Hey everyone!
Remember when I used to blog? Welp, I am doing it again.
This post covers the second day of dropping Myles off to start his adventure in the Disney College Program (DCP). And this is the drop-off y’all. THE day.
Today, we drop Myles off for his new adventure in the DCP. A great day to be sure, but also…a hard one.
So I mean, get some tissues.
We bout to go through ALL the emotions.
Well, at least the ones from the first movie.
Let’s go!
Dropping Myles off as he starts the DCP: Day 2
Alright so I know it’s probably hard to remember due to it being so long ago, but in the last post we left off at the end of Day 1 we made our way back to All-Star Music to turn in for our last night – sniff sniff – with Myles before we dropped him off for his five months in the DCP (Disney College Program for all you n00bs).
And yep, today is the day. Today is the day we leave Myles and he becomes a man.
Or a mouse.
Either was possible here.
On the schedule for Myles today was his check-in at his home for the next 5 months – Flamingo Crossing – and registration and all that. Which all began at around 8AM. So we were up pretty early and at the Intermission Food Court for breakfast by like 7:00AM.
I was both not hungry and still out of a job at this point so I went with the Kids’ Mickey Waffles meal (Served with choice of two Sides and choice of Small Lowfat Milk or Small DASANI® Bottled Water).
As you can see in the picture above, I went with sausage and tater tots what Disney calls potato barrels for some reason.
Oh actually – hrm, I just looked it up and I guess Ore-Ida has actually copyrighted the term “tater tots”? Wow, Ore-Ida. Bringing the hammer down.
But yeah, and I paired my breakfast with the included water and a coffee. But yeah – $10 for breakfast. Budget Disney FTW. And I mean, of course it was good. It’s Mickey waffles you guys.
Waffles are best anyways but when they’re Mickey-shaped? They’re like hella-best.
And on that? I don’t waffle.
I know. Legit the comedic mind of the century.
After breakfast, we hopped in our rental and drove over to Flamingo Crossings to kick off Myles’s new adventure.
We were first checked in outside the gate. And like this place is locked down AF.
Which Myles appreciated.
He digs gated communities. Always has.
At around 8AM we were let in and you guys, this place was noiiiiice.
They had one of those giant chess boards no one ever uses but always makes people be like, “ooh they have one of those giant chess boards.”
Myles was def more interested in this whole situation.
On account of he’s a baller. Shot-caller. Brawler. Who be dippin in th…
Wait no. Sorry. No more of that. This is a Diddy-free zone.
While we hung off to the side, Myles walked over and lined up with a bunch of other new DCP’ers to register for the day.
And us parents were instructed to stop hovering and go inside the Recreation Center to watch a quick video about the program. And this place was all kinds of recreational.
But apparently? Place was obviously haunted. Because we walked in on a ghostbuster finishing up.
Which made me feel uneasy. I mean, giant marshmallow man attacks are no jokes and they are on the rise according to some trusted sources.
The movie itself was ten minutes of great performances, superb writing, and mind-blowing special effects.
Wait no. Sorry, I was watching Face/Off on my phone during that time.
Myles eventually made his way inside across the way to register and get his room assignment. While we waited, Nickie and I explored the grounds a little more.
And I mean, I kinda wanna live here.
But eventually we made it back inside the recreation center.
On account of they had Frogger.
And yeah, I got a high score and put my name in. So I mean, hey DCP’ers…if “POO” is still on the board, you know who was getting that frog HOME, bro.
At around 9:20, we saw Myles finishing up. On account of we tend to hover.
And he was outside within minutes a full fledged DCP’er.
He got assigned to the Bagheera building, which was cool. I mean, Bagheera is cool, right? The kids are super into Bagheera right?
And I helped him move some of his bags in so I got a quick look at his new place.
And he was essentially the last of the four in this room. His roommate was already moved in and the two dudes across the hall were already living there as well.
And I mean, I don’t think it was actually anyone’s birthday. On account of that sign was still up there when Myles left like 5 months later.
Eh, maybe they’re just big time Frosty-heads.
I get it. Dude’s pretty chill.
After dropping off his bags, the next stop was Walmart to get Myles some supplies.
You know essentials. Bread. Peanut butter. Baja Blast.
