What is an mkingdon? Well, it is a long story, but a simple one.
I have an addiction to Walt Disney World and Florida, and have done little else but holiday there for the past ten years. Worse than that, I have written about it too,in the form of long and detailed trip reports mainly on The Dibb. Upon joining that site I had to choose a username. I chose mkingdom, with the obvious relation to the Magic Kingdom. However, I am cursed with less than perfect typing skills, and I actually entered mkingdon.
So it all started there really, and people have come to know me as that, so I’ve sort of adopted it as my online identity.
Behind the name is a late thirties Boltonian with two girls, and Louise, a wife. I work in IT/Web stuff, and endure it to the best of my ability.
You can find me in various places online. You should follow me on Twitter, and I am facebooked up too.
My notes tell me I had a bad night’s sleep, and I attributed it to eating too much too close to bedtime. On reflection, it may have been the size of the bill what did it!
With that unsettled night it was 10.30 before we were up and about and we brunched at Boheme Bistro. It being steps from our hotel and on the way to the beach was granting it a lot of our business this trip.
We chose to sit outside and after ordering we Facetimed Rebecca and had a chat for a bit. We were still doing that when our food arrived which resulted in me forgetting to take photos before the eating began.
A large Stuffed Baguette for was mine, which is not a new thing for me.
And that empty plate once contained Louise’s Eggs Benedict.
We encountered a few spots of rain whilst we ate, but it was that kind of hot where that was quite welcome. Thankfully, it was just those few spots and we didn’t need to move inside.
Once down at the beach, we were relieved and delighted to see the umbrellas up, despite there being a decent wind.
We assumed the position under overcast skies. It was of course still delightfully hot.
Mid-afternoon I went for a wander to get us some drinks and another lot of sun cream and besides that, we did literally nothing. The weather brightened too.
The ability to do nothing for hours on end is a non-negotiable skill for these types of holidays. I am very happy to do very little as I so sledom get that chance back home. We endured until around 5.30, strolled back to the hotel and readied ourselves for more eating and drinking.
Tonight we would stray from Atlantic Avenue and indeed Delray by driving out to Bocca and….
It took about 20 minutes to do so, and the I95 retained its crown as the worst road I’ve driven on in the US.
There was no wait to be seated and we kicked off with the bread service.
My diet coke arrived with some of the machine inside it, so I was brought another.
You may have guessed that we of course ordered the Nachos to share here for our entree, with beef added.
They were very good but not as good as those we have had at the Cheesecake Factory in Lake Buena Vista. Despite it being the same chain, experiences and dishes can differ greatly.
We forced ourselves to a dessert, sharing a Cookie Dough and Pecan slice.
It was glorious but it could not be finished.
I forgot to note the cost of this meal but I am confident to say it was a lot more acceptable than the one last night.
We drove home, went straight to bed and watched TV for a bit before enduring another unsettled night.
We rose earlier today. I am not looking for applause, just stating a fact!
I enjoyed some cereal in the room before heading down to a very windy and wild, yet still incredibly hot, beach. A description that has often been applied to me too.
That wind meant that once again, umbrellas were not permitted and we would be subjected the skin scorching rays.
The beach was busy again today, with the weekend folks cramping our style.
Without the comfort and protection of the shade I felt a little unsettled and unable to fully relax. Towels once again were draped over the bits of me most likely to be torched.
We did some people-watching, whilst enduring the 70’s classic rock playlist being enforced on anyone in the vicinity of the southern belles on the beds next to us. I had to disagree with Free that it was Alright Now.
As lunch time rolled around we decided to head over the road to get some food and respite from the sun, eating this time at Boston’s.
I had Chicken Tacos.
Chicken Sandwich for Louise.
A diet coke each and the bill was $45. The food was decent but nothing to write home, or indeed here, about.
As we returned to the beach, a large group of young teens was having a beach party/picnic in front of our beds. It turned out to be the joint 17th birthday party of twins.
It was fascinating watching the group dynamics of a species I know very little about. I did spot and feel incredibly sorry for one young girl who seemed to be on the edge of everything and hardly spoke to anyone. There were of course the Queen Bee popular girls with their entourages, who followed the Queen’s every step and word and the jocks who played “ball” and jumped around all six packs and hairlines. Ah to be young? No thanks.
They were all very well behaved though and when they packed up they all did their bit, cleared all their rubbish/trash and were complimented by the Daisy Dukes next to us on their behaviour.
With the windy weather, the sea was very rough today but I did venture in for a while. I was immediately battered, knocked down and generally abused by the waves so I did not stay in for long.
Late afternoon, after the teen party had left, they were replaced by three mid to late twenty males with one female in a bikini that would barely be sufficient to floss your teeth with. She was “with” one of the males, which was made clear by him refusing to let go of her for more than three seconds. The two third wheels (is that mathematically possible?) had a jock off (I said jock) playing football and running into the sea before they all settled down on their towels. Almost immediately a freak wave came all the way up the beach, completely submerging them, their towels and their phones in freezing-cold water. I have never seen four people jump so high so quickly.
Today seemed to be all about people watching and avoiding third-degree burns.
We left the beach around 5.30 and back at the hotel I did a washer load in the laundry which was just a couple of doors down from our room.
After showers and readying we were in a Lyft heading for town around 8pm. We were dining at Tramonti this evening. We had spotted it across the road when we ate at the Mexican and saw that it was very popular and looked lovely. It would turn out to be an expensive, but delicious decision.
We were seated in a booth at the rear of the restaurant and were immediately given iced water, bread and a torch to read the menu. You know it’s going to be a dear do when different servers look after the water and bread.
Louise ordered the first of what would be two half bottles of wine and I had an Espresso Martini.
To start I had a “baked cheese thing”.
Louise had “a Garlic mushroom thing”
My entree was a “Mushroom pasta thing”
Louise had a “Cannelloni Cheese thing”
All the food was so delicious and the standard of service was outstanding. All in, with the wine, martinis and food it came to a ludicrous $270 including tip. Far too much for one meal for two people of course. Well, it is if you aren’t rich like us. Still, we enjoyed it and we were on holiday so the odd silly indulgence is OK I suppose.
We walked up to the Yacht Club to witness what turned out to be a truly terrible band.
We didn’t stay long due to that and we were in a Lyft home by 11 after one drink.
Another lie in!? Disgraceful scenes for someone holidaying in Florida I know, but with only more lying about to do as and when we got up, why the hell not I say.
It was approaching 11am when we were up, showered and dressed. We headed down to the beach this time taking with us the beach chairs which were kindly and handily provided by the hotel. With it being only half a day on the beach by this stage we didn’t want to use up one of our pre-purchased bed days.
It was a windy one , so windy in fact that the umbrellas were not allowed to be up, making our decision to bring our own chairs even more wise.
We took up a spot quite close to the water’s edge and got battered by the breeze.
We had to retreat several times back up the beach as the water came further and further in but the breeze and cloud cover made the lack of a brolly and shade almost bearable. Nothing says “Brit abroad” more than sitting on the beach with a towel over your burnt bits to avoid further damage!
Lunch was a Publix Picnic and the beach was pretty busy today, despite the wind, with it being a weekend. Most folks were behind us, so the following photo is a little misleading!
The sea, as you can see, was pretty rough today and we saw quite a few folks underestimate it and get taken out. We decided not to test our luck. We stayed until about 3pm, at which time the need for some shade became undeniable so we headed back to the pool at the hotel for a bit.
I secured the only remaining beds by the pool today, but to be fair there were only about eight in total. Louise had returned to the room to shower the sand off her before taking up position by the pool. For someone who loves a beach holiday, her aversion to sand and the sea are confusing.
Upon her return, she decided, against my better judgement that we should sacrifice the last beds I had secured and move to the other pool, so we did. It was just a few minutes later that we returned, tails between our legs, hoping to still find our beds available as the other pool was “full”. Luckily they were and even more luckily I decided not to say out loud that I was once again correct.
We left the pool around 5.30 for showers and stuff. I watched some TV whilst Louise finished getting ready before getting into our Lyft around 8pm and heading for the bright lights of Delray. Tonight’s driver was great. Whilst we waited for the drawbridge to go up and down to let some super yacht through, he was telling us about how Delray has changed over the years. Apparently, back in the 70s, it was a very rough and dangerous place with high crime rates and lots of violence. Then in 80’s, a number of “mafia types” from Miami moved in, hoping to avoid all the killing and stuff in Miami. Their money transformed the place and then in the last 15 years or so tourism arrived in earnest and that brought more money and now it is a highly sought-after place to live. He did say that the mafia types have “mostly” gone now!
Tonight we were eating at Amar, which is a Lebanese place. Atlantic Avenue was weekend busy again and as we approached the podium, what looked to be the manager was on the phone bollocking a customer who was calling to cancel their reservation for that evening. He ended the call, took our details (we had booked) and just turned and walked away. We assumed we should follow him. Not a great start.
Once seated, our server appeared who seemed very stressed and the place was indeed rammed and incredibly loud. We were brought some bread….
We invested in a bottle of wine and ordered starters of Lebanese Moussaka and Hummus.
Both were delicious although we were surprised that the Moussaka was served cold. True to form, we quickly accepted when we were asked if we wanted more pitta for the Hummus. They never bring enough! It was clearly freshly made and it was incredible.
We ordered Shish Chicken and a Kebab for mains which were both awesome too.
The place had emptied a little by now so the noise was more tolerable and our server more relaxed. We celebrated by enjoying a rare dessert. Any place that serves Baklava is going to get me eating it.
It was coming up to 10pm now and we got the distinct impression they wanted to close up and we had very quickly become one of the last tables still eating. We paid the $168 bill and left, having enjoyed the food but probably suffered due to the busy nature of a Saturday night.
Right across the road from Amar was the oldest hotel in Delray. Of a weekend, on their porch they had musical entertainment so we wandered across the road and loitered for a few minutes hoping somebody would bugger off and free up a table. Amazingly they did and we swooped.
I went to the bar for some drinks, which was slightly delayed as the barman was having to deal with a customer wanting to close their tab, but the barman had seemingly lost his credit card, which was retained as their “tab”. The customer was delighted as I’m sure you can imagine. Slightly nervous to leave my card with him, I took our first round of two back to the table and enjoyed an excellent classical guitarist.
