"Hee hee hee, haw haw haw!" A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT again! COMPLETE!!!

[auntfrannie]

Wow! How lucky for you get to be in the parade, especially since it's gone now! Jammin' Jungle was my favorite parade so I'm a bit jealous!

 

[buteraa]

glad you came back to finish your reviews!

 

[pumba]

congratulations first....and what great photos and descriptions of the foods...thanks so much for taking the time to do this...cause we all love our FOOD PORN...

 

[Redwitch]

I have so enjoyed this - a pleasant flash back!!! Mickey's Jingle Jammin' Parade -- Loved it! Favorite ever! (Especially at Christmas!) How wonderful and magical to be IN the parade! Kouzzina's stack breakfast -- olive toast -- Yummo! Please continue!!!!

 

[FancyNancy]

I know I'm joining in a little late but I have read it all and love love love your dining review!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Wow! How lucky for you get to be in the parade, especially since it's gone now! Jammin' Jungle was my favorite parade so I'm a bit jealous!

We were so lucky! I still can't believe that we got to do it! xxx

glad you came back to finish your reviews!

Thank you! I will finish it...one day!! HAha xxxx

congratulations first....and what great photos and descriptions of the foods...thanks so much for taking the time to do this...cause we all love our FOOD PORN...

Aww thank you so much We all love food porn haha! xxxx

I have so enjoyed this - a pleasant flash back!!! Mickey's Jingle Jammin' Parade -- Loved it! Favorite ever! (Especially at Christmas!) How wonderful and magical to be IN the parade! Kouzzina's stack breakfast -- olive toast -- Yummo! Please continue!!!!

Aww I'm so pleased! I'm determined to finish it now!! xxxxx

I know I'm joining in a little late but I have read it all and love love love your dining review!

No problem, more the merrier!! xxxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

Lunch in Celebration

Guys I’m so so sorry I’ve not updated in a while! I’ve been so busy with wedding planning since we got back from our Christmas trip, but I am determined to finish this even though it’s sooooo old! Hopefully it can still help anyone planning a trip J


So, without further ado! This day we’d spent a couple of hours exploring Celebration after getting a taxi there, and we were ready for an early lunch about 11 J


We looked at the menus for both the Tavern and the Café, and preferred the Tav so in we went! The lovely lady who greeted us said we were the first customers of the day ha! Keen beans indeed. We were sat at a lovely booth and we both thought it was such a cool pub! It had loads of New England memorabilia on the walls and it just had a really nice feel. I was so excited to get some authentic American food, from an actual non-chain American restaurant!

We ordered drinks first! I got a chocolate milkshake

It was really good.


Ben chose a beer from the massively extensive list, a Longboard to start!

We decided to get a starter to begin with whilst we chose our mains. We both saw fried mac and cheese bites on the menu and straightaway ordered them haha. We don’t mess around when it comes to mac n cheese bites!


They came out fairly quickly and OH MY LORD were they good. We still talk about them to this day!

They had a gorgeous marinara dip and we were literally dredging the bites in the dip pot and scraping off every last drop with the last few! SO GOOD!


In fact, and this is a little embarrassing, they were so good that…


WE ORDERED ANOTHER PLATE! I know! How insane is that!? Greedy-boys-r-us! Our server didn’t even bat an eyelid though so it was totally cool. We then ordered our actual main courses, haha.


Benj chose the spicy bean burger,

I got the chicken parmesan sandwich!

It was amazing but I was already stuffed from all the mac n cheese goodness! So really, we could have shared a main…but where’s the fun in that!?


Benj also got another beer!

The food was so, so good. Really fresh and tasty. The service was awesome too with really friendly waitresses and lots of banter with the regular customers, which we enjoyed listening to We noticed there were a lot of Brits in there, too! Interesting! We were chuffed when we received our bill; 2 x mac n cheese, 1 sandwich, 1 burger, 2 x beer and a choc milkshake…$49! Hellooooo.


I went to the bathroom before we left and I took a photo of this, a nice touch I thought!

