Ben and Libby's Adventure to Neverland! Day 16 :(

[oh_darling]

Day 16 – 21st October 2011

Hometime

God this was a horrendous day. Well not really but it’s never going to be good is it. It’s even quite depressing just writing about it!

We woke up at about 8am this morning. ME was picking us up at 2pm and we needed to pack and sort the room out because we wanted to our last morning in DTD. I shot out of bed once I realized it was 8am already because we had so much to do! The first depressing thing was digging out some clothes that would be suitable for the cold harsh weather of the UK I grabbed a pair of leggings and my new Nicki Minaj top (<3 <3 MINAJ) and put them to one side while I assessed the bombsite that was my suitcase. Although I had originally put it neatly in the little corner behind the kitchen as you come in the room, over the course of the week it had spread out quite alarmingly and was now all over the entrance area and also quite a lot in the living area. Obviously my makeup/hair/body products were all over the vanity area, Ben had like a tiny corner for his toothbrush haha It wasn’t my fault though really I think it all just naughtily spreads out when we are sleeping and so I don’t notice it happening til it’s too late.

I attempted to get my stuff in some kind of order and after about half an hour I had it under control, my suitcase was filled with clothes and shoes and my makeup and hair stuff was all neatly in my washbag. But…I still had all my souvenirs and most importantly, FOOD! The Disney holdall filled up really quite quickly with the food and I was having to take stuff out of boxes, bin the cardboard and chuck the food in loose (I’m talking wrapped chocolate bars etc, not like Poptarts because chucking them in loose would be gross) Ben was watching me quite despairingly and he said every time I nipped into the bathroom or vanity area he grabbed something from the bag and chucked it in the bin LOL! He said he was joking but I really think this actually happened! I don’t blame him, I was fighting a losing battle.

After what seemed like a decade we had all of our bags packed, zipped and locked. I’d had to make some tough decisions surrounding the issue of what is and isn’t a souvenir. I felt every single item I’d collected over the past 2 weeks was worthy of being brought home but our luggage allowance disagreed So I was only able to bring back one bag filled with receipts, napkins, maps, leaflets, menus etc etc which was about 1/5 of what I’d collected! Never mind I chose the good stuff

We then quickly got ready ourselves and I took some final photos of our lovely studio. I know we’ve all seen them before but I think it just looked especially beautiful on this last morning.







Overcome with emotion, I took a close-up of the microwave. I don’t know why.



And of our beautiful balcony and view.







Such beautiful details that make it so special



Sad faaaceeee

[oh_darling]

Couldn’t take the flowers home but I picked out the ‘special rose’ which was surrounded with gold netting and laid it flat in my planning folder to keep.





Tragically, I discovered said planning folder yesterday when digging through piles of stuff in my room and to my utter DISGUST it had gone all mouldy and disgusting and to make matters worse, I had also put our California Grill menus in there and they are ruined too. So pretty gutted about that.

Final shot



We hauled all our bags out into the corridor, said goodbye to the room and I took a photo of it to remember <3





(anyone else get emotional about hotel rooms!?!?)

We had to walk down to the Reception, I can’t remember why though, I think because if we’d have got the bus it would have gone to DTD first and Carriage House last and we just wanted to get going. Bit of a faff heaving our bags along but we made it! We were able to leave our bags with the same guys we did on the first day (all those days ago…) and we were free to hit DTD.

We walked down to the bus stop, stopping for a second to take a photo of the main pool. We both said it was a shame we hadn’t had a chance to visit it, we’d only visited our local quiet pool once which was right near our room! Next time we would like to have the chance to spend some time there as it looks like such a nice area.



(Interestingly, while watching a video of this particular moment I noticed you can quite clearly hear Banj say “so next time we should come for 3 weeks so we can really get to make use of the pool…” Just sayin’.)

More photos of our beloved resort.











I can’t understand why ANYONE wouldn’t like SSR and it really annoys me that people often say it is their least favourite deluxe. Yes it is big and spaced out but it really doesn’t affect your holiday in ANY WAY – we chose to be nearer to DTD and the 10 minute walk was fantastic but if you choose to be near Carriage House you are mega close to all the facilities! And if you weren’t fussed about DTD you wouldn’t ever have to walk far at all! If we go to SSR again (which we would both LOVE and can’t imagine going to a value…we’d need the 45% off offer though so fingers crossed) we would for sure stay at Congress Park because for us, the walk to DTD just made the holiday. Plus it made it so much easier going from resort to resort which we did quite often for dinner etc as we could just go from DTD and no pesky bus changes or anything. So annoying that the busses don’t go resort to resort though haha! Faff central. Okay speech over!

