TRAPPED-PARENT
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2002
- Messages
- 550
Day Ten (Fri, April 4) Recreation and Last Day at WDW
Up early again make coffee and stake out lounge chairs at the pool.
We stay at the pool until 1:30 or so before eating lunch at the campsite. Since the kids enjoyed themselves so much on the Water Sprites we decide to walk down to the marina (we had just missed the bus) and rent them again. It didnt take too long to walk down there, however, I was much slower than the rest because of the HUGE blister on the bottom of my foot from wearing sandals to the parks.
Anyway, DH, DS and DD all get a boat for one-hour and off they go to explore Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. I decide to also enjoy the nice weather and catch a ride on the ferryboat to the MK and back. What a beautiful day our last at WDW.
Cashing out today at the Marina I got the 15% DC discount (different CM) so the total for the 3 1-hr boat rides came to $82. If Id known that we were going to enjoy it so much, I would have gotten the family package for $200 length of stay (unlimited use of pontoon and water sprite for 4 people). Maybe next time.
Back at the campsite, we take down the awning and tent and pack as much as we can so there is a minimal amount to do in the morning. We want to be on the road by 7:00 at the latest. After that we all clean up and decide to drive to the Poly for drinks at the lounge ($35). Very yummy! We all wanted to take a final ride on the monorail so rode it round-trip to the other resorts Then a final visit to Crocketts Tavern for pizza.
Unfortunately we had the worst waitress in the World. We got seated and then must have waited at least 10 min before she came over. By this time, we decided to all get ice waters. That took another 10 minutes and then we placed a pizza and spinach dip order. That took another 20 minutes to arrive. She did not come by to refill waters or anything. The other waitress in the restaurant kept glancing over at our table and must have wondered what the heck the other waitress was doing!!! After finally flagging our waitress down for more water, she FINALLY decided to bring us a pitcher It only took her 45 min to think that one up! Needless to say, we had to wait to catch her to get our bill too!!!!! Ugh!!! A very disappointing way to end our visit.
Days Eleven & Twelve (Sat/Sun, April 5-6) The LONG Drive Home
We got up early, packed-up and departed Ft. Wilderness at 6:45 am. Unfortunately this wasnt early enough (I couldnt remember from last time if it was 6:00 or 7:00 that we wanted to get on the road Note for next time: Its 6:00!!!). We had hardly seen any license plates from the Midwest the entire visit, but on the way home, they were all over!!!! All Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana plates not a chance that we were going to lose any traffic enroute home!!!
We ran into some traffic congestion north of the Florida, but nothing like what was on the other side going South!!! I really had to feel for those people. Not to worry, we would get ours later. We decided to go straight through Atlanta and didnt have any problems. Once past Monteagle (high mountain pass) we ran into some construction where they were taking two lanes down to one. Oh no someone wasnt paying attention and ran into the back of a mini-van and they ran into the back of the person ahead of them, etc. Six families from the Midwest all heading home from Florida. I really felt bad for them.
Hey, DD did you ever think of who that was that we saw at AK??
On our way again and we get into Nashville. They are doing construction (as usual) but traffic has backed up and it took 1-1/2 hours to get out the other side. This put us behind schedule, but we still manage to get to our hotel ($87) in Elizabethtown, KY by 9:30 pm. We got take-out from KFC ($17) and hit the sack!!!
Overnight Daylight Savings Time kicks in so we get one hour less sleep and are on the road after eating breakfast in the hotel lobby by 6:45 am. We are early enough going through Louisville to avoid the back-up through the construction zone and manage to make it back home to SW Michigan by 12:30.
Stats for the trip were: Total Trip Miles of 2,882 and total expenses were $3,066 (excluding pre-trip camper/car maintenance and pre-trip food/film purchases).
Its nice to be home, but I cant wait for next years school schedule to be out so we can make reservations for next year!!!
Post-Trip Discovery
The celebrity at AK was Jami Gertz of Still Standing, formerly of Square Pegs, etc.
