A very unChristmasy Treehouse Adventure

[mark&sue]

This a our third trip staying at the Saratoga Springs Treehouse Villas and our first over the festive period.
The cast for this trip are me, Susan who celebrated my 50th Birthday two weeks earlier, DH Mark, 45 who puts up with trips to Disney but is fully immersed by the time we get there, DD Kirsty, 20 our chief photographer as much as she protested, and friends Terry and Sara

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Our family flew out Christmas Day and to be joined on Boxing Day by Terry and Sara. We were to move to Bay Lake Towers for the last five days


Day 0 and 1(Travel day)

Me and Kirsty both worked Christmas Eve whilst Mark dropped our beloved dog Max to stay with my friend and her family for the duration of our trip. Kirsty and I both left work early and we made our way to Gatwick at around 5 pm. The roads were very quiet and we made twilight check in in good time. There had been problems at Gatwick and many of the Christmas Eve flights had been cancelled and both Gatwick and the Hilton where we were staying the night were chaotic. We had hoped to eat at Giraffe but it was just closing when we tried to get a table. We made our way back to the hotel and managed to get a booking at Amy's restaurant before going to our room and watching "Finding Nemo" on the TV before dinner. It was soon time to go for dinner, which I found nice but Kirsty really did not like

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Kirsty went back to the room whilst me and Mark had cocktails in the very busy bar for another couple of hours

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We finally went back to the room and fell asleep but woke up at silly o'clock so we started off the day with a lack of sleep.

As the previous days cancellations were being flown out on Christmas Day Gatwick was busier than we had expected but not as busy as a usual day.
Our flight was roughly on time and we were flying Premium Economy for the very first time. At first it seemed like our plane would be fairly empty but then the captain announced that they were trying to accommodate stand bys and the plane was full even people were sitting on the jump seats!!! The staff were all dressed up in Christmas outfits. Mark and Kirsty were sitting next to each other by the window and I was across the aisle from them with another family next to me. Disaster struck fairly early on when I spilt my first vodka and diet coke of the day all over the lady sitting next to me. Luckily she was wearing a blanket which took most of the spill.

The entertainment system was new for us as we have not flown to WDW since Easter 2011, I watched the map as usual but managed to watch the Shining before switching back to the map.

For me the flight seemed to last for eternity and we were all disappointed with the long anticipated turkey dinner and lack of pigs in blankets.

I purchased two bottle of smirnoff blue for £10 each. We managed to get off the plane first and did not queue too long for immigration. The man who checked our passports was yawning all the time and was very rude. After that everything went very smoothly and we were soon on our very first Disney Magical Express bus which was ridiculously quick. The driver was great as he kept doing little quizzes and talking the passengers and it made me very excited to be back.

Our treehouse check in went very smoothly and we got our new magic bands which made me even more excited. We got our requested treehouse closest to the boat dock it was number 7021. We were taken to the treehouse by a buggy which went very fast round corners

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It was fantastic to be back at the treehouse. We unpacked and got the boat to Downtown Disney as we needed to pick up our annual passess and purchase our "tables in wonderland" discount card at guest relations. As it was Christmas Day it was absolutely heaving in Downtown Disney. Before we had come away I had made a number of ADRs but not for Christmas night as Mark said we would not be hungry. However we were all starving and as DTD was so busy there was no hope of getting something to eat here. We thought that perhaps the resort food court would be quieter at Saratoga and we were right. We got off the boat a stop early and went to Artists Palette and bought our Chrsitmas Dinner !!!!

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We took our flatbreads back to the treehouse as by now we were exhausted as we had been up for hours and hours. We walked back to the treehouse finding the pathway quite easily.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, mark had the cheeseburger flatbread, whilst Kirsty had a pepperoni flatbread and I had a goats cheese and spinach flatbread. We then went to sleep at around 10:30 ready for our adventure to begin the next day in Epcot.

 

[mark&sue]

Day 2 Boxing day (26/12/13): Epcot and welcoming Terry and Sara.

As usual we all woke up really early and had to stop ourselves from getting to the parks too early. We now tried out our My Disney Experience app and booked fastpasses for mission space, soarin and test track. We had used the bands to get into our treehouse last night and every morning we remembered to put them on. I loved my pink magic band so much Mark and Kirsty had some coffee before we left the treehouse.

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We never think that it is worth getting the internal treehouse bus anywhere so we walked the five minute walk to the bus stop at the Grandstand and got the Epcot bus which came straight away. We used our magic band to enter the park as our annual passes had been linked last night at guest relations. We skipped in and we were actually back in a disney park

As we were so early we found the character spot was only a five minute wait but when we got in there we were the only ones so had a brilliant character interaction on our very first morning at WDW.

