Disney Day 5 - Wrapping Up and Heading Out

Sunday morning we woke up to our last day.  Boooo.  It's always so sad to leave the magic of Disney, but I suppose the sadness wasn't quite as intense as it usually is.  We barely had time to build up excitement for this one, and while it did feel far too short, it all felt like one big bonus to even be there at all.  I wanted to make the most of the last day, though.

We had one last breakfast in the room, and then I ran around packing like a mad woman because the bags would be getting picked up for check-out while Carter and I were out on one last outing.  It felt a little extra complicated because we were going to come back from that and go in the pool for a little while before we left, so we had to keep anything we'd need with us for the entire morning.  We also had a hard time cramming in a couple souvenirs (especially since Figment was rather large) and ensuring things were set up so there was still a place for the wet bag and anything we picked up on our outing.  Somehow I got it all figured out, and Carter and I headed out to Disney Springs.  The goal was to get a few final souvenirs and do one last fun thing!

We headed to Uniqlo first so I could get my shirt.  I wanted one of their $15 kids shirts because it's such a good deal.  I loved a few of them, but decided on one featuring a pixelated Mickey, a la 80s video games.  

We went on to World of Disney and stopped for one more visit with the wall of snuggly guys...     

Sleepy Simba!

Carter wanted it to look like Kermit was standing next to him...I think he got close!  Notably, I think Kermit was the only one of all the characters with his eyes open, presumably because they don't have eyelids?

I had decided upon a sweet little Mickey head cubic zirconia necklace as my other souvenir, so we picked that up while we were there.  We looked for the Figment Pez dispenser we saw earlier in the week but couldn't find it, but Carter knew they had it at the slushy place so we walked in that direction. We ducked into Crystal Arts to get some cool air en route and happened to see this $285,000 crystal castle.  Wow.  I can't believe it ever sells, but can you imagine?

Carter couldn't resist another slushy as we picked up the Figment Pez, and then we headed back in the other direction for our final stop.  I hadn't taken many pictures outside the Lego store this time because they've been the same builds for all of our recent visits, but I did feel like this one was worth getting another of.

Our final stop was going back to the Coca-Cola store and doing the international flight of drinks.  After how much fun we had at Club Cool a couple years ago, we thought this would be a fun activity.  There were some repeats from that experience, but a lot of new ones.  

It was a fun experience trying them together.  We saved Beverly almost for last, but figured we should have something better to chase it with because that is not the flavor you want lingering!  We videoed each other drinking it.  I'll throw myself out there:

In the end it was a lot of soda, even with both of us splitting it!  Carter was full and sugared out by the end, but we had fun.  We did a quick FaceTime with my dad while we were there, as he had been trying to get in touch with me (on his new cell phone that I didn't originally know was him) to discuss him picking us up at the airport that night.  We wrapped up and headed back to the resort for some pool time.  

We decided to eat some lunch first, just at the quick service place near the pool.  Carter had some chicken strips and I had a Mickey pretzel.  While we ate I did some investigating into our options for getting to the airport (nothing like the last minute!) since we had been debating doing Mears again or trying a Lyft.  We ended up settling on a Lyft because the Mears pickup time was way too early--possibly as early as four hours ahead of our flight.  No thanks!  

We met up briefly with Craig and Jacob who had already been at the pool for a couple hours, just as they were going to get changed.  They were going to hang out in the hospitality house lobby.  We got in some good pool time and our last water slide runs.  We really had a lot of fun at the pool this trip.  I still wish the pools there had nice ledges to sit on while fully in the water, as I could probably sit there all day, but I decided I could bring an inflatable water hammock next time if it packs small enough.  The water is cooler than the air during the day and just barely warmer at night, so it's pretty perfect and definitely the best antidote to midday heat.  

Eventually we had enough and went back to get changed and join Craig and Jacob.  We just hung out in the hospitality house charging our phones and scrolling.  Later in the afternoon I got my favorite key lime Dole Whip Swirl--oddly my first of the trip, although I did have a key lime without the swirl earlier in the week when the vanilla wasn't working.  It was so good!

