August 2024: A Not So Solo Summer Disney Trip: Day 6: The End

Day 6: Wednesday August 21, 2024

The alarm went off and there really was no time to spare this morning, so we got up, finished packing, and headed for the tower. I go back to work tomorrow, so it’s apparently time to go home.

I’d noticed when I checked my email that I hadn’t gotten the usual check out morning folio, so I checked the app, where it said I needed to check out at the front desk. Thankfully, the CM with an iPad pushed some buttons and got things squared away. For some reason the system hadn’t zeroed out my file, even though I’d done all the right things. It was a quick process, but added a step I didn’t want to spend time on after a short night.

We hung out in the Tower lobby for a few minutes before it was time to head to the bus. Obviously, that meant I took some pictures.

About 20 of 8 we headed for the bus stop. Our bus pickup was scheduled for 7:55 am. The bus rolled in early and we actually were rolling out of the resort at 7:54. Take them seriously when they say to be early to the bus stop folks! Also, Mears sent a bus tracker link to me when the bus was on the way, but not until it was already almost at the resort.

We were the last stop before the airport, so even with morning traffic, it was a pretty quick trip. We’d apparently partied too hard the night before so Nick slept.

 
Even with a stop at Terminal C, we were unloading at the main airport by 8:30. We somehow took the extra long route to the Southwest ticket counters, but we found them easily, and because so many people fly to the northeast from FL, we bypassed the longer lines at the main Southwest counters, and took full advantage of the separate Southwest counters that have been set up just for destinations in the Northeast. We had boarding passes and my suitcase checked pretty quickly.

Then it was off to security, where we waited maybe 5 minutes to get our IDs checked. Actual security took even less time, and we were on a tram to the gate before 9 am.

Needless to say once we were gateside, we found some breakfast. Nick got McDonald’s. I went to Jersey Mike’s, because I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were a) making breakfast sandwiches and b) making breakfast sandwiches with real food. Like they crack a real egg on the griddle for their breakfast sandwiches. I had an egg and cheese sandwich. It was excellent. Nick had…whatever he has from McDonald’s. Oh and I had one of the McDonald’s hashbrowns, because he’s a smart husband and always buys one of those for me.

We were done eating with still 2 hours to go before our flight. Mears got us to the airport just a little early…

Eventually we made our way to the gate, where Nick read and I texted until flight time. Boarding was on time. The flight was uneventful. Nick slept. I didn’t. Nothing new there. We landed in Baltimore a few minutes early, which is always nice.

Once in Baltimore, we grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A. They initially screwed up our order and gave us chicken sandwiches with pickles, instead of plain chicken sandwiches, but Nick got that squared away, and we enjoyed our late lunch, because it’s Chick-fil-A. Then we worked our way to our next gate, where, surprisingly for a midday flight, this flight was also on time. Our flight up to Manchester was also uneventful, but it was longer than the typical flight to MHT from BWI (meaning it actually took more than an hour like it was scheduled, instead of the usual, just under an hour), which was really unfortunate because Nick takes the window seat, I take the middle and the guy on the aisle was an armrest hog who had clearly never learned about deodorant.

Needless to say, I was very glad to touch down in Manchester, even though it had been a great vacation. After we deplaned, we headed downstairs. I hung around baggage claim while Nick hung back a ways, since it was only my suitcase that needed claiming. My suitcase was the very last one to come out onto the carousel…like it emerged and then the carousel was immediately turned off, so this took awhile. Less time than at a big airport, but the wait was awhile for Manchester.

Suitcase in hand, I turned around and…Nick was nowhere to be found. I waited a few minutes, looking in the direction of the bathrooms thinking he’d gone there, but he didn’t emerge. Then I started to see people gathering near the escalator to the parking garage, and cops heading in that direction. Hmm. And then Nick came walking over from the direction of the escalator, left his bag with me and said he had to go wash some guy’s blood off his hands. Umm.

Nick emerged a few minutes later and told me “some old guy” had fallen on the escalator and gotten pretty banged up. Nick, having dealt with his share of escalator incidents in his days working loss prevention at Macy’s, had hustled over and stopped the escalator and then helped get the guy up and situated not on the escalator.

We headed for the parking garage, with Nick taking a route past the dude to make sure a) he was still breathing and b) he was still being attended to, and then found the car and headed out. As we were leaving the airport, we could see an ambulance arriving, so we knew for sure that the escalator dude was going to get medical attention. From here it was a quick ride back to my in-laws, where the dogs were thrilled to see us. We chatted for a bit, loaded the doggos up in Nick’s car, and headed home to get ready for my first day back at school.


Final thoughts:

Nick did better than I had anticipated, but if I do any future summer trips, he’s not invited for park time.

I’m sure I’ll have future value resort stays for solo trips, but we have definitely become moderate resort people.

