The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004 - Part 24

[BONZO]

The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004

Shaun - 40 something ‘If it’s high fat, high sugar I’ll eat it’
Alison - 30 something 'If it’s not Atkins I won’t eat it’
Alexandra - 10 ‘Can we play mini-golf? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we?’
Laura - 8 'If I’m tall enough I’ll ride it'


Sunday 18th April 2004



The alarm went off at the crack of dawn this morning - ok about 7:30 then, but the troops were very difficult to get up - especially Laura. Maybe it was something to do with it being our last day L

We had a chat about what to do on our last morning - and we all decided that we’d like to do Splash Mountain again - especially as it had broken down last night! So we dressed and showered and walked over to MK - this is a short but not very picturesque stroll but it only takes about 10 mins to the front gate. Into the park, past security by 8:15 and straight over to Space Mountain - woo hoo! Only a 10 min wait! Had our last go on that - it really makes such a difference now the whole family do some of the big rides together - it’s just not quite the same when you have to baby swap.

We took a look at Astro Orbiter which also had a short wait and decided to have a go for the first time this holiday. Oh boy this is another slow loader! That over with and Alison turning a nice shade of green (she hates rides that just turn in circles!) we went onto TTA (WEDway for the oldies like us!) which we all love.

Walked over to Splash Mountain and just wait the stated 15 min before we get the ’The Laughin’ Place’ for the last time. Well, that's all the "must-do" things done for the last time. On the way out the girls decided they wanted to do Carousel Of Progress again which was fair enough as we all like it.

We slowly walked out of the Magic Kingdom - getting a bit choked up as we went as we’re just not sure when we’ll come back to Florida again.

Time for breakfast now (it was about 10.15 by this point) so we took the monorail back to the Contemporary and had breakfast at the Concourse Steakhouse where we had: -

Alison: Breakfast Quesadilla (sp), coffee
Laura: Kids platter, milk
Alexandra: Kids platter and extra Mickey Waffles, orange juice
Me: 4 large pancakes and side of bacon, coffee

Cost: Approx $44 - not cheap but good quality food excellent service and there's something about the monorail going overhead while you are eating.

Back to our room for the last bit of packing - Alison is getting a dab hand at this by now! And to take a photo or two of the room:



and all completed by 12:25. Alison had arranged for late checkout at 1:00 previously so no rush. Packed up the car and went to Downtown Disney for check-in outside the Cirque du Soleil building. There were about 4 families in front of us so we didn’t have too long to wait - and we even got our reserved seats!

After discussion with the girls about what they’d like to do for the rest of the day (juices were another theme park a water park or to relax back at the hotel) we drove back to the Contemporary by about 1:15 and decided to hang at the pool feeling a bit like "pool hoppers". We snacked on crisps and various other snack items left over from the previous 3 weeks for lunch and I bought a frozen Strawberry Daiquiri and Margarita from the poolside bar - ah, bliss! Just imagine - lounging around the Contemporary pool, Bay Lake in the background - white sandy beach, monorail going through the hotel with a cocktail! What could be better?





Finally we decided we just had to make a move, so we showered and changed and said our final goodbyes to the Contemporary and left at about 5:15 and headed for the airport via McDonald's on the way. (Well, we weren’t sure if the plane food would be up to much! )

Checked the car in at the airport and the guy said that we were owed a refund of $20 and that we needed to go to the desk. After queuing for a bit in the main queue I realised that I should've been in the returns queue! D’oh!

Anyway, money duly credited back to the Credit Card we wandered into the terminal and decided to head over to the departures gate as time was getting a little short. (I think it was about 7.15pm by this time). We went through security (no queues at all) and headed for the departures lounge.

As we walked through, the Hunt children came running up to us saying, “It feels like we’ve been here all day - where have you been?“

Well, Bob likes to be early wherever he goes - so they left Blizzard Beach at 3.10pm to go to the airport…..the flight was at 8.25pm - and they’d done Downtown Disney check in in the morning! LOL

So yes - the poor kids probably did feel like they’d been there all day! Funny to think that we didn’t even get out of the pool until 5pm!



