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Old 19 Nov 18, 12:53 PM  
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moosha
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Parks, Pins, Puke, Pennies...Not Enough Planning April / May '17 Day 17: Heading Home :(

Monday 8th May 2017

Apologies once again for the lack of details again today, once again I am working from no notes .

Today we were leaving Disney World and flying home . We needed to drive back to Miami and our flight was 8.45 pm. Obviously it’s a long drive, but we had a lot planned before making the three and a half hour trek back to the airport.

No doubt we would have been up very early as we had a 7.30 am ADR for the Bon Voyage breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. We made the very brief walk to the restaurant and there were a few people who had already checked in.





Breakfast service doesn’t begin until 7.30 so we were all held in the foyer until they started calling people through which I think began just after 7.30.



We had booked this meal mainly for the opportunity to meet two of the princes... Flynn Rider, amiright? Also I thought it would be a nice character meal for the last day when we were feeling down about the holiday coming to an end. Plus it was literally a couple of minutes walk from our suite.

It wasn’t long before we were seated and our server Sherri introduced herself and brought over the cute frying pan of pastries.





I think there were minor disputes about who was having which pastry but I think it was all good in the end. Freya clearly got the chocolate twist .



The menu was not particularly appealing to any of us as the only thing that didn’t contain meat was a smoked salmon egg white omelet with spinach, mushrooms, goats cheese, tomatoes and roasted potatoes. I’m pretty sure I asked for it without the cheese as I can’t stand goats cheese. I seem to recall Sherri was a bit off about accommodating our requests which was a bit annoying because usually Disney are very reasonable about that kind of thing, and the menu was so limited for anyone who doesn’t eat meat (no vegetarian options at all.)

I think we annoyed her even more when she asked if we each wanted the parfait or fruit for our appetiser. Some of us (can’t remember who) wanted the yogurt but we wanted to make sure it was vegetarian as we knew some of the yogurt served at Disney contains gelatine. Sherri went off to check but she didn’t appear exactly over the moon about having to help us out. She confirmed it was vegetarian.



I think this is the kids' portion of fruit (although I don't know if it's any different to the adults') :



Freya had the option of a pancake, Mickey waffle, or egg, bacon and toast. She just wanted two poached eggs and toast and I think this was a big hassle to try and sort out too but we got there in the end. From the receipt, it appears that Seren was also able to get away with a kids’ breakfast and she had scrambled egg and toast. Kids’ meals were $20 each and adults $34 so I’m quite pleased both girls were charged as children. Mat and I had orange juice and coffee.

I know we didn’t love the food when it did come but part of that was probably due to the lack of options for us, and the fact that it was going home day.





Rapunzel and Flynn were the first characters out and there was much excitement when they appeared.



Before they got to our table, they had to break from going to tables for a little procession around the restaurant. I was a bit annoyed because it was really difficult to get a photo of them together as they passed with all the other people around and the fact they were moving quite quickly.



They stopped at a table in the corner together and chatted to that family for a minute and that also annoyed me because no one else got to meet them together. Again, part of my annoyance was probably because it was going home day.

Flynn was the first to come to our table and I think the girls were even more nervous about meeting a male face character than they were the princesses. He was great though, he did that thing they do where they just chat away, reciting some lines in character.





Seren's face in this photo makes me laugh, she's clearly thinking 'Hurry up and move on please.' :



Similar expression here from Freya:





Rapunzel was sweet as always:



Freya seems to like Rapunzel a bit more than Flynn :







Eric and Ariel came out a little while after Rapunzel and Flynn. Eric was next to our table, and again he was great, chatting away while the girls were pretty much mute and looking a little scared.

Seren seems to like Eric even less than Flynn :









There was another procession with all four characters and the girls joined in.





Ariel was lovely as always:









I remember at the end of the meal Sherri brought the girls drinks to go with little light-up plastic Ariels attached and she was much friendlier at this point. Maybe because we were about to pay the bill (and tip).

So we were a little bit disappointed overall with the Bon Voyage breakfast. It had only been running a few weeks at that point and we had been really looking forward to it (especially meeting the princes) but it fell short on food and service for us. I also think it would have been much better if the couples came to the tables together so they could chat with one another as well as the guests, and you could then get a photo with both of them at the same time. I’m sure other people have been more impressed with the experience than us though.

