MamaMouse0920
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2022
- Messages
- 447
Thursday, August 22nd (Day 11/Return Home)
We had our alarms set for 7:30, but woke up naturally around 7:15am. After quickly getting dressed/teeth brushed etc. and doing a last minute once-over on the room making sure we didn't leave anything behind, we said goodbye to our room around 7:45, bags in tow, heading to breakfast. We had 8 kids meal credits left over and literally ordered 8 kids meal breakfasts: an assortment of pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs with a variety of sides: tater tots, bacon/sausage, fruit, yogurt, applesauce, etc.
Boy did taking that screenshot feel good!! No wasted credits over here!
The kids meal breakfasts were smaller so this actually ended up being okay and we didn't throw away a ton of food, with the exception of the milk that came with the meals. After getting the food & getting the kids set up with their pancakes & waffles cut, tater tots divvied up & bacon/sausage shared equally - I looked around the busy cafeteria for a family with a bunch of kids. I found one nearby and approached them with my brown paper bag filled with 5 cartons of milk (keeping 3 for ourselves). I found the mom & said "we had a bunch of kids meal credits to use up since today is our last day, so we got a bunch of cartons of milk and don't need them. Do you want them for your kids?" and this lady looked at me like I once again had 3 heads. The pause in her response was actually so long that I remember thinking "oh, maybe she doesn't speak English" and went to open the bag to show her the cartons of milk when she finally said (in English) "um, okay..." but didn't reach to take the bag that I was attempting to hand her, continuing to stare at me like I was an alien. So I set it on her table and walked away, confused at why this kept happening to me.
I returned to my family who were happily eating breakfast and watching "Old Mickeys" that were playing on the large TV in the cafeteria, Matt and I sipping our last Joffrey's coffees of the trip. I took our obligatory "last day of the trip/breakfast/sad faces to be going home" picture of the kids:
At some point I had gotten a text from our Strollerfy delivery/pick up person asking if we happened to be ready early, which we were so Matt met him at the lobby entrance around 8:15 to do the exchange. After we had all finished eating, we refilled our mugs and moved to the lobby to watch Old Mickey's there and wait for Mears which was scheduled for 8:55.
EDIT TO ADD: I just realized I had forgotten to tell the rest of the Matt's belt saga! So if you recall, on Day 1 he realized he had forgotten to pack a belt. I had the Walmart groceries coming that night, so added a cheap belt to that order. When the shopper was gathering our items, they said "out of stock", and no alternate options (i.e. pick a different brand, try a different size/color, etc.). Then a day or two later, we needed to place a SECOND Walmart order because the kids were itchy from the bug bites at Epcot's playground so I ordered some hydrocortisone & another (different) belt for Matt along with a bunch of random stuff to get to the qualifying $35 minimum. Same thing happened with this belt, said it was out of stock. Matt was pretty miserable hiking his pants up every two seconds (skinny-man-problems!) so I said fine, I'll just have it shipped instead- it said it would be delivered 2 days later (so about Day 5 or thereabouts). NOPE. It gets delayed & delayed & ultimately doesn't get delivered until our 2nd to last day. AND THEN, as if that's not enough, we get hit with a $6 fee for Bell Services to collect this tiny little envelope package with the belt inside. So bear that in mind if you decide to have something "shipped from the store", 1. don't bank on the delivery date being accurate and 2. add in another $6 to your total because you'll have a fee tacked on to your bill when you go to check out.
I had received an email saying I had a remaining balance upon check out (a little over $1,000 for the upgrade, the $6 bell services fee for Matt's shipped belt
and then a mystery $15 charge) so I quick had Matt get in line to talk to someone to figure out what the $15 was from as well as ask if I can pay with a Disney Gift Card. We found out the charge was from tipping at Polite Pig a couple days back (doh! didn't realize that was what happened when you tip off Disney Dining Plan credits, not sure where Matt thought that $$ would have magically come from, but either way we were like "ohhhhhhhhh that makes sense!" when the front desk CM told us that's what the charge was), and that yes we could use a Disney Gift Card. So I quick logged on to the Target app and ordered 3 digital gift cards for $500, waiting for them to come through and then paid our tab. In that time, I had gotten text updates from Mears that the driver was on the way/had arrived but we were still before 8:55 so I was racing but wasn't exactly worried they were going to leave without us...
