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

The Magnificent Seven, Day VII

 (contd.)

Day VII

Pop Century and Disney Springs

We had ourselves another morning of sleeping in a bit - no amusement parks on the agenda today, as this was the Johnson's last day in Florida - and the only thing that required us to get up and go anywhere was one, last visit to Disney Springs.

Their flight didn't leave 'til like 6:30pm, so they wanted to be out of the resort by like 4pm at the latest. It wasn't even 11am yet so we had plenty of time to do one, last circuit of shops and eateries before heading back to Pop Century.

I ended up buying this mug while we were poking around shops today - has the retro 'D' logo from the '80s, along with iconic buildings from the parks, and the size and shape of the mug are perfect for lazy mornings listening to vinyl in my Study.

Ghirardelli. Nobody bothered popping in there for free chocolates this time around. 

The girls all wandered off into the trendy, outlet area of the Disney Springs, while adults hit up a couple of the more Disney-oriented stores.

This Co-Op store is new(ish), and had some cool stuff in there.

I love vintage TV sets. Wouldn't mind a wall of these in my Captain's Quarters downstairs, that'd be bad-ass.

Heading west from Marketplace, we passed in front of the Lego Store (which we didn't bother stopping at) and saw a few, familiar faces.

Meanwhile, the girls continue shopping in the fancier boutiques on the other side of the shopping plaza.

Remember this restaurant? Food sucks but the atmosphere was perfect when your kids were, like, four years old?

This place looks completely different from when Kris and I used to hit it up on an almost weekly basis back in 2007.

I'll never skip this bar again, it was awesome.

Had to move through this giant, train station-ish building in order to get to the 'outlets' (for lack of better term) in order to meet up with the girls.

Coming out the other side of that tunnel-ish building, you find yourself in a canyon of trendy, fashion brands.

It was super hot out (duh), and approaching lunch time, so we gathered up the girls and ushered them to a nearby restaurant the Johnsons had been to on a previous trip.

The Polite Pig - a solid barbecue joint.

Weird pig statues on the front counter you get to check out while waiting in line to order.

They only had four sauces, but they were okay. Big fan of the Black Pepper one, at far left.

Kris, the girls and I weren't super hungry, so we split this sampler tray of various things between our entire family. I didn't get a pic of it before the girls took some of the items off the tray, but it was filled up with trays of random crap. Two things of fries, chips, two things of coleslaw, a couple pickles, a couple diced sausages, a crap-load of pulled pork, tri-tip steak, couple things of brussel sprouts, several cornbread muffins, several pieces of chicken, etc.

After lunch, the girls wanted to hit up that giant, Disney merch store - The World of Disney.

Different sections of merch in this place (if you've never been there before) - it's almost like a mall unto itself.

Finding others in this store is next to impossible - if you lose them, you'll probably never see them again.

After everyone picked up what they wanted, we decided to head back towards the bus pick-up area and head back to Pop Century.

Passing over the. . . pond? Pool?

Sadly didn't get a beer from this place at all this year, but Erik and I did use the restroom here at one point. So there's that.

Awaiting the shuttle to the resort. It was now about 1:30pm, so the Johnsons needed some time to finish packing up all their stuff and double-checking their room before they headed out.

Only ten minutes later, we were back to the resort.

We decided to stay out of the Johnson's hair by going down to the pool and hanging out there until they were cleared out of their room. After a bit they came down and hung out poolside with us for a bit before it was ultimately time for them to head to the front of the resort.

Courtney scheduled an Uber driver and we waited with them and all their crap until they were picked up. Fortunately, aside from a bumpy ride on the flight, they didn't have any major pitfalls on their return journey back to Michigan.

We spent all, damn day down by this pool, from 1:45pm 'til about 8pm. The weather was perfect for it, and it sure as hell beat being cooped up in the hotel room all day.

Taking a snack break.

These squirrels show no fear when it comes with interacting with humans. Adam told us this year that when Covid shut down all the properties for a couple months, TONS of animals - birds, squirrels, etc. - were found dead from starvation. They've lived their whole lives on a diet of french fries, dropped ice cream, and what not. I'm sure that's super healthy.

This guy rarely left us alone. I wanted to crush it with a rock.

Adam popped by after work for a couple beers and to visit some more, and ended up hanging out until we were done with the pool (around 8pm.)

The girls were pretty pooped after a full day out shopping and swimming in the sun, so they were content just hanging out in bed and ordering out for dinner.

Kris and the girls, checking out the online resort menu (you could order your meals online and they would make them for you to take back to your room.) Since I'm the Dad in the group, I offered to walk down to the cafeteria and pick up our crap.

Alayna's loaded fries. I went with that roasted chicken meal again - wanted something healthy after snacking on barbecue and snacks all day.

We found some energy later in the evening, however, so we decided to venture down to the Hippie Dippie Pool one last time to just beat outside under the palm trees. Along the way, Kris and Alayna found free bracelets outside someone's room (there's a Facebook page dedicated to this resort, and one of the things people do at this particular resort is leave small trinkets for others, whether to give away or trade.)

Poolside family selfie.

Abby takes an artsy palm tree pic.

We didn't hang out down there long before folks started getting drowsy, so we wandered back to the '50s.

Stay tuned for the Hough's Journey Home, coming up next. . .

- to be concluded. . .