4th Time Lucky Day 16 Goodbye Hollywood

[karalma]

22.12.21

I woke feeling sad that today was our last day but didn’t have time to dwell on it as for the first time we were planning on doing rope drop on our last day. We did a last mad dash case shuffle and were out the door by 7.45. Darren had once again decided not to come with us, preferring to have a last swim as the owner had allowed us a late check out.

We were in line by 8.20 and Alix suggested we join the left hand side line so we could jump to the shorter lines when they opened more lines. This worked exactly as planned and had the advantage of only having people to one side of us so I didn’t feel as hemmed in as the previous time.

Today we had 3 hours to ride 3 rides and buy a top for Alix to match the trousers she had previously bought. ToT had a 13 minute wait so we headed there first and the time was exactly right.



Star tours was advertised as 5 minutes so that was next on the list. However, it was longest line we had seen here and when we got in line the time jumped to 25 minutes which seemed more accurate. Fortunately when we got to the point where the CM monitors the lightening lane she instructed us to join the lightening lane. Another CM then called for a party of 2 so we were lucky enough to be on in 10 minutes. We saw a 4th version today and it was good to see slightly different versions each time.





Alix bought the Skywalker Academy top she wanted and we then headed to Batu. Alix suggested we walk the long way to Smugglers Run as the other way was crowded. She took me to a part of Batu that I hadn’t realised existed. Darren and Alix had looked around here on the first morning when I didn’t go with them but since then had headed straight for the rides. I was pleased I got to see this and Alix was pleased she got to look in the shops here as she hadn’t last time. The Storm Troopers were keeping a watch over everybody and were very funny.







The lines today for Rise and Smugglers were huge so we used the single rider lane on Smugglers and it only took 5 minutes. Again, some people were getting to ride together but Alix and I were split up and Alix was in the group right behind me. On single riders we expect to be split up but it is a bonus if we’re not. We wish there were more rides with single rider.

As we left Batu Alix spotted a photopass that we hadn’t done and it turned out to be one of the long shot photos so we were pleased to get this one.



















Luckily we also got to see Chewbacka.





By this time we had done more than we wanted and still had time for some last minute shopping. We caught some of the parade as we walked back to the entrance.







I bought a Cinderalla Castle brooch and a 50th gift bag. As we were leaving the park at 11.30 Darren rang to say he was at the pickup area. We had had a very successful morning but Daren hadn’t managed a swim as there was more tidying to do than he realised and more case swapping when he weighed them again. I had said I thought we were leaving him with too much to do, particularly with the travelling back and forwards, but he said it was fine.

Alix had found another Game Stop at Lakeland, which was on the way to Tampa and they had some mini mystery pops in stock so that was our next stop. We found it easily and Alix bought 4 but didn’t get the ones she wanted so went back in to buy 2 more. The shop gave her one free as she had bought so many and this time she got what she wanted. Next up was lunch at Denny’s again so Alix could have fried eggs and seasoned fries again. I ordered strawberry crepes. Darren wasn’t hungry so just wanted a cup of hot tea and a dessert but they didn’t have any tea so he requested a coke but they only had Diet Coke. He went with that and ordered a strawberry cheesecake. We were quite surprised when they brought the food and said they had no strawberries. We would have expected them to check with us first when we had ordered 2 strawberry dishes. As it turned out the vanilla crepes and cheesecake were very nice and Alix enjoyed her meal again.

The drive to the airport was quick and easy and we found the Avis drop off easily. Security was so much easier at Tampa than it was at Gatwick and we all got through without incident. All this simplicity meant that we were at the gate 2 hours early, as we had allowed a lot of time, having never flown from here before, but this was much better than rushing around. We bought our duty free and snacks for the plane and then relaxed, reading and internet browsing.

The flight home was ok but none of us slept very much. Alix didn’t get her vegetarian meal but as the none vegetarian meal of cheese and tomato pasta was much nicer than the tomato and aubergines that I received she didn’t mention it. For breakfast they tried to give Darren a vegetarian breakfast but he refused it, which is just as well as Alix and I did not enjoy our wraps and we were pleased we had our snacks.

We landed 20 minutes early and Darren and Alix sailed through the self scanners but the gate would not open for me and they were moved on very strictly by an officer so could not help me. Eventually I was kicked out of the gate and had to go to one of the desks. The officer on the desk and the one next to him were very nice and jokey, thank goodness, as I was worried they would ask me something about verifly which I had no idea about as Darren had sorted it all. Our cases were the first off the carousel so we were soon leaving the airport.

Our train from Gatwick to Kings Cross had been cancelled the day before but there was an earlier one we could catch, after a 15 minute wait. At Kings Cross we had nearly a 3 hour wait. Again we had given ourselves much more time than we needed. It was frustrating as there were trains leaving every half hour to Darlington. Darren went and asked if we could change our tickets but they said there were only 2 seats available. So we went for some breakfast at Greggs where I had a lovely vegan sausage bun and Darren had a bacon bun. This was the worst part of the whole journey and the only thing I would change about flying from Gatwick would be I would buy a flexible ticket, even if this meant we couldn’t book our seat. I slept most of the way back so it wasn’t long before Darren’s mother was picking us up to take us on the final leg of our very long journey.

Once home we reconciled with our cats and warmed the house up and then got straight to our final tests. These tests were PCR this time but again were straight forward and only took longer because we read all of the instructions and had to give a few more details on registering these. We were surprised that there were no Randox drop boxes at Gatwick or King's Cross but there was one at a small chemist 10 minutes from us. So Darren dropped them off and they were in the drop box by 3.00.

We struggled to stay awake until a reasonable time but finally it was time for bed. When I woke at 3.00am I was pleased to see I had an email from Randox saying they had received my test at the lab. I went back to sleep, waking again at 8.00 to see an email saying my test was negative. I got up to see if a Darren had received his. He hadn’t but it was through in 10 minutes and was also negative. When Alix got up half an hour later we asked her to check hers and hers was negative. Xmas was back on and we were so pleased we hadn’t had to wait all day for the results. Now we could go shopping, Darren could pick Matt up and we could visit family.

So, was it all worth the extra stress? As we had such an amazing holiday and everything worked out well it was. However, it could have been so different so we wouldn’t want to risk it again.

I will post our highs, lows and what’s next, shortly.

[mick]

You did really well doing all the rides you wanted

Plane food on the flight home are usually very hit and miss

Shame you had a long wait for train home

Joan

[lfc_sarah]

Great blog! Thank you!

[Grant41]

Great trip report, thank you.

[Goldia]

A great morning at HS and the journey home seemed straight forward.