Day 23 – Heading for Home and Summary
Sunday 5th June
This is always the hardest day of the trip report to write for me. I don’t know about anyone else, but once I wake up on the last day of the holiday I just want to be home…I think it’s that I can’t bear the long goodbye, not to mention the overnight flight! That said, we do at least try to eek out the last few hours with some fun before we have to head off to the airport
Slight lay-in, but then it’s time to scoff down the last of the cereal and assorted snacks that we have left in the room, and to finish off the packing. Helen has done a good job of organising the cases and most of the cruise bags are still sealed from when we arrived. Once we are done by around 10.30am we wheel them down to the car and stop to take a few photos on the way back. The Wilderness Lodge (and the Villas) are so beautiful and it is such a peaceful location that you could be forgiven for thinking it’s much more remote than it actually is. On the way back from the car we come across a Disney Cruise Line scale model which immediately takes our thoughts back to the dream from a few days ago.
View from outside our room at the villas
Lovely model of the Dream
Bags packed and photos taken we decide to spend a couple of our remaining hours by the pool. We start off by the main pool and the kids take full advantage of the slide, then move around to the quieter area by the Villas which are much less busy. Lots of swimming practice then Helen goes off to Roaring Forks to get some wraps for lunch and we finally finish up the snacks from the room, too! It’s a real wrench to tear ourselves away, but if we’re not careful we’ll all fall asleep on sunbeds and miss our flight
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We decide to pay one last visit to Epcot before we leave, as we haven’t really been in Innoventions yet. The park isn’t very busy at all, as I guess many people are still focusing on the Studios Star Wars days. We wander around for a little bit, and take some photos, including a lovely one of the Lightening McQueen topiary. I tried to get one previously, but it was always too busy – not a problem today.
Just love this shot
Pop into the UK so that Emma can see Pooh and Tigger one last time this trip, and as there aren’t many people around they make a big fuss of her. I love it when the characters have got more time to interact, and I guess it must make it more interesting for them too – particularly those that are a little bit more mischievous in nature, like Tigger! We slowly head back towards the front of the park and take a look at the Seas, heading up to the Dolphin observation deck for a while.
Finally, it’s Innoventions, and Emma spots the ‘piggy bank’ area. I think this is sponsored by some US savings bank, and for anyone who hasn’t visited it’s a series of mini-games to encourage kids to save and take care of their money. You are given a hefty piggy bank at the beginning and have to ‘fill him up’ as you go. It’s a shame there isn’t a place to actually buy the piggy banks at the end of the game, as I’m sure they’d do a roaring trade – whenever we do this activity Emma never wants to give her piggy back!
Two little pigs (plus Ryan and Emma)
With that, we’re done and need to head to the airport, so slowly plod out of Epcot, stopping at the ticket booth to take one last photo. It seems quite appropriate, as I’m sure you’ll agree:
To the car then, and on to the airport. There is no traffic, and the journey takes 30 minutes or so. The Dollar car return is fast and efficient, and we drag what now feels like a huge amount of luggage over to the terminal building via the various lifts and underpass. Speedy bag drop at the Virgin desk as we did online check-in last night, and then we’re free to relax for a while as our flight isn’t for a couple of hours. Burgers and fries at the food court, followed by a special treat of Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the kids before we head off to security.
The lines aren’t bad, and it takes us about 10-15 minutes to get through. The downside of losing the stroller earlier in the holiday is that we’re less likely now to get priority treatment here, but the plus of not mucking about with a double buggy through the x-ray machine more than makes up for it.
There really isn’t much more to add from this point We board pretty much on time, and all catnap on and off throughout the flight – as much as you can on an economy flight, at least! I spend a little time writing up the trip report notes for the last few days and realize the size of the task ahead of me to make sense of it all – hence why you are reading this in December, not June!
Summary
So, quite an eventful trip, I’m sure you’ll agree. One of our longest ever, and certainly the one with the most changes of location. What are the hits and misses from it overall? First of all the misses…
Our next Florida trip is at Easter time. No cruise this time, but still lots of potential for fun and new experiences. Till then…see you real soon!
Setting the Scene and Index
Sunday 5th June
This is always the hardest day of the trip report to write for me. I don’t know about anyone else, but once I wake up on the last day of the holiday I just want to be home…I think it’s that I can’t bear the long goodbye, not to mention the overnight flight! That said, we do at least try to eek out the last few hours with some fun before we have to head off to the airport
Slight lay-in, but then it’s time to scoff down the last of the cereal and assorted snacks that we have left in the room, and to finish off the packing. Helen has done a good job of organising the cases and most of the cruise bags are still sealed from when we arrived. Once we are done by around 10.30am we wheel them down to the car and stop to take a few photos on the way back. The Wilderness Lodge (and the Villas) are so beautiful and it is such a peaceful location that you could be forgiven for thinking it’s much more remote than it actually is. On the way back from the car we come across a Disney Cruise Line scale model which immediately takes our thoughts back to the dream from a few days ago.
