October 2024
October 22nd – November 3rd
Marco Island trip, swim with Manatees
Disney World with Blake and Stilyana
Ok another trip another story of who, when, where, why! We really enjoyed our beach trip in spring of 2022 but I also wanted to go back to Disney too of course. So, I thought why not do both and just have one flight to Florida but get it all done on the same trip.
I had talked to Blake on the phone in early spring of this year 2023 and he had mentioned if we decide to go to Disney in the spring or fall some time to let him know because they’d really like to join us. Well, Olivia and I were planning on going for a short girls only trip around Memorial Day weekend coming up but this fall trip wasn’t even planned yet. Once I started planning it, I thought of Blake and I also knew this trip was going to be just me and Alan and I thought that would be a good time for Blake to join because not as big of a group and won’t be as chaotic. I called him on the phone to invite him but before I could do it, he mentioned to me that they were going overseas the last two weeks in Oct to visit Stilly’s family. Well, that was the time of our trip so I didn’t even mention it because they had other plans.
I never hear from Blake in the summer because he’s busy but he was planning a trip home to visit in Sept and so we had talked I think sometime in August about his trip home and I mentioned Alan and I going to Florida in October and he got a bitchy tone to his voice and said Well we would have liked to join you but you never invited us! This caught me off guard because I had called to invite him months ago but he said they were going to see her family. It turns out that trip is now cancelled and they are available. I didn’t invite them while on that phone call. Instead, I hung up and festered about it for a while. I talked to Alan and was a bit made that Blake had an attitude with me when it was not my fault, he changes his plans so often. I listed the pros and cons to Alan and said should I invite him? I said if you invited one of your siblings to join our vacation, I wouldn’t be happy so what do you think? he acted like it was no big deal and I kept reminding him traveling with other people you never know what you’ll get! I was also in a head spin trying to decide if I should invite him on the ENTIRE trip including the beach or just the Disney portion? After much discussion with Alan where he was less then helpful and with Olivia, I decided its Disney that they can’t do on their own and they need me for. They can go on a beach trip on their own any time they want so I called Blake and invited them to join us at Disney! WOW that was nerve wracking. I had also looked up some prices and gave him all that info too and then told him to think about it and let me know. He was bummed that our hotel Pop Century was already booked up and they wouldn’t be able to stay at the same place. But it was at this point probably early September with the trip at the end of Oct.
After several phone calls back and forth with him some of which we’d hang up with him saying they probably weren’t going to go and then calling me back and saying yes, he really wants to finally we booked his trip. I think the thing that made him cave in was that a discount was released that included $60 a day dining credit at value resorts so that would help with some of their food costs and plus he kept saying when will I ever get the chance to go to Disney with you again.
So, I signed him up with a Disney account and made him an email that I would have access to and got it all booked. He booked their flights and it was set. He then came home for a week at the end of Sept and stayed at my house and I saw a side of him that scared the hell out of me and that 1st night after he went to bed I literally cried and said WHAT have I done including him on our vacation and I was very happy he wasn’t joining in in on the beach portion. He just drinks way too much!! I’ll leave it at that.
Ok, back to the regularly scheduled trip. Alan and I are flying into Sarasota instead of Ft Myers because the prices for SW flights was much cheaper and good flight times. Also, Ft Myers airport is about an hour drive to Marco Island and Sarasota will be about a two-hour drive so only one hour longer anyway. I spent literally so much time looking at flights and point amounts and trying to pick days, times and cities it is just ridiculous.
While we are in Marco we will be staying at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Sunset Cove Resort. All the rooms are three-bedroom condos and are about 1600 sq ft! This seems excessive and stupid for just the two of us but that’s all they have. Earlier in the summer we signed up for a Holiday Inn visa card that came with a hell of a lot of points and we used them for a trip to Denver/Cheyenne for Shae’lees wedding in August and we are using them for 4 nights here and also one night in Crystal River after we leave Marco. It was a heck of a deal because the room we got here runs around $500-$550 a night! We got it for 35,000 points per night for this huge condo. Most Holiday Inn Express hotels are around 20-25,000 points and most fancy Holiday Inn Resorts (on a beach or something) are about 50,000 points a night so this was an awesome deal for points.
I was able to book the free points room for Sunday Oct 22nd- Thursday Oct 26th. Arriving at this hotel on a Sunday gave me difficulty in deciding to fly down on Saturday and stay somewhere else that night or just wait and fly down on Sunday? Well, I chose Sunday which I thought Alan seemed to like because no rushing but it turned out to be a mistake and we should have just left on Saturday because we were excited and packed and ready to GO!
One other thing happened in the planning stages, I did something I never do, I asked Alan if there was anything HE wanted to do while we were down there…………. oh my! Hes just a go with the flow and I plan and he just goes along but I was being nice plus this trip was long and just the two of us for almost two weeks. (Blake hadn’t joined in at that point) Well, Alan responded right away and said “I’d like to swim with the manatee”! Ummmmmm WHAT?? Then he told me somebody at work had gone down near the Tampa area and did this thing where they get to go swim/snorkel with the manatees. So, as I told everyone who would listen if you ask and they have an actual answer then I guess you have to do it! HAHA!!
I got online and found out its in Crystal River and he brought up videos of it on YouTube and we watched several of this. He signed up for it and I booked a Holiday Inn Express in Crystal River with points because you go very early in the morning.
So here is what our plan/schedule for the trip looks like!
South west had an awesome sale and I got our flights down for 6,211 points down and only 4,212 points home. That was awesome, always keep an eye on the flights after you book them!
Also since we were going to be gone over Halloween the Olivia, Tim and the kids trick or treated us early in their Snow White and dwarf costumes.
I had booked our flights out on a Sunday in an effort to make the trip relaxed, chill and low key. We are going to be gone quite awhile so why hurry so much plus the Marco hotel wasn’t available on Saturday night arrival. I debated flying down Saturday and staying somewhere else that night but I really was trying to cut back on the stress of it all and didn’t want to change hotels too many times.
This turned out to be stupid because on Saturday we were going to drive to Indy and spend the night and it was a waste of time. We got up did our usual stuff and our last-minute packing and then we were ready to go and it was barely noon. But what the heck were we going to do in Indianapolis on Saturday besides just go to our hotel and sit! We ended up leaving town at 1:20 because that was as long as we could hold ourselves off. We arrived in Plainfield at 4:45pm Indiana time. Made a stop at Target where I bought a two pack of mini socks and then he ran into Kroger to check for Hot Wheels. My stomach hadn’t felt great (nerves I assume) and so I hadn’t eaten lunch today. I thought we’d go somewhere for a sit-down dinner because we’ve got nothing else to do all evening but nope, we went to Chick-fil-a and ate inside. We both just got the 8-piece nuggets so we could stop at the decent looking Long John Silvers next door for some hush puppies when we were done. That turned out to be a good decision they were very good but we only got 6 total and defiantly would have liked more.
Our hotel for the night wasn’t in Plainfield it was over on the other side of the airport where there are no stores or restaurants so we drove over there and checked in. We were staying at the Hyatt Place which we used points for and paid $40 to park your car up to TWO WEEKS! Wow that was a deal!
Once we got to the room, we just both sat on the sofa watching TV and messing on our phones it was BORING! And I just kept thinking as I heard the planes taking off and landing that we could and should have just gotten an afternoon or evening flight out today. Good grief!
I took my tylonol PM at 7:30 hoping to have it kick in early. We can hear a small dog barking in the hotel room down the hall and are a little worried that may go on past our bedtime but it didn’t.
We ended up going to bed at 9pm last night 8pm Shelbyville time) and had the alarm set for 4:30am. I have no one to blame but myself for not flying out on Saturday instead of Sunday.
And I laid awake until after midnight and woke up at 4:10 to pee so I went ahead and got in the shower then too. When I came out of the bathroom I Alan was still sound asleep and it was past the 4:30 alarm time so I woke him up only to find out he had it set for 4:45.
