July 12th - The long road home
And other ramblings
Since there wasn't too much left to my story, I thought I would go on ahead and wrap up our tale. The day started early with loading things up and calling bell services to come pick up our luggage. Since we were sad to leave, we had to have one last picture. Sad pouty faces all around.
Nobody was happy.
While Tony was waiting for the luggage to be picked up, I went down to the food court to cash in the remainder of our snack credits. I really hate that snack credits cannot be used for an appetizer or an additional alcoholic drink at sit-down table service meals. I don't remember exactly what I ended up with, but we had about 10 snack credits left to use. It helped fill up the cooler for snacking later.
We met the ECV pick up dude in the lobby at 8:30 as scheduled. I had received a text from them the night before confirming our departure time and the process was very easily. Gold Mobility Scooters for the win! The van was loaded and with some more tears in my eyes (I know - shocker), we left the bubble of Disney and started the long ride home.
And when I say long ride, I really mean it. I do believe that every person in America was driving on I-75 North on that particular July day and they all decided to congregate in Atlanta.
The drive was just miserable because of all the traffic. And I still had some residual grumpiness from the previous day, so I was just a joy to be with. We stopped that night in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and the finished up the trip home the next morning. There was a couple of McDonald's stops in there I'm sure, which is a far drop from the delicious prime rib I was eating just a few days before.
Oh how I miss the Disney bubble.
I like to end my trip reports with two lists - what I'm so glad we did and what I wish we didn't do/will do better next time. So here we go . . .
What I'm glad we did
1. Renting the cabana. This was - without a doubt - the best money we spent and the best day ever. It might had been not as fabulous if the pool was crowded or the weather was yucky, but those things miraculously didn't happen. This will be a must do for any future trips.
2. Using Gold Mobility Scooters. I cannot recommend them enough. The ECV's we had were in excellent shape and we didn't have to contact them once for any repairs or needs. The communication with them for drop off and pick up was also excellent. And their prices were very competitive with other companies.
3. Having a longer time on vacation. We had five park days and one rest day. This made us have a more relaxing pace and not running from rope drop to kick us out time.
4. Photo pass share. I know that it's not allowed to be talked about on this forum, but we did this again this year and saved a ton of money. If you want information about how we did this, just send me a message.
5. Staying on property. This is a no-brainer for us. I love being in the Disney bubble and that means that once I arrive I don't want to drive anywhere, fight for a parking spot, find my vehicle later or even be bothered with anything. I know that there are less expensive options that offer larger accommodations. But with just the two of us, we have all we need right there.
6. Dining plan. Did we save money? No, of course not. It is the convienence of having the plan and knowing that all of our meals are paid for and we don't have to worry about budgeting for it. And it gives us the ability to try different places without looking at prices.
What I wish we didn't do/will do better next time
1. I wish that after the incident on the last day on the Nemo ride I had reported to someone that I had sustained an injury. Not so much my knee twisting, but somehow scratching my leg and it getting infected lead to my week-long hospital stay right after we got home (see the beginning of the trip report for that real life update). While I had no idea at the time I would have a hospital stay, any time an injury happens it needs to be reported. It was a difficult and expensive lesson learned.
2. Park hoppers. We could have really used them this year. I always say that the expense of the hoppers is wasteful, but we didn't need two full days at EPCOT and had some evening time that we could have gone to other parks that were open later.
3. I apologize to Mother Nature. Here it is on a public forum - I am sorry for doing whatever I did to upset you so much. Please forgive me. Forgive Tony. We're good people and we would like a trip that doesn't soak us every single day.
4. Not let my emotions ruin our last day. I was the definition of a grumpy butt on the last day of our trip. It was nobody's fault how the events happened and I internalized it way too much. I hate that we ended our trip that way.
5. We should have gone back to Hollywood Studios that last day. If we had done just that one thing the domino effect of the worst day ever wouldn't have happened. At least I think that would have been how it would have been. If I only had a crystal ball to predict the future!
What is next for us? Well, nothing right now. Gosh, that is horribly depressing. My hope is that I can make a May, 2021 trip happen. That is when I will turn 50.
Good heavens, how did I get to be 50?
If I am going to cross that birthday milestone, then I need to do it in my magical place. I can only hope that the finances can happen because I am thinking big. After all, I am the lost princess and princesses don't think small!!
Thank you so much for reading along with our adventures. I hope I kept everyone fairly entertained for the past four months of writing our story. It was fun to write and I enjoy reading trip reports. They always give me good ideas for future trips.
Much love to everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!
xoxoxo,
Ruthie