The Verdict

It has to be a wedding dress! This lunch was so yummy, and so cheap!! Awesome

 

[Libby_Darling]

Via Napoli


After our nice morning in Celebration, we did some shopping in Disney Springs in the afternoon and then got a bus to EPCOT ready for our ADR at Via Napoli J


We decided the best way to go from DTD would be to get the bus to the Swan/Dolphin, get off and walk to Boardwalk, and then go through to EPCOT. Ben then had the genius idea of grabbing a couple of drinks from Boardwalk Joes for the walk through to the World Showcase! Love that boy sometimes.


Did take this photo of the rather beautiful Sea Breeze Point while we were passing

1 Superfruit margarita and 1 magical star cocktail later, we were strolling through to WS avec drinks We had a 7.45 ADR at Via Napoli (SO EXCITED for this) so we had to be very sensible and not get snacks from F&W whilst we were wandering around the WS. However, that, my friends, is quite frankly easier said than done. I accidentally got the steak from Canada. Ben accidentally got the Vegetarian Haggis from Scotland. We also got drinks with them. Oops!


But after that we were really good! First, we went on the 3 Caballeros as we hadn’t before, and Ben has the DVD! He’s a massive fan haha! So we felt we should really. It was…good. Enjoyable!


We then hit Norway and got FP’s for Maelstrom because like every other time we rocked up to it, the queue was insane! All good though with FP’s We then got Singapore Slings from the booth by Norway, and explored the shops.


I met the troll!

I know I’ve said this for like the last 5 days, but I really wish we’d had more time at Epcot! I just think it’s so fun to walk around all the pavilions and explore all the nooks and crannies.


We then used our FP’s for Maelstrom…for the last ever go! We only went on it twice haha. It’s a good ride but I’m so up for a Frozen makeover Can’t wait! Bye Maelstrom, the time we spent together was beautiful.

We then realised that time was ticking and we needed to hustle over to Italy for our 7.45 ADR. We took some photos in the Italy pavilion, it really is lovely! I was soooooo excited for this ADR, had wanted to eat here for ages!

We checked into Via Napoli a few minutes early, clever us! We were led to a little table for 2 off the main room, like a conservatory room? We were right by the window though and I was really pleased with our location


For some reason neither of us were feeling the alcohol at this meal (! budget conscious, you know us ) so I got a diet coke and I believe Benj got a lemonade.


Our server here was okay, but he was really pushy as you’ll see in a minute! But generally, the service here was CRAZY. Like, chaotic. Maybe it was just this evening!? There was a big table next to us that seemed to all be one family and from what we could tell, ish was going down! By the sounds of it (a woman yelling at the top of her voice at a server) the family had all disappeared for a few minutes, and when they got back to their table all their food had been cleared away. This did NOT go down well and apparently was not what the woman was expecting, so she made her feelings clear. It went on for ages and was really awkward for everyone else as a male family member kept asking the other diners in the room if they had seen anything etc. Eeesh! Luckily, they eventually left just as we were finishing our starters so the rest of our meal was in relative peace


Potentially creepy photo of Ben (I think he’s got a mouthful of drink ha!)

Moi

We got brought out some beautiful bread and the most amazingly coloured olive oil! I could live on olive oil alone and the bread was so good, we really enjoyed this

First up, starters! I knew what I was having, 100% Arancini.


Arancini - fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella & meat ragù


YUM! We should have shared a starter really but unfortunately the arancini had meat in them and I really really wanted them! So, we got one each.

They were sooooooo good! I wish I had a photo of the innards but unfortunately I do not So you’ll have to imagine the ooey gooey cheesy stringiness that emerged when I cut these babies open Def order them though, you won’t regret it!


Ben plumped for the mozzarella salad:


Mozzarella Caprese - vine-ripened tomato, fresh milk mozzarella

I personally felt this was rather a teeny portion but Ben was happy with it and said the flavours were so simple and delicious that he was really pleased with his choice.


Next up, the main event! Now, for years (like, 3 years, no joke) I had planned to get the


Quattro Formaggi Pizza - white pizza, mozzarella, parmesan, fontina, provolone.


I had drooled over photos for it, read mouth-watering reviews and generally tortured myself with how excited I was to actually get it. I just loved the idea of a white pizza as we don’t really get them over here (booo, England) and it sounded amazing.


So, no-one was more surprised than me when I actually ordered the Carciofi pizza, instead!


