So I know it’s been a couple days since I posted Day 8. And you all have been chomping at the bit for Day 9. But anticipation makes the heart grow fonder right?
Hm? Absence?
Pfft. I think you’re wrong.
Anyways it’s last day anyways so not a huge amount to write about but we did manage to have at least a little bit of fun before we took off.
We first got the rest of the room packed up. Well when I say “we” I mainly mean Nickie. She woke up early and got stuff done while I struggled to get out of bed. I mean, we WERE in the park until after midnight the night before.
Eh Owen was even worse so. I got that going for me. Which is nice.
We then walked down to breakfast at Cape May Cafe.
On the way down, we got a text from the Chicago Goodys that they weren’t going to make it to breakfast because the girls were still sleeping. Pfft lightweights.
We checked in and they sat the four of us pretty much right away. As we were getting our coffee, this goof came over to our table.
To be honest, he seemed a little rushed and didn’t spend a ton of time there. I think he was tired too. I saw him dressed as Santa at the Christmas party just last night. Dude works hard.
After he left, Larissa and Mia joined us. Tony was bringing his bags down to get checked in for Magical Express so he would be joining us soon. Or will he? Spoiler….he sort of does.
We went up to the buffet to get some grub
Pretty good stuff and I appreciated the toppings at the Mickey waffle bar.
Mia started spotting characters and got super excited.
Then Donald came over to see us. He was pretty great. Donald is fast becoming one of my favorite characters to meet at the parks. I mean he will never beat Chip and Dale or Stitch in terms of interaction but since we didn’t see either of them on this trip, he was at the top for me whenever we saw him.
And we still had one character to meet but where was Tony?
Well he was busy shuffling around clothes in his suitcases (and muttering curse words under his breath I assume) as erm…a couple of Larissa’s suitcases were over the fifty pound limit. Lol. I laugh mainly because it’s Tony.
But eh I digress. Look who showed up next.
And Goofy came back over so Mia could get some time with him. And he spent a little more time with us this time. He must have had some coffee by this point.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes to the Falzones. Ugh is it really all ending? Definitely a sad moment.
We then walked over to the Boardwalk to see the Chicago Goodys before we left. And we found them in the pool.
They came out, gave us some wet hugs and we said more sad goodbyes. It’s kind of good we were all leaving on the same day though. Just get all our goodbyes, including the ones we have to make to Disney, done all at once.
Before leaving though, the kids wanted a little arcade time.
And then it was time. To say goodbye. To all our company. Ugh. We hopped on the Magical Tragical Express and we were on our way to the Orlando Airport. And we were NOT happy about it.
We got to the airport and did some last minute shopping at the Earport. Of course. We hadn’t quite spent ALL the kids’ college money yet. After that, we made our way to the gate. Andthe security line was surprisingly not too bad. We made it through security and to our gate within about 20 minutes I would say.
Which left us plenty of time to have some lunch at Outback. I started with this…
And paired it with a burger. Which wasn’t bad.
While at lunch we of course started talking about our next trip. We covered everything we want to do again from this trip but also went over some elements we may not want to repeat.
We want to…
- Go again around Thanksgiving – we loved all the holiday decorations and not having the kids miss as much school. The crowds were heavy at times and we weren’t able to get every reservation and fast pass we wanted, but the good still outweighed the bad.
- Stay at the Beach Club – this continues to be our favorite resort. We were a bit conflicted after loving the Poly so much last time but the proxomity to both EPCOT and DHS, the bright colors, the boardwalk…it is just such a great resort.
- Experience most of the Christmas – loved seeing all the decorations in the resorts, eating the holiday snacks, experiencing the Candlelight Processional and all that. We need to do that and maybe bring back more resort hopping.
- Go with people we love – as of right now we are pretty sure the grandparents are joining us next trip and hopefully more will join. Not only do we love being with people we love in our favorite place, but I feel so much closer with people after a Disney trip.
- Do a dessert party – I know it’s extra but it was so nice to know we had a seat for the fireworks AND get dessert. The Happily Ever After party felt very worth it. If that Frozen one is still at EPCOT when we go next, I think we may wanna check it out.
And so much more I’m sure. I mean o def wanna eat at the Boathouse yet again.
But there were also some things we may not want to do again –
- Split stay – I just never felt settled bouncing from resort to resort. I like to unpack and enjoy my resort but knowing we were going to be moving, I never felt completely at ease in my room.
- Stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge – we have now stayed at both Jambo House and Kidani Village and neither are for us. As mentioned, the proximity to the parks is a big perk of the Beach Club. And the boardwalk area. AKL has none of this. The Savannah is cool but you can only look at the same zebra so much.
- Do Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party – it’s not that we don’t like this party but we have done it twice and at this point I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore. I think everyone should do it once, but I don’t think it’s something we need to do every trip.
- Deluxe Dining Plan – we have always done the DDP so this this a tough one. And who knows…we may go back on this one but it’s a ton of food. We were always full. And it takes a lot of time out of your day to eat at these places. Plus with mobile ordering, counter service restaurants are not nearly as tough to deal with as they used to be. I think we may do the regular dining plan, try to enjoy counter services, throw in 2 sigantures we want to do and maybe pay out of pocket for like two character breakfasts.
- Eat sushi – bah I never had sushi on this trip. I like sushi. So I mean. Self explanatory
So we came up with all this but we will see how this all plays out. And then we walked to our gate, the kids got started on their homework they had neglected all week and we were on our way back to Boston. And I mean, that’s pretty much it.
Well I did finally get to see Spotlight, which was so good. Oh and I finished whatever this game is.
It was a pretty epic trip. We spent time with so many people we love, stayed at three resorts, visited every park at least once (with every park except Hollywood Studios receiving more than one visit), ate ALL THE FOOD, and made some amazing memories. I left a little heavier, but my wallet is a lot lighter so it all evens out.
I think we all really liked visiting again at Thanksgiving. The crowds seemed a little heavier than last time we visited at Thanksgiving but it was totally manageable.
Special thanks to the Falzones and the Chicago Goodys for making this trip extra special. We love you guys very much. And thanks to my boys for being so great on this trip – you guys are obvs squad growing up too fast. And of course, thanks to my wife, Nickie, for all the planning she put into this trip. I hope it was everything you dreamed it would be. I know we all loved it. You amaze me.
And thanks to all of you for reading along. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Now bring on Christmas!
WeHeartDisney 