Happy Anni-birth-aversary...A 33 night Celebration & HHN too.....SF & RPR September 2022 TR

[Worfiedoodles]

That drink from Sloppy Joe’s — Lush!
I swear Red Lobster puts crack in those biscuits. They are addictive!

I’m enjoying all the photos so much!
Please take your time with the report. I know we all love to just read them as long as possible

 

[Robo56]

Meanwhile as I waited for Tom to come back in I heard a lady say my name......I looked up and there was Robbie.......it was so good to her as it had been a few years, so this was a lovely surprise!!

It was a nice surprise to see you both and have a visit. You are both lovely, happy people. Always good to see you.

We enjoyed this room better and this was where the guy who thought he knew it all became a real pain in the asp!! But, no one listened to him which annoyed him all the more......he was just one of those folks......

I laughed when I read this. There always seems to be one in the group who wants to take charge instead of just have fun and enjoy the group and the overall experience. Those experienced tour guides will usually handle them. Sounds like yours did.

A little eerie about your fully charge watch stopping when in the house on the ghost hunt then starting back up after you left.

I had noticed something was off on the last visit to the Islands for dinner. I had always enjoyed going in for a meal. Looks like things have not improved much which is sad.

Tell the camera man his photos are great and as always your writing is superb. I’am really enjoying your report. Look forward to more.

 

[schumigirl]

Yep-absolutely awful!

Lolololololol


And I still haven’t finished my trip report and I have to start a new one soon! No worries about finishing it-you do you Carole!

I did think I would be further along by now, but, well.....life......lol......

 

[schumigirl]

Poison - I remember that well

One of the nurses on my unit loved it. Such a relief when she clued in that maybe it was a **bit** overwhelming for the patients. There may have been some nudging her in that direction

lol.....one of my friends called me last night after she read that post and said she used to wear Obsession and Shalimar (forgot about that one) both were incredibly overpowering!!! And similar to what you said about the nurse, her work colleagues were always hinting too......she was only about 19 and first job so she had no clue......lol.......

I need to go have a sniff at some of those older ones today.......Poison, do they even still make that one??? I need to check......

 

[schumigirl]

That drink from Sloppy Joe’s — Lush!
I swear Red Lobster puts crack in those biscuits. They are addictive!

I’m enjoying all the photos so much!
Please take your time with the report. I know we all love to just read them as long as possible

It really was....once of the nicer Sangrias around. I think those biscuits could almost make a meal on their own!! Yes, addictive.

Thank you Maria.......I was hoping for poor weather here as that keeps me in a little more often, but it`s been so mild here we keep going out!! I will get there.....

 

[schumigirl]

It was a nice surprise to see you both and have a visit. You are both lovely, happy people. Always good to see you.


I laughed when I read this. There always seems to be one in the group who wants to take charge instead of just have fun and enjoy the group and the overall experience. Those experienced tour guides will usually handle them. Sounds like yours did.

A little eerie about your fully charge watch stopping when in the house on the ghost hunt then starting back up after you left.

I had noticed something was off on the last visit to the Islands for dinner. I had always enjoyed going in for a meal. Looks like things have not improved much which is sad.

Tell the camera man his photos are great and as always your writing is superb. I’am really enjoying your report. Look forward to more.

I still get surprised when I hear someone call my name, even after all these years....but it`s always a pleasure. Yes, it was lovely catching up....

Isn`t there always one wherever you go!!!! Why is that.....surely there could be a group of all of these one of`s in their own little group.....lol......yes, it was odd with the watch, I have no explanation as it had never done it before and hasn`t done it since.

It`s a shame about Islands, I think personally it might be a management issue, they need a good strong manager in place. We knew the previous ones before the pandemic...and the restaurants were both much better then. I hope they get back to the previous standards. And hopefully the refurbs will be back in place and we see them completely revamped too.

And thank you!!! I will pass on the compliments to Tom......I`m so glad you`re enjoying this one too.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I did think I would be further along by now, but, well.....life......lol......

Life is crazy lately!

 

[schumigirl]

Life is crazy lately!

For us, it`s that time of year. We have a wedding Tom is very involved in, so many nights out which is not a complaint, love it.....and of course Christmas shopping plus house renovations, some have been completed these last 3-4 weeks, but still a lot of little jobs we want done and trying to organise that with tradesmen`s schedules is exhausting......lol.....

That glass of wine at night is very welcome!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

For us, it`s that time of year. We have a wedding Tom is very involved in, so many nights out which is not a complaint, love it.....and of course Christmas shopping plus house renovations, some have been completed these last 3-4 weeks, but still a lot of little jobs we want done and trying to organise that with tradesmen`s schedules is exhausting......lol.....

That glass of wine at night is very welcome!

I hear ya on house renovations. We also have another small trip (not to Orlando) and the holidays and a whole bunch of other chaos including a fundraiser for my theatre company which I will be missing due to the trip!


I might have to start having a glass of wine at night!

 

[saskdw]

That crowd experience sounds horrible. My wife would be traumatized if that happened to her.