We both got ready and I rearranged some luggage because one bag was too heavy but now all of my nicely folded good clothing isn’t packed in there tight enough so it will all be a mess. I was not happy about that.
We took the 5:30 shuttle to the airport and as we were pulling away from the hotel Alan commented to the girl who was driving us that some stupid person parked right in her way as she had to go around a car that was parked by the hotel door and she said “that’s my car” I LAUGHED OUT LOUD!! That woke me up it was hilarious! And Alan had to try to explain/back talk his way out of that comment. Haha!
We got dropped at the airport and got rid of our suitcases and are waiting in line for Alan Starbucks. The hotel breakfast area wasn’t open yet but the guy working said we could grab a couple muffins or something which Alan did. Well we sat at a table in the airport and opened our free cinnamon roll and blueberry muffin and they were so dry we took a couple bites and then threw them out.
Then we made our way through security and down to our gate. Alan got a breakfast sandwich but I didn’t because I haven’t recovered from the hush puppies last night yet. ugh. I also just don’t always handle breakfast very well.
We finally boarded on time and the flight was only half full so we got a whole row to ourselves! Woo Hoo! And Alan was happy it was an exit row because he gets more leg room. I worry we will have an actual emergency and I will be required to do something I can’t do! like open this door I’m sitting right next to! Omg! Also we wore our masks on the planes and we were the only ones.
We landed on time at 10:15am and got our luggage and rental car which was a mid sized SUV. As we left the airport I was hungry since I didn’t eat breakfast but there wasn’t anything close by the airport so he got on the interstate which I thought was odd and drove an hour, hmmmmm hello I said I’m hungry.
We exit and stop at a Culvers around 11:30 because it was close and easy to get to and spent about $25 on two burger meals and as I’m eating mine my stomach feels awful like I need to go to the bathroom after about 3 bites good grief this isn’t good. I ended up only eating half my meal, what a waste. This seems to be happening a lot and I’m not happy.
We got back on the road and arrived at our hotel at 1:30 on Marco Island. Check in took a long time because the computer was slow and the woman old and very slow. Alan took the rolling cart out and unloaded the car while she was still talking to me about all the info. We also got “magic bands” which were bracelets that unlocked the room door that I thought was odd but we ended up loving them. We got room 503.
The hotel is in the middle of big remodel and every room is getting a whole new kitchen and new flooring and ours is already done so we got a new room which was nice. She said they started at the top and are now on floors 3 and 4 so we may have some noise tomorrow but none today since its Sunday.
We went to the room and took pics of our three bedrooms, two full baths, living room, kitchen and dining area. Plus, the balcony. Its very big. Then we hurried into our swimsuits and threw some stuff in a bag to head to the beach We didn’t bother taking our water shoes, floats or water bottles because we wouldn’t be there that long today.
We went down to the lobby and asked for the shuttle. They have a van that drives you over to the beach on command and drops you off then you call and they come pick you up. I read about it online and I thought yeah right, I bet its not as nice as it sounds or there is a catch to it! However, it was exactly as it sounded and worked great, they do have a tip jar and you tip the driver but if you drive yourself, it’s $10 parking so that’s fine.
We ended up staying at the beach until 4:30 and also the water was cold. Alan didn’t but I felt like I needed water shoes to walk in all the shells. Mostly the ones at the water’s edge plus I just find it easier to walk in the dry sand with them then with flip flops throwing sand all over. But even without the water shoes we both walked a long way down the beach looking for shells. I was shocked I did that and I didn’t realize I had gone that far until I actually looked up! Alan, of course went way further then I did but that’s ok.
Anyway, at 4:30 we packed up and called the shuttle to come get us. Some of the drivers were more informative than other ones. Telling us the best places to eat or other things and some were just chattier. We had probably 3-4 different ones during out stay. We waited on a bench for him to arrive which took about 20 minutes and we realized in the future we will call while we are still sitting down on the beach and then pack up the chairs and make the walk back to the waiting spot.
It only takes about 5 minutes to get back to the hotel and we went to the pool for about 15 minutes to rinse off and check it out and wow was the water nice and warm. As for the weather and temps its nice and warm out, you can sit on the beach and defiantly be warm and feel like you want to get in the water to cool off but the ocean temp is very chilly. They said they had a cold spell about a week before we arrived so maybe it’s not usually this cold in Oct because I wasn’t expecting that this far south.
But the pool temp is amazing its so warm and feels so great I could stay in the pool all day. Alan however doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself at a pool. (insert eye roll lol)
We went up to the room to get changed and I flashed the world not knowing there was a full wall of glass and the curtains were open but I especially flashed Alan who was out on the balcony and there was also a full wall of glass going that way too.
We are headed out to dinner but first we stopped at Alvins Island to look for one of those shell scoops that we see so many people using on the beach and they didn’t have any. Then we went to CVS, Walgreens and Publix and Winn Dixie (the grocery stores have lots of beach stuff here) and none of the places have them and they kind of act like we are crazy, yet everyone is using them.
We went to dinner at CJ’s which was just across the busy road maybe a half of a block from our hotel. Its on a marina and we sat outside by the million-dollar boats and had a partial sunset view. (This was around 6:15-7:15 pm)
I had a mahi sandwich and fruit for my side, it was very good and Alan had a mahi wrap with sweet potato tots for his side. We were going to go to the Stone-Cold Creamery next door when we were done but we were stuffed so we skipped it. After we were done, we still had to go buy groceries for our stay! The Winn Dixie is right next to our hotel so we went there and spent about $50 for water, soda, snacks for the room and I can’t remember what else.
We have a plan this morning to go to the beach for low tide and the shuttle doesn’t start running until 9am so we are driving ourselves. However, low tide is 7:00am and its still dark at 7:00am! Haha so not sure about that since you can’t find shells in the dark. We only took one chair for me and none for him and I wore my water shoes this time. I also didn’t wear a swimsuit because its chilly at this time of day and thank goodness but I also wore my light weight sweatshirt jacket. We got there and it was barely light out but Alan dropped me off and went to park across the street then we went down and I put my chair out and he took off. I walked and looked for shells too but it was cold so I didn’t go down to the water’s edge because I didn’t want my feet wet with the freezing water. I found what I thought were some good shells, just a handful. Then a bit of sun was out so I moved my chair so the tall buildings weren’t blocking it and I sat and read my book. I kept having to move and adjust the location of my chair because as the sun came up the buildings would cause me to be moved out of the sun. Oh, also it was 68 degrees at this time.
He found a lot of shells, really good ones he was happy and it made my handful of shells look pathetic. But he had walked down to the rocky corner area and went to the other side of the rocks. Lots of good shells down there we had watched a local YouTube lady show this area on several videos and she was right.
He came back to me about 9:30 and said he was worn out and hungry so we packed up to leave. Alan wanted McDonalds but I vetoed him and we went to Doreen’s Cup of Joe which I had read a lot about online. Everyone said it is the most popular breakfast spot on the island and we had passed it on our route to and from the beach and hotel. It should also be noted that I had NOT showered yet today!! I NEVER leave the house without a shower my hair is insane in the mornings not to mention my face marks from my mask. But I wore my sun hat at the beach which had smashed it down and then when we got here, I was able to take it off and put my sunglasses on top my head and also, I don’t know these people!
We waited about 10 minutes for a table and got seated outside on their very large open patio. I went inside to use the bathroom and there were very few tables inside. But we got a very nice spot and the temp was really nice out now probably 75-76 by now. I ordered the scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns (best I’ve ever eaten) toast and fruit! OMG it was sooooooo gooood and made a very pretty picture to make people at home jealous of! Alan got a humongous breakfast burrito and hash browns. This place is not cheap, they have a thing on their menu that talks about their farm fresh eggs and their fancy raised animals where they get their meats etc. and breakfast was $45! But at least it was very good.
We left there about 10:30 and drove around the island checking things out for about 45 minutes and then back to the hotel. Oh, and we stopped at a thrift store on the island that was totally packed full of people, we didn’t buy anything but everyone was shopping and it was interesting.
