[LSUtigerfan]

Day 6: Downtown Disney and Homeward Bound (sorry, not the movie [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] ).

Against my better judgement, we woke up this morning and did not go to our PS for breakfast at Cape May Cafe [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img] . What a bummer, we eat in the room. This obviously was NOT my choice. Oh well, I better not talk about that anymore, it's a sore spot! Today was sunny and hot outside. We completed our packing...that was a huge chore & not much fun. Our plan for today was to go to DtD and come back to CSR for TTC to pick us up at 4:15pm...our flight was at 6:45pm.
We had bell services hold our luggage for us, it was really nice to have them pick all of it up from our room.

Next, we hopped on a bus to DtD. This was our first time going to DtD, and we really enjoyed it. First, we decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe. MIL was really excited about this because she really thought the girls would enjoy it, based on her lunch on Day 4. She was right! We were seated immediately (it was ~11:45 am) in the Elephant Room. Dh, the girls & I have never eaten at RC before. I loved the atmosphere and Grumpette loved the gorillas, elephants and especially the HUGE butterfly on the wall above our table. We started with some chicken quesadillas for an appetizer, they were really good. MIL & FIL split a Cobb type salad, dh had the special which was a steak with shrimp, Princess Face had chicken nuggets, and Grumpette & I split a pepperoni pizza. I really wanted to order the crab cake sandwich, but I thought Grumpette would enjoy the pizza... what a bad decision! Thank goodness I had another can of her favorite green beans,because she didn't eat very much pizza. The pizza was ok. I've had better. Dh said his was very good, Princess Face ate all of hers, and I tasted MIL & FIL's salad and it was good too. All in all, the meal was a good one, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it more if I had eaten the crab cake sandwich (anyone ever had it???). Also, we didn't order a Volcano for dessert (Princess Face really wanted one). We decided we would go to Ghirardelli's for a "sweet stop" later. We browsed the gift shop and watched the parrots out front before our shopping excursion.

We went to the Pooh's Corner store (I Loved It!), the World of Disney, Lego Imagination Center, Team Mickey (cute stuff!), and Disney at Home. The bulk of our time and money [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] was well spent at World of Disney. I found some really cute items here, but I still can't believe I never found a 5x7 Ariel frame for Princess Face's picture from the Grotto. We bought plenty of souveniers for everyone on our list today. I'm glad we waited until our last day, because we knew how much room our suitcases would allow. I could have sent a small fortune in each of the stores! We never made it into the Soda Fountain side of Ghirardelli's, the line was extremely ong & appeared to be moving very slowly. We did venture into the Chocolate Shop side and taste some yummy caramel filled chocolate squares [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] ! Sure wish I could have eated some ice cream...Grumpy (dh) and his watch prevailed...time was ticking away. We made our way back to the bus stop for our ride back to CSR. A bus was there waiting for us.

Back at our resort, I took a few pictures outside, as it was a beautiful day and I wanted lots of pics of the beautiful grounds. Everyone in our family seemed to be moping around in a "not so chipper" mood. I guess we just didn't want to leave. We all did a little more shopping in the gift shop...spend it, spend it, spend it! MIL & FIL surprised us with a WDW Memories scrapbook to thank us (me!) for planning the trip & making the ressies. I can't wait to start on it! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Soon enough, TTC arrived at 4:10 pm to bring us to the airport. The ride to MCO was very quiet, so I tried to ask everyone about their favorites at the World and Princess Face was the only one who really "got into it," I guess the others were sad to leave. Isn't it funny how the ride home (or to the airport) is always shorter?!?

We arrive at MCO, baggage drop off & curb side check in goes very smoothly. We enter the airport & head toward our gate. But first, we must go through security!!! Oh my gosh, was that the LONGEST line I've ever seen. It was out in the middle of the airport hotel lobby. I decided to take the girls to see the water fountain (also in the middle of the lobby) for a few minutes. When I went back to join dh, MIL & FIL in line they had hardly moved. It was ridiculous. Then luckily, a security employee saw me join my family in line, she said, "Hey, you with the stroller! This is the stroller line." So, we very quickly left the LLLOOONNNGGG line that rivaled the Great Wall of China and she let our entire party go through this checkpoint. We felt guiltier than we did at the Winnie the Pooh ride with a fast pass! But hey, I wasn't complaining. Once we passed through the checkpoint, we were able to see just how long the lines truly were. I honestly don't know if we would have made it to our gate on time. Now I was convinced that bringing our own stroller was the BEST decision made on this trip.

We decided to grab a bite to eat from the McDonald's (the only place that served Coke!) and let the dd's run around in the airport. Grumpette needed to wear herself out, hopefully she would sleep on the plane. MIL went into a shop where everything was $10...more shopping again??? After about 20 minutes, she came out with a rhinestone studded horse pin. She was very proud of her purchase, then my dh told her it looked like Mr. Ed. The horse had a BIG grin on it's face and was showing it's teeth! She didn't realize it before, and we all laughed til we were in tears. It was so funny. It was great to see everyone laugh & smile again.

Soon it was time to head to our gate. Wow, this was going to be a full flight. MIL noticed the food stand by our gate had fresh fruit bowls so dh bought one for Grumpette. Well it was intened for the flight, but she caught a glimpse of it & of course, I had to let her have some alng with a quick dose of Benadryl. Princess Face pretended to be afraid to fly tonight, then she told me the truth was she didn't want to leave because, "I really just want to stay and live at Disney World, Mom." [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] I shared her sentiment. Finally, we boarded on to our completely booked flight.

The flight was rather bumpy. We were going through a thunderstorm, which had LOTS & LOTS of lightning and strong winds. The pilot even had the flight attendants return to their seats for most of the flight, asking the passengers not to call them unless it was an emergency. The turbulence was quite bumpy. Princess Face asked dh, "should I be asleep right now?" Other than that she was fine, never seemed to be araid and colored the entire flight. Grumpette colored, ate fruit, then fell asleep. MIL prayed, FIL read the USA Today, and I spilled ice cold water on dh's lap! Oh, he wasn't happy about that one!!! I guess everyone thought he just got really scared on the flight [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] . His shorts were dry by the time we exited the plane, thank goodness!

Here we were, back in New Orleans. The airport was smelly, the baggage didn't come out for 20 minutes, and I wasn't looking forward to driving home and unpacking. We made it home after an uneventful drive, ate eggs & biscuits for supper (quick & easy clean up!), caught up on the local news...seems the Baton Rouge serial killer has struck again & it's been raining the whole time we've been gone. Boy, did we miss a great time or what? Everyone crashed and got a good nights sleep. Although, it took about 5 days to catch up on our rest.

Writing this trip report was loads of fun for me. I got to relive my entire trip and I really enjoyed it. I hope y'all did too. Hope it wasn't too terribly long or boring. Thanks for reading. [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

Next: Final Thoughts & Observations

[ 03-24-2003, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: lsutigerfan ]