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Next we made our way to mission space. I have done this ride in the past but know this one ride I will not do again, however Mark and Kirsty love it. While I was waiting for them I took one of my legendary selfies ( by legendary I mean blurry)

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We had time between our next Fastpass + which was Test Track so decided to pay a visit to the newly added Starbucks ( Fountain View Cafe), Mark got his usual latte while Kirsty opted for a white chocolate mocha (which I had a couple gulps of).

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We chose a seating area near both mission space and Test Track facing the sun and spent a pleasant 15 minutes people watching and soaking up the atmosphere.

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We finished off our drinks and headed off to Test Track to try out the brand new update. We created our car (I mean Mark created his car without me and Kirsty's input) but it didn't appear on our ride and from the discussion in the row in front neither did theirs. Overall I wasn't totally impressed.Although the interactive area after the ride was much improved and enjoyed posing with our created car

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and here's the obligatory photo ice station cool by TT

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Our last Fastpass + of the day was Soarin. we made our way to the living with land Pavilion and took some photos of some of the Christmas displays. The smell coming from them was incredible.

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We went onto Soarin, third row it was and yes those dangling feet were part of our view.
Having noticed that the World showcase was open we opted on a stroll around the world. It was beginning to get quite hot by now and was very pleasant.

we stopped off in Japan which in fact was Kirsty dragging us into the shop. we looked at the foods and alcohol available and sneered at the prices.

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after we had a look in the shops in Germany and continued our journey, By now it was getting busy so we stopped off in china to decide what we should do next.

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As it was so busy we decided to get the bus from Beach Club to DTD and get lunch. Having waited a while the crowd at the bus stop built, when the bus arrived it was already pretty full. We all crammed on and it reminded us all of rush hour in the underground at home. Again DTD was really busy and saw the line for EOS was out the door, we saw the margarita bar empty and stopped to buy Mark a margarita and myself a frozen pina colada much to a underage( only in the states) Kirsty's glares.

we contined our journey back, Mark and Kirsty popped into Ghiradelli's quickly buying chocolates for the treehouse while i posed for another infamous selfie.

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By now we could see we could not get lunch as it was too busy in DTD and remembering how nice our food was from Artist's palette at Saratoga the night before. We made the decision to walk all the way from West side to Saratoga and afterwards continue walking to the treehouse.

As it was still super sunny me and Kirsty sat outside on our deck. While mark checked the virgin app for Terry and Sara's plane seeing that it was running late we moved our ADR at the Turf Club to a later time.

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After awhile about 7 we received a text from Terry and Sara saying that they were ten minutes away, me and Kirsty met them at the front gate and directed them to the treehouse. Terry and Sara were very tired so we all decided to order pizza in and cancel our ADR.
I made the monumental mistake of ordering a pizza each without knowing the size. When they arrived they were gigantic and lasted us a few days. Sorry no photos of those huge pizza's. We all hit the sack at about 10.

Next day shopping and a spot of tea at the Grand Floridian.

 

[Cyrano]

I have always fancied a trip to the Treehouse Villas so looking forward to your trippie

 

[mark&sue]

Day 3 (27/12/13) - Spot of Tea and Raglan Road

Once again woke up stupidly early, Coffee machine switch on and quickly we all emerged from our rooms ready for the day ahead.

This morning is to be our food and essentials shop such as our alcohol beverages (we must not forgot those) having already got two bottles of vodka there was no need to buy more. So first it was to Winn Dixie as we have the card, brought our usual foods for example bagels and fluffy Philadelphia(although not as important as the vodka it is not to be forgotten) and then to ABC's next door to stock up on our liquor's and drinks. Leaving once again underage Kirsty waiting in the car as no under 21's allowed in (I could feel her glare from inside the shop) we brought her chewing gum as a consolation prize.

We went back to the treehouse to unpack the shopping and relax just for a little while before Terry and Mark dropped us girls off at Grand Floridian for our high tea, before their game of crazy golf.

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As we were early we went to see the gingerbread house which we have never seen before and once again the smell was amazing, after we looked into a couple of shops. I found the shop that sold Dooney and Bourke bags and had a good wonder around the bath shop.

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Upon seeing the time we head to our reservation at the Garden View Lounge for our high tea.

