The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh? photo Report

[jenseib]

The tram had left so I took some more pictures while I waited for it to come back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went back and sat on the bench and waited for the tram for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

It was in no hurry to leave at all, so I sat on it for a bit before we headed back. I think I was the only person going back.

 

 

Now don’t hate me….but I was just not impressed with the adult area. It wasn’t bad; it was just so much smaller than I thought it would be. Now I am sure if I was there with friends and didn’t have to worry about kids I may enjoy it more. I think on my own, or even with just Skip, we would find it boring.

 

 

I got off the tram and walked around the shops.

 

 

 

 

 

I was playing with focus points and taking several shots.

 

 

 

Too early for a beverage but I like the way they look all lined up.

 

 

 

 

I did some shopping.

 

 

I LOVED this dress but I wasn’t sure it would fit Claire and it was pricey. I was going to show it to her later and I totally forgot.

 

 

They had adult versions too, but I wouldn’t look good in that style.

 

 

I believe I did buy myself a t-shirt and magnet and started to head back towards the ship.

 

 

 

Again I played with focus points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed all the lifeboats were slightly lowered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

I passed by my boyfriend….er….um…I mean Captain Jack Sparrow.

 

 

 

 

I then headed back on the ship to our room where Skip and Claire were up and ready to head out to the island. Skip had ran to Cabanas to get Claire some food (mainly bacon) so she was ready to go. I switched out cameras and packed our bag and we headed off the ship.

 

Since I had already done some exploring we took the tram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had reserved floats for us so we went to get those. Actually I thought I only reserved 1, but we had 3 tickets, so somewhere along the line either I did it wrong or Disney read it wrong. It was no big deal really.

 

 

We found a spot to put our things and Claire and Skip headed right out to the water.

 

 

 

I followed…..the water was a bit chilly but not too bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just floated around and relaxed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tube selfie

 

 

 

 

 

There goes a life guard.

 

 

 

After spending a lot of time in the water, we got hungry so we went for some lunch.

 

 

 

 

Look how wild Claire gets with her choices. hahaha

 

 

After we ate Skip went for a nap in a hammock and Claire and I walked around a bit. Earlier when we had passed the shops, Skip had asked why anyone would pay $20 for a sand pail set. I ignored him.

As we shopped around we decide…WE were going to pay for a sand pail set….though the price for the one we got was $10. And it was worth every penny.

 

I took Claire back out the beach where she played with her new set and had a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a while Skip woke up and came to play with Claire. He did make a comment about why we bought the sand pail and I told him how she had been busy playing with it for such a long time and totally worth every penny!

I took his spot on the hammock and I totally fell asleep. I was shocked that I had gone into such a deep sleep on the beach….but it was wonderful and I probably needed it.

 

After our naps and Claire had successfully made some sand creations we decided we would head back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire stopped to say hi to Olaf.

 

 

 

We went back to our room and got cleaned up. I think it was today….but it may have been yesterday….but I decided to head to the salon to see if they had any detangler or mousse. If you remember way back on our arrival day my hair sculpting lotion had leaked in the suitcase. I had a small can of mousse but there wasn’t a lot left. I was now about out and needed something to get me by. Also I had forgotten to refill my travel detangler spray bottle and both Claire and I needed it.

We went to the salon and I told them what I wanted and they actually had a mousse that had a light detangler in it. That works. Now I am a licensed hair stylist. I no longer work in that profession but I keep my license up. I get hair products at a discount and I HATE paying full price for them…but I was going to bite the bullet….to the tune of $38!!!!!!! HOLY COW! They REALLY over charged for this product. When I got home I looked at my supplier to see what the cost was….and let’s just say it would retail for $22 at the highest. I could get if for about half of that amount. It just killed me to pay that much.

[jenseib]

We showered and got dressed and put in our new expensive hair product and we had something we wanted to do….Well Claire and I. I had mentioned to Claire that the ships often have drawing classes and after the one at Hollywood Studios was such a big hit….. this was all Claire could think about. One was being offered today, so we headed off to take part in it.

 

 

 

We arrived pretty early but we just sat around and waited.

 

 

Someone walked by and said they saw Stitch out the window so I quickly got up and took a peek myself.

 

 

 

 

It was finally time to start. Today we would be drawing Donald. Sadly our “teacher” was a bit hard to understand, but we plowed through and did the best we could.

 

 

 

Claire struggled a bit more with this one for some reason. It wasn’t too hard, but I think part of her problem was she couldn’t understand the lady very well.

 

 

 

 

 

The lady said she had instruction sheets if anyone would like one so we went up and asked for one so we could try it again at home someday. She didn’t understand us when we asked and said yes and ripped her Donald drawing off the pad and gave it to Claire. Claire was happy to get that, but then I again asked for the instructions sheet and we were given one…..where it is at now, I have no clue. My guess is that Claire put it with her drawing books.

 

We then went and found Skip and decided to get some snacks.

 

We started with Chicken tenders and fries and I forgot to take a picture till it was almost all gone.

 

 

Then some wraps and pizza and pineapple for Claire.

 

 

 

I got up to get some drinks and came back to all the pizza gone, so I went back and got some more pizza and a pretzel too.

 

 

I think we just lazed around a bit and I headed back to the room to start the packing. Sadly tomorrow they would throw us off the ship.

 

I was organizing as best I could and trying to include our fish extender gifts strategically placed in the extra spaces. I pulled out what was going to be worn for tomorrow and anything else we would need to keep out when my twosome arrived. They were ready for the show so we headed there.

 

Tonight’s show was Disney Dreams. It was the 2nd time I have seen it but the first time I was late to the show and missed the beginning and I enjoyed it more now that I saw the whole thing.

Again Claire had a popcorn and was very protective of it and I only got one small taste. I think Claire could live on popcorn if I let her.

 

After the show we shopped some more and Claire ran into her new friend and they made plans to go to karaoke tonight.

 

We made a stop in the room before dinner and saw that the photo mat that I had taken to be signed was back in our room.

 

 

I had totally forgotten about it. Notice there are no luggage tags. Yeah….I then knew that I was going to have to find our stateroom host and get some and that was not going to be an easy feat. I didn’t see her at the moment so we headed down to dinner.

 

We were in Animator Palate tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

We had some rolls waiting for us tonight.

 

 

Animators had been updated since I last was here and it looked so nice and fresh.

 

 

Now I used 2 cameras in here and my phone too. I noticed my SLR kept making the pictures yellow. Not sure why, but it was really pulling yellow out as I tried to get pictures of the drawings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this was with the point and shoot…see the difference.

 

 

My two cuties….notice Claire’s shirt…..

 

 

I got it for a good deal at Walmart…….and it will make another appearance later.

 

Orders had been made and food was starting to come out.