Carciofi Pizza - white pizza, artichoke, fontina, mozzarella, truffle oil.


I’m not really sure why, I think it’s because I LOVE truffle oil and it just sounded more exciting than the Quattro Formaggi at that moment. So I got it!


And luckily, I was not disappointed! It was a really, really good pizza.

Doesn’t it look yummy! It was still a white pizza, and it had lovely artichoke hearts and lots of creamy mozzarella in every bite, plus the truffle oil made it so exceedingly rich it just made it! I love rich food – pasta dishes made with double cream, dauphinoise potatoes, pizza with loaaaads of cheese on, I love them all! I don’t understand people who say “it was so rich, I couldn’t finish it” or “it was so rich and unpleasant” WHAT!? Man up! If its rich, you KNOW it’s gonna be good


Whilst I was dissolving into truffle oiled, mozzarella filled heaven, Ben was tucking into his own personal pizza. He chose the mushroom affair;


Funghi Pizza - tomato sauce, mozzarella, portobello, cremini mushrooms.

And enjoyed it a lot! He didn’t think it was anything too spectacular but he ate it all up, no worries.


My one pet peeve of the evening is when I was still chowing down on my pizza (I’m a really slow eater I don’t know why, I think it’s a sub-conscious effort to make the food last longer!? It’s really bad in restaurants where I’m talking a mile a minute and not eating, oops!) and Ben had finished his, and our server came and handed Ben the dessert menu! Ummm excuse me mister, could you wait a cotton pickin’ second for us both to be in a situation where we’re ready to move onto the next course! ? That left a bad taste in my mouth as I don’t like to be rushed and there wasn’t any need for him to do that. It wasn’t like the place was rammed and 1 in, 1 out. And even if it was, that doesn’t mean a restaurant should rush paying customers! Anyway. Ben just put the menu down and ignored it until I was finished and then we both looked. Weird, though!?


I was feeling preeetttyyyyy stuffed after my pizza (I ate the whole thing bar some crusts! Pretty impressive!) BUT I felt like I could maybe get dessert, and it wouldn’t kill me. So, I did!


Zeppole di Caterina - Ricotta cheese fritters, served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce

I’d seen these on loads of dining reviews and they’re an unusual dessert (not your standard ice cream sundae etc) so I thought it’d be nice to order them. Plus, hello, read the description!


They were delicious. Very rich again, but I loved them! The chocolate sauce was amazing.

Definitely order these! Ben helped me out with a few once he’d finished his dessert. He got the pistachio sorbet, a very restrained portion, and delicious, too! I tried some and it was super creamy.

And that was our dinner! We paid 2 x DDP credits and tipped the standard 20%, should have done 18% really but we’re too nice! I would come back here again because the food was lovely and high quality, and I think it’s good value for 1 DDP credit. Could have done without the drama of the other tables but that isn’t really the restaurants fault.


We both rolled ourselves back out into Epcot, contemplated staying for some more adventures but decided against it. We went to the bus stop instead, and were ‘home’ and in bed at about 10.30


The Verdict


I think it’s got to be a pink dress as the food was really good but the service let it down!

 

[Avery&Todd]

so glad you're still updating here!!

 

[Landslide305]

You're making me so hungry. Everything looks delicious. I really have to take notes to remember to order some of these.

 

[Libby_Darling]

so glad you're still updating here!!

I am determined to finish it!!! xxx

You're making me so hungry. Everything looks delicious. I really have to take notes to remember to order some of these.

Haha apologies! Hope the reviews help xxx

 

[Libby_Darling]

Grand Floridian Cafe

This was a lovely day - we had lunch at GFC before MNSSHP in the evening! Let's get to it!

So we got the bus to MK in the morning and then enjoy a relaxed boat ride to the GF Once off the boat, we still had a little while before our ADR so decided to go for a stroll around the beautiful grounds of the GF. SO STUNNING! It was a lovely warm day and we just wandered around, soaking up the atmosphere. I believe it was then my suggestion that we go and have a quick peek at the Wedding Pavilion, seeing as we were in the area

It’s really funny now to think that it was just a spur of the moment decision to go and see the Pavilion. Although we’d only been engaged 2 minutes, we had spoken about weddings before and were both pretty adamant that we wouldn’t get married in WDW. There were lots of reasons, none of which seem important or valid at all now hahaha!