Once we were back at the room, we napped from 11:30-1:00 but I think I only slept maybe 45-60 minutes of that time. I was having terrible an aching/throbbing pain in my left thigh when I lay on it. Also, this bed is a bit too firm for me.
Olivia texted and said she’s sick, she went to the doctor today and was tested for strep, covid, influenza and all were negative thankfully. Todd was supposed to go to the Elders today but Tim stayed home with him because they didn’t want to spread it to the Elders. She said her fever was 103 during the night but is lower today. I keep thinking it’s only Monday and I saw her on Saturday morning before we left.
After our nap we loaded up for the beach and drove since we’d already paid to park today anyway. He dropped me off and went to park and the lot was full. Well crap we didn’t think of this being an issue. He called me to tell me as I was sitting halfway down the walkway and I told him that a lot of people are loading up and walking that direction so keep driving around the lot and wait.
We got to the sand at 2:20 (if you take a picture, you’ll have a time on it to give you info later for your notes, genius) it was just as crowded as yesterday which surprised me since today was a Monday.
He got a beach chair from the hotel because they have chairs and coolers you can use for free and umbrellas you can rent for $20. We had our own umbrella so we used that but he wanted to try their low sitting beach chairs because ours are the cheap camping chairs. He liked this much better but I don’t see how people can get in and out of them because they sit SO low. I watched really old people bending their knees and getting in and out of them like it was nothing and I was shocked.
Anyway, he’s happy with his chair and that’s all that matters. Lol
It is really warm out here this afternoon, I went and got into the water to about my knees to cool off and splash some water on my arms etc. You can’t get bit by a shark in knee deep water, can you? kidding, because yes you can! We didn’t stay as long today I don’t think because we left between 4:00-4:30 and made a detour on our way back to the room to get a pic of the hotel from across the water canal.
But we got the hotel pool at 4:45 and took a very quick swim, maybe ten minutes. I went under to cool off from being hot at the beach but then when got out of the water it felt chilly out. Also, Olivia and Kevin facetimed with us while we were sitting out drying off.
Ok what happens next is the stupidest thing that happened the entire trip. And in case anyone wonders, I blame Alan! there was an older lady at the pool that we chatted with during our 10–15-minute swim and she asked if we were signed up for the free wine and cheese reception in the lobby starting soon? Does Alan like wine? NO. Does Alan like cheese? Eeeh take it or leave it. but he does like FREE! so he went in and signed us up.
But I needed to go upstairs and shower because I still haven’t showered today and actually my last shower was at 4am in Indianapolis yesterday morning! OMG! Plus, we have plans to go to the Marriott for a full (not partial view like the other night) sunset meal out on the beach.
But we go inside the room just off the lobby and I’m in my suit and coverup and he’s in trucks and a tee and everyone else is dressed very nicely so that right there is awkward! And then we find out we have drinks and cheese and crackers while we listen to a man try to persuade us to go on a fishing trip and then a woman tries to persuade us to go on a dolphin/shell trip and at the end we all get to put our names in a hat and win a free trip out. But we don’t have time or the desire to do any of these trips. Once I realized how stupid this was it was hard to just slip out because there were only maybe ten people there and we were at a table right up in front, of course! But I had also mentioned when we were at the pool that I had to go PEE and I still needed to do that so I told Alan I’m going to the room to shower he can stay and I didn’t give him time to argue and I just left. I hurried upstairs and showered and got ready and when I was done, he was in the room and changed. We left our hotel at 6:10 so not much time to spare and drove to the Marriott, he dropped me at the door because parking was all the way across the street. ($15!) I made friends with some cute guy in the lobby who saw me looking at the hotel restaurant menus. He said he just at at Quinns on the beach and it was very good, which I was happy to hear.
Alan showed up and we walked around forever trying to find out how to get to this place. Its right on the sand so it shouldn’t be hard to find but they had things set up in one area for a large private event, which must have been a different night because no one was there. We finally find it and have a seat and I have to say the service wasn’t great no one greets you or tells you where to sit etc they almost seemed annoyed customers were there. But then the waiter showed up and he was ok though we barely saw him.
Also, every table around us have a ton of kids and since this is just in the sand out on the beach the kids were just running around all over but in the end, they were better behaved then I thought they were going to be.
Alan got the $28 grouper sandwich because that’s what the guy in the lobby was raving about. I got the mahi tacos which were $20 and had twice as much mahi in them as the ones I had last night and were very good! I was happy with that. I just had a water which made me mad I really wanted a frozen drink but they don’t have any out there at that location. Only in the lobby bar which is very far away from here. Dinner came to $55 which was crazy for a sandwich and fries and tacos but at least it was all delicious.
Out timing was perfect for the sunset also we got some pictures but it’s just not that easy to take selfies with the sunset behind you but we did our best.
After dinner we left and had planned to stop at a popular ice cream place on the island, I’d read about but we were full so in order to give our food time to settle I let him drive 8 minutes off the island and go shopping at a Ross and Marshalls to check for Jaguars stuff and into a Walmart to check for Hot Wheels. We didn’t find anything.
We drove back to Marco and went to get our ice cream, it was a cute place and we both got a single scoop in a waffle bowl. They were HUGE we sat in there and ate until Alan was done and then drove back to the hotel and I sat there and finally finished mine and that was a single scoop! Haha!
I texted Olivia but she didn’t respond but she didn’t reply until after we’d gone to bed which was 9:30 our time and 8:30 her time! lol
It was a long day for us and I woke up about midnight with terrible leg cramps!
Our alarm was set for 7:30 for Alan to go on his kayak trip that he booked but I think he was up before it went off. I slept until 8:30 minus 100 trips to the bathroom to pee!
His kayak trip was from 9-12 so he was gone when I got up. I hate a blueberry muffin and watched TV until 10am and then I showered. About 10:30 I took myself to the pool area and got all set up at a table with my book to put my feet up and read for a while before I was going to go for a swim. After about a half an hour about 8 people came in and set up camp in various lounge chairs and then about 10 minutes later the super loud construction drilling started that was so loud it scared the crap out of me! DRILLING!!!!!
I had planned to get in for a swim after I’d finished my chapter but I said forget it because it was THAT LOUD and packed up and went back to the room! After I got in the room Alan showed up only 5 minutes later at only 11:30! So apparently, it’s not a 3-hour tour like they said. They didn’t see any dolphins (not sure how that’s possible) just birds and there was a biologist as the tour guide telling them a bunch of what I thought sounded like boring crap but he acted like he enjoyed it so I just smiled. HA!
We spent a few minutes bitching to each other about the noise and then packed up to go to the beach because we had to get the hell out of here!
We left the hotel at noon and took the shuttle because there won’t be parking at mid-day plus we don’t want to pay parking. We had a wait for the shuttle to return to pick us up and take us. We got to the beach and were getting set up but it was much windier today then has been and as we set up the umbrella the wind flipped it inside out and it died a terrible death! We watched other people’s umbrellas do the same thing and yet we also saw many that didn’t. It was the cheap ones that were getting torn up the nicer ones had a built-in wind flap that helped save them apparently. We had bought this umbrella last year in Ft Myers and it made the flight home and the flight back down here with us for this trip so that was sad.
But now we are stuck sitting here in FULL SUN and you could just feel the sun burning your skin even with major layers of sunscreen on.
We both got in the water and I actually stayed in and floated because I had to cool off from the sun and the ocean water is very cold! At one point while floating in the water I felt something touch my leg and was about to run screaming out of the water but Alan laughed and said it was just his foot. He claimed he didn’t do it on purpose but we were both sitting on floating seats so his dangling foot had touched me. Hmmmmm I was not happy about it!
After floating about a half an hour, we got out and Alan deflated our floats and I said OK so apparently, we aren’t getting back in again?
We had had brought some sandwiches with us that we had gotten the other night at the grocery store and they seemed to be mostly bread but we ate them anyway and some Fritos.