Just one more photo I promise, look how beautiful this is



We only waited about 5 minutes for a bus which was good and we were soon on our way to DTD. First stop was WPE for an early lunch! It was only about 11.00 which was good because it was suuuuper quiet. Time to use up our last CS credits!

I was really looking forward to WPE because I knew it gets rave reviews pretty much across the board for it’s table service style quick service. I was tempted by the sandwiches on the menu and also the meatloaf but in the end we both went for pizza We’d hardly eaten pizza during the holiday, have you noticed?

I chose the four cheese pizza and Benji got the veggie one. I just had to get the crème brulee as my dessert and Ben opted for frozen yogurt which he was told to come up and get when he was ready. We both chose fountain drinks, I think we both got still lemonade mmmmm! It was nice and quiet and we were able to get a great seat right at the front of the restaurant in front of the window.

Super sad faces in WPE

[oh_darling]

Our pizzas were bought out quite quickly and we were both a little shocked at how gourmet they looked!





Four Cheese Pizza - Mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, and creamy goat cheese with fresh basil, pesto sauce and fresh and sun-dried tomatoes. This was soooo delicious. It had huge bits of creamy goats cheese that I greedily smeared around the top so that every bite would have a goats cheese tang There was also lovely fresh parmesan on top rich worked really well with the rich pesto. GOD it was actually incredible, one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever eaten and that is saying something!





Tuscan Vegetable Pizza - Tuscan vegetable pizza. - $9.95
Ben was equally amazed at his veggie pizza and they both vanished within seconds! (ish)

Benj then went off to get his frozen yogurt and he came with…plain fro-yo. Hmmm! I asked him if there was any toppings and he was like “yep…but I just wanted plain.” I’ll let him off because he’s cute but let it be known I do not normally find this kind of behaviour acceptable.



My crème brulee was awesome! Soooo good! It was only lukewarm because they bought it out with my pizza but it didn’t really matter, it was so creamy and yummy MMM I ate it all



Ben enjoyed his plain frozen yogurt a lot too, in fact he had to stop eating it at one point because they gave him a huge portion and he was feeling mega sick! I had to physically remove it from his clutches haha cause he was enjoying it so much

After we’d finished we headed over to Goofy’s Candy Co. As you have probably predicted, we were left with a boatload of snack credits. I know, I know, all holiday I’ve been saying “urghhh I’m not going to use a SC on a bottle of WATER” etc etc and Ben has been gently reminding me we’ll have lots left over and should probably start using them on drinks…well I didn’t. We had like 7 left haha. We only had 14 to start with! And this included 2 afternoons spent eating around the F&W festival. Oops! It didn’t matter though because we just grabbed a bunch of chocolates and sweets for our friends and family and I also added some popcorn (I hadn’t had any the whole holiday can you believe that!?) and a pumpkin rice crispy treat that I ate at work and got quite emotional. It wasn’t that great though, the icing was a bit ick and it was really, sickeningly sweet but obviously I forced it down!

All our snack credits used up, we had 2 CS left (I don’t know how! ) and I had planned all along to get a couple of sammies from EoS to take with us to the airport. Sorted! All our chores under our belts we walked over to Characters in Flight to recreate the magic of our first voyage in a tethered balloon on the good ship Panoramagique

We paid for our tickets (I think it was just under $20 each eeekk! Little bit excessive but we figured we may as well) and queued up behind a couple of other people to wait for the next flight.









Took some photos of DTD in general







We didn’t have to wait long and we were soon being invited up onto the balloon. There were about 8 other people on with us so not too bad. The captain ran through a couple of safety tips and rules with us and then we were off! Wow, what a view as we were going up, was so weird seeing all the people below us so tiny!

It was awesome to see DTD all spread out below us, it really is huge! We could appreciate just how much we’d walked on our first night there, only made slightly more easier with a margarita! As we got higher we could really appreciate the sheer SIZE of WDW, it’s huge! On Paronamagique we could Disney Village, both parks and all resorts easily! On CiF we could just see each parks tallest building (Tower of Terror, the castle etc) and that was it! We tried to make out different resorts but we couldn’t really! The guy was really helpful, pointing out various areas of interest to us which was great. I went a bit crazy with the snaps!

[oh_darling]

And we got another couple on there to take a photo of us



Saratoga on the way back down!







All too soon it was over, we thanked the captain and disembarked the balloon. Really fun experience and I def recommend it, especially if you’re stuck at DTD on your leaving day and trying to kill time!

