We're all going on a Poly-holiday - October 2019: Days 14 & 15: And now it’s time to pay the price!

[bambikate]

Days 14 and 15: And now it’s time to pay the price!
Saturday 26 October 2019 and Sunday 27 October 2019

Index

Ohana’s Best Friends Breakfast, back to Animal Kingdom, Flight of Passage, Night Blossom, meeting Tim Tracker, back to Capt. Cook’s for lunch, Magical Express to MCO, Burger King and then flying home. Arriving in Gatwick the net day and driving home then unpacking all of our purchases!

Well this was it! The last day of our holiday, we had checked in online, packed and weighed our bags (they miraculously came in at just under 23kg each) and we had a plan to make the most of our last day. Our flight wasn’t until 6:40pm so we had all day to have a great time.

I used to always treat the travelling home day as a bit of a write off but after a few years of holidays I realised you can actually do so much on your final day and the impending flight doesn’t need to spoil that.

First on the agenda was 'Ohana Best Friends breakfast at… yep! ‘Ohana!

We walked over and checked in at the desk. Pluto was only meeting at the entrance now, he didn’t come table to table anymore. Being Immy’s favourite character, we got in line but were warned, if we got called to our table during queuing, we would have to leave the queue. We queued anyway and about half way through we were called… typical!

Anyway, we were shown to our seat and given some fruit and some pineapple coconut bread.







They had created a special alcoholic drinks menu since they released the free dining with alcohol, so I chose in the Polyneisan Red Eye - Parrot Bay Coconut rum, passion-orange-guava juices, and grenadine and Andy had a Mimosa.

We also had coffee and POG juice, the girls had water and POG juice.

Our family platter included Scrambled Eggs, Fried Potatoes, caramelised onions and scallions, pork breakfast sausage links and smoked bacon, biscuits and Mickey Waffles



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The characters came round to greet us one by one, first of all, Mickey:







Lilo:



Stitch:







After a very tasty breakfast with lots of POG juice and coffee refills we got back in line to finally meet Pluto (yay)







After breakfast we checked out of our room and took our luggage to the lobby to check out and leave it with bell services. We had already cleared our magic band balance every few nights with cash so there were no nasty surprises. It's so handy to be able to check this regularly on the app.

The girls watched some cartoons whilst we checked out.





Our final park we would be visiting this trip was Animal Kingdom. We had a fast pass booked for FOP and Everest again and we were super excited.

We caught the bus to AK and started walking to Pandora.







Beautiful waterfall



There she is - Jackie Ogden!





After the ride we stopped for a final Night Blossom











Bye, Pandora



I loved these pretty lanterns.



We stopped for a photo pass en route







There’s Everest! Our next destination!



The girls in the queue



It’s our final day



But we get to go on Everest!





After Everest, we all got an ice cream from the ice cream cart outside Everest



Cheers!



As we were walking round towards the Nemo attraction I did a double take at someone walking through the park, it was Tim Tracker (of YouTube fame!) We have been huge Tim and Jenn Tracker fans for years and have even sent in the girls’ drawings for one of their live mail blogs before and they read out our letter and showed the picture.

Here it is - our bit is at about 33:56...



I said to Andy quietly and simultaneously whacking him on the arm “Andy, Andy! It’s TimTracker! ” He looked and then tapped the girls on the arm and whispered the same.

[bambikate]

I was really torn whether to just leave him be or be brave and go up and say "Hi". I know he’s always really friendly when people come up to him in his videos so I thought, you know what? I’m going to say "Hi"!

As soon as I got the courage to speak to him a woman in a big group of friends shouts “OH MY GOD, IT’S TIM TRACKER! ” And they all ran over and surrounded him. They chatted for ages and he posed for some photos with them and we all kind of stood awkwardly in the background.

As soon as he finished with them he kind of looked my way as he could see us standing there and he said "Hi".

