We’re Back!!! Our Marvelous May Mis-adventures ~UPDATED JUL 26 - FINAL INSTALLMENT

[dd50]

Beautiful pictures.

 

[circelli]

You know I am waiting...I LOVE your pictures

 

[cdotla]

Me too!

You know I am waiting...I LOVE your pictures

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Hang in there everyone ... another update coming soon

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I am a lurker on your reports, but after those amazing pictures, I lurk no more! WOW!!! Loving this report! Waiting patiently for more!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Welcome to the final installment of this trip report ... you’ll find we’ve combined the last few days into one post, and you’ll also notice the lack of pictures. Why will become clear as you read along ...


Day 5 ...
We slept in a bit this morning – again ... and after taking our time getting ready, we headed out to Bahama Breeze on I-Drive to meet a good friend for lunch. Neither of us had ever eaten at Bahama Breeze before, but we trusted our friend’s suggestion – after all being local, we figured he knew the best places to eat. We, of course, weren’t disappointed, and after spending the afternoon chatting, drinking and eating, we all toddled out of the restaurant – happy and with full tummies.

It was now about 4:30, so we decided to head back to the resort to grab our cameras before heading over to the Magic Kingdom. However, we noticed some clouds coming in and decided to leave our cameras at the resort ... just in case, and grab our rain gear. This turned out to be a very smart decision as it started raining just as we arrived at the Magic Kingdom.

Now, we’ve been to Orlando many times before, and our experience had been that usually the afternoon/early evening showers would dump a bit of rain but blow over fairly quickly. Unfortunately this time, they didn’t seem to want to stop. A little rain couldn’t stop us - we zipped up our rain coats, pulled up our hoods and off we went to enjoy the evening.

After enjoying a few of our favourites, we concluded that the rain wasn’t going to stop after all, and as we were starting to get a bit damp, even with our rain coats, we decided to head back to the resort and call it an early night. By the time we made our way to the front of the park, hopped on the monorail to the TTC, and then caught the tram to our car, we were both a bit soggy. The drive back to the resort was a tad uncomfortable ... there’s nothing quite like the feeling of squishy socks, wet shorts and damp underpants ...

Back at the resort, we changed into dry clothes, and headed over to the resort food court for a quick bite to eat. We then headed back to our room, watched a bit of TV and drifted off to sleep.

Day 6 ...
When we woke this morning it was still raining ... what the heck?? Shouldn’t the rain had stopped by now??? We were beginning to think maybe it was some strange Hawaiian hocus-pocus that had been inflicted on us by our friend during lunch yesterday ...

We had planned to go to Epcot today, but because of the lovely rain, we decided on doing a bit of shopping instead. We grabbed our rain gear and stopped at Olive Garden for lunch on our way. After lunch, first stop was the Outlet Mall. Now neither of us are really into high-end brand name clothing, but we figured it was a great way to spend a few hours out of the rain. Surprisingly both of us found a couple of reasonably priced things that we ended up buying.

By now, the rain had almost stopped and the sky was looking brighter – we were beginning to feel optimistic that we might see the sun again soon ...

Next stop was the Florida Mall. We’ve been to the Florida Mall many times previously – mostly to get out of the heat for a while – but today we had a purpose for going – that being Lee wanted to look for some DVD’s that are hard to find in Canada.

Upon exiting the mall, we discovered that the rain had just been teasing us – it actually had not stopped. We headed back to the resort where we discussed our options for that evening, and decided that we would head over to DTD to see Star Trek.

We both wanted to see this movie when it came out, however, just couldn’t find the time to before leaving for Florida. The rain was a perfect excuse for us to make the time. We caught the 9:45 pm showing, after which we returned to the resort and crawled into bed.


Day 7 ...
We were hopeful as we looked out the window of our resort room this morning ... only to be disappointed when we discovered it was still raining out ... even harder than the past couple of days

After checking the weather channel, we determined that today would be a write off as there was no end in sight for the rain, so decided to spend a quiet day around the resort. This was a first for us ... in all of our trips to Orlando since 2003, we had never encountered a “rain out”. Darn Hawaiian hocus-pocus!!!