View from outside our room at the villas
Lovely model of the Dream
Bags packed and photos taken we decide to spend a couple of our remaining hours by the pool. We start off by the main pool and the kids take full advantage of the slide, then move around to the quieter area by the Villas which are much less busy. Lots of swimming practice then Helen goes off to Roaring Forks to get some wraps for lunch and we finally finish up the snacks from the room, too! It’s a real wrench to tear ourselves away, but if we’re not careful we’ll all fall asleep on sunbeds and miss our flight
We decide to pay one last visit to Epcot before we leave, as we haven’t really been in Innoventions yet. The park isn’t very busy at all, as I guess many people are still focusing on the Studios Star Wars days. We wander around for a little bit, and take some photos, including a lovely one of the Lightening McQueen topiary. I tried to get one previously, but it was always too busy – not a problem today.
Just love this shot
Pop into the UK so that Emma can see Pooh and Tigger one last time this trip, and as there aren’t many people around they make a big fuss of her. I love it when the characters have got more time to interact, and I guess it must make it more interesting for them too – particularly those that are a little bit more mischievous in nature, like Tigger! We slowly head back towards the front of the park and take a look at the Seas, heading up to the Dolphin observation deck for a while.
Finally, it’s Innoventions, and Emma spots the ‘piggy bank’ area. I think this is sponsored by some US savings bank, and for anyone who hasn’t visited it’s a series of mini-games to encourage kids to save and take care of their money. You are given a hefty piggy bank at the beginning and have to ‘fill him up’ as you go. It’s a shame there isn’t a place to actually buy the piggy banks at the end of the game, as I’m sure they’d do a roaring trade – whenever we do this activity Emma never wants to give her piggy back!
Two little pigs (plus Ryan and Emma)
With that, we’re done and need to head to the airport, so slowly plod out of Epcot, stopping at the ticket booth to take one last photo. It seems quite appropriate, as I’m sure you’ll agree:
To the car then, and on to the airport. There is no traffic, and the journey takes 30 minutes or so. The Dollar car return is fast and efficient, and we drag what now feels like a huge amount of luggage over to the terminal building via the various lifts and underpass. Speedy bag drop at the Virgin desk as we did online check-in last night, and then we’re free to relax for a while as our flight isn’t for a couple of hours. Burgers and fries at the food court, followed by a special treat of Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the kids before we head off to security.
The lines aren’t bad, and it takes us about 10-15 minutes to get through. The downside of losing the stroller earlier in the holiday is that we’re less likely now to get priority treatment here, but the plus of not mucking about with a double buggy through the x-ray machine more than makes up for it.
There really isn’t much more to add from this point
We board pretty much on time, and all catnap on and off throughout the flight – as much as you can on an economy flight, at least! I spend a little time writing up the trip report notes for the last few days and realize the size of the task ahead of me to make sense of it all – hence why you are reading this in December, not June! Summary
So, quite an eventful trip, I’m sure you’ll agree. One of our longest ever, and certainly the one with the most changes of location. What are the hits and misses from it overall? First of all the misses…
- As mentioned above, the number of changes between accommodation. It was great to pack a lot in, but 5 changes of scenery were probably too much, and I while it got a little easier as the trip went on, I’d probably stick with more consistency in future.
- The length of the queue for Rapunzel, and the fact most of it was in direct sunlight. If you weren’t in line at opening it was a toughie.
- Getting to ride the new Star Tours so many times, and finding it such a fun experience for the whole family. We must have gone on the ride 20 times across the holiday, including once on the very last ride of the night before they shutdown. I’m sure we’ve seen all of the individual scenes, and most of the combinations by now
but I still look forward to it next time. - The Hard Rock hotel was superb, as was front-of-the-line access, and seeing the Blue Man Group while we were there. A real vacation within a vacation at Universal, in fact.
- Keeping the cruise as a surprise from the kids till we got within a mile of the ship. They were just speechless as we drove up to the port, and couldn’t quite believe what was going on.
- The cruise itself was incredible. The Disney Dream is just the most amazing, luxurious, floating hotel. I can’t believe we waiting for 10 years to cruise again…I have a strong feeling it won’t be so long for next time
- So many activities on the Dream captivated us. The Aquaduck, particularly late at night, was great fun, and Ryan and I spent plenty of time on it. The shows were all top notch, and the look on the children’s faces – particularly Emma – was worth the price of the cruise. The combination of kid’s clubs and the spa was another that was memorable – how nice to just spend time in peace and tranquility in the rainforest area.
- The look on the kids faces as we pulled into Wilderness Lodge and the CM offered a ‘Welcome Home’ to us was brilliant, too, and it was lovely to have time back on dry land before returning home.
Our next Florida trip is at Easter time. No cruise this time, but still lots of potential for fun and new experiences. Till then…see you real soon!
Setting the Scene and Index