After we ate, he took off on a long shell walk and was gone for what felt like a long time but maybe that was just the sun baking on me. I had to get in the water BY MYSELF to cool off and also, I had to pee!
We left the beach about 3:30 and took the shuttle back to the hotel where we were praying the workers would be done by 4pm.
WE went to the pool with our floats for a while and nope the workers were still very loud but I don’t know how the same couple of ladies from 11am this morning were still laying at the pool. OMG the noise was so loud I don’t know how they could listen to that all day!
It suddenly got quite and Alan started to get out of the pool and I said its finally quite let’s enjoy it! so we stayed in for an hour.
Once we got back to the room, we messed with my Disney account and Blakes because I thought something was messed up on it because he’s not listed as someone, I can make plans for. I’m so mad about this because I thought it was already all set up correctly. I’m so stressed out about it.
We gave up, got ready and left to go find the Snook Inn for dinner. Our dental hygienist Stacy has a son that lives in this area (Naples) and she says they always eat here. She told Alan about it and I said I’ve seen it on YouTube videos too. So off we went. It was in the old Marina area of the island and it was very busy! We waited about 15 minutes for a table. They had seating inside and out and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. I normally go with outside but a loud band was playing and it seemed much rowdier out there.
We ended up getting seated inside but all the way inside with a water view and this place sits ON the water its on the dock if I’d opened a window I could have thrown my gum into the water. Not touched the water because there was a narrow walking path. It was so loud in there that we didn’t talk through the entire meal. I got a mango slushie drink for $14 and Alan got a pineapple express for $16 which I thought was an off choice for him and turns out I was right because I don’t think he liked it very much. I had the grouper sandwich and he had the mahi tacos. All we have heard is how great the grouper is in Marco and Alan has had it but I hadn’t so that’s why I took a break from Mahi to get it. However, it was $28 with potato chips or $2 more for fries which is what I got. It was very good. I didn’t write down how much the tacos were but he liked them.
After dinner we drove back to the hotel and went to the pool at 7:30 which was empty and quiet. Alan tried the hot tub and finally enjoyed it since it was the correct temperature. The other times it had been hot enough to burn you. Other people commented on it being way too hot to get in. We stayed for an hour at the pool. Back up to the room and into jammies and facetimed the kids and I feel terrible to say this but I don’t even miss anyone yet! It’s also only Tuesday and we just left home Saturday, but I feel guilty about it.
I texted with Owen and found out he had gone over to the Elders to clean out their gutters after work and he took Oscar home with him for a sleep over since Kacie is off tomorrow and he’s working from home. I hope that goes well.
I asked Alan if we could go to bed at 9:00 and again at 9:30 and then we finally went about 9:45. I was so tired and I get up and down to pee a lot and the bathroom door is so squeaky it drives me nuts. Tonight ended up being my 1st night with no leg cramps though thankfully!
Today is our last day at the beach! Boo Hoo. The alarm was set for 7:30 for low tide again and Alan almost slept through it. (also, I never in a million years thought we’d be setting an alarm for the beach portion of this trip!)
We were up and looking rough and we headed to the beach in our vehicle again because it’s too early for the shuttle. He dropped me off and it’s a bit of a long walk down the path to the beach so I took off walking and there are benches along the path and once you get out onto the sand. Well, today I ended up walking all the way down the path to clear to the sand to sit and wait for him. Well, here he comes and I think we are heading on down to the beach but nope he said I need my wallet to pay for the parking and it’s in your bag! OMG, he had to walk that entire long path to get the wallet then walk back to pay and then walk it again to get back to the beach. Plus, once as the beach he’s going to walk the beach looking for shells. WOW. He had tried to call me to tell me and have me meet him but my phone isn’t working and just goes to silent all the time. I turned my phone off and then back on and now it’s working not that it helps now.
As I sat there on the cold concrete bench, I noticed tons of broken and bent up umbrellas from all that wind yesterday piled up by the trash cans.
Alan returned and we got down to the beach and I got set up with my chair, we just brought mine again today. It had to be at least 8am by now, also I wore regular clothes and a jacket again today. I had planned to read my book but I spent a half an hour typing up yesterday’s notes.
Also, I was bullied by a tractor! A large tractor was driving around the beach raking the sand but I am sitting there in a chair. There were a few others with chairs but they were at the water’s edge because they were fishing and everyone else on the beach was out walking for exercise. So, the tractor kept coming towards me and going around me and I moved several times because it was awkward and weird. I didn’t want to be at the edge of the water because I didn’t want my feet wet in the cold but I moved as close to the water as I could while staying in dry sand. I even had a nice man and woman say something to me about the tractor and how they are trying to run me off the beach. I mean good grief I can’t relax at the pool with my book and now I can’t relax at the beach with my book! Oh, and the tractor was very loud too which again ruined my relaxing.
Alan was done shelling at 9:30 which was the same time he got done the other morning but he also got started later this morning after the wallet mess. And its also his last morning for it so I felt a little bad but I was ready to get off the damn beach with the tractor so I didn’t argue.
We went to Dorene’s Cup of Joe for breakfast again looking un-showered and rough as usual. We arrived at 9:45 and waited for a table a little longer than last time. I ordered the same meal as last time but then at the last second, I changed my potato choice from hash browns to the cheesy potato casserole! STUPID MISTAKE omg I had said the hash browns were the best ones I’d ever had and so WHY WHY WHY would I do this? Well, they were awful. How can they be awful I don’t know because everything on everyone’s plate all looks so good but they were like a scalloped potato with 20 pounds of cheese on them and while you usually think there is no such thing as too much cheese that was not the case here. I had to scoot the cheese around to even find a potato. I literally could have cried. I said earlier that Alan signing us up for the free wine and cheese thing was the stupidest thing we had done on this trip but I do think this might have been worse. And I can’t even blame Alan for this one!
Alan ordered something different from last time but I don’t even remember what because I was busy crying in my pile of cheese.
After breakfast we went back to the hotel room and I sat around waiting for my food it hit me because there was no way it wouldn’t………and it did. Then I put in some ear plugs (which I had in my travel bag from Olivia’s snoring on our girl’s trip) and I took a nap. He slept and I didn’t! My hip hurt from this mattress and my leg has a random aching going on and also my stomach is really gurling.
Obviously, the construction noise was going strong again today and we found out they are jackhammering the old tile floors that wouldn’t come up any other way. We LOVE this hotel/condo and the beach shuttle and the gorgeous rooms and balcony and warm water swimming pool but if I were paying the $500-600 a night to stay here like other people are I’d be beyond PISSED! I mean we are here on points which we could have also saved and used any other time of year it’s not like we got a deal because of the construction. Luckily, we are at the beach a lot.
We both got up at 12:50 and we had noticed it was quiet from 12-1 while the workers had lunch. I texted with Owen for a bit and then we packed up and got to the beach at 1:40.
We are once again without an umbrella since it broke but the water is very calm today so that’s good because we will be getting in!
At 3pm I have been baking in the sun for over and hour and Alan left to go shelling and he missed the most awesome dolphin show! They were jumping and doing tricks it was so good and people were clapping on the beach for them. I kept looking down the beach for Alan thinking he should be back by now but by the time he got back he had missed it all. I did get video.
We sat and had some chips for a snack and at 4 he walked over to the bar at the condo close by and got two pina coladas (mine was a virgin) at 4:30 we packed up to leave because the sun is turning to face us head on and I feel very burnt even though all I do is put on lotion. I can’t believe our umbrella broke!
It was a long haul to get out of there because our beach towels were wet and heavy. We had floated with an older couple and she said they love it here on Marco and are supposed to leave soon to head to Key West and she doesn’t want to go.
One the way back to the condo Alan took us on a short cut on a different route which turned in to us getting lost and there was nothing short about it. Not that it mattered we didn’t have any plans.
