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Old 21 Aug 19, 10:57 PM  
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Man v Disney
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Day 27/8 - Back once again like a Floriday Master - Keke's/Cinema/Travel Home

Welcome to our final reporting day of this trip. I woke early despite having had a sleep tablet last night, I don’t know if it was nerves or just sad that we are heading home. Everyone else woke up quite a bit later and after we had all showered I put on a washing load of towels.

We spent the rest of the time until we set off doing a final scout round and making sure that we had double checked every drawer and cupboard. The kids went out to say goodbye to the pool as well, they are really going to miss it. After getting rid of our final rubbish and recycling I loaded the car and we all had final toilet visits before we headed out. Han did our usual leaving ritual of taking pictures of the empty rooms and then closing the door so that we know exactly how we left the room, just in case there is a query. There never has been, but it’s something we like to do. We also left a note for the cleaners to let them know what we had cleaned and that the bin was half full.



Our first stop this morning was the Riverview Cinema in Gibsonton, on the outskirts of Tampa, about 10 miles south of I4, just off the I75. It was about 60 miles or so from our villa and took about 70 minutes to drive. We had set off at 9.30 so arrived about 9.40, with 15 minutes to spare before the film started.

After printing our tickets we went in and found our screen and seats. The cinema here is really nice and there were only 8 people in total in the cinema. The seats made Odeon Premiere look rubbish. Their ‘standard’ seat is one of the most comfortable we have ever sat in, with your own tray which you can spin round to hold your food and buttons to recline the seat if you wanted to, literally to nearly laying flat – we all went for feet up and partial recline.



It was nice, but strangely quiet. All of the sound was off, although they were showing the adverts. Then a message came up to say that the film would start momentarily. Shortly after this the screen went blank. Han went out and let them know that there was nothing on the screen and shortly after they started showing the trailers. Again – no sound! So Han popped out again and they soon came in with an iPad or similar and played around with that until the sound came on too which is good as I was getting a bit fidgety about fitting everything in before we had to get the car back.

With a fully working cinema screen now we settled down to watch Spiderman:Far From Home. It was really good and we enjoyed the film a lot, including the end credit scenes. It was the perfect way to fill the hours between leaving the villa and getting to the airport.

It was around 1.35 when we got out so we headed over to Keke’s Breakfast Café to get some lunch before heading to the airport. It only took 10 minutes dto drive there and it was the same one we went to at the start of the holiday.

We were shown straight to a table and put in our drinks orders of Hot Chocolate, Coffee and OJ. Han ordered the Stuffed (with Pina Colada stuffing) French Toast Combo, I ordered the 1 pancake (Florida topping – banana and strawberry) combo, Josiah got French Toast and Eliana the Silver Dollar pancakes with a ham steak. It was really enjoyable again and the service was good too. A good restaurant and again, happy to recommend!

The meal cost a total of $74.61 including the tip.



Once were done we set our maps app to take us to a petrol station only a mile from Tampa Airport so that we were returning the car full. It only took about 30 minutes and we put $17.16 in which completely filled the car.

From there, it was a 5 minute drive to the Rental Car Centre return point. After unloading our car and getting a receipt to confirm a zero balance we headed in. The car has really worked well for us. We did 1,545 miles in it over four weeks with a total fuel cost of $139.46. It would have been a struggle if he had four suitcases and hand luggage though. I’m glad we went for the upgrade on the car size when we booked (nothing to do with my desire for an ‘American style’ car – honest)!



After getting the SkyConnect tram over to the central hub we went to Bag Drop and handed our cases in. They weighed 20.5kg, 22kg, 23kg and 8kg. So all good!

We got the tram over to F terminal and then went to do security. Han had an email from Tampa to say that when we got here we were to find Courtney who had been made aware of us coming and would help us through this stage. This was perfectly timed as Josiah had barely eaten any lunch as he gets very nervous before flying. He was particularly nervous today so not having to wait in line would be such a help for him.

Once we had called Courtney she came over and introduced herself to us as well as one of her colleagues. While she went and sorted out all of our passports and boarding cards we chatted to the other TSA officer who lived near Busch Gardens and was telling us all about her kids. She was really friendly and put Josiah at ease, asking him lots of questions and generally keeping his mind off the flight. With hindsight, maybe watching Cast Away wasn’t the best idea although he loved it!

Once Courtney was done she halted the main queue, which was quite lengthy and opened the line to take us to our own scanning machine saving us a long time in the line. We cannot say enough good stuff about how well they looked after us at that point.

Once through we went down to our gate F90 and found a seat and settled in until we were called up to board the plane. Handily, there was a charging point right next to the seats so we made sure we were fully charged first.

Han and Eliana went to get Eliana some food for the plane and came back with fries and a hotdog – neither of which she was actually particularly keen on – oh dear. She also got a Starbucks Hot Chocolate to ‘soothe her throat’ so that filled her a little before the flight food, although we had ordered the lactose free meal to avoid cheese again as this had been successful on the way out.



We were soon able to pre board, although this took a little while. Once on board the plane we went to the back and found our seats, which had loads of space as they were right at the back. We really would recommend these seats for the way back as there was quite a good recline and no one behind the kids. As a bonus we had no one in either of the two rows in front. The middle back row was empty as was the back row on the other side of the plane. I didn’t check the rest of the plane, but it didn’t feel like it was nearly full.

