„Goodbye for now, but we will return soon!“

Again, our plan was to go to The Wave for breakfast, but since we did not have an ADR we just forgot about it and Tom made coffee and tea again. There were still some doughnuts left, so we sat on the balcony and enjoyed our breakfast. At around 8.30 we started to check the room for anything we might have forgotten to pack, Tom took the trash out and we called bell services to pick up our luggage. It only took about 10 minutes and a porter arrived, commenting on the Owner’s Locker box being pretty popular around here. A little before 9 o’clock Mousekeeping was asking when we would leave and we told them that we would be gone within the next 10 minutes.

One last check of all the drawers and we were all set. We took the elevator down to the forth floor and used the walkway to walk over to the Contemporary resort. It was a short walk over to the Monorail stop and we hopped on the next one coming in. We got off at the Ticket and Transportation Center and changed to the Epcot Monorail. A Monorail had just pulled out and we had to wait for a little while, but since we were first in line we were able to get a seat and off to destination Epcot. We have not used the Monorail to Epcot in quite some time, so we really enjoyed our trip over and the loop around the park in particular.

We got off and through bag check in no time at all. There were long lines at the first two turnstiles, but we walked a little to our right and there were empty turnstiles. Crowds were moderate and we decided to hop onto Spaceship Earth first. But just as we were approaching the line a huge group, and I DO mean HUGE group of teenagers was getting in the line. Made us rethink our decision and we just kept on walking. Next stop was Soarin. The Land Pavillion was busy, lots of people at Sunshine Seasons, Fast Passes were for later in the afternoon, which would not work and stand by wait time was about 30 minutes. And then another HUGE group of teenagers approached and got in line. So Soarin’ was thanks, but no thanks for us. Well, let’s try Mission Space then. Another short walk over to Mission Space – wait times were 5 minutes for team green and 10 minutes for team orange.

 We looked around, NO teenage group, so we picked up our orange cards and got in line. No later than when we joined the line, it stopped and an announcement came on that they were having technical difficulties and it would take a while. We thought we would see and very soon the line started moving again, it moved slowly, but it moved. It took us about 20 minutes to get on the ride, and it was as fun as always. Once we got off we had a look around the gift shop and some fun with some hats, that had to be tried on. So after some time we headed over to Test Track, not to ride it, but to check out the cars they are having on display.

 We were taking our sweet time looking at the cars and by then it was already around 11am and the countries were open. Since we had only had a doughnut breakfast, our goal was to eat around the world. We walked over towards Mexico and walked through the pavilion, then on to Norway. There was a long line for Akershus, but this was not where we were heading. We wanted to dine in China. When we walked up to the Lotos Blossom Café we noticed that there were already a few topiaries up for the Flower and Garden Festival. After photos were taken we walked inside the restaurant, were handed a menu and soon enough we had ordered and were waiting for our food. I carried the tray over to the dining room

Tom got some dipping sauces and we sat and shared our order of Potstickers and the Orange Chicken with Steamed Rice. We sat for quite a while and people watched until the restaurant started to fill up a bit. There was still a bit of China to explore, more photos to be taken and more fun to be had, before we walked towards Africa and then finally arrived in Germany. I knew I wanted to have a sweet treat in the Karamell Kuche, so we got in line, ordered a Dark Chocolate covered Strawberry and some freshly made Caramel Popcorn and had a nice chat with the Cast Member there, who was very surprised when we ordered in German.

After our purchases we walked through the stores, checked out the new T-shirts, hats and other goodies, before we walked over to the lagoon, found a  bench to sit on and I had now time to enjoy my strawberry. We sat for a little while, enjoying the sunshine and then headed towards the next topiary we had found, SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs. A few more steps and we had reached Italy and then it was on to America. Tom wanted to try the Chili-Cheese Hot Dog with fries, so again, we got in line and ordered one. We sat at a table by one of the windows and tried the Hot Dog.

Well, none of us liked it very much and we ended sharing the fries and Coke and most of the Hot Dog ended up in bin. After our food experience we went to check out the store and had fun browsing. It was now getting a bit late and we still wanted to pay a visit to the Magic Kingdom before we left, so we decided to skip eating and just continue our leisurely walk around the world. There was just one more stop we wanted to take. We stopped in Canada to get a Moosehead for Tom and some Popcorn for me. Munching and drinking we slowly walked through the Rose Garden towards the exit. Unfortunately the Popcorn wasn’t really the freshest and once Tom had finished his beer I binned the rest of the popcorn.