As the night drew to an end, a British couple a few tables away left in the most blingy golf cart I had ever seen. It even had a custom seat for their poodle which had been asleep under a chair for the evening. Clearly, these were locals and not tourist oiks like us.
We left around 11.15 and got a Lyft back to the hotel for some more sleep.
I spent most of the morning in bed doing something I very rarely do.
Having a lie-in.
It was 10.30 before I was up and about but hey, we had nowhere to be. I had some breakfast and watched some telly whilst Louise slept on. Once she arose she wanted to go out for breakfast. Clearly, as I had already had mine I would just get a drink or something at Boheme Bistro.
I don’t know how to explain why the waitress brought me this to be honest….
It was definite brunch/early lunch territory so Louise went for a BLT.
Eating Hobbit style, with a middle breakfast, might just be the lifestyle I’ve been looking for.
Leaving $60 including tip, we set off back to the hotel to take up our positions by the pool. It was rammed today, with two other people crowding us.
Louise ignored the “you have to wait for an hour after eating before going in the pool” rule….
I cowered in the shade as certain body parts were still a little well done. We only had to move beds once today to chase the shade, but I did have to make several dashes back to the room for reasons I won’t go into, but I was very glad we were not at the beach today. Nobody wants *that* in the water.
With little else to report other than more of the same for the rest of the day, Louise went back to the room around 5.30 to start getting ready and I stayed out by the pool for a bit reading.
I showered and readied around 6.30 and we nipped out to Publix for “bits”.
We dropped the car off back at the hotel and ordered a Lyft. Stand by, because after a lot of nothing happening, there is about to be some mild drama.
We were picked up in a HUGE Toyota Sequoia by a lovely female driver. Delray was rammed, being the start of the weekend, and once she got us within striking distance of our restaurant of choice, we jumped out of the car in the middle of backed-up traffic and jogged unathletically across the road to avoid death.
We walked the remaining distance to Rocco’s Tacos and approached the podium. Upon hearing my accent the young girl trying to sort us a table asked which part of London I was from. Vocally, Dick Van Dyke I am not. I rolled my eyes and explained roughly where we lived and she explained that she lived in Cambridge when she was very young as her Dad was in the Air Force, stationed in the UK.
Pleasant chat over, she asked for my mobile number so she could text me. I thought that was a little bold with Louise stood next to me, but after a few awkward moments, it turns out she meant when the table was ready.
We started walking to the bar, and I did one of 300 daily pocket pats, ensuring I had my car keys, phone, etc. A sudden sickness came over me as I felt the emptiness of one pocket. Looking paler than milk I realised I had left my phone in the Lyft!
We ran outside, knowing she had long gone and with panic raging, I grabbed Louise’s phone and tried to call mine. It would not connect.
I tried to log into my Lyft account on Louise’s phone so that I could message the driver, but that wasn’t possible as it sent a verification code to my phone!
I logged into my iCloud on Louise’s phone and could see my phone moving, so it was definitely in the car, but that was driving away from Delray.
With my mind swimming with the horrors of dealing with losing my phone whilst away, I sent the sound alarm thing to my phone many times. I then tried calling it via every method available, Messenger, WhatsApp and the like. Finally, what felt like a thousand minutes later, the driver picked up. She had heard me pinging it and realised what had happened. She very kindly agreed to bring it back to Delray once she had finished her current drop-off.
I cannot describe the feeling of relief.
We stood outside the restaurant for about 20 minutes, having gone back inside to tell them that there was no point texting me yet and I explained why.
Eventually, she pulled up and I could have dragged her through the passenger window and kissed her. Instead, I gave her the maximum tip the app would allow which was the better option for everyone all things considered..
With my sheen of sweat now subsiding, we claimed our table and sat down to eat. This was the second time that I have left my phone in a taxi whilst overseas and I can only blame the poor pocketage on my very attractive holiday shorts.
We started with some chips and Guac. Enough to sink a battleship.
We ordered a Margharita each.
and ordered the same entree….a salad….
Honest! It was called a Taco Salad Bowl and it was awesome. This was our best meal so far, perhaps enhanced by the surge of adrenaline still pumping through my body, but we paid the $120 including tip happily and left.
We strolled down to Johnny Brown’s, a bar that always seemed to have live music on. It was absolutely packed. It was a literal fight to get a drink and we somehow bagged a table right outside the restrooms. Maybe that was why.
We’ve had better views.
The band were decent but the thought of another trip to the bar and the feeling that we were getting eaten alive by something drove us to seek another venue.
We ended up in the Yacht Club again where another band was playing. This place was much less crowded and civilized and we had a few drinks here whilst listening to the band, who, again were pretty good. Unlike my photography.
We jumped in a Lyft home around midnight and bed swallowed us up as eagerly as I had that Taco Salad earlier.
A good night’s sleep was ended around 6.30am. Rebecca phoned us around 7am to let us know Dougie and Tom had spent the night in A&E, as Dougie was having some serious breathing issues. At the risk of getting political, they left after five hours still not having seen a doctor and there was no realistic chance they would at any point. Go vote on July 4th! Someone else needs a go now.
We got up and had breakfast in our room and then I made the seven-step journey to the pool to “secure” some beds.
Being the only person at the pool, that was not too hard.
We spent most of the day in the shade due to being burned to a crisp from yesterday on the beach. We moved to different beds three times throughout the day to follow the shade!
We spent a good amount of time in the pool, cooling off and chatting. At some point, I made the long seven-step journey back to the room to get our sandwiches and crisps for lunch.
Mid-afternoon, I captured my impressive exercise stats for the day so far.
You know it’s hot when the locals can’t place all their feet on the hot floor.
At around 3.30 we decided to go for a drive to nowhere in particular. We were hot and if I’m honest I just fancied taking our lovely car out for a spin.
We got dressed and pointed the Jeep south on the A1A. Within a minute or so, as we left the area around Atlantic Avenue we started to see some of the most incredible houses we had ever laid eyes on. Louise, frankly, did a poor job of capturing them.
Delray has some proper wealth in and around it for sure. We drove south for about an hour, just soaking in the sights and at that point made the decision to drive on down to Hollywood, outside of Miami. Why?
Well, back in 1980 when all this Florida madness started for me, we stayed in Hollywood. As most of you will know, the story is that we went to AT Mays Travel Agents in Bolton, as we usually did to book our Spanish holiday and due to a dollar rate of around $2.20 to the pound, they told us we could go to Miami for less money than Spain. The rest is, as they say, history.
It felt silly to be staying so close this time without going to have a look, not that I had any real memories of the trip, which was now 43 years ago! But having lost my Dad recently, I felt the need to go and see where it all started I suppose.
With only 25 miles left on the Sat Nav to get to Hollywood, I wondered why it said we wouldn’t be there for 50 minutes. Well, the bobbins traffic in and around Fort Lauderdale soon explained that. It took all of those 50 minutes, but we were definitely in the “we’ve come too far to not complete this” territory now.
I had no clue where we stayed in 1980, and earlier in the pool when talking to Louise about it, from nowhere the name The Diplomat came to me. I was very spooked when I later looked at Google maps before setting off to see a hotel with that name in Hollywood literally be the first thing I saw when I zoomed in. This was weird.
Now, as we were finally driving along the “front” looking at all the hotels, not too surprisingly nothing really rang a bell. We did go past The Diplomat but it looked huge and it didn’t feel like the place we were at, but in 43 years they could have rebuilt the whole town of course.
When I messaged my Mum and Brother later that evening he seemed to think it was called Hotel Miami and there was one called that too, but it was closed now.
Louise needed the loo before we set off for home, so we stopped off at the nearest place likely to have one so that she could release her very own Whopper.
Whilst she did that I got us both an iced coffee to go and as I sat and waited my phone buzzed with a news alert that Donald Trump had been found guilty in his trial. This was also a bit weird as when we walked back to the car we saw that we were directly across from this.
Today felt a bit surreal all round.
We set the Sat Nav for home, this time using the I-95 rather than the A1A so the time was roughly halved. We found CNN on Sirius Radio and listened to the fallout from the Trump trial as we drove back. Again, the I-95 was busy and stressful.
Thankfully we eventually pulled off it onto the A1A again and tried to snap some more fancy houses on the way back into Delray.
We showered and got ready with a Lyft picking us up at around 9pm
and we headed for Vic & Angelos, an Italian.
We ordered a bottle of Montepulciano and some starters.
Mine was an Eggplant Lasagne thing.
Louise’s Meatball obsession continued.
We both had the same Entree. Nonna’s Sunday Gravy.
You may notice it involved another huge Meatball.
We were defeated and could not finish as of course we had also devoured the bread service.
As we were eating outside on the pavement, we were entertained by a lady pulling up and then reversing straight into a very fancy Range Rover parked behind her. She jumped out and we both thought she’d been drinking. A passerby took some photos of her and her car and they exchanged some strong words. She ended up not leaving a note and driving away. I don’t think there was any damage to be fair.
I didn’t note the price of the meal but I’d wager at $150ish due to the wine.
We strolled up Atlantic Avenue looking for somewhere to get a drink. At our age we want somewhere with something going on, but that’s not too busy and noisy. It’s tragic I know.
Right at the far end of Atlantic Avenue is the Yacht Club, a small bar that tonight had some Karaoke on. As there were no more bars if we walked any further, we decided to go in and to be fair it was good fun.
We had a couple of drinks and watched some “mixed” performances. These included an out-of-time Elvis, a crooner who may have been over 100 years old and a yacht rock guy.
We left at 12 and took a Lyft home where bed was immediate.
Sure, I’d been awake for 22 hours, but that didn’t prevent my body from waking me up at 3am. Rather than wet the bed I got up for a wee and then thankfully returned to sleep until around 5.30am.
Louise slept on a bit so I spent that time dealing with some work stuff (hey, you don’t get to be paid millions a year and then have a holiday without doing work stuff…and the same applies when you get paid buttons too it seems).
When Louise was up we finished the unpacking, I made a coffee and whilst Louise got ready I wrote up my notes for the long travel day yesterday, narrowly avoiding PTSD when it came to the drive from the airport.
We were still ready and out of the door by 8am and we strolled down towards the beach and decided upon Luna Rosa for some breakfast.
