February 2025: A Central Florida Winter Vacation: Day 9, The End

Day 9: Sunday, March 2, 2025

UGH. It’s time to go home.

After lying in bed as long as we could justify we got up and packed. Eventually we headed over to the deli/coffee shop and got breakfast. Nick got some sort of breakfast sandwich made with French toast I think. I just got a pastry. We brought that back to the room and scarfed it, before starting the dishwasher and hauling luggage down to the car.

Once the car was loaded up, we drove over to the hospitality building where we checked out, and programmed the GPS to TPA, by way of a gas station. We got on the road just about 10 am.

Including the fuel stop, the drive to TPA took about an hour and 45 minutes. We were in slow moving traffic for the overwhelming majority of the drive. It was a Plant City Strawberry Festival Day, and based on traffic patterns I saw, I think that heavily influenced that day’s traffic. We didn’t pass any accidents. I had done extensive research to find fuel within the requisite few miles of the airport, and so we filled up at a WalMart that’s really just a couple miles from the TPA rental car facility. This worked out well, and from here, the GPS directed us to TPA using a route that wasn’t the highway for the last few minutes of the trip.

Our return to TPA was easy enough. There was a little traffic as people figured out which level of the rental car garage to go to, but overall, it was easy to deal with. There was a LONG line of cars that had been returned to Alamo ahead of us, but they had a small army of staff scanning cars back in, so we were all set before we even had everything out of the car.

From here, we rode escalators and a train back to the main airport terminal, and then we rode some more escalators. Check in with Southwest was easy enough, and just after noon our bags were checked, and we were headed for the next escalator and train series.

In Tampa, you scan your boarding pass to get access to the train to the gates. You then take the train to the gates and then go through security. As a result, security here was just as (maybe more) civilized than it is in Manchester. We had like two people ahead of us in line, and the TSOs were all talking in normal, civilized voices. It was a relatively calm experience. And somehow both of us made it through with no extra screening.

After clearing security, Nick was like “this airport is a lot like Manchester; I like it”. I like it too, but let’s not get too crazy here. This one terminal is twice the size of all of MHT! But yes, it’s definitely a less chaotic experience than MCO. No question about that.

We found our gate, then Nick found himself some candy and soda and I set off in search of actual food. I ended up getting a pack of slider sandwiches…turkey and cheese on Hawaiian slider rolls, and brought those (and water) back to the gate. Nick and I split the sliders, I talked with mom on the phone, and soon enough, we were boarding our nonstop ontime flight to MHT.

Our flight was fully boarded and pushed back a couple minutes early, with promises of a nice short (by Florida to NH standards) flight time. We got all the way to the end of the runway and we stopped. After sitting for a few minutes, they made an announcement that we would be holding here for about 20-25 minutes, due to an effort to spread out aircraft in the mid-Atlantic and northeast.

We sat for about 20 minutes and then it was full speed ahead into the air. The flight was uneventful, and we landed just a few minutes late, despite the late departure. It was in the 30s when we landed, and they let us know that they’d opened the door to the aircraft by announcing “Welcome to Antarctica”. Gee thanks.

That air sneaking around the edges of the jetbridge was definitely COLD. We made the short walk down to baggage claim, and luggage started being “presented” within a few minutes of our arrival. Our luggage was solidly in the middle of the pack. As soon as we had that in hand, we headed for the parking garage, where we found our car exactly where we had left it. Leaving the garage was easy enough, and parking was half the price that I have prepaid for our April vacation parking at Logan Airport, because Manchester rocks.

We drove back to my in-laws (and got there just 40 minutes after touch down, because…Manchester) where the dogs all but burst through the door when they saw us coming. We chatted for a few minutes then loaded the dogs in the car and made the drive home. At home, we found a nice plow speed bump at the end of the driveway and the mailbox that we don’t actually use anymore had been knocked off its post by the plow guy over the course of the week. Welcome home!

Final thoughts:

I’m so grateful we still got to take this trip, but…it was hard! And…getting home 15 hours before I hit the road north for 3 days of funeral services, then going back to work the day after burial was…a lot.

I’m glad this was a trip that was laid back yet still kept me on the go. It was the right balance for this particular trip.

Busch Gardens Tampa is definitely not on our repeat list. We still like Sea World.

Buy Sea World Tickets on Undercover Tourist during a sale. If you can get in on a Black Friday deal, that’s really best, but…just hit a good sale. Don’t pay gate prices for their tickets.

Special Events definitely elevate Universal. Universal on its own is fine. Universal with special events is much better.