So....despite your warnings (which I shared with her) my wife has decided we are going to try Bigfire. All the Disney/Universal Youtubers we follow give it rave reviews.

I said that's fine, but if it sucks Carole gets to give you a BIG "I told you so!!" on Dis Boards!

 

[schumigirl]

I hear ya on house renovations. We also have another small trip (not to Orlando) and the holidays and a whole bunch of other chaos including a fundraiser for my theatre company which I will be missing due to the trip!


I might have to start having a glass of wine at night!

I can absolutely recommend a glass of wine most nights!!!

 

[schumigirl]

That crowd experience sounds horrible. My wife would be traumatized if that happened to her.

So....despite your warnings (which I shared with her) my wife has decided we are going to try Bigfire. All the Disney/Universal Youtubers we follow give it rave reviews.

I said that's fine, but if it sucks Carole gets to give you a BIG "I told you so!!" on Dis Boards!

Oh lordy.....I really hope you come back and say you loved it!!!! I don`t mind being wrong......lol.......

Thing is there are plenty of folks who have enjoyed it, so I truly hope you are one of them. Will look forward to hopefully a good review from you.

Yes, being honest it was horrible with the crowds, never again. We were so grateful to them.

 

[schumigirl]

About now Tom said he felt a little "off" but couldn`t quite put his finger on what exactly it was, so I asked if he wanted to eat or just go home, he said he could eat, he wasn`t feeling awful, so I suggested we went to Bread Box, I knew we both liked it, Tom loves a sandwich slightly more than I do, so he was happy to go here.

They do have a few choices of either hot and cold sandwiches and there really is something for everyone. I think we`ve tasted a few of their options and never been disappointed.

Today we decided to share the BBQ brisket melt and hot turkey both on white, we didn`t bother with sides as the sandwiches are quite filling on their own for a lunch.

But they are so good! Meats are plentiful and very moist and the bread has a buttery like quality which adds to the sandwich, so we were very glad we had popped up here today.

It`s never usually that busy, I don`t think we`ve ever seen it filled to the rafters even on a night. But, it`s very clean, staff are usually very nice although today they weren`t as friendly as they normally are, but still decent service.

Not the clearest picture......yep, guilty....I took this one!

We ate up and I asked him if he wanted a doughnut, we hadn`t had one from Voodoo yet, and again Tom likes doughnuts more than I do.....except for the bacon maple one.......I love that doughnut!! Sweet and savoury together is perfect, I also love sweet and spicy, they need to bring out a hot and spicy doughnut next! They have the Ring of Fire variety, but that didn`t cut the mustard apparently.

There are so many to choose from and some that just don`t appeal, but we ended up with my Bacon Maple, I also chose the Guava Colada which was filled with a sweet guava jelly and coated with vanilla frosting then a lot of flaked coconut, and a sweet tiny umbrella.....

Tom chose the Voodoo Doll which has a raspberry filling and chocolate coating and also the Maple Cream that was generously filled with a lovely Bavarian cream and topped with maple frosting and weirdly had a moustache and a pair of eyes??

The Guava Colada was a little bit of a disappointment, I adore anything with coconut, but this one just wasn`t as good as the other creations. The Bacon Maple was lush and Tom ate half of his Doll and half of the Maple Cream, he`d keep the rest for later.

We came back home and chilled out for a little time, Tom snoozed for an hour or so and declared himself much better so around 4ish we headed down to the lounge, it`s a great place to chill out and just do nothing. Not everyone`s idea of how they like spend their vacation time, but when you`re here as long as we are, it`s not necessary to be in the parks constantly.

I did like our table for fizz tonight!! And I couldn`t even blame Matt and Rob tonight as they weren`t in tonight......oops! Someone brought us 2 glasses over and another had poured us 2 without noticing we already had them......we did enjoy them though!

The Club Staff are simply amazing and look after everyone so well, I never tire of praising them highly enough as they do a tremendous job every single time you go in there.

What a cool dude Raphael is.........

Raphael asked me to try the pasta and meatballs tonight, he said he knew I didn`t eat pasta, but would I try it for him for my opinion.....well, of course I would. The chefs cooking the dishes tonight had made the pasta with a tomato sauce and veg and also the meatballs were in a tomato sauce too....slightly different from how it`s usually served up.

The pasta wasn`t for me, Tom tasted a tiny bit too and thought it was ok, but the meatballs were very nice. I only had two as we were going out for dinner later, but I liked them.

As usual we sat a little longer than we planned and by the time we headed down to the lobby to order our Uber I was starving!!

Our Uber was only 3 minutes till it arrived and it was another man who didn`t speak any English, but just enough and his car smelled lovely, like strawberries so it was a very pleasant, but short ride to our destination.

We had chosen to come to Kobe on Kirkman tonight, we really enjoyed had stopped doing the Tepenyaki Tables a few years ago.....when you`ve seen the onion volcano more than 2 or 3 times, you`ve seen it enough, so we prefer to sit at the regular tables and tonight they said it would be 10 minutes which was fine for us.