We chatted for a few minutes about his channel and where we were from and how much we loved watching their vlogs and at the end I asked if he would mind taking a picture with the girls “Of course!” He said. And then we took the snap and said our goodbyes!

What a totally surreal thing to happened and such brilliant timing! We had always hoped to bump into him but never thought that it would happen.

What a great parting gift.



Shortly after this, Izzy’s ice cream melted and went everywhere and then went on the floor. We tried to get Izzy to see the funny side of it but she got in a grump but later realised how funny her grumpiness was and laughed about it.



We walked round to the exit and saw Kevin was there walking around



We got the bus back to the Poly then got some lunch from Capt.Cook’s. We chose the pizza flatbread, coconut meatballs and fried rice







We also got some smart waters to hydrate before our flight



We waited for our bus and it soon arrived.





Shortly after arriving at MCO, we checked in our bags and then went through security and boarded the monorail it all went totally smoothly without a hiccup.

I will always be so thankful for when things "go right" at airports. We have been involved in our share of travel day disasters, none more so than the last time we flew out of MCO in 2017 where there was a false alarm at security which, at the time, we were told there was an active shooter at the airport which you can read all about here *Be warned it's not a very nice read - in fact when I read it just now it made me cry, such horrible memories.

I was concerned that the girls may get flashbacks when we went back this year but they didn't at all, resilient little things





It was a bit early for dinner but we had a feeling the food on the plane would be bad so we got a Burger King













Waiting for our flight



Flying on the Tinker Belle



Boarding was slow but we got on in the end and were soon settled into our seats



Shortly after take off, they brought the drinks around. I had an Aviation gin and pretzels



I’m pretty sure Andy would have had the same or a beer and the girls would have had a fizzy drink.

Later on in the flight we had a little bit of the evening meal, which I think was a curry





The dessert was a key lime cake



It wasn't long before Immy had given up and gone to sleep



And shortly afterwards, Izzy too



Andy and I slept the best we could with the minimal leg room (which isn't very well...)

The lights came on in the cabin the next morning as we approached London Gatwick. Breakfast was brought around to us. It was a fruit salad and a pain aux chocolate with a yogurt and a coffee. It was OK.

[bambikate]

We landed shortly after 6:50am, collected our bags and cleared border control without a hitch then went to collect our car from the car park. It all went really well and we couldn’t wait to get home and enjoy our lovely new house

On the way home we pulled in to a service station to grab some sausage and egg McMuffins and Hash Browns - YESSSS!



Nap time again





We arrived home around lunch time and got straight on with unpacking so we could relax ASAP.

My Mum and Dad came over to say hello and to take the girls for a long awaited sleepover.

We gave them all a huge cuddle and the girls couldn’t wait to go to Grandma and Grandad’s and get totally spoilt rotten.

After a nice catch up, the girls went off with my parents and Andy and I took in in turns to shower and get into PJs

Here’s the goodies we bought!

Beautiful sketches of the Disney Resorts we had previously stayed in before to go with our Wilderness Lodge one we bought previously,

Lilo and Stitch postcards,

Haunted Mansion playing cards,

Sleeping stitch,

Dole whip bag,

Iron on patches,

a keepsake book,

2 fans, a towel,

light up glow cubes,

a light up nightlight,

Pixar balls,

novelty socks,

16 mugs,

dog toys and a lead,

squishies,

sweets,

hello pandas,

Ghirardelli,

Ganachery treats,

novelty pens,

M&Ms,

chocolate covered macadamia nuts,

Lays,

Kettle chips,

gumball machine,

pop tarts,

gummy worms,

Cheetos

and a cuddly Marie.



And this…left to right top to bottom:

blue spirit jersey,

Christmas spirit jersey,

Jafar t shirt from the outlet store,

the girls’ outlet dole whip dresses,

2 Mickey baseball caps,

various golden retriever and Disney socks,

Dunder Mifflin t shirts x 4









We also got this map book, Green clover and aloe (Beach club scent) room spray and room diffuser and pine scented candle which made our entire house smell incredible.



pizza socks reduced from $16.99 to $3.99!





