ter-moo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2003
- Messages
- 5,905
DAY 8 (Nov. 17):
Go home day...
We took it easy this morning; I really didn't want to leave the Beach Club! I love that place!
We packed up, checked out, and put all our bags out in the car. The Beach Club short-term memory loss greeter guy continued to greet us as we checked out, got our bags and left!
I had planned a morning of hotel hopping, so that I could see some of the places I hadn't seen before. We headed over to Pop Century first and walked around. It's really a cute place, but after the Beach Club, it was a bit of a crowded, noisy, BRIGHT shock to our systems!
Then we drove around the Caribbean Beach Resort (the CM at the gate informed us that is was Disney's most "laid back" resort and that's why he worked there.)
Then we went back to Pt. Orleans to pick up a couple of things at the souvenir shop there that I hadn't managed to find anywhere else. We had a nice lunch (with beignets!) over at POFQ, sitting outside. Then we drove over to Ft. Wilderness, hoping to check out the campground. No such luck. You can't drive around there. You have to park your car and take a bus. We didn't think we had time for that, so we left and went to the Wilderness Lodge. DH was pretty impressed with it. I think he'd like to stay there next time. We made the mistake of hanging around an extra half hour to see the geyser--it was basically just a glorified fountain that shot up sort of half-bakedly (I invented a word!) for a bit. We were nervous now that we wouldn't get to the airport on time, so we hightailed it out of there.
I noticed that there isn't a sign saying "good-bye" as you leave WDW, but the road suddenly changed, so I knew when we were out.
We managed to get to our gate just on time (the airport was a MOB scene, it being the weekend before Thanksgiving and all) and got the bulkhead seats on the plane. We had a stop (without changing planes) in Denver. I mentioned to DH that I hoped we'd get a small person in the third seat next to me for the last leg, and then on comes the daughter of one of my good friends! She's working on her PhD at Boulder and was flying home for Thanksgiving! So she sat by us.
When we got to the Oakland airport, we had to wait FOREVER for our luggage. When I went to grab my ugly tapestry suitcase, THAT SAME LADY from our flight going out was right next to me and we again fought over the suitcase! We were both cracking up!
We told my friend's daughter we'd drive her home so her parents wouldn't have to come to the airport. We rented a car (DH's work paid for it) to drive home in so we had to catch the rental car shuttle. When they welcomed us to Oakland and then told us to have a good stay as we got off the bus, I kept waiting for the "Have a magical day" that never came!
We went to pick out a car and we got a Hybrid! It took a while to figure out how to start it and get it in gear--it was quite amusing. Then we had to figure out the defroster (everything was computerized on a screen).
We got home and now I'm in serious Disney withdrawal mode!
I can't wait to go back someday!
Go home day...
We took it easy this morning; I really didn't want to leave the Beach Club! I love that place!
We packed up, checked out, and put all our bags out in the car. The Beach Club short-term memory loss greeter guy continued to greet us as we checked out, got our bags and left!
I had planned a morning of hotel hopping, so that I could see some of the places I hadn't seen before. We headed over to Pop Century first and walked around. It's really a cute place, but after the Beach Club, it was a bit of a crowded, noisy, BRIGHT shock to our systems!
Then we drove around the Caribbean Beach Resort (the CM at the gate informed us that is was Disney's most "laid back" resort and that's why he worked there.)
Then we went back to Pt. Orleans to pick up a couple of things at the souvenir shop there that I hadn't managed to find anywhere else. We had a nice lunch (with beignets!) over at POFQ, sitting outside. Then we drove over to Ft. Wilderness, hoping to check out the campground. No such luck. You can't drive around there. You have to park your car and take a bus. We didn't think we had time for that, so we left and went to the Wilderness Lodge. DH was pretty impressed with it. I think he'd like to stay there next time. We made the mistake of hanging around an extra half hour to see the geyser--it was basically just a glorified fountain that shot up sort of half-bakedly (I invented a word!) for a bit. We were nervous now that we wouldn't get to the airport on time, so we hightailed it out of there.
I noticed that there isn't a sign saying "good-bye" as you leave WDW, but the road suddenly changed, so I knew when we were out.
We managed to get to our gate just on time (the airport was a MOB scene, it being the weekend before Thanksgiving and all) and got the bulkhead seats on the plane. We had a stop (without changing planes) in Denver. I mentioned to DH that I hoped we'd get a small person in the third seat next to me for the last leg, and then on comes the daughter of one of my good friends! She's working on her PhD at Boulder and was flying home for Thanksgiving! So she sat by us.
When we got to the Oakland airport, we had to wait FOREVER for our luggage. When I went to grab my ugly tapestry suitcase, THAT SAME LADY from our flight going out was right next to me and we again fought over the suitcase! We were both cracking up!
We told my friend's daughter we'd drive her home so her parents wouldn't have to come to the airport. We rented a car (DH's work paid for it) to drive home in so we had to catch the rental car shuttle. When they welcomed us to Oakland and then told us to have a good stay as we got off the bus, I kept waiting for the "Have a magical day" that never came!
We went to pick out a car and we got a Hybrid! It took a while to figure out how to start it and get it in gear--it was quite amusing. Then we had to figure out the defroster (everything was computerized on a screen).We got home and now I'm in serious Disney withdrawal mode!
I can't wait to go back someday!

It sounds like you had a wonderful time.
Its nice to know I was right, it had to happen sometime!
This TR is making me push harder for a trip for just the two of us!! Thank you~