Whatever it takes...June 2019 Trip Report - Travel Home Day

[MinnieMrsA]

Travel Home Day - Saturday 29th June/Sunday 30th June

True to form, the children made lots of noise at 2.30am – which woke up most of the building so the next 30 minutes was a chorus of toilets flushing. We then woke at 7.10am and did our last bits of packing.

Being the keen beans that they are, Mousekeeping (who rarely came before about 3pm all holiday) were knocking on the door at 9am to see if we had checked out yet. It wasn’t long before we had, although both of us had sensitive stomachs this morning, so we didn’t rush too much. We loaded up the car, and drove round to the lobby to check out as I declined to leave a card on file due to the new holding policies for guests. We were soon on the road to Disney Springs – and PE passengers now get their own line here to check in as well! Checking in here makes travel home day so much easier, but it is worth noting that if you are not a Virgin Holidays customer, it is $10 per person, and you can now only pay this by card. Our holdall weighed 14kg and our cases were at 19kg and 20kg. Waving goodbye to our bags, we headed to Starbucks as I had a bit of a sore throat and wanted a warm drink. A hot chocolate soon made me feel better, and also took the opportunity to take a few light hearted snaps to send to the friends we were returning with in December, who were the rest of the Disney Lunch Club. Dave looks like he has a straw up his nose here

We had a final mooch round the shops at the Cirque du Soleil end of Disney Springs (the West Side?!) before heading for our Brunch reservation at Olivia’s at Old Key West.

We always seem to spend the last day sat round Disney Springs, but decided that we didn’t want to do that this time, so booked brunch for something a bit different. A very friendly security guard let us into Old Key West, and had a good chat with us about how great the food here is at WDW, and that the California Grill was a real favourite for all of us! We didn’t realise quite how sprawling Old Key West was, but did after missing the turning for Olivia’s and going for a quick tour of the resort. We did eventually make it back to Olivia’s, and went for a mooch round the central area of the resort as we were a few minutes early. We noticed how well stocked the shop was – DVC here of course, so there are more self catering facilities.

It was time to check into Olivia’s, and they gave us a buzzer and asked us to wait outside until our table was ready. This was about 2 minutes later, and we were then seated in a booth. The theming inside Olivia’s is fantastic, but I was surprised about how small it was. Our server was very friendly, and accommodated me ordering from the regular menu rather than the allergy menu. Dave had Mickey Waffles, and I had Banana French Toast. It tasted incredible! But there was so much of it, I genuinely could not finish it all. Once we had eaten, we sat on the rocking chairs by the boat dock to let our brunch digest a little before setting off to the airport.

To carry on what we started earlier, we missed the turning for Car Rental Return at MCO and ended up driving round the whole airport again! We hadn’t realized it was a loop until now, but boy were we glad it was. Car safely returned to a lovely Alamo employee who was off to Miami for a few days of vacation time the next day, we headed into the terminal. We had a mooch round the shops, before joining the line to get through security. It was at 31-34 minutes, but after an expedited security process involving sniffer dogs, keeping your shoes on and walking through a metal detector – we were sat at the gate in just under 30 minutes. I feel like they change the rules and expectations every time we go through security here – but at least this time the TSA agents were in good spirits. One particular chap turned his point into a song about everything going in your bag – gave us all a smile in a pretty boring situation. I bought some water for the plane, and just sat and people watched – including the quavers tantrum child and family from the journey here having similar meltdowns – I at least hope they had not had too many during the holiday. There were also lots of people wearing the Stitch top I had worn yesterday - good old Primarni eh?!

We boarded the plane at 4.40pm, and took off at about 5.30pm I think – we were in a real queue waiting to take off. Once we took off, I realised that my arm rest was broken – the top flap was hanging off entirely. I told the air hostess and she said if I had told her before we set off, she would have had an engineer come on the plane to fix it. Ermmmmm – 1) I didn’t notice before we left 2) I’m not holding up a plane for a broken arm rest and 3) cheer up love! I have to say the crew on the way back were nowhere near as good as on the way out. Thankfully, another much more amenable hostess said we could move to the spare 2 seats at the front of row. Not ideal as they don’t have much storage, but I also had suspicions that the giant in front of me would recline, so I thought moving was a good idea. Lo and behold- he did recline fully all flight, so I am glad I moved. I did find the constant on/off of the toilets lights annoying, and wouldn’t actively pick those seats.