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We picked what we wanted off the menu's

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Me:
The Grand Tea - The classic English tradition of Afternoon Tea, Grand Floridian style. We offer you a variety of tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts, followed by your choice of our freshly baked tea pastries or English trifle, accompanied by a glass of Domaine Ste.-Michelle sparkling wine and your choice of tea. $29.00 per guest. Iron Horse Cuvee $6.00. Veuve Clicquot $9.00
with English Breakfast blend

My sandwiches were delicious.

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Sara:
Princess Kate Tea - A Spring tea served with a classic dish of potted shrimp followed by a medley of cheeses, an array of seasonal fruits, and cheddar cheese biscuits. A scone, jam tart, and a selection of delicate pastries is accompanied by a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and your choice of tea. $38.00 per guest.
with English Breakfast blend

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Kirsty:
Buckingham Palace - Our traditional tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts complemented by fresh strawberries and cream, or a selection of freshly baked pastries, along with your choice of tea. $23.00 per guest.
With Mad Hatter Blend


Kirsty's mad Hatter tea:

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the service was great and the food was amazing I thought it was worth every penny, we all agreed it was lovely and would be up for doing it again sometime.

After I had clearly had too many glasses of champagne and brought my Dooney and Bourke backpack

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And Sara went to the bath shop Basin with Kirsty and brought some lovely bath bombs and kindly brought me some pink and white mickey soap.

Terry and Mark picked us up again at the entrance of the GF. Mark smugly announced we had won the game of crazy golf.

after relaxing in the treehouse for a couple of hours and using our Basin purchases we all got ready to go out for our ADR at Raglan Road. We took the boat to DTD

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We made our way to Raglan Road as the boat now stops in westside rather pleasure island now we had a lovely walk through the shopping area. we waited about 10 minutes before we were seated (in a booth I may add). we ordered our drinks me and Sara had a Jay's Gail Sangria.

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the starters we ordered:
Dalkey Duo - Battered cocktail sausages with a Dalkey mustard dipping sauce
Nom Nom Wings – Sweet ‘n spicy wings tossed in a honey, chili flake, soy & ginger sauce

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For mains I had: Burger ‘R’ Way – Char grilled sirloin beef burger with bacon, tomato chutney & Dubliner vintage cheddar

Kirsty:Mammy’s Roast Chicken – Lemon thyme roasted half chicken with mashed potatoes, creamy herb bread sauce & natural jus

Mark & Terry:Fish & Chips - Our famous beer battered fish & chips served with our fresh tartar sauce. (Ask our lovely server for gluten-free option)

Sara:Banger & Booz - Guinness & onion bangers on mash, topped with caramelized onions & beef stew

After that Filling meal we had started to head back as we were all pretty tired

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Next day Hollywood studios and a prime time cafe lunch.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Enjoying it so far Afternoon tea looks delicious

 

[Tink2312]

Great updates, looking forward to reading more

 

[Jets fan]

Loving your trip report. Christmas at Disney is just the best.

Tina

 

[mark&sue]

Day 4 (28/12/13) - Hollywood studios and prime time cafe lunch

Again all up early and the coffee machine on. We used the app to get our fastpass + for our day which were Toy Story Mania, Tower Of Terror and Rock'n'rollercoaster,

On entering the park Sara encountered a problem with her magic band and could not get in luckily we were so early Guest relations helped us out, we found out her ticket was connected to my magic band but the staff were so helpful and sorted it all out for us.

We made our way on our first ride of the day the newly improved star tours which was a walk on. I wasn't too sure of the update but the rest of the group enjoyed it.

we started to head towards our first Fastpass + for Toy story mania we saw stitch and took the opportunity to get a photo

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The wait for TSM was already around the 70 minutes when we arrived but luckily we went straight on.

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Again mark smugly announces he beat Kirsty's score. Next we headed towards TOT but we still had not reached the time on our Fastpass so went into some shops. I had brought some earrings and Sara got some nail varnish.

Terry and Sara decided to sit out on the TOT. So the rest of us used our Fastpass. Apart from the crying child near by it was just as good as ever. When we left Kirsty and Mark got a Coffee then we met back up with Terry and Sara.

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Next onto Rock'n'rollercoaster which Terry joined us on. It was lucky we got the Fastpasses as the park was quite busy. we then saw that Beauty and the Beast was about to start and went in.

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I hadn't done this in ages and enjoyed it. We went to see if we could get our ADR at Prime Time Cafe earlier or sit in the Tune In bar while we waited

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We got some drinks while we were paying for them we got called for our ADR. We were seated shortly.

I had a cosmo

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Our waiter was JL he was great fun(we later found out that JL stood for John Lennon, no lie). no elbows on the table please Terry.

