The Magnificent Seven, Day VIII (Epilogue)

(contd.)

Day VIII

There and Back Again

We slept in this morning, our last day in Florida, and took our time getting around - kind of packing up our suitcases and cleaning up as we got ready for the day. Around 11am, we decided to explore a bit and kill some time, seeing how we didn't fly out of Orlando until like 6pm.

By the time we got to the station, there wasn't any line to speak of for the Skyliner - most folks were already at the parks.

Courtney swears by this coffee, which can be found at one of the neighboring resorts accessible by Skyliner (I forget the name of it.) A short two-minute ride in the sky and you're there.

After the girls got some iced drinks, we continued on towards Epcot and the Boardwalk Resort.

When the Skyliner line ended, we hung a right towards Disney's Boardwalk Resort (opposed to hanging a left and entering Epcot in the World Showcase (like we did a few days ago.)

A different resort across the pond (not sure what that one's called (maybe it's the same resort?)

The Boardwalk resembles a turn-of-the-century vacation destination, where folks would stroll along in the summertime wearing straw hats, carrying parasols, eating popcorn and drinking sarsaparillas or some shit.

In the middle of the day, there wasn't much to do here - it's one of those higher-end results that livens up in the evening when folks can hang out with drinks - but at the hottest time of the day, with nothing else going on, it was pretty lame. We saw a sign for a fine arts store nearby and, out of sheer boredom, decided to head in and check it out.

This showroom was full of original, hand-crafted artwork based on Disney movies and shows. There weren't any price tags on anything, which means that none of it was likely affordable.

As the saying goes, 'If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.'

The girls took some pics of some of the unaffordable paintings. . .

Funned out with the BOREDwalk (see what I did there?), we decided to hop back on the Skyliner and return to Pop Century.

We finished packing up our suitcases and went over the room multiple times, triple-checking to make sure we weren't going to leave anything behind.

Trash and recycling overflowing at this point (the Johnsons left us all their food and drinks they didn't finish before they left, so we had a lot to toss out.)

We left this crap behind in the fridge, figured housekeeping might enjoy having a few drinks after cleaning up after us this last week.

We set the non-alcoholic stuff outside the doors for other folks to come by and grab if they want (which is the custom at this resort if you're familiar with the Facebook page.)

Taking the luggage down the lobby. Sad to see the end of another Florida Vacation.

If you drop your luggage off at the bag check area, adjacent to the lobby, they'll hold your suitcases for you. We had to be out of our room by 1pm, but weren't getting an Uber to the airport until like 4pm - we definitely had some time to kill.

Kris next to a giant Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book.

We took our carry-on luggage down to the cafeteria and hung out down there for a bit (I worked on knocking out a couple of Erik's leftover Miller Lites along the way.)

Kris got in the pool at one point just to cool off, but the girls and I weren't really feeling it.

Eventually, it was time to arrange for our extraction, so Kris placed an order for an Uber.

Our driver this time was pretty talkative, but very friendly and a great driver.

Passing by our old church in Hunter's Creek, en route to the airport.

Checking all four of our bags for our flight, free of charge (seriously, the perks we get with our Delta Miles American Express card are insane.)

We had about two hours to kill before our flight took off, and we had a reserved TSA screening time, which would end up saving us a ton of time in the line. 

Alayna bought a couple, last-minute souvenirs here at the airport before we ran through the TSA (the girl has issues with shopping.)

I feel like most of today has been spent killing time and waiting around for the next point in our travel plan.

We breezed through security without any issues whatsoever (I can't believe we've never done the reservation thing before with a flight, it was so convenient.)

One of my kids thought this was worthy of a picture. 'Cause teenagers.

Our seats were separated on our flight back to Michigan, but this time the girls sat together (Alayna let Abby have the window seat this time around.) A few rows back, Kris gave me the aisle seat so that I could stretch my legs out (they cramp up on a flight sometimes), and she sat in the middle next to some friendly, old lady. I wasn't dead tired like I was on the flight down, so I decided to watch Gladiator 2.

Sister selfies, a few rows up. . .

Abby crashed as we hit cruising altitude.

Heading home to Michigan - another Florida trip in the books, folks. We plan on coming back down in two years (not next summer, we need to get Abby a car and take care of Alayna's Graduation Open House first), but we're done with waiting three years between trips. Considering how painless and easy this trip was to plan and execute, there's really nothing stopping us from doing this more often. And, if I had to guess, I'd assume we'd be going with the Johnsons again, too.

- Fin -

- Brian