Disney Day 6 - A Fond Farewell

Monday was our last day.  It was definitely a bummer.  I think we've determined that an eight-day vacation would be ideal--four park days and four resort days (although two of those would be partial travel days, too).  This felt better than last year, but with the park days (which were amazing), it didn't feel like enough resort time.  I actually think the Brits that come in for 2-3 weeks are really doing it right, but that is definitely not doable for us!

Our first order of business was packing up.  That was a challenge given the many things that were bought while we were there, but we managed.  We made it out pretty early, all things considered, dropped off our luggage, and headed to Olivia's for breakfast.  I saw this little guy on the way out.  He was showing off his colorful neck!

Olivia's is always more than I want to spend for breakfast, but it's always SO good.  Their biscuits are amazing!  And we really did need one more meal there during our limited stay.

We did some pool time after that.  As I was waiting for everyone to change, I noticed this hibiscus.  They were everywhere last time we were there, and I hadn't seen any this time.  I wasn't sure if it was just that we were there a few weeks later, or if the plants literally didn't exist anymore.  After seeing this, I was even less sure.  But I did remember seeing ones in that area last time, so I was very happy to find this one!

This flower is a little more chaotic, I guess, but when you look at it, it's really pretty.  Apparently it's a giant crinum lily.  The exotic foliage is one of my favorite things about these trips, but I wish there would have been more this time around.

I always like my pool views, and we had a great shady spot this time!  I probably could have laid there all day.

We got in a couple last slides and decided we were ready to move on to the next thing.  The boys actually wanted to play pickle ball!  I couldn't imagine doing that in that heat (we tried tennis once and I was dying), but they hung in there for a while.
  

While we were waiting, I took a little detour over to the hammocks, which I always only seem to remember exist right at the end of our stay.  I figured I'd give it a little test run while I was over there.  It was a nice few minutes and hopefully I'll remember sooner next time!

After they wrapped up, we headed over to Disney Springs on the boat, en route to Port Orleans for lunch.  While we were waiting in line for the Port Orleans boat, I was taking a drink of water and Carter somehow elbowed my water bottle.  It's a metal one and it jammed into my teeth.  I pretty quickly realized that it had chipped something.  I could feel some rough spots, but thankfully the chip wasn't super big.  Obviously I wasn't too happy about it, but it was an accident and at least it didn't really hurt--at least not like there was something that hit a nerve or anything like that.  It did rub a bit on in the inside of my mouse, but it could have been so much worse.  I pushed through my annoyance and grabbed the Mickey ear picture at Port Orleans with my "new" smile.  

It's hard to see, but it's the bottom of the second tooth to the right of center

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get an appointment until over a week after we got home, but it was a very quick filing-down to fix it.  I think I talked to the dentist longer than the actual repair took!

We grabbed lunch, and while Jacob decided not to get his beignets, Carter and I got an order to split later.  They're just too good to pass up.  On the way back to Disney Springs, we hit the lizard jackpot.  There was this big one on a rock near the boat dock, and the fence nearby had at least a dozen hanging out on the rails!

 

We thought about doing a couple things at Disney Springs, but I'll be honest--between the heat and my very heavy backpack (which of course had to get searched at security...ugh)--I didn't think I'd make it too far, and what else did we really need anyway?  So we hopped right back in the boat line and headed back to Old Key West for the last time.  This lighthouse is always such a welcome sight when we arrive, and what a pretty view to leave with.

The view of the hospitality house building is so lovely as well.  Craig had been eyeing up a painting at the one Disney art shop that looked like this, but I feel like I should just enlarge this one and call it good!

The reflection was just too perfect!

We killed time before our ride to the airport, just hanging out in the hospitality house, eating beignets, and enjoying my last bottle of iced coffee that I didn't get to drink for breakfast when our food went missing.  Unfortunately, the Dole Whip machine never got fixed, or else I would have had one of those for the road, too.  Eventually it was time for our ride, but we did get our traditional family photo, just not on our traditional bench (someone was using it).  Six feet away is acceptable!

Once we got to the airport, we had to cross our fingers for Jacob's security screening again.  Fortunately, his passport was waiting in our mail when we got home, meaning it was now in the system and the screening was pretty quick and uneventful.  We headed through to the gate and settled in pretty early to charge phones and relax.  While we were sitting there, my mom called me and said that my dad was likely heading to the emergency room for some bad abdominal pain.  One of them was supposed to pick us up, so hopefully it would be a quick visit and everything would be ok.  In the end, it turned out to be a kidney stone with some false alarm GI symptoms (darn you, red Slurpee!).  The kidney stone will have to be surgically removed next week.  Not great, but at least something that had a fix!

Carter and I grabbed some dinner in the terminal, and before we knew it, it was time to leave.  I ended up spending most of the flight reading my book on my tablet, but I did have some entertainment out the window.  The sunset was lovely.

  

This distant thunderstorm somewhere over Georgia was quite entertaining...even if I had to take video while practically clotheslining Carter!

The flight was otherwise uneventful and before we knew it, we were back in Buffalo.  My mom was able to take a break from the emergency room to grab us.  My dad was stable and close to being discharged, and honestly, the break was probably nice!  She dropped us off at the house to grab the rest of our stuff, and we headed back to Rochester since we both had to work the next day.  It was a late night, but worth it to be back.

I have a lot of thoughts about this trip.  For starters, there are so many things that perplex me about Disney.  How do people wear pants?  How do people afford to go for a couple weeks?  How do they afford giant families?  How do they afford alcohol?  I'm always shocked by the amount of money that's spent there and wonder--especially in this economy--how even that many people can do it.  We couldn't if we couldn't use the DVC points.  I'm still not sure this trip was particularly wise, because we also got hit with a wave of expenses related to the apartment and all of that at the same time (paying bills was NOT fun last month), but I'm still glad we did it.

I realized when I was there that I really don't take those trips for granted.  I really do savor each and every moment in the bubble.  Life needs more magic, and Disney is full of it.  I love all of the little things--the details at the resorts, the efficiency of the bus system, the beauty of the parks, the fun of the rides, and every fun memory we make.  I wish food wasn't so expensive, and I wish it was easier to go at a time of year where it wasn't so hot, but otherwise...I just love it.  I soak in every moment on the balcony, every walk through the resort, and every gorgeous photo op.  I feel oddly at peace there in the midst of a crazy, chaotic vacation.  I don't know how else to describe it, but with every trip it gets harder to envision a year where we don't go back.  We are trying to put it off next year and go every other year, but we'll see how that goes.  When we do go back, we'll have a lot of thinking to do about how we want to structure things again.  Could we do another park-less trip?  There are so many things that will be coming up new there, so it will be tough to avoid them for long.  Resort time is pretty nice, I have to say.  Speaking of which, we learned our lesson that Old Key West is our happy place and it should always get the majority of the days if we split our stay.  We liked the experience of Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the beds there are better, but it didn't feel quite the same until we got back to Old Key West.  Their slogan is "Welcome Home!" and it couldn't be more true.

So, it's been a pretty crazy three weeks since we got back and I guess that will be coming in the next post or two...