Ben was more than happy to go and see the WP so we checked a sign to see where it was, and then started strolling, down the winding path that leads to the Wedding Pavilion. We walked past Franks, the Bridal Studio (although we didn’t know what it was at the time!) named after the wedding planner in Father Of The Bride!

It was really funny because literally every person we saw in that area shouted congratulations to us after seeing our Just Engaged badges, and then made a joke about where we were and why we were visiting haha! Loved it! We then reached the WP and ohhhh….it was so beautiful!

SO BEAUTIFUL. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. We walked over the bridge and I took photos whilst Ben was doing some video recording. I remember he just kept saying “wow…wow…WOW” haha I think he fell in love with it right at that moment, I honestly do!

This view…

(sorry, I have tried to rotate it but it doesn't seem to be working!? :mad2

This building <3 …..

We spend a happy few minutes down there, looking around and just taking it all in. We loved it! :spin: :spin: :spin:

It was then time to head back to the main building and check into the Grand Floridian Café for our luncharoo. We fpound the GFC easily and checked in. We were led to our table by a confusingly grumpy and silent man who didn’t even say hello…weird! Our table was set for 2, in a very dark corner, crammed right next to a table set for 6. Hmmm. I was slightly disappointed, and couldn’t help looking over at all the couples just over from us sat on lovely, brightly lit tables set for 4. We dutifully sat down but I wasn’t feeling very happy – I didn’t understand why we’d been shoved in a corner when the restaurant was half empty and there were so many lovely tables free. We were then totally ignored. No-one spoke to us for aaaggggess then or came over or anything, so it was getting fairly awkward. Eventually a lady came over, checked our receipt and said “Oh, he’s put you on the wrong table!” Seeing my chance, I sized the opportunity and was straight in with “Ooooh well I wouldn’t say no to moving!” Hehe The lady nodded, walked off, and came back with another nice lady who was possibly the manager. It was all getting very confusing! She then said “How can I help, I hear you’d like to move?” Errr yeah, if you’re offering love! I said yes please, if it all possible that would be lovely. She straightaway moved us to a gorgeous table for 2 right by the window. Yay! If you don’t ask you don’t get! I was a happy girl

After all this table drama we were starving. We had a strange server here, I have no notes to explain this but that’s what I’ve written and I do kind of remember he was slightly odd. Oh well, he bought our food!

First up was a round of calming OOP alcoholic beverages. Ben chose a margarita, and I got a Florida Sunrise We also go a diet coke and a sprite with our DDP credits. Drinks party haha! It was then decisions, decisions as we perused the menu. I had my eye on a few little treats but eventually I chose the one that sounded the best, and that I recalled having seen mouth-watering photos of.

I chose The Grand Sandwich - Open-faced hot Ham, Fresh-roasted Turkey, Bacon, and Tomato with a rich Boursin Cheese Sauce and Fried Onion Straws…and what looks to be extra sauce on the side!? No idea why but I’m guessing I read about it online and went for it! *cough* greedy *cough*

A failed close-up

First of all, these homemade chips are amazing. I avoided the disappointment that comes when you expect proper chips but get chips as I knew that’s what we’d be getting haha, and they were so yummy! Warm and fresh with salt on top. Incredible, especially dipped in the extra sauce! My sandwich was mega delicious – the sauce is Boursan and it was liquid heaven. However, there was SO MUCH MEAT in the sandwich, it was insane! I could hardly finish any as after I’d taken a few bits, I was full!

Benji chose the Falafel Burger - with Chipotle Hummus on a Brioche Bun served with a choice of Cucumber Salad or Seasonal Fruit.

He really enjoyed this and said the chipotle hummus added a lovely heat

We decided to get dessert and our server said we could get the dessert sampler to share. Done!

Dessert Sampler (Serves Two) - Fresh Berry Tart, Boston Cream Pie, Key Lime Tart, and Lemon Cheesecake

These were...hmm, I didn't enjoy them. It looked so beautiful but it was almost as if the desserts had been frozen and then defrosted…and they were mushy. Ew. Not good. I picked at a couple of bites but let Benj have the rest. It was hilarious as I tried to get the solid chocolate Mickey off the platter but he was glued on with chocolate, and as I tried to get him off he broke in two! We stared at each other in shock and then I realised the table next to us was staring too, and we all started cracking up! Haha Oops, sorry Mickey! He was tasty but SO COLD and the chocolate was not incredible! Overall though, it was nice to have something sweet to end the meal with so don’t take my word for it, you might love the dessert sampler.

