Riviera Tower Studio Stay

Monday - Today was pretty much a repeat of Sunday. No parks, just pool and rest time. Breakfast was at Contempo Cafe again. Descent enough, but I am ready for my own scrambled eggs at home. I skipped the BLT pool and went direct to the BLT pool today. There were only four other people there when I arrived. I managed to grab a table with an umbrella today which was nice. The pool was a little cooler today, I think last night's downpour helped a bit--also it was more cloudy today. I still lathered up with sunscreen as I tend to burn easily. I stayed in the water with my pool noodle for quite a while as the sun darted in and out of the clouds. The weather forecast said 40% rain, and I had no doubt that would happen. Around 2:30 I grabbed a kids turkey sandwich from the Sand Bar. Pretty descent, and one of the few places you can find just a plain old sandwich. While I was eating, I was trying to figure out what time I should head back to the room and then all of a sudden Mother Nature decided for me. I heard thunder and then started seeing some lightening so I packed up and headed for home. The deluge started just about the time I got in the room and it rained hard for about 3 hours--it wasn't just a passing shower like we often get here. The sun never did come back out, it has stayed very overcast since the storm. I love to sleep with it is raining, so I decided a short nap was in order--4 hours later I woke up and reminded myself I needed to get packing. So that is what I am doing now, hoping I don't need to go over to the gift shop and buy a suitcase to get everything home. I am not really hungry for dinner but have a couple of fruit cups in the fridge left over my last two breakfasts and grapes from lunch and I think that will do for the night--a fruit salad.

All in all this has been a great trip. I have had a marvelous time seeing my local friend and having lots of free time to myself as well. As usual, there are things I didn't do that I wanted to, but they will be here next time and I vowed this trip that I was not going to push or rush to do anything. I never did purchase Genie+. I loved both my stays at the Riviera and at Bay Lake. I enjoyed the food items I had at the Food and Wine and as much as I heard about opening day crowds, if you get to World Showcase, right when the booths open, you will definitely avoid a lot of that. I ate a lot of things I should not have eaten, and I dread getting back on the scales when I get home, but I don't think I will have any problems getting back to my healthy eating.

Tomorrow morning I return the scooter and check out. Travel day has become such a hassle that I really dread it. I am flying down in November and then I have another Tower Studio stay in February that I just may drive down for--totally undecided.

Later.

Sounds like you had a great trip and did Disney your way and at your pace. It was fun following along. Safe travels home.

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Have a safe trip home.

Had fun following along on your trip. Thank you for sharing! Wishing you a quick and uneventful trip home!

I just thought I would take a minute to wrap up travel home day. I had checked my flight time home 12:55, so I calculated time to return scooter, grab a bite of breakfast, get assistance from Bell Services, return a purchase to the gift shop, get an Uber and make it to the airport about 2 hours early.

While eating breakfast, I double checked flight time to make sure it wasn't delayed and I had the time wrong. Flight leaves at 11:55, and it is not a direct flight, so if I miss it, I know I will have a heck of a time getting rebooked on anaything reasonable timewise.

So, I chocked down the rest of my food so I could take my medication, got the Uber scheduled and hurried downstairs to Bell Services to retrieve my bags. I lucked out that the Uber I had ordered was just dropping off some guests as my bags showed up, anad nice bright red Tesla. I was also lucky that my driver actually "drove with a purpose" and got me to the airport before our ETA--tipped him nicely for that. The line for the Skycaps outside was really long, and although I was worried about the weight of my big bag, I decided to head inside. OK, so Southwest has changed the check in process. You go to the kiosk, get your luggage tags, etc. and then you go back out and all the way to the far end of the counter and wait for an open Southwest person to take your bag. That line has about 50 people in it and I started to panic. Then I got some more pixie dust, a Southwest lady that was sort of guiding people to where they needed to be and helping with kiosk passed by the line, I asked her what would happen if you missed your flight. I told her mine boarded in about 20 minutes. She said to follow her, and she put me at the front of the line over in the Priority section. I am not sure who gets in that Priority section, but they took me next, weighed my bag and away I went. TSA pre-check had almost no line and I was thru there very quickly--more pixie dust. I got to the gate and they had not started boarding yet. I was able to grab a bottle of water and catch my breath for about 5 minutes before getting in line for the A group. Whew. I had no doubt I would miss that flight--I would have bet money on it, and was thanking my lucky stars when I did get on that plane. I much prefer arriving early and being at my gate ahead of time. I am still not sure how I misread my flight's departure time and thought I had an hour more than I did.

I had to change planes in Nashville--man that place was really busy. It seems like a nice airport--lots of unique food options and bars as you might expect. My connecting flight went out with no problems and I got home to Raleigh safe and sound. It is nice to be home, a lot more quiet here. It is always fun to unpack and find all the little "surprises" that I picked up along the way.

Thanks to everyone that stuck with me this long on a not so very "exciting" trip, but it was exciting to me. When I booked the trip, I did not realize that I would be there for part of Food and Wine, so I am glad I got to enjoy some things there. I will get to revisit my favorites when I go back in early November.

Alright, off to unpack some more and get laundry started. Thanks again for sticking around, it gave me the motivation to finish this report and not quit when I was about 2/3 of the way through.