 

I believe Skip got the Sliced Serrano Ham with Spanish olives and tomato bread.

 

 

It was not what he expected at all. I think he thought the bread was going to have the ham and olives on it along with tomatoes.

 

Claire went with fruit.

 

 

And I went with one of the best foods that Disney has…the Black Truffle Pasta Pursiettes. MMM! These are so delicious.

 

 

 

 

I also got soup…I am think it was the baked potato and cheddar cheese soup. I think Skip got this as well.

 

 

Claire’s entrée had arrived as well.

 

 

Our server cut her steak which was a first for us on DCL. In the past we have never had a server offer to cut up her food.

 

Then our entrees arrived.

 

I think I got the Angus Tenderloin…..but whatever it is, it’s obviously some sort of steak.

 

 

 

I also got the Pennete Bolognese.

 

 

Sad to say, but I did not like it at all. It had a very funny taste to it.

I don’t have a picture of what Skip got, so he must’ve gotten a steak too, or he had already dived in too far already and I didn’t bother taking the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

The pictures were starting to come into color now and I liked watching the room change.

 

 

Dessert was ordered!

 

Skip got the Crunchy Walnut cake I believe.

 

 

I got the Sweet Temptations Trio, which I believe consisted of White Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake, Chilled Mango Mousse and Lemon raspberry tart.

 

 

I am not a fan of tarts like this and though I ate it, I would never order it on its own.

 

 

 

The show then began. It’s been refreshed and I enjoyed it more than the old show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then Sorcerer Mickey showed up…and I took a lot of blurry pictures of him.

 

 

 

 

He even came right up by us and I took the worst picture ever and just deleted it as it wasn’t salvageable.

 

 

All the servers came out to say good bye to us as well.

 

 

 

 

A few more picture of Animator’s Palate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one thing about DCL I like better than other lines. The rotation dining is fun and offers a little something different each night.

 

After dinner we went out on deck. We had met a couple who had brought their nieces on a cruise the day before and they were out there so we chatted with them a bit. They were such a nice couple.

 

A ship off in the distance.

 

 

 

We then headed back inside.

 

 

 

 

Claire wanted to go to karaoke tonight again as her friends were going to be there, so we headed that way and she went off to sit with her friends.

 

 

 

 

 

I must say I just can’t sit and listen to karaoke very long. Especially bad singers, so I headed off to find a bathroom at some point. I think I may have gone and bought a picture then too since we had the free voucher from my friend.

 

 

 

I also may have gone back to the room and put our bags out in the hallway…and probably changed my clothes, though we may have done that earlier.

I asked out stateroom host for luggage tags…she said I gave them to you…I tell her I never saw them and I looked around just in case and with everything pretty much packed…I don’t see them anywhere. She said she would have to ask for more as they are only allowed to give so many per room and since she already gave us some they may not allow it.….I really think she was lying there, but she did take a long time to actually get them for us. This really irked me. Now twice she basically had called me a liar when she was at fault. I typically tip our stateroom host a little more because they do a lot, but she annoyed the heck out of me and I only left her some chocolate bars as an extra treat.

 

 

 

No swimming tonight.

 

 

I always find the night before we head back to port they often don’t have a lot going on up on deck. I guess they want us to go to sleep.

 

 

 

After some strolling I went back to join my family.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire ended up never going to sing. The one time she was almost going to do it with her friends, but they chose a song she didn’t know….and they didn’t know it well either. …LOL! And she is pretty shy about those kinds of things.

 

Finally the karaoke was over and we headed back to the room and got ready for bed. It was another long, but fun day. We still had another big day tomorrow and we needed to get some rest since they would be kicking us off the ship much earlier than we would like.

[iamspoo]

Thanks for the trip reports, I enjoy reading them.

[jenseib]

Thanks for the trip reports, I enjoy reading them.

 

Thanks. I wish I had more time to update more often.

[jenseib]

March 31, 2014, Day 11

 

It’s always a sad day when you have to get off a ship. It’s so depressing to me. I really try to never fly home that day if I can help it… It doesn’t always work out that way, but for most trips I have been able to squeeze in more time. Typically on my Disney cruises I try to do the parks after the cruise. It wasn’t going to work out for us to do that this trip, but we still had plans.

 

As usual, I woke up way too early and got myself ready. I saw we were already pulling into port from our balcony.

 

 

After getting dressed I headed up to the top decks.

 

 

 

I turned my phone back on and reconnected to the world…..ahhhh! LOL.

I have to say one thing I learned on this trip…I was connected to the app via my phone the whole trip, though half the time I forgot to use it, but I noticed that my phone was still receiving the push notifications from facebook messenger. I chat in a couple of group messages daily with co-workers and they continued to chat while I was gone…..wasn’t that so rude of them…LOL…..and I could see all the messages come up on my phone. I could not access them or reply, but I kind of kept up to date with what was going on if I happened to catch the push coming through.

 

Skip and Claire were moving slow and Skip said he had no desire to eat breakfast. So I headed to Cabanas to get myself something to eat. We all know I am a bit of a grouch if I don’t eat in the mornings.

 

 

Another look out at the port.

 

 

After I ate, I headed back down to the room and my 2 were moving around. Claire couldn’t find her shirt to wear….hmmm…where the heck did I put it. I know I had a shirt in mind for her to wear today…then it hit me. They had come back to the room while I was packing and at that moment I was pulling out Claire’s shorts to wear off the ship. Because I got disturbed I never did pull her shirt out. Oh Great! Luckily the anchor shirt she wore to dinner last night was still clean and stain free, so that was what she was going to be wearing!

 

Claire was hungry so Skip took her up to Cabanas to get something to eat while I made sure everything in the room was gathered and packed.

 

Once I gave it the once over I took the bags and headed up to find them.

 

 

Skip decided since he was there he would eat after all.

 

 

I wasted the time away by taking a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

Sadly the time had come and we had to get off the ship.

I hate getting off the ship!

 

 

We headed out and down the stairs. I had told Skip we could get a porter to help us with our bags and go through customs and then out to the parking lot. I told him we would have to tip him though….Skip can be cheap at times and tipping someone to help us could be a make or break on whether he would go for this. He hates it at the airport when guys try to help you take your luggage in and then 5 minutes later you are in line and you have to tip them. LOL. (We have a really small airport, so I can see why he hates it there.)

 

He did choose to have a porter help us, which I was grateful for. I really didn’t want to lug bags through the lines and out to the car if I could help it.

 

We had a little wait, but it wasn’t too bad and once we got outside we headed over to the car. Skip pulls out a 5 on the way over to give to the porter and I hand him a 10 to add to it. He says so loudly….$15!!!!???? I said YES! And glared at him. LOL.

The porter helped us load the bags in the car but since the POC (Piece of Crap) was so small I had to rearrange them as I now knew the best way to fit as many as we could in the trunk.

