"Guess who`s back"...3 Return for 3 Weeks @ RPR. Parks, KSC with lots of good food and fun...A May 2023 TR

[keishashadow]

It`s an extra shot of the alcohol, they pop it in a little test tube and sit it in the drink and you just tip it in, cute.

Our neck of the woods, they just offer an extra shot on top termed “a floater”. Hate that usage, creeps me out as it’s a Rather unfortunate slang term for those familiar with police or paramedics lingo.

Yes, I specifically asked for it with dark rum,

Rather bold move to pass off light rum for dark, even in a mixed drink, not difficult to pick it up. Have to laugh the server doubled down on it.

Good to hear Kyle was pushing the liquids, especially the chicken soup. Oddly enough, it’s never been on the Disney resort menus when family members sorely needed it when feeling green

 

[schumigirl]

Our neck of the woods, they just offer an extra shot on top termed “a floater”. Hate that usage, creeps me out as it’s a Rather unfortunate slang term for those familiar with police or paramedics lingo.

Rather bold move to pass off light rum for dark, even in a mixed drink, not difficult to pick it up. Have to laugh the server doubled down on it.

Good to hear Kyle was pushing the liquids, especially the chicken soup. Oddly enough, it’s never been on the Disney resort menus when family members sorely needed it when feeling green

Yes, floater is a horrible word, same connotations over here too! We usually just say extra shot......we don`t frequent many trendy venues here so there maybe is a more modern name I`m not aware of for a top up......

Contrary to public opinion, I`m not an expert on drinks, but I can tell the difference between those two basic rums!! It would have taken her two minutes to acknowledge she put in the light and make another up, but not a huge deal, just made us smile a little.

Really!!! Now i am surprised at that, I`d have thought chicken noodle soup would be a staple on their menu`s. Although I was disappointed they are serving it with pasta now and not the long lo mein type noodles, it`s not the same, but the broth is still lovely.

 

[schumigirl]

WEDNESDAY MAY 17TH​

I think we all slept much better last night, Kyle certainly looked much better than he had for a while which was wonderful to see. He had colour in his cheeks and actually looked well and was excited to get back into the park today.

Showered, dressed and he even joined us in the lounge for breakfast where Aspen declared it was so lovely to see him looking well again. I don`t think they had seen too much of him this trip. The lounge wasn`t too busy again this morning and we all enjoyed some food, although I wished I could stop coughing.

We didn`t hang around long this morning, so we headed back to our room to get some sunscreen on and as we left our housekeeper was arriving, nice timing, it is good to get our room done so early in the day as we usually get back at some time during the day to get showered and changed.

Heading out into the sunshine was bliss this morning, we were being lazy and headed to the boats, Kyle turned at the pathway and he walked, I think he was in need of walking for sure and on a gorgeous morning like this, it was ideal.

We again, met on the bridge as he was there ages before we arrived, and we headed in to the park as a reasonably healthy threesome!!

One thing we did notice this morning on wandering into the main Universal store was the abundance of Nintendo merchandise, I hadn`t noticed them earlier in the trip, but I might not have noticed them, Super Mario and all that stuff have no interest for us whatsoever. Kyle was never into that as a child so I have little knowledge of any of it other than one of them is a plumber! That`s it. I know it is huge and has a massive fan base, but no interest at all.

In saying that, I think what they`ll do with it in the new park will be out of this world, so far it looks amazing and yes, I think we`ll enjoy it as Universal will build something outstanding down there, so while I say we`re not interested in it as a franchise, we`ll look forward to the new stuff when that park opens.

We headed into the Minion EP line which was not the best, certainly not the way we were used to it being. Today was 15 minutes to get inside when the regular line was only 35 minutes, it should have been a lot quicker and looked like a TM issue more than anything else today. But the longer line did give us a chance to admire the new Minion project that was replacing Shrek across the road.

The building looked good, but I wasn`t hearing good things about the experience itself and what it was going to be.

Although it is open now, the Minion Bakery wasn`t quite ready when we were there, although we were told it would only be a few weeks till it did open, again, earlier than forecast, something Universal do very well. It does look to be very colourful and unlike the new Minion experience, folks were saying this was going to be very popular and I think we`ll absolutely try it out in November.