The Verdict

Hmm toughie. My sandwich was gorgeous but super meat overload, I didn't enjoy the dessert, and the service was a bit shaky to start. The location and environment can't be beaten though. It's a...

Blue dress!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Columbia Harbour House

After our lovely posh lunch at GFC, we got the bus back to SSR and enjoyed a few drinks in our room while we got ready for MNSSHP. We dressed up as....*drumroll*

Ariel and Eric!!! Woooooo

We made our costumes and we got sooooo many comments and compliements on them! I was especially proud of my hairbow:

Obviously I already have Ariel hair, so it was just a case of curling it, pinning half of it up and then attaching this HUGE bow The bow is actually made from a sash of organza that is normally used to decorate chairs at weddings I cut it shorter, tied it into a bow and then sewed it in place. I added Kirby grips to pin it onto my hair, and got Ben to help me fix it in the right place. It was quite heavy so I used a lotttt of grips, but it stayed up all night and I think it looked pretty damn awesome!

So those were our cosumes! Loved them. We spent a happy couple of hours wandering around MK when we first got there, taking photos, trick or treating and generally soaking up the atmosphere, before dinner at Columbia Harbour House!

I of course got the fried shrimp platter

With a boatload of HM sauce!

Benji got the lighthouse sandwich and thoroughly enjoyed it once again.

AND we got two peach cobblers! These were incredible, you have to get one if you eat at CHH at this time of year! It had this creamy crème anglais sauce on..ohhhh so good.

We took our dinner upstairs and it was lovely and quiet up there, we had the whole place to ourselves! I have a really funny memory of Benj going to the loo and then me cracking up as he walked back towards our table, as my boots were making him walk like a woman!

I popped to the toilet and made friends with a couple of ladies in there who said they loved my costume Love making friends in loos. Especially American ones <3

Before we left, we took this awesome photo:

Yay!!

The Verdict

Gotta be a pink dress, CHH is the best!!!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Magic Kingdom Eats

Our last day! Boooooo We made the most of it though with a super long, fun filled day in the MK, before a lovely posh dinner at Narcooosees

We did soooooo much today so I'll just include the foodie highlights! First up, Dolewhips - our first ever ones!! I know, crazy!! I’m not sure how…just never something that had featured on our itinerary! It was the last day of our 3 week trip so we’d essentially spent 5 weeks in Orlando and never had one. Absolutely disgusting. We were really up for it at that moment because it had suddenly gone obscenely hot and the thought of a cooling frozen treat was very, very welcome.

We got in the queue which was annoyingly long. We then realised we were behind that ONE family who just take a thousand years to order. Honestly, I was raging. We think the kids had dietary restrictions and the Mum was trying to understands what ingredients were in the DW’s (fair enough.) however, she just would NOT accept the CM telling her they were dairy free and she kept asking loads of questions and making the Cm’s check stuff. And then, she changed her mind another 3 times to different options on the menu! Honestly, just pick something and buy it, thank you! Once they eventually had their order and wandered off, we walked up the counter and I made a ‘finally!’ face to the CM, who went ‘Hahaha, your face!’ we chatted to her for a bit whilst we ordered and then when she said ‘is there anything else?’ I said ‘Are they dairy free?’ hahah ohhh how we laughed. She loved it! We then noticed she was wearing a Chris from Orlando badge <3 reminding us of our KTTK, classic!
After much deliberation (before we got in the queue…) we both chose a vanilla float.

(sun in my eyes!)

The verdict? Lovely….but not life-changing for me. Ben absolutely loved his though! I’m more of a chocolate dessert girl than fruit-based, but after mixing it all together I did enjoy it. Just wouldn’t get one every trip haha!

After our DW's we went on a bunch more rides, and then went for lunch as it was 12.20 and with an ADR at Narcoosees that evening, we wanted to have an early-ish lunch. Obviously, Pecos Bill was the chosen destination! Last ever one. Sob.