The plane was able to push back 5 minutes ahead of schedule at 6.15 and after a short wait we took off at 6.40pm. The captain advised that due to there being little wind the journey would take slightly longer.

We settled in ready for our food which was a choice of chicken or pasta. I had the pasta which was great, the chicken was dry though. The rest of the meal was pretty good. I had a glass of wine with dinner to help me sleep. Unfortunately, they messed up on Eliana’s meal and brought a kids meal rather than lactose free meal – as we declined the kids meal to wait for the lactose free (at this point they hadn’t said they didn’t have one) and when we realised there wasn’t one, they had given the kids meal away to someone else! They were eventually able to find a substitute which included the chicken. She didn’t really eat it anyway as she said she wasn’t too hungry and was really tired.



After dinner we all slept on and off through the journey, getting between 2 and 4 hours of sleep each. Breakfast was served about 90 minutes before landing and was a Tomato Cream Cheese Croissant. It was not pleasant at all so we all left it.



Our landing was delayed so we had to circle for a while before we were able to go in to land at 8.20am. This was smooth and as we were at the back of the plane we decided to wait and be last off. Well this was an incredibly smooth process. The walk to bag pick up is a long one but we checked our passports with relative ease, went through to the main hall and our cases were already on the conveyor.

We headed to the Bloc hotel next to see if they had a family room, which they didn’t, they did have a couple of double rooms next door to each other for £39 each so we went for those instead. I think we got in to these by about 9.15am, so we had been well under an hour from touching down to getting into a bed. Not bad at all! We considered going to the Premier Inn at North Terminal as that was £69 for a family room but I’m so glad we did this instead as we were all asleep very quickly.

I think I was asleep within minutes and was the first to wake at 12.50pm, about 7.50 am Florida time. Rather than go back to sleep I decided to stay awake as any more sleep would make it a lot harder to get to sleep when we got home.



Han got a text from her mum at about 2.45pm to say that she had arrived at the Long Stay Car Park. I had had a shower already and the others had woken after me. So we headed over to the free bus, very handy, and met her in Zone D. In my slightly tired state I forgot one of the cases and left it on the bus. Fortunately I realised when it was still in the car park, so ran over to intercept it and recovered the case! Oops – good job it’s Han driving home and not me.



It was great to see Rosemary and she was happy to listen to us retelling our adventures, even though she had been reading along. As we had struggled with the breakfast option on the plan we stopped at some services about 20 or 30 miles into the journey and had a Mcdonalds (Han got fish & chips instead) as we were starving. Eliana had been looking forward to this as she had very much missed Chicken Mayo’s.



After a further stop to grab some Cadbury chocolate (much missed) and a drink about an hour from home, we stepped in the front door at about 9pm. Han was a little tired from driving and we were all weary, but not so tired we needed to sleep. Han and the kids had a chill while I did my usual post holiday routine of unpacking the cases, which I always find helps me to be able to settle.



We were all in bed by about 11pm or so and we were all asleep by about 2am or so.

This really meant that the holiday was over and I think that we had had such a good time that is was the right time for us to come back. We were ready to attempt life back in the UK.

Han was a little upset that she hadn’t got to have a cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, or any Dippin’ Dots as every time we were too full! Oh well, that gives us a reason to go back to America!

Thanks for reading along. I hope you have enjoyed following our adventures and if any of our experiences have helped you to make informed choices about what you may (or may not) do then it was worth it. Thanks again for all of the kind comments – we’ll try to answer any more that we get.

Hoping to do a Highs & Lows summary so watch out for that!

Clarks – over and out!
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Trip 3: 4 weeks CBR (1) / Villa (3) with DDDP 2019
Trip 4: 3 weeks Villa with Parks 2023

Edited at 11:01 PM.
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Old 21 Aug 19, 11:14 PM  
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kadypants
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Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful holiday with us all. I have loved reading along with your adventures and have been making notes of tips and recommendations as I have gone along. Thank you!
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Old 22 Aug 19, 09:05 AM  
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Em4owen
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I've loved reading along at every moment. Now what do I do for the rest of the summer holidays!?! 😂

I've picked up loads of tips too. It's also handy to see what it's like in August in terms of the heat and crowds so you've helped me feel less worried about that. I look forward to reading your highs and lows too.

Thank you for all the effort you put into the report. I've done a few after the holiday and know how time consuming (but also enjoyable) it can be so appreciate it. It's always more exciting when it's live as I like to pretend I'm there with you!
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Old 22 Aug 19, 02:13 PM  
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bettany2001
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Thanks for taking the time to write this report, I have loved reading it. Makes me want to get back out to Florida now (got to wait another two years)!
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Old 22 Aug 19, 04:02 PM  
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Fantastic trip. I've certainly picked up a few tips for our next trip. Thank you very much.
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Old 22 Aug 19, 04:21 PM  
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Suzieee
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Welcome home! Have really loved reading along... as always! I'll miss it!
You have all had a wonderful holiday... thanks for sharing!
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Old 22 Aug 19, 08:32 PM  
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Thanks for a brilliant trippie!
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Old 24 Aug 19, 10:18 PM  
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What an amazing holiday, i almost feel as though I have been along with you. Thank you.
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Old 25 Aug 19, 08:48 PM  
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So glad to catch up with your latest trip report, after not long reading your previous one.

Looks like another amazing trip for you all. Any plans to go back?
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Old 7 Sep 19, 07:44 AM  
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lemon-squeeze
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Really enjoyed reading along. Sounds like a fabulous trip.
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