Yeah hey – I am STILL writing these. I know. It’s been a MINUTE since my last post and I am sorry for keeping you all waiting so long. But work has been kind of all sorts of insanely busy lately so I have been having to write this one in bits and pieces when I could find little spots of time.
But this one is it. The last one. Our final couple days at Walt Disney World.
Cue the crying memes.
Aw dry your eyes, reader. We have a lot to get through.
Day 8 – In which we plan to leave Disney
So Day 8 started like really super duper early and really super duper sad. On account of Hannah had to leave. And it was a whole situation. You guys, flights were a whole thing in July 2022. Like, buying a ticket for a flight and then having it happen as planned was a legit rare occurrence. And on top of that, there were storms all up and down the east coast on Day 8, which made things even, um….less good.
In Hannah’s case, her original flight I think was cancelled the day before so her parents ended up buying her a whole new flight for today. The good news was this was going to be a non-stop now instead of a connection, which her original flight was.
The bad news was that this meant she wasn’t gonna be able to have breakfast with us. I mean, breakfast is whatever. But breakfast with us? That’s a miss, man.
And also, even though we were up early for to get her in a Lyft for the airport, her new flight ran into delays as well so she ended up leaving a little later than anticipated. She was in her Lyft at around 6AM. So yeah, later but still she missed breakfast.
With us.
And we were of course gonna miss Hannah. I mean, all of us of course. We had such a great time with her. But Myles the most. On account of they are, like, more than friends.
After we said our sadface goodbyes to Hannah, we also had our whole situation to deal with. Today was also supposed to be our last day but our flight was also cancelled. And the airlines really didn’t offer us any sort of alternative. It was just like, oh I guess you live at Disney now. Peace.
Flights. July 2022. Situation.
Since we were up and had a late-ish breakfast planned today, we were able to contemplate our situation and formulate a plan while also enjoying coffee out on our balcony for one last time.
And all our friends came to say their farewells.
I definitely miss those mornings. Giraffe goes really well with coffee.
Wait, that didn’t come out right.
What I meant to say is that giraffe meat is really complemented by the flavor of coff…
Oh that IS how it came out?
Great!
Given this was planned on being our last day, on the itinerary was a late breakfast before we departed. Breakfast today was downstairs at Boma – Flavors of Africa.
And this breakfast wasn’t just breakfast you guys. It was breakfast with friends. On account of Kayce, Bella, and Lani were also meeting us down there.
And I legit got NO pictures of any of them.
Because my blogging skills are, mwah, perfection.
But eh – I do have a valid excuse for my sub-par blogness. As I mentioned, our flight was cancelled on Day 8 so I had to spend a good chunk of my morning on the phone with JetBlue trying to figure things out.
And it wasn’t easy. There really wasn’t much in the way of options for Day 8 and the attendant on the phone even said that any of those crap options also had a high chance of being cancelled. But, after a long LONG time on the phone with a very helpful JetBlue representative, we did find an option. A non-stop flight in fact, which was an improvement since we had to settle for a connection originally.
The twist?
Our new flight was tomorrow.
Extra Disney day, y’all!
I strutted back on in with a satisfied grin and sat down to find a nice cold glass of POG juice waiting for me.
But of course now we were left to find a place to stay for the night. We looked around online and found a good price at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista, across the street from Disney Springs. We had stayed at the Wyndham back in 2018 and really enjoyed it so yeah, we had a pretty great situation planned.
Back to your regularly scheduled breakfast.
For those that haven’t been to Boma before, the restaurant is a buffet-style experience that offers both more traditional breakfast fare and a chance to explore more exotic options as well.
I can’t figure if I am ok with that last sentence. I think it’s grammatically correct but it’s not one that really fills me with all that much pride.
But yeah, it’s a pretty big buffet situation.
A big star of the Boma show is the French Toast Bread Pudding. Oof this stuff though.
French Toast?
Good.
Bread pudding?
Good.
French Toast Bread Pudding?
GOOOOOD.
Anyways tho – here’s my plate.
Sorry. Plates.