I would stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany Village again in a heartbeat (for a trip like we just did…not a full Disney trip). Every staff member we encountered was so friendly and helpful. The resort was so clean. Location was solid. We were there on timeshare points, but their cash rates are usually pretty good too.

Getting to see the manatees at Blue Spring was an absolute highlight for both of us.

I might be planning a trip to FL for next year that involves zero theme parks AND zero cruises. Stay tuned!

February 2025: A Central Florida Winter Vacation: Day 8

Day 8: Saturday March 1, 2025

Last full day of vacation. I woke up dreading the end of the trip. My texts were starting to contain a lot more funeral stuff and a lot less fun stuff compared to the start of the trip.

It was a relatively slow start to the morning, but eventually we both got up and ready. I think we headed out around 10:45. It was an uneventful drive over to Disney Springs, but as soon as we got there it was obvious that it was a Saturday. The Lime Garage was already filling up, so today we ended up parking on level 4, instead of our usual level 2. Despite the masses of humanity working their way into Disney Springs, security moved quickly (for those of us that had taken the hard sided sunglass case with clasps out of our bag earlier in the week), and we were on an escalator down into Disney Springs pretty soon after parking.

We wandered for a few minutes and then checked in at Wine Bar George for brunch around 11:20. We were seated immediately.

Brunch here was top notch. Service was excellent, atmosphere is nice. Nick got the dole whip orange old fashioned, which he said was “good but a bit medicinal” and I got the frozcato to drink. Then we split the coconut cream stuffed french toast and the brunch board (cheeses, honey, fig spread, pork rinds, nuts, sourdough, hash browns, sausage). The food was fantastic. We both were happy and full at the end of brunch!

After brunch, we wandered over to World of Disney to make sure we hadn’t missed anything earlier in the week. Then we headed for the buses, where, after a brief wait, we hopped on a bus to the Epcot resort area. We took this bus over to the Beach Club, and then wandered the loop around Crescent Lake, enjoying the beautiful weather, debating which Friendship boat color scheme is the best, popping into some of the shops, and doing flight check in from the Boardwalk (sigh!).

 
When we made it over to the International Gateway area, we headed for the Skyliner and we were on it in just a few minutes. We took this over to Caribbean Beach, then transferred to the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios.

 
After flying around Disney, we headed for the bus stops at Studios and pretty quickly we were on a bus. It was an uneventful ride to the Contemporary, where we got off the bus and headed up to the 4th floor to explore the stores before heading for the monorail platform.

Soon enough, we were back at the Polynesian for the last time this trip. Here I led the way out to the pool bar, where I got the Voyager, I think, (pineapple dole whip, blue stuff, coconut rum, etc) and Nick got a lime dole whip margarita. We then took these to the beach to enjoy. We both love that the pool bar here is accessible to everyone. They’ve got some fun and unique drinks.

 
Having enjoyed our beverages and the sunshine, we headed back inside, where we joined the (short) line for seats at Tambu lounge. Within 15 minutes we were able to snag seats at the bar. Here we both got an order of the ‘Ohana noodles (which are now actually listed on the Tambu menu), Nick got a Backscratcher, minus the backscratcher, and I got the Keikei’s lemonade. All was excellent, and we had a good time chatting with the bartender who was originally from CT and the couple next to us, since the wife is a kindergarten teacher.

Once we’d carb loaded, we paid up and headed over to the bus stop. A bus came along probably 10 minutes later, and it was an uneventful ride back to Disney Springs, where we went straight to our car because Saturday night Disney Springs crowds are not our thing.

It was then an uneventful ride back to the resort, where we packed and acted like old people, downing Tums and Advil, because yeah, we’re old now.

I think we both called it a relatively early night.

February 2025: A Central Florida Winter Vacation: Day 7

Day 7: Friday February 28, 2025

NOOOO, it’s almost the end of vacation!!!!

I was awake relatively early. I had a granola bar and started perusing the Sea World app to finalize my plan of attack. It was during this time that I discovered they had changed their opening time since I’d last looked (or maybe I’d had it confused with Busch Gardens) and Sea World was actually going to be opening at 9:00, not 10 like I’d had in my head.

I headed back into the bedroom to gather my outfit for the day and to wake up Nick. We both got ready and I think we were heading out a little after 8:15. It was an uneventful, 10-15 minute drive over to Sea World.

Parking was a bit of a free for all, but eventually we were parked and headed for the entrance. Security and scanning in was quick, and soon enough we were watching the flamingos, waiting for the park to open. I back-tracked to guest services for a paper map while waiting.