Tom and Kyle went on RRR, it was a pass from me again, yes, as long as you sit in the front row it`s not as rough, but it`s still a little jiggly for me to do it more than the odd time. But Tom and Kyle love it and don`t miss an opportunity to get on it. I think they only went on twice today and I wandered around getting some pictures and sat down too as I felt really tired which was weird as I had slept so much better.

Central Park area is lovely, it`s green, has some benches to sit on, but sadly is a designated smoking area! So usually that means you can`t wander in for some nice pictures as it can have a fair few smokers in it, which isn`t nice to walk around as a non smoker. I know the old argument of they have to smoke somewhere, I don`t care, to be honest I`d band smoking everywhere in the parks and hotels as it is so unpleasant to be around, but for now, we just avoid it and wander round about it.

And my very happy son was even dancing today!!! I won`t post the whole sequence, but yep....he was dancing along to the music that was all around us.....so good to see his energy levels were back up again

I will say with bottles of water, when it`s the three of us, we usually bought two bottles at a time and shared them, but.....this trip we all had our own bottle which we didn`t share at all!! We always buy bottled water in the parks, we don`t want to be carrying anything around with us except the minimum, but I was slightly annoyed when you buy Smart water, it`s $6 a bottle which does seem rather expensive, I think the regular park bottled water is maybe $4 something, but not $6! Tom thought it was funny that irritated me when larger increases didn`t.....lol, I never thought about it to be honest.

The Mummy was up next and again, I passed on it, I wasn`t sure if I was just tired or something was working on me (surely not) The cough was bad enough although it was easing during the day which was something.

They went on though and I told them to go on as many times as they wanted, I`d be fine wandering again. And I really was quite happy milling around and watching the shows they have around the parks now. It was such an improvement from many years back when they had no street entertainment other than The Blues Brothers and sometimes they had singers outside Mel`s Diner, I think I have a picture somewhere of that. They also had a group play outside of where Hello Kitty is now, they were very good.

But this park has improved massively with street entertainment.

We never made it into Finnegans this trip at all, not for food as we`re not fans of it, but we do like to sit at the bar and have a couple of Rum Neuralysers, an old cocktail from the older days when Jim was the barman you wanted to interact with, he was so cool and worked there for years. Staff are stil good though and they all know the cocktail and know it`s old school when you order them. We`ll make up for it next time

These young folks appear several times a day and it really is a show that becomes a sing off between two factions of the group and they compete maybe singing between 80`s or 90`s songs and the audience applause decides who wins, and I have to say it`s always the 80`s that wins!! They are good and a lot of fun to watch for 15 minutes or so, especially if you can get into the shade!! It was another hot one today!!

I watched them for a time, then wandered off again for some pictures and did get some lovely ones.

But first I knew Marilyn was due out with her lovely dancers, so headed over there and they had just appeared and started their routine, gotta love the "Producer" who encourages and directs them in their show, he is quite unique.

Marilyn and her dancers are very good and I think at least one of those ladies has been performing with her for a very long time, it is worth it to stop and watch them if you are passing.

Once the Sing it group have gone, the street is basically empty, almost like first thing in the morning which is lovely to have it like this as it can get very busy.

This was our old haunt when we did Stay and Scream for HHN`s. This area was blocked off and you wore a band to say you were entitled to be there.....we stopped doing it as it was just too long a wait and those steps are not comfortable for any length of time. We ended up deciding going as many nights as we did we just didn`t need to go in early.

I forget how many times they went on The Mummy, but it was a lot, the EP is wonderful for doing things like that and we thank our lucky stars for it every day!!

We were heading round to Potter but we stopped off for a look into Richter Burger, just to have a look as it had been years and I mean years since we had been in there, but they did have some nice features inside we had forgotten. And it was cool for a few minutes.

Our very first visit way back in 2007 I never made the connection with the San Francisco area and wondered why they had a crumbling facade inside the building.....doh!!!

Food isn`t great here.

We had to get a picture with Bruce!!! We did start taking our pictures of each other when a lovely mum and daughter who were from Brazil offered to take our pictures after we had taken some of them, the mum barely spoke a word of English but she could tell us she was so proud of her beautiful daughter who had brought her on this trip and she could say thank you for the picture.

A little bit of Potter coming up!