Back at the condo we couldn’t park in the under the building covered parking because they had orange cones blocking it so we had to park outside for the 1st time all week. We went to the pool area to use the shower to rinse our water shoes and ourselves. We swam for about 15 minutes. There was a crazy old lady in the pool. Maybe weird is a better word but she defiantly was and she looked JUST like Aunt Nancy which I couldn’t get over. Oh, also the other day when we were swimming a couple of ladies were talking about how they went to Tiger tail beach and it was a huge mistake because it took them an hour to get from the parking to the water! It’s called Tiger tail because there is a big area of land that swings out and you have to walk all the way around it to get to the ocean. Even the lady who checked us in to the hotel here told us there are only two public beaches but that Tiger tail is difficult and she doesn’t recommend it.
We went up to the room and I still haven’t showered yet today, again. We decided to just order pizza tonight because we are getting tired of Mahi and grouper. Alan ordered it and then showered and I’m showering while he goes to get it but it’s only about a block away, we could see it from our place.
We sat outside on the balcony while we ate our pizza and watched the sunset but dang it sets fast! The pizza was good.
After eating we went for a drive to buy a container to take the shells home in. He found something at the dollar tree. We also looked in Alvinas island for some cheap souvenir shirts but didn’t find anything. We got back to the hotel at almost 8:30 and put on jammies. I was worried he’d want to swim but ugh I’m so tired. I’m sick of feeling so tired and not sleeping one leg hurts and the opposite hip hurts so I can’t get comfortable.
He watched TV and I texted a bit with the kids and looked over our Disney plans. I’m really stressing about it how many parks which days? Will they want to visit MK once or twice? Who the heck knows and also about the weather because it’s looking pretty hot in Orlando for the theme parks! I also sent Olivia one year memory pics of Kevins 1st Disney trip that started one year ago today. And I feel awful because Kevin wants to go back so bad!
Its almost 10pm and we are still awake, I still haven’t changed made a decision on my Disney plan or made any park reservation changes. I hate the reservations where you can’t just play it by ear as you go and ask them hey what park do you want to go back to tomorrow? Well, it might not matter because it might not have any reservations left. I don’t even have a park reservation for just me and Alan on Saturday because it’s our one free day there and I can’t decide how or where to spend it. I gave up and we went to bed at 10:30. At least we don’t have an alarm to go shelling in the morning.
Well, the alarm went off at 6am even though we didn’t set it apparently it was Alans work alarm which he says is always set but why wasn’t it going off the other days? We tried to ignore it and sleep on and I think I slept till 7:45 but only barely. We got showered and packed up the room. we had to load and start the dishwasher for the few cups we used and maybe a couple forks and take out our trash. We left the hotel at 9:10 and I thought the plan was to hit several Goodwill stores in the Naples area. Alan watches some people on YouTube who find good stuff at them and he’s wanting a golf bag. He’s mentioned this plan about 100 times! So, last night when I was dealing with my Disney plans, I told him to look up the locations of the stores we should hit.
So, when we pulled out of the hotel/condo I thought that’s where we were headed but instead, he got on a road that took us straight to the interstate and we didn’t exit and stop anywhere until we got all the way up to the Bonita Springs area! What the heck!? I questioned him but he said he wanted to get going a little bit before stopping. However, that wasn’t the point, the point was to hit the Goodwill stores in the Naples area because they are known for having pricey golf courses in this area.
We got out at our 1st store and he didn’t find anything but it sure was more interesting than the ones we have around here. Then he put in the address for the next one which was not far away and we got there but there was no store. I told him you have to be careful because when you put Goodwill into google maps it gives you the warehouses, the stores, and the drop off boxes and we just want the store!
Well, he got fed up and mad and said forget it and got back on the interstate and said lets just go! I was surprised, and I had been up beat and chipper about this little adventure because we have been sitting on the island for days doing nothing and we aren’t in a hurry today. But he’s over it!
About 11am I had to go pee so we exited in Punta Gorda and went to a Walmart so he could check hot wheels and it turns out that this is the same exit we stopped at for lunch after we flew in for this trip and we didn’t even realize it. How weird was that. We got back on the interstate and drove on and at literally the last possible second as we were driving on the interstate through Clearwater I said we should go to this place I saw online for lunch. OMG apparently it was THAT exit that we were driving past that we needed (I had no idea) and Alan swerved over to the exit and about hit a car and it was a very close call at least in my opinion!! I was not happy about that and I’m sure there are many exits for the Clearwater area we could have taken!
The place was in Dunedin which again, I really don’t think we had to take THAT exit to get to. But it was a food truck called Happy Bayou Bites and it’s just a block from the Holiday Inn Express in Dunedin that we’ve stayed at before and we made a pit stop at the hotel for me to use the bathroom. The food truck obviously has no bathrooms also, its only open Thursday—Sunday and I don’t know if that’s why we’ve never eaten here or not. But we finally made it there and in one piece. I ordered the shrimp po boy and Alan had the shrimp creole dish, they both came with hush puppies which were very good. My sandwich was huge!
After eating we finished the drive to Crystal River which took FOREVER!! For whatever reason he didn’t get back on the interstate so we drove through stop light after stop light and small town and bigger towns and traffic etc etc and it was awful we both whined and complained.
We finally arrived at 4pm and checked into the Holiday Inn express for our free night with points. (we’ve been gone 6 nights so far now and haven’t paid for a room yet! That ends tomorrow though.
We unloaded and I spent some time trying to find my bandaid zippered container that I take on ALL trips and I can’t seem to find it anywhere. I remember putting in the spare bedroom when I was packing stuff and checking things off my packing list. I’m starting to wonder if maybe I did that a few days too early into the packing process and then needed to use it again and didn’t repack it……….. Hmmmm!
Well after a half an hour we left the hotel we had talked to the older lady at check in about where to eat and the place she mentioned is one of the two places I had on my list. I thought maybe one tonight and the other place for lunch tomorrow before we leave. She also gave us a late check out tomorrow so Alan can come back and shower after his manatee swim, she was very nice.
We went for a drive exploring the area and paid $5 to park to walk out to a small pier and there was nothing to see there and we were back to the car in 10 minutes and didn’t really have to pay to park there for that. Alan is very worried that the water looks so murky and dark and doesn’t look like the water he was seeing in all the manatee videos he’s watched. They had a very big hurricane hit this area at the end of August and they had told us the water had been murky but was cleared up now on the phone. He’s very unhappy at the looks of this water.
I tried to be cheery and say it will be fine and let’s go keep looking around the town so we did and stopped and took pics in front of the big manatee wall paintings that were very large. We also drove and found where he goes in the morning for his swim and they were just closing up for the night.
Then we went to Crackers bar and grill that was one of the places on the list. We had decided not to eat here because Alan wanted to try the food at the other spot but this place has a small marina and water front bar so we just got a couple of drinks there and sat at a ledge they had that overlooked what I would call the ugly river. I just had a virgin mango slushy which was very good and he got a real drink. As we sat, he kept complaining of the cigarette smell and said he forgot you can smoke in bars in Florida, not that we were inside a bar it was an outdoor area. But I looked all around and didn’t see anyone smoking. Also, there was no one sitting on either side of us for several seats down each way so I thought he was crazy. We sipped our drinks and we were mostly just killing time because we weren’t hungry enough to go to dinner yet. But as soon as we finished the drinks, he wanted to leave because of the cigarette smoke that I still hadn’t seen or smelt. As we walked away to leave, I finally saw and smelled it but they were sitting all the way at the far end of the ledge we had been sitting at so I’m not sure how it was bothering him that much I really hadn’t even noticed it. Maybe he was just worried I was going to insist on another round of drinks and that’s just not our style. HAHA!
We arrived at the Seafood Seller at 6 and waited twenty minutes for a table which was fine with us because we’d had a late lunch. This place looks like a dump in a strip mall next door to a laundry mat and some closed up stores in the strip mall. But it was packed and when we finished eating and left the amount of people waiting was crazy!