 

With that we pulled out and paid for our parking and set Siri to get us to our next destination…..Legoland.

[jenseib]

The drive to Legoland is not a short one. On top of that the scenery isn’t all that exciting either. Claire fell asleep in the backseat. I sure it was much needed sleep to get her through the day. She can be a bit cranky when she hasn’t had enough sleep.

 

As we got closer we stopped at a carryout and got some drinks and used the restroom. The area we stopped was kind of run down a bit.

 

Back on the road we headed towards our destination and finally saw signs for Legoland. For those that don’t know, Legoland used to be Cypress Gardens. I actually visited there when I was around 4. Of course I don’t remember much….but I do have some vague memories of it. I was excited to hear the Legoland has preserved an area of the gardens still and you can walk through them.

 

We made the right turns and finally got to the parking lot.

 

 

We had a little ways to walk to get to the entrance.

They do have a shuttle from Orlando, but it’s not really convenient to get to if staying on Disney property. You are better off renting a car for the day to save you some hassle and transfers.

 

 

 

 

Here we go!

 

 

 

 

 

I had 2 free tickets to Legoland for Skip and I and we bought Claire’s ticket before our trip as well, so we headed right to the turnstyles.

 

 

 

Claire LOVES legos so we really enjoyed looking at all the creations.

 

 

 

 

Claire was already eyeing the stores and we told her not till we leave!

 

 

Skip thinks he is so funny.

 

 

 

This could be Claire and I…..LOL!

 

 

 

The Mansion is that way!

 

 

Now I have done a bit of reading in Cypress Gardens and it was Dick Pope and his wife who decided to open this park of Gardens and charge a 25 cent entrance fee back in 1936. In the 1970s, Cypress Gardens purchased Magnolia Mansion, the New Orleans style mansion, built on Lake Eloise by citrus magnate, John A. Snively. I seem to remember it from my youth….but I could be totally imagining it.

There were also waterski shows later added to the park…I do remember this from our visit. Legoland still has a waterski show here now.

 

 

Time for a potty stop.

 

 

 

Claire getting a little cheeky…pun intended.

 

 

The plumber also talked…kind of sounded like a Mario Brother to me.

 

Back out to explore.

 

 

 

The factory was closed but I peeked through the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed towards the greenhouse.

 

 

I believe these gardens were around the Mansion.

 

 

 

 

 

How cute are these?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don’t want rabbits to get to your vegetables.

 

 

[jenseib]

We put Claire to work.

 

 

 

 

Here is the Mansion.

 

 

I think this is the only picture I took. I can’t believe I didn’t take more of it.

 

 

 

Since we are farmers, Skip loves to look at anything associated with farming.

 

 

This cracked me up….the wife if pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reminds us of home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had a little do it yourself play area, but there wasn’t much selection of legos to actually build with.

 

 

It’s amazing the things they can make with legos.

 

 

After the greenhouse we were ready to do something and we saw that a show was going to start soon.

 

 

This was a 4-D type movie. They actually played 3 throughout the day at different times and I no longer even remember which we saw.

 

 

We had a seat in a practically empty theatre. Claire and I started to feel a drip of wet. We later realized that they had some sort of sprinklers for the 4-D effect and it was leaking exactly where we sat. The movie itself was good but the effects were poor and the screen shape was just awful….think Soarin’…and that screen is perfect compared to this one.

While in there we noticed that the families that were in there really had no manners and let their kids run wild; climbing over seats and talking loudly.

 

When it was over we tried to brush that experience off and hope it was just one bad time.

 

I took this picture because Claire loves Lego Friends.

 

 

We debated on eating but decided to wait for now.

 

 

 

Love the mossy trees. I remember my first adult trip to FL with my best friend….we drove down and I remember seeing all the mossy trees and it was just an amazing thing. Not something I had expected at all. Now when I see them they bring back the good memories of that trip.

 

 

We headed over to Miniland next. This was one of the highlights of the whole day. You could spend hours here looking at all the details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another beautiful tree in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

New York City!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see I was going back and forth between the different displays. There was so much to see and it was amazing the amount of work put into these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can tell this is the Lego Movie area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Obama’s were hanging out in front of the White House.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were some cute rides there, but many were kind of babyish.

 

 

We decided to head over to the Lost Kingdom Adventure ride.

 

 

 

 

It had a bit of a line but it seemed to be moving fairly fast.

 

 

One thing we learned very quickly is that Legoland is very slow at loading and unloading rides. They need to go take a Disney class on this.

 

[jenseib]

Soon it was our turn.

 

 

If I remember right this game was similar to Buzz Lightyear. I know we had to shoot at things in here, but I don’t remember much else about it.

 

Surprisingly, Claire actually road with me. Whenever Skip is with us she always chooses to ride with him. Maybe I bribed her with something?

 

 

Or maybe she was tired of hearing him say Hunh?

 

We moved on looking for something else to do. We really had a hard time navigating around the park. It was so unfamiliar to us….and I think we missed at least 2 sections all together.

 

 

 

We ended up needing a drink and a snack. I was starving and Skip was pushing lunch back. If you know me…I need to eat in the day or I become a bit grumpy. We ended up buying a ridiculously expensive small bucket of popcorn that was supposed to have cheap refills. In the end we never found other places to refill it and never did. Also the drinks seemed very high priced as well.

 

 

Next we decided to ride Coastersaurus, which showed about a 20 minute wait, but the line didn’t seem too long at all.

 

 

The lined seemed to be moving super slow. I was amazed at how slow it was…and about every 2 minutes we heard dinosaur noses that got real old fast!

 

 

It was very much themed after Jurassic Park.

 

We slowly made our way on….and we found out why it was so slow. They only have 1 train on the track. I am not sure if they have a 2nd one to run or not but this track easily could handle it. While one is loading one could be going. I was super annoyed. The team members here were friendly and I felt bad for them because they really were working their rear off.

 

 

The ride was fun, but not fabulous. It is a very small coaster.

 

 

We moved on to find something else to do.

 

 

 

 

I was hungry but for some reason we were waiting to eat….I can’t remember why now…but I do know it was some reason Skip had.

 

 

 

 

We next decided to ride the Flying School coaster. It showed a 15 minute wait and there wasn’t many people in line at all. This would move really fast! It was a hanging coaster and we like those.