 

[keishashadow]

Really!!! Now i am surprised at that, I`d have thought chicken noodle soup would be a staple on their menu`s. Although I was disappointed they are serving it with pasta now and not the long lo mein type noodles, it`s not the same, but the broth is still lovely.

Frustrated once, I inquired why. Was told since it’s so hot there, tourists generally don’t order it.

Um, sure, until they can’t keep anything else down.. they used to offer a soup at the TS buffets, rarely chicken though, usually a cream sort & chili…last thing I’d be looking for at that point.

i usually just took a run to the closest millers. Then, a change in cooks, took his Italian wedding soup recipe with him. Alternate, sweet tomatoes, closed.

PS great to hear your boy was up & dancing! Didn’t see the Mario stuff, cool.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I`m good at hinting when I want some new perfume

We share the same taste in perfume. I don’t wear it a lot but that is my favourite scent. My bottle is almost empty so I must start hinting

Contrary to public opinion, I`m not an expert on drinks

my very happy son was even dancing today!!!

Hurray!! So good to hear Kyle back up and at it!

 

[schumigirl]

Frustrated once, I inquired why. Was told since it’s so hot there, tourists generally don’t order it.

Um, sure, until they can’t keep anything else down.. they used to offer a soup at the TS buffets, rarely chicken though, usually a cream sort & chili…last thing I’d be looking for at that point.

i usually just took a run to the closest millers. Then, a change in cooks, took his Italian wedding soup recipe with him. Alternate, sweet tomatoes, closed.

PS great to hear your boy was up & dancing! Didn’t see the Mario stuff, cool.

Crikey, I am genuinely surprised at that, it`s one of those dishes that are universal when you feel a little off colour.

We never went to Sweet Tomatoes, heard it was very nice though. I think there are alternatives out there albeit maybe not as cheap like Seasons 52. Love Millers....well depending on area!

Yep, it was lovely to see him back up and running!! And yep, loads of Mario stuff around to buy, TM said they expected it to fly off the shelves!

 

[schumigirl]

We share the same taste in perfume. I don’t wear it a lot but that is my favourite scent. My bottle is almost empty so I must start hinting



Hurray!! So good to hear Kyle back up and at it!

Oh yes, time to start hinting!! Right now I split between Blossom by Jimmy Choo and that Chanel, love it, I do wear perfume a lot though, so I do go through it.

Yes, Tom laughed too when I said I wasn`t an expert in alcohol.......

Thanks, we were happy he was finally back to normal, seeing him enjoy the parks was the best!!!

 

[schumigirl]

We headed round to Potter and we were loving this with all three of us enjoying feeling good. Would it last though....

Potter is an amazing place, and it starts outside with the Knight Bus, which gets my approval immediately because it`s purple, my favourite colour!

As well as the interaction at the front of the bus with the shrunken head and the conductor, you can peek in the back of the bus and see the beds where Potter and the other folks using the Knight Bus slept primarily in the third movie, it is identical to the bus in the movie.

Walking into Diagon Alley is always an incredible experience, and that first time you walk in is unlike something else.....hearing the bricks move and then the sights and sounds of DA is simply stunning. Each and every time you wander in is always something special, but nothing beats that first time.

Seeing the dragon exhale it`s fire is something incredibly popular and folks will stand and wait for it anywhere they can see it in DA, but you can`t blame them as folks do love their pictures to keep their memories.

We take a lot of pictures and of course now they`re all digital, but years and years ago someone told me and my siblings, keep your pictures as one day that`s all you`ll have of some people, always stuck with me and it`s so true. I don`t have a single picture of one of my grandma`s and I regret that as I can barely remember her, so we do love our pictures too.

There are some gorgeous areas within this area and some stunning detail and one of my favourites is the steaming teapot almost above and to the left of Florean Fortescue`s Ice Cream Parlor which is lovely, can definitely recommend their ice creams, I think between us we have tried most of them and they`re all very nice.

Tom and Kyle headed up to do Gringotts, I was feeling a little off, not ill, but just didn`t feel like spinning at all, and I`m always happy to just wander around and take in the atmosphere, and folks like to chat, doesn`t matter where you are, you can find yourself chatting to folks from anywhere in the world.

Knockturn Alley is also incredible, I love the darkness and how sinister this area is designed to be, it is a better area to explore when it is quiet as you can pick out more detail, but even busy it`s not too bad.

