I was awake relatively early this morning, and made a fairly early morning trip to the front desk, because nothing had been left for me about Magical Express. This seems to be a trend for my recent trips! I had a transportation notice in my hand fairly quickly, despite it being early enough in the day that there were minimal CMs working the front desk, and a LOT of people in line to check in that didn’t speak English, requiring a lot of translation phone calls.
Once I’d obtained my transportation notice, I grumbled my way back to my room to finish (start?) packing. Why was I grumbling? My flight was at 7 and my DME pick up was at 3:30. Disney seems to want to cut my trips short lately…
I finished packing, shooed away an over-eager housekeeper (where was she a couple days ago?), triple checked the room, and it was time to haul my luggage to the main building. I stored my big backpack with luggage services, checked my suitcase, and then headed for the line for the Disney Springs bus.
Eventually a bus showed up, and after a stop at Movies, it was off to Disney Springs. I still had a little bit until my brunch reservation, so I poked around some of the spendy stores (Columbia, Vera Bradley, etc) before making my way to Raglan Road, where I was seated immediately for my brunch reservation.
Brunch here was great, but I’m going to have to go back sometime sooner rather than later, because I was too early for the live entertainment, and it was too hot to order anything off this crazy long drink menu. But the service was great, no one acted like I was a problem for being solo, the food was great, the atmosphere was neat and the background music was also enjoyable. The soda bread and dip were fantastic, and I had the Three Times a Boxty for my entree, which was also delicious. This was basically thick cut ham, Irish cheese, and an egg, sandwiched between 2 potato patties, served with fries...I mean...chips. YUM! Why have I not eaten here before?! Seriously...I’ll be back!
After brunch, I poked around the various stores for awhile, making sure I hadn’t missed anything in my previous trips to Disney Springs this week, then headed back to Columbia, where I got a fantastic deal on OmniFreeze cooling towels. Why didn’t I walk in this store earlier this week?! They were marked down to 30% off, and then when I got to the register, they were actually 50% off. As an added bonus, because I’m a rewards member (Columbia OmniHeat is how I survive winter in NH...I have the jackets (yes plural), the vests, the ski pants, the base layer stuff, the gloves, and even the boots), I got another 20% off. So while the colors are ugly (they’re sweat rags, who cares), we are now all set for the annual cookout where Nick grills for 80 people (spoiler alert...it didn’t get over 74 that day…), and I’m all set for when I forget next spring just how hot this trip was and inevitably decide to book another summer solo trip.
Shopping complete, I limped toward the bus stop. A bus came along soon enough, and pretty soon I was back at Music, where I collected my backpack and started consolidating my day bag (have to carry a poncho somehow!). Then I changed into a long sleeve shirt, because it would once again be cold in NH by the time I got home. It’s totally normal to need long sleeves in August right?
It was closing in on bus time, so I headed outside and grabbed a bench, noticing that the sky totally matched my mood. The sky was getting darker by the minute.
The bus, of course, pulled up a few minutes early, and the trip was officially over.
It started raining as I sat down on the bus. Again, appropriate. We made one stop at Movies, where the rain moved to torrential downpour levels. As we rolled out of the Movies parking lot, the driver revealed his sense of humor, with the announcement that this was our final stop and the airport was our next destination, “We will be arriving at the Orlando airport in approximately 35 minutes, traveling at a max speed of 70 mph, and a cruising altitude of approximately 12 inches”.
The driver was an excellent driver, but this was probably my scariest ride ever to MCO yet, because there was absolutely no visibility. I passed the ride texting, to try to distract myself a bit. Thankfully the rain let up as the bus approached the airport. And we got another dose of driver humor as he explained the layout of the airport, which Disney probably wouldn’t have appreciated, but every adult on the bus did, “On level 3, the wonderful security folks with the TSA are eagerly waiting to give you a full body massage”.
Once the bus “landed”, I headed for level 3, pausing near the entrance to the Precheck line. Eric was in between Give Kids the World greets, so he met up with me and we were able to chat for about 15 minutes. It’s always nice to catch up, and it was also nice to see a friendly face before flying home.
All too soon I was cruising through the precheck line, literally. While the main security line had a half hour wait time posted, precheck was a walkthrough.
Once gateside, I picked up dinner from Jersey Mike’s, and headed for my gate. As I got near my gate, I saw that my gate area was completely full, with a flight starting the boarding process, so I veered across the way to a nearly empty gate area. As I went to turn to sit down, I heard “no, don’t take that chair” from someone who was apparently in a smart ass move. I turned around, and saw a retired principal, turned substitute from my district. I’m not sure who was more surprised to see the other. He also looked a bit embarrassed. Lesson learned, you might actually know the person when you’re being a smart ass 1000 miles from home. We chatted for a few minutes, and then he went off to find a seat, and I sat down to enjoy my food. We really need Jersey Mike’s at home!
Sooner than I would have liked, boarding began. I had purchased EBCI for this flight, so I had a boarding position in the A group, and got a window seat in row 8 for this flight. I sat down and quickly noticed this plane needed a bit of a paint job.
The plane was fully boarded a few minutes early, and we all found out that our flight attendants have a great sense of humor. Best security spiel ever, complete with a fake microphone, Elvis glasses, pig nose, swinging oxygen tubing and (not pictured) a clown nose at mid cabin. I only wish I had taken video instead of photos. Definitely made departure from a great vacation a little less painful to leave laughing.
The flight was uneventful, although, I couldn’t help but think about the kid on the flight down who referred to landing as “popping a wheelie” as we touched down in Manchester. Not the smoothest landing I’ve ever experienced!
We landed on an infrequently used runway, so we taxied ALL the way around the airport. In fact, if it hadn’t been dark out and I’d been more aware, I should have waved to Nick, since we taxied right past the cell phone lot.
Deplaning was definitely faster than on the flight down, and soon enough I was collecting my luggage at baggage claim. Nick arrived at the curb to meet me about 3 minutes after I texted him that I had my bag, because Manchester’s great like that. And with that, the trip was over. It was an uneventful drive home, and Gizmo was VERY happy to see me when I got home.
Final thoughts:
It was another great trip! While I can always use more park time, I had enough park time to hit the absolute must dos. And I really enjoyed being able to justify some of the restaurants I’ve heard so much about, but don’t usually have the opportunity to get to.
I’m so glad it worked out so that I could get down to Disney this summer and see Illuminations for a final time.
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