Early Morning
As stated on the previous post that we had to be up and out of our room early because they were dry docking the ship after we were off. We elected to have our luggage checked so we wouldn’t have to rush off the ship right away which meant we could go and eat breakfast. We decided the night before we would all go up and meet one last time by Guys Burgers. From there we would all grab a little something to eat. I decided to have a breakfast burrito but was so full from the past 8 days I didn’t really enjoy it much. We would then just sit and relax and wait for our luggage number to be called.
I finally had the idea that I should leave first to go get our rental van. I wasn’t positive if I could do this without everyone else so I asked a worker on an elevator. She wasn’t sure but as the elevator opened on deck three she said to go ask that person….well it was Hart…Hart who looked and sounded like he wanted to be off this ship 3 cruises ago. He just said, “yeah sure” so I left with my Sail and Sign Card, my passport, my carryon, and my wallet with my license.
Come to find out, really didn’t need a passport. No one looked at it. All they did was scan the Sail Card to check you out. No one asked if I had anything to declare. Come to find out later, none of that happened with the rest of our crew either. Strange why sometimes they are strict and other times they just let you pass through.
So I get off and ask a worker there where I wait for the rental van. They said, “I don’t know, I just started working here a week ago.” Another person said I wait across the street. So I go across the way and wait for a while. I see one rental van come and go and try to see where he wound up but wasn’t sure. I see Budget come in and I watch and he does not come around the corner. So I start jogging to see where he went. Come to find out, there is a special place where rental vans pick people up. There was no signage and no one else seemed to be aware of this either. I was very upset. There were other people waiting in line and by this time the van was full. I was kind of standing behind others that were waiting to get on and I notice before he closes the van door that there is one more seat so I ask him if he has room for one more. He asks if it is just me, I answer I am so he says, “Yeah! I got one more left!” So I was lucky and jumped on.
12 Passenger Van
I get to budget and the line isn’t very long thankfully. I think I was may 3rd or 4th in line and they had plenty of workers. I get up to the lady and she has my 12 passenger. Actually, apparently I had reserved it from Cape Canaveral but she said she kind of expected that it was wrong and was waiting for me. She said they have about a 20% rate where people reserve from the wrong spot. So she says, “So that’s a compact going to Fort Lauderdale?” I looked at her puzzled and she starts smiling. She had me for a second. Very nice lady so I asked what there was to do in Orlando while we killed time but didn’t cost a ton of money so she suggested Disney Springs.
Everything worked out almost perfectly. By the time I got the van, I wanted to stop at McDs and use the bathroom and by the time I was doing that I got the text they were getting off the ship and were getting our bags.
So I quick used the restroom and went to the pier and we timed it just right. Here was my crew waving me into the parking spot like I am their hired driver.
So I jump out like I am a transport and say hello and I grab their bags and start loading them. I pretend to be a tour guide for a while after. I decide without really telling them that we are going to get some Starbucks and use the Wifi!
There was a parking garage we utilized which was good because when we got there it started to down pour! It rained for a while so we sat and had our coffee. There was a beach rental and shop attached next to Starbucks so us boys went in and checked some things out.
When the rain stopped I began my tour guide duties and began talking once again in broken English to follow me. They were confused but I told them to just follow me and I brought them to Cocoa Beach.
The kids minus Ally would go out and start playing their list of songs they saved from the ones they heard on the cruise and started playing them and dancing to them.
So after our time on the beach we leave and make our way to Disney Springs. I did prepay the tolls through Budget so that was nice we didn’t have to worry about that.
Disney Springs
Pretty much everyone falls asleep as we drive to Orlando. It was funny, Chris asked if I wanted him to drive. I said it is under my name so I have to drive in case of an accident…Chris says OK and quickly dozes off.
We get to Disney Springs and are looking for a parking spot. I tell them the lady at Budget said there were places to eat and free entertainment like musicians and magicians. To which Chris said, “Kate, you should get three balls and make some money!” After a brief pause we all busted out laughing and we said, “Write that down!”
There is an app you download so you can see where you are at in Disney Springs and search for various locations. So we do that, head to the bathroom as our first stop and begin looking around.
And they still had all their various themed Christmas trees up.