We sat in the bar area as we waited and another couple were beside us and heard the Scottish accent, so began chatting as a lot of folks do. They were Canadian and their kids and Grandkids were both in Scotland and they obviously missed them very much and were planning to visit next summer. We knew the area their family lived so it was a nice chat with them before we ate.....I hoped they hadn`t heard my tummy rumbling like crazy the whole time!!

​

Tom had heard it and stifled his smirks well!

Our table was ready and the Canadian couple headed through to the Tepenyaki tables, and we had a nice little table again tonight, the staff here are exceptionally polite and well mannered, and friendly too.

Our drink of choice tonight was a sharing cocktail called The Scorpion, it was a sharing bowl, well it could be a sharing bowl......or not........

This sounded delicious and one we would both enjoy, it had a unique mix of Cruzan Rum, Amaretto, Gin, Apricot Brandy, mixed fruit juices, Grenadine and 151 Proof Rum in the centre that was flamed tableside.

And it was lovely.....I think I ended up with most of this cocktail!!

It wasn`t too busy over this side tonight, which was nice, just a few folks and the lady who was taking care of us was very nice and pointed out straight away that service was included, something we hadn`t been told last time and did double tip. It was our mistake for not noticing, we did think she was extremely grateful when we did tip on top.....now we knew why!!

All the meals come with onion soup and a little salad with a very nice ginger dressing which even Tom likes and he generally doesn`t like ginger. The clear onion soup is always so fresh tasting and feels like you are eating healthily and it`s doing you good.....my story and I`m sticking to it!!

The little appetisers do their jobs well, we are both more than ready for dinner now and it arrives looking absolutely amazing.

Tom had opted for the land and sea, which was filet, shrimp and lobster, I had gone for the Kobe Trio which was again filet cooked medium rare, shrimp and teriyaki chicken.

Both dishes are accompanied by noodles and stir fried veg which were both lovely apart from the giant carrot pieces they give you which are still almost completely solid, but it`s all beautiful.

The filet is cooked perfectly, the lobster light and buttery, shrimps full of flavour and the teriyaki chicken is a delight, the sides too were all gorgeous!!

I did feel they were more forceful in trying to get you to order desserts this visit...but we declined as were completely full to bursting at this point! I had left most of my rice and noodles as did Tom, nothing wrong with them we had just eaten all of the meat and seafood. But, it had been delicious.

Our Uber was a few minutes in arriving and we got her to take us to Sapphire as we were heading to Strong Water tonight for an hour or so.

Fernando greeted us immediately and it`s always such a warm and welcoming place to go into......he finds us a table and we order our drinks, I of course choose Carole`s Punch, but there had been a mix up in communication and one of the ingredients was missing again, so it didn`t taste the same.....I told them, it`s different, but because they thought they had the right recipe, it was confusing. We found out later about the pineapple juice....Emilio had topped it up with soda water, so it was very different!!!

A lady we had spoken to in the club lounge had come across tonight for drinks too, and she had tried it and said yes, it was lovely.....but I hope she got to try the real one at some point.

You can see it`s much lighter than normal in this image.

Tom ordered his favourite, well, one of them...The Fountain of Youth which is very nice....but not as nice as mine......

I suddenly spotted 2 familiar faces walk into the bar......I immediately hot footed it over and hijacked them to come sit with us....it was Mr & Mrs Keishashadow themselves.......woooooo!!!

We were delighted to have them join us tonight, we knew they were arriving, but we weren`t sure exactly when so this was ideal.

It`s always good to see them and spend time with them, we would be going to Howl o Scream with them later in the month, so this was like a bonus night as they always have a lot of plans when they`re here. And we did have a lovely couple of hours chatting and lots of laughs.....Janet got my cocktail and even though it wasn`t the correct one, she did enjoy it.

I suddenly pulled a muscle in the back of my leg! Weirdest muscle pull ever.....I had no idea I had working muscles there!!! But, it was bloomin agony. It did subside but would bite me a few times when walking going forward. What a stupid thing to do, although I didn`t really do anything, just moved my leg....I think I blame how I was sitting in the chair.

After a lovely couple of hours we said goodnight and we headed back to RP......where it dawned on us half way home....we didn`t get a picture of the four of us together! Darn it.....completely forgot!

But, we`d see them in a few days or so properly....

We fell into bed tonight and I don`t remember saying goodnight to Tom tonight.

 

[schumigirl]

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21ST​

We woke up and Tom didn`t look so good, but he said he was fine, even though I could see he really wasn`t. He wasn`t "ill" as such, just not quite right. However once we were showered and dressed we headed along for breakfast and Tory asked if he was ok as he wasn`t himself, so he must have looked a little poorly.

He did have some tea and his usual croissants with honey and we did sit and chat for a while which I think was what he needed. I said we didn`t have to do anything at all today, but he wanted to go out so I suggested we head to the Mall and have a wander, I wanted to get some lipstick from Clinique and some Bath & Body stuff.....he liked the idea so we got the car and I drove this morning.

We do enjoy a wander round our favourite Mall, there are so many stores we love wandering around here and it`s just a nice place to take at a slow pace.

I picked up a couple of lipsticks from Clinique, wandered upstairs to see their household items and small Christmas display, which was nice, but could do better springs to mind.

