I believe there is a saying that goes something like All good things must come to an end. Yeah, but that doesnt mean I have to like it.
Since we had early dinner seating, it also meant that we had the early final breakfast. This is usually not a problem since we are early risers anyway, but today we seemed to be dragging. DW and I finished stuffing our remaining personal affects into the carry-ons and at the last minute woke DD. Now DD is also an early riser, but only on her terms. If you have to wake her, she is no princess for the first few minutes.
If we thought last night was subdued, today it is a downright morgue. Add to that the fact that it is raining outside and you can tell that we are not in Wonderland anymore.
The exceptions to this of course are our servers. These guys are still chipper and smiling and before long you cant help but feel a small glimmer inside. We are about ½ way through the meal and still havent seen the neighbors so DW decides to give them a call to make sure they are awake. Good thing. It seems they had some issues setting an alarm and were still sleeping. They show up about 10 minutes later fully dressed and ready for food. Wow, that was fast. Were you sleeping in your clothes and using the luggage as a pillow?
After breakfast we all gather in the atrium and await our turn into the terminal. We didnt wait long, but the entire time the kids are asking if we really have to get off the ship. Couldnt we stay just a couple more days? Oh yeah, well be coming back.
As we enter the terminal we find a porter who loads up our bags, whisks us through customs, and deposits everything at the curb for the rental car shuttle. Wow, that was smooth. However, another familys porter does something even smoother. Instead of dropping the bags on the sidewalk by the fence, he actually places the bags inside the roped area for waiting. Now that would have been money.
As we are standing in line waiting the next
Avis shuttle, we notice that other shuttles seem to be making more frequent appearances. We soon learn the reason. One of the Avis employees called in sick so they are only running one shuttle. It wasnt that big of a deal since we had late flights, plus the other shuttle companies were taking turns helping out. Before long a ½ full Thrifty shuttle pulls up and offers to take some of us since they are just across the street from Avis. As we load up and pull away, I notice that the Avis van is arriving for another pickup. Nearing the rental car offices, our driver announces that he will drop his customers off first before taking us to the Avis office. I can appreciate that but Im also thinking I have heard the Avis office can get pretty hectic and there is no way I am letting that second bus load of people get in line before me. So DNH and I also exit at the first stop and walk across the street just as the Avis shuttle is pulling up. We walked in and neednt have worried. They had plenty of cars, our keys were ready, and things moved quickly and smoothly.
Even though both families were flying to DFW, we were starting from different airports. So we loaded the cars, said our goodbyes, and watched them drive off.
Since we had several hours to kill, DW walked back into the office to gather tourist pamphlets. We also decided we would pop into The Perfect Gift since they were right next door. Now that was a good idea. Shirley and Valerie were extremely friendly and helpful. They suggested that a good way to pass the time without having to spend a lot of money was Downtown Disney. We chatted with them for a few minutes while they printed us some maps and played fetch with the dog. Shirley had DD make a wish in her Tinker Bell fountain and let her pick out a small stuffed animal. What an awesome lady.
Since we had never been to Downtown Disney, we drove the streets a little to see what grabbed our fancy. After getting the general layout, we decided on Pleasure Island. Our first order of business was lunch, and DD wanted to go see the large planet, so Planet Hollywood was our first destination. We had been to one of these when we lived in Dallas so the high priced entrees were not offset by the novelty for us. Of course DD had fun so what can you do.
We wandered around a little and decided to check out the
Lego store since DD and DW are big fans. Surprisingly, as much as I enjoy building things, Legos are not a big draw for me. The store is pretty impressive and they have several stations outside where people can sample and build what they want. After DD created her build a person pack and I convinced DW that we didnt really need a large bucket of random Lego pieces, we decided that it was time to head for the airport.
The rental return was smooth and since we had extra luggage, we decided to use a porter one last time. This was a good idea for several reasons: it saved us the hassle of dealing with all the bags, he knew exactly where to go, and most importantly when we reached the check-in counters and saw the huge mass of people, he knew that this was mostly for the international flights and took us straight into the very short self check-in line for domestic flights.
All bags were still properly weighted and balanced (whew) and we made it through security like butter.
As we waited for our flight, we watched the people and thunderstorms roll in, and noticed our flight kept getting delayed more and more. We ended up taking off over an hour late so it was a good thing we didnt have a short layover in DFW again. We made up a little time in the air and arrived in Dallas with plenty of time to walk around and find something to eat. DD wanted McDonalds but DW and I spotted a Dickeys and couldnt pass it up. That is one thing we definitely miss about Dallas, good BBQ.
The rest of the flight and trip home was pretty uneventful. Our neighbor was waiting to pick us up and the animals were overjoyed to have us back.
Well if you have made it this far, I congratulate and thank you for sticking around. Hopefully you enjoyed the ride and found some useful tips. I know I had fun writing the report. As you have noticed from the many reports from our cruise alone, there are many different tastes and opinions. My best advice is gather up some information on things that look interesting, remember to at least be open to something different, and try them all out. You will probably find some things you like and some things that disappoint. But you can always leave early or try a different dish, and in the end you WILL have a good time.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It is worth the time writing one, especially if other people get good use from them.