So we got in line and waited and waited and waited. We watched the team members goof off with each other the whole time., They never had people get in the individual queues till after the coaster came back and had emptied. Then they would have some people directed to line up and then after they got on they would let a few more till was full. These were kids running this. They worried more about the fun they were having than working. There was an older lady running the ride controls and she just zoned out and didn’t pay attention to the kids. She didn’t have the Disney look…to put it nicely. So we slowly work our way up there and we are all getting more and more mad each time. Again, only 1 train running…and I timed the ride…I believe it was a total of 29 seconds. We should’ve left but we didn’t. Frank was the main goof off. Totally a jerk. He flirted with Amanda and goofed off with a couple of other guys. This ride had more than enough staff to keep it running fine…if they actually worked. Skip started calling Frank….Frank the _ _ _ _...You fill in the blank but it wasn’t nice. So we started making up stories about Frank the _ _ _ _. I started to voice how annoyed I was within earshot….none of them heard because they were too busy fooling around. Then Amandas shift was over, but Frank and some other buddy stole her sunglasses right as we loaded on. So instead of loading the train they chased around playing keep away from Amanda. I was raging mad at this time as were other people and we started saying things rudely to them…but they once again never hear.

 

So we took our 29 second ride and my head banged from side to side for all 29 seconds. WORST ride I have EVER been on. It was awful…and immediately I had a migraine. I was determined to go to guest services to complain on our way out…and I never did and I still kick myself for not doing it…but at the time I was tired and I just wanted out of the park.

 

Now I was hungry and had a headache. Skip and Claire wanted to ride some death trap ride, so I was going to go find a snack to hold me over….I never did.

 

I walked around and waited for them as we were going to eat a meal once they were done. I was so tempted to buy a snack but then I wouldn’t be hungry for the meal and I never found something small enough to tie me over.

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this is the deathtrap that they were planning on riding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where should I go next?

 

 

Miniland of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is just so much here to see and the detail is amazing….you could spend hours here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are a Star Wars fan, there is a huge section.

 

 

 

 

 

This had brought back memories of the recent Disneyland trip I had taken and my tour day of Hollywood! I am hoping to head there again this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

A few more in Miniland.

 

 

 

I was now hungry. I had a raging headache from the flight school ride and hunger. I sat on a bench waiting for Claire and Skip. They had said they would meet me in this area at a certain time. I honestly had no clue if they could get on the ride fast enough or not and I just had to wait. Oh…and my husband left his phone in the car….on purpose too. I had told him when he made that decision that it wasn’t a wise one as we may get separated and will need to find each other but he had no desire to bring it in….and I was now cursing him.

 

They were a bit late and I am pretty sure I wasn’t very pleasant to him when they did arrive. He knows how I am with needing food. LOL.

 

We were going to just go to the pizza buffet.

 

 

I piled up my plate.

 

 

The food was just ok. Nothing fabulous but it did fill the need I had. Some of it was better than others.

 

A view of a death trap out the window.

 

 

We made a couple of trips and new pizza was brought out. It was better when it was fresh.

 

We honestly were ready to leave now. We just were not impressed with Legoland at all. It was mainly due to the poor staff. They just really turned us off of the place. And the loading techniques were awful. What looks like a short line was actually long.

 

We wanted to watch the waterski show and one was starting while we were eating. Skip tried to push off eating till later to go see it but I said no way. There was one later in the day and as much as we wanted to see it we weren’t sure we wanted to stay in the park much longer. Even Claire, who loves Legos was not impressed with the place.

There was however one thing I had on my must do list before we left….the Gardens…so we worked our way towards them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look at one of the death trap rides through the trees. (If you had followed my Disneyland TR, I explained all about death trap rides)

 

 

 

We could hear that the waterski show was still going on, so we went to see if we could see anything.

 

 

Sadly it was just getting over.

 

 

 

I do think we would’ve enjoyed this show.

 

So we kept moving towards the gardens.

 

 

Here we are. I am so happy they kept some of the gardens intact. This was a highlight for us.

 

 

Part of Cypress Gardens “thing” was they would have southern belles walking around the gardens. Legoland pays tribute to that.

Claire was pretty sure this was Belle.

 

 

 

We then entered the Gardens area.

 

 

Kitty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was pretty sure she found Cinderella too.

 

 

I don’t know what these little stumpy things were but they were kind of odd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Now there was one thing I knew I wanted to see at Legoland in the Cypress Garden Section and that was the Banyan tree. It is said it was Planted in a five-gallon bucket in 1939 and now stands like a cathedral of soaring limbs and aerial roots. A banyan tree is an East Indian fig tree, of the mulberry family, having branches that send out adventitious roots to the ground and sometimes cause the tree to spread over a wide area.

 

 

I have to say it really did take “root” since 1939!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe there is a type of Banyan tree at the Polynesian out near the Spirit of Aloha.

 

 

 

 

Those 2 were done exploring the tree…I wanted to spend more time here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did move on but they were faster than me. They can’t leave anyways…I have the car keys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was funny…as I had issues getting onto facebook at the park all day!

 

 

 

Isn’t this just so pretty?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we were done with the gardens we headed up towards the front. I knew we had not seen the whole park but we were kind of annoyed with the place and had no desire to stay any longer. We all agreed the Gardens was by far the best part of the park, but we also really enjoyed miniland.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we had promised shopping for Claire so we tackled the stores. Skip is not a shopper and he often follows you around…I think to hurry you up. It annoys the heck out of me….but Claire had him with her this time.

 

 

I bought a magnet and Claire roamed and roamed.

 

 

We found that the prices were not good. They were even a bit higher than prices at places like Target. We told her to limit what she got and she could get something at home for cheaper and then we wouldn’t have to worry about packing. This was not so exciting to her. It also didn’t help that she was picking out some of the most expensive things, which we vetoed. It was becoming more of buying something for the sake of buying it rather than something she actually wanted.

 

After the shopping I think we made bathrooms stops and then worked our way out of the park.

 

 

 

We headed back out to the car and then made our way back towards Disney for our last night. The ride was long and boring and I am pretty sure Claire took a snooze once again in the backseat. I think we stopped for soft drinks once again before getting on the main highway. Again, this is not a short drive to Disney. I would say at least an hour. I have heard people say it’s less and it could depend on traffic or how fast you drive, but I would not expect to get there in less than an hour.

[jenseib]

Our next stop was at Old Key West. I was knocking off another hotel on my bucket list of trying to stay at all resorts at some point in time.

 

We pulled in and it was hard to find a parking spot, but someone pulled out and I took it and then went in to check in. I was kind of tired and grumpy at that point, but the lady was pleasant. I totally forgot to request a first floor room…I always do, not sure why I forgot…but I asked if there was one available and she said no. I told her we had a lot of bags and it would be hard for us to carry up the stairs but she said we could put a call in for someone to do that. I had no desire to wait for someone to come and do that.

I asked if she could check again for a first floor as it was kind of important to us and she said no, everyone else who got them today were for medical reasons…..if I had been thinking straight I would’ve brought up Skips THREE hip replacements…however I wasn’t thinking. I knew I would be carrying those bags up the steps and yet I wasn’t smart enough to tell her the reason why I was the one to carry them up. Yes, Skip can carry them too, but I knew he would pull the hip card.

