The last bit of this report takes place in Toronto, when we finally arrived home.
After our long MCO airport delays, the flight back to Toronto was uneventful. Mostly, everyone was calm and quiet and just wanted to get on with it. We were seated across the aisle from a young family with a girl who was maybe three years old, and an infant. The infant was awake and moving for the entire flight. The parents did an amazing job of keeping the child happy, but they had to work at it and Im sure at the end of a long day, the flight must have seemed like forever for them. I think they were heroic in keeping their child from crying.
When the plane landed, the aisle filled up immediately, including the family seated across from us. Im sure they couldnt wait to get off that plane, since it was now about 2:30 am. Of course, they couldnt let us off the plane right away. Although we had long since crossed the border and been flying in Canadian airspace, as far as the airport is concerned we hadnt entered Canada yet, and would not be allowed to until a customs official could come and meet the plane to let them know it was okay to open the doors. So there we sat. Since the family was already standing in the aisle I found myself looking eye-to-eye with the three year old girl. Given the BBB hairstyle she was sporting, it was obvious they had just come from WDW. I wasnt really interested in making small talk with a stranger in the middle of the night, but those parents deserved a break, so I started asking the girl about her trip to Disney. She was so cute and wonderful to talk to.
Here is some of our conversation:
- Me: Were you at Disney?
- Girl: Yes
- Me: Your hair is very nice
- Girl: Thank you
- Girls Mother: She had it done last Tuesday
- Me: Tuesday!
- Girls Mother: Yes, Tuesday
- Me: Wow, they must use a lot of hairspray
- Girls Mother: Yup, it has been through sleeping, swimming and days of touch ups
- Me: Wow
- Me: What was your favourite ride?
- Girl: Space Peaches
- Me: Space Peaches? I havent heard of that.
- Girls Mother: Space Peaches, Star Wars, call it whatever you want
- Me: Oh Star Wars! Space Peaches is a great name for that ride.
From now on, I will always think of the ride called Space Peaches and smile.
Going through customs and getting our luggage was quick and uneventful, and soon we found ourselves in the back of a limo, heading home. The limo driver was happy when he heard our address as we were his last run of the day and he lived near us. He asked if it would be okay if he stopped for gas on the way, so we found ourselves in a surreal moment of sitting in the back of a limo, at a gas station, at 3:30 in the morning.
Finally we made it back home and couldnt wait to get to bed
but first, we had to check out the state of our renovations. If you have been following this story since the early posts, you will have read that while we were at WDW our bathroom was being renovated. We had some reports from friends while we were gone, so we know the contractors had taken the bathroom completely apart, taking out all the fixtures and all the walls, so we had no idea what state the bathroom would be in.
Keeping in mind that we only have one bathroom, we were a bit stunned to walk in at 4 am and find an almost finished bathroom with a note on the toilet that said Do not put any weight on toilet for 48 hours 48 HOURS FROM WHEN?!?! After travelling all day, the three of us stood there facing the revelation that we couldnt use our toilet, possibly for the next two days. Fortunately, the apartment across the hall from us was vacant and unlocked, so we were able to use that bathroom (whew!).
The next morning our superintendent showed up and said it was fine to use the toilet and the shower but we had to keep the bathroom empty for a few days as there was still painting to be completed. He said that they completely rebuilt the bathroom, including all new pipes and all new fixtures. So nice to have a shiny new room.
Besides having the inconvenience of waiting for the bathroom painting to be finished, there was an additional inconvenience since the bathroom shares a wall with our master bedroom closet. Because they had to take all the walls down, we also had to empty our closet. It took them a few days after we returned home to finish all the painting, so we had to deal with all of our closet contents being stored in the living room; but that was a minor inconvenience given that we now had a brand new bathroom. The contractor also couldnt resist patching a few minor cracks in some other walls, so we also had a freshly painted hall and living room. There are some great benefits to renting I love that we had so much work done without spending a penny, or having to make any contractor arrangements.
Old Bathroom
New Bathroom
Well that is enough prattling on for one trip report. The bathroom photos bring this report to an end. Thank you to everyone for reading along. It is fun reliving our vacation through a trip report, and even more fun knowing that others have enjoyed reading it along the way!
That is all.