You’d think that with two late nights in a row, I’d sleep in a bit. I really didn’t. I was awake before 7. After a bit of social media time, I got up and started packing and getting ready for the day. Our getaway was nearly over.
About 9 we did the final check of the room and headed for the rental car. It didn’t take long to load the luggage and program the GPS, and then we were off to the Contemporary Resort for breakfast.
At the Contemporary we parked and headed inside, where I checked in at Steakhouse 71 from the app. Within a couple minutes, I got the text that our table was ready, so we headed inside and were seated a couple minutes later.
Breakfast here was excellent. Service was great and both of us really enjoyed our food. Nick got the prime rib hash and I got the pumpkin spice seasonal pancakes. We would absolutely do breakfast here again.
After we finished breakfast we headed upstairs. First stop? Checking out the gingerbread creation.
We then spent some time just killing time browsing the store and then taking in the views from the platform and the walkway to Bay Lake Tower. It was a beautiful day.
Eventually we got tired of some of the people hanging out along the walkway, so we headed down to the second floor and grabbed seats in this really quiet area to kill another 20 minutes or so.
Sooner than I would have liked, it was time to head out. We worked our way down to the ground floor, where we headed out to snag a picture of the big Christmas tree outside.
Then it was off to the parking lot where we found the rental car and headed for the airport. This Disney trip has come to an end.
Even with a stop for fuel, it was an uneventful drive back to the airport. It is SO different, though, driving in now with terminal C open. But we made it back to the terminal A/B garage and got the rental car returned. Then we headed up the series of escalators and found our way to the Southwest kiosks, where I printed paper boarding passes. We then headed for security, where we found almost no one in the Pre-Check line. Needless to say, we were through security and headed for the tram to the gate in minutes.
Once over at the gate area we grabbed lunch. I got a sub from Jersey Mike’s. I have no idea what Nick got. I think Nick ate then. I held onto my sub to eat a little closer to flight time. While sitting in the food court, I overheard a person behind me telling the person he was with that going to Boston is on his bucket list. That one definitely left me scratching my head.
We eventually made our way to the gate area. Boarding began eventually and…it was a cluster. First we had to delay boarding to wait for one last flight attendant. Then we had to pause boarding part way through while they swapped out the flight attendant that had arrived late with a different flight attendant. Nick and I were mid Bs, despite having Early Bird Check-in, but on this kid heavy flight, Nick somehow found exit row seats together, which made him happy. And most importantly to me, we found bin space over said seats.
We were a few minutes late leaving MCO because of the boarding chaos, but it was an uneventful flight up to BWI and we got in just a few minutes late.
In Baltimore, deplaning was fast, so we still had enough time to eat at Chick-fil-A on our way to our next gate. When we got to our next gate, all the way at the end of the terminal, we discovered it was an incredibly light flight…approximately 45 passengers for the entire plane.
Needless to say, the entire plane was boarded in approximately 10 minutes, and we had no issues finding bin space. I also did not need to sit in a middle seat for this flight! We pushed back early, because…why not?
The flight up to Manchester was uneventful and short. We landed quite early. With only 45 people on board and an airport that understands how to staff their jetbridges, deplaning was incredibly quick. Since we had only carry on luggage, we headed straight downstairs and waited for John to pick us up. He didn’t appear right away, so then we got on the phone. He’d fallen asleep in the cell phone lot. A couple minutes after that was established, he pulled up to the curb in my car, we headed outside where it was FREEZING, I took over the driver’s seat, and it was off to my in-laws’ to retrieve the dogs and head home.
Final thoughts:
Disney during the Christmas season is just so magical.
Jollywood Nights was definitely our favorite of the two Christmas events.
A getaway is absolutely the best way to celebrate a birthday.
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