We had yet to get a good family picture on the trip, so in our boredom waiting for our ride, we played around with my watch's capability to take a picture from my phone.  The angle wasn't great, but we figured we'd get this just in case our traditional bench photo didn't go well.

Craig and Jacob went to Olivia's yet again to get Jacob some dinner.  The rest of us were content to eat at the airport, but he didn't trust any of the gluten-free-friendly places there based on app reviews.  At one point I took a little walk back outside.  It had gotten dark and thundery, although it only really seemed to sprinkle.  I took a few last pictures of my favorite sights...

We once stayed in a villa on the other side of this pond, overlooking the golf green.  That was really my favorite view there, ever.

I always love this view, usually seeing it from a bus.  I just love that walkway in front of the hospitality house and pool--it is truly the heart and energy of Old Key West to me.

Craig snagged us one last souvenir before we headed to meet our ride.  We had been eyeing up a set of ceramic coasters in the store that had fun Old Key West designs.  We always seem to need more in our living room, and they were really cute, so it was a good option.  Just before our ride came, we asked one of the bellhops to take our picture, as is our custom:

Our Lyft arrived promptly and we loaded up.  I always hate the ride back to the airport, saying my internal goodbyes to all the things--the resort, the palm trees, the Disney welcome arch, etc.  The route we took to the airport this time had views of a coaster at Sea World and the new Epic Universe hotel.  Someday maybe Carter and I will get to those places!  The ride was quick and uneventful--quite simple compared to the bus, actually.

We got to the airport and I was sort of instantly annoyed because Jacob was insisting on having a wheelchair.  I mean, I get it, airports can involve a lot of walking, but it definitely made the whole operation a bit more challenging.  Craig was pushing Jacob and pulling a suitcase, and I was stuck with two suitcases, which wasn't always easy.  We first headed to the food court where I could get some highly anticipated Panda Express for dinner!  Craig and Carter were waiting to eat at places past the security checkpoint, so I quickly ate and then we headed in that direction.  En route, we came across a piece of art I'd seen online somewhere before:

It's so weird, but it looks so realistic!  I also snapped one last picture with this cute mural in the hallway.  Carter needed a couple more inches, but how cute!  It made me miss Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, though!

We headed through security, which was actually probably quicker because of the wheelchair, since we got to go in a separate line.  Once inside we went to another food area where Carter got Jersey Mike's and Craig got Chipotle.  It was jammed and we were lucky to find seats!  We headed to our gate after that, only to hear just as we got there that our gate had changed, presumably as a result of a three-hour-delayed flight still sitting at our original gate.  That meant we had to hike to the other end of the terminal, which wasn't ideal, but I guess it was good we had the wheelchair at that moment because Jacob would have freaked out if he had to do that walk.  

That gate was jammed with people, which wasn't ideal, but we finally found some seats and killed a little bit of time before boarding.  It was easy to forget how late it was, that we weren't taking off until well after 9:30 (and in the end, after 10pm), but I was very ready to be done traveling.  Getting on the flight felt like a bit of a debacle.  I had expected Jacob to ditch the wheelchair once we made it to the gate, but no, he was going to get wheeled all the way down the jetway.  Oy.  We did get preferred boarding, which I guess was nice, but getting the luggage down the aisle was difficult because Jacob just hopped right on the plane without his.  Ugh.  We took window seats and middle seats on each side of the aisle in the same row.  A husband and wife took the third seats across the aisle from each other.  He was a bit chatty (and I'm convinced maybe a little drunk upon boarding), but we did have a nice chat about baseball and his rising senior son who plays.  I ended up watching the Barbie movie on the flight (which, yay, was a direct flight this time).  I had started watching it a while ago and got distracted and interrupted and never went back to it, so I decided this was a good way to make sure it kept my attention.  It definitely was an interesting commentary on the patriarchy, but as a big Barbie girl as a kid, there were a lot of cute references.  