After CiF we walked back to the Marketplace to get our sammies but DISASTER! There was a huuuuuuge and I mean HUGE line out of Earl of Sandwich Laaamme! We were kinda in a rush as it was getting on to 1.15 by this time and we needed to get back to SSR and I knew we wouldn’t have time if we joined the queue! I made a split decision and told Benj we could get sandwiches at Artists Palatte because at least then we’d be back and ready.

So, with heavy hearts, we said goodbye to Downtown Disney (“see ya real soon!”) and caught the bus back to Carriage House at SSR. We had half an hour or so until the ME was due to arrive so we went to the Artists Palette and I ordered a Sammie, Ben said he wasn’t hungry though and didn’t want one. I did try and say I wasn’t hungry either but it was the principle of using up CS credits haha but he wasn’t fussed I queued up and the really nice lady who had taken a bit of a shine to me I think was really helpful, I told her I was going back to the airport and could I have the sandwich and chips in a bag not a box and she packaged it all up really nicely for me so it wouldn’t be bulky in my handbag BABE! I opted for the bleu cheese and beef roll with homemade kettle chips. Mmmmm. or so I thought! Flash forward to the next day and I eagerly tucked into my sandwich for lunch after putting it in the fridge as soon as we got home and it was GROSS! The bleu cheese was horrendously strong and almost vinegary and I put it straight in the bin. So that was my only bad food experience at Disney I think! Although technically it wasn’t at Disney haha! I did eat the chips at the airport though and they were noms

Right, back to our departure day. Sammie safely packed away in my handbag, we got our bags from the bell services guys and sat to await the arrival of the ME. It was quite busy with lots of British people around and they all annoyed me in differing ways LOL I was not in a good mood.

The bus turned up about quarter to and then there was an inexplicable bunfight to get on even though we’d all booked seats. We put our luggage under the bus and stepped on to get our seats. We passed the time to the airport watching the Disney film which was enjoyable but slightly depressing.

We pulled up to Orlando International and it was a bit tense remembering the last time we were here, lack of limo driver and all (DON’T USE SUNSHINE LIMOUSINES ahem) but we pushed through, picked up our bags, thanked the driver and headed into the airport.

We went though all the usual stuff, got rid of our bags and were free to wander round for about an hour and a half before our plane was loading. Benji decided he was peckish so we did a brief circle of the (very limited!) food choices in the food hall. It was getting a bit tense because none of them had veggie options or sounded very appetizing but then ended up at good ol’ Burger King which I was actually quite excited for as I was gutted I never got to try an American McDonalds! (I know they are the same and that’s the whole point of the chain but I remember from my youth they just tasted sooo much better! We never have McD’s over here anyway so I wouldn’t have had much to compare it to on reflection!) Benji ordered a veggie burger meal and I couldn’t resist and got a single cheeseburger on the side It came to like $5 it was crazy haha especially after a week of Disney food! Which I know was free but still, no denying a $12 burger is spennnnsiiiveee! It was actually really funny here because Ben picked up some fries thinking I wanted them but I didn’t so he put them back down and a guy said to him, “are you going to buy those? it’s just I’ll have to throw them away if you don’t” ohhhh how bad did we feel! Ben was like “sorry!” grabbed them and shoved them on the tray and we quickly moved on haha. awwwkkkwaaarddd! So I ended up with a burger and fries! Win!

We sat at a little table and enjoyed our feast; the burgers were good, standard fast food obviously but def filled a hole The fries were really hot and crispy too although I do prefer McD’s fries it has to be said

Ben’s quite impressive looking veggie burger





My burger looked a little sad in comparison. It matched my mood



After we’d finished our snacks we headed over to a newsagents to get a magazine. I may have got a little carried away and in a moment of ‘OMG WE’RE LEAVING AMERICA’ I bought 6 magazines :O came to like $20 haha! I couldn’t choose because I got so excited seeing all the different names. I hasten to add I had already bought American Glamour, People and Cosmo earlier in the holiday…I also got us a bottle of water and Benji got a magazine. We were all set!

We saw that our plane was boarding so headed up to the departures lounge. We were quite early so got a couple of seats and just sat down to wait. Oooooohhhhh it was depressing.

[oh_darling]

Slowly the room began to fill up and I was generally scowling at anyone who looked like they were having fun, grrrr how could they possibly be in a good mood!?





We passed the time reading our new mags and then eventually our seats were called and we boarded the plane. We were 2 on the side of a middle row this time which wasn’t as good as our first ones but we didn’t really care seeing as we were planning to sleep mostly. Ben sat on the inside and I sat on the aisle due to my need to drink loads of water on flights and then inevitably need to visit the lavs.