We popped back to the BoardWalk to put the last few bits in the cases. Beautiful hotel:



The covered walkway to the left is the path from the front of the hotel to the bus stop which is across the road from the car park:



Continued below...
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Old 19 Nov 18, 12:54 PM  
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...continued

We checked out and stored our luggage and then went outside with the Mickey balloons to take some photos of the beautiful resort and BoardWalk.

















































We appear to be a balloon down in this photo :

















We handed the balloons into reception for the CMs to give to some children checking in today and they were very grateful.

Continued below...
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Old 19 Nov 18, 12:57 PM  
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...continued

Then we walked over to Fantasia Gardens which involves walking some of the way along the path to Hollywood Studios...















...and then cutting through The Swan which was a new experience for us as we’ve never been in the Swan or Dolphin before. It seemed pretty nice.





I think it took about ten or fifteen minutes to get there but again it was a long time ago and I have no notes. Luckily it didn’t feel too hot today as we were in our travelling home clothes (trousers.)

We’ve played Fantasia Gardens a few times and it makes a nice change from Winter Summerland as it’s very different but we definitely prefer Winter Summerland. Even the Gardens course at Fantasia Gardens is quite challenging, and we prefer the theming at Winter Summerland.





















Luckily today it was pretty quiet. I won, Seren was second, Mat third and Freya last. We walked back to The BoardWalk...







...stopping at Thimbles and Threads as Freya wanted a notebook for the journey home and was claiming the one she had brought with her was full.



We had a long drive ahead of us and the girls said they wanted to write stories on the drive back to Miami. This being Disney World, the cheapest notebooks they had in the shop were $14.99 and we didn’t have time to go to a supermarket to get cheaper ones so we had to suck it up . I also got a Smart Water and we saw this cute Coke Zero bottle.



We collected the luggage, took a few last photos...





...and then loaded up the car and set off.

Bye Disney World :



We were heading for the Florida Mall as I think one of the girls was regretting not having bought something at American Girl and the last of their spends was burning a hole in their pocket.

Mat was getting a bit stressed by this point as time was ticking, so we hurried the girls as much as we could to get in and out of American Girl quickly.

As we walked back to the car, a woman in her twenties pushing a toddler in a buggy approached us and asked Mat for some money to ‘buy my baby some lunch.’ I think we were pretty much out of cash with us now about to head to the airport and he told her that. I felt bad like I always do in those situations and I don’t like judging people but we got the impression she was in a bad way, mixed up with drugs, and it was pretty sad.

From the Florida Mall we drove to Sweet Tomatoes up by Universal (the one we always go to). I have only one photo here, of my plate. I’m sure we would have all enjoyed our lunch as always but I think I couldn’t be bothered to take photos as the going home blues were setting in.



It was about 2pm and we were finally about to start out drive back to Miami. Mat was definitely tense about the drive. We were worried we would hit traffic as we got into the city as it was likely to be rush hour when we got there now. I think the traffic was fine at this end and before we knew it we were south of Orlando and heading down the I4.

The weather was good thankfully, unlike on the way up, and once we were out of Orlando the road was quiet. We did at least part of the journey on a different road to the one we’d driven up on, despite following the sat nav which was a bit confusing.

I had pretty much started crying as soon as we’d got back in the car at Sweet Tomatoes which is standard for the journey back to the airport for me. Seren was also crying too. We’d had a great trip, and couldn’t believe it was over. However, Mat reminded me we already had part of our 2018 trip booked and we’d be back before we knew it. So Seren and I pulled ourselves together and tried to enjoy the last few hours we had in Florida.

A couple of hours in, Mat was really flagging and decided to pull into a rest stop for a coffee. This rest stop was so much better than the motorway services we have here, as I assume most American rest stops are.





Mat got coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and the girls and I popped into this little shop for water and according to the receipt we also bought a Kit Kat. We were quite impressed with this little shop, and the rest stop overall.









We carried on towards Miami and as we got towards the city, the traffic started to increase as it was now after 5pm.





When we got to the exit for the airport, it all seemed very straightforward but there was a long queue of traffic ahead of us. We sat there for about ten or fifteen minutes not moving at all and it was about 6.20 pm at this point. Our flight was at 8.45 and we had hoped to have dropped the car off by 6 so it wasn’t too much of a rush.

Eventually we made it to the car drop off, removed everything from the car and headed into the terminal. We had a quick restroom stop, sorted out the bits and pieces we’d had loose in the car and headed up to check-in.