I do like this little alleyway, you can see Malfoy sneaking around it in one of the later films, so it is integral to the movies as is the whole area when you look around. The attention to detail is simply mind blowing!!

Borgin and Burkes is a must visit in here, they have some fabulous merchandise and you can see various artifacts from many of the movies including the Vanishing Cabinet and the Hand of Glory that you can see opening and closing and many more things of interest.

I sat on the bench for a time and chatted to a lady from Nebraska who was fascinating to talk to, she was in law enforcement and had some tales to tell. It`s amazing what you can learn about people in 10 minutes or so....

I headed back up to the store as you exit Gringotts and had a wander while I waited for my two to come out of the ride, I think they went on four or five times, but I forget exactly, they did enjoy it though.

Gringotts is not the most exhilerating of rides, but it is a good one and I think this is a ride anyone in the family can go on, it`s not rough but you do get swished around a little at certain parts. There is what is technically classed as a drop near the beginning, but it`s not really a drop, more of an incline, it`s nothing to worry about and is fun. And there is also a really good line before the ride.

The store is one of our favourites in Potter, full of some amazing merchandise, I think we have a lot of items from in here and visually it is impressive when you look above.

More to come.......

 

[disneyseniors]

We love everything about DA and Knockturn alley. The creepy dark feeling of that alley feels so real! And Borgin and Burkes is a treasure. I always put my hand on the vanishing cabinet and feel the bird fluttering and also hear it tweet
One time, there was a lady dressed exactly like Bellatrix Lestrange. She even looked like her. She walked around the store for a while. It really felt like you were seeing the "real" Bellatrix! The HP areas are our favorite, even though we are not kids anymore, LOL. Enjoying your insight into that area

 

[schumigirl]

We love everything about DA and Knockturn alley. The creepy dark feeling of that alley feels so real! And Borgin and Burkes is a treasure. I always put my hand on the vanishing cabinet and feel the bird fluttering and also hear it tweet
One time, there was a lady dressed exactly like Bellatrix Lestrange. She even looked like her. She walked around the store for a while. It really felt like you were seeing the "real" Bellatrix! The HP areas are our favorite, even though we are not kids anymore, LOL. Enjoying your insight into that area

Isn`t it just the best Ruth!!!

Tom and I were in it on our own once years ago, and it was fabulous, only one TM wandering so she chatted about various things, completely in character the whole time, it was quite enlightening to listen to her.

That vanishing cabinet is so cute, many don`t know what it is and call it an odd shaped closet according to the TM`s.....lol.....I like to see when the hand scares folks who get up close to it and don`t know it`s going to sharply close!

Oh I agree, you don`t need to be a kid to enjoy those areas immensely.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Oh yes, time to start hinting!!

I really am down to the last few drops. Luckily I’ve a September birthday

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

The HP area of Universal looks amazing! So true to JKRowling’s vision. Love it!

 

[schumigirl]

I really am down to the last few drops. Luckily I’ve a September birthday

I`m September too!! 13th for me.....

Oh yes, you need that renewed, nice timing for it!

The HP area of Universal looks amazing! So true to JKRowling’s vision. Love it!

She did an amazing job along with the designers at UOR, it turned out perfect and exactly how it was imagined, I`m glad she was so singular in what her vision was and kept to it. And we get to reap the benefits

 

[KathyM2]

We take a lot of pictures and of course now they`re all digital, but years and years ago someone told me and my siblings, keep your pictures as one day that`s all you`ll have of some people, always stuck with me and it`s so true. I don`t have a single picture of one of my grandma`s and I regret that as I can barely remember her, so we do love our pictures too.

Ain't this the truth!! My kids are always groaning when I take pictures but I think they enjoy having them later. I love all your pics of the parks. I make yearly photo albums that we love to flip through on actual paper later too.

 

[schumigirl]

Ain't this the truth!! My kids are always groaning when I take pictures but I think they enjoy having them later. I love all your pics of the parks. I make yearly photo albums that we love to flip through on actual paper later too.

That is such a good thing to do, nothing quite like real pictures to look back on too.

I`ve been trying to get older pictures onto the computer for almost two years......lol....I`m not doing it very well, but I have thousands of pictures going waaaaaayyyyy back, so I doubt I`ll ever even make a dent in scanning and storing them!! I can try.