At 9:00 with zero fanfare (apparently they don’t play the national anthem anymore) they dropped the rope, and we headed into the park, to our first destination, the new family roller coaster, Penguin Trek. This was…pretty deep into the park, but we found it. And we found that we were required to put my backpack into a pay locker. Lame.

Once my bag was stored, we headed into line. It was basically a walk on to get on Penguin Trek at this point, which was great. This was a fun roller coaster. It’s a family roller coaster, but it has a couple of legitimate launches. Definitely more intense than Slinky Dog over at Hollywood Studios.

When the ride ended, we got to see the penguins. They had several different viewing areas. Some were glassed in, which was nice because it was warmer. Some were totally open, so we got to experience 32 degree air in shorts. And we narrowly escaped being splashed by swimming penguins.

Once we’d gotten our fill of penguin viewing, we retrieved my bag, and headed to Pacific Point to view the sea lions. They were very vocal this morning!

By now it was time for second breakfast for me and coffee for Nick. This took us…all around the park…before we finally ended up at…Sea World’s version of Starbucks. They were the only ones we could find serving breakfast. Lame. Nick got some sort of cold brew thing and we split a cronut, which, sorry Disney, was far superior to the Epcot cronut. But did not come close to our local donut shop’s cronuts.

Food consumed, we headed over to Dolphin Stadium to catch the 10:30 dolphin presentation. This was fun, upbeat/high energy, and Nick and I also laughed watching all the field trip kids in the soak zone end up with drenched school uniforms. No way is that comfortable!

When the dolphin “presentation” ended, we headed deeper into the park. This took us first to Shark Encounter. Always fun to ride the moving walkway through the shark tunnel.

As we continued deeper into the park, Nick saw that Mako was posted as a 10 minute wait, so he left his hat with me and headed for the entrance. The wait ended up being more like 20 minutes because apparently the loading area was kind of a free for all and rows were going out just partially filled, but he got on the coaster eventually and enjoyed it.

After Nick had survived Mako, we headed straight for Orca Stadium for the 12:00 orca presentation. We got good seats and got to watch one of the orcas watching everyone file into the stadium before the show. The show…I mean…presentation…was high energy and fun, and I liked that they were using some of the music from, I think it was One Ocean…a show from quite awhile ago. That music is just awesome.

Orcas seen, it was time for a bit of food. It was once again the Seven Seas Food Festival, and while we could easily spend days eating our way through this festival, we prioritized the Brazil booth. Here we got the guava mint caipirinha (that was suspiciously lacking in mint), the picanha beef and the sazon chicken. The beverage and the chicken were the standouts here…so much so that we got a couple different varieties of sazon seasoning when we got home.

Having completed our tour of the shows we wanted to see, we set off for some animal watching. Our first stop was the manatee and turtle rescue area. This has a great indoor underwater viewing area. There were very few people here, so we sat on a bench watching the turtles for quite awhile. We both agreed that if we had a spot like this (or the Georgia Aquarium) close to home, we would have season passes. The New England Aquarium in Boston doesn’t cut it…even when you factor out the major detail that it’s…in Boston.

Our next stop was dolphin viewing. There were numerous dolphin encounters happening at this pool, so it honestly wasn’t the most exciting time to be watching. But, it was still enjoyable.

Then we hiked across the park, because I thought that Wild Arctic was still semi open while they’re working on the new attraction, but, that was not the case. While on this side of the park, we debated whether there was anything else we wanted to eat or do, and we both decided we were ready to head back to the resort. So, we headed for the exit. As we passed by Pipeline, the standing coaster that was being built when we were here two years ago, Nick decided that the posted 10 minute wait was short enough, and he went to ride. I was able to hang in the shade with a view of the load zone, which allowed for some pictures.

Nick said this one was a very weird sensation. He also said that he’d seen someone lift their legs up to be basically suspended by the ride harness, so he had tried this at one point and…”it’s a good thing we’re not having kids”. Got it.

After this, we really did leave the park, stopping for the requisite Sea World icon picture as we headed for the car.

It was an easy drive back to the resort, where we chilled for a bit before dinner. When we were ready to eat, we headed over to the pool bar at the main pool. We got the last two seats at the bar, and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We both had bucket drinks…I don’t remember what either one of us got, but they were fruity, tasty, and fairly strong. Nick got the garlic chicken flatbread and I got loaded tots. Our food was excellent. The service was great. And the prices honestly were fair. If you stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany Village, have a beverage and/or a meal at the pool bar. It’s worth it.

 
After dinner we chilled in the room, I started doing some repacking of my packing cubes, and I called it an early night.