At this point I noticed Tom pale a little more, so I told him we were going home and he was going to bed. But, by now it was nearly lunchtime and he said he felt like having some of the tomato soup from Jake`s first. So, I parked the car and we headed down there. It was busy, there was a 30 minute wait for a table, it was around 12.30 by now, we spotted 2 seats at the far end of the bar and took them.

Tom ordered a straight JD and I had a red wine, this had been our first time at the bar this trip and we didn`t know any of the staff this visit, but they were ok. The bar was filled with convention folks which is never fun......but we were quite lucky the folks sitting beside us were just nomming on their food and not bellowing at each other despite sitting right beside each other which some always feel the need to do.

Sorry, I took this picture again......bit blurry!!

Tom got the grilled cheese with tomato soup and I ordered a burger with sweet potato fries.......

Tom`s soup was cold as was my burger So, both went back and Tom ate his cheese sandwich while they brought a new bowl of soup, I hoped they didn`t just reheat it, but it looked fresh to be fair when it came back out.

My burger took a little longer, so I did what any normal person did, I ordered a second red wine and waited......

The manager came over to apologise and Tom assured him the soup was boiling hot this time and he said there was no charge for the burger as I was still waiting......of course it did have to be the time we wanted in and out of the restaurant fast. And when the burger did arrive, the sweet potatoes were fresh and sizzling and the burger......well, it was edible. It should have been sizzling hot as it was supposed to be very fresh, but I told them it was fine as I just wanted to eat and get Tom back upstairs. Taste wise it was nice enough, but not the burgers of several years ago for some reason.

We headed upstairs, Tom went into bed with some pain relief and I went down to make some tea for him, Tory was in and I said he was poorly so she said she`s send him down some some ginger ale which he does like. I took down the tea and a few minutes later the ginger ale was at the door. It was so kind of Tory to arrange it. At this point Tom had drank the tea and was sound asleep, I popped the ginger ale in the fridge.

I sat in the sitting area with my book and tea and listened in case he needed anything, but he was unconscious. I think it would do him the power of good. I wished he had told me he wasn`t feeling so good this morning and we`ve never have gone out at all, but he felt he wanted some fresh air, fair enough I suppose.

Alex had started work and called down to see if we needed anything, so thoughtful of her, I said I`d be down soon to make some tea and might go down for some chicken noodle soup later, but I`d be down soon to make some more tea I`d see her then.

He woke up and didn`t look brilliant. Very weird, not a flu nor a proper cold or cough, but a mix of all three in a small way.

I got him tea and popped down again later to make some more tea and then began to think about food, I told Alex I was going to order room service and get soup for him. She had given me into trouble for letting him have tomato soup.....lol....she said it needs to be broth based. She was right of course .......she told me she had ordered us chicken noodle soup and it would be along in about 15 minutes. What an angel she is.

One of the times I was down making tea, a girl who reads the Dis came up and said hello as she knew me from the TR`s...her name was Becky, I think her Dis name is Lost Princess or similar, she was lovely and was with her husband and parents who were also nice, they were staying for two weeks I think if I remember correctly, it was nice to meet them all.

There is an amenity you can order that includes the chicken noodle soup, camomile tea, honey, lemon, crackers and a pot of boiling water oh and a box of tissues too and this was what Alex had arranged to be sent to us tonight.

If you`ve never tried the chicken noodle soup from here, you need to change that and try it.....it is gorgeous!!! I mean, really gorgeous.......

Tom stayed in bed till it arrived and got up in time to enjoy it and put the table ends up as my apparently weak wrists couldn`t manage it!!!

We loved it. It was beautiful and just what Tom needed. I even had him drink the camomile tea with some honey in it and he liked it, he`s not a camomile tea person usually.

I called to get them come get the tray and told them we`d leave it outside so as not to disturb Tom if he went back to sleep. But, he stayed awake. A few minutes later the turndown lady appeared and we just took the bottles of water from her which is always handy to have around.

We got into jammies and I turned the heat up, something I rarely do here, at that the phone rang and it was Alex checking in on us, I thanked her again for organising the food for us, she said if we needed anything just call, I said we would but thought we`d be ok.

We had looked at the movies to buy, and Tom fancied the new Fantastic Beasts one, so we ordered that and sat and watched it. He only dropped off twice....lol......

I did insist he went to bed after it finished, he was already on the way to be honest, I thought he looked very tired but hoped a good night`s sleep would work wonders again.

Not the most exciting of days, but I think Tom needed to sleep and just recharge a little. It`s so strange as he is never ill, very rarely even gets a cold, and if he is poorly, it usually passes quickly, it`s usually me feeling off colour and he is very good at looking after me when I am ill, so I did step up and made sure he was ok.

And tonight was another one of those nights I was so glad of the King Suite as we never heard one sound from the corridors when we were in here with the door closed.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

So sorry to hear Tom got sick!

Also can’t go wrong with soup! Glad to hear ROR was a hit with that!