Coronado’s layout isn’t nearly as overwhelmingly big as it seems. I really enjoyed this resort, and I’d happily stay there again. French Quarter, though, is still my favorite moderate.

It’s really hard to juggle party events AND multiple new headliner attractions. But I’m really happy with how much we accomplished that evening.

I like the Christmas party better than the Halloween party. Nick would like to try the Halloween party again some year in October. I think he thinks it will be cooler and less humid.

I feel like I found the right balance this trip between parks and non-parks, which is good, because with the cost of tickets, less park time is probably going to have to become the norm!

It was so nice to be able to try a bunch of new to us restaurants.

I’m blown away by how good our weather was for August.

I’m getting too old to do 4 parks in one day in the summer!

It was a great trip, despite how wild the days leading up to it were!

August 2024: A Not So Solo Summer Disney Trip: Day 5

Day 5: Tuesday August 20, 2024

We slept in slightly this morning, but we were rolling out the door by 8:30. We had breakfast to get to! We were on a bus pretty soon after getting to the (crowded) bus stop. Folks, getting on a bus at 8:30 is not rope dropping!

The bus was standing room only before it ever even left our bus stop (bus stop 2, which is the first stop on the park loop). It continued to stop at all of the bus stops. I know people love Gran Destino Tower, but this is definitely a con for the tower. At peak bus times, that bus rolls in full. And those folks spend more money than us peons in the standard rooms. But I had a seat. They did not.

It was an uneventful ride over to Hollywood Studios. We got there with plenty of time, so we headed for the boat dock. We had to wait a bit, because the first boat to dock was being taken out of service, but honestly, we probably didn’t wait more than 10 minutes before we were on a boat.

It was an enjoyable ride over to the Yacht Club, where we did a bit of picture taking and store browsing to kill time.

About 9:30, we parked ourselves on a couch near the entrance to Ale and Compass and I did the check in in the app. This really is a convenient feature. Just a few minutes later, I got the text that our table was ready, and we were seated immediately.

This was another kind of new restaurant for us. Nick and I had eaten here a couple of times when it was Captains Grille and had always enjoyed it, but hadn’t experienced it as Ale and Compass yet.

Breakfast here was excellent. Service was great and so was the food. The Disney Visa discount saving us a couple dollars was nice too. I had the breakfast pizza and Nick had the dark chocolate waffles. I think he had a cold brew too. We both passed on the buffet add-on, and had plenty of food. We would absolutely eat here again.

 
After breakfast, we headed for the bus stop. A bus for Disney Springs came along within about 10 minutes. We made one or two more stops and then it was off to Disney Springs.

At Disney Springs, we wandered through a couple of stores and then rope dropped Swirls on the Water, which opened a few minutes late. We split the key lime dole whip sundae here. It was massive and delicious.

 
Sundae consumed, we made our way back through Disney Springs, and onto a loading bus to Coronado. We had perfect timing; it started pouring on the trip back to Coronado. Thankfully, Disney is big enough that it wasn’t raining at Coronado, and that lasted long enough for us to make it back to the room.

The next several hours (we got back to the resort around 11 am) were filled with torrential downpours and wild thunderstorms. We spent the time napping, packing, watching the radar and hourly forecast, and watching the rain. Thankfully, the rain mostly stopped around 3. I went for a walk to the food court for a mug refill and to survey the food options. At that hour, the food court has limited food service, and the weather appeared to be clearing, so I made a plan for dinner at our destination, and then returned to the room. We finished getting ready, and then headed for the bus stop around 4.

A bus rolled in shortly after and we were off! It’s time for Nick’s first Disney Halloween party!! It was an uneventful ride to the Magic Kingdom, and because we got to the park about 4:30, we didn’t really have to wait to get into the park. We were ushered down the backside of Main Street, where we were given park maps and trick or treat bags and got to see some of the Halloween statues.

 
When we emerged into the Hub, I led Nick to Frontierland for dinner. Food in Magic Kingdom is tough on a good day, but it seems to be even worse on a party day, when the places that get set up for Trick or Treating close early. But, Pecos Bill has (ok, had at that time) a pretty generic menu, so we should be able to find something for both of us right?

I was correct. I got chicken nachos and Nick got (I think) a bacon double cheeseburger. The food was filling and tasty enough. And the meal ended with Nick saying “good call wifey”. This was a new restaurant to him. I’m not actually sure he even knew it was there.

 
After we finished eating, we remained in the air conditioning while I finalized our game plan and then we headed outside. I took a few pictures around the Rivers of America before that gets eliminated. Soapbox time…Cars fits with Frontierland and Tom Sawyer Island is pretty underutilized but…do they really have to get rid of the whole river?!

