wilma-bride
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- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Messages
- 22,681
Day 13 Millennium (well, Millennia actually!) Saturday 21st October
Cast:
Me Joh, 33 Yum, cheesecake
DH Gary, 39 Oh no, more shopping!
DD1 Sian, 13 When are we going to Downtown Disney?
DD2 Rea, 12 How many types of cheesecake does the cheesecake factory have?
Today we were shopping! We woke fairly early I think the early night last night had recharged our batteries. We caught the I-Ride trolley up to Prime Outlets (formerly Belz), then requested a taxi to Mall at Millennia. Originally, we were going to get the Lynx bus but decided we just couldnt face another couple of hours on a bus.
The taxi arrived, we piled in and less than 15 minutes later, wed arrived at our destination. Unfortunately, my wonderful notes on exactly what we spent our money in ended yesterday so I dont remember how much it was. But it couldnt have been that unreasonable or I would have remembered lol.
We wandered through the Mall, stopping to admire some of the excellent window displays. The Americans just seem to put so much effort into everything, I think. We popped into Tiffanys but, unfortunately, DH didnt seem to think we could afford anything. I really wanted a nice blue Tiffanys box or bag as a souvenir but had to settle instead for a gift card envelope (empty) that we managed to half-inch from a counter oops
At least I got my souvenir!
We spent a bit more time traipsing around the shops, then decided it was time for lunch. Now, there was one reason and one reason only why we had come to Mall at Millennia today and it wasnt for the shops. The famous Cheesecake Factory has an outlet here and we were determined to try it so off we went. We had about a 30 minute wait for a table, which wasnt bad considering it was Saturday lunchtime. Finally, we were seated at a table outside. DH wasnt really happy because people were smoking at the tables around us but we decided it was that or wait another 30 minutes possibly.
We settled down to look at the menus but there was so much choice, it was really hard to decide. I warned the girls that Id heard the portions were huge here and suggested they stick to something fairly light if they wanted to have cheesecake afterwards. We finally decided what we would have and then concentrated on choosing our cheesecake flavour while we waited for the server to come back and take our order.
Gary decided to have the lunch-sized portion of pasta Bolognese, figuring it would be a much smaller portion than the dinner option wrong!
As usual, I went for the chicken sandwich option I really must learn to vary my diet. Trouble is I know what I like and I like what I know!
Sian declared she was starving and so chose the turkey club sandwich, despite warnings order at your peril!
And, finally, Rea decided to take my advice and opted for the grilled cheese figuring that as it was a kids meal, it would be significantly smaller again, wrong!
The food was lovely but there was just far too much of it and only Gary managed to do it justice. Unfortunately, neither of us had room for cheesecake but we were determined not to miss out so ordered it to go. 2 pieces of Raspberry White Choc and 2 pieces of Oreo yum.
We paid the check (again, sorry, I cant remember how much but it was reasonable), left a tip and went to arrange a taxi for our return. Back at Prime outlets, we had a little wander round but we were so full, we decided to go back to the hotel and chill out.
Back at the hotel, a visit to the pool was called for. I fell asleep while Gary and the girls tried to drown each other. We went back to the room, showered and changed and decided to visit Wonderworks. On our first trip here in 2004, we had really enjoyed Wonderworks, spending hours in there one evening. I knew the girls would love it too and be fascinated by some of the exhibits and interactive gadgets.
We caught the I-Ride up to Wonderworks, entered and paid our entrance fee. Once through the turnstile, we entered the inversion tunnel (I love this bit!) Inside, we headed straight to the Experience a hurricane exhibit. Oh, its not working! Never mind, well try the Earthquake one. The girls enjoyed that and we moved on to the Weather quiz where, unfortunately, one of the buttons was stuck so they didnt get too many right answers. We went up to the next level, where we made life-sized pin silhouettes for a few minutes before heading over to the area with the giant bubble-blowing. That was good fun and my bubble was, by far, the largest. Unfortunately (again) in this area a lot of things either werent working or were cordoned off. The last time we had visited, one of our favourite things had been an area where dance music played and, when you moved or danced (as we did then. Much to the amusement of passers-by), a silhouette appeared on a big screen with loads of colours kind of hard to explain but anyone who remembers the video to Dee-lites Groove is in the Heart will hopefully know what Im on about. Anyway, this was again not working. Upstairs again, there were several more areas cordoned off and exhibits broken. The ones that were working had huge crowds and you couldnt get near them.
We decided enough was enough and that we would go and play crazy golf instead. We stopped at the desk on the way out, where I explained that we had been very disappointed with the place. We had been in Wonderworks for a total of 40 minutes. The manager was called and came over. He tried to protest that we must have enjoyed it a bit as wed been inside for 40 minutes but I told him that we had been able to spend several hours on a previous visit and insisted that we were extremely unhappy. Eventually, he agreed to refund our money.
We left and walked up to the Tiki golf area, where we laughed our way through yet another round of excellent golfing skills (not!) and over-par scores.
Then we headed back to the hotel, where we ate our lovely cheesecake and watched telly for a while. All in all, a slightly disappointing evening but the cheesecake more than made up for it.