And look man. This trip was like 4 months ago. I can’t be expected to remember everything on those plates. But I do remember the Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon. And the pap. And the potato barrels. And the ham. Oh, and the bacon. And sausage. That Simba waffle was good as well. Also, of course, the aforementioned French Toast Bread Pudding. That omelette I especially remember really enjoying.
Huh? What do you know. I guess I do remember everything.
Well not everything. But I do remember food.
After we finished up with breakfast, it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to Kayce, Bella, and Lani. Who I guess have become our regular Disney travel friends. I mean, this is now officially time to say we have been on multiple Disney trips with them. Which is pretty awesome times. But of course, it was sad to say goodbye to them. But I mean, I am pretty sure we will be Disneying it up with those mofos at some point together again in the future.
Since everything was already packed up and all, the four of us ordered up a Lyft and headed over to our home for the night at the Wyndham.
We were in the lobby by around 12:30PM.
And while it’s not any sort of official 100% Disney-up-your-butt Disney resort, the Wyndham does have some Disney touches here and there that let you know you are at least in the vicinity.
Like this.
And this.
And this hilarious situation.
It’s like either those are really small boys or that’s a one giant tea cup. Either way?
Comedy.
Heads-up though. While we were exploring, a woman near the front approached Nickie with promises of a free dinner or whatever and then proceeded to hard sell her on a timeshare. So like, if a stranger offers you free food, don’t talk to them.
It seems something we already should have known. The whole “not talking to strangers” thing.
Rick Springfield even sang a song about it.
Ah well. Lesson learned. Again.
Our room wasn’t quite ready when we arrived so we decided to throw on our bathing suits, leave our bags with the front, and head out to the pool. And guys – the Wyndham pool?
Purty fun.
Also you guys? Beers at the Wyndham pool?
Purty fun.
We spent a nice hour or so in the pool and we played some sort of game where someone thinks of a color and you have to guess what color it is. And if you guess wrong, you get your head pushed under water. And you keep guessing until you get it right.
It was…fun?
No wait. Fun isn’t the word.
Torture?
That’s the one.
All that almost drowning made us a tad hungry. But being that we weren’t completely famished, we only ordered the entire menu at the pool bar.
So beautiful it brings a tear to my eye.
Calories Assemble!!!!
Giant pretzel!
Grilled cheese!
Chicken tenders!
Buffalo chicken sandwich!
And, purely for research purposes, I did sample everything. For research purposes.
All of it was super-duper tastetown. But if I had to pick a favorite, that buffalo chicken sandwich was fire.
Literally.
It was pretty spicy.
As we were finishing up our “snack,” the skies opened up and let loose its fury. Which is to say, it rained. Very hard. Like check out this deluge.
So we sought refuge in the only place that literally makes any sense in which to seek refuge.
The bar.
And I mean. When at the Wyndham.
We rode out the storm in the bar for about an hour, most of which was filled with the boys trying to convince us to book another Disney trip sooner rather than later. And us trying to explain to them that we don’t have Kardashian money.
So that was a really good time and not at all a tough conversation.
Guys, we just have A LOT planned for 2023. Is all I’m saying.
Ah well, let’s get on with this current present vacation.
Even though we made it through the entire bucket of Bud Lights, the rain wasn’t showing any sign of slowing so we braved the storm and found our way back to the lobby.
And our room was ready so we grabbed our bags from the front and found our way to the room. We have stayed here before so we’ve done the whole room tour and what not but I mean, I need some content to fill these pages.
So here’s the room.
Oh right here? This is where the magic happens.
And by “magic,” I mean “sleep.” Because when I sleep, I dream. And when I dream? I can be anything I want. Like a wizard. Or a viking. Or Steve Buscemi.
And what’s more magical than that?
Speaking of magic. This couch right here turns into a bed.
And this cabinet? There’s a friggin hidden coffee maker in it.
And there’s TV.
And a window.
Which is like a TV.
With less interesting content.
We quickly dropped our bags off and got changed so we could head over to Disney Springs.
Which was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET.
Wyndham? More like WIN. DAMN.
Our plan was to check out some shops and then grab dinner.
