Chicago Day 5 (Now it's time to say goodbye...)

I can never legitimately relax on a vacation. Whenever I am visiting somewhere, I feel the need to get out and see what that place has to offer. I want to maximize all of my time when I am there, and sleeping in just doesn't fit in with my plans to see and do everything.
This trip was no exception, but finally, on our final day in Chicago we were able to sleep in a bit. There were very few sessions in the morning and any of the autograph sessions that were occurring that I was interested in, I was able to obtain earlier in the Convention. All that we had to do was to mail the Michael McKean song sheet home, and do one last perusal of the booths, in order to make any last minute purchases.
Lauren still needed to pack, so I headed down, alone, to try and mail the song sheet from the Fed Ex satellite located in the hotel, but, unfortunately, even after telling the guy in there the night prior the size, to confirm that we could mail it home, it turned out that the framing of it was too large, but fortunately there was a Kinkos in the direction that we were headed to reach the EL, so we decided to mail it there. Letting me on the show floor by myself, with no one to curb my purchasing habits might not have been the best idea, but I was able to control myself and only bought an NL Central Champions T-shirt on clearance and a 1978 Cubs road jersey, that I had thought about, and decided that I really wanted. I grabbed them and headed back upstairs to get them packed and get ready to checkout.
Lauren was packed when I returned, so we checked out—via the television, no less!, what a world we live in! – and went to the elevators to leave the hotel.
Now is the time to air one of the main concerns of the whole vacation—the elevators at the Hilton. Now, I know that there was an abnormally large amount of people in the hotel for the weekend, but having to wait for over 20 minutes for an elevator is unacceptable. Unfortunately, being on the 18th floor made using the stairways impractical, and so, we had to endure the waits. It made one of the benefits of staying on the grounds of the Convention; namely, the ability to return to one's room at one's own convenience, almost moot. But that is neither here nor there, and we eventually found ourselves in the main lobby, aiming for the exit.
After a quick stop at Kinkos, to mail our lugubrious song sheet, we were seated on the Red Line, headed to Wrigley Field. The ride took around a half hour, and soon we were stepping out at the Addison stop, which was notably proud of the being the Wrigley Field stop and was appropriately dressed to promote that landmark.
We began our walk around the ballpark, but at this point we both needed to eat, so we popped across the street to grab lunch at McDonald's It was adequate, and allowed us to begin our photo excursion around the park.

Even in the dead of winter, Wrigley is a beautiful little park, nestled right in the heart of the neighborhood and notably quaint, in comparison to the large concrete monsters to which I am familiar. From the outside, the legendary scoreboard is easily visible, and there is the outfield knothole, with a view to the field of play. In addition, there are statues of Harry Caray and Ernie Banks, and though it was fairly desolate in January, I can imagine on a warm June afternoon, there is quite an atmosphere for blocks around. Again, while it was wonderful to see it at all, I cannot wait to see a legitimate game here, hopefully sooner, rather than later.



After lingering as long as I could justify, we got back on the EL and took it to Midway Airport, the end of the line. We got to the airport much earlier than we needed and were able to check our bags, get through security and relax well ahead of the flight. Lauren had a pizza (not deep-dish, but supposedly still good) and I had an order of hot wings, which took far too long for them to prepare, but were delicious, and we half watched as the Cardinals beat the Eagles to secure their Super Bowl berth.
The flight home was non-eventful, although we did make it in an hour ahead of schedule.
The trip in general was wonderful, despite being absolutely freezing. However, having survived one of the coldest winters in recent memory, I now feel like I could handle a full winter on Lake Michigan. I don't know why everyone kept insisting that my coat was inadequate – I know what I need, and the coat was more than perfect. In fact, often the only part of my anatomy that wasn't freezing was my torso. I did learn that wearing jeans in below freezing temperatures might not have been the best idea, as what started out as a blister on my leg, turned out as a fairly nasty wound that I am still recovering from. Aside from the cold, the only real blemish was the crummy elevators in the hotel. I would definitely rate the trip as an A, and I would love to go back soon when Lauren and I will be able to actually do some outdoor sightseeing and take some pictures of the amazing architecture and outdoor art that is so prevalent. All in all, a good time was had by all!

Day 8: Now It's Time To Say Goodbye....

Seriously. We were going to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. For real this time. We, AGAIN went over to open the Studios and headed straight for the Indiana Jones theater. We didn't care that it wasn't going to open for another hour at least. We wanted Fastpasses and we needed them for the first show.

We decided to camp out next to "Min and Bill's Dockside Diner," where we could keep an eye on the theater, without being too intrusive. Since we were sitting there, we needed to get something to eat of couse. I don't remember what Lauren had, something legitimate, no doubt, but I had the breakfast of champions! Hooray for vanilla milkshakes first thing in the morning! 

As soon as it looked like the Fastpass was opening up, we bolted over and got the first tickets to the first show, occurring in about an hour and a half. The host told us that if we were there about one half hour or so before show time, we would be in great shape. 

We took his word for it, and hustled over to the Rock'n'Roller Coaster one last time. It was as good as always, though I did, again, get yelled at for having my video camera out. Whatever. 

