PamNC & Uncle Albert - Day 8 - Last Day

[PamNC]

Day 8 – PamNC & Uncle Albert – Our Last Day

Cast of Characters: Me and my DH Uncle Albert
Resort: Beach Club


I’ll start this final trip report early – 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 9. The reason, Hurricane Dennis woke us up howling and causing crazy-insane rain, bright lightning and very audible thunder! Our room’s balcony was long and skinny and sort of created a tunnel effect, making the winds sometimes seem worse than they were. Nonetheless, it was enough to wake us up. I took a peek outside the window and it looked pretty intense, but nothing too serious so we went back to sleep without a care.

We woke up again, but not until a more normal time, around 7:00. We lazed around the room for a while. We were in no hurry, and we were ultra-sad because it was our last day. Filled with bitterness we were! I think we were misleading ourselves by thinking if we don’t get the day started, it wouldn’t end. So we procrastinated. We decided to head down to the Marketplace for a quick breakfast rather than going to a sit down place. Right as we were about to leave Dennis decided to rear his ugly head again. A deluge! Didn’t last long though. We went to the Marketplace and got a couple of pastries and coffee. There is a little covered area right outside the marketplace with tables where you can bring your goodies from the marketplace and eat and relax. You can also eat inside, they have a few tables in there. Since it had totally stopped raining, so we decided to sit outside. A couple of comments about the Marketplace. What they did was take the main shop in the Beach Club Lobby and make about 1/4 of it into the Marketplace. You can get pastries (darn good ones!), milk, cereal, juice, sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, and omelet sandwich, a good variety. The only thing is it is very very slow. A CM who rang us up told us that they have to punch in a 12-number code each and every time they ring up a guest. And, if they make a mistake, they have to start all over. The poor lady who helped us was so slow. She was sweet though. As we say here in the South, “Bless Her Heart.” Ya’ll know what that means in Southern speak? Well, if you don’t, I’m not going to tell you because that means you don’t need to know. We sat outside with our goodie and then proceeded to the room to take a shower.

The plan for the day was Epcot. We visited Epcot the most of all the parks during this trip. Probably has something to do with the proximity to the Beach Club. Can’t be beat! We thought about where we might have lunch on our last day and we decided to call and make a PS for Le Chefs de France. It’s always good. So we made a PS for 12:30 with no problem. Hurricane Dennis was sort of “coming and going.” Orlando was having these bands come through, some complete with tornado watches. In fact, the whole area was under a tornado watch for most of the day. We got to Epcot and it was almost empty…no kidding. Thanks Dennis!!!! The rain had subsided though and the sun would even peek through a little. We decided to hit Soarin again and take advantage of the low crowds. The line was about 30 minutes, so we got a fastpass. We went over and did Ellen’s Energy Adventure and then came back to ride Soarin. We got on the front row once again, which is definitely the best place to be.

We had basically done everything we wanted to do as far as Future World so we headed for World Showcase, stopping here and there to look in the shops. Then we arrived at Le Chefs de France, our lunch location. Thank goodness we got under the awning before the rain started up again. Geeeeez! The service was great, and I hate to say this but the food wasn’t as good as usual. I got the quiche Lorraine and Uncle Albert has a vegetable dish, sort of like veggie lasagna, although that wasn’t the name. My quiche came with a small salad and I’ll have to say that the dressing was delicious, but the quiche was dried up and nothing at all special. Uncle Albert said his meal was just so-so. We were disappointed. Our server was great, and she told us it was her last day. She was headed back home to France. Despite the mediocre food, we left her a nice tip. She didn’t cook it, she just served it and she did a great job at that. We lingered awhile because we had a window table. It was fun watching people go by. The little rainstorm didn’t last very long.