We headed towards the exit, and walked over to the Monorail. Once we were at the station, it didn’t take long for a Monorail to arrive. We got a seat and soon enough we were off to the Ticket and Transportation Center. When we got off the Monorail, there was a long line for the Express Monorail and even the Resort one and we were not looking forward to get into that line, but then we realized that the ferry was there as well. So we hurried over to the ferry and got right on. It didn’t take long until we left and we enjoyed the leisurely ferry boat ride to the Magic Kingdom. We were standing near the front and therefore got off the ferry really fast.

Bag check had a bit of a line, but when I turned around after we had gone through it was a lot longer. We walked towards the turnstiles and into a crowded park. There was no way we could ride much, but the Magic Kingdom is always the last park to visit for us. We strolled down Main Street and over to Tomorrowland. There was one ride, that we really wanted to take as you can sit and relax and enjoy the park and watch the crowds from up above. We walked towards the Peoplemover. Again, it had quite a line and we joined and about 10 minutes later we were seated on the ride. The park was packed! But none the less it was nice to just see it from above and take in the sights, sounds and smells.

When we got off the ride we decided to say goodbye to the castle and go back to the Contemporary. At the hotel we went to the Contempo Café for the one last treat I had sworn to have before we had left Austria in the first place, a Mickey bar. Tom got a Strawberry bar and we sat at a table and enjoyed these treats. Then we headed over to Bay Lake Tower, took one last walk around the resort’s grounds and finally walked back to our car. We drove over to the Contemporary, handed in our luggage receipt and in no time someone brought out our luggage, which we stowed in the trunk of the car. It was time to wave goodbye to the Contemporary and vow to be back in August.

Then we were on our way over to Downtown Disney for one last stop before we were off to the airport. We arrived at Downtown Disney and the parking lot to the right was full, so we went to the other side and were lucky as there was a parking spot right at the entrance. It was a short walk to the stores and we strolled very leisurely over to Wolfgang Puck’s Express for a late lunch. The restaurant was pretty full, given that it was already 3 o’clock. We ordered, picked up our drinks and found a table. Soon after that our lunch arrived. Tom had ordered a Barbequed Chicken Pizza, red onion, cilantro, tomatoes and smokey BBQ sauce.

I had the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza, Parmesan, mozzarella, fontina, goat cheese, plum tomatoes, fresh basil, sun-tomatoes. They were both very good and we enjoyed them very much. Then it was time for one last stroll through the art shop and Goofy’s Candy Company and we were on our way back to the car. We stopped briefly at Ghirardelli’s for a sample and to pick up some chocolate bars and squares. Once we had everything it was time to leave for the airport. We were on the highway in very little time and even though traffic was kind of heavy we made it to the airport in good time. After returning our rental car we hauled our luggage over to the Lufthansa counter, checked in and sent off our luggage.

We then found some seats, I repacked our carry ons and then we were off to check out the stores. We did a little shopping at the Disney store and then there was one last thing we needed to check out, the Hyatt at MCO. We are going to stay there in August for a night and we didn’t want to go look for the entrance after a 10 hour flight and with lots of luggage in tow. It didn’t take long and we had found it right inside the airport. Everything done, we got in line for the security check, which had a huge line, but moved very quickly. I unpacked most of my carry-on as we always carry some things that just don’t “make it” through the screens. Much easier to put them in the basket openly. On to the fake Monorail next and we were at our terminal. There was a shop that sold the neck-pillows we had forgotten on the plane the year before, so we went inside and picked up two of them and some drinks. After we had arrived at our gate, we found a seat, tried to get online, but with little success and it didn’t take too long until our flight was called and we were allowed to board. Since our seats were in the last row we were allowed onto the plane first and settled in. We were both so tired and decided that instead of waiting for dinner, which on the flight home isn’t very good anyway, we would just take some sleeping aid and try to sleep as long as possible. I must have fallen asleep even before we took off, as I remember waking up when the plane was getting speed and took off. Shortly after that I was asleep again, and so was Tom.