So then she points out our building and room. I think we were in one of the furthest buildings away from the main building….again not impressed and asked for something closer and she told me no, it was pretty full. Dang it. She handed me the parking pass and told me that parking had just gone up this week at the parks too. Wow! It had gone up while we had been cruising.

 

So I join my family and we drive all the way back to our building.

 

 

 

I parked and Skip said he wasn’t bothering with bags till later on. I told him to grab one now as I wanted to go through them and he said no. I was a little annoyed to say the least.

 

We went in the room and Claire showed Skip how to use the bands to open the door, but then let him know that it was her job to do so and then they plopped on the beds and I went down to get the bags and I explored our area a little bit.

 

The good thing was, we were pretty close to the bus stop.

 

 

 

 

I was working up a nice sweat…and this was my family.

 

 

A tour of our room.

 

 

 

 

The room was VERY spacious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have been told since I have come home that many of the buildings do have an elevator to use….I do not recall seeing one for ours, but I just might have never noticed it. If there was one though, I am annoyed that I wasn’t told about it.

I freshened up a bit and got ready for our evening. I told Skip we were meeting some people before dinner. I really had not told him about this meet till this day because he thinks it’s weird to meet people sometimes. He didn’t seem to mind though, and even if he did….too bad! LOL.

 

Our dinner was to be at 8:30 tonight at T-rex and we were going to meet Michael and his wife Judy from Passporters around 8 or 8:15 if I remember right. Michael and I communicated before the trip a bit and exchanged numbers. He ended up booking a T-rex around the same time too so we figured we would meet each other before dinner.

 

All of a sudden Skip was in a rush to get to DTD. We headed to the bus stop as I knew DTD was a mess with parking at the time. We asked what bus to get on to get to the main building and some lovely people explained the bus system to us a bit. Basically we could get on any bus, but always double check that they were stopping up there. I had debated driving up there but with the small parking lot I just didn’t want to chance not finding a spot.

 

We rode the bus up there and then headed to the boat dock.

 

 

 

The boat was there and we got right on before it left and we started on our way. Even though I thought we had left with plenty of time to spare, it was soon apparent that we were running late. And Skip seemed to be extra worried about it, which surprised me. Come to find out he thought we were meeting Michael and Judy 15 minutes earlier than our planned meet. LOL. I did text Michael to let him know we were on our way, but the boat was pretty slow.

 

 

They did do some trivia games as we sailed along and that passed the time.

 

 

 

My phone rang and it was Michael telling me they were there. It was hard to hear as the boat was loud…but I shouted to him that we were running late but on our way.

 

 

 

 

Soon we saw this lovely sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we excited the boat the balloon was coming down.

 

 

 

DTD was busy, crowded and had construction walls all over the place.

 

 

I led us the completely wrong way at first. Well it used to be the right way, but the construction wall had us come to a dead in so we had to turn around and go a different way.

 

 

We found Judy and Michael fairly quickly and started chatting away.

 

 

Skip kind of kept quiet. He was not super friendly the whole night really and I do apologize to Michael and Judy about that. He wasn’t mean or anything, just quiet. I think it’s because he just didn’t know them at all and I think he thought I knew them for years…even before I met him….not sure why he thought that. LOL.

 

So after chatting a bit, Michael and Skip go to check us both in. I am not exactly sure how it happened but Skip said the guy at the podium asked if they knew each other and would it be fine to sit together and they agreed so now we were going to be sitting together for dinner…..which was a nice treat. And I believe we could be seated then if I remember right (and I might not be as it’s been almost a year ago. LOL).

 

We all got seated with Claire, Skip and I one side of the table and Judy and Michael on the other. Claire was extremely shy and Judy did her best to try to talk to her but she just sat that and pretended like she didn’t hear or would look at me. I sat across from Michael and we chatted about Disney, cameras and our trips. Skip and Judy sat across from each other for the most part and talked a bit too. It was noisy in there so it was hard to hear those 2 from where I was sitting but we did our best.

 

Judy got a little wild.

 

 

Claire refused to wear it but Judy had no issues. LOL!

 

I took a few pictures around the place too.

 

 

 

I could hear Skip grumbling about the prices. I should’ve done the dining plan for this one day just to keep him happy. I always know when he has to pay out of pocket he grumbles.

 

I think he went with a steak…maybe with ribs too…or was it chicken?...…No wonder he grumbled….he wanted one of the most expensive things on the menu.

 

Claire went with steak as well and I went with the appetizer combo.

 

 

It’s hard to get good pictures in here with all the strange lighting.

 

There’s Michael in the background….I wasn’t on my game and we never did get a picture together.

 

 

 

Claire’s steak.

 

 

 

This food colored blue doesn’t look quite as appetizing. LOL.

 

[jenseib]

The meteor shower went off a few times.

 

 

 

I really love this place.

 

 

 

I must’ve gotten up and took some pictures…perhaps taking Claire to the bathroom.

 

 

 

A few weeks before our trip the aquarium here had broke. I had wondered if it would be fixed by the time we arrived….Nope, they had a fake overlay though.

 

 

At one point Skip asked how long we had known each other. For some reason Skip thought we had known each other for ages…long before him….nope. I told him I had only been on Passporters for about 3 or 4 years at the time and that’s where we met. It was almost like he was jealous that we were chatting away. Poor guy. LOL.

 

 

 

This aquarium was still intact.

 

 

 

I love the ice bar here.

 

 

At one point Michael asked me how my older 2 kids were doing. I looked at Skip and we smiled. My son is famous for going from job to job. For some reason he thinks he should have some manager position at every place he works and he has no experience. I think he was between jobs at this point in time….though he may have started a new one by then. (He quits before he has a new one lined up….He doesn’t use his head to much at times).

And my daughter Paige…..I had to stumble over that one. Paige was expecting …Gracie….at the time, but only a handful of people knew it. Claire did not yet, nor had she told my parents yet. I just kind of said fine and left it at that. LOL.

 

 

 

Our meal had come to an end. I had thought going in I would get dessert but I couldn’t even eat my whole appetizer so I didn’t even attempt dessert. I thought it was excellent. Skip wasn’t impressed….but his opinion doesn’t count. He is famous for not liking places I like….I think he does it just for spite.

 

We said our goodbyes and headed out. I was planning on shopping and Skip did not want to. He wanted to know how to get back to OKW so I gave him his options. Skip then tells me he has never seen me smile so much as when I was talking to Michael and my face must hurt. LOL! I guess he is used to me scowling at him over his dumb jokes! Hahaha.

 

We chatted a bit then parted ways and Claire and I headed towards the Lego Store.

 

 

 

I think Claire made a purchase here and then we headed to World of Disney.