Speaking of essentials, it was time for lunch and we let Myles pick wherever he wanted to go. He settled on The Mara at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Which, like. I wasn’t mad about. For one, it gave us the chance to visit what is arguably the prettiest lobby in all of Walt Disney World.
And the Mara? It’s a top resort quick service option. Fo shizz.
Myles went for the Chicken Bowl (Oak-grilled Chicken with Pilau Rice, Kale Slaw, Cucumber-Tomato Salad, and Chermoula Sour Cream).
Nickie got the Chicken Strips kids meal.
And I went for the Falafel Platter (served with tabbouleh, cucumber-tomato salad, hummus, avocado-tahini sauce, and pita bread).
We all loved what we got. I think. I mean, it was a long time ago you guys.
But wait. There’s MORE.
We also got lunch dessert.
Nickie got the Carrot Cake Cheesecake Tart. which is like pineapple and vanilla cheesecake on top and carrot cake in a pie shell situation on the bottom.
Which was good. For sure. But this thing – the unassumingly named Mickey Chocolate Chip Cookie – is legen…
wait for it…
DARY.
This thing is so good. Nice thick soft cookie topped with a hella-nice amount of frosting. Look, I love frosting. Don’t judge me.
The plan after lunch was to get Myles back to Flamingo Crossings for the afternoon so he could get settled in his place and take part in some of the “getting to know you” activities going on but before we did, we took a quick stroll around the savannah.
I mean, we were really just holding onto as many moments with Myles as we could at this point.
But eventually, we had to do it. So we drove him back to Flamingo Crossings at around 1PM.
Nickie and I, meanwhile, stopped off real quick at our room next to these giant terrible boots.
So we could grab our bathing suits and pack up some beers in our backpack.
Bathing suits.
Backpack.
Beers.
But given we had a car and the afternoon to ourselves, we decided to head out in search of a hot tub (which are non-existent at Value resorts…BIG problem).
We drove over to Disney’s BoardWalk Inn to first hit up a hot tub we knew would be relatively deserted.
We also chose the Boardwalk because we had dinner here later that night, so we were able to park with no issue.
We were definitely going to be making our way to the main pool at some point, but we love the quiet pool at this resort. Again, it’s often pretty empty.
Hot tub time machine.
.
Rawr and a half.
Oh and that backpack of beer? Came in handy.
After we got out of the hot tub, we had a quick Goody FaceTime sesh.
Oh and we made a quick stop-off at the community center next to the pool. On account of free Star Wars pinball.
And then we headed over to the main pool, which also? Pretty emptytown.
It wasn’t like the best day so I get it. But I still took advantage and went for one run down the waterslide.
And while, yes, we did have a backpack chock full of the taste of the Rockies, we both wanted a forreal cocktail so it was time to hit the bar. The pool bar at the Boardwalk, Leaping Horse Libations, is a legit vibe.
I got a Tito’s and Soda with both a lemon AND a lime (cuz that’s how I roll) and the bartender convinced me a double was the way to go. Did I say “convinced”? I meant he merely mentioned it was an option and I , therefore, ordered it.
And Nickie got the Blueberry Lemonade.
I obvs squad loved mine but Nickie wasn’t the biggest fan of the Blueberry Lemonade on account of it was too sweet. And i mean, she’s already sweet enough so.
Still though? She drank it. She’s not a savage.
As I mentioned we had dinner here tonight, but we weren’t completely sure if Myles was going to join us or not since there were things going on back at Flamingo Crossings. But eh, because he loves free food his family, he made the call to have one last supper with us before we said our goodbyes.
Ugh, just saying that, even now months and months later…still chokes me up a little.
We therefore hopped back in the car to drive over, grab him, and then come on back to the BoardWalk. Which, I mean. Such an awesome spot at night.
Boardwalk? More like Boardgawk at how pretty everything is.
Amirite?
No. OK.
Moving on.
Dinner tonight was at Trattoria Al Forno.
I feel like Trattoria Al Forno is kind of an underrated spot. It’s so pretty inside.
And they have martinis. So I mean.
Myles was obviously excited about the Coca-Cola.
Pfft, easy Myles. You sure you do love Coca-Cola.
The meal started with a nice bread service.
And this pile of garlic.
