Day 14: So Long, Hong Kong

The next morning we planned to have breakfast at the Disneyland hotel where Bailor could meet Mickey, Minnie and some of their other character friends. We checked our luggage at the desk so it would be ready to go when we came back to take the shuttle to the airport. The buffet was delicious again with more Mickey shaped items and some great things you would never find in the American parks. We took turns feeding Bailor and getting our food. The characters all rotated and they came when Mackenzie was away so I asked if they could come back in moment and they were happy to while I got Mackenzie’s attention to come take the pictures. What I didn’t realize was how soon they would come back, but I knew as soon as they made it to our table. Bailor was standing in his chair screaming at the top of his lungs as he had just been in a little bit too close proximity to Mickey for his liking. I was comforted in the fact that he was comforted by my return though. Again they said they would come back. We finally got some great photos as we built trust with Mickey and friends through fistbumps and high fives. Now that is a staple of any time he meets a Disney character.

We enjoyed the beautiful hotel and gardens for a while and checked out the shops there and it was finally time to head back to catch our shuttle. We decided that the path along the sea wall would be the most magical way to end our trip there over a bus ride or walk along the sidewalk next to the road. We checked with the front desk to make sure this option would give us enough time and they confirmed it would.  And it was very magical. Bailor wanted to walk part of the way and it was neat to see him growing in that already. It rained a little bit, but the views of the rocks in front of us with the sea and the mountains in the background totally made up for that. There was just a slight problem when we go to the other end because the other gate was locked for construction. We looked at if we could jump the wall or go around it, but that didn’t seem probable or safe. We were most cconcerned about missing our shuttle and possibly our flight. Between trying to wave people down and explain the best we could we needed help getting in or a staff member and finally figuring out how to call the front desk with our limited international plan, we confirmed there was nothing the hotel could do and nothing the manager on the on the other side of the gate could do because the gate was locked by the construction company, so they didn’t have a key. They finally came up with a plan to get our luggage over to the Disneyland hotel and have a shuttle meet us there. The manager was very apologetic when we arrived there 20 minutes very wet and a little less magical, but he met us with umbrellas and got us on our way and at least comped the shuttle ride from our bill. And, with that we were off on the way home.

We go to the airport still frazzled, but we got checked in and through security. We were there with the original family we met both flying back to Dallas. The airport was very modern and nice, but we did have a long walk as our gate was the farthest away from the ticketing counter. The mom’s went off to get Starbucks and food and final souvenirs for those back home while we hung out with the kids. This flight also had only initial and final boarding, but we were used to that by now. This is the first time we maybe could have gone to airport jail. As we entered the gate there we were surprised to see that there was a fold up table where they were searching bags and liquids were not allowed. And we happened to have some very full caffeinated liquids we were very much looking forward to consuming on the plane in a leisurely fashion. Instead we were faced with holding up the line while gulping our beverages or throwing them away. We asked the reason why we couldn’t bring stuff that was past the security checkpoint on, but there wasn’t really going to be an answer where we won. We avoided airport jail, but were slightly less caffeinated for our trip. We boarded the plane and it was a much better experience than the way there. Same idea, but a few decades of décor and technology upgrades meaning no fax outlets on this plane. We had seats next to the bulkhead which was good for legroom, not so much for foot traffic. It was much better though. We each had a screen so we could watch a whole host of movies, not just the 7 on the other Trans Pacific flight. 

The fight back consisted of trying to keep Bailor occupied and ideal sleeeping through much of the trip, but it was pretty hard for him to get comfortable. I made it my goal to catch up on as many Disney movies as I could with Baior. We went through about 4-5. One thing Bailor seemed to like to do was look at magazines. The in flight magazine was featuring a story on Neil Young and he seeemed to want to study Neil Young’s face quite a bit. Why, who knows, but it kept him occupied some. We tried numerous snacks too, but he was growing tired of the ones we had so that became a little challenging. For some odd reason he just didn’t get that the food on the plane is what you have to work with. :-) Overall the flight was good though and the food was decent and for such a long flight Bailor did great!