Cast:
Me Joh, 33 Yum, cheesecake
DH Gary, 39 Oh no, more shopping!
DD1 Sian, 13 When are we going to Downtown Disney?
DD2 Rea, 12 How many types of cheesecake does the cheesecake factory have?
Today we were shopping! We woke fairly early I think the early night last night had recharged our batteries. We caught the I-Ride trolley up to Prime Outlets (formerly Belz), then requested a taxi to Mall at Millennia. Originally, we were going to get the Lynx bus but decided we just couldnt face another couple of hours on a bus.
The taxi arrived, we piled in and less than 15 minutes later, wed arrived at our destination. Unfortunately, my wonderful notes on exactly what we spent our money in ended yesterday so I dont remember how much it was. But it couldnt have been that unreasonable or I would have remembered lol.
We wandered through the Mall, stopping to admire some of the excellent window displays. The Americans just seem to put so much effort into everything, I think. We popped into Tiffanys but, unfortunately, DH didnt seem to think we could afford anything. I really wanted a nice blue Tiffanys box or bag as a souvenir but had to settle instead for a gift card envelope (empty) that we managed to half-inch from a counter oops
At least I got my souvenir!We spent a bit more time traipsing around the shops, then decided it was time for lunch. Now, there was one reason and one reason only why we had come to Mall at Millennia today and it wasnt for the shops. The famous Cheesecake Factory has an outlet here and we were determined to try it so off we went. We had about a 30 minute wait for a table, which wasnt bad considering it was Saturday lunchtime. Finally, we were seated at a table outside. DH wasnt really happy because people were smoking at the tables around us but we decided it was that or wait another 30 minutes possibly.
We settled down to look at the menus but there was so much choice, it was really hard to decide. I warned the girls that Id heard the portions were huge here and suggested they stick to something fairly light if they wanted to have cheesecake afterwards. We finally decided what we would have and then concentrated on choosing our cheesecake flavour while we waited for the server to come back and take our order.
Gary decided to have the lunch-sized portion of pasta Bolognese, figuring it would be a much smaller portion than the dinner option wrong!
As usual, I went for the chicken sandwich option I really must learn to vary my diet. Trouble is I know what I like and I like what I know!
Sian declared she was starving and so chose the turkey club sandwich, despite warnings order at your peril!
And, finally, Rea decided to take my advice and opted for the grilled cheese figuring that as it was a kids meal, it would be significantly smaller again, wrong!
The food was lovely but there was just far too much of it and only Gary managed to do it justice. Unfortunately, neither of us had room for cheesecake but we were determined not to miss out so ordered it to go. 2 pieces of Raspberry White Choc and 2 pieces of Oreo yum.
We paid the check (again, sorry, I cant remember how much but it was reasonable), left a tip and went to arrange a taxi for our return. Back at Prime outlets, we had a little wander round but we were so full, we decided to go back to the hotel and chill out.
Back at the hotel, a visit to the pool was called for. I fell asleep while Gary and the girls tried to drown each other. We went back to the room, showered and changed and decided to visit Wonderworks. On our first trip here in 2004, we had really enjoyed Wonderworks, spending hours in there one evening. I knew the girls would love it too and be fascinated by some of the exhibits and interactive gadgets.
We caught the I-Ride up to Wonderworks, entered and paid our entrance fee. Once through the turnstile, we entered the inversion tunnel (I love this bit!) Inside, we headed straight to the Experience a hurricane exhibit. Oh, its not working! Never mind, well try the Earthquake one. The girls enjoyed that and we moved on to the Weather quiz where, unfortunately, one of the buttons was stuck so they didnt get too many right answers. We went up to the next level, where we made life-sized pin silhouettes for a few minutes before heading over to the area with the giant bubble-blowing. That was good fun and my bubble was, by far, the largest. Unfortunately (again) in this area a lot of things either werent working or were cordoned off. The last time we had visited, one of our favourite things had been an area where dance music played and, when you moved or danced (as we did then. Much to the amusement of passers-by), a silhouette appeared on a big screen with loads of colours kind of hard to explain but anyone who remembers the video to Dee-lites Groove is in the Heart will hopefully know what Im on about. Anyway, this was again not working. Upstairs again, there were several more areas cordoned off and exhibits broken. The ones that were working had huge crowds and you couldnt get near them.
We decided enough was enough and that we would go and play crazy golf instead. We stopped at the desk on the way out, where I explained that we had been very disappointed with the place. We had been in Wonderworks for a total of 40 minutes. The manager was called and came over. He tried to protest that we must have enjoyed it a bit as wed been inside for 40 minutes but I told him that we had been able to spend several hours on a previous visit and insisted that we were extremely unhappy. Eventually, he agreed to refund our money.
We left and walked up to the Tiki golf area, where we laughed our way through yet another round of excellent golfing skills (not!) and over-par scores.
Then we headed back to the hotel, where we ate our lovely cheesecake and watched telly for a while. All in all, a slightly disappointing evening but the cheesecake more than made up for it.
i would have loved it there
