Day 6: Hollywood Studios and Rose and Crown dinner
We woke up bright and early again to a cold, but sunny morning. It was our Hollywood Studios day and because it was so chilly, we decided to take the boat rather than walk, which is what we normally do. Our first stop in the park was Starbucks as I was getting pretty sick of Jeoffreys coffee or whatever the heck it's called. We have a Starbucks in our office building, so I don't DIE over their coffee. I'm kinda over it to be honest. But we had some leftover snacks and I appreciate the fact that they don't jack up their prices just because they're in Disney.
Scott was really wanting to do Rockin' Rollercoaster and I totally did not. Of all the rides at Disney, this one scares me the most. Maybe it's that moment of sitting in the car knowing that you're about to be propelled into pitch black madness, or the fact that a friend of mine had to get evacuated from the ride and they turned on all the lights and she said it was even scarier with the lights ON that puts me into panic mode. I just didn't have the guts to do it this time around. So while he did single rider, I went over to try the infamous Carrot Cake Cookie. Now that Writers Stop is closed, they started selling them at Sweet Spells right on the corner.
I thought this would be a good breakfast choice--you know, there's carrots in it and raisins, so it's basically health food. I really really enjoyed this cookie. There was just the right amount of texture from the raisins and just enough cream cheese filling...not too much, which is what I normally find. It tasted really great and was nice and filling. I ended up eating this for 2 days!
My kids were with Scott's parents for the beginning of the week and my parents house for the end of the week until we got back. We FaceTimed with them every day and they were having so much fun they were barely missing us. It let us have fun knowing that our kids weren't like, crying themselves to sleep over us. Well, unfortunately, while I was sitting enjoying my coffee and carrot cake cookie waiting for Scott to get off the ride, I got a phone call from my mom. My DD (5) had thrown up twice the night before and was crying for me. She's only thrown up twice in her life, and so I imagined she was pretty upset about it. I found a quiet spot to FT her and poor thing looked terrible. Pale, dark circles under her eyes. So sad. Naturally, I was feeling very anxious and sad and missing my kids even more than I already was. Scott got off the ride and I filled him in. We made a plan to go back to the room after lunch and FT her again to check up on her.
Luckily, I made our FP's for the morning, so we went on ToT, TSMM, and Star Tours and grabbed a quick bite at Starring Rolls. Now, as stated previously this is, in my opinion, the only place worth eating at in HS. Although it tends to be pretty crowded and sometimes chaotic, the sandwiches and desserts are really yummy. I think it's a good value for
DDP quick service.
I ordered the ham sandwich, water and a Darth Vader peanut butter cupcake. Scott ordered the pastrami on a pretzel roll and a fruit tart. Both of our sandwiches were delicious. Fresh tasting and really big! Scott's pastrami sandwich was the better of the two I think. The meat to bread ratio was better. I took out 1/2 the pile of ham from my sandwich. I don't know why they put so much inside those sandwiches. It's like a 1/2 lb of deli meat.
I was less than impressed with the infamous butterfinger cupcake the last time I was there, and because I already had cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake I didn't get the red velvet. I went for the DV cupcake and was really happy with. The frosting was rich without being sickly and the cake was moist (sorry for using that word!). Most importantly, the temperature was right on it. My butterfinger cupcake was ice cold on my last trip so the frosting ended up tasting like a cold stick of butter. DS actually just ate DV's head the other day as a treat
The crowds started to pick up after lunch, and we were getting really worried about DD, so we decided to call it a day on HS. I can't wait to see what they end up doing over there with Star Wars and Toy Story Land. But for us, HS is a 1/2 day park.
We got back to our room and FaceTimed with DD. She seemed a lot better and really just wanted to chat with us. After talking with her Scott and I decided to take a nap before dinner at Rose and Crown.
After our afternoon nap, we got up, showered and still had some time to kill before dinner. So we decided to go downstairs to check out the Crews Cup lounge and have a cocktail and maybe an appetizer. Crews Cup is located next to The Yachstman heading toward the Captain's Grille. It's really nice in there. Has an Adirondack/Lodge sort of feel to it. Lots of copper and wood with craftsman details. Tastefully and expensively done little lounge. I ordered a Mojito and Scott orderd a Long Island Ice Tea. The mojito was a nice change of pace from the very tart drinks I had over the week.
We met 2 really nice couples at the bar that we were chatting with. Northeasterners like us
We were comparing snow horror stories lol. We were feeling a bit peckish after our nap, so we decided to try the truffle fries. I AM SO GLAD WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These fries were soooooo good. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of truffle oil. I feel like places are really heavy handed with it, but these fries had just the right amount of earthy flavor, salt and parmesan cheese. There was a shallot mayonnaise served along side that made the perfect dipping sauce. And for $5.50, it might just be one of the best values in WDW. I mean, these are like, the Rolls Royce of french fries.
Behold:
We were having such a great time, I ordered another mojito and Scott ordered a beer--maybe an IPA? I wasn't really paying attention, but he seemed pretty psyched about the beer selection.
After we paid our bill, we decided to head over to WS to get a couple souvenirs we had been eyeing for the kids and a R&C beer glass for my dad. As soon as we got out of the UK shops, the sky opened up and naturally, everyone ran into Rose and Crown. It was a crowded, soggy mess in there. We had a reservation in about 45 minutes, so we decided to grab a pint and wait. It was standing room only but we managed to find a little corner with a window ledge big enough for our drinks. It had seemed like people were really ready to tie one on at the Rose and Crown pub. The bar was about 3 deep all the way around. We ended up chatting with a group of crazy women that were there for a 40th birthday party. They were pretty wild! But really fun to chat with. What an awesome way to spend your 40th! There were a bunch of conference guys circling them like vultures. It was pretty funny. We had another pint before our pagers went off for dinner.
We had the loveliest waitress named Charlotte. She was friendly, courteous and prompt with our food and bill. We ordered the scotch egg appetizer. It was delicious, but I'm, not sure if I would order it again. It was $9.00 for one egg ultimately.
For dinner, I ordered the shepherd's pie and Scott ordered the NY Strip and fried fish. Both were excellent. Sorry I didn't get any pics, because as I stated above, I got distracted by the cocktail I ordered with dinner. I was feeling pretty warm inside at dinner, and after my beer, it seemed like a good idea to order one more drink with dinner. We weren't driving afterall! I ordered the English Rose: Beefeater Gin, Apricot Brandy, Sweet Vermouth, Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, and Cranberry Juice served in a Souvenir Cu. I didn't really read the description because I certainly was not expecting the drink to come in this giagantic cup!
I definitely did NOT need to drink that whole thing. It was really delicious though. We ended up leaving with it after dessert and dumping it when we got to the park exit.
Looking at my pics, I did manage to take a pic of my banoffee tart (Yay me!) I did remember really liking this dessert. I love chocolate and bananas together and the pastry wasn't too thick. It was a nice little dessert.
We had a really fun day/night and with just one more full day, I would say that we were living it up before going back to reality!
Miles Walked: 6.6
Up next: Final Day - Magic Kingdom, Tea at Grand Floridian and Narcoossee's