Florida 2022 - Day 16

 Home time...

Today is always hard, but we know we will see our travel buddies again soon.  They embark on a road trip, while AA and Lola head back to reality of Work and Life. 

After AA and DD packed the car and the 4 of them left (after a see you later...not a good bye), AA and Lola ventured to the gift shop and animal look outs 1 more time to kill time.  It was sure warm out this morning.  We got a personal shuttle to Jambo House, where we the most shopping, and then walked back Kidani Village to see majority of the animals on our venture and finish packing.

AA ordered an Uber and he said we had 10 minutes to get to the lobby, as we started walking briskly, it changed to 6 minutes.  We then walked to the lobby (which is pretty far) as fast as we could.  Lola wasn't sure she was going to make it. Shins were burning and panting pretty bad.  But we did the car was waiting, but we loaded up and said good bye to Disney. Lola's heart rate was at 105 BPM when she sat down in the car!

The drive to the airport was uneventful.  Once arriving at Orlando International Airport, we couldn't get our boarding passes from the machine, so we had to stand in a decently long line, but it moved quickly to get our bags checked and our boarding passes.  We headed through security and then to lunch.

Lunch was very slow, and AA ate most of his meal before Lola even got hers.  Would not recommend Island Grill to anyone.  The food was good, but the wait and service was terrible, good thing we arrived early and had lots of time at the airport.

We boarded the plane and headed "home". The flight was pretty turbulent on the ascend and decent, Lola was happy AA was in the seat next to her, to let her squeeze his hand.  AA was sleeping before the safety briefing and Lola feel asleep just after drink service.  

Once we pulled up to the gate, that is when the "weird" started. They announced only those with connecting flights were allowed to get off the plane as Customs was backed up. So they let off the first 50 people, and then continued to the next 50 connecting flights. We had a connecting flight but not for 5 hours, but we were done sitting on the airplane so we disembarked when we were able. 

Customs wasn't bad for us, as we had Nexus, but the line was pretty long.  We went through the baggage area when we noticed at least 500+ pieces of luggage waiting in groups for passengers to pick them up.  We continued to our "connection", where we had to go through security again.... which was also a long line, but Nexus helped us there as well.  Quickly through, except for AA's laptop that got flagged, but once at the CBA the guy gave the laptop back as they didn't know why the bin went to the "check" side.

We went for supper at Fionn MacCools.  The service there was just as slow, but we thought we had 5 hours so it wasn't a big deal.  We had ordered food, and then we got a text....

Ground Crew delayed our flight 2 hours and 55 minutes..... leaving at 12:30am.  If we knew we could have gone somewhere else to eat rather than staying at the airport.  They also didn't have any beer....so weird. "Irish pub with no beer??".

We ate our food and then began the long long long wait. To fill the time we walked, we drank starbucks, we watched almost 2 NHL Game 7's  (NYR vs PITS, and CAL vs DAL), we played Dr Mario, and we ate a snack. Our trip was great, just wishing we could go to bed earlier than 3 am tonight. The flight was uneventful, but they sold out, so very full. Even thought it was after 2 am when we got home it was sure nice to see that the grass was green.

Till our next trip.

Lola and AA.

Florida 2022 - Day 15

 Our last full day as a "Ohana" was spent at our resort in the morning and then off to Magic Kingdom.

Lola was the first one up to see the animals from the balcony, then joined by T who finally left others to sleep when he woke up instead of disturbing the others.  He came out to the balcony to see the animals, then went back inside to read quietly. We all got ready and found out DD did a pretty good job on drying out the shoes, lots of paper towel! Lola brought 2 pairs of running shoes so that wasn't an issue for her. 

Bruch was great at Boma (at the Jambo House).  The food was so good, Lola got a personalized plate which she was excited not to have to wait in the long line that others had to.  There was traditional Disney breakfast (with Simba Waffles) and also some African dishes.  

We then went to the gift store as they had different items there than our buildings gift shop.  MBM bought a few things and then we headed to the bus stop to Magic Kingdom.

It was a hot afternoon, so we went on mostly indoor rides to try and keep out of the heat.  First up, Under the Sea, the ride is fun and the wait was very manageable.  

Then we headed to It's a Small World. T was so excited, DD and AA almost feel asleep. At least the kids enjoyed it.  

Next up, we had to finish the Mountains.  Splash Mountain was a great way to cool off.  AA and Lola got the front again and were super excited to get wet, T on the other hand was worried about getting wet, so picked the farthest back of the seats.  It was so much fun!

We picked up a Pirate's Map and headed on a scavenger Hunt.  We went around finding different clues. T thought it was funny when the Cobra came out of the basket and squirted water at us all. They completed the 4 different locations and got a card. They wanted to do more, but it was too hot to walk around.

The group then headed to Tiki Room.  The birds still are singing away! The kids loved this one, and the adults loved the bench and the air conditioning. Last dole whip was consumed in the shade.  Will miss the daily Dole Whip!

Next up we split up and the kids and DD headed to Country Bears Jamboree, while MBM, AA and Lola headed to find the last of the hard 50th statues.  Tinkerbell was hiding in a tree, Stitch was on the famous Purple wall, while Gus Gus and Jaq were near the castle. 

We waited for the others to go on Tomorrow Land Speedway. (B's pick).  We switched up the partners from last time.  We all had fun, but B was a little too competitive in a car that you can't pass and is regulated by the speed you can go.

Off to supper, and a quick stop to see if Stitch statue was an Alien or Dog.  He definitely has 6 legs...

Liberty Tree Tavern didn't disappoint!  The family style "thanksgiving" dinner was fabulous.  Lola got a personalized meal again!

After supper we did a little shopping for Christmas Ornaments, and then DD went back to the hotel to get some laundry done, while the others stayed for the Fireworks show, Enchantment.  We waited for about 1 hour, the kids did very well, and T had to go to the washroom about 30 minutes into the wait, so MBM and him swam through the crowd and even found their way back to us. 

The show was just as good as the first time we saw it.  The nice people in front of us (who were very tall) were so nice to leave space for the kids to see the castle.  The lights, fireworks and music were so amazing!

After the show, Lola and B had to pee, so we headed to the bathroom, and then stopped at the gift shop to try and find T a shirt.  He was very upset the shirt he wanted didn't come in the size he wanted.  He had decided he didn't want anything, but as we kept walking we found another Stitch shirt that he was happy to get. 

We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom, headed back to the bus and back at the hotel for showers and bed.  Well the kids.....the adults packed.... and are still packing.

Last Bus Ride together.

We will say good bye tomorrow, which we are all a little sad about, but had a great time.

Time for Lola to get some sleep.