 

 

I was in the search for the 2015 zip up sweatshirt. And I could not find it anywhere in the store. I had seen it in the parks every single day and decided to wait till we came back to buy it.

 

 

I gave up after a while and asked a CM who told me they were sold out. She said she could see which parks still had them in stock, but that wouldn’t do me good as I was done with the parks. I figured I would check out the OKW shop and hope to find one there……spoiler…I did not…but luckily I went back in August and I was able to pick one up then.

 

 

We also ran into Judy and Michael again while shopping and chatted a bit.

 

 

We shopped around and I found a shirt I really liked but not in my size. I had them look to see if one was in stock but the only place that had it in stock was in a park and again, we weren’t going to any.

 

I did get this one I believe.

 

 

I thought this shirt was so cute.

 

 

I now wish I had bought it.

 

 

With purchases in hand….and I can’t remember what we bought, we headed back outside.

 

 

 

 

 

I think we may have popped in a few more stores and then headed to the bus stop. DTD was pretty busy and quite a mess to navigate with all the walls.

 

 

We arrived back at OKW and got off at our stop. I am going to take a short minute to talk about OKW. It’s a very nice resort, but if you don’t have a car I think getting around can be hard. I don’t like driving around at WDW. I prefer the buses…I know that’s not for everyone, but I just rather have the driving done for me. At OKW, in order to get to other areas of the resort it takes a long time, so it’s better to drive…..but I was always worried about finding a parking spot up front too. I might have missed another lot and didn’t realize it, but the lot I saw was fairly small. The resort was so big too. If you want to get something to eat or fill your mug, it could take quite some time to get up to the main building by bus.

The resort is very nice though and the rooms are very spacious.

 

We made our way back to our room and Skip was there….glad he found his way back!

We asked if he had any problems and he said no. He said he had actually walked around DTD a bit and watched some entertainment and I think had a beer too. He took the boat back and on the boat he “made a friend too”, which we giggled about since Claire had made a friend on the cruise and talked about her nonstop. We asked his name and Skip didn’t know, but we named him Amando since Claire’s friend had been named Amanda. He said that Amando and him talked the whole way back and he had his truck parked up at the main building and gave Skip a ride back to our building so he got back much faster than taking the bus. Of course we teased him about his new found friend and asked if they had plans to meet up the next day.

 

We all hit the sack. Tomorrow we would be going home, but we still had half of a day to enjoy the last bits of our vacation. The plan was to let Claire swim as much as she wanted and just laze around. We had to be out of our room by 11 but we figured we would just get lunch and if the mood struck us we could go resort hopping as well till it was time to leave for the airport.

Well you know how plans and my husband go….the day ended up being totally different……

[Patrick B8men]

People these days spend so much time taking pictures, they cant actually enjoy their vacation...

[jenseib]

People these days spend so much time taking pictures, they cant actually enjoy their vacation...

 

Not me...Part of the fun for me is pictures. I love taking them and I love to edit and look at them after the trip. It's part of my vacation experience.

[jenseib]

April 1st, Tuesday, Day 12

 

As usual, I was awake pretty early. Since we had more of a lazy day I just let those 2 sleep in and I went off on my own.

 

 

I decided to take the bus up to the main building and check out the gift shop.

 

 

 

I browsed around, but they did not have the 2015 jacket….darn it!

 

 

 

 

I did buy a magnet though.

 

I moved on outside to take some more pictures.

 

 

And then over to the check in side to get pictures of that area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back outside to take some more pictures while wandering around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was surprised at how small the quick service counter was.

 

 

 

 

 

Bikes for rent.

 

 

 

 

I debated on checking out the pool now or to wait till later when we brought Claire….I figured I would get some shots now while it was empty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was a cool shot and it was taken on my phone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello dolphin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hidden Mickey.

 

 

 

 

Boy oh boy…..this hot tub looks fabulous to me right now after the long winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this area was really cute.

 

 

 

 

Let’s check out the laundry room.

 

 

 

 

I also checked out the restrooms since we would probably need to change in them later.

 

 

 

 

Looks like the will work just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I was getting a bit hungry. I decided maybe I should get a bite to eat now. I didn’t need anything big, but just something to keep me going. I got some biscuits and gravy.

 

 

They were just ok. I probably wouldn’t get them again, but they did fill the hole. I only ate half and saved the other half for Skip.

 

I then went to the bus stop to wait for the internal bus.

 

 

 

 

I waited quite a long time before the internal bus came.

 

 

I headed back to the room and Skip was up. He tells me that Mousekeeping has already arrived trying to clean the room. Why do they come so early on check out day. We have till 11! He said, don’t worry, they won’t be back till we’re gone because I answered the door in my underwear! LOL

He then asks what we are going to do today…I guess he didn’t listen to me the 10 other times I told him….We are going to let Claire swim, just hang out, maybe shop or resort hop.

Well he didn’t want to. He wanted to do something different. Ok, that’s fine. He said maybe he would do the Richard Petty ride along experience again. He did it a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Sure, that would be great. Claire and I could just do our own thing and he could come back later, or meet up with us somewhere.

So I quickly get online to look that up for him…..and he says so you are going to swim and shop…yep, sounds good to me. He still thinks that sounds boring, but I tell him I am fine with it.

He says maybe we should go to a park. I tell him that it would be really pricey to buy us all 1 day tickets for a few hours. Ok, let’s go to Universal. Again, it’s going to be pricey to do that for just a few hours. He told me to compare the price of the ride along verses the Universal tickets and I gave him a rough estimate. He said if I shopped I would probably spend more than that, so let’s go to Universal. LOL!

Oh shoot! Had I known this earlier I would’ve rearranged the bags and packed everything up and took a shower. I just puttered around for the last few hours and now I had to rush. I quickly showered, got Claire up and ready and got the bags packed and weighed and we got the car loaded up. It was pure crazy. I was fine with going to Universal but it was so spur of the moment. Claire was a little iffy. She had wanted to swim and she was a little upset about it. She was pretty tired today too and it was the last day of the trip and tears seemed to come more frequently today. She had some favorite rides at Universal though and she was excited to ride the Simpsons once again.

[bert425]

People these days spend so much time taking pictures, they cant actually enjoy their vacation...

 

Not me...Part of the fun for me is pictures. I love taking them and I love to edit and look at them after the trip. It's part of my vacation experience.

 

hehe. . I think you would make me CRAZY if we were traveling together, cause although I take pics too (like you, with a real camera, not my phone) I hate stopping so often to snap pics.

 

but I'd be totally lying if I said I didn't like seeing your trip reports.

 

Heck, I eagerly look forward to them, and LOVE that you take so many pics.

 

keep on snapping, Jenseib!

[Teacups Make Me Sick]

I don’t know what these little stumpy things were but they were kind of odd.