We made it through in a surprisingly brisk manner and realized we had time to do Star Tours. Again, normally this wouldn't be a huge priority for us, but since we did have time to kill, we might as well enjoy the cool queue that the Studios has. As opposed to walking through what is essentially an intergalactic flight terminal, here, we walked through an Ewok village, complete with AT-AT which evidently shoots water during the warmer times of the year.

The ride itself was identical, with Rex getting us lost and almost killed by the Death Star and all that jazz. I don't know why the keep reprogramming that guy! Just break him down for parts and get us a decent pilot! I needed to be on the Moon of Endor. Sigh!

When we were done checking our Tattooine Traders, again an upgrade on our boring Star Traders, we decided that it was a good time to return to the Indy theater. 

We wound up being darned close to the front of the line and getting some great seats, right behind the soundboard. I tried my best when they were looking for volunteers, but unfortunately was not selected. I still am making it my goal to be chosen to be in another show at Disney World. When I was seventeen I was selected to participate in a performance of "Doug Live!" as the drummer for the band, The Beets, and I've always wanted to do something like that again. Alas, this was not the time.

The stunt show is always fun, and this time it seemed like there was a lot more explanation into how the stunts were actually performed. A bit hammy, of course, but it was all in fun and some of the stunts were truly impressive.

FINALLY we were able to check that off of our list and feel a bit accomplished. 

After catching a bit of the performance of "High School Musical 2" (OUCH!) while buying some popcorn, we went out and caught the "Friend Ship" over to the International Gateway to actually make those last few purchases that we had picked out the day prior. We were also able to sneak in one laaast ride on "Maelstrom" and had the trolls force us "back, back! Over the falls!" one more time. 

It was sad leaving Epcot one last time. If we had a home park during the trip, this was it, and it was nice to be able to have our first park of the vacation also be our last.

Knowing how I was feeling personally, and looking at Lauren's face too, I knew that we would be back soon. I love Disney World, and though she may be hesitant to admit it, for fear of cheating on Disneyland, I know Lauren did too.

We made the sad trudge across the Boardwalk, and into the lobby, where we had stashed our bags and headed out to meet the Magical Express for our trip to the airport. 

At the airport, we decided to check one bag so that the carry-on situation would be much easier on us, and I think that might have been the smartest decision we made all trip. It really was no hassle at all.

We got through security with no problems, a pleasant surprise since I am always the one "randomly" selected for further search. I wonder if my pseudo-"being wanted by the FBI thing" has anything to do with it. Hmmm....

Anyway, we were there in plenty of time for the flight. The Southwest virtual check-in makes it all so easy with boarding groups. We didn't NEED to camp out in the line to try and be first on the plane, our seats were already essentially set for us. We grabbed a nice "delicious" McDonald's lunch and just kind of sat quietly and looked back on the trip.

The flight was non-eventful. We flew over New Orleans, which was neat and had a layover in Phoenix, which was not so neat. That is, it was here that we realized that Lauren had left her credit card at Disney World, on a counter in the Japan shop, which made for a lot of stress at the very tail end of the trip. 

Needless to say, the card was recovered by Disney, but since they can't send it through the mail, it was destroyed. Not to worry, another was ordered right away and at least we didn't worry about credit card fraud or identity theft.

We were the last plane into John Wayne airport that night and it was virtually deserted. We barely caught the last shuttle back to the parking lot, which could have made things very difficult had we missed it. The car was there and so was our apartment. Just the way we left it.

I can't wait to go back.

FINAL REFLECTIONS:

I can't wait to go back to Disney World. There is so much stuff there that we were barely able to touch the tip of the iceberg.

As soon as I can save up enough money, I am going to buy into the vacation club.

Seeing things through the eyes of someone who has never been there before is amazing, be it a child or an adult.

There was really not too much that I would have changed about this trip. I'm glad that at least this trip was just the two of us, it made things really special for me and hopefully her.

There is nothing wrong with carrying a cane for the heck of it! You never know what's going to happen.

Finally, go into vacations with the mindset that the trip and the time being spent is going to be good and amazing. Will things go wrong? Undoubtedly. But if you go into anything in life, especially a great trip or some wonderful time together with someone special to you, with a good mindset, even the 'bad' things have a way of being fun. Did I love walking back to the resort with wet heavy jeans? Nope. But I had fun, because I said that I was going to. Especially working at Disneyland, I see a lot of people who seem to try and find anything to complain about, and they generally have a miserable time. I also see the opposite side of the coin. The family who says "Oh? Ride's broken down? OK, well we will try back later." Guess which of the two seems a lot happier to be there?

Anyway, several several months in the creation, that was our trip to Disney World. I hope anyone out there enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed experiencing and then writing about and sharing it. 

We Aren't In Florida Anymore, Toto

So, we are finally back from Florida. We actually returned on Monday night, but I spent yesterday trying to recuperate from the vacation. Needing a vacation from a vacation kind of seems like a lateral move to me, but at least the trip was a blast and well worth it. I'm planning on writing a full trip report, so I will put the details there, but suffice it to say that an amazing time was had by both.

More to follow soon!