Liz
Make a miracle!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 4,909
Cast:
ME - 43, Author of this report, grew up in Florida, too many WDW trips to really count
PAUL - 50, my dear husband, several WDW trips under his belt
JEFF - 14, our dear son, this is about his 6th trip to WDW
LAURA - 13, our dear daughter, her 6th trip also. Will be participating in the U.S. Transplant Games in Orlando.
MY MOM - late 60's, been to WDW many times, last time 5 years ago
JUNE 27 - THURSDAY
Laura had bowling competition this afternoon so we didn't want to drag her around any park and get her worn out. She gets tired pretty easily. So we spent the morning having fun in the pool. It was fun but the kids wished the slide had been open earlier. We left the pool about 10:15 AM and the slide opened at 10:00. The big waterfall was on though. We had a good time playing in the water! The grotto area is really lovely!
We got changed and drove to the Pepper Market for lunch. We had more Connections vouchers to use and I'd heard the Pepper Market was a great deal. This was my first time to visit CS and it was so pretty. I would be happy to stay there someday. The Pepper Market was confusing. I thought I'd read up on what to do but I was still confused. I knew about ordering at the different stations, paying at the end and the added 10% tip, but I didn't remember reading about the cards that had to be stamped. The waitress didn't act like she was familiar with the vouchers so she wasn't much help. She did tell us we each needed our own card.
Once we figured out what we were supposed to do it was okay and I actually liked it. The only problem with using Connections here is I always liked being able to confirm with the waiter BEFORE ordering something that it was covered under the voucher. Since you don't pay till the end, if you end up getting something that you shouldn't have its too late because you've already eaten it!
Paul and Jeff each used their own vouchers here. The main reason for coming here was so they could get steak, which they love, but they said these steaks had a lot of fat on them. They each got a ribeye which came with veggies & mashed potatoes. They each had a drink and got dessert. Paul chose a cherry turnover, which wasn't outstanding but wasn't bad. Jeff had a cinnamon roll.
The little lady in charge of the desserts was cute! When we went to get our desserts she asked all of us if we'd eaten our dinner first! Laura and I went together to pick out something since we were sharing. We chose a cinnamon roll and this lady said she'd had one for breakfast. When Jeff went up he was told the same thing when he chose a cinnamon roll. When Paul chose his cherry turnover the lady told him she'd had one yesterday and they were really good! She seemed to really enjoy her job!
Laura and I shared a voucher and split an individual pan pizza (ham & pineapple), we got a cup of cole slaw as our side dish, a diet coke and our cinnamon roll for dessert.
We had a table right by the place that was making Mexican food. The food coming out of there looked sooooo good and HUGE portions that would easily be enough to share. We hoped to come back again to try that food, but since we were leaving in two days we knew it wasn't likely. The pizza Laura and I shared was delicious though (everything we ate was great)!
When we checked out we had no problem using the vouchers. I didn't complain about the added 10% tip, although I don't think it was fair. After our waitress brought us our initial drinks & napkins, we never saw her again. I thought they were supposed to refill your drinks, but maybe I'm wrong.
I've since read where supposedly Pepper Market discontinued taking the Connections vouchers on June 21st, but we used them with no problem on June 27th, so I don't know what's up with that. I would have been upset had we made a special trip over there to use the vouchers only to find out they aren't taking them anymore.
After eating we left to find the Aloma Bowling Center East in Orlando, where Laura would be competing. It was supposed to start at 3:00 and we wanted to get there around 2:00 so she could choose a ball, get her shoes, etc.
We took the toll road there, which was totally easy and nice and free of traffic. It cost us $3.00 in tolls each way but it was worth it to avoid all the hassle of I-4.
At the bowling alley we found out they were running at least an hour behind. My mom's brother & his wife, who live in Florida, met us there and arrived a little after 2:00. I was worried they were all getting antsy and bored since her competition didn't end up starting till 4:30.
They didn't provide any meaningful practice time before competition started. Each child got to bowl one frame as practice. Laura needs to bowl like a whole game to get warmed up. We had tried to arrange a lane ahead of time for her to warm up but we were told all the lanes were reserved for competition.
One of the girls she was bowling against, who had a liver transplant, was great and ended up winning the gold medal. She said she was on a bowling league before she was transplanted. Everyone bowled 3 games. Laura's scores were 41, 52 & 69. Out of 11 kids in her age group (11-14) she came in 5th. They only give medals to the top 3 but we are so proud of her for trying and doing her best!!!
The bowling ended at 6:00. My mom, the four of us, and my aunt & uncle all went to Bennigans to eat. Our waitress was really nice. At the end of our meal I asked for a small cup of diet Coke so Laura could take her meds. The bubbles from a carbonated drink help her get the pills down. She brought a drink for her and didn't even charge us for it so we left her a good tip. Everything was really good here!
At the hotel we went back to the Fountain and all just got ice cream. We were being regular little piggies on this trip!
It was 11:30 PM in Florida but only 9:30 in Utah, so I decided to call my best friend and see what was happening back home! Down to the pay phones I went with my trusty phone card. I know better than to touch a phone in a hotel room. Maybe we wouldn't have been charged anything using a phone card, but I wasn't taking any chances. Found out it was hotter in Utah than Florida! It had been over 100 degrees! Yikes! Dry heat or not, that is HOT!
Jeff came down and talked to his best friend (my friend's son) for about 30 minutes till time on the phone card ran out. We then went right up to bed and to sleep. One more full day of the parks to come before time to go home.
