I woke that morning at about 7:45, performed my morning ablutions, updated my trip notes with last night's activities, and finished my last-minute packing (including checking the room for forgotten items). Once I was packed, I loaded everything into my rental car, checked out of the room, and grabbed a quick breakfast in the lobby before hitting the road.
My first stop was the nearby LBV Factory Stores, where I exchanged the too-small sweatshirts I had bought a few days ago for a couple of too-large polo shirts.
My next stop was the Walgreens at Vistana, where I bought some lozenges for the tickle in the back of my throat that signaled the beginning of a cold. Oh, well, at least I didn't get sick till I was on my way home. While I was in Walgreens I checked with the photo counter to get the straight info on downloading digital pics to CD. Walgreens charges the very reasonable (read: CHEAP) price of $3.99 per CD, with the only limit being how many pics the CD will hold, which of course varies depending on the size of the files each camera creates. I also noticed that processing a roll of 24-exposure 35mm film had come down $1 to $6.99, good news for those who, like me, process all tier film via the 1-hour lab instead of the send-out.
After Walgreens, I headed for Downtown Disney, parked at the West Side lot, which is always easier to navigate than the Marketplace lot, and walked through some of the shops. I got tired, so I sat down to watch the fountain at the east end of the Marketplace and write out my notes from this morning before shopping a bit and calling my friend Frank, who would be picking me up from the airport when my flight arrived later today.
I wasn't disappointed.
The boat to POR not only gave me a view of Downtown Disney from the water, but passed near the soon-to-open Saratoga Springs resort (a Disney Vacation Club property), the old Treehouse Villas, and the still-under-rehab Port Orleans French Quarter, all the while cruising a beautiful, peaceful river. The 20-minute ride also gave the pilot plenty of opportunity to deliver a running commentary on what we were passing, including the plant and animal life.
Once I arrived at POR, I spent a good half-hour wandering the lobby and grounds, exploring and taking pictures, then went to the food court and got a burger and fries for lunch. I had been hearing for years that POR had the best food court of any of the Disney Moderate resorts, and decided to see for myself. I was impressed by the variety on the menu and the quality of the food; I rate the POR food court almost equal to the All-Star Music food court, which is the best of the Values.
After lunch I shopped the gift shop a little; POR's gift shop is much larger and better stocked than any of those in the Value resorts, and rivals those in some of the Deluxe resorts. I bought a giant coffee mug for Frank.
Traffic on US 192 was awful. I suspect that there must have been road construction or a serious accident to the east, because by the time I got 1/2 mile east of the Flea Market traffic was gridlocked. I consulted my map and decided to take Orange Blossom Trail to 417, but somehow I took a wrong turn and wound up on Florida's Turnpike instead, and was soon hopelessly lost. After a while I found a McDonalds, where I stopped for dinner, and got directions to the airport.
Once I got onto airport property I had no trouble finding my way north to the Thrifty facility, where I returned my rental car and rode a shuttle bus to the terminal without incident. I checked my bag, got into boarding group B, and made my way to the gate.
The flight was smooth and landed 5 minutes early; Frank was just pulling into the hourly garage at BWI when I called him, and soon I was on my way home, after giving him his giant coffee mug, of course.
As exhausted as I was, I couldn't sleep. I wound up staying up till about 3am watching the new Battlestar Galactica mini-series, which I had set my VCR to record for me while I was away. This also gave my friend Rick, who had been watching my apartment and collecting my mail for me, an opportunity to drop off my spare keys when he got off work at 1:45am.
Thus ended my first trip to MouseFest.