spookysarah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2005
- Messages
- 612
This Isn’t Turkey!?! Part 15 Going home and afterthoughts
If you have missed any days please see my Trip Report Index
Me, Sarah, 29 (turn 30 in Florida) – only adult planner
DH, Craig, 32 loves holidays, hates planning
DD, Holly, age 9 loves rides and hoping to try Kraken, loves planning
DD, Rowan, age 7 never been on any big rides, fearless (or so she says)
Tuesday 4th July 2006
Despite not being in bed until 2am we were on the go at 7am today. We showered, ate and packed in a very sombre mood. Checking out of the hotel was simple and we were soon on our way to… Walmart for some last minute bits and pieces. Holly and Rowan bought backpacks for school – no danger of anyone having the same ones, we bought some T-shirts and cuddly toys and Twinkies etc etc the list goes on. Managed to squeeze it all in the cases in the boot of the car. We hopped in for the last time and headed to the I4.
The drive up seemed a lot quicker than the way down. Part of this was the fact that there was no rush hour traffic like when we arrived and also we were now confident driving and navigating. We arrived at the airport in plenty time and it was at this point that I rechecked our tickets and found out we were two hours early for check in – DOH! Handing back the car was easy but very sad. We removed our little green alien aerial topper and vowed to keep him for a future trip whenever that would be.
We loved our wheels!
In the terminal we decided to grab a bite to eat after which Rowan was so tired I made her a little bed out of our newly acquired ‘body bag’. She got very comfy and slept for a good while.
Shame they didn't have one my size!
After a couple of hours I went to see if we could check in without the rest of our party and was told that this was OK. One quick call to let the others know and we are at the desk. Our checked bags were weighed and we made it with 4kg to spare to which the girl at the desk said, ‘You could have had loads more souvenirs!’ LOL.We passed through security with no problems and were soon checking in to The Guest House or Royal Palm Lounge as it is now known. What a fab place this was. It was very quiet and we ate, drank, surfed the net, played video games, watched movies and occasionally ventured out to the shops. Well worth the extra money. Whilst we were the shuttle launch countdown was underway and we were lucky enough to see the launch out of the windows. Even from such a distance away and with no sound we were all stunned. It is something I have always wanted to witness and it really topped of my holiday.
We boarded our plane on time and I do not have many notes for the flight except that we saw an amazing thunder and lightning storm with loads of flashes and it was quite bumpy for a while which we all loved. The service was excellent again but I could not get comfortable and apart from Holly we all had a restless night. I can clearly remember hoping to fall asleep and looking at the clock which showed more than 2 hours to go. I awoke 13 minutes later and that is all I slept!! I felt very rough.
We landed at Gatwick roughly on time and we said goodbye to the Shuff family who had travelled with us. The rest of us had about 3 hours until our flight to Edinburgh so we ate and shopped and I felt much better. Our flight to Edinburgh was uneventful apart from once we had landed we were able to see into the cockpit and ask the pilot and first officer a few questions. Holly has decided to become an airline pilot although previously in the holiday she had wanted to work at Seaworld!
Onc at Edinburgh we said goodbye to my SIL and family. We were collected by Flying Scot parking courtesy bus and were soon trying to jampack our car full of all our luggage. It all went in with a bit of a squeeze. It took approx 1 ½ hours to drive home and we were all relieved that the journey was over! We all agreed that the holiday had been amazing and had surpassed our wildest dreams.
Afterthoughts
This last day has been written 2 months after returning and the memories are still as fresh as they were when we left to come home. My family and I would love to thank Wally for making this trip happen. We have shared our photos and stories with friends, family and anybody else that will sit long enough to listen
and still talk about all the great things we did. It was a holiday so full of great family time and we made memories that will last a lifetime. There is not much we would do differently but loads more we would have liked to have done. We never did any of the non theme park activities I had planned as we were too hot and too tired and too well entertained at the parks. The pace also caught up with us a couple of times. We enjoyed it so much we are already booked up for next September. 
This time we are going with Disney newbies – my Mum, Dad and Sister and we are sure they are going to have a ball. Mum (scotsgal56 on the DIS) is already reading up on all the rides to make sure that her lovely grandchildren do not con her into getting on anything too scary! 
We can’t wait – we’re too excited!
