ORLANDO for winter. pt 10: farewell, city full of fun!

Previously: We squeezed all the souvenirs and stuff we bought during our fulfilling days in the Disney parks and Seaworld into our bags. Thank goodness, the common problem usually found while packing to leave – which is overloaded content – didn't occur this time. All things fit perfectly inside the bags! Okay time to get some sleep. New York awaits tomorrow! :)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

- DAY 6: DECEMBER 23, 2011 -

--> Okay, I know it has almost been a year for me to write this, but anyway. I'm back! I'll give you guys updates about my current place. Yes, I've moved out of Bay Area to SoCal. The memory of Orlando trip has never left me since. So yes, I still remember every bit of it.

As for the last day, since we have a quite morning flight, we woke up earlier than usual. Around 5. After having a quick breakfast (or did we skip it? I barely remember), we went to the lobby with our packed luggages and stood by to wait for the taxi that Aymee has booked in prior.

Much to our surprise, it was not exactly a taxi. You can tell that a taxi would have a bright color on its vehicle body with a signature sign on top of it that glows. But what came to us was an elegant sedan (and an expensive looking one too). A lady in a formal suit (no kidding) got out of the driver's seat and greeted us.

Ardy, Aymee, and I who didn't expect...that kind of taxi were instantly stunned, of course. It looked more like a private limo or something like that. This particular service would cost a lot. Aymee, Ardy, and I couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. Aymee made sure that she paid the taxi online in a normal taxi price. Maybe Orlando has its special way of treating its guests when it comes to taxis?

We were soon on our way to the airport. Ardy chatted in the taxi with the driver. We were even yet more surprised to have an averagely young and female taxi driver. She shared a bit of her life story, how she ended up landing a job as a taxi driver in Orlando. Apparently she is of a Japanese descent and a sliiiiight Japanese accent. Have I mentioned that she relatively looks pretty and has a look that reminds me of a Japanese actress? (I forget her name). That would explain her Asian look, I mean the taxi driver's. Elda would've been happy if she were with us.

We bid farewell with the taxi driver, who I have never forgotten up until now. Who'd forget a distinct young, pretty, female taxi driver, in a suit?! Afterwards, we quickly checked in for our 9.38 am (we arrived at the airport at around 8 am). Aymee held Julia the Orca in her arm all the time. Before entering the gate, we strolled for a moment in the departure hall, roaming to some Disney/Universal Studios/Seaworld stores. Apparently all the notable theme parks in Orlando have the rep stores open in the airport, enabling tourists to buy souvenirs right moments before taking off from Orlando.

http://flickriver.com

The Harry Potter world store amused me the most. I still regret the fact that I didn't go there when everyone else – who came to Orlando – would obviously kill to go there. Well, next time, next time... Anyway, I found some interesting Harry Potter attributes as souvenirs, such as Gryffindor robe, the character's wands – which looked simple, finely decorated, yet EXPENSIVE (the Voldemort one looks awesome though) – Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (got to spot some puke flavors and other strange flavors. Ew, I'd better skip buying them), and the Weasley Wizard Wheezes' stuff.

I'd really, really like to buy something from the store, but a theme park store in an airport normally doesn't have a friendly price. Theme park stores in an airport usually have pricier stuff than in the original stores inside the parks.

I've bought lots of stuff from Disneyworld so I skipped going to its store in the airport. But since I was still torn whether I should buy a bigger Shamu plush, I couldn't help but go to the Seaworld store, where I saw bunch of 20inch Shamu plushes. After thinking a while, I thought bringing a Shamu plush during the flight would be troublesome, especially my handcarried bags are all stuffed with other random things and carrying the plush in my arm all the way to New York would be...well...embarrassing?

So I told myself that I'd order it online, which I finally did and there, Josephine came!

Well, not so much to tell after looking at some fancy theme park stores. We headed right to the gate where it was boarding.

So long, Orlando! It's been a great week full of fun, laughter, food, Disney stuff, Princesses stuff, sea stuff, safari stuff, futuristic stuff... well, can't say so much about it, really. It was a real pleasure to visit one of the greatest, most popular tourist destinations in US. Although, I have to say I regret for not visiting Universal Studios, the infamous “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Now, off to a place that's much colder than Florida. Time to put on pullovers, jackets, and coats! Next stop...

NEW YORK.

   ~ T H E   E N D ~    
 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Okay guys, that's the end of the wonderful journey on Winter. It didn't entirely end because I still had a couple more days on Winter I spent in New York with my cousin and bunch of other awesome people. Thank you so much if you have been following the story, if you haven't, well, it's a personal pleasure myself to write it.

I hope you have a great day!

<< Part 9