But we do print off ones we really like and get them into frames, we just gave my mum one of the pictures in a frame from our last trip, she was over the moon as she had complained she didn`t have a recent one of us. So, yes, we love pictures too

 

[schumigirl]

Coming out from Potter is like turning up the heat when you`re already toasty....it is a little cooler in DA in certain areas, but now we were being blasted with the heat which we loved, it was another gorgeous day.

But........

​

When I say I`m starving, I usually ain`t kidding and I know from experience hangry genuinely is a thing.

But, we did want to eat in Blondie`s today, it was somewhere we hadn`t eaten in a long time and a few folks had asked what we thought about it and I could never answer them, so today, we`d give it a go.

Only thing wrong with that was, it was now 12.30, we were in the wrong park and I was already at the vociferously hungry stage having had an earlyish breakfast.....but we still decided to go for the Hogwarts Express and have lunch in Blondie`s after all.

Usually when we show our AP to get on the HE there are almost always people arguing they should get on despite not having park to park access with their ticket. Mostly they are adamant that they weren`t told or didn`t know, one even telling a very bemused TM that even though they didn`t have park to park, they should get on because it was their birthday!! Yes, that`s unique!!

It was fairly quiet today despite how busy DA was in general so there was no line getting into HE today, it`s nice being able to stand and get pictures without holding folks up or getting in their way.

The one thing everyone loves about going in this direction is disappearing through the wall as they do in the films. I shouldn`t say everyone, as some folks don`t bother and rather amazingly some folks don`t even know it`s a thing in the line, I`m continually amazed folks don`t research more for things like this.

But, a lot of people (like us) do enjoy getting some images here, and most people will happily wait for everyone to go slow and have a family or friend take their image, it`s just one of those things you have to do. I have heard of some grumpy people or again folks who don`t know and wonder why in the heck everyone is stopping in front of them.

It is a very good illusion and lovely to see oneself go through to Platform 9 3/4.

We didn`t wait long for the train and it was a little longer getting on as there seems to be more and more strollers coming off than there used to be, but soon we`re in our carriage and I can`t remember if we shared with someone today or not, but it is nicer getting the carriage to yourself. Although we have met some very nice folks on this, only once or twice we`ve had the family that don`t want to chat!!

They always come round and tell you how to open the doors if the train stops for any reason, there was an incident several years back and it must have been horrendous for folks who were in there till the staff opened the doors for them, they made the change then.

I think the carriages are always nice and cool, but folks have said on message boards they think they`re too hot.

My smile hides the inner turmoil I was experiencing with hunger! Yes I can over react at times!!

​

By the time we got off, walked out of the station I was almost passing out with hunger, I was weak, shaky and hangry had completely taken over me...

​

I hammered through to Blondies like a galleon on full sail! Tom bravely muttered something about passing places we could eat, but Thunder Falls had changed their menu and it didn`t apeal too much to any of us now, so I persevered and looking back I must have looked like a crazy woman who certainly knew where she was headed.

Blondies was a welcome sight for all three of us, poor Kyle doesn`t often see me like this... I think he though it quite humorous as I was nowhere near passing out really!!

Tom asked what I wanted and Kyle and I were both having the turkey sandwich with potato salad and bless him he ordered 2 portions of fries and delivered one while I waited for the food, and can I say the fries from here are lovely!! And it wasn`t too busy which was nice.

Tom ordered himself the Dagwood, he had this way back and had never had another, I hoped he liked it after all this time.

And he did, he thought it was lovely.

It was all lovely I have to say, the turkey was maybe not as flavoured as it could have been, but it was all fresh and tasty. I think the bread needed something more so I added some of the condiments on offer here.

Would I go back, probably, but I wouldn`t rush it.

Now I had been fed, normal service had been resumed......but Tom and I decided we`d head back home, we wanted to go get some things for gifts for people as there were a couple of birthdays before we left and some thank you gifts to buy too, Kyle wanted to stay and do some more rides, predominantly Velocicoaster so we said we`d see him when he came back, not to rush as we`d be a time doing some shopping. He had money for water so he`d be much happier here than Publix!!

We got home, showered, changed and headed out to both Publix and ABC wines and got what we needed very quickly, it was too hot to be roaming around shopping so we got back home and sorted out our gifts to be handed out before our last day.