I got what I usually do, 1/3lb Angus Bacon Cheeseburger, with sweet potato fries and diet coke and chocolate cake. Mmmm!

Benj chose the taco shell minus the meat, and loaded that bad boy up with a plethora of different toppings and goodies. Such a good choice for vegetarians!

The Verdict

Pecos Bills will always be a wedding dress! I do like the new menu but I also really miss the old menu!!!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Narcoosees

After a fun filled afternoon, it was time to leave the MK We did our final tradition, the railroad! And then, we were back on the train platform.

LOVE THESE! Bless his little heartttt

It was a tough moment!! We stood here for longer than is probably normal, just soaking up the atmosphere for the final time. What I wouldn’t have given to be stood there on our first morning, looking forward to it all! I think there were tears, but not as many as last time. I knew we’d be coming back, whereas back in 2011 I wasn’t sure if Ben would have wanted to (HAHAHHA! ) so things were slightly more cheerful. And we still had one night, and a lovely dinner to look forward to. So cheer up Lib! Hahah

Poor baby How sweet is this photo.

We got the bus back to SSR and took some final photos of our beautiful resort.

We went back up to our room and just chilled out for a couple of hours. Our dinner ADR was 8pm so we had enough time to tidy up a bit and start packing, before getting ready for drinks etc.

This was a small selection of the shopping we had, and this was just Disney haha!

I really loved these moments, just hanging out in the room and watching American TV. We said we’d have liked to have done more of this but we just always had somewhere to be. Fast forward to about 6pm. We were all dressed up and ready to go! Our last Signature dinner and last dinner at Disney….one of our faves!

Bus selfie!

I believe we went for a drink somewhere (we normally do! ) but I can’t find any photos, it just goes straight to the restaurant! So I’ll start there I guess!

We got a lovely table, up on a little raised platform in the middle with a perfect view outside. Our server was super cute although I don’t have her name, but she was brilliant with us all night. She saw our badges and surprised us by bringing these out Such a sweet gesture.

Obviously we got extra drinks as well! Benj got this…no idea what it was! Aplogies the lighting from this meal aren’t so hot, it was super dark in there and obviously I didn’t want to put the flash on and annoy our fellow diners, so the photos aren’t very good! I think you get the gist though

I got a glass of blurry pinot!

Our view of the Contemporary

Dinner date!

Our server offered to take a photo of us, bless her

We were bought out delicious bread and butter, with pink Himalayan salt on. So good!

After much deliberation, I decided to order the crab cakes for my starter.


Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
Grilled Brentwood Corn Salad with Red Onions, Pappadew Peppers, and Creole Mustard Sauce
$17.00

These were really lovely, loads and loads of chunky crab and a really refreshing corn salad. Loved it! It wasn’t as good as my lobster bisque at YC though….

Benj chose the Artisanal cheese selection as he’d enjoyed it so much in 2011!

Artisanal Cheeses
Five tasting portions from around the world with accompaniments
$18.00
The boy mid scoff and reading his little cheese guide – cute!

Starters demolished, it was time for the main events. I couldn’t possibly NOT order the steak and lobster again, so that is what I got! I can’t for the life of me find this on a menu anywhere, but it looks like a ribeye? That’s my favourite cut so I imagine it’s what I got! The little tub is Yukon Gold Potato, Onion, and Applewood-smoked Bacon Gratin and it was amazing – I could have just had that and been in heaven!

Steak close-up!

It was awesome, but it wasn’t QUITE as awesome as 2011. However, we decided that was because back in 2011, I’d never had lobster before or really ordered steak in a restaurant before, so obviously I was going to freak out. In 2013 I’d had a good 2 years cooking lots and lots of yummy food for me and Benj in our little flat, and I was a bit of a steak pro! So yeah, I think thats what changed really, if you get what I mean? It was lovely though, don’t get me wrong!

Benji’s veggie option was different to the one he’d had in 2011 and he was up for trying something new

He got the

House-made Roasted Buttercup Squash Ravioli Apples, Lacinato Kale, Aged Gruyère, Toasted Pistachios, and Ace Joker Hard Cider Beurre Noisette


Such pretty plating!