 

[schumigirl]

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 22ND​

We both slept really well last night, and I was glad that Tom had slept through without waking so he felt very refreshed waking up this morning and I was glad to see it. I asked him what he felt like doing today and he said not much. He felt fine, but wanted to take it easy so I suggested we just wander round the parks, didn`t need to go on any rides and just enjoy the sunshine, he said that sounded good.

Breakfast was very relaxed, we took our time and I think we chatted to Matt and Rob before they set off for what they were doing today. Poor Matt was bothered by a bug every now and again through the trip, some days you could see he was struggling, but my goodness he powered through where I think I`d have been laying in bed being a wimp!

We went down to the lobby to see and chat to one of our friends and we managed to catch him in a quiet moment, so he could come out for a chat, Samuel is one of our favourite folks in RP, we`ve only known him since 2018 but absolutely adore him, and good to see him progressing up the ladder.

It`s a nice little pathway down to the water path, it is quite steep going the other way I will say!!!

There`s that balloon!!!

How can you miss it......quite easily I think is the answer if you`re me! My two still tease me when after visiting for years, I walked into this store and asked when did they add that balloon????

The look on their faces was funny......it was an incredulous look of are you kidding me......lol......but I genuinely had never noticed it before.

One of my friends husbands would have loved this model of the Velocicoaster.....he is big into models and things like Airfix kits much to his wife`s annoyance at times, but I could see him building this one......we didn`t get it for him of course but I thought of him as soon as I saw it.

My friend thanked me for not buying it when I told her about it!!

We did go on Dr Doom as it`s not a throw you around type of ride, it`s straight up and down a couple of times, and we did it 3 times this morning as it would probably be the only ride we`d do today.

Walking through the Super-hero area is colourful. Not as colourful as Seuss, but it`s up there, and of course it is filled with giant murals of the characters that are featured in this land.

The man who created these murals is Adam Kubert, he is one of the sons of the famous comic book artist Joe Kubert who began the Kubert School where many now famous comic book artists also went.

Adam was given an instruction to not sign any of the murals he created......he sounds a little like me though.......

​

He had been told not to sign his name to any of the murals, but being the wonderful and creative artist he is, he managed to cleverly and artfully hide his signature into nearly every single mural!! You do have to be up close to see them, but you can make it out in most if you look. I think there are 22 or 23 of them altogether and some folks set a challenge to find all the signatures.

We`re obviously not very good as we`ve only spotted about 6 or 7....but, we don`t always look to be fair.

Toon Lagoon was exceptionally quiet this morning, but also no characters out yet, Popeye Olive Oyl and Betty Boop are usually here, we had caught them a few days ago though. I was never a fan of Popeye when I was a kid, but I do enjoy his presence in the park with the ride and the appearances round the park, he is a very good addition and although some kids may not have a clue who he is, they do like him and he is a popular character.

The heat this morning was beautiful, we were loving just sauntering round the somewhat deserted park, well, deserted in some areas.....it was quite odd as you would turn a corner and there were just hordes of people there.

I kept checking Tom was ok, and I think he was fine, but we would still take it easy for today.

This is such a popular spot for pictures, so it was very unusual to see it deserted, we did grab one or two pictures here while it was empty. The castle pictures from here are among the most coveted in the parks and there are usually a plethora of people all trying to capture the perfect picture.

I had heard a lot from people about vloggers being a pest in the parks, but so far we hadn`t noticed one! Not that I`d recognise any of them to be honest, I don`t read bloggers nor do I watch any vloggers, I couldn`t name one and wouldn`t know one if they came up and stood on my toes. But I`d seen many comments over several boards that they were around and commentating on every single thing much to the annoyance of those around. I`d either not noticed or they weren`t around right now.

We even managed to get a clear picture of the snowman in Hogsmeade, usually it was surrounded by folks just hanging around or sitting on the wall, so it was nice to get a clear picture.

We stopped off into the Hogs Head to share a pumpkin fizz again, this is something we do enjoy. I think everyone knows we don`t like Butterbeer by now, except ice cream and a little of the fudge, it is so sweet, a little too sweet for me. So is Pumpkin Fizz but sharing it works fine for us, and it`s nice sitting in the cool for a while too.

Hogsmeade is very pretty and there are so many touches again that can easily be missed.

We had only seen the door on top of the tower open and the bird coming out once before, it was on one of our Christmas visits, and unexpected. I did manage to catch it, but it`s not clear as I think we had gone in different directions, Tom and Kyle had gone to do FJ and I only had my ipad, so it`s not the best image.

We didn`t even go on the Trolley Train or any of the rides in Seuss, but we did see the Grinch and thought we`d grab a picture today......so we gave the camera to the guy and for the first time ever, they didn`t turn out. They were just a blur.....I wished we`d checked before we left, but they`re usually so good with picture taking, it never occurred to us to check.

I`m glad we got one of our own before we posed with him. He is the funniest of characters despite not being able to talk and the interactions with him are always so much fun.

Neither of us had eaten a lot for breakfast so we were quite hungry by now and we`re not really big snackers around the parks, so time to head out and again, we took our time and walked back home.

A quick shower and change and we got the car and drove to Nagoya Sushi for lunch, it`s only a 10 minute drive away and we absolutely love this place.

