES +
The Boardwalk Inn - loved it
The weather was spectacular (even the last 2 days which were slightly rainy - nothing too bad)
The Magic Bands really worked well - I found them convenient
The relatively low crowds - although I think the indicators I checked did underestimate them
We didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride. (I hesitate to give that to the FP+ system. I think that FP- worked just as well and generally speaking, I'd put the entire FP+ system under the minuses for me personally.)
Shula's was freaking unbelievable
The pizza at Via Napoli was delicious
I really liked the breakfast buffet at Trail's End
MINUSES -
FP+ (One of my early posts in this thread pretty much said what I don't like about it. It just stressed me to make choices so far in advance, and then have to worry about either struggling to keep the plans or worrying about changing them.)
The Boardwalk Bakery - wasn't too fond of their food in general
Breakfast as a whole at WDW - I felt like we had to put in too much of an effort to find a really good one
Some of the old standby rides at the MK could use a little TLC
I still don't think the ADR system works that well - too many times we'd arrive at a restaurant without a reservation and we were told either there was no availability at all, or we would have to wait. Yet, there almost always were empty tables.
So, as I said earlier, Im actually typing this in a word document as we drive home. Ill post as soon as I have internet that might not be until we get home. If anyone has any questions about anything, just let me know.
I loved this trip. It was truly wonderful.