And since there were only like 159 shopping days left, we stopped in at Days of Christmas.
The Art of Disney was the next stop. Because the Goodreaus? We artsy AF.
And of course we popped into the Galactic Outpost. Because pew pew.
The Marketplace Co-Op has become a must-stop location in Disney Springs. I love the whole warehouse aesthetic thing going on there and there’s always new, funky merch to check out. Plus, I mean.
Fun pics.
I mean, just look at Owen. He’s obvs squad having fun.
Man, extra unplanned days at Disney are kind of awesome. Originally, this trip wouldn’t have even included a day at Disney Springs. And now, we were having a pretty awesome day. Plus, it was so great being able to have some family time just the four of us. Obviously, it’s great being surrounded by friends and family and what not, but our time with the boys has hit a time where it feels sort of fleeting. And like, we love these boys you guys. They’re pretty great. And now, Myles is off at college. Owen won’t be far behind. I don’t know.
It’s just really hard to…
…
Lego.
I swear I wrote that whole paragraph from a sincere place. Like, I really do love my boys obviously. But that pun. It was just sitting there. I’m not made of stone, you know.
Annnnyways.
By this point, it was near dinner time so we decided to duck into Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar to see what’s up.
This place is a vibe, dude.
I’ve written about Jock Lindsey’s before, so you know I dig this situation. It’s like Indiana Jones meets alcohol meets deviled eggs. Which is like some sort of conversation I had with God.
But, well.
After we were seated, we sat there for like 20 minutes and didn’t see one server.
Seriously. No one came.
Not one person.
In 20 minutes.
So yeah. We left.
And we walked right across the way to Wine Bar George, a location we had planned on visiting on numerous past trips but just never made it over.
When we checked in with the host station up front, we asked if there were any tables available and the girl working the front told us most of the inside tables were reserved for a private function but there were tables on the balcony upstairs that were available.
The temperature had dropped from Mercury to Venus levels, so it was off to the balcony!
Which, bonus, gave us the chance to show Hangar Bar everything it was missing.
We put in our orders for some drinks and appetizers and enjoyed our view. As we were sitting there, we got to see the hot air balloon rise into the air.
And soon enough, all kinds of awesome arrived at our table.
Wine Bar George has a pretty incredible appetizer menu so it was tough to choose what to get. We ended up going with what seem to be their top draws based on what we’ve read online.
We ordered the House-Made Meatballs with Triple Cheese Polenta.
Which were…oof. Good. Real good. That polenta you guys.
The Crispy Mac and Cheese Bites with Tomato Nage and Pecorino.
Also very very good. Here’s a look at the inside if you don’t believe me.
And what I thought was the star of the appetizer show we were currently enjoying – the Saganaki on Fire. Which is a Vlahorti cheese sprinkled with Metaxa and then set on fire.
Yeah, cheese on fire.
Remember that conversation with God I mentioned a little bit ago? This also came up.
It’s also served with a bit of crostini.
Oh man. I seriously loved this appetizer. All cheesy and crispy and cheesy. I have a serious cheese problem and this appetizer made it so much worse.
Also, I did mention we put some drink orders in as well. And this drink is a doozy you guys. At the time of our visit to Wine Bar George, Disney Springs was doing their whole Flavors of Florida thing and Wine Bar George was offering something on their menu that may as well have been called “The Wayne.”
Behold. The Frozen Old Fashioned.
This thing. It was a work of art.
And I should know. Because I was at an art store earlier.
But it wasn’t just like they took an old-fashioned, added some ice, and then blended it. Noooo no. This thing was made with George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey and Orange DOLE WHIP.
Yeah man. It was super refreshing but still I could 100% taste the whiskey. It was legit a perfect drink for when you’re forced to sit on a balcony on a July afternoon in Florida.
And we didn’t just stop at the appetizers. We also ordered the Skirt Steak Family Platter to share as well.
Which was served with roasted potatoes, grilled bok choy, mushrooms, bacon, and chimichurri.
It was…good. I will say the steak was actually the weakest part of the meal. The meat was a little tough for my tastes. I still dug it. But I would be totally happy just sticking to the appetizer menu at Wine Bar George next time I visit.