Budget for the day:
$5 Maid tip
$6 Tolls
$33 Three vouchers - Pepper Market lunch
$5 Drinks at bowling alley
$52 Bennigans - dinner
$12 Ice cream - Fountain
ME - 43, Author of this report, grew up in Florida, too many WDW trips to really count
PAUL - 50, my dear husband, several WDW trips under his belt
JEFF - 14, our dear son, this is about his 6th trip to WDW
LAURA - 13, our dear daughter, her 6th trip also. Will be participating in the U.S. Transplant Games in Orlando.
MY MOM - late 60's, been to WDW many times, last time 5 years ago
JUNE 27 - THURSDAY
Laura had bowling competition this afternoon so we didn't want to drag her around any park and get her worn out. She gets tired pretty easily. So we spent the morning having fun in the pool. It was fun but the kids wished the slide had been open earlier. We left the pool about 10:15 AM and the slide opened at 10:00. The big waterfall was on though. We had a good time playing in the water! The grotto area is really lovely!
We got changed and drove to the Pepper Market for lunch. We had more Connections vouchers to use and I'd heard the Pepper Market was a great deal. This was my first time to visit CS and it was so pretty. I would be happy to stay there someday. The Pepper Market was confusing. I thought I'd read up on what to do but I was still confused. I knew about ordering at the different stations, paying at the end and the added 10% tip, but I didn't remember reading about the cards that had to be stamped. The waitress didn't act like she was familiar with the vouchers so she wasn't much help. She did tell us we each needed our own card.
Once we figured out what we were supposed to do it was okay and I actually liked it. The only problem with using Connections here is I always liked being able to confirm with the waiter BEFORE ordering something that it was covered under the voucher. Since you don't pay till the end, if you end up getting something that you shouldn't have its too late because you've already eaten it!
Paul and Jeff each used their own vouchers here. The main reason for coming here was so they could get steak, which they love, but they said these steaks had a lot of fat on them. They each got a ribeye which came with veggies & mashed potatoes. They each had a drink and got dessert. Paul chose a cherry turnover, which wasn't outstanding but wasn't bad. Jeff had a cinnamon roll.
The little lady in charge of the desserts was cute! When we went to get our desserts she asked all of us if we'd eaten our dinner first! Laura and I went together to pick out something since we were sharing. We chose a cinnamon roll and this lady said she'd had one for breakfast. When Jeff went up he was told the same thing when he chose a cinnamon roll. When Paul chose his cherry turnover the lady told him she'd had one yesterday and they were really good! She seemed to really enjoy her job!
Laura and I shared a voucher and split an individual pan pizza (ham & pineapple), we got a cup of cole slaw as our side dish, a diet coke and our cinnamon roll for dessert.
We had a table right by the place that was making Mexican food. The food coming out of there looked sooooo good and HUGE portions that would easily be enough to share. We hoped to come back again to try that food, but since we were leaving in two days we knew it wasn't likely. The pizza Laura and I shared was delicious though (everything we ate was great)!
When we checked out we had no problem using the vouchers. I didn't complain about the added 10% tip, although I don't think it was fair. After our waitress brought us our initial drinks & napkins, we never saw her again. I thought they were supposed to refill your drinks, but maybe I'm wrong.
I've since read where supposedly Pepper Market discontinued taking the Connections vouchers on June 21st, but we used them with no problem on June 27th, so I don't know what's up with that. I would have been upset had we made a special trip over there to use the vouchers only to find out they aren't taking them anymore.
After eating we left to find the Aloma Bowling Center East in Orlando, where Laura would be competing. It was supposed to start at 3:00 and we wanted to get there around 2:00 so she could choose a ball, get her shoes, etc.
We took the toll road there, which was totally easy and nice and free of traffic. It cost us $3.00 in tolls each way but it was worth it to avoid all the hassle of I-4.
At the bowling alley we found out they were running at least an hour behind. My mom's brother & his wife, who live in Florida, met us there and arrived a little after 2:00. I was worried they were all getting antsy and bored since her competition didn't end up starting till 4:30.
They didn't provide any meaningful practice time before competition started. Each child got to bowl one frame as practice. Laura needs to bowl like a whole game to get warmed up. We had tried to arrange a lane ahead of time for her to warm up but we were told all the lanes were reserved for competition.
One of the girls she was bowling against, who had a liver transplant, was great and ended up winning the gold medal. She said she was on a bowling league before she was transplanted. Everyone bowled 3 games. Laura's scores were 41, 52 & 69. Out of 11 kids in her age group (11-14) she came in 5th. They only give medals to the top 3 but we are so proud of her for trying and doing her best!!!
The bowling ended at 6:00. My mom, the four of us, and my aunt & uncle all went to Bennigans to eat. Our waitress was really nice. At the end of our meal I asked for a small cup of diet Coke so Laura could take her meds. The bubbles from a carbonated drink help her get the pills down. She brought a drink for her and didn't even charge us for it so we left her a good tip. Everything was really good here!
At the hotel we went back to the Fountain and all just got ice cream. We were being regular little piggies on this trip!
It was 11:30 PM in Florida but only 9:30 in Utah, so I decided to call my best friend and see what was happening back home! Down to the pay phones I went with my trusty phone card. I know better than to touch a phone in a hotel room. Maybe we wouldn't have been charged anything using a phone card, but I wasn't taking any chances. Found out it was hotter in Utah than Florida! It had been over 100 degrees! Yikes! Dry heat or not, that is HOT!
Jeff came down and talked to his best friend (my friend's son) for about 30 minutes till time on the phone card ran out. We then went right up to bed and to sleep. One more full day of the parks to come before time to go home.
Budget for the day:
$5 Maid tip
$6 Tolls
$33 Three vouchers - Pepper Market lunch
$5 Drinks at bowling alley
$52 Bennigans - dinner
$12 Ice cream - Fountain
