Disneyland Day 3 – Happiness Redux

The last day of our trip started as almost all the past 41 had – warm and dry. We avoided eating the free breakfast again, checked out of our “suite”, left our luggage with the hotel and moseyed back to Disneyland.

Each person could choose one thing they wanted to do and we started with the Finding Nemo submarine tour. Nicely done underwater adventure but sadly no real fish. I think a missed opportunity, but I guess it means that they never have to worry about too much chlorine in the pool leading to  a school of Nemos all belly-up at the top of the pool.

Next up was another turn on the excellent Buzz Lightyear ride

followed by more pin trading

on the way to the very cool Bugs Life area complete with 3-D (maybe even 5-D) theatre

and life-size insects

(if you live on a planet or in a time where the grasshoppers are as big as humans)

We ducked back across to Soarin’ over California and popped into an adventure area. his is where it dawned on Thomas that today was the last day – he needed some consoling.

We made our way back to the hotel to pick up our gear via the obligatory photo opportunities.

and I couldn’t resist these Mickey benches.

When we got back to the hotel, we collected our luggage and waited …

… and waited …

… and waited …

Sam was getting worried that the shuttle we’d booked wouldn’t come, but I was quietly confident.

Turns out my confidence was misplaced, and by the time we’d organised an alternative ride, the buffer we’d allocated ourselves had worn pretty thin. To top it all off, the (surly and unresponsive) driver insisted that 20% was the “compulsory tip” on top of the $100-odd fare to the airport. Grr.

At least checking in was stress-free and the biggest surprise of all was being greeted by the TSA checking passports guy in a very friendly manner. Each person coming through was greeted in their own language (so, of course, ours was “‘ow ya goin’ mate – allright?”).

What’s more, we were all allowed into the lounge with no dramas at all and the most was made of the facilities by all of us.

A long and uneventful flight home was followed by a short and uneventful taxi-ride and within an hour of touching down we were home, showered and had the washing on. Very cool.

To sum up, this was a wonderful, unforgettable, magical time with our family, one which I know I’ll treasure always and that I hope the kids will remember with fondness. My sincere wish is that it plants a seed of curiosity in them that will bloom when their kids are old enough to do something similar if not much sooner.

We’re already planning the next one and I can’t wait.