Well, and the drink menu.
I mean, I’m not a savage.
After we finished up our meal, Nickie and I were enjoying ourselves so much we wanted to stick around for another drink. The kids, however, had not-bought anything for long enough so we gave them some money to go do some souvenir shopping together while we hung back.
Seriously, today was like all kinds of awesome.
When the kids came back, we paid our bill and headed off into Disney Springs. And it was Golden Hour so I mean, of course we took some pics.
The day was beautiful, but I mean us? We were breathtaking.
Now you may have noticed, astute reader, that while covered the appetizer, drink, and entrée portion of the meal, there was one very important piece missing.
Yerp. No dessert.
So we headed over to a relatively new ice cream spot – Salt & Straw – to remedy that right quick.
The line was a little on the long side, snaking around the outside, but it seemed to be moving pretty quickly so we hopped on in.
Salt & Straw’s whole deal is their ever-evolving menu of inventive and sometimes off-the-wall seasonal flavors alongside a stable of still-innovative flavors they seem to always have available. And the best part? You get to sample as much as you want before actually committing to a flavor.
In addition to some samples of the Chocolate Gooey Brownie and Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, I went a little adventurous and tried the Deviled Egg Custard with Smoked Black Tea flavor.
And um.
Well.
It was ice cream that tasted 100% like a deviled egg.
Fun to sample, I suppose, but I couldn’t imagine eating a whole scoop of it.
In the end, I went for two scoops – one of the aforementioned Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and one of the Panther Coffee Chocolate Tres Leches. And I mean, check out these descriptions of each:
Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cooke Dough:
Made with the same bold malt you’d use to brew amber ale, our cookie dough is perfectly salty—we use two types of salt. Thick malted fudge rounds it all out.
Panther Coffee Chocolate Tres Leches:
Full-bodied Panther espresso steeped two ways cultivates the perfect coffee ice cream to accompany our intense tres leches cake swirl made with cocoa, dark chocolate, and coconut-infused anejo rum from Coconut Cartel.
This honestly may have been some of the best ice cream I ever eaten in my entire life.
Both flavors were incredible and they worked very well as a 2-scoop situation. The coffee flavor was super strong in the Panther Coffee Tres Leches and the Cookie Dough had an perfect mix of sweet and salty going on.
Oooh, and I almost forgot. They also had this whole situation going on.
Yeah, culinary perfume. The girl up front explained to us that ice cream actually does not have a smell. Even if ice cream contains ingredients that normally exude a fragrance, ice cream is frozen at such low temperatures that the chemicals that trigger the olfactory sense are frozen along with it.
So they spray this stuff on it for a complete sensory experience.
Or something.
Eh, it was free. So I went for the “cloud of cocoa” on mine (notes of Ecuadorian chocolate, malted milkshake, and Japanese whiskey.)
And I mean, yeah. I could smell it but I can’t figure if it elevated my ice cream experience any more than normal. Like, it’s ice cream. Elevation has already occurred.
As we walked around eating our ice creams, the sun completely set and we got to see Disney Springs take on a whole different feel. Disney Springs during the day is obviously great stuff but Disney Springs at night? You guys.
The night time is the right time.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. We did a good job of stretching our trip just a littttle longer but it was time to head back to the Wyndham.
On our way out, I gave into a temptation that had been beckoning me the entire trip and stopped in at World of Disney to buy a shirt I had been eyeing. This shirt tho.
As we climbed the stairs up to the walkway to take us across the street, we bid one last goodbye to Disney Springs.
Also, in going through my pictures just now, I came across a couple photos I snapped on the way back to the hotel. One was of a snail.
And the other? A frog.
No clue why I took these pictures. Maybe I thought I had to use up the roll before I could get it developed? Or maybe that frozen old-fashioned had just started kicking in.
Whatever the reason, one thing is abundantly clear. I leave nothing on the cutting room floor.
You’re welcome.
Anyways, we made it back to the room and went right to bed knowing we had a busy day of travelling tomorrow.
…
…
Ha, just kidding. There was a Fuller House marathon on GAC.
