Thursday, April 28th: continued
After our awesome Raptor Encounter was over, I encouraged the guys to hit up Jurassic Park River Adventure one more time before we headed out of the area. Lines were still short (10 minutes) so it was crazy for them not to enjoy a second tour on a family favourite. I headed to the ladies room to try and tame my hair which was growing frizzier by the second in the heat and humidity (for the record, my efforts were useless .... oh well!
) and we met up afterward at the ride exit.
Everyone was HOT and thirsty at this point, so we strolled over to Hogsmeade for a couple of Butterbeers to share. Butterbeer is ALWAYS a favourite of ours, but for some reason, it tastes even better when the temperatures rise to 90 degrees
.
Ahhhhhhh!
We strolled around for a bit, poking in some of the shops and checking out the storefronts. They guys weren’t interested in a ride on Forbidden Journey right then.....especially after gulping down some Butterbeer in particularly rapid form....and this area, as always, was plagued with crowds anyway. Lines were lengthier than they would have liked, and we’d been spoiled this week with walk-ons and no waits.
It was busy enough in Hosgmeade that I didn’t even bother to keep my camera out. With all those bodies looking up, down and everywhere
but where they are going, I figured it was safer to keep it tucked away in the case
. Better for the camera, for sure, but I guess (in hindsight) not so good for the trip report
.
We decided a lunch break might be in order. Heading back across the bridge, we stopped for a family picture in front of the castle:
We laughed a bit at our ability to get a completely clear picture on the bridge when Hogsmeade was so packed. Timing, as they say, is everything!
We had decided to eat our mid-day meal at Confisco’s in Port of Entry (Steve and I had enjoyed two awesome meals here on our couples-only trips, and we wanted Jake to experience first-hand what all of our gushing had been about) so we had a full half of the park to walk through on our way back. Good thing we had enjoyed some Butterbeer refreshments in the Wizarding World before the lengthy trek!
As we passed through Toon Lagoon and headed toward Marvel, I asked Steve if he was interested in giving the sledge hammer game a try and of course, he perked up noticeably. Fresh off a Butterbeer high, this was usually his prime time for strength.
But alas, when we arrived, the game was having “technical difficulties” and its inner mechanics were open while they awaited a maintenance and repair crew
. It would be lunch first and muscles later.
Confisco’s was nearly empty as we approached the podium so we were able to be seated immediately and without reservations. Our server approached us within just a few minutes and handed us menus while she offered to take our beverage orders. Having just enjoyed some super-sweet Butterbeers, all of us opted for glasses of water......and I think this is where the trouble began
.
Have you ever noticed when a server does an immediate about-face in demeanor? From friendly and accommodating to annoyed that you’re breathing her air? That’s exactly what happened here.....and unfortunately for us, it carried on throughout the remainder of our meal
.
The first two times we had visited, our server had rhymed off several different daily specials that were in addition to the standard menu items (the menu, I will note, had changed since our October visit.....and a couple of our favourites were no longer listed as options). I inquired as to what the specials of the day might be, and was flatly told “We don’t have daily specials. Read the menu”.
Ouch
. Okay.
She pressed us to please choose our entrees (I guess she was in a hurry to serve all the other empty tables?
) and left once we gave her our selections. We were marvelling at her obvious irritation when the table next to us was greeted by their server (who seemed quite delightful in comparison to our “Jen”), who promptly rhymed off a selection of daily specials that weren’t on the menu.
Really?
At any rate, we’re not the type of people to fight about the trivial stuff or make any kind of scene. We could have taken her to task on it when she returned virtually wordlessly with our food, but honestly...it would have made little difference I would guess. We’re always a little leery about knowingly stirring up trouble with a server.....just in case any of the spit-in-my-soup stories have any sort of validity to them
.
Speaking of soup, Steve opted to start with the hearty potato leek soup as an appetizer. We had enjoyed it on previous trips and today was no exception. Very yummy as always, and it’s nice to be able to get a choice of portion sizes (cup or bowl....his choice was the smaller cup).
Neither Jake nor I were terribly starving, so we went with the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. While it normally comes with mozzarella, bacon, lettuce, tomato and pickle, I chose to have it with bacon only, and Jake order it minus the pickle and tomato. Jake added mayo to his while I opted for the sandwich in its unadorned purity.
Steve tummy was a lot more rumble-y, so he opted for the chicken and beef fajitas. Sadly, our server’s mood hadn’t improved by this point and she literally dropped our meals on the table before strutting off toward the open kitchen.