Until I get outside and am maybe 30 yards away from the bus when the bus driver who was standing outside says "are you Bethany?" and then I'm thinking to myself "crap! they must literally only be waiting on our family!" and instantly felt bad. We quickly gave her the two massive suitcases and found our seats on the bus, as soon as they were packed she returned to the bus stop and drove away. Whoops! We pulled away and were at Pop Century by 9am, and then on our way to the airport.
The bus was playing ACTUAL Old Mickeys, not the new version that we just call 'old', these were the really old/original Mickey cartoons, ha! They held the kids attention though and soon enough we were arriving at MCO.
When we arrived and made our way to the Sun Country ticketing area, we dropped off our bags & were hit with a $20 heavy bag fee (saw that coming from a mile away), thankfully total and not per bag which surprised me since both were over!
We quick visited my favorite MCO icon before making our way to security.
TSA precheck was a breeze, but for whatever reason we ended up getting lost trying to find our gate (Matt and I are collectively trying to remember why/how we got lost but neither of us can pinpoint it- something about maybe being at the wrong terminal? But we didn't need to leave the airport to eventually find the correct gate... so I'm really not sure). We usually fly Delta and were this trip flying Sun Country so maybe that was it? But either way I know we got to the gate we THOUGHT we were supposed to be at and it was a completely different airline and we had to get back on the Fake O Rail and go back to where we came from (after security) and start over. Regardless, we did eventually find it! A few extra steps/stress for the adults but the kids were happy to get to ride the tram another time, content with their attempts to spot any gators in the water below.
We had our alarms set for 7:30, but woke up naturally around 7:15am. After quickly getting dressed/teeth brushed etc. and doing a last minute once-over on the room making sure we didn't leave anything behind, we said goodbye to our room around 7:45, bags in tow, heading to breakfast. We had 8 kids meal credits left over and literally ordered 8 kids meal breakfasts: an assortment of pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs with a variety of sides: tater tots, bacon/sausage, fruit, yogurt, applesauce, etc.
Boy did taking that screenshot feel good!! No wasted credits over here!
The kids meal breakfasts were smaller so this actually ended up being okay and we didn't throw away a ton of food, with the exception of the milk that came with the meals. After getting the food & getting the kids set up with their pancakes & waffles cut, tater tots divvied up & bacon/sausage shared equally - I looked around the busy cafeteria for a family with a bunch of kids. I found one nearby and approached them with my brown paper bag filled with 5 cartons of milk (keeping 3 for ourselves). I found the mom & said "we had a bunch of kids meal credits to use up since today is our last day, so we got a bunch of cartons of milk and don't need them. Do you want them for your kids?" and this lady looked at me like I once again had 3 heads. The pause in her response was actually so long that I remember thinking "oh, maybe she doesn't speak English" and went to open the bag to show her the cartons of milk when she finally said (in English) "um, okay..." but didn't reach to take the bag that I was attempting to hand her, continuing to stare at me like I was an alien. So I set it on her table and walked away, confused at why this kept happening to me.
I returned to my family who were happily eating breakfast and watching "Old Mickeys" that were playing on the large TV in the cafeteria, Matt and I sipping our last Joffrey's coffees of the trip. I took our obligatory "last day of the trip/breakfast/sad faces to be going home" picture of the kids:
At some point I had gotten a text from our Strollerfy delivery/pick up person asking if we happened to be ready early, which we were so Matt met him at the lobby entrance around 8:15 to do the exchange. After we had all finished eating, we refilled our mugs and moved to the lobby to watch Old Mickey's there and wait for Mears which was scheduled for 8:55.