We both ordered the same thing: Iced coffee and eggs Benedict on avocado and toast. I have never been so hipster in my life!
This was the view from our table.
I think it’s a sign of having had a good holiday when looking back at photos like these causes you physical pain and a deep longing to be back there.
Yes, it was delicious.
After leaving $70 including tip we crossed the road to the beach.
It was still pretty empty at this time and we had our pick of beds.
We oiled up and lay down. We both ventured into the sea for a bit. It was not cold and very calm and clear, and you had to go a long way out to get out of your depth. It was lovely.
Knowing a chap would be coming by soon to collect payment for the bed and brolly hire I feared that I may need some cash, so I had a wander to find an ATM machine. This turned into quite the hike as the nearest one was a fifteen-minute “stroll” up Atlantic Avenue. By Jingo it was hot.
As gruelling as that walk was, it was good to have a look around and get our bearings for where eateries and bars were located.
On the walk back to the beach I called into our room for a tactical wee and to pick up some water. We got a very sad message from an upset Emily that one of her rats, Jim had sadly passed. He was old in rat terms so it wasn’t unexpected but they mean the world to Emily and losing a pet is always tough.
Back at the beach, the bed man came and I need not have worried about payment. He had a card machine linked to his phone and we negotiated a discounted rate for buying multiple days.
We read, dozed and rested for a while longer before needing some lunch around 12.30. Today was to be a big food day it seems!
We wandered up Atlantic Avenue and chose Boheme Bistro based almost entirely on its proximity to the beach.
Louise had a Chicken Caesar Salad.
I had a Turkey Baguette.
Diet cokes and a wine and it cost us $80 including tip.
Louise nipped back to the room which was just around the corner for a loo stop and I went back to the beach.
On the beds next to us (at the beach, not in our room!) were two young college girls. Their conversation was loud enough to hear in Orlando and it was a terrifying “Mean Girls” experience that made me very glad I was old.
We rested some more and then Facetimed my Mum for a bit.
We left the beach at 5.30 after a hard day. A five-minute walk saw us back at the hotel, where we jumped into the jeep and found the local Publix to do some stocking up. Cereal, milk, some sandwiches for lunch tomorrow, (this eating out three times a day was not sustainable) natural yoghurt for Louise who had of course burned herself in the sun today and some water. A terrifying $90.
Back “home”, we showered and I booked us a table at The Office for 9.30. We ordered a Lyft at 9pm and we were picked up moments later.
I had a Giant Pretzel, but I’m not one to brag.
Louise had meatballs adorned with some green crap.
Our entrees were….
A Short Rib Sandwich for me. It was awesome. That white dip is melted marshmallow!
Louise had The Office Burger
With wines for Louise and an Espresso Martini for me, all this came to $145 including a healthy tip.
We were knackered and full so a Lyft was ordered to take us to bed. I jumped in the back seat with Louise a step or two behind me on the other side of the car and he started to set off with her only half in. There was much shouting of “woah, stop, hang on etc” and thankfully no harm was done. I think he apologised for every second of the short journey home.
We were home and in bed by 10.45, deep in a food coma.
Things did not get off to a great start. The night before our flight I received a message from Tui saying that our In-Flight Entertainment would not be working, but fear not, we could claim £30 compensation…EACH….if we wished.
Louise was less than pleased. As a nervous flyer, this distraction is key to her surviving a flight. Trying very hard not to let this darken our mood we pressed on with final preparations and went to bed around 11.30.
I set my alarm for 4.30am, but Louise was up and about well before that ensuring that I was too. I had not had the greatest of sleeps. I found myself anxiously pondering all the things I had not done, feeling massively underprepared for this trip for some reason.
With the broken IFE thing on my mind I put my ear bud things on to charge for an hour before we left just in case I might need them. I had discovered late last night that inexplicably, despite owning about 723 of them, I could not find any UK to US power adapters. This had also kept me awake and with my last search now also fruitless I was resigned to buying a couple at the airport at vast expense. We had a 4 way extension each packed in the luggage so two would be enough.
There was a sweat-inducing fifteen minutes of weighing cases and redistributing weight (TUI only give you 20kg each and I was trying to get both cases around that figure) and Ryan had to step up and take three pairs of Louise’s shoes to get us under 40kg combined.
We said our goodbyes to Emily and Mikey, inflicted the dogs upon them and left the house our customary fifteen minutes behind schedule at 6.15. It took fifty minutes to get to Manchester airport which wasn’t too bad considering it was mid-week rush hour around the M60.
Upon arrival at the airport we parked in our customary T2 West, having to drive all the way up to level 7 to find a spot my car might fit into. Once at TUI’s desks there were kiosks to use to avoid the (small) queue but they involved having a boarding card already. I had checked in online and I know I downloaded/saved them somewhere, but could I find them now? Nope. So we trudged over to the desks and after a few minutes we were checked in by a surly young chap who’s attitude was inexplicable. Despite me entering our US address on the TUI website, he still insisted on not only entering it again, but he would not trust me to read it to him, no, he had to see it himself on my phone, having googled it. Weird.
Security was a “walk on” to use theme park parlance. I don’t know if they have new equipment and/or processes but nothing needed to come out of bags and we retained our shoes. We walked through the scanner and we were done in under two minutes. Such an improvement on recent trips.
We were drawn automatically to our usual breakfast joint of San Carlos and again it was really quiet. Ever since Covid we have had to queue here for quite some time to get a table, but today it was half full and we were seated immediately by the window.
What a view.
As I fired my camera up for these first pictures I discovered some pictures taken by Freddie last Christmas. I had handed him my camera and told him to capture the day. There were some belters.
We had a good chuckle over those whilst we looked at the menu. As we waited for our food (and you may not believe this), we saw a few small flurries of snow outside the window…in May. Honest!
We were so distracted (and out of practice) that I only remembered to take food photos after we’d started eating. I had the Bacon and Egg on Sourdough….
and Louise a full English of sorts…
We both had tea and Louise added a Mimosa. It was £43.
We wandered the duty-free spraying ourselves with every sample on offer. How lovely we must have smelled. Tragically, Louise could not find the one she felt compelled to buy.
I got a US adapter from Boots and then a few minutes later I got another from WH Smith.
For those of you paying attention, towards the end of our last trip in November, with about two days to go Louise spent almost $200 on a new pair of sunglasses. Yeah, I know.
Still, with us having two trips booked for this year, they would get some use.
She had lost them. So now we found ourselves shopping for some more. Safe to say they did not cost almost $200 this time.
We moved on to the book shop where Louise bought one she wouldn’t touch for the entire trip and then we had a coffee, waiting for the gate info to appear. We moved to the gate at 10.30 and waited for everyone else to queue up to board before we did so last.
We Facetimed Rebecca whilst boarding happened and I squoze in (or is it out?) a last minute pre-flight wee.
A couple of weeks ago, I had changed our seats to row 10 as I noticed that of the three seats in that row, none were taken, whereas our selected seats had us and someone else in them. My plan worked and it turned out that we had that row of three just to us and along with them being extra leg room we also had extra width too, which despite my pre-holiday diet was very welcome.
Much to our delight, and the cabin crew’s surprise, the IFE was working. We pushed back bang on time and took off at 11.50 through some pretty bumpy clouds.
Drinks were served and I watched three episodes of Two and A Half Men that I had only watched a few hundred times before.
The food was perfectly edible and not as blurry as it looks when it came.
That’s better. I devoured everything and anything else put in front of me. For some reason, I am always inexplicably ravenous on a flight.
We tinkered with the very cool dimmable windows for a bit.
I read for a bit and stared at the map too.
Louise bought some Back Opium (the perfume, not narcotics) and some Pringles. I was more pleased with one of those as you can imagine.
I watched two episodes of The Middle and some Big Bang Theory. By this point we were ninety minutes out and for the rest of the flight we listened to the family behind us argue constantly until landing.
Landing at Melbourne is a test of nerve for a nervy flyer like Louise as it is all sea until almost the last minute but the pilot managed and we landed on time. After the Premium elite de-planed we were the first of the plebs off, being in row 10. It’s just a short walk to the one and only baggage carousel and we had a bit of a wait for our cases being one of the last into immigration. The wait was only ten minutes though.
Another few steps to the car hire desks and with most Tui folks I guess being on packages, the majority went out to the coaches leaving the car hire queue non-existent and I was served immediately. I was just about to be handed the keys to some SUV when a manager walked behind my server and said “We have a Jeep Wrangler, if Sir would prefer?”
Well “Sir” did prefer and we walked over to the car park to be delighted by it. Here it is a short time in the future at our hotel.
We were delighted to be hit by that Florida heat as we left the building. It felt nice to be home.
Very pleased with the car and the ease of which we had got from the plane to it (Melbourne is very straightforward and easy compared to MCO), we spent a few minutes getting sorted in the car, connecting my phone to Car Play and setting the sat nav off and then we were away. The estimated journey time was two hours, which seemed odd as when I’d looked at it back home it had been ninety minutes but we would soon discover why.
For now, the mood was glorious and as I connected to one of my Spotify playlists, Happiness by McFly came on, and full of the “just arrived” joy, a lovely car and excellent weather we drove along on a cloud of loveliness and indeed Happiness.
It took a little while to make it out of Melbourne and onto the I95 (this road is horrible and makes the I4 look like a dream) and begin our long journey down south. The sat nav said go straight on for 120 miles, so we did.
The first hour was without incident and we were making good progress. Then, quickly, the rain came. We could see the other side of the I95 backed up coming towards us and above that queue a horrible grey hazy mess of stuff that did not look good.
What followed was one of the most stressful and unenjoyable forty minutes of my life, and I’ve had an office job since I was 17! These were some of the worst conditions I have ever driven in, and I’ve been through a good few Flordia downpours in a car.
This was literally the calm before the storm.
Once the rain started, I didn’t blink for forty minutes. My nails were dug deep into the steering wheel and if Louise spoke to me I could not afford the loss of concentration to even listen. I was glued to the two red dots in front of me that I hoped were a vehicle.
It felt endless and every time I thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. The wipers were just spreading water around the windscreen and we did not go above 20mph for a long time. What a storm!
We finally got some respite with about twenty miles to go and I could exhale at last. When we finally did arrive at our hotel it felt like every minute of the more than two hours it took us to get there.
