Monday, May 6

Departure day already. This is the definite downside of short trips – you’re back at MCO almost as soon as you’ve left it.

In any case, we were determined to make the most of our last day.  We had done most of our packing the night before, so it was pretty painless to get up, packed, and checked out of the hotel.  That said, we weren’t rushing to make rope drop this morning – we were tired, and today was Monday of a work week. Another stop at Whole Foods for breakfast and coffee and we were on our way.

We had to leave for the airport around 4:30, which left us around five to visit the parks and have our traditional lunch at the Plaza.  The question was how, exactly, to structure our time. We had a plan for the day but of course didn’t follow it, and decided on the fly to park at Epcot, take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom for some browsing and lunch, and the monorail back to Epcot to close out the day before leaving for MCO. Luckily, we were able to park at Epcot in walking distance of the front, and a monorail was there within moments to take us to the TTC. No waiting, no fuss – this is how I like it.  Even better, we had an entire monorail car to ourselves – this is by far the best way to travel.

We really didn’t have a Magic Kingdom agenda today, other than to browse, pin trade, and soak up the atmosphere in hopes that the good feelings would carry us through the summer and to our August trip. The weather was perfect, the crowds were low, and we enjoyed ambling about.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to the Magic Kingdom without a ride on the TTA:

Finally it was time to head over to the Plaza to check in for lunch. On the way, I finally caught a picture of this – can’t believe I’d never stopped before to do so:

It’s really a testament to the “magic” of Disney that the next thing doesn’t actually happen all that often. But upon approaching the podium to check in, a very well dressed grandma-aged lady swooped in and absolutely cut in front of me in line, with no apology or acknowledgment of my existence. It was so blantant that both Cast Members behind the podium shot me apologetic looks, which did temper my flare of un-Disneylike anger. I admit it, I have a low threshold for rudeness, and this was overt. I was fuming. And, of course, line cutter lady and her husband got the last available two-top, so CP and I ended up waiting far longer even though we had an earlier ADR time than this line cutter. GRR.  I tried to calm down by snapping some photos while we waited…and waited:

Anyway! It’s hard to stay mad when you dine at the Plaza. It’s certainly not gourmet dining, but there’s something about the ambiance of the restaurant and the tasty reliability of the food that pleases me every time. Today was no different, and I was happy to see that the restaurant had brought back real china, which had gone missing on account of the Starbucks construction taking out their dishwashers. As per usual, I had the grilled chicken sandwich, and CP the club sandwich. There was plentiful Diet Coke, really delicious thick-cut fries, and hot fudge sundaes to round out the meal. Bad mood = gone.

Stuffed but happy, we waddled out of the Plaza and decided to take a walk around the back of the Magic Kingdom before heading to Epcot. Again, no agenda – we checked on the Big Thunder line, but it was too long for our taste – so we soaked in the sunshine while I took some pictures:

Eventually, we made our way back to Main Street, took one last pass through the Emporium, and jumped on the resort monorail for a quick stop at the Contemporary for a bathroom break and gift shop browsing/pin trading. Call it weird, but I have my favorite bathrooms on property, and the bathroom on the convention floor of the Contemporary is one of my favorites – it’s nice, clean, and typically always quiet. Plus the Contemporary’s air conditioning is really cold, and there are some comfy couches on the convention level that are nice for a rest and an e-mail break. We didn’t linger too long, however, and then were back on our way to Epcot:

With only an hour and a half or so to explore, we decided not to venture back to the World Showcase, and instead focused on getting more pictures of the Flower and Garden Festival, doing last minute shopping, and seeing how many tiny cups of Mezzo Mix I could consume in one sitting. Also, here’s a pro tip: if you want to go to the Flower and Garden Festival but have never been, visit in late April/early May. The difference between seeing the flowers in March and later in May is pretty astounding – by May, everything has grown up and in, and it’s a much more worthwhile viewing experience, in my opinion.

Some scenes from our browsing:

Since we hadn’t bothered to stop in during our March trip nor on this trip so far, we thought we’d pop into the Flower and Garden festival center to see what was happening. The answer was…nothing. It’s actually quite depressing to see the former Wonders of Life pavilion used – or more aptly, not used – in the way it is today. There were maybe ten other guests inside, very little to do, and certainly not much to see. Maybe it would be different on a weekend, but on a Monday afternoon it was a ghost town.

What else could we do? Maybe it was the heat, but for a moment we seriously considered hopping on Universe of Energy, until we remembered it would eat up 45 minutes of our life. Instead, we doubled back to look for pins at the (really ugly) central pin shop, poked our heads into the Art of Disney store, and then, on impulse, jumped on Spaceship Earth.

And with that, our time in Epcot was done. So was our trip.

Of course, after stopping for Starbucks and getting gas, we still arrived at the airport far earlier than we needed to. I kind of kicked myself for being so anal about time, but a) we had honestly run out of things we wanted to do at Epcot, and b) with MCO security lines as long as they are, you really never know what you’ll find. Of course, we had sprung for Even More Space seats on jetBlue, not so much for the extra legroom as for the priority security line access the tickets give you. So really, our time in the security line was maybe 15 minutes, and we had a ridiculous amount of time to kill at the gate.

I spent a good amount of this time reprising my grumpy episode from earlier in the day. Our mini trip to WDW happened to coincide with a major cheerleading competition being held on property, and after enduring swarms of cheerleaders for three days, we now found ourselves in the jetBlue terminal with them. They – and their chaperones! – were so misbehaved that airport security had to yell at them and break up their football game (seriously) that they were holding in the middle of the terminal’s hallway. I crossed my fingers and prayed to the airport gods that they wouldn’t be on our flight with us. They just wouldn’t SHUT UP. Thankfully, the rowdy cheerleaders headed to Buffalo, and we to Hartford. Sigh of relief, easy flight, and we’re back to reality.

Up next: Our longest trip in nearly a year – eight nights in August, half at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, half at the Polynesian. I can’t wait!