He really enjoyed this, but did say his lasagna in 2011 slightly pipped it to the post.

After finishing our wonderful main courses, we popped outside to watch Hallowishes on the Narcoosees balcony I do love the view of the fireworks here and the atmosphere is always brilliant with everyone in high spirits and looking forward to their next course!

When we got back to our table we ordered our desserts. I was a bit sad our final night was going by so quickly!

I just had to order the almond crusted cheesecake again. It was SO GOOD in 2011, I couldn't bring myself to order anything else!

Almond-crusted Cheesecake finished with Lambert Cherry Sauce

Got an adorable congratulations sign from our waitress

Now I must apologise as I have absolutely no idea what Benj got! This is why it isn't a good idea to write your trippie sooooo long after you had the dinner! It looks like a gelato or sorbet trio I think...

Any ideas? I'm sure it was lovely though haha!

And that was that, our last dinner was finished!! Sob! We got the bus back to SSR and sat our balcony for a little bit, completely ignoring all the packing that needed to be done. Our final night in Florida after an incredible 3 weeks!

The Verdict

An amazing meal but not quite as amazing as 2011, so it's a pink dress

 

[Libby_Darling]

Rainforest Cafe

Our last day!!! Booooo We woke up, pretty early to finish all the packing we were meant to have done the previous night. I took photos of our perfect view:

And our little balcony!

Aannnnd our lovely room

The tidiest it was the whole 2 weeks haha! Just as we were about to leave it started raining! The first time since we’d got there! Which is insane! I was ever so slightly panicked as didn’t really have any wet weather gear and didn’t fancy sitting on a plane for 8 hours with wet clothes and hair! I think I put a jumper on over my shorts as it was quite chilly, and grabbed a bag to hold over my head. Yep, I looked pretty cool. Ben was much more prepared and just put the hood up on his hoodie.

Our room

We dropped our suitcases off at Carriage House and got the bus to DTD for some last minute shopping and general merriment. We browsed the shops trying to spend our remaining dollars. It WOULD NOT STOP RAINING which made the experience quite unpleasant The only rain we saw the entire 3 weeks! How crazy is that! I mean I was glad it was our going home day, as although it was annoying, it really did make it a lot easier to leave! We were hungry about mid-day and whilst taking shelter in a shop, discussed our food options. We wanted a big meal and as we had some time to kill, fancied a proper sit down lunch to use up our last 2 DDP credits. In the end we chose T-Rex Cafe as the menu sounded yummers and we thought it would be fun It was super busy there as obviously everyone else had the same idea haha, so we had to wait about 20 minutes. After milling around the shop and looking at many dinousar related gifts, our buzzer went off.

We were led to a little table for two, far away enough from other tables for me to be happy (rare!) so we were chuffed! The theming in here is amazing! My expectations for the food were fairly low but I was really impressed by the décor and atmosphere.

Benj checking our flight was on time!

We ordered drinks – I don’t seem to have photos but I know on the DDP you get some pretty cool options here and I think we had strawberry lemonades or something exciting!

We bravely passed on appetizers and went straight for main courses. I fancied a sandwich of some sort, and eventually chose the phili cheesesteak with waffle fries

Stegosaurus Steak & Cheese Sandwich
Traditional-style cheese steak topped with melted Monterey Jack and Swiss cheeses served with lettuce and tomatoes on a toasted hoagie roll.

This was only okay – the actual meat didn’t have much flavor so I ended up adding a lot of ketchup to make it taste good haha. There was also a LOT of bread which was just bland and over carby I was jealous of Ben’s as his was amazing!

He chose the

Triassic Tortellini
Tri-colored cheese tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes, peas, and mushrooms tossed in an Alfredo sauce.

And it was delicious! Super creamy, cheesy, and just lush. I was green with jealousy!

This was just one of the many times I was envious of Ben’s dinner on this trip, and was one of the reasons I went vegetarian when we got back! It just seemed that even though the steaks, chicken etc I was getting were delicious, Ben’s veggie dishes just always seemed to have so much more flavor. Next time we go, I will definitely be considering the veggie options a bit more – especially the tortellini/filled pasta options which I’m obsessed with! I’m not vegetarian any more by the way, I was for about 6 months (over Christmas!) but realised I wasn’t very happy and since re-introducing meat, I feel content that this is the right thing for me.

