Day 8 - Departure day
Our original plans were to spend a little time Saturday morning at DHS so we could ride Toy Story Mania one more time and hubby could ride Tower of Terror. We even had FastPasses. But even before our late Friday night at the movies and Raglan Road, we had decided we'd rather take it easy, sleep in a bit, and have a leisurely day around Downtown Disney before catching the Magical Express at 1:30 that afternoon. At least, we intended to sleep in, but I woke up around 8:00 and after lying in bed half-awake and half-asleep for a while finally got up for good around 9:00. We packed our last-minute things, got the few dishes we used into the dishwasher and turned it on, left our large suitcases with the airline check-in people and our backpacks with bell services, and checked out around 10:00. And now we had over three hours to do whatever we wanted, so since we were fairly close to the resort boat dock we decided to hop onto the first boat to Treehouse Villas to check them out. And those villas look awesome, at least based on what we could see from outside. The whole area is thick with trees and there's a very different atmosphere than at most Disney resorts we've visited, almost more like a campground. I'm sure the villas require a lot of DVC points, what with having three bedrooms, but even so I would love to stay there someday. Maybe if we buy more points (assuming we even get the ones that are going through right of first refusal), sometime when my sister and her family come along we could try to get in there.
Once we'd prowled a bit we took the next resort boat to Downtown Disney by way of Saratoga Springs (the boat stopped there but we didn't get off) and caught a water taxi over to the Marketplace area. We got our last WDW lunch of the trip at, you guessed it, Earl of Sandwich, both of us getting hubby's favorite, the chicken chipotle avocado (mine without the cheese). We had talked about catching the Port Orleans boat and checking out those resorts, which we've never visited and I'd only seen for the first time this trip riding past in Disney buses, but by the time we'd made it through the long EOS line and finished our lunch, there wasn't enough time. Instead we walked over to the Ghirardelli shop to buy some chocolate and then happened upon two of the new food trucks while searching for the restrooms.
And then it was time to get our butts back to Saratoga Springs to catch the Magical Express. We barely made the "at least 15 minutes before your departure time" window, not that it was an issue since the bus didn't arrive until the exact time it was supposed to arrive. Our trip home was uneventful aside from some minor turbulence when we crossed the cold front that was bringing storms to much of the East Coast last Saturday - well, that and the whiny toddler across the aisle, I think I mentioned her elsewhere? It wasn't until we reached the long-term parking lot that I realized...it's not hot and sticky! It's actually cool outside. Oh, joy! And it's been like that ever since - highs mostly in the low to mid-70s, lows mostly in the low to mid-50s, and not a drop of rain - absolutely perfect not-quite-autumn weather. And then a couple of hours later, we were home and being eagerly greeted by our eight cats. Funny thing is, Saturday morning I didn't want to leave WDW, but once I was back with my kitties I was happy to be home.
The photos below are of Treetops Villas and the two food trucks we spotted at DTD.
And that's the story of our September stay at Saratoga Springs. Next up, Animal Kingdom Lodge in November!