 

Those are cypress knees. Nobody really knows what they do either, but they are part of the tree...and that's kinda neat.

 

Love the report, I've taken bits out of my day to catch up on your report. I feel like I'm living vicariously through you!

[jenseib]

People these days spend so much time taking pictures, they cant actually enjoy their vacation...

 

Not me...Part of the fun for me is pictures. I love taking them and I love to edit and look at them after the trip. It's part of my vacation experience.

 

hehe. . I think you would make me CRAZY if we were traveling together, cause although I take pics too (like you, with a real camera, not my phone) I hate stopping so often to snap pics.

 

but I'd be totally lying if I said I didn't like seeing your trip reports.

 

Heck, I eagerly look forward to them, and LOVE that you take so many pics.

 

keep on snapping, Jenseib!

 

 

I have become really good at taking them while walking....I am usually ahead of my family. LOL. Some times they do go ahead of me but I don't let that stop me.

[jenseib]

I don’t know what these little stumpy things were but they were kind of odd.

 

Those are cypress knees. Nobody really knows what they do either, but they are part of the tree...and that's kinda neat.

 

Love the report, I've taken bits out of my day to catch up on your report. I feel like I'm living vicariously through you!

 

Someone else told me that too...they are really neat looking...but odd.

[jenseib]

We drove over to Universal and they have a choice of regular parking or a preferred parking lot which costs a little more but you are closer to the parks. Since we were on a time limit Skip said to park in the preferred. Well let’s just say I think we were in the furthest spot away from the gates in the preferred parking that you can get. But nothing we could do about that.

 

 

 

Had I known this is what we would do today I would’ve tried to get here at opening.

 

 

 

 

As we walked through City Walk I took a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

We bought our tickets and headed in.

 

 

 

It was nice to be back at Universal. We last were here in 2012.

 

 

Shaggy and Scoobie.

 

 

Claire wanted to go ride Despicable Me right away but the line was long so we thought we would try that later before we left.

 

 

 

The funny thing is, Skip said this was his favorite park in Florida and then started asking the way to this ride and that….each time he named a ride I would say….that’s at Disney World. LOL!

 

Transformers was new since we had been here last so we headed that way.

 

 

 

It was closed for repairs at the moment but they did have one out for a meet and greet. This guy was huge.

 

 

 

 

We kept moving.

 

 

 

 

Claire wanted to stop here, but Skip said no. This was one of Claire’s favorites last time, but Skip hated it.

 

 

And then I saw it….It was behind walls yet and no one knew at the time when it would actually open but it was predicted to be early summer….Diagon Alley.

 

 

I got all giddy and excited to see peeks of it.

 

 

At this time I had no clue that in about 4 ½ months I would be back in Florida and spending a day here.

 

 

 

It really looked good!

 

We had a goal and were going the long way around for some reason….there it is across the lake.

 

 

More of Diagon Alley.

 

 

 

 

 

It looked like it was going to be fabulous and I couldn’t wait to see it when it was finished. I was so happy that I did get that chance in August. They did a wonderful job.

 

On we went.

 

 

 

Oh, …and we all wore pants today since we were heading back to cold Ohio…..and it was quite warm here and I regretted wearing them pretty quickly.

 

 

The wait was not long at all. In fact much shorter than it was our last trip. Universal was much less crowded than Disney had been and I was glad for that.

We LOVE the Simpsons ride and it was a top must do while we were here.

 

 

 

We love the warped sense of humor with the jokes.

 

 

 

 

 

We had a blast as usual on the ride…I think we only rode it once, but we might have gone right back on again…I just can’t remember.

The Simpson area had been built up too since we had last been here so it was neat to see all the new things.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

We also really like the Men in Black ride so we made a dash over there.

 

 

I put my bag in the locker.

 

 

 

We rode it and had a blast. There is a certain time where they tell you to press the red button and if you are the first one to do so you earn a lot of bonus points. I was the only one who remembered this and waited for the right moment and hit it and won the points. This brought on tears from Claire. It was no fair and she should’ve been reminded to win.

 

We exited with the baby, who was pouting and headed off to the bathrooms and had a seat for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

I was now getting hungry. That breakfast was long gone, but Claire was still pouting so we agreed to go on one more time. And then Skip hit the red button. WHY on earth would he do that when the whole reason we went back on was to let Claire win. She was tired and at her last straw from this trip and I was trying to make her pleasant so she wasn’t crying on the whole flight back. UGH! Men!

 

So we get off with her crying once again and she wants to ride again and I tell them they have to go as I need food. Skip says he doesn’t want to go and argues about it. I got to the point that I said he could deal with her crying but I am getting food and he then decided to take her back one more time.

I went off in search of something to get rid of my headache.

 

Of course I took pictures as I went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I caught a glimpse of Krusty!

 

 

And Sideshow Bob!

 

 

 

 

These guys cracked me up.

 

 

 

 

Yes I was looking for food.

 

 

 

I thought about stopping and getting a Flaming Moe, but I didn’t….wish I would have now.

 

 

 

 

Inside there are several options of food places to order from.

 

 

And the lines were massive for all of them. It actually was into another room to get started. I just couldn’t wait that long.

 

 

 

I believe this was Luigi’s only before the refurbishment.

 

 

 

I headed outside to see if something out there would be faster….I really debated on donuts.

 

 

 

 

I settle for here!

 

 

The line wasn’t too long…it wasn’t fast, but it was better than inside at least.

 

While in line I saw my favorite Movie props.

 

 

I made my order and waited for it to be done and then found a seat.

 

 

 

It really hit the spot and I was back to being nice again.

 

 

As I waited for Skip and Claire I took some more Back to the Future pictures.

 

 

 

 

It seemed to take forever for them to come over to find me. (I had Skip’s phone by the way…ugh). I guess the line had gotten much longer this time around so it took them longer to get through it, but at least the tears were gone. But they were hungry too. They didn’t want tacos so we moved on to find them something different.

 

 

Skip got Claire some nuggets and I sat with her at the table while he went to find something for himself.

 

 

We spotted Doc off to the side talking to people. How exciting. I don’t think I have ever seen him here before. I took this picture with my phone and posted it on facebook.

 

 

My friend Cass replied “Great Scott! Someone needs to empty the trash can”! LOL.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

After everyone had a full belly we decided we better get in line for Despicable Me so we worked our way there.

 

 

 

A Dora spotting…at the time my niece was still really into Dora…I think now at the mature age of 5 she is growing out of her a bit.

 

 

 

Transformers was back up and running but we just didn’t have time for it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got in line, which I believe was over an hour wait if I remember right.

 

 

 

 

Once you get inside there are still a few more waiting rooms. This was supposed to be their house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From this room we went to another room and then into our loading area. The ride, which is like a simulator but all in one room, was fun. We enjoyed it a lot…however I don’t think I would wait in a long line for it again.