We headed down to the lounge for a glass or two of wine, I suggested we get an Uber tonight so Tom could have a drink which went down well......so we had one before Egle popped her head in to see us! She is head of housekeeping in T1 now, but she worked in T3 for many years so we knew her well and hadn`t managed to catch her this trip, it really was nice of her to take the time to come find us, and we had a good catch up before she headed home for the night. We did smile as one of the club staff asked us if there was anyone in the hotel from management we didn`t know!!! I`m sure there might be one or two, but I did tell her we had been staying here for years and had got to know many lovely folks over the years.

Kyle eventually came down to the lounge once he had showered and changed too and he`d had a blast after we left with all the rides he wanted to do and was so thankful for EP!!! I think he rode Velocicoaster about 4 times in a row as well as other rides too. He was looking back to normal although his nose was still not right, but a million times better.

Carlos the supervisor handed Kyle a box before he left, he knew we never make dessert hour and knows Kyle loves chocolate, so it was very thoughtful of him to prepare a box which they will do for you if you won`t make dessert hour, but they did look nice even to me who is not really a chocolate fan. We popped them in the room before we headed out for dinner.

There was a very unusual sky tonight which made us question going offsite for dinner at all, but we all wanted to go, so we went downstairs and in the lobby Tom ordered the Uber which was there in 4 minutes.

Tonight we had decided to go back and try Outback Steakhouse on Kirkman again, it had been many years since we had eaten there, maybe 10 or so. Our last experience had not been the best although it was fine in the end, but they tried to pass of a flat piece of tough meat as a filet, it looked like it had been flattened by a tractor! They were a little condescending and still tried to pass it off as filet. Even the couple at the table beside us commented they thought as Brits we might not know one end of a piece of meat from another. They picked the wrong folks if that was the case. Tom and Kyle had eaten before mine was brought back out, but the one they brought was lovely, however I do hold a grudge.

But, we landed here and our Uber driver amazingly got lost, headed straight past this place and ownward to goodness knows where, but eventually through very broken English we directed him back to where we wanted to be.

I complain a lot about being cold....I really am the original lizard who revels in the heat, it`s not much to ask really......to say I hate the cold is an understatement, so, when we walked in the doors of this restaurant I was blown away by how cold it was, absolutely bliddy freezing!!!

We first noticed the cold, but also how empty this place was, I will say all those years ago this place was always bouncing busy when you came in, this was desolate!! And we hoped the booth would be in a warmer part of the restaurant.

Spoiler...it really wasn`t.

Our waitress was lovely, genuinely lovely and someone you would clone if you could and have a dozen of her in every restaurant, she was so sweet and noticed I was cold, I did ask if it was going to get any warmer and she very sorrowfully shook her head. She did say it was too cold, but apparently couldn`t do anything about it.

If we`d had the car, we would have got up and gone somewhere else, but we were here so we`d make the most of it.

Tom ordered a beer and Kyle and I stuck to water then Aalyah brought us our bread which Tom and Kyle enjoyed but it`s too dark for me, but it is very nice.

Kyle was looking so good here, and I think his nose was finally getting better so eating was much more fun again for him.

This picture of Tom and I is funny.......I look quite normal (ish) and happy, and I was happy.....but.......

This is how I was really feeling!!!

This place made Mythos look like a sauna!!! Holy moly this was miserable, but we had ordered our food now so we were stuck.

And of course there was a delay with the food which completely astounded us as there were 3 people at the bar who weren`t eating and two other tables in the whole place who had both come in just after us, we weren`t sure how they could be any delays!!!

Our waitress apologised twice very sweetly, but this was getting more and more miserable as each second went past! Even Tom and Kyle said it was a bit colder than they`d like......and they don`t really feel it.

My Caesar salad finally arrived and it was very nice, probably one of the nicest caesar salads ever.

Finally, our steaks arrived and they did look good, really good!!!

And Kyle reminded his dad, we need pictures......lol......tom`s face was a picture!!!

​

They were all perfect .....and among the nicest steak we`d had, and surprised as to be honest seeing how quiet it was we kind of expected them to be poor. But, we were extremely happy with them.

We had asked for them medium rare towards the rarer side, and this was Kyle`s almost at the end of his meal, still perfectly cooked for us.

That`s how you cook a steak!!!