We also ordered the Polpette (Meatballs for the uncultured) to start.
For their mains, both Myles and Nickie went the pizza route. Which is always a good route.
Nickie ordered the Pizze Pepperoni.
And Myles went in for the Pizze Margherita.
Which, like…there was NO tequila in this thing. Come on, Trattoria al Forno. False advertising!
I, meanwhile, went with the Truffle Gnocchi (with Parmesan, Fontina, and Truffle Cream).
And I totally knew this was gonna be the dish of the night because literally when I ordered it, our waiter was like….ooooooooh yeah.
This thing was like…
Gnocchi? Good.
Parmesan? Good.
Fontina? Good.
Truffle? GOOOD.
All in all, a pretty stellar dinner at Trattoria al Forno.
After dinner, since we were already on the boardwalk and it was close to 9:00, we made the walk over to the bridge on the other side of Crescent Lake to catch the Luminous: Symphony of Us nighttime spectacular at EPCOT.
We couldn’t hear the music or see the show on the water, but still. Look. Pretty lights in the sky.
And as the last ember fell from the sky, we all knew the night was coming to an end. It was an awesome, beautiful night but the air had a bittersweet tinge to it. Because this meant we had to say goodbye to Myles. For five whole months.
We got in the car for a quiet ride over to Flamingo Crossings. And look, I don’t want to bring this post too far down but things got rough when we finally got there you guys. It’s like we were obviously psyched for Myles and the new adventure that was out there in front of him. And we are intensely proud of him for taking on this new challenge.
But oof, it was hard to say goodbye to him not knowing when we would see him next. Under normal circumstances, we would have had a trip down planned already but with me still being out of work, it wasn’t something we could afford at the moment.
But guys, this was an exciting situation for Myles. Yeah, we were sad to say goodbye but we knew this would be a transformative experience for him. And hey, I was hopeful a job would come my way and we could make our way down before he left.
Hopefully.
…
…
OK, yeah you guys know. I got a job.
Spoiler alert.
After we said our teary goodbyes, Nickie and I got back in our car and headed back to All-Star Music. We had an early flight the next day.
Dropping Myles off as he starts the DCP: Day 3
Not much to Day 3 honestly. Like I said, we were up pretty early on account of we had like a 7AM flight. We were up and out of our room at like 4:15 so we could make a quick stop at Wawa to gas up and grab some breakfast.
I ain’t gonna pass up a chance to grab a breakfast sandwich at Wawa.
I went in for the Chicken Biscuit sandwich with Honey Hot Sauce. And a coffee. Obvs squad.
And yeah I mean it was good.
Doy.
Nickie had some weird thing about not eating food from a gas station. Pfft, picky much.
So she opted to wait until we got to the airport.
Which I mean. Yeah. We did do. The whole getting to the airport thing.
We got to the airport with some time to spare, which gave us a chance to check out the new C Terminal.
And it was hella-nice up in there.
They even had a Wine Bar George.
And a Summer House.
It’s just like being at Walt Disney World. Without the high pric…
Oh wait. We were at the airport. It was just like being at Walt Disney World.
The terminal also had these giant screens set up that were at the time showing manatees. Manatees the size of.
Well, I guess manatees.
And of course they had a Universal store and a Disney store. Outside of which was the cutest.
Like I said, Nickie waited to have her breakfast at the airport so we got in line at the Starbucks in the middle there.
I don’t have a picture of her breakfast but I assume she got the Spinach, Feta, and Egg White Wrap. On account of she always gets the Spinach, Feta, and Egg White Wrap.
I did get a picture of my Cold Brew Cold Foam tho. On account of I am selfish with my picture-taking.
And that was about it, you guys. Our flight took off on time and we were home in about 3 ½ hours.
But.
BUT.
BUTTTT.
This ain’t the end of our story. Because I DO get a job and we DO visit Myles. So that’ll be our next post.
In the meantime, know Myles LOVED his DCP experience. Here he is, being all custodial.
Talk to you guys in a few months.
Well, I mean, the post will be describing a time a few months from the end of this post.
But also, let’s be real. I’ll probably post again in a few months.
On account of I am terrible. With the blogging.
See you all then!
Last post – Day 1 of Drop off!
Next Post – Post 3!
WeHeartDisney 
1 Comment