My Mum sent me a photo of the girls saying they’d had a shower each and some lovely dinner and now they were drawing before bed



Shortly afterwards, she sent me photos saying they were fast asleep. It was lovely to be able to chill out and relax knowing they were having a great time and so well cared for.





Andy and I settled down with some junk food, a bottle of wine, and lit our brand new log burner which had been installed whilst we were away then cuddled our cats whilst we caught up on some TV





It felt so good to be home

For dessert, Andy and I had ton of the caramels from Epcot and some of the ganachary chocolates





We also christened our lovely grog grotto tiki mugs



Our lovely cat, Boo in these pictures sadly got hit by a car in January and passed away






That's it! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading along and who has liked and commented on my posts, it means so much to me I really do appreciate every comment.

I was blown away with all the comments on Instagram when I said I was unsure about posting in the current climate, it was so nice to hear that people were able to escape the craziness even for a short while by reading the reports.

2020

Well, I don’t think any of us thought that 2020 was going to turn out like it has. Who knows what it will bring and whether our holidays will go ahead or not but I think it's looking increasingly like the entire year will be a write off in terms of going away.

I will quickly outline what our 2020 trip was supposed to consist of:

• Flight from LHR to SFO
• Driving to Yosemite for 2 nights then drive back and spend 2 nights in SFO
• Flights to Hawaii then 6 nights at Aulani
• Flights to LAX then 7 nights at the Disneyland Hotel
• Flights back to LHR

It was going to be the most epic adventure we’ve ever had after a really tough and stressful 2019 for us but I just don’t see it happening this year anymore with this crazy situation we are all finding ourselves in.

I’ll wait and see though, I could be wrong. I booked everything separately so I just hope I can get my money back as some of it was actually non-refundable…. I have annual travel insurance but my biggest concern will be if it's OK'd to fly by the FCO but we personally don't feel safe to go, will it be covered?!

The most important thing amongst all this is that we all get through this pandemic and stay as safe and healthy as we can.

Wishing everyone lots of happiness and health and strength to get through this nightmare of a year.

For those of you whose holidays were ruined, cancelled or postponed, Im so so sorry and I hope you get to make up for it in the future with an even better trip.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

Kate and family xxxx

[fletchie148]

Oh I’ve loved reading along as usual, I’m sad it’s over and no more trip reports for a while anyway!
Stay safe and I hope you get your trip

[Manyin]

Thank you for deciding to share your trip, as always I’ve really enjoyed reading along. What a fabulous trip you guys had. stay safe .

[4fromsuffolk]

Kate, thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. Really enjoyed reading about your daily adventures, you pack so much into your days and provide us with ideas for future trips - things to do and places to eat. Thank you. Absolutely loved the girls new dresses. So sorry to hear about Boo, that’s really sad. We’ve lost one of our cats on the road and it’s horrible. Hope your upcoming trip sorts itself out - either that you can go or your money is refunded. Take care xx

[DISNEYNIC]

Loved reading your trip reports as usual. Lovely photos and food. You left the day after we arrived. Thanks for sharing. Xx

[Teach0778]

It’s been a joy reading your trip report as always - but now more than ever it takes me to my happy place. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Stay safe.

[sheluk]

Kate - have loved reading your report. Your days just seem so fun and full of family memories.

The girls always look so lovely. I know you say they fight, but I’m impressed how many pics they had together if that’s the case as I remember me and my sister at that age!

Way to make the most of your last day. Glad your journey through McO was much less dramatic.

Grandparents looking after the kids First night home sounds like something I’m going to implement

Thanks again for taking the timing to write this up. It’s really made me smile.

Your holiday for this year sounds immense! Seriously immense! Hope it happens or at the very least you get your money back to do it next year.

Take care xx

[Excited83]

What a fantastic holiday! Loved reading along. What a shame your plans for this year are ok hold - sounds amazing. Fingers crossed you get there soon. X