DAY 16 - FRIDAY 30TH MAY & SUMMARY
Today’s report is going to be brief as is customary with my final day efforts. I mean, what is there to be happy about?
We get up at
9:00 am and are packed and out of the room by 11:00. The bags are
stored with Bell Services and we get the bus to Downtown Disney.
A quick visit to the World of Disney allows some last minute
shopping before we move to DisneyQuest. We are not being picked
up by Happy Limo until 5:00 pm so this seems like a good way to
pass the time. Wrong!
I hadn’t realised, but our 7 day passes do not include
DisneyQuest. I’m not paying $30 each to go in for a few
hours, so we have to think again.
I suggest
seeing a film, so we walk the few yards to the AMC theatre to see
what is showing.
By happy coincidence Finding Nemo has opened today, so that saves
any arguments as to what we should see.
It’s
plainly obvious that Pixar and Disney are going to have another
smash hit on their hands with this one. My favourite characters
are Bruce the shark and the surfing dude turtle. Like – whoa
dude!
See it as soon as you can. Unfortunately, I don’t think it
comes out in the UK until October.
After the film
we wander through a couple more shops before returning to the BCV
to be picked up by Happy Limo.
We arrive at MCO 3 hours before our flight and get checked in
very smoothly. Once again we fail to get our pre-booked seats.
They really have to re-think this programme, or else drop it
entirely.
We know have a
long time to wait and I suggest we have a look around the Hyatt
as I’ve never seen it before. I remember that many people
use McCoy’s restaurant to have a relaxing meal before their
flights, so we go and have a look at the prices.
Not bad at all, so we give it a try.
Tam and I split a turkey sandwich, India just has corn on the
cob, while Georgia has chicken nuggets. With drinks all round,
cookies for dessert and tip the bill is $42. A very nice way to
while away the time in quieter surroundings to the normal hustle
and bustle of the airport.
The rest is just boring and sad. The flight home is fine, I watch Treasure Planet (better than I expected) and Daredevil (worse than I expected).
SUMMARY
The cruise:
I’m glad I
have given myself a couple of weeks before writing this summary
in order to put things in their proper perspective.
Overall the cruise was a wonderful experience. The food, the
service, the entertainment and the islands we visited were all
first class. Just sitting on the verandah and enjoying the view
was lovely.
The things that
I wasn’t quite so keen on tend to be relatively minor
gripes. The number of people can be a little overwhelming at
times, especially on the first day. Some of the myriad
photo-opportunities are a bit over the top, the atrium is taken
up with photographers and queues waiting to be snapped at certain
times on the cruise.
The staterooms can be a little less than private, you can hear
people either side of you at times, although this must vary
enormously depending on who you have next to you.
Also I was surprised at the number of people who made no effort
at all outside of formal night to dress up. Not that there is
anything wrong with this, it’s your holiday and if you
prefer to be casual, fine. It just wasn’t what I was
expecting.
Would I do it again? Yes, but perversely enough after all my moaning about too many children, I would prefer to do a cruise with just Tam and I. Some of the ‘adult only’ facilities are excellent and I’m sure you could have a much more relaxing time if you could make full use of these.
The weather:
Having not been in one of the hotter months for a long while, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Very little rain and no worries about feeling too cold in shorts in the evenings. Maybe July and August wouldn’t be so bad after all.
BCV v BWV
Ah, tricky one
this. My natural loyalty towards my home resort would pull me in
favour of the BWV. There is more hustle and bustle on the
Boardwalk and the lounge in the Inn is one of my favourite places
in WDW.
But ….. the BCV exceeded my expectations. Quiet, pretty and
far away from the throngs of the parks.
I’ll have to sit on the fence on this one and say that if
you want a livelier time stay at the BWV, if you prefer a more
relaxing holiday try the BCV. Neatly sidestepped eh?
At least it shows that I should try all the DVC resorts at some
time in the future as I may be surprised again.
So that’s it. All over for another year. Every time it seems to get harder to leave Florida. It’s almost like a second home now.
What’s
next? Well, we have already booked a villa in Captiva for a week
at the end of May next year, followed by another week back in a
DVC resort.
Both mothers are coming with us again, so it looks like I’ll
be kept on my toes.