Legos! Leighton would laugh and make fun of Linda because any time there was something Star Wars, Linda would say, “Brad! Star Wars”
We had a hard time deciding, or rather, agreeing on where to eat. We would decide on a place and it would take forever to eat. Or decide on a place and it would be $30 a plate. We were told of a newer place on the water called the Summer House on the Lake. Thought maybe there was spots in the bar area but there wasn’t so we had to put our name in. We were told an hour or maybe 1.5 hours. We decided that was fine because we learned our lesson from Duluth when we were together there for a tour of UMD. You look somewhere else and then you’ll find out we should have just waited at the original spot. Leighton was wondering if he left his ear buds somewhere so while we waited they ran back to the van. Well, I think we waited maybe 20 minutes and I got the text that the table was ready! So we went to eat and unfortunately they still had their brunch/lunch menu so were a little disappointed we couldn’t have their full menu.
Good friends enjoying one last meal together.
It was a little spendy and the food I’d say was just OK for the price. You may be able to tell from picture above, kids were getting tired.
We walked a bit more and they were getting crabby so we told them to sit down at the benches by the stage. But we walked and got ourselves a treat!
We came back to the kids looking like this.
So, I guess it was time to go. This way people could nap a little. It was about a 30 minute drive yet to the airport. We had to fill gas before we returned the van so we did that and rearranged our luggage so we had everything we needed on our carry-ons and made sure all bottles were in our checked luggage.
So no….we are not peeing beside the van. We are actually searching for the gas cover Ala Clark Grisold. Turned out it was inside the the driver door area.
So I was almost certain this was the same gas station we stopped at with Disney as it looked very famliar to me. We went to drop off the van. We did a quick check-in with it. We joked about forgetting something and then it turned out, Chris did leave something in the van so he went back to get it.
We checked our luggage and we had probably a good 4 hours to wait. The TSA sign said you could not go in until it was closer to 2 hours before departure. So we just sat and waited and charged our phones. Right before we wanted to go in, some people decided to eat because we weren’t sure what there was on the other side of TSA. Turned out there was food on the other side too. The line at TSA grew long at this point and it took about 30 to 40 minutes for us to get across. It was a big cluster actually with too many people doing nothing at times.
We made it, got on our flight and either watched movies or fell asleep. It wasn’t a completely full flight and Linda and I were hoping no one was beside us (Ella stuck me in the middle again). Linda lucked out. I did not. Young guy got the window seat and never looked out the damn thing the whole flight! Instead, he played his Nintendo Switch the whole 3.5 hours!!! It was annoying. I tried to hold my ground on the armrest but he would take it over at times and then I would make myself big and he would slide off.
I did manage to doze though.
Our plan when we got to MSP was for Chris and I to quick grab an Uber, go back to their place and grab the car while they get the luggage and come back and pick them up. Well, we didn’t jump up to get out quick enough. Then Chris didn’t have the app completely loaded and couldn’t get it to work. Well, our group was right behind us. We get to the luggage carousel and almost all our luggage is off the carousel and waiting on the floor already. So we call an audible and call for 2 Ubers and we have them take us to their place.
The Next Day
We get to their place probably around 1:30 am. Turn in quick because we want to leave early the next day because of forecasted snow on our route.
The next day Chris has food ready for us. Their kids decide not to go into school that morning which was a wise move we think. Kate was thinking about going to weight training but opted not to and slept in.
We quick ate and got on our way. We did run into snow a little early. We thought we would get the worst by Alexandria but it turned out that by the time we got to Sauk Center, the snow had pretty much ended and we had clear skies the rest of the way.
We stopped to get Kaitlyn’s car and we met to grab some lunch before we departed ways from her and she went to Bismarck.
We got home and picked up Ollie from daycare. He was glad to see us but also very exhausted.
It was another great and successful cruise. We would come to find out weeks later why Linda seemed so tired on the cruise. Turned out she had to get a full hysterectomy and also took out a spleen and her appendix. It sounded like for the size of it, it was the best news so as of this writing, she will need chemo for a bit but the early prognosis is good and we are so thankful for that. We are oh for 2 now with post Carnival and NYE cruises. Last time we found out after we got off the ship that Chris’ dad had passed away (and also Lowel Schweigert)…..and now this. We may have to change cruise lines next time or change dates. However, we will for sure all be going on a cruise again someday!
Tomorrow….nothing 😦 Hoping at some point to put together some videos and post them on YouTube.
Vacationing Dad 