We managed to get a booth today, it was quiet, but within 10 minutes it was more than half full. This place is very popular with locals more than tourists which is something we love about a place, the more local the better. Of course we do enjoy some chain and standard restaurants too, so many we don`t have in the UK, so we do like a huge variety of places.

I sound like a broken record, but we love this place. It`s quite intimate and the staff are wonderful, very young crew but they are lovely. The Sushi Chefs are very authentic too and there is nothing we don`t enjoy here. Oh, they don`t do cocktails, that`s about the only negative if you can call that one.

We both have onion soup first, then Tom was having the Chicken Teriyaki which came with veg and fried rice, I went for the Nagoya Steak medium rare which also came with fried rice.

Both dishes were beautiful......the steak was perfect, more rare then medium rare, but that suited me down to the ground, the sauce it came in was amazing and chopsticks just weren`t working for me today!

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I am fine with chopsticks when eating meats, seafood, sushi and even noodles....but when you want to use your rice to soak up all that gorgeous sauce......nah....time for a fork. I know....the shame......but my goodness it was worth it!! Not a drop of sauce was left with the rice and fork working well together!

Tom had no such issues with his chicken, but he loved his dish too and I didn`t think we`d need much for dinner tonight after this meal.

Somehow we managed to pass the afternoon away just chatting to different folks and before we knew it, it was Club Lounge time.

Jen, the Concierge Manager showed me the new option they had brought in, a bottle of Rose which seemingly was very popular with folks in the lounge.

I`m not a fan of any Rose wine, far too sweet, we stuck to fizz and Cabernet in the lounge, but it`s nice they have plenty of options to cover most tastes.

With it being Thursday, the usual offering was Beef Bulogi which was one of the nicest dishes the lounge had offered, I was surprised when one of the staff asked me to try it as it was certainly different.

They were calling it Beef Fajita......but, it looked just like shredded beef and I did taste it, but it wasn`t for me. And I don`t eat a lot of rice anyway, but never rice with any kind of bean in it! I was glad we were still full from lunch.

We sat with Matt and Rob again tonight and just laughed and laughed for the couple of hours we were in there with them. And of course did enjoy a glass or two of bubbly.

I was so happy to see Tom was more or less back to normal and was animated and full of energy tonight, he had looked so lacklustre this morning, he was back to normal.

Rob and Matt were heading to HHN tonight, we were passing on it and our plan tonight was to have a simple pool night. We hadn`t managed one yet and always enjoy at least one night poolside and it was hot tonight, so we thought it would be a good idea.

Neither of us remember the movie they were showing tonight, but I do know I was on my ipad some of the time while Tom swam or floated around the pool. I did go in for a while, but the pool is not somewhere I need to spend a lot of time, I`m not really a pool person.....sitting around it with a cocktail is more my type of pool fun.......

As is common with us, we did eventually get hungry, and the Bula Bar food is excellent......and right now the best of the bunch between them, Islands and Jake`s.

It`s a decent menu for a poolside bar, and I have to say, Sapphire, Hard Rock and Portofino all have fabulous pool bars for food, can`t go wrong with any of them.

They have an amazing Huli Huli Chicken sandwich here which comes with coconut bread, but something else caught my eye tonight.

Tom went for their rather simple but tasty Pepperoni Pizza, it`s definitely the more basic looking of onsite pizza`s, but he really enjoyed it and it was quite small so quite enough for tonight.

I`m not usually a Quesidilla fan, but one of the lounge staff who knows I don`t like Mexican food said it wasn`t really anything like Mexican, but they thought I`d like it, so I would give it a try.

It was lovely......really lovely and they were generously filled with chicken and not too much cheese which suited me nicely. We also got a salad to share, but we didn`t need it, we were quite full with what we had.

This had been a perfect night for us, very, very relaxing and I think we both enjoyed it.

We stayed almost till the pool closed, then dropped off the pool towels and headed up stairs. Quick shower and another early night for us.

 

[disneyseniors]

Oh, Carole, I thought I was the only one who didn't like Butterbeer. It was too sickening sweet for me, but everyone else I was with loved it. Is the Pumpkin fizz just as sweet? I might try it because I like pumpkin coffee from Starbucks at Thanksgiving time.
Also, the pool thing is just not for me. I really don't like to get wet and sit around like that. It's odd because I used to love swimming. Oh well. The pool or beach just isn't for Roger or I at all, except for a walk along the beach. We like to have things that are different to do; just wander around and look at things and ride if we want to. That's why I love Universal so much. You can just wander around. I don't hurry to the rides like I used to do when I was younger. I like to take my time. Thankfully, Roger is like that too

So sorry Tom was not feeling well! Every time we went to Disney, one of us came down with a "flu" bug of some kind with chills, fever, and cough. Usually it was Roger, and it was no fun. I haven't had that happen yet at Universal! Hope I haven't jinxed myself, LOL.