We decided to head back to the room to rest. Not like we had done a whole lot, but we were pretty tired from the previous night at the Magic Kingdom. We did Extra Magic Evening Hours and didn’t leave the MK until 1:00 a.m., way past our bedtime. We took it easy in the room; packed a little, and watched the storms come and go. Just little short bouts of rain and wind. At one point the TV started beeping and we were informed that there were funnel clouds near the “attractions area.” I saw some pretty ugly clouds. Nothing horrific happened though, thank Goodness. We basically rested and laid around real lazy-like and then decided to take yet another shower and head to dinner. We had gotten kind of nasty and wet from our little Epcot excursion. We walked over to the Swan and had sushi at Kimonos. It’s always a must for us, but we usually combine the sushi with a little karaoke. And, yes, Uncle Albert always sings. But, we were early this time, it was about 5:30 and karaoke doesn’t start until 9:00. We enjoyed our sushi and walked outside to catch the Friendship to MGM. We were afraid to risk walking because of the sudden storms we had been dodging all day.

Good thing! As soon as we walked out the wind kicked up and a horrible storm came by. We found a dry place to wait it our near the boat launch. Once again, it didn’t last long so we caught the boat to MGM. We hadn’t seen Fantasmic or rode TOT or RnR. Now, tell me, would a vacation be complete without doing those 3 things? I think not. We were really worried that the weather would cause them to cancel Fantasmic, so we mentally prepared ourselves for that possibility.

The first thing we did was grab a fastpass for RnR. Then, we walked right on over to TOT and took a ride. I use to be afraid to ride this attraction, not because of the drop really, but because of my fear of elevators. I now love it. We rode beside a guy who was terrified. It was his first ride and he kept screaming, “OH LORD JESUS!!!!” We laughed until we ached. We got outside and it was raining, but just a little. We had a little time to kill before fastpass time, so we looked through a lot of the shops. In each shop, my DH would ask a CM the following question: “My wife is looking for the Johnny Depp doll.” If you read an earlier report, you’d know that I love Johnny Depp and that I found a Captain Jack Sparrow doll in the shop outside the Pirates of the Caribbean. All the CM’s, the women anyway, were interested in this question about a Johnny Depp doll. I try to tell Uncle Albert that all women like Johnny Depp, but I’m not sure he believes me. You girls out there, help me out here. Anyway, one CM told me to try the villain shop. I said, “Captain Jack Sparrow isn’t a villain.” Anyway, he embarrassed me in each shop asking about this doll.
After the wild Johnny Depp doll search, we headed to RnR to cash in on our fastpass. What a ride!!! Awesome attraction, isn’t it? It leaves me a little dizzy afterwards. After the upside-down adventure, I informed Uncle Albert that although I was a little queasy I wanted to have some Disney popcorn one more time! We needed to find out if Fantasmic was going to happen, so luckily there was a popcorn stand right near the entrance. It appeared that Fantasmic was going to happen. I had forgotten to bring my glasses, so I told my wonderful husband that I needed to sit on the front row, or maybe I could get by with the 2nd row. He happily obliged. At least at first he was happy. Guess what? It started to rain, not a deluge by any means but a slow steady sort of “sprinkling” rain. And it wasn’t warm. There was a coolness to the air. I guess hurricanes do that. Well, with the raindrops and the water from the show, we were absolutely drenched! But we persevered and sat there through the entire show. Fantasmic is truly magical and I know in my heart that if Walt could see it, he would be proud. I never knew until this evening how much water was involved. We looked like a couple of wet rats when we left. The wind was blowing the water and drenching anyone within the first 5 rows.

We took the Friendship back to the Beach Club. We were a couple of sad sacks. I hate that last night when you’re leaving. You know when you get on the Disney transportation for the last ride…like the monorail, the ferry or the Friendship. It’s so sad. But, you know…we always return. I thought I would have trouble sleeping, but I didn’t. I think the drenching exhausted me.

This was truly a magical vacation for us. It had been a long time since we had stayed 8 nights. We usually do 5-7 nights. It’s still not enough time, we could go back right now and I’d still be just as excited. I guess that is what makes us Worldphiles. That’s an actual term they use @ Disney to describe people like us. Disney freaks, you know. All of us and all of you reading this trip report.

Well, if lovin’ Disney is wrong, I don’t wanna’ be right.

I won’t even comment on Day 10 – because it was simply check out day and it’s just too darn depressing for me to relive.

I hope ya’ll have enjoyed our trip reports. I hope to be writing one again in the near future.

PamNC

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[Uncle Albert]

I think we may get to go with the great rates they are having at the Swan and Dolphin. I hope we can.

If you believe.....well, you know the rest.

Uncle Albert