There were only a few people in line for the BA check-in which we were pleased about until we realised there were only a couple of desks open. We only needed to do bag drop and the BA counter was very small at Miami so there was no dedicated desk for passengers with ‘status’ (as BA call it, i.e. the likes of Gold Avios card holders like Mat.) There was a group of about six women checking in and some of their luggage was over allowance so they had cases spread open in front of the desks and were swapping things around between them. They were tying up at least two of the desks (and I think there were only three in use). We waited at least five minutes at the front of the line, and it was very frustrating. People behind us were huffing and puffing, and I was getting stressed because we were hoping to get something to eat before getting on the plane, and we really didn’t want to have to rush.

Obviously we should probably not have tried to fit so much into our day and should have left Orlando earlier, but I don’t like feeling like the last day is all about travelling, especially when the flight home is as late as this one. When we had been sat in that last bit of traffic, Mat had said he would never fly home from Miami like this again and I think he still stands by that. The long drive back, particularly at rush hour, is much less fun than the drive up on day one when the holiday is still all ahead of you, and you’re not so pressured time wise.

Anyway, we decided to grab a slice of pizza each from the only available place, Villa Italian Kitchen. It was empty (as was the whole terminal pretty much) and it didn’t look great but needs must. In the end, the pizza was pretty good. Mat and I had mushrooms, the girls just had cheese and tomato and it was about $17 in total.



I don’t remember anything about the flight at all, but I do have a photo of the breakfast we were given.



I am so sorry about this poor end to the report and I promise to do better next time. Which will be very soon as I now need to get cracking on 2018’s report before that becomes a distant memory too. Thanks as always for reading and sticking with me and I’m sorry for how long it has taken to finish . Because of this rather depressing end to the report I'm just going to post the photo of my Starbucks mug haul purchased during the trip again, and my Disney nails because why not?



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Old 19 Nov 18, 04:40 PM  
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Enjoyed all your report, thanks for taking the time to write it.

Will look out for your 2018 one.

Breakfast looked nice but rubbish there is no veggie option. Never played Fantasia golf, we always do winter summerland.

I can feel stress of trip to Miami. We went early this time and had time in Miami but then airport felt rushed whereas last year we just drove down in time for flight and had time for a proper meal. No right or wrong way to do it I think.
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Old 20 Nov 18, 09:04 PM  
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I'd have been very annoyed with Sherri at breakfast, it is never nice to be made to feel like you're an inconvenience.

Thank you for sharing your trip with us, I'm already excited to hear about this year.
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Old 20 Nov 18, 09:45 PM  
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Well done for finishing without notes I’m impressed at your memory!
You crammed loads in your last day
Another great trip, thank you for sharing
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Old 21 Nov 18, 09:15 PM  
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I've been wondering about the breakfast at Trattoria al forno...although we would enjoy the non veggie options I'm not sure I'm going to go for it as you've reminded me that sometimes the boy face characters can be a bit awkward. I was tempted for the same reason as (you are right! FLYNN) but, we've done the evening meal at 1900 with Prince Chraming and he was just a bit wet, the mean step sisters were awesome, but you pointing out Freya and Serens faces has reminded me that perhaps this is just one to miss...I'm sorry that your last meal wasn't a hit though.

That was a lovely idea to give the balloons to check in for some other children. Plus you got to fit in a lasy round of mini golf which is great.

The drive to the airport is always depressing and unfortunately you had a super long one in which to wallow!

I'm secretly glad this report is done so you can start on the new one! I hope you know that I mean that in the nicest possible way as I absolutely love your reports and I'm such a massive fan of them popping up out of the blue. The big question though is can you fit in the summer 2018 report before your next holiday?! It's your own fault for going back so soon, but now there is another deadline! I'm guessing if this one is anything to go by we might get to the end of the 2018 report by 2020...goodness knows how many you'll have up your sleeve by then.
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2021: Jamaica. Rome.
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2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 22 Nov 18, 10:45 PM  
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Shame about the car journey and airport wait but another good day otherwise. Going home day is always depressing.

Looking forward to the new report x
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Old 11 Feb 19, 12:55 AM  
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Wow, this is such a great warts and all report! Looking forward to the next one!
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Old 26 Jun 19, 07:09 PM  
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Hi, thanks for sharing your trip, really enjoyed reading your report. In fact I’ve booked EMM after your review!

Now please crack on with the others. 😂
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