Day 12, Last day of the fabulous birthday extravaganza!
I managed to drag myself out of bed around 9:00. I had put the alarm on for earlier but kept hitting the snooze button. I had a 7:50 p.m. flight so pretty much had the whole day to enjoy. I took my time getting ready and finished up packing. I was trying to make it to breakfast but didn’t make it out of the room until 10:25. The way things ended up I should have left the bags in the room until 11:00 and gone out to grab some pastries. At the time I wasn’t thinking that I had the room until 11, I was just thinking I needed to get my bags down to airline check in. So down I went and this is where things went sour. I had booked my flight on the Southwest website but it was an AirTran flight. This was near the beginning of the merge and everything was not as it should have been. The lady checking me in said I would have to pay baggage fees since it was an AirTran flight. No, when I bought it on the SW website it specifically said no baggage fees. She said the only way to get around it would be to take my bags to the airport and check in there. I was so mad. Of course I decided to keep the bags, there was no way I was going to pay $50 when I shouldn’t have to.
So I left the bags with Bell Services and went on with my day. First thing to do was return the movies I had checked out. That done I went back up to the CL to get some Jungle Juice. I ran into my very favorite CM, Elaine from Scotland, and vented my frustrations. She was very sympathetic. Elaine is magnificent, she’s one of the main reasons we love CL so much. I gave her an until next time hug, and headed out to DTD. I needed some food! My plan was to go to EoS for some lunch, and then head back and go to AK for a few hours. I left at 11:12 and got to DTD at 11:30, not bad at all. Straight to EoS where there was a HUGE line. I stuck it out because I knew I’d regret not having a sandwich. They had mac and cheese on the menu as a specialty item so I got that and a caprese sandwich.
The mac and cheese was nothing to write home about. I love mac and cheese so this was quite disappointing. The caprese on the other hand was absolutely fantastic as usual. I sat out in the sun and enjoyed watching people go by. After finishing my lunch I headed to the World of Disney. I was hoping to find some gifts for people. As I passed Ghirardelli I noticed there was hardly any line so I popped in for a delicious cookie. Mom had eaten most of the chocolate toffee one at the beginning of the trip so I wanted one for myself. Good thing because they were out of chocolate chip. I didn’t get it warmed because I wasn’t hungry at the time, just wanted it for later.
With my treasure safely tucked away in my bag I continued on my way to WoD. I passed TrenD and of course had to stop in. I regret not picking up a pair of gorgeous orange linen pants. I absolutely love linen, and am always on the look out for different colors. I have no idea why I didn’t snatch them up. Lesson learned, purchase things at Disney when I see them. I left without buying anything and continued on to WoD. I wandered around the entire store but saw nothing that caught my eye. Oh my, no gifts for people at home. I figured I needed to head back so I could go to AK and started walking back to the bus stop. It took me ages to get back to AKV. I left DTD at 1:12 and didn’t get back until 2:00. My jaunt to DTD took much longer than anticipated. I decided I didn’t want to push the time too close and just stayed at the resort instead of going to AK.
I went up to the CL to see what was being offered. It was snack time so my beloved rice crispy treats were out. I had one and took four for later. I love that they still let you up to the CL on check out day. I used the restroom to change into my bathing suit and went down to enjoy the pool. It was a glorious day. Of course it was, I was leaving. The first perfect day of the WDW portion of the trip. If it had been like this the day before I could have gone to a waterpark. Oh well. I had a magnificent couple of hours at the pool lounging and reading my book. All too soon it was time to go get my bags from Bell Services and go wait for the DME.
I was still not happy I had to lug my bags to the airport.
Good bye Jambo House. It has such a different feeling when you’re leaving than when you’re arriving.
It took an hour to get to the airport, I can’t remember it ever taking that long before. When I got up to the check in area the SW line was enormous! It took me 30 minutes to get through line. I could feel my blood pressure rising, I was quite stressed waiting. Finally it was my turn and of course I didn’t have to pay baggage fees… Free of bags I hightailed it to security. Thankfully that was smooth and I was quickly through and heading to my gate. Since it was an AirTran flight I wanted to see about business class. Being squeezed next to mom is one thing, squeezed next to strangers is a whole different ball game. I asked at the gate and they did have some seats left but it was $89 to upgrade. My dad regularly upgrades at the gate and I couldn’t recall him paying more than $50. I declined for the moment and called my dad to verify. Memory had served correct and I was more than willing to pay $50 but $89 was too much. I hemmed and hawed and when I finally decided my comfort was worth $89 they had started boarding. Resigned to my fate I headed onto the plane. Would you believe I had a whole aisle to myself. Good thing I hemmed and hawed, I saved myself some money! Very smooth flight home where my DB and SiL picked me up. They had been watching Conner for me so I got him and headed home.
This was an amazing trip. There was so much to it it felt even longer than it was. It was really nice starting at the VWL and not flying in the morning of the cruise. Mom absolutely fell in love with the WL so we will have to return on a future trip. I loved the walk to Fort Wilderness and seeing all the horses. The Fantasy was beyond gorgeous. Having mom as my tour guide in Puerto Rico was fantastic and such fun. And even though my WDW portion started off with me being melancholy I ended up having a marvelous time just going with the flow. As usual I can't wait for the next adventure.
Thank you all for reading, I really enjoyed reliving this amazing trip.
it's on my list to take mom in December. 
oh good, I didn't think I could get to one before I leave 
but I will definitely have this one finished.
Glad you didn't upgrade to business class. We have a really late flight like that into Orlando out of BWI in October. How I would love to get my own row. I love that.
I really slowed down at the end but I loved reliving the trip. 
