Our last day today, but we've still had lots of fun! We took our time this morning finishing off our packing and having breakfast before leaving "home" at about ten o'clock. We'd done pretty well with our Publix shop at the start of the week, and didn't leave very much behind us - a little bit of bottled water, some of the least favourites from the cereal selection pack, and some butter and sugar (just because they didn't make packs small enough for us!).
Checking out is easy, in that there is nothing at all to do! The bill was hung on the door knob first thing in the morning, and there was no need to go back to the front desk - just pack up the car and get on our way.
We decided to head to Animal Kingdom first, as it was the only park we hadn't been to so far during the week. The car park looked fairly busy, and there was a full tram taking us to the front gates. Sure enough it was pretty crowded inside, but we still managed to walk straight into our first attraction of the day - It's Tough to be a Bug. Jake wasn't keen on coming - we think that Grandad must have spooked him! - but we enjoyed it anyway, although it did seem a little chaotic and noisy inside. We carefully felt the back of the seats as we sat down, and convinced ourselves that the back prodders must have been discontinued, as the seats felt smooth, but sure enough part way through - we got stung!
One of the best bits of going to the show is getting the chance to walk around close up to the Tree of Life, and admire some of the carvings. I managed to take one or two photos, but it's a bit difficult as you are constantly shuffling along. Still I managed to take a few more pictures later with the benefit of my new zoom lens camera.
(By the way, if I stop suddenly it's because we're boarding at Gate 84, and our row will hopefully be called soon.)
Anyway, after It's tough to be a Bug, we headed to Dinoland USA and went into the Theatre in the Wild for the 11:30 Nemo show. Top quality stuff as before, only slightly spoilt by the constant chatter from the row behind ours. After the show, we couldn't leave Dinoland without a go on the fairground games. They've changed the system for these, and it is now necessary to find someone to buy vouchers ($1 per voucher and 2 vouchers per game) rather than paying in cash. Nicky and Jake both tried the ball rolling and the water shooting, but this time to no avail. Jake was disappointed at first, but soon got over it.
Next up we wandered through to the Asia section, stopping briefly for a drink and a pastry, and then enjoyed the Pangani trail where we saw lots of animals, including a kimodo dragon, tapirs, bats and tigers. Hopefully I've got some good photos - they look promising on the small screen on the camera, but haven't had a chance to look at them on a bigger screen, as the card reader is in the checked in luggage!
By now we'd had enough of AK, so made our way back through the Oasis to the exit, onto the tram and back to the car. Next stop was West Side (noting down extremely carefully where we left the car!!) and a visit to the Virgin store (DVC discount good for 15% of non sale items, and Annual Pass gets 10% off everything). We bought 3 CDs (Boy Meets Girl - one of those albums we've only ever had on tape up to now, a Disney Mania CD, and a new Disney Hits CD) and Jake got a Bart Simpson book.
We walked through West Side, and Jake and I stopped in at Starabilia - the most expensive thing spotted this time being a little card (in several large frames) signed by Abraham Lincoln - $120,000! Through to the other side of Pleasure Island and we tried out the Raglan Road takeaway for lunch - very good fish 'n' chips.
Back to the car and we stopped off at the Hess petrol station opposite Downtown to fill up the car before bringing it back. We'd only managed to use $13.50 of petrol in a week - we love American petrol prices. We also managed to pay at the pump with the credit card without incident this time!
A quick stop on I-Drive to go to Wonderworks (which the youngest member of the party enjoyed) and back to the airport. So far so good with the checking in, dropping off bags, and getting through security. Hopefully we'll take off on time this time, but I don't want to speak too soon!
Nearly time for our row to be called. Apparently the plane is full, so doesn't look like we'll be getting an upgrade this time.