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For starters
Mark and Terry both had:
Fried Herb and garlic cheese - Served warm with Raspberry sauce and toasted french bread - $8.49

Me and Sara also both had:
Grandpa's crab Cake - Lump crab cake served in succotash with chili sauce and crispy onions. - $10.49

For dinner all of us except Kirsty had:
A sampling of Mom's favorite recipes - Crispy fried chicken, fork tender pot roast and traditional meatloaf with all the fixins - $19.99

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and Kirsty had:
Cousin Ann's Traditional Meatloaf - A blend of beef and pork topped with tomato glaze served with mashed potatoes, and green beans. - $15.99

As Kirsty had opted out of Starters she ordered dessert
Seasonal Cobbler - Served a la mode $7.49 - $5.49

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I also had a some sort of chocolate martini yum

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After our meal we head back to the treehouse to relax on the deck with a drink.

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We had a couple of slices of pizza between us in the evening. Me, Kirsty and Mark decided to walk to DTD while terry and Sara stayed in.
I thoroughly enjoyed the walk from the treehouses to DTD.

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We went into Curl one of the new shops in Westside to buy Kirsty's Christmas present and Mark's Birthday present both getting a pair of sunglasses.
We then headed to the outside bar in Splitsville with live music which is also new so we had never been to before.

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We got the boat back. Yes we did run for the Boat like we always seem to do.

Day 5: Florida mall and new fantasy land.

 

[jtlover]

Very excited to read your trip report Sue, can't wait to read more

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Really enjoying your report, the treehouse looks wonderful. Must be a great place to stay

 

[mandymouse]

What a great first few days Sue Aww, bless poor Kirsty not being old enough for a drinky, I remember when Becky was the same (lol). Great pics (especially the one of you & Stitch), and I look forward to your next update

 

[Latel]

Loving the report. Looking forward to the next installments.

 

[Verity Chambers]

Loving your reports, can't wait for more soon. Pleeeeeeeese!!

 

[jockey]

Susan loving the report so far!!!!! I LOVE tea at the GF we do it every trip!

 

[mark&sue]

Day 5 (29/12/13) Florida Mall and Be Our Guest

We had a later start today as the Florida Mall does not open until 11am. We specifically wanted to buy some new suitcases for me and Marks belated Christmas presents for each other. The plan was to dump the old ones.

We got to the Mall at opening time and was already quite busy. We split up from Terry and Sara in search of our own purchases. We looked at a number of shops before finding what we wanted then moving onto the much needed M&M shop for those peanut butter M&Ms (not enough were brought i'm afraid)

We met up at the food court and decided that we must go to Denny's for lunch before going back to the treehouse.

Now back at the treehouse we started to get ready for our ADR at Be our Guest later that evening. First we made some fastpass + selections for MK. These were the Little Mermaid ride, Peter Pan and Winnie the pooh.

We finally got our first glance at MK in the Christmas period.

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On our way to the Little Mermaid we had a sneaky peek at the mine ride progress

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So now our first time on the Little mermaid.

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I liked the ride but not sure if other members of my party were impressed although i could hear singing from one member.

As we were early for our next fastpass we had our first look at gastons and had a Lefou's Brew, which was lovely, it was frozen apple juice and passion fruit foam on the top yummy!

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we made our way to Peter Pan, then onto It's a Small World which wasn't busy. next we made our way to Mickey's Phillimagic which was a walk on, followed by Winnie the Pooh.

We were still early for our ADR at BOG we thought we would take a look at the castle all lit up.

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We were 15 mins early for our ADR and had to wait on the bridge outside the Beast's Castle

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we made our way in, by now you can tell we were all excited for our first taste of alcohol in the Magic Kingdom (feels Kirsty's glares).

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We were seated in the West Wing (Beast's quarters) and it was lovely as it seemed more intimate than the main room.

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we ordered some champagne.

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we ordered some starters:
Charcuterie Plate - With cured meats and sausages, mussels steamed in white wine - $16.49

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For dinner we had

Me:
Sautee Shrimp and scallops - With veggies in a puff pastry with creamy lobster sauce - $25.99

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Mark and Terry:
Grilled Strip Steak Grilled Strip Steak photo
- With Garlic and herb butter and Pomme Frites - $32.99

Sara:
Herb-crusted Lamb Rack - with a Stone-ground Mustard Demi-glace serve with Buttered Celery Root and Seasonal Vegetables - $28.49

Kirsty:
Chicken Breast Provençal - Pan-seared and simmered in a rustic blend of Heirloom Tomatoes, Olives, White Wine, and fresh Herbs with Seasonal Vegetables and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes - $22.99

Now for the dessert table which some of the party were really excited for (Kirsty)

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Sara had "the Grey stuff"

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And Kirsty had the Lemon Meringue cupcake ( Que " that looks good")

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As I had mentioned that I celebrating my 50th they brought out a small treat for me:

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In the west wing there is a picture of the beast in his prince form that when the thunder roars and lighting strikes changes to his current form as a beast.Also the rose is located in this room.