Awaiting more TR

ruth

 

[schumigirl]

Oh, Carole, I thought I was the only one who didn't like Butterbeer. It was too sickening sweet for me, but everyone else I was with loved it. Is the Pumpkin fizz just as sweet? I might try it because I like pumpkin coffee from Starbucks at Thanksgiving time.
Also, the pool thing is just not for me. I really don't like to get wet and sit around like that. It's odd because I used to love swimming. Oh well. The pool or beach just isn't for Roger or I at all, except for a walk along the beach. We like to have things that are different to do; just wander around and look at things and ride if we want to. That's why I love Universal so much. You can just wander around. I don't hurry to the rides like I used to do when I was younger. I like to take my time. Thankfully, Roger is like that too

So sorry Tom was not feeling well! Every time we went to Disney, one of us came down with a "flu" bug of some kind with chills, fever, and cough. Usually it was Roger, and it was no fun. I haven't had that happen yet at Universal! Hope I haven't jinxed myself, LOL.

Awaiting more TR

ruth

Pumpkin Fizz is very sweet too, but is more palatable due to the fizz I think, but neither of us could drink a full glass......yes, folks don`t always believe me when I say we don`t like BB.

We`re very similar for sure with the walking on the beach but no desire to go in, I don`t mind a wander round the pool for 10 minutes or so, but then I`m done. Tom and Kyle love the pool though, but they`re both good swimmers.

Kyle, every trip, never failed to have a drop after about 3 or 4 days......although last time it was th elast 3 or 4 days he was poorly, stayed in the suite, then we all got it on the plane going home.....CC thought they would take us off in a box we looked so bad......lol.....

Thanks yes, he picked up nicely. It`s the last place you want to be ill isn`t it......wait till we all get home!! No, you haven`t jinxed yourself......lol......yes, running from ride to ride has never been our way, but now we`re not as young, definitely not the way we do the parks!

 

[schumigirl]

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD​

We slept like tops again last night, I did wonder if the heat was taking a toll that we hadn`t noticed, but to be fair, we generally sleep very well anyway, but boy do we sleep extra well when we`re in Orlando. Those beds are so incredibly comfortable.

Once up and showered we headed down to the lounge for breakfast......it was very busy this morning I think we ended up eating not in our usual spot, but further back which is fine, as long as we have a seat we`re ok.

It`s very rare for the lounge to be packed, but we`ve never gone without a seat even when it is busy. They do an excellent job at keeping all the food replenished and fresh even while busy with folks asking for things all the time, they have time for everyone.

We gave a wave to Rob and Matt this morning and then headed back down to get our sunscreen on, can`t go out without that...we have your typical West of Scotland skin......so pale we are almost blue at times and we burn so quickly.......

​

It`s a morning ritual for us, wherever we go we don`t leave till we have sunscreen on and so far, fingers crossed, we don`t get sunburned.

We spent some time chatting to the lovely Milton from Luggage services, he is simply lovely and I think he will work his way higher up the ladder and he deserves it, he is an honest to goodness people person and just wants to look after everyone, but we find that with most of the staff we come across, they are simply fabulous.

Going out over the bridge is always so pretty, and there`s a little guy making himself at home this morning on the stones that a couple of little turtles usually sit and soak up the sun......

We got the car and I said I`d drive today, so I hadn`t had any fizz this morning......it was a bit of a joke I was being deprived that morning.....lol.....we were headed to Celebration for nothing more than a wander round the lake, a quick look in some of the shops and see if there was anything we fancied buying as they do have some lovely little gift stores there.

It`s a nice enough drive there and traffic is as it usually is, busy.

We always take Turkey Lake Road into Palm Parkway then all the way along to the 192. Turkey Lake Road used to be deserted when we first made that journey in 2007, not many folks used it as that area was almost deserted apart from some a Time Share building which sat in the middle of nowhere in complete darkness......heading towards Universal there was nothing from Palm Parkway all the way along till you hit the Post Office on Turkey Lake Rd, the whole area was in complete darkness. Now, it has apartments, restaurants, a school and even a hospital. It`s hard to imagine how it used to be looking at it now. But, the downside of this is, the road is busy and although still not as bad as the I-4, it`s not a secret any longer.

Celebration is lovely, but not somewhere I`d ever choose to live in, we had a friend who we visited here a few years ago, they had lived here for two years and decided to move for more than one reason. It is an odd place that doesn`t seem quite real at times.

There are plenty of parking spaces in the street, all near the little central area adjacent to the lake, and there are car parks too if you can`t find a convenient waterside space.

The first thing that hits you when you leave the confines of your car is just how quiet this whole town is, and it`s been like that every time we`ve visited it. There are kids playing basketball in the courts beyond and families mill around with little ones playing in the water feature next to the lake, so it is very family oriented place, but although it`s not quite like The Truman Show, I can`t help get that feeling as we walk through it that it`s still just a little too artificial.

But, it is very pretty, no denying that and although we always liked the look of their hotel, it doesn`t get the best reviews and one of the SF staff had been to an event there and did not rate it at all, so we wouldn`t be rushing to eat there anytime soon.

This very art deco theatre is still laying empty and unused which is such a shame as I`m sure the community would love it to be back up and running and there was an arts group trying to get funding to have it open back up again, but so far it hasn`t happened.