We checked in around 7.20pm and after a little bit of unpacking and organising we were out looking for food.
This was the huge church right across from the hotel entrance.
We stood here waiting for our recently ordered Lyft. I had fired up the map and simply chosen the closest eatery to our hotel.
This was a huge source of shame when our driver turned up, circled the block and dropped us off at the Delray Hideaway about 17 seconds later. Look, we had no idea of the geography and we were tired! I tipped well enough to make it an apology.
Delray Hideaway was, it seems, the locals place, that not many tourists seemed to get to, judging by the stares as we entered. It was very “basic” but the food was decent, quickly delivered and the service was good. We declined to play the bingo that was just about to start.
We had some Mozzarella sticks to start.
I had the Chicken Sandwich
and Louise the French Dip.
With a couple of wines and beers it was $90 including tip.
Despite having been awake for far too long by now we had a short stroll around the place to get our bearings.
Even down to the beach which was a five minute stroll from our hotel.
On our way back, we spotted some lovely local homes.
Back at the hotel we found the second pool…..
and the whole place looked lovely in the dark.
Sadly we did not take photos of the room before we messed it up with some of our stuff but here you go….
Lounge
Dining Area (we did not use this)
Kitchen
Bathroom
For some reason, probably due to the mess we’d already made, I did not photograph the bedroom.
We fell into bed at 9.30 pm US time, 2.30am Uk time, having now been awake for 22 hours. The joys of travel day.
As predicted it’s been a busy old week, with work scaling new heights in ways to keep me occupied for more hours than it should. Battered, bruised and breathless I fell over the finishing line on Friday. My task now is to try and come down from the adrenaline and stress of work life so that I can actually relax and enjoy not working for a bit. Look, I know I’m not pulling babies from burning buildings but it has its moments.
As a parting gift, the UK graced us with 48 hours of continuous pouring rain, just to confirm that our decision to go somewhere else for a bit was correct. Also, how cold has it been? It’s ridiculous for late May.
Having eliminated the pouring water inside the house last week, this week it was (mainly) outside. The biggest challenge has been convincing the dogs to actually step foot outside to do their business. Hey and guess what? We have another leak. Whilst Emily was showering on Friday I could hear a dripping noise and yep water was coming down through the kitchen ceiling and probably has been for a while from time to time as there is a faint brown patch around that area. This house hates me. Well, that can wait till we get back and Emily can use our shower until then and the plumber can return, no doubt to cut more holes into this money pit.
Louise finished on Thursday and has been in prep mode since then. There will not be a shop unvisited before departure and somewhere in between all that and me doing two Pink gigs this weekend, we’ll leave the house at some point early on Tuesday with a couple of cases full of what we need, purely down to Louise getting us all packed on Saturday. The bank holiday Monday is well-timed.
Today I have to break my golden rule of never going to the tip at weekend as needs must so we do not leave Emily with a house full of rubbish that has somehow appeared asa result of holiday prep. No I don’t understand that either.
I should probably report in with you all on the weight loss front. It’s been a fairly strict and well-behaved four weeks and depending on what mood the scales are in of a morning it looks like I have shed something like 8 to 10 pounds. It sounds like a good effort but the injustice of that small number compared to the huge effort and time taken is heartbreaking. It also brings home how horrendous I must have looked at my heaviest as even in my new svelte form I will still be scaring folks on the beach.
Let’s see how the calorie sponge that is my body responds to ten days of holiday eating and you can all make your own bets as to whether all of that goes back on.
So we leave on Tuesday morning, so you can expect the usual “I’m at the airport” post on Facebook just to make you all feel happy for me. Right?
Anyway, we have a busy day ahead so I must leave you. As ever, feel free to follow the trip “live-ish” on the Mkingdon Facebook page and you can all look forward to another trip report about sitting in the sun most days followed by what we had for tea (dinner). You lucky, lucky folks.
I know you will have been on the edges of your collective seats after my leak cliffhanger last week. Well, what a palaver it turned out to be.
A non-criminal plumber turned up on Tuesday after much encouragement/badgering and spent a good amount of time scouring our house for the source of this bloody water.
He ended up in all our loft spaces and then cutting holes out of floors and walls to understand what may be happening. He could see some wetness on some stonework through one of the holes he cut but no telltale signs of any burst pipes.
After quite some time he left, giving me the number of a roofer he recommended as he strongly suspected it was coming from the roof above where we were seeing signs of water.
Frustrated, we sat down to dinner (tea) and after that, I thought I would go and try to dry out the wet stonework that had been spotted through the aforementioned hole. I spent a good ten minutes drying stuff out with Louise’s hairdryer (you may be shocked to learn I do not possess one) and then sticking my phone camera through our new hole and videoing what it could see. All of a sudden I spied some fresh-looking water and stretched my arm as far as it would go to video the evidence.
Yep, we had a leaky pipe.
The relief was palpable as I knew that any faffing up on the roof would take weeks and probably not definitively solve anything. I messaged the plumber who said he’d be back the next day to fix it by cutting yet another hole in another section of wall to get to it.
The quality of the camera work is dreadful but I was filming blind with my arm through a hole up to the shoulder, whilst lying on my side.
How a pipe suddenly starts leaking like that when nothing has been able to touch it since it was installed probably decades ago I had no idea, but I feel both incredibly unlucky that this happened to us, but at the same time so fortunate that we happened to cut a hole in a wall in just the right place to eventually allow me to see it.
The plumber did not make it back to us until Thursday, and after giving us another hole in another wall, he replaced the offending pipe. It had a tiny pinprick of a hole in it. He told me that lime in mortar will literally eat copper and the pipes should have been insulated/covered. He replaced it with plastic ones to avoid a repeat. No doubt this won’t be the last time a small prick causes untold carnage and expense.
Now, I just hope all the water damage internally will dry out alright and allow us to get it back to as it was, as well as having to repair all the bloody holes in our walls. This is the current state of play at our house…..
In more pleasant news, Wednesday saw Dougie turn 2. He was spoilt appropriately by everyone and we (me, Louise, Emily, my Mum, Tom, Rebecca, Freddie, Dougie and Tom’s Mum) went out for a meal on Wednesday night to celebrate.
We had a nice meal, the obligatory bad singing, and good cake in what looks like an abandoned restaurant, but there were other folks dining around us.
So now I enter my last week at work before a holiday. It’s always a difficult one, not least as it lasts for about three years, but also as I am desperately trying to prepare my colleagues for the gaping void my absence will no doubt leave, hoping they can somehow manage without me.
Then once that is done there is the chaos and carnage of getting stuff into cases, prepping the house for Emily and Mikey and making sure our zoo has all they need to be kept in the manner to which they have become accustomed. I’m always happy to be at the airport with all that done.
Here’s to a week without further house-based drama, smooth sailing on the holiday prep front and some kind of miraculous three-stone weight loss thrown in for good measure.
I was inundated with a comment recently asking if I still did the Mustard thing. That isn’t some deviant food-based kink, but instead, a band that I have played bass guitar in for almost a decade now. I do and we’ve also started a Pink tribute, so now I gig in both lineups.
For someone of my incredibly average musical abilities, I enjoy playing live and just about manage to keep up with the other members who are much more talented than I am.
Despite playing quite a few gigs each year, I rarely go to any. The reason for that is that most of my gigs are on the nights I would typically go to watch one, but also, it has to be a special gig to tempt me into the palaver of all the traffic, parking and expense involved now in seeing a “proper famous band” at a large venue. I’m not sure The Feeling qualifies as one of those, but the palaver was still decent. When you almost spend as much time getting out of the car park as you did at the gig something isn’t quite right.
I could at this point, spend a while asking how Disney can disperse tens of thousands of vehicles out of one exit seamlessly and yet a multi-story in Manchester is in gridlock from 10.30 till midnight. I won’t do that though.
Despite all those trepidations, Louise and I made the effort last night. We went to watch The Feeling at the Albert Halls in Manchester. I will include a humble brag at this point, that I too have played that venue with Mustard. Granted it was a Thursday night at some Architects awards bash and the audience was a little less interested in us, but still I’m claiming it. It is genuinely awesome to play venues like that as they have incredible gear and top professional sound guys who make you sound fantastic and take away all the stress.
Anyway, The Feeling is a band that both Louise and I really like. They are the perfect blend of catchy pop tunes, great musicianship and consistency. It was a great gig.
Away from Rock ‘n roll, I have continued to eat less than I would normally and have shed a pound or so more. If I keep this up over the next two weeks I should have bought enough runway to eat what I like on my hols so that I return only as fat as I was a few weeks ago, staring down the barrel of having to lose it all over again at some point.
I am cursed with a metabolism so slow it is a wonder I continue to exist and I only have to look at food on the internet and I put weight on. It is a constant struggle and if I were to ever meet a Genie and get three wishes, one of mine would be to be able to eat whatever I liked but remain at my ideal BMI, which I don’t think I have ever been in all my years on this planet.
Anyway, we’ll be going away whatever weight I am and the cases are out now and safely stowed in a spare room until the packing commences whenever Louise gets around to it. I shall be summoned to try on and select the stuff I want to take and we’ll both say we won’t take a lot of stuff but inevitably overpack and carry a load of clothes both ways over the Atlantic having not worn them.
I am of course ready for the break. I always say that and of course were we not lucky enough to be able to have this booked I am sure I would survive without it, but some time away from the stresses of daily life will be lovely.
The latest thing that I was over-anxious about was a leak in our house last week. Louise spotted a wall in the utility looking damp and after a lot of moving stuff around and swearing, it looked like the outside tap on the other side of the wall must be leaking within the cavity between the stonework and the internal wall.
There was no chance of me getting to it and of course there was no isolation switch fitted on that outside tap so we sat with the water off completely for most of Friday waiting for the plumber to come and attend to what was a quick job for anyone less incompetent. When you need someone to come out quickly, the quality of their work is often the sacrifice and whilst he did indeed disconnect the suspected pipe, charging me what he did for literally 30 seconds of work upset me both financially and from the point of view that was I even slightly competent, I could have done that myself. Anywho, he will never darken our door again.