Up early again make coffee and stake out lounge chairs at the pool.
We stay at the pool until 1:30 or so before eating lunch at the campsite. Since the kids enjoyed themselves so much on the Water Sprites we decide to walk down to the marina (we had just missed the bus) and rent them again. It didnt take too long to walk down there, however, I was much slower than the rest because of the HUGE blister on the bottom of my foot from wearing sandals to the parks.
Anyway, DH, DS and DD all get a boat for one-hour and off they go to explore Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. I decide to also enjoy the nice weather and catch a ride on the ferryboat to the MK and back. What a beautiful day our last at WDW.
Cashing out today at the Marina I got the 15% DC discount (different CM) so the total for the 3 1-hr boat rides came to $82. If Id known that we were going to enjoy it so much, I would have gotten the family package for $200 length of stay (unlimited use of pontoon and water sprite for 4 people). Maybe next time.
Back at the campsite, we take down the awning and tent and pack as much as we can so there is a minimal amount to do in the morning. We want to be on the road by 7:00 at the latest. After that we all clean up and decide to drive to the Poly for drinks at the lounge ($35). Very yummy! We all wanted to take a final ride on the monorail so rode it round-trip to the other resorts Then a final visit to Crocketts Tavern for pizza.
Unfortunately we had the worst waitress in the World. We got seated and then must have waited at least 10 min before she came over. By this time, we decided to all get ice waters. That took another 10 minutes and then we placed a pizza and spinach dip order. That took another 20 minutes to arrive. She did not come by to refill waters or anything. The other waitress in the restaurant kept glancing over at our table and must have wondered what the heck the other waitress was doing!!! After finally flagging our waitress down for more water, she FINALLY decided to bring us a pitcher It only took her 45 min to think that one up! Needless to say, we had to wait to catch her to get our bill too!!!!! Ugh!!! A very disappointing way to end our visit.
Days Eleven & Twelve (Sat/Sun, April 5-6) The LONG Drive Home
We got up early, packed-up and departed Ft. Wilderness at 6:45 am. Unfortunately this wasnt early enough (I couldnt remember from last time if it was 6:00 or 7:00 that we wanted to get on the road Note for next time: Its 6:00!!!). We had hardly seen any license plates from the Midwest the entire visit, but on the way home, they were all over!!!! All Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana plates not a chance that we were going to lose any traffic enroute home!!!
We ran into some traffic congestion north of the Florida, but nothing like what was on the other side going South!!! I really had to feel for those people. Not to worry, we would get ours later. We decided to go straight through Atlanta and didnt have any problems. Once past Monteagle (high mountain pass) we ran into some construction where they were taking two lanes down to one. Oh no someone wasnt paying attention and ran into the back of a mini-van and they ran into the back of the person ahead of them, etc. Six families from the Midwest all heading home from Florida. I really felt bad for them.
Hey, DD did you ever think of who that was that we saw at AK??
On our way again and we get into Nashville. They are doing construction (as usual) but traffic has backed up and it took 1-1/2 hours to get out the other side. This put us behind schedule, but we still manage to get to our hotel ($87) in Elizabethtown, KY by 9:30 pm. We got take-out from KFC ($17) and hit the sack!!!
Overnight Daylight Savings Time kicks in so we get one hour less sleep and are on the road after eating breakfast in the hotel lobby by 6:45 am. We are early enough going through Louisville to avoid the back-up through the construction zone and manage to make it back home to SW Michigan by 12:30.
Stats for the trip were: Total Trip Miles of 2,882 and total expenses were $3,066 (excluding pre-trip camper/car maintenance and pre-trip food/film purchases).
Its nice to be home, but I cant wait for next years school schedule to be out so we can make reservations for next year!!!
Post-Trip Discovery
The celebrity at AK was Jami Gertz of Still Standing, formerly of Square Pegs, etc.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us! It sounds like you all had a great time. It must have been neat seeing a celebrity on your trip. Is Jamie Gertz the mom on the show or the sister?
