day 5: off the boat; easing slowly back into reality

Getting off the boat wasn't the most fun process. Two things we'll do differently next time we do this (yes, we're most definitely doing this again).

1) We won't wake up at the crack of dawn to get down to breakfast in the assigned dining room/time (breakfast for us was at 6:30...yuck!) we were in the night prior. Not worth it and for the first time, the food was disappointing. We'll still get up at a reasonable time (how can you not with a little kid?) but in a much more relaxed manner and definitely end our cruise the way we started and go up to Cabbanna's where there is a ton of great food to choose from.

2) The bill that we received and reviewed the night prior and then fixed only to discover another wrong thing on the bill...we'll take care of it that night, rather than push it off to the next morning. The next day the line was a mile and a half long. Okay, not really, but it was long and it was slow moving, which was surprising considering how well Disney had aced everything else in terms of lines.

When all was said and done and we found our luggage and loaded everything and everybody into the car, we headed back to base. We just wanted to grab a few groceries since we were staying in a hotel suite (ie: full kitchen) once we arrived in Orlando. We also decided to hit up a playground despite the drizzly weather and my love and I got to play with the lens some more.

Fortunately, the weather cheered back up by the time we reached Orlando.

When we arrived at our hotel, we thought there had been a mistake...hehe.

See, I'm a travel deal finder.

I love to find a good deal on plane tickets, hotels, and now cruises...hence how this trip happened. I still do my research and try my darndest to make sure we're not going to end up in a hole. We did that once. Not doing that again. But we didn't have access to Internet at the time and life has changed a bit considering we're nearing 8 years since that incident.

Anyway, the point I'm finally getting around to is this. When we first drove up to our hotel and discovered it was a gated entry way, and saw how grande this place was, we thought we had surely made a mistake and really just paid for a parking spot or something. Seriously, this place was "wow" and I completely expected my love to walk out after checking in with different numbers than the super low low price I had reserved the unit for. Nope. Turns out the place is a hotel/timeshare kind of place. Being at a slow season, I guess we just scored primo rates.

Our suite had a large entry, large bedroom, granite countertops in the bathroom and HUGE walk-in shower, a jetted tub, a full kitchen with granite, washer/dryer, a dining room, living room, and a nice screened in balcony. Really, it had the feel of staying in a Parade of Homes kind of place (is that a national thing or just a Colorado Springs event?) Loved this place.

My pictures are such a disappointment but they were a "quick, snag a few pics so I can blog about this" kind of thing...which really leads to not so great pics that I'm not thrilled to post. But oh well. At least you get a glimpse of the place.