I know what we're going to do today... The Long Goodbye

[mickeysgirls]

Day 15: The Long Goodbye!

Welcome to my trip report staring...

Me! Tracey, your tour guide for this trip! if you are easily offended by poor use of the English language, you may choose to step away from this report!
Darren, my devoted husband who works tirelessly to fund our Florida addiction and critical of my poor grammar which I ignore.
Charlie, age 7 lover of Angry Birds and smarter than the average bear!
Ellie, age 3, trainee princesses and tryer of our patience!
Grandad Roy, total push over with the grandchildren and master of the coaster walk!
Nanny Sandra, lover of having bags thrown at her whilst we do aforementioned coaster walk to the rides!
Nicky AKA Whitney age 23, attached to her iPhone & Facebook and lover of Jersey Shore [not sure what this is but she watched it A LOT]

Trip Index Here!

And now, the end is near,
And so I face, the final curtain,
My friends, I'll say it clear,
We've stuffed our case, of that I'm certain!

This morning was a sombre affair, No jumping up and down on the bed, No 'Hurry up! We need to get to the park before 9:00!', No butterflies in the tummy, nothing. I decided to head down to the lake and have a last cast to see if my luck was on the up and I'd manage to land a fish - I didn't. Even with the children for support we caught nothing, so we called time and packed up the rod.




The plan for today was to have a lazy morning then head off to the airport at around 2:00 but I couldn't do it. I felt that if we spent those last few hours waiting for the time to pass we'd be cheating ourselves out of those precious last moments of our holiday so I thought it might be nice to ask Charlie & Ellie if there was one park they'd like to revisit for a few hours. Charlie quickly answered that he'd like to go back to HS so he could do the drawing class again and Darren & I were happy with that. I popped to see Nanny & Grandad and Nicky to see if they were wanting to come along too but they said that they weren't too bothered. We skipped breakfast in favour of picking something up at the park and got washed & dressed. Mum & Dad were wanting to pop to Super Target to pick up some food for the flight home, so they kindly dropped us off at the park on the way.

Now as we've been here twice already I'll not go too much into what we did [as you've read it before], so here's a few pictures…..


















Yes, we got back on TSM



As much as we tried to enjoy ourselves here, I just couldn't!. I kept looking at people thinking 'I bet your on your first day, you're so luck to be at the start and not the end of your holiday' and 'In a few hours this will all be over for us', It really was awful!

We'd arranged to be picked up at 12:00 and with it fast approaching that time, we took our last stroll down Hollywood Boulevard and Charlie & Ellie started to cry.
Charlie: "But *sob* I really *sob* don't want to *sob* go *sob* home"
Ellie: "Me too. Daddy, please can we stay?"





We got in the car and made our way back to the villa.



And the children had one last swim…..








Time was no longer on our side, this was it, our holiday was almost over. Darren & Dad loaded the suitcases into the car and we all took one last longing look around the house we'd called home for the past 2 weeks. The sat nav was set for Sanford and we had gathered up everyones spare quarters for the toll booths. Pulling off the drive we waved a sad goodbye to Shamu Villa and headed off on our way.



We pulled on the the 192 and got about five miles down the road when Darren asked me if I'd got my Debit Card…
Me: "No, I gave it to you on the first day"
Darren: "Erm, no you didn't, you gave me your driving licence, not your cards - you put them in your knicker drawer"
Me: "Oh god….. erm….. I erm…. I think I might have left them. And if I've left that, I may have also left my underwear……and my Make-up…..and my phone……and my purse"
Darren: "You are joking me? ! "
Me: "Erm….unfortunately not"

So a quick U-Turn and 10 minutes later we we're pulling back up to the villa and I ran in to retrieve my left items No longer the most popular person in the car I made my apologies [Again!] and we were back on the road.

[mickeysgirls]

We arrived at the airport without any further drama and checked in our bags. Security done, we found some seats in the bar and rounded off the holiday with a pitcher of Bud, a plate of chips and a good old laugh at my expence: 'I can't believe you didn't check your draws!, what a rookie mistake' 'Could you imagine if anyone else had have done that? she'd have been taking the right mickey out of them!' [Luckily I have thick skin so their jibes were like water off a ducks back ]

The flight was very uneventful [except Ellie wouldn't sleep] and we arrived back into a freezing cold Manchester at 6:30am. It was a harsh reality check - especially as our coats were in the car!


So that was it, our amazingly fabulous, laughter filled holiday was over. We really did have such a fantastic time and have got such amazing memories that it has made it one of the best we've ever had. We are so proud of Charlie for being brave enough to go on the Roller coasters, especially Everest! Elle's first visit to BBB was just brilliant and we all agree that WWOHP exceeded our expectations - I think it was my favourite day [but maybe that was because of the Butter Beer!]

I'd just like to say a massive thank you to you for taking the time to read my report, I'm overwhelmed with the amount of truly wonderful comments I've received and who knows, maybe I'll be back to write another soon!

So until next time my friends, I bid you a fond farewell


Tracey xx

[barnsley]

Thanks for sharing your vacation, it was like being there with you. The words and pictures take us straight back to what we like to call HOME.

Looking at your countdown timer, your off to Cornwall real soon. Hope you have a wonderful time there, just no Mickey and pals.

Thanks again,

Dave & Maxine

[tclaireh]

Enjoyed reading your report, sounds like you had a fab holiday. I hate the last day of the holiday but sounds like you made the best of it.

PS Just seen the countdown to your next holiday, I live in Cornwall - bring your waterproofs!

Claire

[Peewee88]

Thanks very much for posting all your days. They've been absolutely brilliant to read!

Yvonne x

[JoJo88]

Awwwww, Tracey, what an absolute blast you've all had, thank you so much for sharing it with us all.

I read your last day with dread as I know (as do all of us) just how awful it is, but at least you managed to have a last minute park visit and a laugh too (how on earth could you forget to check your drawers, especially your draws drawers )

I've been looking longingly at your countdown (the previous one, not the camping one, sorry but CAMPING?! ), any joy yet?!

Anyway, thanks once again, I'm reeeeeaaaaallly looking forward to your next trippy, whenever it may be - actually, Carry on Camping might be fun!

Love Jo x

P.S. Your parting photo is the same as the one I have as my desktop on the iPad

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing your holiday with us!

Sounds like you all had a wonderful time

[Ariel's Mum]

Oh that brought tears to my eyes...

It's a wonder you didn't break down sobbing listening to Charlie & Ellie's pleas.

I've really enjoyed your trippie. Thanks for sharing

[tonymc]

Really enjoted the reports - thanks for posting. And yes, we all know that last day feeling...

[Helen0705]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful family holiday with us.
i've enjoyed reading all about it and I look forward to reading about the next one .