Now, dessert! As it was included and I hadn’t eaten a lot of my main, we decided to indulge. We got the

Meteor Bites for Two
Warm chocolate and vanilla donut holes dusted with powdered sugar. Served with caramel and chocolate sauces for dipping.

Now, THESE were amazing and single-handedly made up for my disappointing main. Love it when this happens! They were covered in sugar and the dipping sauces were incredible, I could have drank them! I think I was just eating it with a spoon once we’d run out of donut holes haha! Mmmmmm.

Although my main course wasn’t something I really enjoyed, overall it was a good, leisuirely lunch, and a nice way to kill those awkward few hours before going to the airport. We paid using DDP credits but I think it is a slightly overpriced restaurant, for the food!

The Verdict

Not sure if it's because I made the wrong decision, but I wasn't wowed by RFC to be honest! It's a fins!

 

[Libby_Darling]

Bonus Aiport and Plane Food!

After our lunch we got a bus back to SSR and picked up our (numerous…) suitcases, before waiting for the Magical Express to the airport.

I tried not to cry on the way to the airport whilst they played that flippin video…I can’t remember if I was successful…

We were lucky enough to be flying home in PREMIUM ECONOMY thanks to a freak price drop on Virgin’s website that our friends had found for us. This was very exciting, and made the airport experience slightly more enjoyable. I couldn’t wait to experience PE!

Yay!

Patiently queuing. The queue was soooooo much shorter than economy, what an absolute dream <3

Suitcases dropped and all checked in, we wandered into the airport to kill time before boarding. I know it’s hard to believe but as it was no several hours since our RFC visit, we were slightly peckish. I think I was paranoid since our flight out when I’d been SO HUNGRY, so my body was telling me to fuel up in case the food wasn’t flowing freely on the plane. We did the usual circuit of all the different food offerings to see what we fancied. I felt the need to order one last high calorie, fat filled snack, so opted for the Nathans Famous Hotdogs kiosk. Excitement!

I ordered a small portion of the chilli cheese fries after being introduced to this culinary delight at the basketball.

I don’t have any other photos so there is a chance Ben didn’t order anything and it was just me…how embarrassing!

I think you can tell by the photos that these were a cheesy, calorific delight and I polished them off with no problems.

And then, it was time to say goodbye to Orlando and get on the plane. Sigh. But we were in PE! Yay!

Oh it was lovely. All spacious and welcoming and posh. We were in heaven.

And even more so when we were offered these!

Looking squiffy even though he’d only had a sip

Chin chin!

Cracking out a bit of the old IFE…decisions, decisions!

Legroom!

All nice and quiet and dark

Dinner! Bit posh, proper ceramic and everything!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the last photo of our trip! We slept most of the way home and landed at Gatwick to meet my Mum and Dad who had made a SUPER CUTE congratulations sign for us which my Mum was holding haha! So adorable They drove us back and we told them all about our amazing holiday

When we got back to our flat, we opened the door to this!

Hahaha! From two of our lovely friends How cute!

There were balloons and streamers absolutely everywhere! It really cheered us up and reminded us that even though our holiday was over, we had a lot of really fun stuff to start planning now…A WEDDING!

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So that was our 2nd dining report, I really hope you all enjoyed it!!!

I am so so so sorry it took me so long!!! Just been so busy but I was determined to finish it!! A lot has happened since I wrote about the food we ate on Day 1 (probably because it was like 10 years ago…) so I’d like to thank all of you for sticking with me on this journey and for everyone who has commented and said lovely things along the way And all you silent lurkers, thank you for lurking and being with me in spirit!

If you'd like to read more of ramblings and see what we're up to now, I'm writing a planning journal for our upcoming October 2016 DFTW, link in my sig! Come on down!!

Really hope you all enjoyed, and take care!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

Your reports are great, even though the trip was so long ago the detail was great! Looking forward to the next one!

 

[MissKIA]

I love reading your reports. You are so entertaining and I love all of the British words and phrases thrown in. I have been following along on your wedding plans report and I can't wait to read all about your wedding vacation! (Hopefully you will be writing one for us!,)

 

[Mich123]

What a fun report! Can't wait to read about the wedding plans!