On Saturday I noticed that the wall was still wet and indeed the issue was not resolved. I spent most of the morning trying to diagnose what the hell was happening, whilst messaging our regular plumber who has agreed to come out asap next week to have a look. The problem may be located in the ceiling above it. These things stress me out more than I can tell you, as my brain defaults to worst-case scenario mode and I have visions of re-plastering and endless damage as a result of any fix, not to mention the expense. These fears are always based on a complete lack of knowledge of these matters and at times like these I miss my Dad’s advice and personal black book of any tradesman you could ever require. He had golfed with every trade on the planet.
As you will know from my well-documented roof struggles a few months ago, nothing stresses me out more than water getting into the house where it shouldn’t be. By the way, in the end, I went up on the roof (I was terrified) and fixed the issue. Well, water is no longer coming in. How permanent that fix will be, who knows.
Hopefully, I will bring you a post about how silly I was to be worrying about it all next week.
I don’t know how your week went, but as mine ended, I had to endure the dentists. I’d been for my check-up a few weeks ago and was told that as I am old and closing in on death, my gums are giving up and all my teeth will imminently fall out.
OK, I may be exaggerating but whatever they said it resulted in me sitting in the chair whilst the hygenist did unspeakable things to my mouth. I wouldn’t say it was painful as such. In fact, I could endure pain more easily and for longer than the feeling of raw sensitivity that whatever they do delivers. Within seconds I had my eyes screwed tightly closed and a sweat on.
I had told her that due to a savage dentist in my formative years, I had an irrational fear of dentists. Still, her empathy was lower than my pain threshold and she raked, scraped and jet-washed stuff with a determination and gusto reserved for mossy block paving.
I escaped with less money than when I went in and the promise of two further sessions in June where she will really get into the nitty-gritty apparently, so much so that I will need a local anaesthetic. I did ask, but apparently, a general is not available. Well, I’ll look forward to that then. The price I pay for that Hollywood smile.
I had root canal work back in my forties and honestly, I do not know how I got through that.
Anyway, enough unpleasantness. Last week I declared the start of my pre-holiday diet and it has gone OK. I never trust our scales as I can be many pounds different from one day to another even when I’m not trying to lose weight, but it seems I may have lost about four pounds.
I’ll need to keep going though as I can put that back on at the airport.
The other thing I mentioned last week was Hollywood Studios and that I had thoughts on it and the current state of it but that would be a whole other post. With that park celebrating its 35th birthday this week, it looks like this is a good time for me to talk about it in my usually ill-informed way.
On our last two trips to WDW, post Genie+ and the pandemic, DHS has been a problem child and has presented the worst symptoms of the fallout of both in my view. Let’s start with the problem before I tell Bob Iger how to fix it.
In simple terms, the park suffers from a lack of crowd soakers. By that I mean, things that can occupy people. That ratio is off, with Galaxy’s Edge drawing large crowds, but there not being enough other stuff to keep them busy whilst they inevitably cannot get on stuff in GE.
If you look back in history, the park was, I believe, envisaged as a half-day park, hence its smaller size etc but I think that was abandoned as the additions of Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land recently have shown. It can’t be a half-day park nowadays as it can take you that long to ride one ride if you’re in standby for Slinky.
Anyway, I digress. Years ago you had things like the Back Lot Tour that would scoop up hundreds of guests and occupy them for half an hour or so at least. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was another crowd soaker up, alongside the Animation Tour and of course, the stunt show was a big crowd sponge. I’m old enough to remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame show that was there too, another one to have a large number of guests out of circulation for the other attractions.
Alongside those types of attractions, you also had a lot of street performers who would delay and distract guests from looking for the next ride.
In summary, I think the issue now is that there is very little like that so all guests seem to do is queue extensively for the handful of attractions on offer.
Having undertaken my usual ten seconds of research, attendance is not the issue. Visitor numbers, up to 2022 at least, are down on pre-Covid levels.
This supports my theory that the guest experience is worse than it used to be, due to the lack of attractions.
It’ll help to get the Little Mermaid back up and running as that will take a few hundred guests out of circulation for a while, but what we found on recent trips was that if you did not have Genie+ you had two choices.
Wait in line for upwards of 90 minutes for anything you want to do
Ride Star Tours and The Muppets all day with a couple of long pit stops at the Tap House, which is no fun for the kids.
We would literally sit refreshing the app in a depressed, stunned silence looking for anything that the kids could tolerate queuing for.
So what to do about it? As if I have a clue…..but there are some options I can dream up unencumbered by finances, reality and a great deal of the facts that I don’t possess.
The first is the one most deeply rooted in fantasy.
I have long wondered why WDW and all theme parks don’t just make all the queues virtual. Sure there will be technology challenges but they already exist for some rides. Why Disney and Universal want people to stand in lines for hours of their day I do not understand, as whilst they do, they cannot spend any money.
Do the parks literally not have the space to accommodate all the guests if nobody is waiting in line? It would make the guest experience better right? In DHS specifically, space may be an issue as it is one of the smaller parks, but WDW does not lack land to grow into.
I also think they should reinstate a lot of the “ad hoc” street entertainment to entertain folks as they wait to ride, who would be walking around instead of being contained in a queue but that would not be enough on its own, virtual queues or not. Those entertainers were also a large part of the magic of this park.
Adding stuff similar to long-since-gone, big-crowd attractions such as the ones I mentioned earlier would be ideal. I’m not saying on the scale of Fantasmic, but some attractions, like Indiana Jones, that can take thousands of guests out of circulation for a period of time. As a paying punter, I just want to feel that there is something to do for most of the day without queuing for over an hour and ideally without paying extra to avoid doing that.
Whether we will ever get virtual queues for all or most attractions aside, there is, in my view a fundamental issue at DHS and as it turns 35 it feels like it is having a mid-life crisis of sorts. It has lost its original reason for being as it is no longer a working studio, which was a huge part of its appeal and ethos and now only tips its hat to the film industry.
It may sound silly with the relatively recent additions of Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land to say the park needs actual expansion, but the addition of those two lands alongside the removal of all the stuff I mentioned earlier is actually making the problem worse. Surely a constant wait time of over 90 minutes for Slinky Dog should be a clear sign that something in the park isn’t working as it should.
I don’t think our recent experiences have been unique but of course, we could have just been unlucky. Of all the parks in WDW, it is the one that I gird my loins most for in terms of actually getting much done, and that can’t be a good thing.
With an expansion recently announced at Magic Kingdom my hopes for another at DHS are low, but something needs to be done or it will get to the stage where people will vote with their feet and spend less time there which ironically would help to solve the issue at that park, but make it worse at the other three!
When it comes to Disney, especially with a trip on the cards, there is little I like to do more than to think about scenarios that may or may not happen that will have hardly any impact on my life in the long term. Things like not getting specific ADRs or the parks being too busy or that those FOMO perks that Disney gives to on-site guests will make our off-site trip a disaster. It’s all part of the fun. For example, it seems off-site scum can only start to book their Genie+ Lightning Lanes from park opening, not 7am like the honoured on-site types. A bit petty Disney if you ask me. If you’re going to do this, then you need to come up with some affordable accommodation options for larger parties.
The only thing I enjoy more is whinging about Genie+ but I guess I’m not alone there.
Another fun part of this countdown process is to make completely unsubstantiated guesses based on zero knowledge about what Disney may or may not do in the future.
Take for example….
Soon, in Summer 2024, the new version of Splash Mountain will open. Tiana’s ride (not the official title) will be welcome for a couple of reasons.
Having such a major ride down for so long just means there are fewer things to spread the people around and all the other attractions get busier. (This is the entire issue with Hollywood Studios right now. Not enough things for too many people to do, but that’s a whole other blog post.)
It may draw some folks away from the likes of Seven Dwarves at rope drop and give other folks a fairer chance to ride it without paying extra or waiting for 90 minutes.
Emily and I were pondering if Tiana’s ride would be added to the list of individual lightning lane attractions in Magic Kingdom. There is much to think about.
It seems that MK is currently the only park with more than one such attraction…
Epcot – Guardians
Hollywood Studios – Rise of the Resistance
Animal Kingdom – Flights of Passage
Magic Kingdom – Tron and Seven Dwarves
So adding a third would be bordering on a piss take in my view. The options seem to be to take that piss and add a third which would be punitive and very unpopular, leave Tiana’s ride as Splash was, as part of the (still paid for and shite) Genie+ service, or add it to the Individual LL list and drop one of the others.
Personally, I think they will leave Tiana as Splash was. If they were to make it one of the two, then which of the existing ones would they drop?
Tron is too new surely and Seven Dwarves is one of the most popular and slowest loading rides on property, so that could just be carnage.
As ever, this thought process will be a complete waste of time because the last time I correctly predicted what Disney would do next I had a fringe.
I’d be interested in your views of course.
Speaking of change and new rides. Due to some clickbait-style headline writing by some other Disney-related blog (not that you read any others of course), there were a couple of minutes late last week when it seemed like Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin was going to be replaced by a Wreck-It Ralph attraction. A quick scan of the article once they had my very valuable click, confirmed that this was in Tokyo. Let’s hope that nonsense idea never darkens Florida’s door.
The other thing I have done in the last few days is begin to firm up some dining plans. We are months from ADR booking but I did try out the new system where you can put in a range of dates for a restaurant and see all the ADRs available. That is excellent!
My strategy for our eating on this trip is to focus on off-site places as much as possible with just a smattering of on-site ADRs. Sure, cost is a consideration. Feeding six folks multiple times a day on property is a pricey hobby, but we also love a lot of off-site places.
So I am adding an eatery of choice for each day and if it so happens that on one of those days we don’t want to leave the parks or that doesn’t fit with our plans, we will just try to find somewhere there and then via the app. We do want to try and get ADRs for a few such as Garden Grill, Rodeo Roundup, Space 220 (yeah right) and probably one character meal.
On that note, has anyone done BR77 Steakhouse on the 192. It’s a Brazillian Steakhouse type place it seems and I was thinking of giving it a try. Other than that, our list is the usual suspects.
All of this theme park talk ignores the fact that we are now just four weeks away from our absolutely no theme park trip at the end of May, to Delray Beach. When we called in to see my Mum last week she asked if we had the cases out yet. Even for me, five weeks out was a bit early, but it won’t be long.
