Saturday - October 27th - Day 8

Well the dreaded check out day is upon us.  I knew Darla and Deb were leaving early, probably before we got up. I heard some voices around 2:30 but thought I was dreaming. Turns out, that was them leaving to get on the road before traffic.  In fact, when we were in the Magic Kingdom, I got a call from her and they were already at the New River Gorge in WV!

We both got up around 6:30 or so and had a breakfast scheduled at 10 at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. I had packed some the night before so I mostly had to put everything in the suitcase. By the time we both did that, it was around 8:30 or so and we took everything over to the Magical  Express desk, checked in our luggage and waited for a bus to the Magic Kingdom.  While waiting, I heard some people next to me talking about going to the Mickeys Backyard Barbecue at Fort Wilderness and that it was an hour bus ride to get there! Of course, I had to speak up. I said, an hour bus ride from where? From ANYWHERE! I said, well. the fastest and easiest way to get there is to take the boat over from Magic Kingdom and it would drop you right off at the Settlement area which is a short walk to the Barbecue area.  They did not even know a boat went over there from Magic Kingdom! I said it is about a 15 minute ride, tops.  Disney is big but it is not THAT big that a bus ride would take that long! Even with waiting time, it is usually not that long. I have since heard that Disney is revising their busing and resort-resort may be in the works and supposedly, the bus stops will be equipped with LED tv's showing the estimated bus arrival time.

When our Magic Kingdom bus finally arrived....I heard someone say my name and I immediately knew it was my friend, Teresa ! We knew our trips crossed over somewhat and was hoping to meet up at some point. It was just funny to see each other on THIS particular bus, perfect timing!  This made the bus ride go even faster and we arrived in no time.  Upon our arrival, Joe and I hopped on a monorail and rode it over to the Polynesian, arriving around 9:15 or so.  Since we were early, we looked around the resort but stayed inside since it was cool and windy today.

It is very hard for me to walk PAST magic kingdom!

taken from monorail

Bay Lake Towers from monorail

At the Polynesian

I checked in at Kona about 9:30 and was told it would be awhile. I remembered that Allison Jones, owner of my host agency, Destinations in Florida, was having a breakfast with some fellow agents this morning, but being our last day and depending on Disney transportation, I was not sure if I could make it.  Since we were early for our reservation, I looked around and sure enough, there was Allison and part of our great team, seated towards the front! I went over and told her who I was and we had a great chat and I got to meet a few of the others as well!  Up to this point, we had only talked on the phone so it was great to actually meet in person!  Our table ended up being right next to them so we were seated and while waiting, we took a group photo!

Destinations in Florida/Explore agents

Of course, when it came time to order, we both got Tonga Toast!

Tonga Toast

This was even better than I remembered it to be. I should have taken a picture with the bananas that are inside showing. Oh my, sugar overload and worth every calorie!

After breakfast, we decided to not get off at Grand Floridian, I really wanted our last few hours to be in the park. We also wanted to see if we could catch up with Teresa and her husband.  We hopped on a monorail and arrived at the Magic Kingdom and I got thru security extra fast. You really need to scan the crowd and look for the shortest line, with the least amount of backpacks and NO STROLLERS! I also noticed the left side of the turnstiles, the line was practically non-existent.  I found a turnstile with the left side line being really long and NO ONE in the right side at all. So I entered there. We immediately headed back to Fantasyland to see what was going on. Again, no luck getting in. It was Imagineer and their family's day.

hub area not too crowded

i love the openness of this area now

inside Ye Old Christmas Shoppe

Blustery day at Magic Kingdom

With no luck in Fantasyland, we decided to ride Pirates to see if we could see the new mermaids along side your boat.  I ran right in to Teresa and her husband right outside Pirates so we decided to ride together! The line was maybe a 5 minute wait. We got to see the mermaids this time cause I knew where to look! When we came out, the "good" Captain Jack was outside doing his show.

Yes, we decided he was definitely the "good" Jack Sparrow. He even sounded exactly like him.  In the crowd, we noticed this extremely cool haircut!

The Speese's

At this point, after Teresa and I had our Jack fix, we decided to part ways. We had a couple more hours to spare; we walked back over to Fantasyland "just in case" but no luck. Not even in seeing Gaston!  At this point, my phone rang and I was very upset to hear that a guest of mine that had just checked in on Tuesday had an appendicitis attack at Epcot and then her appendix burst and she was having emergency surgery in Celebration Hospital. Once I got back to Old Key West, I set up my laptop and made some phone calls to see about getting their flights changed and extending their stay (checking out on the 29th).

We walked around a bit more and took a few more photo. Jasmine and Aladdin were out greeting guests.

We decided to get the train at Frontierland Station and ride around to the new station in the Casey Jr. area and then walk down Main Street from there.

Splash Mountain

Tom Sawyer Island

Taken from the train:

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Character greeting area

How adorable are these kids.

Mini Mary Poppins!

Fairy Godmother

Can never resist a castle view.

The moat

We headed down Main Street via the Emporium. It really was not very crowded today but people were still pouring in.  Joe and I bought a Mickey cookie and shared it as we sat on the rockers over near Tony's.  I was admiring some of the windows on Main Street and the Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it parade went by.

making the goodies in the bakery

window on main street

courtyard to the right of Tony's

We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom and waited only a few minutes for an Old Key West bus.

taken thru the bus window

This brings an end to our Food and Wine Festival trip.  It was practically perfect in every way with the exception of Joe's hospital visit and also hearing the bad news about my guest being admitted to the hospital. I am still working on getting things rearranged so she can fly home when she is able. I know she will be good as new in no time but I just feel so bad that it happened at all, especially while on vacation with her family.

We really had a great time seeing all of our Disney friends, all of whom we met online back in the mid 90s. It is always fun when our trips align/overlap and we are able to catch up in person instead of online! Everyone got to spend a little time with each other at one point or another. Our chance bus meetings with Barbara and Teresa were added bonuses!  A HUGE thank you to Darla for inviting us along with them. We had so much fun laughing and talking and staying up late working on trip reports and all being online at the same time. It surely does help that Darla's sister., Deb, likes to watch FOX news, lol.  We had some great discussions! Our next trip is during Easter break and Darla and Deb will be down there at the same time; no doubt we will have more laughs and the writing of trip reports. We are staying at Villas at Wilderness Lodge for that trip.  Until then, thanks for reading along!