EDIT TO ADD: I just realized I had forgotten to tell the rest of the Matt's belt saga! So if you recall, on Day 1 he realized he had forgotten to pack a belt. I had the Walmart groceries coming that night, so added a cheap belt to that order. When the shopper was gathering our items, they said "out of stock", and no alternate options (i.e. pick a different brand, try a different size/color, etc.). Then a day or two later, we needed to place a SECOND Walmart order because the kids were itchy from the bug bites at Epcot's playground so I ordered some hydrocortisone & another (different) belt for Matt along with a bunch of random stuff to get to the qualifying $35 minimum. Same thing happened with this belt, said it was out of stock. Matt was pretty miserable hiking his pants up every two seconds (skinny-man-problems!) so I said fine, I'll just have it shipped instead- it said it would be delivered 2 days later (so about Day 5 or thereabouts). NOPE. It gets delayed & delayed & ultimately doesn't get delivered until our 2nd to last day. AND THEN, as if that's not enough, we get hit with a $6 fee for Bell Services to collect this tiny little envelope package with the belt inside. So bear that in mind if you decide to have something "shipped from the store", 1. don't bank on the delivery date being accurate and 2. add in another $6 to your total because you'll have a fee tacked on to your bill when you go to check out.
I had received an email saying I had a remaining balance upon check out (a little over $1,000 for the upgrade, the $6 bell services fee for Matt's shipped belt
and then a mystery $15 charge) so I quick had Matt get in line to talk to someone to figure out what the $15 was from as well as ask if I can pay with a Disney Gift Card. We found out the charge was from tipping at Polite Pig a couple days back (doh! didn't realize that was what happened when you tip off Disney Dining Plan credits, not sure where Matt thought that $$ would have magically come from, but either way we were like "ohhhhhhhhh that makes sense!" when the front desk CM told us that's what the charge was), and that yes we could use a Disney Gift Card. So I quick logged on to the Target app and ordered 3 digital gift cards for $500, waiting for them to come through and then paid our tab. In that time, I had gotten text updates from Mears that the driver was on the way/had arrived but we were still before 8:55 so I was racing but wasn't exactly worried they were going to leave without us...Until I get outside and am maybe 30 yards away from the bus when the bus driver who was standing outside says "are you Bethany?" and then I'm thinking to myself "crap! they must literally only be waiting on our family!" and instantly felt bad. We quickly gave her the two massive suitcases and found our seats on the bus, as soon as they were packed she returned to the bus stop and drove away. Whoops! We pulled away and were at Pop Century by 9am, and then on our way to the airport.
The bus was playing ACTUAL Old Mickeys, not the new version that we just call 'old', these were the really old/original Mickey cartoons, ha! They held the kids attention though and soon enough we were arriving at MCO.
When we arrived and made our way to the Sun Country ticketing area, we dropped off our bags & were hit with a $20 heavy bag fee (saw that coming from a mile away), thankfully total and not per bag which surprised me since both were over!
We quick visited my favorite MCO icon before making our way to security.
TSA precheck was a breeze, but for whatever reason we ended up getting lost trying to find our gate (Matt and I are collectively trying to remember why/how we got lost but neither of us can pinpoint it- something about maybe being at the wrong terminal? But we didn't need to leave the airport to eventually find the correct gate... so I'm really not sure). We usually fly Delta and were this trip flying Sun Country so maybe that was it? But either way I know we got to the gate we THOUGHT we were supposed to be at and it was a completely different airline and we had to get back on the Fake O Rail and go back to where we came from (after security) and start over. Regardless, we did eventually find it! A few extra steps/stress for the adults but the kids were happy to get to ride the tram another time, content with their attempts to spot any gators in the water below.
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Thanks for sticking around and sorry it took so long!! We don't currently have a trip on the horizon, but if/when we do you know I will be back with another PTR/TR and in the meantime plan to live vicariously through all of you, so keep those Trip Reports comin'!!!!!
) and I do not think it is worth the price at all. On our last trip we did the pontoon boat rental which holds up to 11 people and is a flat rate. I think with tip we paid about $500 and it includes soda, waters and snacks and you can BYOB. We got to watch the fireworks and see the electrical water pageant and had ZERO crowds at the end of the day! It is legit my favorite thing to do at Disney and I will probably budget for it for every trip going forward.