And of course, you can`t come to Celebration and not sit in the rocking chairs around the lake. They can get quite busy as folks just love doing this.....

And weirdly, after commenting yesterday we had never set eyes on a vlogger....behind us was a man talking to someone filming him on what looked just like a phone and a separate microphone.....they were just behind us so we could hear him orate his speech to the camera, and again, and again......I`m guessing if you were surrounded by folks like that if you were in a restaurant eating, it would get very annoying.

Celebration has some lovely restaurants, some are more well known than others and they also have some amazing little gift stores that are unique and very tempting when perusing them!!

At Christmas, this whole area including this street is blocked off and this is where "it snows" nightly, they also have a small skating rink and a few other activities are offered.

We did it once, and once was enough to be honest. It was fun but honestly, it lacked a little atmosphere and there was no build up to the snow coming on which would have added to the experience. Glad we did it, but no need to do it again.

Christmas is my favourite time of year and I love everything Christmas, hence I got the nickname of Mrs Christmas from friends who think I am a little obsessed and do go a little overboard with trees and decorations......why not, it`s once a year!

These pictures are from 2019.

We popped into a few stores and I picked up a few stocking fillers for Christmas gifts and bought myself a mug with Queen of Everything on it......Alex naming me Queen of the lounge had made me smile and this mug just fitted nicely! Tom smiled and jokingly commented, as if I needed any encouragement!!! lol

Tom asked if I wanted to pop into Kilwins for an ice cream, but I really didn`t, I wanted to keep my appetite for lunch today. Kilwins is a very nice ice cream store, they are a chain but it`s not bad ice cream. We had enjoyed an ice cream or two from them in St Augustine and in Winter Park.

We headed back to the car and caught the water fountains with no kids in it this time, so we got some pictures again.

This hedge just reminded me of one creepy scene from the original and scariest movie, Halloween. Michael Myers just appears behind the hedge, then slowly and deliberately disappears. Other wise, it`s nothing like that scene!!!

I drove back to Lake Buena Vista, it was around noon as we left, and only takes about 10 minutes to get to LBV and we planned to try a place Alex had told us about......KPot, Korean BBQ & Hot Pot restaurant.

We had seen these pop up all over the place the last few years, but didn`t know which were decent and which we should avoid. But Alex had been to this one and if she thought it was worth visiting, we`d give it a try.

Unfortunately we didn`t get the best person to tell us how it works....she told us next to nothing, so we only had what Alex told us to go on.

I wasn`t a fan of cooking my own food generally but this did sound like fun....you chose your own food from an extensive list of ingredients....you could choose just to do the Hot Pot which you could choose your cooking liquid, or just the BBQ where you griddled your own food on the hot plate, or you could go for both which is what we did as we wanted to get an impression of both.

We went up to choose our sauces but again, she was vague as to what we did with them......did we dip them or did we cook them...or both!

I had opted for the Szechuan broth and Tom went for the Miso soup which was gorgeous (nicer than mine) and then we opted for a couple of items to plop into the boiling liquid and some other items to put on the hot plate.

We chose steak, large and small shrimp, very thin sliced pork, and spicy chicken......

For the Hot Pot, we both chose noodles and I went for a lobster ball which was nicer than it sounded, those items simmered in the pot of boiling liquor, and jeez aloo...it was searingly hot!!!

She didn`t advise us on the best way to do things or generally give us any info....we could work it out for ourselves of course, but watching one of the male waiters we saw how good he was and shared more info on how things work. Alex told me later the men are better at their jobs here and the women, not so much.

I think next time we`ll take Alex with us!!

I think we could do this better next time......and we didn`t eat as much food as we should have really. The thinly sliced pork was a disaster on the hot plate, it was sliced so thin it just stuck, wouldn`t get that one again.

It was a little messy, but we would go back again....I think. I don`t think we got our money`s worth today, but what we had was very nice. I think we would stick to doing one or the other and not both next time. Although I will admit, we both drained the miso broth from Tom`s pot, it was gorgeous and I`d opt for that next time.

They do have a small selection of desserts, not a lot to choose from but they looked rather nice.

More to follow......

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I'm so sorry Tom felt poorly. It is hard when you want to go and do everything and you just don't feel well. I'm glad the chicken noodle soup fixed him right up!

I wouldn't have the first clue what to do at that KPot place! I'm glad you were able to somewhat work it out for yourselves. What a shame you didn't get a better introduction. That can make or break an experience like that.

I agree. I've never been in person, but Celebration just seems to fake, and this is from someone who loves theme parks LOL I don't think I would want to live there, but it does seem like a visit now and then is not a bad idea.

Going back to your Hogsmeade photos, it seems like you had spectacular timing for getting them in without the crowds. I love that you can just wander and see what there is to see. Plenty of details to keep you occupied

I am a Rose person so I'll definitely be trying that in the lounge. Love that they have something for just about everyone! I do agree that Beef Fajita would not do much for me, but Mr. Worfie would love just the beef and no rice/bean mix.

Of all the little towns you visit, if you had to choose just one, which would be your favorite and why?