All my magazines!



I had a bit of an issue which I won’t go into too much as I don’t want it to taint the end of the holiday but a woman in front of me jammed her seat down as soon as she sat down…I asked her very nicely if she wouldn’t mind moving it up a bit, she complained to the air hostess who then told me off saying everyone has paid for their seat and space and she is entitled to put her chair down, I could put mine down too if I wanted!

Yeah thanks love, I’m well aware of that I just thought a bit of common courtesy might have come into play! Anyway I was livid and to be honest in such a foul mood anyway that I had to really stop myself reaching over her seat and punching her but I just about managed to refrain.

ANYWAY! Ben swapped seats with me because he’s a huge babe and was planning to just go to sleep anyway so I could sit comfortably in his seat and watch my screen without having it rammed right into my face

We were bought round dinner, I only seem to have taken a photo of mine but it’s okay because we both had the same! I was thrilled to learn that one of the options was cheesy pasta woooo! It was really lovely too, saucy and cheesy and GOOD. We also got a small side salad with dressing, bread roll and an…unusual….banana cake. I also had a glass of wine. Benj had the same but minus the wine, plus a beer.




I think I fell asleep not long after dinner and slept quite well for the rest of it once I took my lenses out Next thing we knew it was 6.00am and we were landing in cold, wet, depressing Gatwick. Booooo. Ben’s Dad and his girlfriend came to pick us up which was lovely of them and we packed all our suitcases in the boot, keeping out some of our ride photos and DC photos to show them and it was nice to tell them all about it on the way home. I couldn’t quite believe that we were actually home though, and that the holiday of a lifetime was over. Sigh. The journey home was uneventful, I got dropped off at my house where I spoke to my Mum for a bit but then went straight to bed for about 5 hours, waking in the afternoon feeling a lot more alive and ready to start telling people about what an amazing time we’d had

Babe of the Day: The lovely lady who made my (gross) sandwich travel-friendly at the Artists Palette! <3

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So I think that, my friends, concludes my trippie. I hope everyones enjoyed it, I’ve REALLY enjoyed writing it and I’m so pleased that I’ve preserved the memories of this trip forever. I’m hoping to print it out and make it into a book or something whenever I get the time. We are also working on uploading and editing our videos and I will put them on YouTube and insert them into some days of the trippie because some of them just really need to be seen haha!

I’ll be doing a highs and lows post and general round-up next, including details of POTENTIAL FUTURE TRIPS which I’ll get Benj involved with for his thoughts and feelings so we’ll see you then!

To finish the trippie, I’d like to leave you with this, which I think is very apt when it comes to me and Benjamin.

“You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” – Walt Disney

[yellowmonkey]

Absoloutly loved reading your trip reports and have been looking forward to Day 16 but now its here it is a bit sad that it is all done

Your attention to detail and in depth reports with loads of Piccies are right up my street. Thank you for taking the time to post them and making my upcoming trip more exciting as I feel as though I am out there when I am reading trip reports

Once again Thank you

[Jayney16]

Aww boo its over!
Thanks for a great read and allowing us to enjoy your holibobs along with you looking forward to the extras coming soon

[Gill H]

Thank you so much! We will read this tonight (we take turns reading trippies aloud to each other - it's been yours or James's most nights recently!)

[oh_darling]

Originally Posted by yellowmonkey

Absoloutly loved reading your trip reports and have been looking forward to Day 16 but now its here it is a bit sad that it is all done

Your attention to detail and in depth reports with loads of Piccies are right up my street. Thank you for taking the time to post them and making my upcoming trip more exciting as I feel as though I am out there when I am reading trip reports

Once again Thank you

See more...

Aww thank you You are more than welcome, I've loved writing them and all the positive feedback has been fab So pleased I've helped you get more excited for your trip! I'll probably keep reading mine over and over til we go again haha. Will you be doing a trippie for your holiday?

Thank you for reading and for your lovely comments xxx

Originally Posted by Jayney16

Aww boo its over!
Thanks for a great read and allowing us to enjoy your holibobs along with you looking forward to the extras coming soon

See more...

You're welcome! Pleased you enjoyed! I wish everyone could have actually come with us haha would have been awesome! Yep extras will be up shortly highs and looowwwssss xxxxxxx

[oh_darling]

Originally Posted by Gill H

Thank you so much! We will read this tonight (we take turns reading trippies aloud to each other - it's been yours or James's most nights recently!)

See more...

Aww love it! Bedtime stories haha! Bet mine take aaaggggess though haha especially the previous day! Hope you enjoy Gill and Peter xxxx