Living in Jamerica -The Bud Light Years Day 20/21 Going Home

[JoJo88]

“Living in Jamerica” – The Bud Light Years – October 2011

Pre-Trippy Part 1
Pre-Trippy Part 2
Day 0 - Twilight Check In
Day 1 - Travel Day
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios
Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon
Day 6 - Epcot
Day 7 - Magic Kingdom Take 2
Day 8 - Shopping
Day 9 - Blizzard Beach
Day 10 - Islands of Adventure/Hard Rock Hotel
Day 11 - IoA Early Entry/Universal Studios
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
Day 12 - Rest Day!
Day 13 - Hollywood Studios
Day 14 - Epcot
Day 15 - Typhoon Lagoon
Day 16 - Celebration
Day 17 - Crazy Golf & DTD
Day 18 - MNSSHP
Day 19 - The Last Full Day

Day 20/21 – Going Home

Thursday 27th/Friday 28th October 2011

All good things must come to an end. Isn’t that what they say? Well if I ever find out who ‘they’ are, I will ask them to explain exactly why all good things must come to an end. Because it hurts. A lot. Right in the pit of the stomach. And that day, of the ‘coming to an end’ was now upon us, and quite honestly it does make me think for a split second that Simon’s philosophy on holidays is correct. Despite all the bravado, and all the ‘Mickey’ taking – the single digit dancing when it is 9 days until we come home, he actually said once that the thought of coming home is enough to put him off going in the first place. And although it was only for a split second, the thought that 16 months of planning, and 3 weeks of actual doing was now over did make me wonder if it was worth it. Then I remembered all the wonderful memories that we have created, that have been safely filed away to see me through the bleak months of no planning, no countdown that lay ahead of me, and I realised of COURSE it was worth it

Daniel finding his confidence in the water was a big highlight for me, as was seeing Adam wandering in awe through the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, too old for Mickey Mouse perhaps, but certainly not too old to believe in Wizards and Hippogriffs, Spells and Horcruxes. The evenings playing cards, even though they brought tension and tiffs most of the time, are still memories of us all being together in each other’s company. The wonderful meals we enjoyed, the crazy golf, trip to Celebration. And that’s before I even start on Disney itself…….

So, here it was, the day I had been dreading pretty much since I’d booked the bloomin’ holiday! My immediate thoughts upon waking turned to the job of packing, but I ignored them and went and watched the boys in the pool for a while instead. However, I couldn’t put it off forever and so I took myself off into the bedroom and lined the holdalls up on the bed and began rubbing my temples, eyes closed, wishing and praying that when I opened them again it would all be done for me. No such luck! I had a few things that had to be packed in secret and had been hidden in my Dad’s room so I made sure the boys were kept well out of the way while I squirrelled them away. Boxes of Lego were going to be tricky and so in the end I opened them up, flattening the boxes themselves and put all the bits into the holdalls separately (not completely separately, still in the little bags, although by the end of the packing I was beginning to think I might have to resort to emptying the bags of Lego out completely! )

It was a bit touch and go as to whether or not I would fit everything in. The sweets from the Halloween party were almost the straw that broke the camel’s back but I managed to squeeze them in somehow and Mum took a couple of the candy bags to help me out.

Eventually it was all done, with just the last little bits that we were still using to be put in right at the last minute.

Mum gave the villa a good tidy and wipe down, and once the boys were out of the pool we washed the last of the towels, very keen to leave the villa as near to how we found it as possible.

By about 1pm we were all packed up and ready to go, with a last quick scour of every cupboard and drawer, nook and cranny to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind.

Daniel wanted to take his Mickey Mouse balloon outside and let it go – something he does at home with every balloon he’s ever given – if ever life is found on another planet, they will no doubt think that the Earth is full of people called either Frankie or Benny

Please excuse Daniel’s attire. His (slightly too big for him) Harry Potter t-shirt became his favourite item of clothing, the joggers were for comfort on the plane, and the Crocs took the place of his trainers right at the start of the holiday because he announced that his trainers hurt his feet

Adam decided to experiment with his balloon rather than letting it go. He wanted to find out if the inner balloon would stay if he popped the outer balloon which it did

We left the villa for the last time just before 2pm. Our flight time was 17.50 and we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport, which was lucky as the traffic along Sand Lake Road was going at a snail’s pace.

