Well, here is the last day of my PHM weekend! So sad to
leave Florida that day for gross and cold North Carolina!
I ended up taking a benadryl the night before because I didn’t
think I could sleep the whole night through (given the previous few nights I
slept 2-4hrs) but weirdly enough I only “slept in” until like 730am. I lay in
bed for a while and read on my iPad while Maggie was still asleep. I was planning on meeting my sister and
Sara at 10am at Downtown Disney because they had to check out of their room by
then so it seemed like the perfect time! Well, Maggie was staying in Disney for a few days after I left so it was nice that I didn't have to rush to pack, etc until I found out that I had to check in at the airline/check my bags by like 1pm so everything could make it to the airport in time for my flight. SO, that meant that I had to call into a Magical Express Operator, pay for my bags via the phone, then I had to wheel my bags (thank god Maggie helped me) to the other side of the resort to the airline check-in office. They were really nice there and they didn't even weigh my bags! See I come from a family of heavy packers and we have luggage scales in all our houses so we can make sure our bags are underweight for flying haha! The guys working this counter were so nice and made sure I was all set with my boarding pass, etc before I left.
After this, I was running late and my sis and Sara were already on the shuttle bus to Downtown Disney so Maggie and I walked over to the bus depot to wait for the DD bus. She was nice enough to walk with me over there and wait for the bus with me but then I told her to just go ahead to the bus for the park she was going to that day because it was a waste of her time when we saw 2 busses come and go for the one she was going to that day. We got someone to take our picture that we recreated from our 2011 trip before I left!
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| I like to call this "Skinny Runners Legs" |
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| YAY! |
Eventually the bus came but it was also going to the water park first so it took a while after making that stop first but I finally made it to Downtown Disney! I've never been here before (I'm totally kicking myself for not taking more pictures here!!) and it was pretty cool how there was a lagoon/lake area and all around there were cute little shops and restaurants all around. AND the largest Disney store was located here so that made souvenir shopping so much more fun!
We had a wonderful lunch at Earl of Sandwich, which I've never been to before, and was pleasantly surprised. At this point, my hunger/lack thereof from the previous day finally arrived and I was ravenous. I had the Mediterranean sandwich with feta, lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, etc. Basically, it had all of my favorite veggies and a delicious Mediterranean vinaigrette. Since I was so hungry, I chose to get their famous Macaroni & Cheese for my side with a bag of sour cream and onion baked chips. OH and I got one of their delicious cupcakes as well. WELL, clearly I was overzealous in my food selection and I could only eat my mac&cheese and a little less than half my sandwich. I made sure to get extra utensils and wrapped everything up so I could have a nice little dinner at the airport while we waited for our flight.
After eating, we made a beeline to the ginormous Disney store! We got some cute things for ourselves (I got the 2013 character mug I never got back in 2011, a magnet, little mickey earrings) and I got stuff for my bro and his GF (a mickey Doctor ornament and for his gf a 2013 character ornament b/c I didn't know which was her favorite Princess). My sis and I got my parents a really cute 2013 Walt Disney World frame and we got a quick picture in Downtown disney together that we'd put in it and give to the parents for their house.
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| picture for the parents! |
My sis got me a frame too so I can have one for my 2013 race picture like she got me one in 2011. Sara got some things for her parents and her neices too. I wish we'd gone here earlier or at least to Downtown Disney with more time because we only really got to see the Marketplace area. I did stop into the Disney Christmas store while my sis and Sara were in the bathroom and I finally found my Princess Jasmine ornament!
We split up at the bus depot and mine came almost immediately so I was off back to the Art of Animation. I am so lucky my parents told me to check all my bags (even my rolly carry-on) so I only had my longchamp tote to worry about and my purse was in there so all was good! I put all my Downtown Disney purchases in my nifty Baggu so I didn't have a ton of things to carry! I got back to my resort with about 30 minutes to spare before I had to get to the Disney Magical Express so I went into the gift shop to look at all the stuffed animals and postcards (I like to get at least one postcard for every trip I go on..). I got 2 postcards- one was of all the characters that was similar to the mug I got and ornament I got for my bro's GF from Downtown Disney and one was a holographic Disney Princess one with all of the princesses on there! The one thing I saw when we first arrived at the Coronado Springs was a magnet set with all Disney food items (mickey ice cream, mickey pretzel, etc) so since I had the time, I looked around and finally found it! I got that, the postcards, and a little Minnie Mouse keyring (my house key VT keyring broke in December so it's just been on a ring since then). I was ready to head over to the Magical Express stop and get on my way to the airport!
I struck up conversation with a nice lady who also ran the Princess and was on her way home to Maryland. We discussed the race (it was her first runDisney race) and the parks and rides. What I love about the Magical Express (probably the only thing) is that they play vintage Disney cartoons for the ride to the airport- definitely what I needed to pick me up from my depression of having to leave Disney World.
Sister and Sara were at the airport before I got there so once we met up, we made our way through security, food court for dinner (I had my delicious leftovers!) and then the gate! It was a ridiculously crowded flight. Finally we made it to Charlotte in the freezing cold and I was still wearing only my sparkleskirt and tshirt (I packed everything in my 2 checked bags in the morning) so that was a bit of a shock haha!
We had a 1.5hr drive back to my sister's house after dropping Sara off. I was pretty depressed being in NC and not in Disney World anymore, but at least I had this shiny new bling to show off :)
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