Tea was the usual veg in tomato sauce, and Dave had a paneer curry (I had to explain the next day that paneer was cheese – didn’t believe me until Google backed up my outrageous claim). The flight was uneventful indeed – not much turbulence, and I dozed when I could whilst Dave stayed wide awake. We landed at about 6.40am, and made it through immigration quickly thanks to the automatic machines. Our two suitcases came off pretty quickly, and we were waiting round for the holdall containing our dirty laundry. It eventually appeared, and we trundled back to the car, and hit the road. As usual, we stopped at the first services for coffee and a bacon bap, and then we were home by 9.30am.

We have a pretty good routine when we get home- Dave goes to bed whilst I unpack, start the laundry and wait for Fudge to come home so I can give him a bath (the dogsitter smokes – her care is otherwise fantastic so I can live with this). We then just catch up with family in the afternoon, before having a super early night. Whilst it is always sad to be home, I am always delighted to see Fudge! And to give him a new plush...

So another trip is over - here’s to the next one (or two!) that we already have booked! Thanks for reading

See ya real soon!

Steps: 7285
Food cost: $40.00

TOTAL STEPS: 259,216
TOTAL FOOD COST: $1452.52 (QSDP would have cost $1470 – and we had loads of table service meals in here!)

[emmabanana]

Great trip report, thanks for posting, I didn’t comment on each day as I just read it in one go!

Sounds like you had a great time and at least it’s not loo long until the next one.

[MinnieMrsA]

Originally Posted by emmabanana

Great trip report, thanks for posting, I didn’t comment on each day as I just read it in one go!

Sounds like you had a great time and at least it’s not loo long until the next one.

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Thanks so much for reading - planning for the next trip can now fully commence as this one is written up!

[Manyin]

Great report ad usual. Thanks for sharing. We have similar countdown for Christmas trips. Can't wait to see all the parks and resorts and staying onsite for the first time too.

[MinnieMrsA]

Originally Posted by Manyin

Great report ad usual. Thanks for sharing. We have similar countdown for Christmas trips. Can't wait to see all the parks and resorts and staying onsite for the first time too.

See more...

Oooh how exciting! Where are you staying? Thanks for reading

[collybird]

Olivia’s has extra seating in another room off to the side that they don’t always open, I really love the food there, breakfast, lunch and dinner can’t be faulted, such a hidden gem.

I find the ever-changing process of airport security so stressful, take your shoes off, don’t take your shoes off, take your Kindle out the bag, no Kindles don’t have to come out the bag etc etc. Then when you make a misstep you are barked at as though you do this every day and should know what the ‘Rule of the Day’ is, like a Sub of the Day at Subway. This isn’t just MCO either, I find every airport is the same.

Fudge doesn’t look quite as though he has forgiven you for your holiday in that picture!

Thanks for sharing, Christmas time in WDW will be awesome. We have been in November twice, but the last time was five years ago and now it seems so magical and dreamy and as though we’ve never done it!

[MinnieMrsA]

Originally Posted by collybird

Olivia’s has extra seating in another room off to the side that they don’t always open, I really love the food there, breakfast, lunch and dinner can’t be faulted, such a hidden gem.

I find the ever-changing process of airport security so stressful, take your shoes off, don’t take your shoes off, take your Kindle out the bag, no Kindles don’t have to come out the bag etc etc. Then when you make a misstep you are barked at as though you do this every day and should know what the ‘Rule of the Day’ is, like a Sub of the Day at Subway. This isn’t just MCO either, I find every airport is the same.

Fudge doesn’t look quite as though he has forgiven you for your holiday in that picture!

Thanks for sharing, Christmas time in WDW will be awesome. We have been in November twice, but the last time was five years ago and now it seems so magical and dreamy and as though we’ve never done it!

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He does take a while to get over having to come home and leave the dogsitter who lets him sleep on her bed! Lucky thing. I totally agree about the airports - I think it might be changing in the UK soon too - you can't win.

I am so excited for our December trip! Thank you so much for reading and all your comments 😊

[Manyin]

Originally Posted by MinnieMrsA

Oooh how exciting! Where are you staying? Thanks for reading

See more...

We are staying at CBR, had a quick look around when we were there in July and it looks lovely

[MinnieMrsA]

Originally Posted by Manyin

We are staying at CBR, had a quick look around when we were there in July and it looks lovely

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Brill - I would love to know what you think of it as it is a possibility for a future trip for us!

[ShezMcQ]

Great report which I've just binge read in one go on a rainy Friday (in work) to cheer myself up with

Looks like a really fab trip and I was really interested to read your thoughts on All Stars. DH and I have been toying with going back to WDW with our kids (10 & 7) next October and had thought about one of the AS resorts but we weren't sure if the beds/rooms would be too small for us all to share for a fortnight. Sounds like they may be.

Your meals all look lovely and I particularly loved the pics from the balcony at CG, so pretty!

Thanks for taking the time to post and have a lovely trip when the next one comes around.