I do hope you have all enjoyed reading my trip reports. Thanks for reading and for all the lovely comments.
If you have missed any days please see my Trip Report Index
Me, Sarah, 29 (turn 30 in Florida) – only adult planner
DH, Craig, 32 loves holidays, hates planning
DD, Holly, age 9 loves rides and hoping to try Kraken, loves planning
DD, Rowan, age 7 never been on any big rides, fearless (or so she says)
Tuesday 4th July 2006
Despite not being in bed until 2am we were on the go at 7am today. We showered, ate and packed in a very sombre mood. Checking out of the hotel was simple and we were soon on our way to… Walmart for some last minute bits and pieces. Holly and Rowan bought backpacks for school – no danger of anyone having the same ones, we bought some T-shirts and cuddly toys and Twinkies etc etc the list goes on. Managed to squeeze it all in the cases in the boot of the car. We hopped in for the last time and headed to the I4.
The drive up seemed a lot quicker than the way down. Part of this was the fact that there was no rush hour traffic like when we arrived and also we were now confident driving and navigating. We arrived at the airport in plenty time and it was at this point that I rechecked our tickets and found out we were two hours early for check in – DOH! Handing back the car was easy but very sad. We removed our little green alien aerial topper and vowed to keep him for a future trip whenever that would be.
We loved our wheels!
In the terminal we decided to grab a bite to eat after which Rowan was so tired I made her a little bed out of our newly acquired ‘body bag’. She got very comfy and slept for a good while.
Shame they didn't have one my size!
After a couple of hours I went to see if we could check in without the rest of our party and was told that this was OK. One quick call to let the others know and we are at the desk. Our checked bags were weighed and we made it with 4kg to spare to which the girl at the desk said, ‘You could have had loads more souvenirs!’ LOL.We passed through security with no problems and were soon checking in to The Guest House or Royal Palm Lounge as it is now known. What a fab place this was. It was very quiet and we ate, drank, surfed the net, played video games, watched movies and occasionally ventured out to the shops. Well worth the extra money. Whilst we were the shuttle launch countdown was underway and we were lucky enough to see the launch out of the windows. Even from such a distance away and with no sound we were all stunned. It is something I have always wanted to witness and it really topped of my holiday.
We boarded our plane on time and I do not have many notes for the flight except that we saw an amazing thunder and lightning storm with loads of flashes and it was quite bumpy for a while which we all loved. The service was excellent again but I could not get comfortable and apart from Holly we all had a restless night. I can clearly remember hoping to fall asleep and looking at the clock which showed more than 2 hours to go. I awoke 13 minutes later and that is all I slept!! I felt very rough.
We landed at Gatwick roughly on time and we said goodbye to the Shuff family who had travelled with us. The rest of us had about 3 hours until our flight to Edinburgh so we ate and shopped and I felt much better. Our flight to Edinburgh was uneventful apart from once we had landed we were able to see into the cockpit and ask the pilot and first officer a few questions. Holly has decided to become an airline pilot although previously in the holiday she had wanted to work at Seaworld!
Onc at Edinburgh we said goodbye to my SIL and family. We were collected by Flying Scot parking courtesy bus and were soon trying to jampack our car full of all our luggage. It all went in with a bit of a squeeze. It took approx 1 ½ hours to drive home and we were all relieved that the journey was over! We all agreed that the holiday had been amazing and had surpassed our wildest dreams.
Afterthoughts
This last day has been written 2 months after returning and the memories are still as fresh as they were when we left to come home. My family and I would love to thank Wally for making this trip happen. We have shared our photos and stories with friends, family and anybody else that will sit long enough to listen
and still talk about all the great things we did. It was a holiday so full of great family time and we made memories that will last a lifetime. There is not much we would do differently but loads more we would have liked to have done. We never did any of the non theme park activities I had planned as we were too hot and too tired and too well entertained at the parks. The pace also caught up with us a couple of times. We enjoyed it so much we are already booked up for next September. This time we are going with Disney newbies – my Mum, Dad and Sister and we are sure they are going to have a ball. Mum (scotsgal56 on the DIS) is already reading up on all the rides to make sure that her lovely grandchildren do not con her into getting on anything too scary! We can’t wait – we’re too excited!I do hope you have all enjoyed reading my trip reports. Thanks for reading and for all the lovely comments.