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We finally made our way to the exit where you can meet the host himself

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We made our way back to the car and back into our bed at the treehouse

Next day Ohana's, crazy golf and Osborne light.

 

[mandymouse]

More lovely photos Sue I love your top too. BTW, was the Grey Stuff delicious ?

 

[mark&sue]

Day 6 (30/12/13) Ohana's and Osborne Lights

Today was our first breakfast and only character meal of the trip. We arrived early for our ADR at Ohana's and looked around the shops at the Polynesian.

We finally sat down and was presented with juice, coffee you know the works( Yes that did include those mickey waffles).

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We greeted the characters although the interaction wasn't as good as previous character meals we have had in the past.

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Breakfast over and done with we took a walk around the hotel and hoped to get a closer look at the new DVC bungalows which are being built on the lagoon.

We went back to the treehouse when Mark and Terry decided they wanted another game of crazy golf this time Kirsty Tagged along.
While me and Sara stayed and did the washing (someone has to)

It was starting to get quite hot as it was fairly cold in the morning.

There was a 40 minute wait on the golf but they still made it out on the course

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They arrived back and found me and Sara sitting out on the deck drinking Cocktails (not my usual vodka and diet coke). They eventually joined us with there own drinks.

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while soaking up the sun we made some fastpass+ of star tours, tot and muppets. finally we started getting ready for our night at Hollywood studios and our ADR at the Hollywood brown derby.

When we arrived at the park we went straight to our first fastpass of star tours, I enjoyed this sequence more the last one. although we did have some loud off duty cast members behind us.

When we left the ride it was now dark so thought it was best to have a look at the Osborne lights as we have never seen them before and did not know what to expect.

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We all were amazed by the lights and the fake snow that we spent longer than we had planned there and missed our two fast passes.

We started to make our way to Hollywood Brown Derby a little bit earlier then the ADR time and asked if we could be seated earlier, which we were.

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The cocktail menu was great here and it was a hard choice but we ordered our drinks

I had the flight of martini's

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Mark had the flight of margaritas

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I can't remember the name of Sara's but looks good

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And Kirsty had a non alcoholic Shirley Temple

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Now onto starters

Terry and Mark both had
Our Famous Cobb Salad - with finely chopped greens, turkey breast, egg, bacon, tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado, chives and Cobb dressing - appetizer $9.00; entree $16.00

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Sara:
Blue Lump Crab Spring Rolls - snow crab claw and a Asian slaw with spicy miso aioli $13.0

Me:
Crisy Phyllo Napoleon of Bleu Affine - with wild mushroom duxelles, griled portobello, golden chanterelles, and a fig reduction $11.00

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For mains.

I had :
Seafood Cioppino - sauteed white shrimp, Prince Edward Island mussels, and a pan-seared fennel-dusted black grouper over orzo pasta with a cioppino broth $33.00

Mark:
Charred-glazed Filet of Beef - with a red wine reduction, topped with a cabernet and roasted shallot butter, over white truffle oil wild forest mushroom mashed potato, sauteed haricot verts $43.00

Kirsty:
Noodle Bowl - with Wok-fried Coconut Tofu, Soy Beans, Sugar Snap Peas, Bok Choy, and Shiitake Mushrooms in a Red Curry Broth $29.00

It was so nice in the Brown Derby, Mark thought it was the best meal he had eaten the whole holiday. I will have to return not just for the great food but look at those cocktails.

As our waiter walked by with another tables order Kirsty noticed the grapefruit cake and pronounced " I'm having that"... and she did

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The waiter also brought out a birthday surprise for me

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We finished up with some Irish coffees and made our way back.

next day new years eve at Epcot

 

[mandymouse]

What a great day I love the look of the Flight of Martini's, that sounds right up my street

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

The cocktails are going down a storm, all in the name of reporting I'm sure

Really enjoying your report although it is a bit Christmasy especially with the brilliant Osborne lights.

 

[Laurafoster]

Just caught up. Loving the report and the photos!