The next morning was a sad one because it was time to go home. I normally love going home when we go to WDW but we also usually spend 2 weeks there (parks and a cruise) and by then I am ready to come home. I was like..okay, ready for the cruise now! What? No cruise? We're going home? What idiot planned this trip??
I got up early to shower and make breakfast for my family. We packed up, left our last Mousekeeping tip envelope and headed downstairs. We walked over to where the Disneyland Express bus picks up passengers and we waited and waited...we were 15 minutes early and the bus was 15 minutes late so we were waiting for a bit.
Kira asked to sit alone again
She watched Wreck It Ralph on the bus TV to pass the time.
We checked-in at Westjet in Terminal 2 and then dropped off our bags for scanning. We got in line for security and were ushered into the pre-screening line, which was TOTALLY WICKED!!!!
At LAX, there is a regular line and then the TSA Pre-screened line. We totally lucked out because we didn't have to remove shoes or laptops or any electronics.
It was the easiest and fastest experience we have ever had with airport security.
I kind of laughed though because I did that job for almost two years and I got pretty darn good at finding things on the x-ray images and there is a reason they tell you to take your electronics out of your bag...you can't see anything behind them on the screen because things like battery packs and certain parts come out dark blue or black and if there is something behind that, it is extremely difficult to spot. I kind of laugh about the whole airport security thing, mainly because there really isn't anything secure about it.
I did get selected for additional screening but with a terrible, quick wand, I was done
The entire terminal is under construction, which was kind of a pain because there was very limited seating at the gate and almost no options for food. I did find a place to get some water for the plane but there was a huge line-up.
Finally it was time to board
Let me just say how much we LOVE Westjet. We only have two airlines in Canada (
but we can also choose to fly the USA owned airlines for most USA destinations (AA, United, Delta & Alaska)) and one sucks the big one and the other is awesome
I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER fly Air Canada again!!! For many, many reasons! Enough said.
Meanwhile...on Westjet...
Westjet recently (ish) redid the first 3 rows of their planes. They made them comfier, roomier and added some nice perks to them. A mini-first class, if you will. Since they are quite a lot more $$$ than the other seats, they rarely sell out in advance and during the online check-in, they sometimes offer them for pretty cheap if you are early and lucky enough. We opted to get the "Plus" seating, as they call it, both ways and it was soooo worth it!
Check out my leg room, peeps! Normally my knees are touching the seat in front of me
We had to wait a bit on the tarmac to be refueled...
I love that we fly out over the ocean first (that's the end of the runway there!)
And only two cargo ships left!
You get a free sandwich/snack when you are in Plus...
Less than three hours later, we hit the wonderfully familiar Rocky Mountains
We passed over Calgary's ski hill with fake snow...kind of obvious when there's no snow on the groud
As I looked out, I could see our old house, the one we lived in when Kira was born
Then we flew really close to Cross Iron Mills, a massive outlet mall on the northern outskirts of the city, where we bought Kira's new Crocs and Skechers she wore on this trip.
And finally landing at our home airport
A long walk to Canadian Customs, a quick visit with the agent and then we grabbed our luggage.
Rob was going to take our luggage and Kira with him on the Park2Go shuttle, grab our van and pick me up as I was headed to Tim Horton's to grab him a coffee. LOL, priorities, right?
Although there was a huge line-up at Timmy's, I managed to grab a coffee, some timbits, a bagel and make the shuttle! Everyone on the shuttle was like "OH THANKS!" when they saw the Timmy's stuff
All of our cars were waiting for us at the front, started and warmed up, even though it was 10 ºC out LOL!
It was our first time using Park2Go and we were very happy with them!
Thirty minutes drive home to the doggie love of my life, Lilo
and that was it!
The End
Coming Up: Final Thoughts