We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Time to go home :(

Sun 17th Feb into 18th 

Time to go home 

We set an alarm this morning for 9 and started some washing while we got up and ready. Breakfast of muffins, sunny D and coffee by the pool 

We had booked the villa until the next day as we weren’t sure when we would fly back so we decided to have a last morning in the pool until 12 before showering and doing the last load of laundry.

Our final lunch was cake and ice cream before packing our bags and doing some cleaning. 

We had a last HGTV fix before leaving 

We departed the villa at 1515 and arrived at Tampa airport at 1630. The car was returned and bags dropped and we were seated in Hard Rock Cafe by 1710.

After our meal we headed through security which was much less stressful than at Orlando. 

We sat at the gate for a short time until boarding started at 1840.

We were on board and started taxiing slightly early at 1910 but it seemed to take a long time to actually take off.

The flight was smooth enough but felt long as both Rob and I didn’t get much sleep, breakfast was truly dreadful – a cold cheese and tomato croissant plus a soft cereal type bar?!

We landed at Gatwick pretty much on time and once again I had trouble with the e passport gate and had to go to a man who commented that my hair was different - it’s slightly longer and surely it’s facial recognition not hair?!

In pretty good timing Rob’s dad collected us at pickup literally minutes after we got through baggage claim and we were on our way home. It was grey and wet and we got stuck in traffic at Stonehenge 

After a short nap back at home we collected the dog from kennels 

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 6

Sat 16th Feb

Last full day 

We had picked up some coffee last night so were back to the usual toast and coffee for breakfast this morning by the pool.

And some cake!

We spent all morning in the pool until we lost the direct sunlight before heading to the Vineland Outlets in the afternoon.

We couldn’t find free parking as it was really busy and people were following people to their cars so we paid the $10 charge for the covered parking which was annoying….

We wandered the shops for a while and Rob got a burger whilst I had a subway as we had become a little hungry.

I managed to find a lightweight jacket at Superdry and Rob got a hoody, whilst again I was disappointed at the bargains in the Character Warehouse.

On the way back to the villa we stopped at Target to get muffins for breakfast and ended up spending $50 on candy - some for work and some ‘theater’ boxes for our cinema room.

We decided on pizza again for dinner from DiRomios and some more HGTV shows!

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 5

Fri 15th Feb

We had no more cake or muffins so just toast for breakfast today (and no coffee) before a visit to Home Depot to get a drill for Rob’s dad. I had hoped to get coffee along the way but we didn’t manage to find anywhere 

So, we decided to go to Disney Springs for an Earl of Sandwich then a look around the shops. I had a holiday turkey and Rob an Earl’s Club, both were fab as always.

In exciting news we got a peppermint bark square from Ghirardelli which was surprising as I had heard they had stopped giving out free samples.

Again, very little shopping was actually purchased  I wanted to get a travel mug for work but couldn’t decide on a style I actually liked so didn’t buy any. 

We headed back to the villa for some more HGTV before our evening plans. We had originally booked a FP for Flight of Passage for today but I had cancelled it, I could have got another for the evening but we couldn’t be bothered to park and walk into the park so we didn’t. 

Dinner tonight was at Sana’a, we checked in and then went to have a look at the animals using the night vision goggles. I attempted a couple of photos, which had interesting results. 

For dinner we had the naan breads followed by the chicken biryani. The breads were great, and the biryani tasty but we both felt it could have used more sauce.

For dessert Rob had chocolate mousse and I had the coffee version, this with DVC discount resulted in a bill of $107 including tip.

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 4

Low on photos today... 

Thurs 14th Feb

This morning we had toast and cake from dinner last night for breakfast.

We decided to do a little bit of shopping at the I Drive outlets with lunch at Panera Bread and Five Guys. 

We managed to find free parking although it wasn’t that easy – lots of people were waiting as people returned to their cars. 

Again, we didn’t buy very much, there were no good bargains to be had at the Character Warehouse which was disappointing.

The sun was back today so we headed back to the Villa for some afternoon swimming. This evening the plan was for a visit to Epcot. 

Bizarrely, there was a huge line to enter the park as there were only a couple of tapstiles open when we arrived. 

I had booked a FP for Spaceship Earth but when we walked into the park it was clearly not operating so we decided instead to walk the World Showcase to see he art festival. 

We had also planned to get some food on the way around but didn’t find anything that we wanted, Rob did find a Star Wars pic for the cinema room which was good.

I had booked a FP for Illuminations so we made our way there when we had completed the full circuit, we did get a drink and some pretzels as I was feeling hungry by this point. 

We managed to get a nice central spot to see the show, which might have been our last time before it ends…..