The only prep required now for that one is to get some bloody weight off. My “Fat Elvis” period has been dragging on for a while now and it seems these days the only thing that can motivate me to get some lard off is a trip overseas. Let’s see how that goes over the coming weeks. The hardest part for me is starting. Once I begin to see any sort of result, I can stick at it, but as the years go by, it just becomes harder and harder to get the ball rolling.
If only everything in life were as easy as getting fat.
One of the criticisms of holidaying in the same place for a few decades, both spoken and probably mainly unspoken by folks I know, is “How can you keep going to the same place and doing the same things”.
Sure, I get that and there is some part of a trip to WDW specifically where that familiarity is part of the comfort and magical feelings that a certain type of traveller craves. A great deal of the joy and satisfaction I get is from showing this stuff to new people whether that be parents, kids or now grandkids.
My answer to that question is always the same. We do something different every time, mixed in with the warm glow of the familiar. We’ve done on-site, off-site, Vero, Naples, The Keys, Siesta Key and a load of other stuff I have no doubt forgotten. I guess the best answer is, that I’ve been going since 1980 and still haven’t come close to “doing everything” and never will.
Also of course things change regularly whether we may want it to or not. Parks get new stuff and indeed new parks happen too. We still, for example, haven’t done Aquatica, Volcano Bay or Legoland.
Anyway, flying that flag of trying something for the first time this week is Emily, who despite her very real fear of the whole event, has booked Halloween Horror Nights for her trip in September. There had been much debate, pondering and a little dithering, but my advice was you’d be daft not to. You never know if you’ll get the chance again and all things (within reason) should be tried once.
So good on Emily for giving it a shot. Technically we could also do it on our October trip but with a six-year-old and two-year-old with us that really isn’t practical and nobody is ready for the huge amount of screaming that would ensue from Louise for sure, but also me.
I have been to a Halloween event at DLP some years ago, which had some of the same elements I think, but from the vlogs I have seen of HHN, it was nowhere near as intense.
If the houses prove to be too terrifying I suggested there is always the option of taking the chance to do some rides whilst the queues are (I assume) short, so what is not to like.
For those with experience of this event, your comments, advice and feedback are welcome.
Having said that we always do something new, eateries aside, it feels like our October trip may not see that happen. This trip is a good old-fashioned WDW-only (probably) event and will be all about doing all the stuff we love with the boys.
Sure Tiana’s ride may be open by then so that will be a first and perhaps just once I will be one of those folks who return from WDW and say “I actually lost weight with all that walking”!
Really, who are these people and what are they (not) eating!?
But it feels right that this is how it may turn out. I know in reality it hasn’t been that long since we did the parks but it feels that way, and this trip, as is always the case when you take kids with you, will inevitably involve a load of firsts for them and I can’t wait.
Freddie is very much looking forward to being able to ride pretty much anything, certainly on Disney property. He is very tall for his age and the one in his sights is Rock n Rollercoaster as it is the only thing at WDW that goes upside down. Right now it is closed for refurbishment but it does seem to be promising to re-open in Summer 2024 so hopefully, we’ll be OK.
Rumours abound about whether the theming will change from Aerosmith to something else. I get that Aerosmith aren’t exactly relevant to anyone born in the last few decades so a change makes sense. I don’t know if they will move away from the band idea, but one rumour doing the rounds is that Queen will replace them.
For me, this makes no sense. They are no longer a band, mainly as the main man has been dead for decades and they are barely any more relevant to younger folks than Aerosmith. I do struggle to think of a band big enough to resonate with the older generations yet still be relevant to today’s music scene.
If anyone suggests Coldplay I will burn the ride down.
If any act makes any kind of sense it would be Taylor Swift. She is, love her or hate her, the biggest act on the planet right now, is young enough to have some career longevity to come and she already has a relationship with Disney, with her Eras tour thing showing on Disney+.
I’m not sure her music would have the same adrenaline-fueled effect that Walk This Way has as you are catapulted forward to start the ride, but it would permanently make the queues for the ride three hours as the Swifties descended upon it. Could they still call it Rock n Rollercoaster with a Swift theme? I don’t think so.
What say you? Can anyone see a B*Witched-themed ride working? I’d be interested in your suggestions so that I can let Bob Iger know. He’s a loyal reader as you know.
If ever there was a week to undermine any activity from the UK Tourist Board, then this must have been it. I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but the weather here was beyond atrocious and only increased my desire and anticipation to be somewhere warm. Insult was added to injury as we supposed to entering the time of year when you may feel justified in believing that the worst of the bleak winter is over.
What feels like 412th named storm of recent times battered us with sideways rain and annoyingly strong winds meaning that I was outside at the back of the house on multiple occasions, tethering down garden furniture that we’ve had for three years and hardly used because the weather here is always so shit.
There is a part of me that is beginning to think I have personally angered the weather gods, as even when we have managed to escape to Florida in recent times, we have enjoyed less than stellar conditions there too.
I am sure that is all about to change when we land in Melbourne at the end of May. It’s been some time since we were in Florida in their summer time, so I am very much up for a bit of sunburn and moaning about it being too hot.
Having had that whinge, as I write this I am sat with the conservatory door open with dry conditions outside. However, this is very much the exception.
You might point out that we have moved to the edge of the Lancashire moors and we need to expect biblical weather more often than not, but I don’t think we are alone in experiencing this nonsense. Speaking of which it is now over three years since we moved to this house. I’m sure for anyone who cares and/or remembers, it feels like time has whizzed by since my weekly posts were mainly moaning about solicitors and the snail-like progress of our move.
Anyway, the UK’s insistence on having bobbins weather is certainly increasing our desire not to be here and it is heightening our anticipation for our sun, sea and sand holiday in about six weeks time.
Looking ahead to that next trip in May, you may sympathise that it feels odd not to have anything of note to plan. What sort of holiday is that right? The uplifting effect of having a holiday booked is increased when there is pleasant stuff to plan and arrange. I think we all know that.
Well, with some determination, some planning activities can be found. I don’t know if anyone else uses this feature or whether I am just the last person on the planet to do so, but I’ve been using the Want To Go thing on Google maps to identify potential eateries (what else) around Delray Beach.
Highlighted on the below is our accommodation, and all the little red pins are restaurants that look of interest that I have added to my “want to go” list.
We probably won’t get to them all but it doesn’t hurt to have options right?
I am very encouraged that many of those places on this eatery-filled boulevard have great reviews and for foodies (fatties) like us, this is a utopian situation. Selecting our restaurant of choice shall be the main activity of our inactive days on the beach or by the pool.
I have invested in a small Amazon Fire tablet to feed my holiday time need to read. In November, we had to do several shopping trips as I kept running out of reading material, so now with my little electronic friend, I shall have an endless supply of holiday page-turners.
Before we do leave I think I’ll also have a look for some places of interest within driving distance, mainly as I don’t want to have paid for a hire car to not use it! The area is new to use so it would be good to explore the likes of West Palm Beach and maybe even as far afield as Miami could be worth a day trip. I quite fancy going to visit Hollywood (not the one in California) as that is where we stayed on our very first trip to the States in 1980. I haven’t changed a bit since then so I am sure it hasn’t either.
Another week gone and another week of seemingly endless posts on Facebook WDW groups of crowds that look biblical in proportion. Sure, it’s Spring Break, and for balance, there were some posts and blog posts about a really quiet week in the parks last month but overall, I have to say I am very trepidacious about our trip in October.
Nothing ruins a trip like overly busy parks and not being able to get on anything.
Having been out of the loop park-wise for some time, or at least it feels like I have, what is going on?
Is it social media over-egging the issue? Are we still in some kind of post-pandemic bounce back or have we reached a point where the existing parks just cannot accommodate the number of guests attending? Are there actually more guests and Genie+ (or some other factor) is playing a part in creating longer lines from that same number?
A minute’s worth of research suggests that the latter or something like it may be the case.
Thanks to queue-times.com for the graph.
Pre-pandemic attendance at MK was higher and this is replicated at all four parks, with only DHS almost back to pre-Covid attendance. Of course, we don’t yet have 2023 or 2024 data so that may show a sudden spike?
Are there still shortages of CMs? Are there other factors I am not considering (there definitely will be!).
So what is going so wrong in the parks that wait times of over an hour for most rides are the norm? Do Disney care? Is that bad for business or not?
I recognise I am asking lots of questions and not many answers. My opinion is tainted by my hatred of Genie+ I guess. Sure, I really resent the extra money it requires but it just doesn’t look to be working as well as the old system. We’ve had good days using it, with an afternoon/evening stacked with ride after ride despite the park being busy but is that causing a lot of pain in the standby lines? Why aren’t Disney offering virtual queues for all rides and attractions so guests can be free to roam the park spending money?
There has been a clamour for a fifth gate for almost as long as I can remember and with Universal taking the bull by the horns and opening new stuff, are we at a point where Disney need to or will respond?
Will they be reluctant to do so when seemingly at war with the state governor who seems to be intent on biting the hand that feeds him?
If overall attendance is still not back to 2019 levels will they want to create a fifth park or just continue to expand what they have? There has been talk of a significant MK expansion recently.
As well as offering more capacity it would also deliver a draw to get guests to return. Nothing mobilises the Disney faithful like a new thing. There are four-hour queues for a popcorn bucket. Add to that the benefit to guests of spreading themselves out over five parks and not four, and the whole experience may improve and return visits would increase perhaps.
If nothing else, the Disney vlogging community would definitely thank them!
Of course, that new park brings a lot of investment and cost to build and run it but I suspect Disney are not short of a few bob.
As we are now some 30 years since WDW opened a new park it feels like time to do so, and as ever the healthy competition of Universal being in Florida and doing just that may be the catalyst for Disney to finally announce this.
As you know, I have a direct line to Bob Iger, so I will be passing on my thoughts to him via this post. He is always the first to read them as you know.
Ultimately, I am looking to be reassured that we won’t be pissing away thousands of quid in October to stare at the app and not see a wait time under 90 minutes. If Bob could pull his finger out and announce and build that fifth gate by then that would be lovely.
March is often a month that we end with a sigh of relief. It is crammed full of family birthdays, often Easter and a Mother’s Day, that make it expensive and busy.
