Departure day
Despite the late night on NYE, we were up relatively early on January 1. It was departure day, and we had to get packed up, get the luggage checked for the return flight, and get out of the room by 11. Our plan was to meet everyone for breakfast at Artists Palette and hang out with MIL/BIL at the resort til 12, when their ME pick-up was scheduled. Then, we thought wed head to DTD for some last-minute shopping, and then catch our ME pick-up at 3. Of course, it didnt go that way.
First off, we made a tactical error in our repacking. See, the forecast for Jan. 1 originally called for the weather to be similar to NYE, so as we were repacking our clothes, we put our hoodies in the suitcase with the dirty clothes they smelled horrible from the fireworks fallout the night before, and we didnt think wed need them.
We took some pictures as we walked from the room to the Springs for check-out:
Then, we had a fiasco trying to get the luggage checked
ok, actually, we didnt, but the two groups ahead of us at the airline check-in desk certainly did. It took me over 30 minutes to get our one checked bag checked!
I later found out that my parents and MIL also had issues for some reason, Disneys records had them booked through to the wrong cities! So they also spent a long time with airline check-in.
Around the time I finally got the luggage checked, it started to drizzle. I went inside and joined the rest of the family as they ate breakfast. While we were sitting there, we were looking at the plastic hats wed gotten at the NYE party the night before. We didnt want to throw them out, but we also didnt want to carry them on the plane. I decided to try to find some scissors so we could cut the sticker w/ the logo out of the hat. First, I asked the DVC guy if he had scissors, and he didnt
but he did mention that DVC was running some add-on incentives for existing owners
and convinced me that we should go meet with our guide to find out about them. So, we scheduled that for 2:00, thinking it would force us to get back from DTD in plenty of time for our ME pick-up, and then went to the front desk to ask for scissors. While we were using the scissors, I noticed that it seemed to be raining much harder, and started wondering whether the ponchos were in the checked bag or the carry-on.
Soon, it was 11:45, and time to walk MIL & BIL out to the ME pick-up spot to say goodbye
and it had gotten chilly! DH & I were both in short-sleeve t-shirts, too. My mom decided she didnt want to go to DTD with the
ECV in the rain, and dad had already found a place to sit and watch football (the lobby area outside of the Turf Club). Even though I really wanted to go back to WoD to get the jacket Id found the last time we were there this was my plan even before it got cold we decided to see if the rain would stop first, and asked the DVC guest to see if we could change our appointment to something earlier. We ended up with a 12:30 or 1:00 appointment, and headed over to the DVC info center. Our guide was out on vacation, but another guide came and shared the incentives with us. We were tempted, but the only place that DVC is selling that wed like to add on is BLT, and the incentives for BLT were not that great since its selling well. So, we helped ourselves to some ice cream and then headed back to meet my parents. It was still raining, and by now it had gotten COLD. So cold that we nixed the idea of going to DTD completely, and went to join my parents.
Mom & I then decided to go to Artists Palette for lunch. It took FOREVER. Apparently, Jan. 1 was departure day for a lot of people, all of whom decided to just stay at the resort since it was cold and rainy. Mom was in line for over 20 minutes waiting to order, and another 15 waiting to pay for the food. We had wraps and a cup of chili, and the food was good. I saved some of mine for DH in case he was hungry.
We ended up just sitting around the resort and watching football. At some point after we ate, I ended up back in the gift shop area, and bought a pink DVC pullover fleece because I was so cold. Thank goodness for the AP discount, I saved $12 or so.
Around 2:45, we headed up towards the front. We returned the ECV to bell services and picked up our carry-on bags, and headed over to the ME pick-up area. It was more crowded than Ive ever seen. Apparently, the 2:30 bus hadnt shown up yet.
The first ME bus that showed up was just dropping off, and we had some pretty upset people whod been waiting nearly an hour for their ME bus. Finally, a bus showed up at 3:15
and it had already picked up somewhere else, so it was half full. The driver began loading the people who were scheduled for 2:30, and then, when he had seats left, loaded those of us who were scheduled for the 3:00 pick-up. We werent on the bus until 3:30
and then we got stuck in traffic! So the 30-minute drive to the airport ended up taking nearly an hour. I wanted to check both Disney stores in the airport to see if they had the jacket Id wanted at DTD, but the security lines were really long, and my parents, who dont travel often, were nervous about it. So, we went through security, and once through, went to Burger King for dinner.
Our flight boarded on time, and we thought we were finished with the drama for the trip, but
Up next: the last bit of drama we experienced, and the lessons we learned
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