At one point about an hour in, Carter nudged me and said he saw lightning out the window.  A little later we saw a lot!

It was somewhere over North Carolina, I think.  Luckily it was far enough away that it didn't impact our flight at all.  It was actually quite smooth.  We did get a glimpse of Pittsburgh from the plane, but ended up being on the wrong side to see Buffalo.  I did recognize Transit Road as we landed, though.  I contacted my dad who was waiting at McDonald's nearby, and we headed to the pickup area.  I totally missed it, but as we were walking, Craig and Jacob saw a guy who apparently stole a golf cart!  The employee who was pushing Jacob (in the wheelchair again) confirmed that guy definitely shouldn't have been driving it!  As we were waiting, a guy heard Craig and Jacob talking about it and was like, "He DID steal it?  I thought so!"  Later that week I randomly saw a video online of a guy driving one down a moving walkway and shattering the glass on the side, and the boys confirmed that was him.  He was definitely under the influence of something!  

We made it back to my parents' a little after 1am, and I slept on the couch this time.  My drugs did the trick, thankfully.  We slowly worked our way back in the morning since Craig and I needed to work, and I slowly unpacked over the course of the day and into the evening.  

Overall, it had been a successful trip.  Even with the frustrations with Jacob, we had a good time, and even he enjoyed his resort time.  For a trip that got planned on a week's notice, it worked out pretty darn well.  I liked the slower pace and the ability to do some new things, but I was bummed we missed the water park and didn't get to do mini golf like we'd originally planned.  Next time I'd like to attempt both of those things and I'd also like to visit the rest of the resorts we didn't do this time--definitely Boardwalk, Beach and Yacht Club, and Coronado, but probably also Animal Kingdom Lodge, since that's on our list of potential places to stay at some point.  Hopefully we can have some park time next time, too.  I know the goal is to get there with Craig's parents after his mom retires, so hopefully that works out at some point.  That will likely mean a slower pace, much like this trip, but it would be worth it for the family time.

Speaking of which, it always amazes me how many big families we see there--tons of three-generation groups, presumably grandparents taking their kids and grandkids.  It's amazing to me.  And, of course, so many people spare no expense.  The amount of alcohol, food, and souvenirs we see people buying (on top of their stay and park tickets) boggles the mind.  We do it pretty cheap and it's still expensive.  I was a bit annoyed with Jacob because I'd purposely made sure he packed his Brita water bottle (which we specifically got for Disney a coupe years ago because the tap water is sometimes gross), and even bought Carter one of his own once Jacob confirmed he would use his.  He'd been a bit hesitant because he oddly kept getting bits of plastic in that one, but there wasn't really anywhere it could have come from so I'm almost convinced that it came from the ice in our freezer, which was pretty new at the time when he was trying to use it at home afterward.  All I can figure is that there was some plastic debris in the ice maker and it somehow ended up in his ice twice.  So anyway, we get down to Disney and I find out he left it behind in Buffalo--sure enough, there it was in the cupholder of my car when we got back.  I was pretty annoyed about every $5 bottle of water we had to buy him, that's for sure.  Hydration isn't optional down there, so we were stuck.  They charge exorbitant amounts for so many things there, and every bit helps, so the water bottle situation was disappointing.  But I just can't get over how much people willingly spend there.  Europeans regularly come for two weeks or more, which absolutely blows my mind.  A week is my limit when I take all the things into consideration, but I absolutely agree with Jacob that you really need two weeks there--one to do all the things and exhaust yourself, and another to sit around the resort and relax.  It amazes me that we were there for five days, didn't do parks, and still didn't have a ton of time to do some of the activities around the resort.  Next time I really want to lay on the hammock for a bit, and Carter wants to play tennis again (but our stint three years ago where it felt like the surface of the sun has me hesitant!).  Maybe we won't even stay there at all, since Craig's parents like Saratoga Springs.  It's fun to think about, though.

So, we've been back home nearly two weeks now and it's been quite eventful.  I'll catch up on that in my next post.