We ordered and I got the mahi tacos and hush puppies. Alan got the crawfish etouffee which is the reason we came here. My tacos said they were blackened and they had a KICK to them, the I joked to the waiter about them and he laughed and said yeah, they are blackened but I’ve had that before and never a kick. They were very good though and I ate all three of them even though I’m not even sure I was hungry. My hush puppies were dry and had CORN in them! So, I couldn’t eat them but I was full anyway. Alan loved his, loved it! but he couldn’t finish it, yet he then ordered the beignets for dessert. The waiter asked if we wanted chocolate or strawberry sauce for dipping and we chose both. They were hot and fresh and good but I do think they are also very bland tasting but all beignets are. Dinner was $53. When we were waiting for our table a man, woman and young boy came in with them fresh fish they had just caught that day on a fishing trip and they had it cooked two different ways. They were seated across the restaurant from us but Alan was curious about it so I told him to walk back to the bathrooms because he’d have to walk right past their table and shockingly, he did it.
We got back to the room about 7:30 and I went straight to the bathroom. I had horrible diarrhea and I blame the beignets because its fried dough basically! I ended up having to take an Imodium which I never do but also shockingly it worked like a charm! Thank God.
Alan had his alarm set for 6:00 for his manatee swim and I woke up too but slept off and on until 8:30. I also noticed I had to go pee a lot of times last night I’m guessing that blackened mahi had a lot of salt. I woke up, showered and dressed and for down for some free breakfast and brought back two cinnamon rolls for him for later. I spent the rest of the morning rearranging the suitcases. LITERALLY! I wanted all the stuff we were done with in one like dirty clothes or beach type stuff and the other one to be just for Disney but then that didn’t work because it wouldn’t fit so I started over. I’m crazy. I also sat at the desk with my Disney plans and changed all that around and finalized it.
I had been a nervous wreck all morning wondering how the manatee swim went because if we came all the way to this town and planned a day and a half around it and then it didn’t go well, I knew he’d be in a bad mood for the rest of the day or maybe even the rest of the trip. So, at about 10:30 he texted and said it went great! THANK GOD! He got back to the hotel about 20 minutes after that and he ate his cinnamon rolls and talked about it and then took a shower.
I can’t see any of the pictures because they are all on his thumb drive and it’s killing him, he wants to show them to me so bad. He took Owens GoPro with him and then he also bought the drive they sell to you of the pics that they take of you. After his shower we went down to the lobby to use the business center, which it turns out is just a computer in the hallway of the lobby. He was able to view all the pics and that took a while and then we went back to the room to get our luggage and leave at exactly noon.
We drove and drove towards Orlando and at 2:30 we stopped in Clermont at Walmart to get our grocery items for Disney and also to pick up the stuff on Blakes list. Alan had to run into a liquor store to buy Blakes Jack Daniels because they don’t sell bottles that big in regular stores. As soon as we got back on the road, I got a text from Disney that our room was ready but its in the 90’s building!! I was NOT HAPPY!
We arrived at Pop at 3:30 and went inside to the front desk to ask for a different room location which we got in the 70’s and yes it’s better than the 90’s but it was still the furthest room area in the 70’s. The giant Mickey phone building but all the way down at the end. Alan had unloaded the car onto a luggage cart and we took our stuff to the room and then he left to go check a few stores for Jaguars stuff and do some hot wheeling. I stayed in the room and unpacked and ate some cheese and crackers because it was 4pm and I hadn’t eaten since 9am at the other hotel. I got everything settled in the room and I pray we get quiet neighbors.
Alan called and was headed back around 5pm so I met him down by the buses. He had also returned the rental car when he was done with his errands. (he found no hot wheels and no Jaguars stuff either)
We got on the bus to MK at 5:30 but we aren’t going over to the park we are headed to the Poly. Once we got off the bus we had to go through security and then took a boat over which stopped at the Grand Floridian first. We sat outside on the front of the boat and it was a nice evening and I was enjoying my boat ride but Alan was complaining that it was going to the Grand Floridian first. It’s a free evening boat ride just enjoy it.
As we got off the boat on the Poly dock and walked toward the hotel past the beach area I mentioned coming back to this area after we eat but I forgot and I don’t think Alan thought I was serious. He has trouble chilling and relaxing.
We did something we’ve never done before we went to the Tambu Lounge instead of going to Ohanas. You can order some of the Ohana menu items from the lounge so that’s what we did. We got the pot stickers, noodles and the bread pudding. We also ordered two drinks. I got a Bahama momma and he got a Hawaiian mule. It all came to $85! Our most expensive meal the entire trip and yet it was just pot stickers, noodles and dessert so I’m not sure this was such a cheap deal after all. Its mostly because the drinks are so expensive and mine wasn’t a virgin so probably around $30 just for the drinks. We were full though but I do miss the salad, broccoli and shrimp inside Ohanas.
We went out and were waiting for a bus between 7:00-7:30 over to Hollywood Studios so we could just take the skyliner back to Pop because Alan didn’t want to pay for an Uber. We got back to the hotel around 8 and to the room where we spend about an hour trying to figure out Blakes Disney account and why it looks like I can’t make reservations for him from mine. We finally went down to the lobby to ask for help and the girl was nice and took two seconds to fix it or so she thought but I was hesitant and questioned her and then she realized something else still needed to be done and she did a ton of typing on her ipad for a long time and NOW it’s finally fixed! We hope.
We finally got to bed at 10:30.
We had no alarm set woke up to pee at 6:40 and then tossed and turned until 7 when I took my phone to the bathroom to book $LL (individual lightening lane) for Guardians and then I went back to bed and dozed off and on for another hour.
Alan went and showered first and then while I was getting ready, he went down and met the scooter people. they were supposed to be there at 9:30 but they had gone to Art of Animation on accident so they were a bit late.
Since he had taken a while, I met him down there and we headed on over to the skyliner to go to Epoct. All morning I’ve been watching the wait time for Soarin because they are playing the original Soarin over California and I’m so excited to see it again. I can’t handle the new version of Soarin because the scenes jump so fast it makes me dizzy. The waits have been showing 15 min even after we arrived and entered Epcot but when we got to the ride it was 50 minutes! We got in line anyway and waited about 35-40 mintues and Owen sent me pics and a video of him and his friends and Olivia the night before at a Halloween party in Windsor. He had spent the whole day yesterday texting me about various costume ideas he could wear but in the end didn’t go with any of those ideas and went dressed as a 1990’s dad (so basically Alan) haha.
Once we got off Soarin I sent Alan on ahead to go ride Guardians because it was 11:15 the start of his LL time. I made a bathroom stop and then met him over there and he said he hadn’t gotten to ride it because it was down!
We went on to Mexico for lunch and ate two emenadas that he got from the stand while I ordered a nachos meal with a coke and we shared it all. We sat at a table right by the water and I was shocked we had even found a table because Epcot was packed! (it’s a Saturday!)
We went back over by Guardians but it’s still down and has been for an hour and half! At this point we left the park but stopped by guest relations and got a refund for the individual LL we had bought. We got back to Pop at 1:45 and he went to the lobby bathroom and I went to the room to use the bathroom neither of us were feeling too well! I didn’t think I would make it to the bathroom! OMG
We just rested in the room and then at about 3:45 we left for MK. We were on the bus at 4:15, we are crazy going into Epcot on a Saturday and now MK on a Saturday night. wild! Haha
We entered the park and did some castle pics and then saw a cavalcade starts in 20 minutes so we went to Caseys and split a corn dog mean and got front row seats to watch the mini parade and a great castle view.
Once we were done we went over to ride the TTA and had to wait 15-20 minutes!!!! FOR THE TTA!! WOW
We are mainly in the park tonight because he got an $LL for Tron and he’s never ridden it. The window of his hour is 6:15-7:15 and he’s trying to wait as late as he can so it will be closer to being dark for the ride. So while we waited for that we went and got soft serve ice cream from Auntie Gravites and sat and ate it for a long time waiting. He gave up on waiting and went ahead and rode at 6:40 and they turned the lights on the for the ride when he was in line.