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 3

Wed 13th Feb

We had toast and muffins for breakfast again this morning.

It was grey and raining so we spent the morning shopping at Mall at Millenia with lunch at Firehouse Subs. 

We didn’t buy much this time, I got a couple of tops in Gap and Rob got some body wash and moisturiser in bath and body works. We did have fun looking in William Sonoma and Pottery Barn as usual. 

Oddly, while we were having lunch (in the food court) someone at the table next to us appeared to be having a performance review which was peculiar. Hopefully their performance was up to standard otherwise that could be awkward!

We headed back to the villa to relax for the afternoon before making a very brief visit to Hollywood Studios to ride Slinky Dog as we had a fast pass. We were also going to ride Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror but it was quite chilly so we decided not to arrive at the park in time to do them. 

We took a quick look in the shops before we left the park and debated buying some cups but left emptyhanded. 

We headed back to the car where I promptly put on the heated seats (for context it was about 12 degrees which felt cold) as we drove over to the Yacht Club for dinner. We did have a slight issue with directions due to the road works as we actually ended up back in the Hollywood Studios parking lot! We eventually found the right direction and arrived at the hotel.

We were a little early for our reservation so we waited in the car for a few minutes – normally we’d walk on the boardwalk but it was too chilly for that today. 

We checked in for our reservation and had to wait a few minutes before we were seated.

We placed our order and were brought the bread rolls which were yummy as always. I ordered the filet mignon with truffle fries and Rob had the New York Strip. 

Both were well cooked and tasted great but we struggled to finish them which was annoying. As a result, we decided to get one Admirals cake to take away with us. Our bill was $158 including a generous tip. 

We need some sunshine, time for a week away! Day 2

Tues 12th Feb

This morning we managed to stay asleep until around 8 and had toast and muffins for breakfast.

The sun was out so we spent the morning relaxing in the pool before getting lunch from McDonalds, the plan had been to get sandwiches from Publix but on the drive Rob decided he really wanted a burger.

We had plans for the evening so relaxed in the Villa for the afternoon watching more HGTV before heading over to the Magic Kingdom at around 6pm.

We had managed to get places at the DVC Moonlight Magic event so checked in for the event and got our event wristbands, meal vouchers and special park maps on the way in. 

We entered via the bypass where there were a couple of character meets and made our way into Tomorrowland where I got one of the new reusable bags to carry my hoody (which as it turned out I could have left behind). We checked the menu at Cosmic Rays but decided to see what else was available.

We decided to eat at Columbia Harbour House (skipping watching Happily Ever After) where we both got the chicken and fish meals, with hindsight we should have shared a meal between us and then we could have had the other meal for a snack later. 

We decided to just enjoy the lower crowd levels and not do any of the special character meetings so after we had eaten we headed to Frontierland. Splash Mountain was so quiet that there were empty logs going around, but we decided not to ride as we didn’t want to get wet. Instead we took a quick ride on Big Thunder Mountain before circling back to Liberty Square and The Haunted Mansion which is one of my favourites!

Next up Rob suggested It’s a Small World (he really doesn’t like this ride!) and after a fun cruise we went in search of ice cream in Storybook Circus. There were complimentary Mickey Bars being given out which meant a long line but it moved fast and we were soon eating ours sat next to the train station.

The line for Dumbo was non-existent so went for a quick flight which was fun, we could have stayed on for a second time but decided not to. 

We headed back to Tomorrowland and took a quick spin on Buzz Lightyear where Rob annoyingly scored way higher than I did (300,000 vs 100,000 I think) and then we decided to take a spin on the Astro Orbiter as we hardly ever ride this. 

Thankfully with the low crowds we only had to wait for one elevator load before we go to head up. I find this ride much more ‘thrilling’ than Dumbo as I feel like I am going to fall out! 

Before leaving Tomorrowland we went for a relaxing ride on the Peoplemover, when we got to the Space Mountain section I felt like I could see far more than normal due to it being dark outside. We actually stopped for a couple of minutes but then the lights came on which was a shame 

We wandered towards Main Street and were surprised to see that some of the Main Street Vehicles were out so we took the opportunity to take a ride on the bus. 

Our final ride for the evening was Pirates of the Caribbean before we headed back to Main Street to watch the fireworks. 

This was great as there were so few people, there was no tape on the ground and no ‘crowd control’ and even better no one stood in front of us and put a small child on their shoulders at the last minute….

The show was different to the normal fireworks and didn’t quite have the same polished feel – I wondered if they are trying out something new to use elsewhere? Having said that, I really enjoyed them.

Once they were finished we left the park rather than trying to ride anything in the last few minutes, we took the monorail and were back at the villa at about half past midnight.