One Last Stop on the Best Roadtrip Ever…

We’d been on the road for over three weeks, visited 16 different states and 2 countries, and traveled nearly 4,500 miles already, and yet somehow our Amazing 2010 Summer Road Trip still wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Disney World before finally returning back home!

What a Long, Awesome Trip It’s Been…
Frankly, it had already been one whopper of a vacation to remember – a quick glance at even our original itinerary will vouch for that.  It had been roughly three weeks prior that we had left Tampa heading north, stopping to visit the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium and the Coca-Cola polar bear before proceeding all the way up I-75 to my hometown of Gaylord, MI to visit family for a few days.  From there we continued into Canada, touring Sudbury, Toronto, and Niagara Falls before returning back into the US via New York State.  We drove north to Vermont, home of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, then back south to more family in New York and West Virginia, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and eventually even Washington, DC! Southward further brought us through the Carolinas, briefly back into Georgia, and finally back home to Florida with a quick pit stop for the night in Jacksonville.

Sure, we could’ve just bee-lined it straight home and called it a great trip, but why not stop by to say hello to Mickey as long as we’re passing through Orlando anyways, right?!

Beach Club is My New Favorite Resort
The last time we stayed here was just about two years ago when we came over for our honeymoon and I’ve got to say, if I were to buy into DVC right now, I’m pretty sure that I’d pick Beach Club as my home resort.  I love it – the grounds and hotel have a classy, but laid-back vibe, the food is great, it’s probably one of the best located resorts, and the pool … well, we’ll get to that in a minute!

Of course, it didn’t hurt that we ended up getting a free upgrade to Club Level – actually, just down the hall from the room we had on said honeymoon two years prior! And boy, do those snacks in the lounge taste better when you’re not paying $100/day for them or what?!  It was perfect – we weren’t really looking to run around and ride attractions or anything … just a lazy afternoon of lounging around the resort, dinner over at Kouzzina across the boardwalk, and then maybe we’d walk over to try and catch IllumiNations before calling it a night.  Very relaxing after having driven 5+ hours a day the last two days…

Float Your Cares Away
After getting settled in our room and grabbing a quick snack from the lounge, we probably spent a good couple of hours bobbing around out in Stormalong Bay, even venturing along the lazy river at one point … which is quite the accomplishment for me because I’m not really too fond of deep water!  Also at one point, I almost got hit in the head by a duck that was trying to land on the water, which Sara found absolutely hilarious, but me, I was just grateful that it hadn’t happened while I had been out on the river or I may have never made it back!

Greek Food … Meh
As I mentioned, dinner was at Kouzzina – Iron Chef Cat Cora’s new restaurant over at the Boardwalk Resort.  I … wasn’t too impressed, although admittedly I guess Greek food just really isn’t my thing.  The wife enjoyed it, though, and being a surprise for her that was good enough for me!

Afterwards, we had plenty of time to stroll about and eventually wander over to Epcot in time to catch fireworks – we normally stick to front and center at the main Showcase Plaza by Future World, so we’re not really used to watching from the various often-times obstructed views from around World Showcase, however this spot near a random bench between the UK and Canada ended up being quite the worthwhile alternative, indeed…

Back to the Beach…
Admittedly it was a little bittersweet as the final shells popped above our heads because it was becoming all the more clear that our amazing summer vacation truly was finally coming to an end, but what a way to go out! As the majority of guests walked the opposite direction towards the front gate, we headed back towards the International Gateway to return to our resort for the night.  It was a nice calm and relaxing walk, and at the end we had desserts and nightcaps waiting for us back on Club Level … not to mention an oldie, but a goodie – the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was playing on ABC Family!  So needless to say as we settled in for the night to eventually hear Mr. Wonka tell Charlie about the boy who suddenly got everything he ever wanted, it wasn’t hard to step out on our balcony to see that we weren’t exactly doing too bad ourselves, either…