Aside from when she brought us the bill (and we had to hail another server to ask her to do that when the time came), we never saw Jen again
. Our waters were never refilled, and she never once stopped back to see if the meal was okay or if we needed anything else. It was unfortunate, too, because Steve had an issue with his bowl of house-made guacamole: it was the pits. Literally
. We eventually were able to hail one of the cooks from the kitchen (who kindly came over after we waved to him from our seats.....only to ask,
why is your server not helping you? To which we replied
“we would like to know the same thing!”). It turns out that Steve’s bowl of fresh guac inadvertently (or perhaps by Jen’s design?) contained nothing more than the hard avocado pit amidst a small coating of the guacamole. The chef apologized very sincerely and brought him over two fresh dishes within seconds. All the while, our server was still MIA.
Thankfully, despite the dreadful service, the food itself (aside from the first bowl of guacamole) was great, and we generally enjoy the atmosphere here. It was wonderful to escape the heat for a while and rest our feet while in air-conditioned comfort while we dined, but I have to say.....Jen truly spoiled what we had hoped would be a nice experience for Jake in particular. We laughed it off......really, what else can you do? (other than speak to a manager, and we really didn’t want to take it to that level).....but I will freely admit it took all my inner decency to leave any kind of a tip for easily the worst service we’d ever had on 10 trips to Orlando. We tend to tip very generously on our vacations, but I could not bear to impart anything more than a very basic symbol of courtesy for such woeful behaviour on her part.
After having to summon another waitress to beckon Jen for the bill once we had finished our lunch, we even got an eye roll as we handed her our Premier AP so she could apply the passmember discount to the total cost (which was $37.99 including tax.....our AP saved us $6.29).
Ah, well. Everything can be made better with dessert, right?
Such a sour experience at Confisco called for something to sweeten the mood, so we headed next door to another favourite place that we wanted to introduce Jake to:
Having breakfasted lightly at the villa before our day at the park, we had deliberately saved room for treats at Croissant Moon. Steve had been craving a slice of their infamous cheesecake since we had passed through the gates, while I was eager awaiting the first bite of their ah-mazing Napolean bars
. Jake perused the long glass cases in an effort to select just the right snack......and after much consideration, he had finally decided:
He picked a cookie. A
cookie?!?
All those sensuous and tempting delicacies, and he turns them all done for a plain old run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookie. Where on earth did I, as his mother, go wrong?
All three items were “free” with our quick service dining cards from the day prior. We hadn’t used our dessert entitlements so this is where we chose to redeem them. If I remember correctly, we purchased a bottle of milk to share (such richness needed something cool and smooth to wash it all down) and we were nearly waddling as we headed back out into Port of Entry.
Oh. My. Word. We were soooooooo full
.
Such overburdened stomachs meant that we wouldn’t be riding anything wild and crazy for at least the next while. I knew the guys both wanted to try and meet up with some of the Super Heroes during the scheduled meet-and-greets in the Marvel area, so we slowly made our way in that direction. We happened upon these folks just before the bridge to Hulk:
I am not sure who they are (anyone out there know?) but they were engagingly greeting guests and encouraging photos. They made lots of jokes to Steve about him being “short”, which was kind of refreshing.....now he knows how I feel on a virtually daily basis!
More to come 
.
The tree in the Grand Floridian lobby is amazing.
Firehouse Subs has long been on our list of to-try's on our Orlando vacations.....they are not far from the Vistana, in the Crossroads. Trying to decide if we should try Publix or Firehouse for subs after one of our DC days in October. Both get great reviews.
. Thank you 
.
. I can't wait to see what tomorrow's is! Three weeks should hopefully get us through right to the end of this report, give or take a day. 
. Definitely a must-do when you find yourself at IOA 
Say it isn't so! 
. Hey, maybe we Disers should pool our resources and open the franchise together! 
Can you imagine working with 
There would never be a dull day at the office ever again.
It appears we have totally different tastes. Of course, I've never been known for my refined palate 
. I also couldn't help but think....maybe she had a sick child at home. Or her husband had just left her. Or the engine of her car blew on the way to work. Of course, that's no excuse for what certainly seemed more like indifference and rudeness and less like carrying a heavy burden on her heart, but still......I couldn't bear to bring bad karma on myself by putting a fine point on the issue. I like to think that these type of things catch up with people in the end. Once I get through this trip report, I will happily post a truthful review on TripAdvisor and let things work themselves out from there 