Then we headed for the newest attraction in Disney. Tiana’s is a virtual queue during regular park hours, but it switches to standby for the party. I’d debated exactly when to hit this one, and had decided first thing during the party was the best bet, because this ride goes down so much. They clearly didn’t fix the Splash Mountain reliability issues when they retrofitted the ride. We hung around the entrance (but not too close) until it was obvious that they were letting party goers enter the queue. The CM’s made it clear the line would NOT move until 6:00. It was about 5:40.

So we both entered the queue, despite Nick’s claims that the water would ruin his Roosevelt shirt so he wasn’t riding. And…the line started moving for real by 5:55. We were stepping into our log to go down the Bayou right at 6:00!

I’d be lying if I said that I don’t miss Zip-a-dee-doo-da, but…Tiana’s is adorable. It’s a well done attraction for sure. We both enjoyed it. And we didn’t get too horrifically wet.

Because who doesn’t love an old “Must do’s” reference…after the wash cycle, we headed for the dry cycle. Big Thunder Mountain was maybe a 10 minute wait. And it definitely is the Wildest Ride in the WILderness!

Having tackled all the mountains we would tackle tonight, it was off to Pirates. This year they’ve moved the pirate actors out to the courtyard in front of the queue, rather than them being in the attraction itself, so it wasn’t a party must do. But with a short queue (we basically walked right on), it was a perfect way to get some air conditioning before the party officially started.

After Pirates, it was nearly 7, so it was time to get this party started! We headed in the general direction of Liberty Square, but stopped near Country Bears and found a spot along the edge of the walkway to stand. Nick didn’t understand why were were stopping here, but I had a couple things to cross off the list. And just a few minutes later, the list crossing off began when the Cadaver Dans emerged on the roof top. We both enjoyed their short performance. Nick thought all was done but I told him to wait, and about a minute later, the Grim Grinning Ghosts appeared. They were fun to watch for a few minutes.

Then it was off to Liberty Square for a few photopass pictures.

 
By now, it was clear that it was time, even in Liberty Square to find a spot to wait for the parade. It was way earlier than I wanted to line up, but, so it goes. The wait was…hot. Thankfully the Headless Horseman rode just as the grumping started. And then the parade followed soon after. Obviously, the parade was great. I definitely prefer being able to watch the later parade, but for ride timing tonight, this was definitely the best option.

After the parade we went in search of water, because anything close by was closed. So we ended up at Pinocchio Village Haus, where service was slow, but we got water and a lemonade for me. The lemonade was gone by the time we reached our next stop, but both of us were also in a much better mood.

Next stop was Haunted Mansion. We’d managed to beat enough of the parade crowds here that while the wait was posted as 35 minutes and the line was horrifically long in appearance, we were actually on the ride in less than 20 minutes. And the character in the graveyard called out Nick for being the “bearded man wearing our wallpaper”, so his day was made!

After Haunted Mansion it was time for some treats! We headed back to Pecos Bill, which was slammed. Here we got one of the Halloween treats, a guava lemonade slushy with cheesecake foam, and took full advantage of the fact that they had a CM dedicated just to setting out trays with free cups of water. The slushy was delicious. The foam tasted more like “birthday cake” flavor than cheesecake flavor. But overall, this treat was a hit.

Then we worked our way toward Main Street, stopping in at Diamond Horseshoe to trick or treat. Nick was quite impressed with the “shovel load” of candy he was given in his one scoop. Then we really did head to Main Street, where we found a spot in the Hub, close-ish to Casey’s to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks began about 15 minutes later, and they were excellent.

As soon as the fireworks ended I led Nick straight down Main Street. We walked right into Town Square Theater and got pictures with Mickey after just a 5 minute wait.

 
Then we worked our way back up Main Street, stopping in the Emporium. They’d already sold out of the party ornament for the night (grr), so I picked up a regular Disney Halloween Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip.

We were getting into the final hour-ish of the party now, so it was time to seriously make use of our time. We trick-or-treated our way to Buzz Lightyear where Nick beat me not with a ridiculously high score, but by spinning the car so that I couldn’t hit basically any targets. Thanks hubs!

Then we collected some more candy, walked right onto the Peoplemover (ahh, a footrest!), trick-or-treated a bit more, and then headed for Tron.

By now, the 2nd parade was starting so over the last 20 minutes or so I had watched the wait time for Tron plummet from 50 minutes to 25 minutes. That’s more like it! It was pretty accurate too; we were on the ride in about 25 minutes. And Nick’s reaction to the ride? “That was it?! It was just getting good!”

After Tron, it was pretty close to midnight so we made our way out of the Magic Kingdom, picture taking along the way.

 
The trip back to Coronado took…awhile. Seems that they’d decided to do some sort of road construction right near the tunnel which required closing a lane. So we stood (literally…it was a standing room only bus) in one spot for a solid 15 minutes. Not cool. But once we were moving, it was an uneventful rest of the trip back to the hotel, where we set alarms and crashed.