We’ve survived another and with my niece heavily pregnant there was a brief time when her booked cesarian on the 28th of March would add another birthday to the huge list, but at least the delay of her new daughter’s arrival until next week sees us enjoy a respite by a week for the years to come.
We were out for tea last night with Rebecca, Tom and the boys and as often seems to be the case when the weather brightens a bit and we all (nurses aside) get a long weekend off, thoughts and chat turned to plans for our holiday in October.
For the first time we chatted about preferences, parks and plans. Having done Volcano Bay without us when we went to Daytona Beach and they stayed in Orlando, in May 23 there was a request from Rebecca to do that again this time as they were very impressed.
Food wise, Teak Neighbourhood Grill may get a place on the plan having been skipped the last couple of times. We’d been a heck of a lot and our last visit to eat there, when Louise stayed home to look after her Mum, was, let’s not beat about the bush, a bit poor.
It was still in the lingering grip and aftermath of Covid, the place was dead and our server hopeless. It very much deserves another chance as it has blown our socks off on so many previous trips.
Sickies is already on the plan. It is the eatery of the moment it seems and Louise and I have loved it on both occasions and very much would like Rebecca, Tom and the boys to experience it.
I’d like to get us into Beaches & Cream if I can. We haven’t been since it was extended and hopefully that will make an ADR easier to come by. Tom, Freddie and now Dougie are the biggest ice cream fanactics in the world so a Kitchen Sink has to be on the cards.
Credit to Disney Food Blog for this pic…..
The ADR that seems to be most elusive these days is Space 220. I’m under no illusions that you go for the theming and experience and pay heftily for it, but the boys would love it and so if by any chance we can get in, we’ll try to do that too.
In a vain attempt to keep costs down I am trying to limit on-site sit down meals. There will probably be a Fantasmic Dinner Package to be done, but other than that, oh and maybe a character meal of some sort, hopefully we can eat off site more often than not.
It never seems to work out that way, but hey, we come this way but once, so I’m not going to sweat it.
I say that having attended a family funeral last week where we said goodbye to a lovely chap who was taken by cancer at just 55. The injustice and cruelty of that is indescribable and if something like that doesn’t tell you to not worry so much about saving money I don’t know what does. Who knows how long we’ve got to spend whatever we have/can earn.
Dining plans cannot be finalised for many months yet of course, until I think mid-August. Am I right in thinking you can now see all available slots for eateries on My Disney Experience rather than have to speculatively plug in endless different dates and times in the vain hope of striking lucky? That will be a massive help if that is the case.
For our May trip there is little to plan beyond what is already done of course. I paid for the car hire this week, thinking as I did, would we really *need* a car but it’s safer to have one and of course essential from and to the airport so we may as well have one in case we fancy a ride up or down the coast to see what is there.
Everything is paid up apart from the remaining 50% balance on the accomodation which we pay at check in, so all we have to do is wait for the next few weeks to hurtle by whilst at the same time trying in vain to shed a few pounds. I can’t tell you much harder that is at this time of life.
It feels like I haven’t planned a theme park trip for ages. I am rusty and out of practice and a little anxious at the prospect if I am honest. With a party the size of ours, with two small kids, we are not built for commando style early arrival and late leavings so we shall have to swallow the bitter pill of Genie+ and just take what we can achieve on a day by day basis.
I have a good amount of time to get back into the swing, do some research and watch some vlogs so we’ll probably be OK.
Hello all. It’s been some time since I was not writing up a trip, the latest taking from our return in late November till mid-March. It feels like a long time, but I suppose 14 days means 14 weeks unless I start doing multiple posts a week and I haven’t got the time for that, in the same way you haven’t got the tolerance.
As ever, after finishing up a trip report I feel like I have forgotten how to do a bog standard blog like what I used to, with life updates and goings on so I’m not sure where to start.
I’ll just say that everyone is OK and like everyone else we’ve been through our fair share of stress, worry and trauma since we last “spoke” alongside some good fortune and positive stuff.
Louise returned to work, in January, following a break of a couple of years which included looking after her Mum full-time and then getting over Mary’s and my Dad’s passing. Neither of us has fully “dealt with” those events and I’m not sure you ever do. She’s back nursing in the community and seems to have got back into the swing of things really well. I’m not saying she’d carry on post-lottery win, but she enjoys that area of nursing the most.
Emily (now 28!) has a WDW trip booked with her boyfriend in September. It will be his first experience with anything Disney park-related, but she is undertaking rigorous training via endless vlogs. They are staying in the All-Stars and doing Disney and hopefully Universal. He has the best guide ever to take him for the first time.
Rebecca (now 26!) and Tom are all good or as good as you can be when parenting two kids of almost 2 and 6. Over the past few months, Freddie has had some worrying health issues, but he seems to be coming out of them now, with a diagnosis at least and hopefully a plan that will see all that behind him shortly. It’s been a very worrying time. Dougie is adorable and a terror all at once. He needs 24/7 supervision to ensure he does not kill himself and those around him. Imagine Baby Jack Jack from The Incredibles, but cuter.
We looked after him yesterday whilst Freddie went karting, a hobby he is really getting into. It was Freddie’s first time on an outside track and he did brilliantly.
Dougie and I undertook a more sedate outdoor activity.
How am I? Well, I am my usual debonair, svelte, hirsute self, thanks for asking. These days, I spend most of my time working, attending to things that have gone wrong with the house, looking after animals and recycling (it seems). Our current animal count is 2 dogs, 3 cats and 2 rats.
One new thing I have done since we last “spoke”…
You may have noticed over the years that I enjoy a pithy/witty T-shirt and have bought them from all sorts of places to wear on my holidays. I had been looking for some shirts that carried certain themes etc recently and failed, so despite having no clue what I am doing, I have opened an Etsy Store, with a few shirts and things I designed myself, perfect for the discerning Disney fan/visitor.
This is my favourite so far –
I bought one myself, to make sure the quality wasn’t awful and it seems OK to be fair. Whatever you do, don’t buy so many that I have to give up work and do that full-time as that would be awful. If anyone is silly enough to buy anything I would love to see a photo of it out in the parks etc in due course.
Normally, certainly in recent times, as I finish writing up one trip, many of you might suspect that I will announce our next one. We have been very fortunate in recent years to have had many holidays, almost back-to-back and it is safe to say that our trips overseas are very important to us. We both work long and hard and choose to spend much of our earnings on such. It seems inevitable though that this run would need to come to an end at some point.
That point is not now.
We do have travel plans in May, but I assure you they do not involve Orlando. We wanted a beach holiday for resting and relaxing for Louise and me, and have decided to go somewhere completely different this time.
Having gone through the usual routine of scouring the planet (literally) for a suitable beachfront destination, with ample eateries and bars and good weather, as ever we struggled. I know that sounds ridiculous, but all the usual issues came up.
Anyway, after much research I have found us a lovely little boutique hotel in the resort of Delray. Where is Delray I hear you ask?
OK, yes it’s in Florida, but it isn’t Orlando!
It’s been a while since we booked it so I forget the detailed “journey” to choosing that destination, but having exhausted and discarded every other place on the planet, I think it was kicked off by looking at flights with Tui, going into Melbourne and realising that puts us in the middle of the East coast of Florida, opening up all the coastal resorts in that neck of the woods. Vero (the original reason to look into a Florida trip) was not available of course. I’m not sure we’ll ever get to stay there again unless we plan a whole trip around it and get it booked as soon as it is possible with the DVC rules etc.
More by luck than skill I think (and hope) I have stumbled across a perfect little gem for us in Delray Beach. It appears to have a lovely beach and then, in Atlantic Avenue, a long street filled with bars, nightlife and restaurants, to allow us to indulge in another trip like the one you just read about.
So yes we are flying with Tui for the first time into Melbourne on May 28th.
It’s about a 2-minute walk from the beach and it is situated close to all the nighttime action. I write that as if we will be partaking in any action of a night time. Typically, we will eat, have a drink or two and then go to bed.
This video is a walk along Atlantic Avenue if anyone is as sad as I am and wants to watch that.
We’ve hired a car via Discount Florida for the duration, which I think is about 10 nights, flying home on the 7th of June. It’ll be interesting to see how that airport is for things like immigration and picking up the car etc. Who says we don’t do anything different on our holidays?
So this will be another of our, med-style holidays but in the familiarity and comfort of Florida. But I have to get originality points for Delray Beach right?
I can already hear the murmurs of excitement amongst you at the prospect of reading about another beach holiday!
I hear you and with that in mind, if you can get through that one, in October we are returning to our roots with a full-blown, bring as many family members as we can, theme park bonanza!
Yep, myself, Louise, Rebecca, Tom and the boys will be in WDW from mid-October (Emily will have just got back from her own trip and so won’t have enough holidays or money to join us).
This is an old-school WDW trip with none of this beach and bars nonsense. It’s for the purists and those who love the parks, which is us.
As I said above, it will be interesting to see how Melbourne is in May as that is where we are flying into again in October. Aer Lingus were sold out on crucial dates that we needed (getting so many folks on one trip is like threading a needle blindfolded) and Virgin were, as they often tend to be, just ridiculously expensive, being some 30-50% higher than Aer Lingus at best.
So I looked at Tui, despite that 90-minute drive from the airport to Orlando not being ideal. They had availability and prices that were just about tolerable.
Again, we’ve booked our mini-van from Discount Florida and I am so happy to say that our favourite ever villa was available. It is absolutely stunning and we can’t wait to return.
For now, we are just planning on doing Disney, but we may, nearer the time, add a night at Universal if we can justify the expense. With Dougie being just two at that point, the Universal parks may not offer him too much to do so we’ll see. I have booked our 14-day passes from Floridatix with a deposit. It is so nice not to have to stump up all the ticket money this far out to make park reservations.
I must admit to some trepidation about tackling the parks. All I seem to see online is how busy they are these days regardless of the time of year and I know we’re going to have to shell out for the increasingly more expensive Genie+ more often than not. The plan, as it stands in its early phases, allows for a good many rest days, which will be needed and we’ll just take it as it comes I suppose.
So there we have the content for the next few weeks laid out as I share with you our plans, hopes and dreams for these two trips. I know it is indulgent, I know we are lucky, but we just choose to spend our disposable cash on these trips. As the saying goes, we are not rich, (we might be if we didn’t do as many holidays!) just really irresponsible.