So you know we stayed up far longer than we should have.
Onto Day 9!
Day 9 – In which we actually leave Disney
Blargh, last day you guys.
Anyways, let’s get on with it.
On Day 9, I was up at around 8AM so I could get a run on the treadmill in. Sort of a Hail Mary after stuffing my face for the past week.
When I got down to the fitness center, it was completely empty.
Which is a total bonus. On account of I can be the disgusting, sweaty mess I am when I run without worrying about being gym-judged.
You know what I think goes really well with a workout, though?
Roids.
Oh, sorry. My “D” key was stuck. Droids. Droids go well with a workout.
When I got back to the room, Nickie and the boys were fully up so I showered real quick and we went down to the Joffrey’s Coffee Shop in the lobby.
Good thing I worked out.
Nickie and I both got breakfast sandwiches. I went for a bacon, egg, and cheese on a biscuit and paired it with a Nitro Cold Brew.
Owen got a cookies and cream donut.
And Myles went for a chocolate frosted with sprinkles.
Having a Joffrey’s right in the lobby is a pretty solid check mark in the Wyndham’s corner.
As you could probably see from the pictures above, we brought our breakfasts back to the room. Which worked out INSANELY good since there was some top-notch shizz happening on the TV.
Yup. The 1987 Dolph Lundgren/Courteney Cox joint Masters of the Universe.
Today was a good day.
After we finished up our breakfasts and Masters of the Universe, it was time to go.
Which was obvs squad womp-town population me.
We ordered up a Lyft and were at the airport by quarter of eleven.
Now, the Orlando airport is typically an insane situation, crowded with crying children, angry parents, and non-parents-non-children travelers wishing they were somewhere else. But today?
Like I said, today was a good day.
We came prepared for a long wait and now, since our flight wasn’t until 1:00, we had time to get some lunch. We decided to head into On the Border, a common stop for us on these trips.
Our waitress started us off with some chips and salsa.
And Nickie and I started ourselves off with some Bud Light drafts.
I ordered the Chicken Tinga Tacos with Rice and Refried Beans.
Myles got the Fajita Steak Quesadilla.
And both Nickie and Owen got Chicken Tenders and Fries.
On the Border is a super solid choice if you’re at MCO and have some time to kill. And we did. Have some time to kill.
After we finished up, we paid the bill and made the walk down to our gate. As we were making our way there, we passed this interesting situation.
Yeah, A LEGO vending machine. So odd. I mean, the overall idea of a LEGO vending machine is interesting on its own. But is this for people getting on a plane? Like, those are a lot of small pieces up in there that have a VERY good chance of ending up on an airplane floor. Plus, look at those top-shelf sets. Who the crap is gonna be building the Singapore River on a plane?
Just so odd.
An Eggo vending machine would make way more sense.
Before reaching our gate, we also stopped in at a gift shop to pick up some drinks and snacks for the flight. We boarded our plane a little bit after 1:00.
And I immediately started scanning the entertainment offerings to see what I’d be watching to occupy the next 3 hours.
And I mean – Bingo.
You guys. This movie. Amazing. Watch it.
As I said, we did pick up some snacks for the flight. Lookie what I got.
So smurfing good.
ANNND we of course took advantage of the complimentary on-board snacks as well. I grabbed a bag of Pop Corners and a Ginger Ale.
Nickie also got a Ginger Ale and, as you can see from the pic above, ordered a bottle of white wine.
Which pairs nicely with Cheez-Its obviously.
Our flight landed at around 4PM. We did the whole getting-off-the-plane-getting-our-bags-ordering-an-Uber thing and were home by 5ish. And while we were sad our vacation had come to an end, we were pretty excited to see these two doggos.
And yeah, that’s pretty much it you guys. Sorry these posts took me so long to get through. But I do hope you enjoyed the trip. I of course want to thank you all for reading along and I want to thank everyone that joined us on this trip. You all made a special trip even specialer. And a very special thank you to Nickie, Myles, and Owen for being the kind of family I not only love, but like. You guys are my three favorites. Love you guys.
Thanks for reading!
Last post – Day 7
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