Many years ago, we adopted a strategy of always having some rest planned for this day during a trip. After the mammoth effort of getting across the Atlantic, an early start the next day due to the time difference and a full-ish theme park day, by about now, it’s all catching up and attempting another theme park day can lead to unpleasantness.
Oh, yes, and I remembered after posting Day Two that I left out a celeb-spotting event. As we were leaving Big Thunder on one of the times we rode it, as we walked down the hill back past the entrance, walking up towards the exit I noticed a young girl and thought, “She looked a bit like Millie Bobby Brown”. Once we had all got back to Louise and Mum who had been waiting for us, Rebecca said “Did you see Millie Bobby Brown just then?”. Look, I know nothing will ever surpass my Mum and Dad chatting to Kevin Webster in Epcot but I thought it noteworthy.
There was nothing on her social media to confirm she was in Disney that day, but we did see Jon Bon Jovi on Instagram, posing in front of the Universal ball a few days later, so we assumed some sort of Bon Jovi family outing was going on. For those who don’t know or care, his son is engaged to Millie Bobby Brown, and for those who don’t have a clue who she is, her dad was married to Whitney Houston.
So without the pressure of having to be up to book anything I had a long lie-in, till about 5.45am. We breakfasted and then like Hobbits, went out for a second breakfast once Rebecca had suggested we go somewhere around 7.30. Freddie and Tom had been in the pool since about 6am, so they had that post-swimming hunger that only a vending machine kit kat and hot chocolate could satisfy when I was a kid.
Once we were all fit to venture outside, a momentous thing happened. I handed Tom the keys to the Kia and told him he’d be driving us this morning. This would be his first time. I thought it best he got used to it before having to drive back from Daytona later in the trip.
Here he is about to reverse off the drive, secretly thinking why is this idiot taking photos of me.
I had selected First Watch as our destination, as we had never done it and it often gets favourable mentions for breakfasts. The sat nav was set and it took us off down some back country roads that I had never seen in 40+ years of visiting Orlando. To his credit, Tom managed the wrong side of the road plus the twisty-turny nature of the journey very well. It was surprisingly rural being so close to lots of villa communities and there were many incredibly large houses.
We arrived safely….
There was no wait to be seated and we chose –
Me & Rebecca – Floridian French Toast
Louise & Mum – Bananas Fosters French Toast
Tom – Some skillet thing off the specials board
Freddie & Dougie – Grilled Cheese (un-photographed)
It was all very delicious and much better than the first breakfast I had that day. With juices and coffees all round, it was $125 including a good tip.
It had been many hours since we had seen the inside of a pharmacy so off we went across the road, with Tom still piloting, to get whatever it was we apparently needed. Another $75 CVS have had off me.
On the drive home, I captured some of the country road I was talking about earlier.
Yes, Tom was driving, don’t worry.
Back at the villa we had some pool time for a few hours.
We all swam, read, relaxed and just chilled out a bit until about 2.30. Yes, there were plans to be adhered to. You don’t think I would allow a full rest day, do you??
I had booked a Fantasmic Dinner Package at the 50’s Prime Time. We were out by 3.15 with Tom navigating us to a park for the first time. Parking in Mickey 305, it did hurt a little to still have to pay $25 at 3.30 in the afternoon.
It was a scorcher today so we slowly walked in from the car park and then used the shops to have a cooler walk up to the restaurant. We checked in and were immediately called.
Many of the “old school classic” Disney experiences such as here and Whispering Canyon have been a bit watered down during and since Covid. Today, there were definite signs that Prime Time was returning to form. Much of this was down to our server, who despite being older than Yoda was hilarious. All around us, we could the servers really interacting with their guests as we all remember it, and it was great to see. Really good fun.
Our FDP gave us two courses and a soda each in the price, however, Tom and I ordered an extra “dessert” in the form of a milkshake which was worth every penny.
Not the best photo I have ever taken.
Luckily we hadn’t eaten much today so we had plenty of room for what was some surprisingly tasty fare.
Me & Mum – The sampler
Louise – Chicken Pot Pie
Tom – Fried Chicken
Freddie – Tenders
Rebecca – Chicken Caesar Salad
Dougie had Salmon from the kid’s menu which you can just make out in the photo above.
Most of us joined the club.
Having paid for one, we were all forced to have a dessert. Rebecca had something I can’t remember the name of.
Lemon Meringue Pie for the rest of us. My word it was sweet.
This was an excellent meal and experience, but the bill was an eye-watering £392, including an already-added 18% tip. Still, at least we had reserved seating for Fantasmic. What could go wrong?
As we left, Rise was showing just a 35-minute wait so we headed over there.
Louise, Mum and Dougie sat out whilst the rest of us joined the queue. As the wait crept up to the hour mark, I suspected it had been down and we caught it just after re-opening and of course, most of the park joined the queue at that point, plus all the LLs returned too. Still, it was good to ride it for “free”.
We reunited with the others somewhere around the Frozen sing-a-long and walked down to Tower of Terror which only had a twenty-minute wait posted.
We emerged to the rain we’d been expecting for a while. Hey, when we book a Fantasmic Dinner Package, rain is guaranteed. It was pretty heavy so we loitered in a restroom entrance, George Michael-like, for a while. When it slowed a bit we dashed to the shops to find Mum and Louise. We left them there again to go and do Star Tours which had no wait at all.
As we were walking back, announcements were being made about the weather and Fantasmic being delayed. We all knew what was coming, but as soon as we heard thunder and saw some lightning we knew it was game over and we left, once again having wasted a FDP. This was very upsetting indeed.
We endured a moist drive home and were all in bed by 10pm.
Till the next time…..
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