Once he’s done I wasn’t sure what we would do I’d like to go ride Big Thunder but not sure we can do it and get out of here before the fireworks at 8. Probably wouldn’t happen since Big Thunder still had a 45 minute wait at 7:10. I knew it would drop when the fireworks got close or started but we’d be stuck with that crowd leaving.
So, we ditched that plan and went over and got a funnel cake but had to make our way through CRAZY crowds to do it. We sat at a picnic table behind the Xmas shop and I had waited there while he went to get it but he stupidly ordered strawberry sauce on it, yuck. That made it hard to eat in the dark and also soggy. We then made our way out of the park about ten minutes before the fireworks started and we got to take the back side of Main Street out but it was the side I’ve never been down before so we got to see all the Main Street cars parked back thee which was cool.
Got back to pop in about 20 minutes and did nothing. it was only 8:10 but we just sat in the room and talked about plans for tomorrow. We aren’t meeting Blake and Stilly until around noon ish. And we had thought about just us rope dropping HS but we can’t use any LL’s during that time and would only be able to get probably two rides done in the morning and then have nothing to do from 9:30-12 when they show up. We can’t use LL’s because I’m going to be stacking them for all of us to use that afternoon.
Alan suggested us going to breakfast instead. (we sadly just can’t sleep late!) so I booked it for 9am. I then spent about 30 minutes refreshing looking for a 9:30 so we wouldn’t be so rushed getting clear over there. Also, partly because I have issues with not being able to just leave plans alone!
We finally went to bed at 10:30.
Oh, and I got a pic at some point this evening of them at the airport it was just a pic of their wrists with their magic bands on. I also received a text from Disney that their room was ready with their room number that I sent to them. He got 1st floor which I had requested because they are smokers who take frequent smoke breaks.
Also, while in the room tonight we heard the sad news that Matthew Perry from Friends passed away, how awful.
Our alarm this morning was set at 6:45 but I woke up and peed at 6:30 and just laid awake. I bought genie for all four of us $100! And thankfully all of our names came up as available to buy it (that didn’t work out so well with Olivia and Tim’s trip. And I got our day all set up in the genie and then at 6:50 Alans alarm went off so apparently, he didn’t have it set at 6:45. He does that a lot, tells me one time then sets it for a different time. So, at 7am on the dot I booked Rise for 1:20 ($22 each OMG) and Tower for 9:15 which I will modify to a later time as the morning goes on.
I showered and got ready and we loaded onto the skyliner at 8:10 with no wait and arrived at 8:45 to check in for breakfast at Ale & Compass. We are such go getters in the morning that we didn’t even manage to show up a little late. I had also tried when I woke up early this morning to see if I could move it back to 9:30 but no luck. I used the bathroom and saw my hair in the mirror and it pissed me off! I had bought this special stuff from Sondra and used it on my last trip or two and it worked great but, on this trip, it is just not working at all because here I am before 9am and its flat and looks like shit. The ride in the skyliner is windy but that was the case on my last two trips and it still worked then.
Well, they sat us at what has now become “our” table. but the dad sitting at the table very close to us has either covid or pneumonia or bronchitis but OH MY GOD!! He sounded awful totally awful and he was coughing up stuff and spitting it into a napkin which I luckily didn’t know while we were there but Alan told me after.
The food was good except for the potatoes which were hard and had maybe a stale taste to them and also the toast they gave me was multigrain so I couldn’t eat it which was fine because I had plenty to fill me up. Also, the waiter asked if I wanted my bacon crispy and I said yes but it was actually over cooked. We paid and got our 10% Disney Visa discount.
When we left Alan took the boat and I just rode the scooter over to HS and I beat him there of course. Just as I was about to enter the security line Blake called and he said their flight was delayed last night by and hour and didn’t get to their hotel until 2am! Good grief but he is the one who chose the super late flight because he didn’t want to get up early. And then he said but they didn’t get to sleep until 4am because he had to have some cocktails and relaxing time. I’m unsure where he got the drinks from because nothing at the hotel was open and they had only done carry on luggage so no liquids and I had his grocery stuff with me still.
Anyway, he said they like their hotel and he asked me what time our first ride is and I said 1pm but I am trying to book one for noon and he said OK they will try and hurry and hopefully won’t be much later then 12. Oh, he also was shocked we were in a park he assumed we were at the pool. Not sure why lol.
After the phone call we went ahead and entered the park and Alan went on ahead to Tower because it said only a 25 min wait and I went to the bathroom as usual. When Alan got off Tower he went to try single rider on Rock n Roller Coaster but it went down before he got on it so he didn’t get to ride and then Blake texted at about 11 that they were leaving the hotel and then about 20 minutes later Rock came back up so Alan took off to ride it and I went to use the bathroom (yes, again) Well while I am peeing I get a text and it’s Blake saying they are entering the park. OMG so I left and hauled ass down the main road toward the front in my scooter and then when I was about half way Blake JUMPED out in front of me! He’s damn lucky I didn’t hit him!
We made our way back over to Rock where Alan was riding and that was when Alan texted that the ride was down and he was STUCK on it! For the next thirty minutes we waited and waited kind of awkwardly for him. They had tried to hustle to the park to meet us and now tick tock we are doing nothing and I felt bad. They said they hadn’t eaten and really tried to get them to order some food because we were right beside a place to eat but nope. After about 40 minutes I sent Blake and Stilly to ride on their own and then then once Alan FINALLY got out of the broken down ride he went and rode it with Blake since Stilly only wanted to go once anyway. Her and I went and looked at menus to find them something to eat but she doesn’t want to do anything without him. She went and herself something to eat and then said he’ll want a burger so instead of just sitting and eating her food she sat it down to get cold and went and got in line for him a burger even though he wasn’t off the ride yet.
He showed up and took her spot in line and she came and started eating, sort of. They eat SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow and they have to taste each other’s food and let it sit in their mouth and truly taste it then discuss each bite and then repeat. WOW. Meanwhile, Alan and I just drank our free cups of ice water because we had eaten that big breakfast. But I was closely watching the time because we had our LL to get to for Smugglers Run at 1:10 and an $LL for Rise and its already 1:20 now . They don’t seem to be realizing that it’s a one-hour window for two rides and we need to hustle up and SHUT UP and eat.
They finally went to go ride Smugglers and I met them over at Rise so we got to all ride something together but they didn’t seem to be impressed with it. Especially Blake. He should have known it wasn’t going to be intense because I was riding it too. From there we went straight to Toy Story Mania and walked straight on because our LL had already started there too. They enjoyed this one. Then to Mickey Minnie railway because this LL had been for earlier but the ride was down so we could go on anytime. After 4 rides literally in a row we took a snack break and went the Dino to have ice cream. I had a vanilla waffle cone because their chocolate was broke (everything in this park is broken today) and Blake started cussing up a storm he was super pissed that he couldn’t have chocolate and was dropping F bombs while there were kids in line right there and all around us and I had to tell him to STOP IT! jeez!
After our snack break it was 4:15 and the boys went to ride Rock n Roller coaster while the girls went to the Frozen show and then they texted that it was down! OMG and then texted again that its back up! Well, the ended up being gone an hour and fifteen minutes and rode it four times so at least it was working! Her and just sat in the shade for a half hour after the show was over wondering where they were at. Finally met back up with them at 5:30 and headed out of the park and they are coming with us back to Pop to get their grocery items and then will take an uber to their hotel with everything. Well, we walked to the skyliner and they were excited to ride it and guess what? YEP, it was down!! and it had nothing to do with rain or lightening it was a sunny day. (and HOT which I haven’t mentioned)
So, this meant we had to walk to the furthest bus spot because pop doesn’t usually have a bus stop so when this happens, they add it at the END. We all went to our room and they got their stuff and we had a case of water so we were giving them half of it and so we went with them down to the uber pick up area so the water could just ride on my scooter. And then we said our goodbyes until tomorrow. I have to say I bet they never ate any of that food. Or drank the water.