The journey to the airport was a sombre affair, as I’m sure you can imagine, passing all the sights that had become so familiar over the last 3 weeks. Daniel was very upset as we pulled out of Windsor Hills for the last time, and promptly fell asleep.

I couldn’t stop the tears and cried pretty much all the way up the I4, finally pulling myself together when we stopped for petrol about 10 minutes outside the airport. We didn’t make the same mistake as last time, when we’d filled the car up just outside MCO, at a service station that didn’t advertise it’s prices at the pump. I forget exactly how much more it was, but it was significant and obviously no coincidence that they kept their prices secret! I read something shortly afterwards that said officials were trying to stop the culprits from doing this – at least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

We reached the airport with plenty of time to spare, and dropped the car off with Budget with no problem, leaving the car seat with them but retrieving the spangly stars and stripes aerial topper. I have a short nubby aerial on my car at home so unfortunately I haven’t been able to display it here

We checked in with relative ease, and were given our boarding cards, for seats 58, 59 & 60 A&C on the Airbus.

Making our way through to the shops we found some seats and got comfortable, taking it in turns to go and explore. Mum and I took the boys to the Disney Store just in case there was something they had missed over the last three weeks! I got myself a baseball cap, one I had seen someone wearing but hadn’t been able to find up until now.

We also visited the Universal Shop where Grandma spoilt the boys one last time, treating Adam to Fluffy from the Harry Potter films

And Daniel chose Scabbers – an uglier soft toy I have yet to find!

Look see, he can’t even been shown in public!

Our plan had been to grab a quick bite before boarding, knowing that there was an Outback Steakhouse somewhere in the building. Thanks to Adam’s heightened Burger Sensor, we found it near our boarding gate and for the last time this holiday we were seated and perusing the menus.

Here’s a rundown of the bill:

1 x Bud Light $6.49
1 x Sam Adams $7.49
3 x Outback Burgers with Cheese $23.56
1 x Kid’s Burger with Cheese $8.99
1 x Springs Chicken $17.78
1 x Chicken Fingers $4.99
2 x Sodas $5.38

Total $91.65 (incl. tax no tip)

The burgers were absolutely delicious, I think it’s what the Outback does best, even though it’s the Outback “Steak”house. The salads were lovely and we had a really enjoyable final supper It was interesting trying to eat with plastic knives and forks and perhaps it was a good thing that we didn’t go for steaks!

We were all done by 4pm and went through to our gate to wait for the inevitable. It seems very cruel that you can see all the newcomers arriving, full of excitement and wonder for what awaits them. It doesn’t seem so cruel of course when it’s you arriving, seeing all the deflated people sat waiting to go home. At that point I remembered a young boy I had seen at Gatwick airport on the day we were departing. We were crossing the road from the Hilton, heading towards departures, and spotted a family crossing the road in the other direction. The boy must have been about 8 and he was wearing Mickey’s Sorcerer’s hat, and I remember thinking (in true ‘cup half empty’ style, ever the optimist ) ‘all too soon that will be us’ and made a pact with myself there and then to appreciate and cherish every single last second of the holiday. And I think I managed it. Yes, there were times when the boys would bicker and would need telling off - I did lose my temper from time to time, something that I regret as soon as it’s happened. But at the same time I said ‘yes’ sometimes when really I wanted to say ‘no’, like risking certain drowning by joining in with the fun at the water parks, or braving it on The Hulk. And never once did I regret the yesses, the opposite of which can probably be said of the nos.

Our flight was on time and soon enough we were inside the metal tube, settling ourselves down for the sleepless, uncomfortable night ahead. Adam & Simon sat together with Mum & Dad behind them and Daniel and I in front. We were most impressed with the in-flight entertainment. At one point Adam said he was worried that the flight was going too fast and he wouldn’t have time to watch/play everything he wanted! I honestly can’t remember what Daniel did, I’m pretty sure he slept for a lot of the flight. I watched a Keira Knightley film ‘Last Night’ against my better judgement (I’m not a fan), but actually really enjoyed it. I started to watch a few other films but couldn’t get into any of them, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris being one. I played a few games and tried unsuccessfully to get some shut eye, passed on the food offering as it was pretty inedible and in a blink of an eye we were landing. The flight passed extremely quickly, I’m sure it was under 8 hours, but we were all absolutely shattered!