Boarded the plane at 7:45 and pretty much took off on time. It was the usual long dull journey back. Laura fell asleep as soon as dinner was served and only woke up after we had stopped at the stand at Gatwick! Poor Alexandra finds it very hard to sleep on a plane - but finally managed to get comfy with her head on her arms on the fold down table - well, until the person in front reclined their seat without checking behind them first! Is it just me who always checks behind them first to make sure that it’s a good time (if at all) to recline? Grrr! Alison was even unluckier - as soon as the seatbelt signs went off the person in front of her reclined instantly - and that was it for the whole journey! And
Alison's TV wasn't working so after a while (a very long while - despite lots of prompting!) the cabin crew bought her a portable DVD player from Upper Class. Woo hoo! Only got the choice of one DVD though - but never mind, at least she could pause it whenever she wanted.

Overall the Virgin "experience" was poor on the return journey. The plane wasn‘t clean (they had to call cleaners onto the plane for some of the seats), there were no sick bags/magazines/safety instructions in any of the seat pockets, the crew were just plain sloppy - spilling drinks and food in one case, and generally very inattentive.

Anyway, rant over and poor Alexandra, who hadn't slept a wink, was sick on landing. It took what seemed like an eternity to get off the plane and we had to queue for about 20 minutes to get the monorail back to the main terminal. We arrived at the carousel to find that the handling staff had kindly removed our luggage from it (obviously we’d been too long!)

We met Alison's dad at about 10:30 and home by 11:20.

Weather today: Perfect - hot and sunny for lots of swimming and relaxing

Plan for tomorrow: Unpack, get into UK time and type up Trip Reports!


PS - although that’s it for the trip reports we’ll be posting a summary report tomorrow, with our overall thoughts - plus highlights, lowlights etc.

[Mike]

..thanks Shaun & Alison... I felt really sad for you tonight... am sure it's the quality of the reports, and not the 4 beers I've had since 800pm...no, seriously though, moving record of your last day... there's a significant streak suggesting you may not be back to Florida for quite a while... wassup?

..looking for'ard to the Summary...

Mike

[Guest]

Superb set of trip reports guys had a great time reading them all thankyou.

Can't ya go back next week so we have more exciting trip reports to look forward too

Paul

P.S Mike i have had 5 beers so i am winning

[BONZO]

Can't ya go back next week so we have more exciting trip reports to look forward too

See more...

No - but you can go back into the past!


I'll be posting a link to previous ramblings in the summary.

[Guest]

Great reports and very well illustrated! (And I haven't had any beers yet.)

The 'Sirens' will be calling you back soon... (Manatees).

[Guest]

Hi Shaun & Alison,

Just like to say it has been one of my hi-lights of the past few days reading your trip reports .

They have made laugh, cry & smile all at the same time.

I just hope my trip turns out just as good as yours.

I plan to do a trip report, but i'm not as verbose as some people

Thanks very much for a most entertaining trip report

Ian

[BarryandCaron]

We've really enjoyed reading your trip reports, they've made us feel as if we were there with you.

Any tips on writing trip reports for our visit in July as we've never done any before.

Thanks

[BONZO]

Any tips on writing trip reports for our visit in July as we've never done any before.

See more...

Barry - first and foremost just be yourself!

The way we tend to work is to take a couple of Reporters Notepads and pens and write up the days activities at the end of the day trying to remember any "funny bits".

It's good that both DW and I keep a diary running as you get different points of view.

When back in the UK I tend to write up a draft copy and DW edits and adds other comments / thoughts in.

Depending on how you are fixed, try and keep the report writing momemtum going by posting one per day or at a regular intervals.

To be honest, we write them for "selfish" reasons, so that we have a permanent record of previous trips to look back on - if other people enjoy them then that's great

To end up - there's something "carthic" about writing trip reports and it's a great way to get over the "post trip blues" by re-living all the moments.

Phew!

[BarryandCaron]

Many thanks Shaun, we'll give it a try. I'll leave it to DW though she's more articulate than me and has more time!

[disney owl]

Thanks