Hopefully, there is something in there for both of my readers and we can look forward to a holiday-packed 2024 together.
The end of this trip, an extended trip at that and one besmirched by shite weather for the majority of it. That’s all relative of course as we would not have been lying outside in our shorts back home at this time, but you go to Florida so you can.
Anyway, this last day started like most of the others with an awakening around 7am. For some reason I noted that I frequented the “bathroom” a good few times this morning. Maybe a delayed reaction to the gallons of Espresso Martinis on this holiday?
We did the dreaded packing and were out of the room by 10.40 with the car pointed at Disney Springs for one last visit. We parked in Lime and left all the bags in the car, in which was the camera, so I only have a few phone shots for you today.
Despite thinking we had finished gift shopping we were still looking for ways to spoil the grandkids, so we found ourselves in the Harley Davidson shop debating whether to spend a silly amount of money on a leather jacket for Freddie. In the end, we decided against it as he would grow out of it in about six minutes.
We wandered into World of Disney, still desperate to hand over more dollars and having done that we needed some lunch. Today would be the day we finally tried the Polite Pig.
It was only 11.30 but packing had meant no breakfast and hey, we were still on holiday.
We got a platter for two and it was absolutely delicious. As you can see it wasn’t a huge amount of food for two people but maybe that is just us fat knackers. It was $55ish. I hadn’t realised this was a counter service place rather than being served at your table so I share that in case you didn’t either.
With that devoured, we headed over to Starbucks and got a couple of coffees and something sweet in the form of a cookie and a blueberry scone. We found a bench to eat them on whilst “enjoying” what seemed to be a school band on the stage.
You can enjoy them too….
I think the term, “bless them” covers that sufficiently. As a very average musician myself I tip my hat to these youngsters and their abilities that already outstrip mine.
Once they were finished we found a little wall to sit on and people watch for a few minutes soaking up the last bits of warmth before making the final walk back to the car. We filled it up at the Gas station opposite the Springs for $28 and set off towards MCO. Terminal C still has the feeling of not quite being open. Everything feels empty, which is no bad thing.
We were too early to check in, so after a painless car drop-off and standing in the queue for too long, it finally opened at 2pm. Security also was a bit shit but we finally made it through and made our way to Gate 238 by 3pm.
As ever my notes dry up here. I did note that we were sat in the extra legroom seats, near the emergency exit and therefore had one of the flight crew sitting opposite us for take-off and at times during the flight. She was lovely and really helped Louise who as you may know is a nervous flyer. She explained every noise, bump and wobble and was generally just excellent.
As is customary on a return to the UK, you have to be reminded what a mess things are by waiting over 90 (yes, 90) minutes to have the cases appear on the carousel. Every time!
We finally got our luggage, walked to the car and made our way back to reality.
So it’s time to sum up this one. In summary, here are my takes if anyone cares.
I know I’ve moaned about the weather throughout this trip and I have been justified in doing so. It did not ruin the holiday for us but it certainly affected it. It made us extend the trip if nothing else.
Aer Lingus took us there and back and were absolutely fine. There were no issues, edible food and despite being in economy, albeit with extra legroom on the way back, comfortable enough. We find their entertainment choice a bit dated/limited, but in the scheme of things, you just need that big tube thing with wings to get you there and back safely and economically and they do the job very well.
The Drury Plaza Hotel is excellent. It is new so all the facilities are just that. The rooms are large and spacious and most with nice views. It has so many extra perks compared to other hotels and if you can get the free parking offer (I think via Travel Republic, if it still exists) that will save you a lot too. Free breakfast, the early evening kickback (which we never used) free coffee in the lobby, buses to the parks, early entry and a superb location make it a no-brainer. We will definitely consider it when we want to do a similar trip in the future.
Recently, we seem to have created a new kind of Florida trip. New for us anyway. This adults only, no parks, doing what would be a holiday to the Med but in Florida thing, and it really works for us.
We’ve loved this trip and similar previous ones and we will do it again. It gives us all the familiar Florida stuff we love –
Guaranteed quality of food and accommodation
Endless options for dining and drinks at Disney Springs and the resorts
Not having to figure out a new place with only a precious few days to spend there.
None of the stress, planning and crowds involved with going to the parks
I know for many, that endless discovery of new places is exactly what is sought but with holiday time being so precious (and expensive) this works for us. I would thoroughly recommend it. We did not miss the parks at all; honestly, it was as if they did not exist.
I should say, there is no falling out of love with the parks. We will be back soon enough for a full-on theme park commando dawn till dusk ride fest. It was just not on the agenda for this trip.
We thought going to Florida would guarantee the weather too but we’ve just had some really crappy luck there. Our stay at Daytona last May was badly affected by unusually terrible weather so if and when we ever return we surely are due some proper old-school Florida sun.
Don’t get me wrong we adore going to Florida with as many family members as we can muster and we will definitely do that again ASAP, but the freedom of being just the two of us makes it what we hoped and that is a stress-free relaxing break. I think I have had more alcohol on this trip than in the last ten years, but variety is the spice of life as they say and a little bit of excess in moderation doesn’t hurt.
Thanks again for enduring, especially this one which was literally us sitting by a pool or moaning that we couldn’t, followed by an evening meal and maybe some drinks. For those who did endure, thank you.
Dig in folks, we are now at the “last full day”. Once we get this one out of the way there’s just the brief and sulky travel day to endure and then we can all move on with our lives.
After a late and boozy night, there was no rush at all to get up this morning. My dislike of the weather continued as it looked to be cloudy AF (I am down with kids) again.
It was a solo breakfast once more this morning but I did take a hungover Louise some coffee and sweet things on my return.
With no sun to speak of, we jumped in the car and headed up the I4 to City Walk to do some final gift shopping. We parked up and headed on in.
We initially stopped off in the gift shop at Bubba Gump’s. Louise bought too much stuff. It wasn’t a financial concern, well it was a bit, but I was very worried about our lack of luggage space for the return leg. We were pretty much at our limit on the way out and we had already accumulated many gifts to return with.
We strolled on and did a full loop around the water.
We stopped in most of the shops along the way and did manage to get everyone who merited one, a present.
Having spent a handful of calories walking, the sensible thing to do would be to nip into Toothsome for a Freak Shake, so we did.
I had the Red Velvet and Louise the Espresso Buzz. They were glorious of course and being stupid we kept the plastic cup things and somehow managed to bring them back across the Atlantic so they could sit in our cupboard never to be used again.
We completed our loop, stopping in more shops and Bubba Gumps again to use their restroom on our way back to the car. The forecast said there may be some sun to come so we were headed back to the pool all full of hope and expectation.
Naturally, pretty much as soon as we lay down by the pool the drizzle started.
You can have that footshot for free.
We moved under cover on the patio area and hoped to wait out the fleeting shower. It did not fleet and just got worse so we eventually gave up and returned to the room. We read and rested for a bit before getting ready to go out for dinner (tea).
Our destination was Olive Garden just around the corner and we got there around 8pm. We were seated immediately.
You will know what happened first.
We both opted for the Tour Of Italy…
We both had Diet Coke too, having had enough of alcohol last night.
The bill was a very reasonable $70 including a good tip and after what had been some rocky ground here since Covid this felt like a return to form for Olive Garden and I was glad we hadn’t given up on it.
We went straight back to the hotel, having neither the desire nor stamina to do any drinking or revelling this evening. We watched The Hunger Games in bed and went to sleep around 11pm. Hardly a glorious finale to our trip but it’s what we felt like doing and isn’t that what holidays are all about?
Fear not faithful readers, we are approaching the end of this seemingly endless Groundhog Day trip and then you will surely be spared any further trip reportage from me for some time. Right?
I was awake at 6.30am. This was intentional as there was a football match back in the UK that I wanted to watch. Not too surprisingly the TV in our room did not carry the required channels to watch it, so I had to resort to watching it on my phone instead. Having watched an acceptable draw, I ventured down to breakfast alone at 9.45. Louise could not muster the enthusiasm to do so this morning, so after eating I brought her a muffin and a coffee because I am a model husband.
With days fast running out, we went to the pool despite the cloudy weather. It was warm enough and certainly warmer than it would be when we would get home in a few short days so we endured.
I think I must have nodded off at one point because when I opened my eyes Louise’s sunbed was empty and I eventually saw her on the other side of the pool, chasing the intermittent sun.
We got our customary snacks and Lays for lunch again and continued to do nothing until around 4pm.
For reasons I now cannot remember I had decided that this evening we would be eating at Saltgrass Steakhouse at Lake Buena Vista, so after showers, we drove the short distance.
After enjoying them so much at Sickies once we saw the Pickles and Peppers on the menu they were bound to be our appetiser.
They were large and very nice, as, increasingly was I. We also had a bread service and a salad before our mains arrived.
I figured, if you are coming to a steak house then it would be silly not to so I ordered, possibly the largest steak I had ever eaten.
It was a 22oz Porterhouse and it was awesome.
Louise had a Chicken Sandwich. After all these years, even Louise forgets to not go near her food until the photo has been taken!
I didn’t make a note of the bill, but I think it was decent value all things considered. This being our first time here, I would say it is worth a try. It is a no-frills affair and seemingly very popular with locals which is usually a good sign.
We left around 7.45 and dropped the car off back at the hotel. A Lyft took five minutes to arrive and it transported us to The Boardwalk. It took an age. The traffic past Disney Springs was ridiculous. What should have been a sub-ten-minute journey took over twenty.
I feared that Jellyrolls, our destination, would be full by now, but we managed to snag the last table and it was right by the stage. This can be a worry if you are not a fan of audience participation but we were not troubled tonight.
As ever the performers were great despite not being any of our favourites. We had a couple of requests played, Teenage Dirtbag and That Thing You Do (again).
We had a few rounds of drinks. You know you’ve been to Jellyrolls a lot when the waitress comes to your table and says “the usual?”. I think we probably funded her mortgage for the month during this trip.
I think we left around 12.30 and ordered our Lyft home. We were picked up by “Flash”. I may be cynical but that was probably not his real name. Regardless he was a superstar. We had a lovely chat all the way home about his home of Jamaica and all sorts of random things. What a lovely man.
We said goodbye and I probably over-tipped him before falling into bed around 1am.
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