We shuffled through passport control to baggage reclaim and then to the pick up point where we waited for the men, who had nipped off in a taxi, to come back with the cars. A quick hug to Grandma & Grandad and we were on our way back home.

So, that was it for another year. Or two years. Or three more likely at that point. We’d had an absolute blast. Simon had somewhat optimistically thought that 3 weeks would get it out of our (or more accurately ‘my’) system, but of course this wasn’t the case. If anything it had made the ‘problem’ worse! In the weeks that followed, the Post Disney Blues hit me big time. Not to mention jet lag! We tried our best to stay awake when we got home but I succumbed for a few hours in the afternoon, the boys slept for most of the day (oops!). The following morning Simon & I were awake at around 4am, and hereby lies what we think was a crucial mistake. We stayed in bed watching TV, and ultimately ended up falling back to sleep, waking up again at around noon, with the children. I wonder if we had just got up at 4am we might have got back into proper time a bit quicker, however we didn’t, and the jet lag stayed for about a week. The boys coped admirably with going back to school on the Monday (we arrived home on a Friday), I was just grateful I didn’t have anywhere to be!

So what next? We are of course talking about ‘next time’. In fact we were talking about ‘next time’ when we were still in the middle of ‘last time’! However, we didn’t think it would be financially possible to go again for a good few years, 2014 being the goal. As I mentioned previously, it had been a little bonus from my lovely Grandma/Mum that had allowed us to go on this holiday, but with all the work still to do on the house, we simply couldn’t justify the ££££££ to go any sooner. Until that is, one fateful Friday evening when Simon spotted me perusing holiday websites, in itself not unusual. He was on his way out to play football and his parting words were ‘if you want to go on another holiday, you‘d better get yourself a job’. With those words ringing in my ears, I did a quick Google search of local job ads and stumbled across one that was located a ten minute drive from me, was part-time with flexible hours. Other than that I had absolutely no idea what it entailed. When Simon returned from football I casually mentioned to him that I had seen a job that looked interesting, and that was that.

What followed, in rather quick succession (and done in an ‘I’ll show him’ kind of way) was the forwarding of a CV, a telephone interview, a real interview and by the Wednesday afternoon I was the proud owner of a new job! I hadn’t worked since I was pregnant with Adam, so that was almost ten years ago, and I loved being a stay at home mum. Plus we hadn’t had any serious discussion about me going back to work, the practicalities etc, and I personally didn’t feel ready to go back, not being someone that’s big on change! I was completely torn, even posting about it on the Dibb at the time (thank you for the support and advice! ) However, the job sounded ideal, the hours suited and they even paid me too! There was no pressure from the rest of the family, other than on the morning of the interview, the three of them practically singing me out of the door with ‘Holidays are coming, holidays are coming’. I’ve been there over a month now and I really enjoy it. It’s hectic and busy, but fun at the same time and I work with some lovely people so I do feel very fortunate, and looking back now, it's almost like it was meant to be.

So, we now have a holiday fund building up and will definitely be going back in 2013, November being the preference. We haven’t completely ruled out 2012 yet, but it looks unlikely. One condition of the job was that I don’t book a holiday for this autumn as, due to the nature of the business, it can be a busy time with deadlines and due to restructuring there will only be me that knows what to do. Yeah I know, laughable isn’t it?! By next year we should have it all organised and there will hopefully be some flexibility. I do keep looking at different times to go this year, maybe a couple of weeks in December, or even early next year as well as next November, but I think by concentrating on the holiday in the latter part of next year, that will be enough to keep me going. Simon has already put in a request for a night at the Hard Rock Hotel, and is even asking me if I’ve found us a villa yet! The boy is learning