That evening we headed over to Wolfgang Puck’s Express at DTD for supper

(and yes, it was still raining) ... then it was back to the resort.


Day 8 ...
Today was our last day in Orlando this trip ... and we were excited when we woke to find the sun shining

We had plans to meet another friend for lunch at Margaritaville today, however, for some reason he didn’t show

... we didn’t let that get us down and enjoyed ourselves without his company.

After lunch, we decided to venture over to the Studios for a bit ... of course we had remembered to bring our rain gear with us, and as it would turn out, we would need it ... again. It was raining off and on, and at one point that afternoon, we got stuck waiting out a decent downpour for at least a half an hour (if not more) at the International Food and Film Festival. Thank goodness there were chairs to sit on ... These are the only pictures we took that day (sorry about the quality – they were taken with Bonny`s cell phone)

As the rain slowed, we decided to make a dash for the exit – only to get caught up in another downpour as we were approaching Cafe La Bamba where we ducked under some cover and waited it out watching other guests running in bare feet and soaked clothes. After what seemed like forever, the rain slowed again, and we decided to make our escape. By the time we had gotten to our car in the parking garage, we had that same feeling of squishy socks, wet shorts and damp underpants we encountered at Magic Kingdom earlier in our trip

Back at the resort, we dried off, changed into dry clothes and headed down to the resort food court for something to eat. We refilled our mugs one last time and headed back to our room – where we packed up all our stuff, set our wake up call for 5:00 am and crawled into a nice dry bed.


Day 9 ... Homeward Bound
When our alarm went off, we were up, ready and had the car packed for the trip to the airport in record time. We arrived at the airport early, returned our rental car, checked in at the airport counter and headed over to screening. In October, the line to get through security was quite long. This trip, the line was almost non-existent. Everything was fine until the TSA got to Bonny’s carry-on, in which we had packed a Precious Moments figure we purchased for Bonny’ s mom as a thank you for taking care of the dogs. Now, anyone who has purchased one of these figures knows how well these are packed. Unfortunately that morning, the TSA decided that this certain Precious Moments figure needed to be screened again, and eventually hand checked by a TSA agent. After they decided that the figure wasn’t a threat, we were on our way to our gate to wait for our flight home, and by 2:30 pm that afternoon we arrived home where three excited dogs waited to greet us.

 

[cdotla]

LOL - what a way to end the trip! A rainout!

Knock on wood, I have yet to experience that much rain and hope I never do! At least it only messed up the end of your trip. Many people in May apparently got rained out their *whole* week.

Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often!

So, when's the next trip???

 

[pooksma]

Hmmm....I think that rain is what has been hanging over those of us on the East Coast for the last MONTH!

Its a shame you had a rainout for your last few days. It really puts a damper on things Jokes aside, I look forward to your next TR and many more fab pics.

What did you think of Star Trek??? DH and I haven't had a chance to see it. We are hoping to catch Harry Potter this week with DS away at camp.

 

[macraven]

it sounds like you had another wonderful trip except for Mr Rain hanging around.

i always enjoy your trippies !
they are so good and great pictures.


now have the two of you put any thought into what i told you before??
you could make a business on those fantastic pictures you take on your trips.
postcards, on mugs, on tshirts, etc......


do you need a manager...........

 

[dd50]

What a way to end a trip with all the rain, but it does sound like you had a good trip. It has now started raining again every day and some times all day. I am going in less than 2 weeks and that pattern better change before than.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I'm sorry you had so much rain at the end -- you'll have to go back and get some sunshine!

I really enjoyed your TR, great photos and a very engaging writing style. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Maria

 

[jenjolt]

Wow you guys did encounter a lot of rain!! I had to deal with rain in May too and it was a little daunting!! However you guys totally made the most of it and that is wonderful!!

I'm sure your doggies were very exciting to see you!!!