 

After our fun with the Minions we did a bit of shopping.

 

 

We were in there for quite some time trying to find the perfect shirt for me and something for Claire. I also bought a magnet. Skip sat outside and waited for us.

 

Sadly it was time to go. We had to fill the car up with gas yet too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way to our car and started out to the airport. I said something about getting gas in the area and Skip said no, let’s just wait till we get closer. DUMB idea!!!!!

 

The crying now began. Claire did not want to go home…neither did I, but I told her we would do something again and be back. But then she cried because her dad doesn’t always go with us and he needs to do a long trip with us. He told her he would do more trips, but it wasn’t helping. She was very over tired and just worn out from a long trip.

 

We saw no signs for gas stations along the way and the next thing you know we are pulling into the airport. We turn around and look for one down the road….the cost of gas was about $8 a gallon…I kid you not! Skip said get it and I said no and he said get it and I made him pump and pay. I was so disgusted that this place can get away with charging so much for gas.

 

With the tank full of gas that was more valuable than gold we headed off to return the rental car. We were a little behind schedule but if security went ok we should be ok.

 

When we returned the car a porter asked if we needed help with our bags. I was surprised when Skip said yes. I was also happy. The guy was really nice and asked how our car was and we told him how crappy it was. He said “Well you had a Versa or a …..(something else). Yep we had the Versa!

He took us to a different checkin counter for Southwest. He said it was busy upstairs and not many people know about this location. It had just a few people in line and before we knew it we had tickets in hand and off to head through security.

 

I don’t remember much about it, so it must’ve not been too bad. It’s always busy, but it seems like I didn’t complain much about it.

 

With that done we hopped on the monorail.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided we better eat something since we will be getting in pretty late to Detroit and settled for McDonalds.

 

 

 

 

At some point we lost Skip. I forget why he left us but it took him awhile to come back and we both were getting annoyed at him wandering off. He did this a lot on the trip and I was sick of staying put to have him find us or just wondering where he went.

 

We finally headed to our gate. There was another flight before us there still and looking at the monitor it was scheduled to fly out just 5 minutes before ours. I questioned it and was responded by grumbles. Why am I worrying about that? Just go to the gate. Well I am not stupid…2 planes cannot load at the same time and our plane can’t pull up and load in 5 minutes.

We chatted with some people sitting in the area who were waiting on the first flight. Evidently their plane had technical issues and another plane was being brought in for them.

 

As time grew closer (Not long really) they were getting ready to board but no word for us yet. I went to the desk to question it and they told us that we would be boarding after….ok, sounds good.

Then the talk started around the area that our plane was being used for this group and we were now delayed. Then word got out it would be a couple of hours and we were to go to another gate. Finally it was announced (and my email notification came). I was pretty annoyed by this. I know it happens, but I just wish they could’ve figured it out earlier and sent the emails out so we could’ve stayed another 2 hours at Universal.

It was crowded but we found a seat with plugs and Claire and I plugged in and she played on her kindle while I worked on editing pictures from my Disneyland trip.

 

Skip was sitting in a different area and just dozed off.

 

Finally we were ready to board. The flight crew was annoyed as well as they were kept in the dark till the last minute as well.

 

We boarded and soon were in the air. Claire was at the window and I was at the aisle, with Skip in between us. Drinks and snacks were served and then it went completely downhill from there. Claire had her drink on her tray and I have no idea why but Skip whipped his hand around and Claire’s drink went flying. It completely spilt all over. All over her lap, some on his and somehow even some on mine. I passed the napkin over and caught the flight attendant’s attention and she brought us some paper towels. Claire started crying because she was soaking wet. Skip was not taking blame at all. He just kept saying it was an accident and he was wet too, but you could tell by the way he was acting that he felt it was her fault when she did nothing wrong but have her drink on her tray. We cleaned up the best we could…nothing like sitting almost the whole flight wet with sticky pop and we heard the people behind us ask for towels too as it spilled on them as well. It was like this cup had gallons of liquid in it. Well hearing that the people behind us got wet put Skip in a mood. What I call acting like a baby. He sat and pouted the rest of the flight and refused to talk to either of us. Seriously??? It was an accident and Claire was over tired…give her some slack. Evidently he was over tired too.

When we landed he didn’t say a word but got off the plane and just took off. Claire and I had to go to the bathroom so we bee-lined to one down the hall only to find it closed…so we went further down and were only about 20 steps away and a guy tells us it was closer to go to the one around the corner. I told him we didn’t care, she really had to go and we were fine, but he insisted that we not go to this one. Good grief. So we go around the corner…and it’s closed!

So we head down to baggage claim and Claire is about to pee her pants she has to go so badly, but we beat the crowd and were fine.

When we came out the line was stretching out the door.

We have lost Skip, but I assumed he went outside to smoke. I call my dad to tell him we are waiting on bags.

We look outside and don’t find Skip but come back in to find him and the bags. He is still grumpy and quiet. He takes off outside and we keep waiting for dad and Skip keeps yelling to tell him we will walk to him. Oh and it’s snowing, and freaking cold! Claire and I have sweatshirts on but Skip is just in short sleeves. I call my dad and he tells me he is waiting but no one is around and no one is coming out. What? Then he tells me he is at the Delta terminal….NO!!!! We are at Southwest…a completely different building, which I think is a few miles away.

So Dad makes his way towards us and Skip starts walking. Claire and I follow….both of us whimpering about the cold and snow. The sidewalk ends and Skip still keeps walking. What the heck is he doing???? Then he stops when he can’t go any further and waits and starts to complain he is cold. Well duh. Dad finally comes around and we load in the car and Skip pouts a bit on the way home, but he does warm up and talk to dad after a bit.

It’s about an hour or so to get home but with the snow it took a bit longer.

When we arrived Skip and Dad brought bags in and then Skip went directly to bed. It was late and much later than we had planned to be home, but that is just the way it goes with flying.

 

The next day Skip was fine and I started the laundry and putting everything away. I enjoy traveling with him but coming home usually annoys me as he is always in such a hurry to get home and back to work.

 

He has stated several times last year that he wanted to go to California this year, but now that this year is here he has not committed to anything. A lot is going on here right now, so I understand why he can’t totally commit yet, but as of yesterday we are no longer going to be in the dairy farming business. Milking cows are being sold. He and his brother just are too tired of all the work involved and getting older and their bodies are not young anymore so they have decided to just raise cows …but not milk anymore.

He won’t commit till after that sale is over and things have calmed down…..but I still think he could give us an estimated timeline. All I got was sometime in April, May, or June….and then he said summer another time….Yeah, that doesn’t help with the planning at all.

 

And that is the Tale of the Grow Walk…….

I will add some final thoughts later…..