Once they were gone it was only 6pm and we said what should we do? It seemed too late to head back into a park though we should have gone to Epcot for a little bit. Instead, we took the skyliner over to Caribbean Beach Resort to eat. The Skyliner was only down to HS not the other direction. So, we went to Banana Cabana to get something for dinner since we haven’t had a meal since breakfast. There were no tables so at first, we sat at the bar but it was under hot lights and no breeze on the far side of the bar so we just ordered drinks (I got a virgin pina colada) and kept an eye on the tables. At one point I saw people getting up from a table and I HUSTLED to it and as I pulled out the chair to sit some man came from out of nowhere and SAT DOWN before I could. I am pulling out the chair and as I started to sit, I look and he’s already swooped in and sat and he refuses to look at me at all. So back to the bar I went to wait again. Finally, we did get a table, the one right next to the jerk who took my table. We ordered one coconut shrimp meal to share and the seafood fritters appetizer which unbeknownst to at the time had corn in them! I ate one and then saw the corn and couldn’t eat any more of them which was a bummer since we were just splitting the coconut shrimp and the fries, they gave us with it were cold. This whole meal and idea just turned out to be a bust! We had planned on asking for fresh fries because they were ridiculously cold but we never saw him again. So, we just paid the bill and left and took the skyliner back to Pop. I was disappointed not just in the food but also because I watch all the vloggers and they go there and not only get decent food but have fun going to different places on a whim but not us. We got back to Pop at 8am having wasted two hours and we were both still hungry so we got a pizza at the Pop food court which we probably should have just done to begin with but 6pm was just way too early to sit around the small hotel room for 4 hours until bed. Epcot would have been the smarter choice or maybe even Beaches & Cream or the Boardwalk. I thought Caribbean Beach was just closer and faster! Ha! jokes on me!
We brought the pizza back to the room and scarfed it down, took evening meds and put jammies on at 9pm. I was tired and pissy. So many things went wrong today I felt like. Lights out at 9:30 hoping for better plans tomorrow.
Alarm
went off at 6:45 and hoping for better luck today. I booked Guardians and Test Track and then texted Blake at 7ish and he said they were getting ready. Hmmmm I was shocked.
We were on skyliner at 8 and the family in line in front of us had a special needs kid who was throwing a major fit. I think she didn’t want to get on the skyliner but I felt so bad for all of them. The thing with Pop is the bus isn’t an option to HS or Epcot because unless there’s a storm and it’s down the only way to get there is the skyliner.
When we arrived inside Epcot we found out that people were still being held for early entry (already inside the park but being held back still) and I was shocked because we hadn’t planned on rope dropping this morning but yet here we are. LOL
We went to test track and they met us there with good timing and we all rode with no LL needed. When we were done is when I did the stupidest thing EVER! Our Guardians $LL was 9-10 and our test track LL was 10-11 but we just rope dropped it and didn’t use the LL. Well, I had the times mixed in my head and thought Guardians was 10-11 so when we got off TT they could have walked right next door and done Guardians but I didn’t realize the times were switched in my brain. Well since we hadn’t used the test track LL I switched it to a Soarin LL and we walked all the way across the park to go use that and when we got there and were about to board the ride I looked down and realized that the Guardians time is NOW!! And not only would they maybe miss their time but also, they/we have walked all the way out of our way VS just doing these rides in order of location. I was flustered about my screw up to say the least. And other then the convenience of the it I shouldn’t have panicked about them missing their time on Guardians because that is one of the $LL that doesn’t seem to enforce the return window. Meaning they could have been late and still rode it. But I was still very upset with myself because when I booked those rides this morning, I had lined them up with decent timing so we could simply walk from one to the other.
Stilly and I gave the boys our bands and as soon as the ride was over, they took off to go ride because they were riding it twice since she didn’t want to ride and I can’t. They were freaked out about having to get their two rides in my the cut off time of 10:15 but really as I said so far, they don’t enforce that time limit for this ride.
As her and I were waiting for the elevator to leave the Soarin ride area she looked behind her and saw a boat ride and said what’s that? I said Living with the Land do you want to ride it? She seemed excited and I warned her it’s boring but off we went with no wait and she LOVED it! I took a mental nap because I was bored to death! I haven’t ridden it in years and I actually thought it was even more boring than I remember. Haha. I find that instead of riding a boring ride I would rather sit on a bench and people watch and take in the ambiance.
After we were off, I told her I knew something else we could go do that she might like (she doesn’t like exciting stuff) and we went and rode the Nemo ride and did Turtle Talk with Crush and she seemed to enjoy all that too. The boys texted they were done and we met them at the booths and they said they scanned in for their last ride right at 10:15.
We started with the Hawaiian booth and Blake and I had the pulled pork sliders which I love and he loved them too. He raved about them. Then we walked to Canada and Alan and I each had our own filet and shared the soup and pretzel bread. Blake and Stilly got one each to share and he ate half the soup and breadstick and gave her the other half but she never ate it and it went to waste. OMG this killed Alan and I haha.
They really wanted the Lamb in Australia but it wasn’t open yet so we went on to France. On the walk there it is hot and very sunny and Blake is sweating like nothing I have ever seen in my life!! It looked like someone had poured a bucket of water over his head and its just FLOWING down his face. She said to him you’re going to need a handkerchief or something and we kept on walking toward France and then he said “someone needs to get me to some shade right now or I’m going to need an ambulance” and his tone was dead serious. He looked at me and said aren’t you hot? Which yes, I was but I was fine in the shade and you basically go from shade to sun to shade but I was NOT sweating like he was. No one was. Though at one point Stilly did say her eyelids were sweating! Which cracked me up!
She was excited in France and ordered one of everything and Blake tried some of it. Alan got the crème brulee and I had nothing here I don’t care for this booth. Oh, Stilly also got a $20 glass of wine in France. Next up was Belgium where just Blake and Alan got something.
We had then made our way to the snow cones in Japan and Blake was excited which I found funny cause they are good but they are also just shaved ice! Lol Well apparently Blake wanted grape and I mean he REALLY only wanted GRAPE!! They had a rainbow of flavors or a couple single flavors but no grape and I was sitting in the shade with Stilly while they were in line and she said oh he’s going to be so pissed about this and then she said oh here he comes get ready and let the bitching start!
Well, she was not kidding he came over with whatever flavor he had got and he was mad and complained quite a bit and you really would have thought this was a major thing that had ruined a trip the way he carried on and was so upset. So, we sat in the shade and had our snacks and cooled off a bit and we discussed our plans and they decided they are ready for a break. I was surprised they were done so soon but I didn’t argue because I was hot too. We will come back to Epcot again this evening.
They were going to make their way around the rest of World Showcase because they had no choice, we were literally at the farthest part of the park so they had a long way to go. Which I realize they probably didn’t understand but would have made sense to hit a couple other things on their way out.
So, Alan and I were headed the other direction to the skyliner but we wanted to stay in the park until 1:00pm so we could try and get the virtual que for Guardians that will be for this evening. For the 7am one you can do it from your hotel because the park isn’t open yet but for the 1pm you have to be inside Epcot to try which also increases your chances since fewer people can try.
We walked toward the international gateway exit area and just sat down on a bench to wait and just as it clicked 1:00 on the dot and we were both on our phones trying my phone rang. It was Blake and I had to finish booking the VQ which I did mange to get and then I called him right back and he said that they are still making their way out of the park and that his foot is totally killing him so he doesn’t think they will be coming back tonight. WHAT!! I was totally shocked because he hadn’t said one word about his foot bothering him so this kind of came out of nowhere but he said it was bad and he wasn’t sure how he was going to make it to the bus. WELL, if he had mentioned this to me when we were together having snow cones, I would have told him to go our direction and walk to the Beach Club hotel which is still a bit of a walk but not as far as the buses at the front of the park! And he could have taken an uber from there!