The timing of the flight back to the UK is always late afternoon so that it arrives in the UK very early the next morning. The good thing about this arrangement is that we get almost a full ‘bonus’ day of the holiday. The bad thing is that we arrive in the UK very early in the morning having to face a whole day after very little sleep on the plane.
After packing up our stuff and making sure we left the villa in the state we found it we headed out for a breakfast at Perkins. I couldn’t face a Tremendous Twelve so went for its baby brother the Magnificent Seven and still only managed six of the items.
It is now something of a tradition that on our last day we go to Hollywood Studios. Given how much change it is going under at the moment I did wonder if we would choose to do something else but the consensus of opinion was that this was what we wanted to do.
We managed to get photo opportunities with both BB-8 and Chewbacca and Star Tours with the boys also getting to go on Rock n’ Roller coaster once more. We also got to see the other Star Wars show that they put on in the centre of the park which was fun. So all in all it was a good morning.
As we were making our way to leave the park I had a notification on my phone that it was about to rain. I immediately dismissed this without thinking too much about it although I did note the clouds above me. This proved to be a mistake as the heavens opened just as we left the park and were making our way to the car. It doesn’t rain often here, I think this was the first time this holiday (when we were awake at least), but when it does it does it well. All four of us arrived at the car soaked and had to endure a soggy drive to the airport.
The drive to the airport is along the 417 which is the only toll road that we have to use on the whole of our two week holiday. The tolls aren’t that great, we probably paid no more than $5 in total each way, but given that this is the route to and from the airport to Orlando this does feel very much like a tourist tax. Also, as I said previously, it also means you have to arrive aware and with a pocket of loose change, something that is difficult to achieve.
I’m writing this on the plane just half an hour out of Gatwick on what has been a smooth but freezing flight (just why do they set the aircon so low?). I’ve had the sum total of two hours fitful sleep but I have also had an absolutely brilliant family holiday. Sadly we are unlikely to experience that again given the age of the boys who are now building lives away from home, as they should. Maybe they’ll let us tag along when they come to Florida with their kids? I hope so.