I`ll be really honest, I wasn`t feeling 100% at this point, I couldn`t finish my meal which in itself is something of an unusual occurrence, especially with steak this good, so as soon as we were finished we paid and hot footed it outside where we waited for our Uber. I felt chilled to the bone!

Again this is somewhere I`m not sure I`d come back to, we much prefer places that are at least reasonably busy, but we couldn`t speak highly enough about the food.

As I was a little off we went straight upstairs and I was so cold I went for another shower, got into jammies and went to bed with the heat on in the room.

I couldn`t sleep, so I got up and went back through to where they were watching tv, so I joined them. At that point Tom went down to the lounge just before it closed and got me some black tea with honey to see if that would help my cough a little. But, more than that now I just felt odd, I was shivery and very, very cold.

As well as cookies, Kyle had bought this goodie back from the parks today, so he was sorted for desserts!!

It was around 10.30 when lights went out, and just hoped I`d sleep and not disturb them too much.

 

[keishashadow]

Even the couple at the table beside us commented they thought as Brits we might not know one end of a piece of meat from another.

There’s a real misnomer here that the Brits basically boil a steak & use zero seasonings. Meanwhile, the curry many favor there could easily take the top of one’s head off. No idea how that myth got started but, it sure did take hold.

IMO Blondies is one of the few places that makes a solid cold cut sandwich in the U area. No idea that thunder falls changed the menu, need to take a peek

 

[schumigirl]

There’s a real misnomer here that the Brits basically boil a steak & use zero seasonings. Meanwhile, the curry many favor there could easily take the top of one’s head off. No idea how that myth got started but, it sure did take hold.

IMO Blondies is one of the few places that makes a solid cold cut sandwich in the U area. No idea that thunder falls changed the menu, need to take a peek

I think folks that have only experienced poor British cuisine think all our food is bland....most have no idea just how good our food can be, and some thing the Potter restaurants are reflective of what we serve.....nope. But, yes we do seem to have this reputation and unfairly so.

Yes, Thunder Falls has changed and we didn`t fancy it as much, lots of beans and no chicken wrap which was one of the nicest things in there! Blondies was good for sure and yes, very fresh which makes all the difference.

Looking to maybe try Wimpy`s next time, their fries looked amazing, if I can slum it and eat outside I`ll be fine eating there.....

 

[KathyM2]

Usually when we show our AP to get on the HE there are almost always people arguing they should get on despite not having park to park access with their ticket. Mostly they are adamant that they weren`t told or didn`t know, one even telling a very bemused TM that even though they didn`t have park to park, they should get on because it was their birthday!! Yes, that`s unique!!

I agree that the whole needing a park to park ticket to ride the HE is such a cash grab...but makes sense...that said...really feel for people who legit don't know when they arrive...the birthday thing not so much lol...These days though...I feel like you need to really spend time educating yourself about everything you are about to do and there is just too much info out there on everything!! It's too bad that a theme park visit now requires so much advance knowledge and planning!! You guys are lucky that now it's all old hat lol...and you get to do longer trips so as to not have to rush to get everything done lol...I learn a lot from your TR's though ))

It was all lovely I have to say, the turkey was maybe not as flavoured as it could have been, but it was all fresh and tasty. I think the bread needed something more so I added some of the condiments on offer here.

This looks pretty good...I like that there are some non-deep fried lunch options...they seem few and far between ...I wish they would put something like Panera bread in the parks lol

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hi-been a little while again but due to *gestures wildly at everything*

Love all the pictures! Also happy to see a bonefish still exists as all the ones up by us closed (I loved their basic grilled tilapia with lemon-so simple and cooked perfectly every time).

That was lovely of the TMs at the lounge to set aside cookies for Kyle!

I think the last time I was at that outback on kirkman was in 2012 lol! Since then we haven’t left the respective theme park bubbles of Disney and universal!


Also considering the *gesturing at everything*, I do want to say I’ve always enjoyed your trip reports. And for everyone else I’ve always appreciated your comments and reactions. Carole and Tom and Kyle clearly bring out the best in all of us! As I said on the main big thread in regards to it all, I’m always available for a listen, and if anyone wants to DM and share social medias incase something does happen to these boards, my messages are always open.




(Also always Myers over Bacardi for dark rum! Even my dog knows that and she’s a Yorkie and can’t reach the dry sink!)