So there we have it. The end of our second Once in a Lifetime holiday. I wish I knew what it was that makes us keep going back. It has a pull like nowhere else on earth. Being at Disney makes me feel different, just being inside the Magic Kingdom is enough for me, never mind the rides. It has such an atmosphere, and is like a completely separate world which I guess is exactly what Walt wanted to create. Simon thinks that next time might be the last time for Disney, but I'm not so sure, after all, it's not the first time he's said it! I think we'll always travel to Florida, and I do have backup plans for when the boys do finally say they've outgrown Disney I know the real world is a big place, but for now I'm happy to just explore the 'World' - maybe one day I'll have seen enough, but for now it has my heart.

I want to say a massive thank you to each and every person who has taken the time to read this trip report, particularly those who have taken the time to comment – I’ve really appreciated all the lovely feedback and feel like I’ve got to know a lot of you over the last few months. I will definitely be doing another report for the next trip as it has been so much fun and a great reminder of all the ‘little’ things that happened – we still say ‘tarn it doorn’ to each other to this day!

But until then, Seeya Real Soon!

The Finale

Just thought I’d round up with another little song, as with the previous one, Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s best read with the real one playing in the background, so I've included a link, below

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Old Lake Wilson Road

When are we gonna come back?
When can I start with my plan?
I should have stayed in the park
Should have hidden from all the gang

I know we can’t stay there forever
We didn’t buy DVC
We’ve got some saving to be getting on with
We should be back by 2 thousand and fourteeeee-eeee-eeeeeen

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So Goodbye Old Lake Wilson Road
Windsor Hills did become our new home
We can’t stay away forever
We’re gonna get back there somehow

Back to the Magic of Walt Disney World
Riding the Disney Railroad
Oh I finally decided my future lies
Upon the Old Wilson Roaaaaa-oaaaaa-oaaaaaad
Ahhhhhhhhhhh Ahhhhhhhhhh

What did we get up to there?
Blob was our card game to learn
We had a problem with some noisy neighbours
So Simon shouted ‘Tarn it Doorn’

Daniel gave up on flotation
And Adam was suitably wowed
Muggles, who had early entry
At Wizarding World thus avoiding all the cro----ooo----wds

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhhhh

So Goodbye Old Lake Wilson Road
Where the good times did certainly flow
We got up to all kinds of mischief
Wish we were back there right now

Back to the Magic of Walt Disney World
Pulling the Sword from the Stone
Oh I finally decided my future lies
Back on the Old Wilson Road

The End

[stockport1965]

Brilliant! I was singing, could you hear me?

[Lindaelaine]

I knew this was going to be a tear jerker I can still feel the Pain of shutting that door at Windsor hills for the last time , not to mention the awfully sad journey to the airport , thank goodness for the song at the end , that made me chuckle , thank you so much for taking the time to write this trippie , I have relived all those magical moments through it and also all the card playing foot stomps we had a ball , here's to the next one

[sparks1]

Aw, I'm so gutted it's over! I've loved every word of your trippie - thanks for writing it.

[Milner]

Brilliant - what a fantastic trip report I have thoroughly enjoyed reading every day thanks for sharing.

[DizzyDisneyMum]

Wow, I have never been moved to tears by a trip report before - it was brilliant! What a lovely family you have.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, it must have taken whole days of your life!
Looking forward to reading all about the planning for your next trip!

[rachelox]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us, we've laughed, we've cried, we've felt your happiness and your pain!

You've made us feel like we were there with you.

Thanks for giving us all that Disney fix while we're watching our countdowns go down xxx

[dixonsontour]

I really enjoyed all your reports.

Congratulations on the new job aswell.

My DH used to have a poster on his wall at University 20 plus years ago with lots of fancy red cars that said 'justification of higher education'

I often joke i'm going to make a similar disney themed one for work - to remind me why I work.

2013 will be here before we know it.

[pumpkin]

Absolutely loved your trip reports, thank you so much for giving us details about your holiday it really has been brilliant reading, looking forward to the next one!

[charandcubby]

Really enjoyed your trippie so much, you have a great way of writing, made me laugh so many times, glad there is another trip in the pipeline!