*5/31 Update: Our Intentions Were Good, But The Treats Were Better: One Month in Disney (4/21-5/21)

[mickey916]

Background: After retiring at 55 in 2022 and hoping to avoid some of the cool, rainy spring of New England, DH and I have been on a quest to find our favorite vacation destination in the sunny state of Florida. We did a road trip in the spring of 2023 along both coasts of Florida and then picked our favorite spots to revisit in the spring of 2024. Last year when we finished our spring road trip, DH said to me, “We should just book a whole month at Disney since that’s really what we like best.” And so, we did! We played around with a bunch of different dates and settled on heading down right after Easter. We invited our adult sons (DS-28 and DS-26) to fly down for the last week.

In addition to our spring trips, we’ve also visited Disney World in December the past three years to experience the holiday decor and festivities. For those of you who have read my other reports, you’ll recall this past December was a different experience for us. Diagnosed this past fall with high cholesterol, we’ve been strictly following the Mediterranean diet since September with both of us being very successful in weight loss and improving our blood work. When we visited in December 2024 we attempted to eat as healthy as possible, allowing a few treats here and there. Click here for that adventure. It was our intention to do that again on this trip, with the possible exception of when our sons visited. As you can probably guess from the title, we weren’t quite so successful sticking to the healthy plan this time around. Perhaps it was the lure of delicious treats or maybe that we have been so strict since September that we let loose a little too much. Either way, we very much enjoyed our trip and are back “on the wagon” now that we are back home. It was well worth the minimal weight gain.

At the beginning of our trip, we planned a lot of off site activities, hoping to let the post-Easter crowds die down. Then, the remainder of the trip was primarily Disney-focused. I will list our itinerary in the next post. Looking forward to sharing our adventures with everyone!

 

[mickey916]

Here’s a preview of our itinerary:

DH & Me
4/21 Depart MA & stay in Santee, SC: Clark’s Inn
4/22 Depart Santee/Arrive Disney Springs: Ford’s Garage, Sassagoula Floatworks
4/23 Epcot: La Cantina, Kringla Bakeri, Jardin de Fiestas, Pineapple Promenade, Shiki-Sai
4/24 Beach day at Cocoa Beach: Cocoa Beach Fish Camp, Fat Donkey Ice Cream
4/25 Deleon Springs/Hontoon Island/Disney Springs: Old Sugarmill Pancake House, Frontera Cocina, Marketplace Snacks, Summerhouse
4/26 Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Avian Reconditioning Center, Wekiwa State Park, Church, Boma
4/27 Magic Kingdom, Polynesian: Friar’s Nook, Gasparilla Island Grill, Main St. Confectionery, Wailulu
4/28 Hollywood Studios, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach: 1900 Park Fare, Everything Pop!, Centertown Market
4/29 Animal Kingdom, Epcot: Satuli Canteen, Restaurantosaurus, Zuri’s Sweet Shop, Via Napoli
4/30 Epcot: Kringla, Sunshine Seasons, Brunchcot, Coral Reef, The Fountain
5/1 Disney Springs: Summerhouse, D-Luxe Burger, Ghiradelli, House of Blues, Salt & Straw
5/2 Magic Kingdom, Polyesian: Columbia Harbor House, Aloha Isle, Captain Cooks, Tiki Terrace
5/3 Boardwalk, Skyliner: Trattoria Al Forno, Trolley Car Cafe, Banana Cabana, Landscape of Flavors, Church, Primo Piatto
5/4 Epcot: Sunshine Seasons, Le Creperie, Les Halles, Connections Cafe, Boatwrights, Scat Cat Cafe
5/5 Fort Wilderness, Magic Kingdom: Trails End, Diamond Horseshoe
5/6 Epcot, Coronado: Connections Cafe, Les Halles, Sunshine Seasons, Primo Piatto, Karamel Kuche, Dahlia Lounge
5/7 Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs: Satu'li Canteen, Warung Outpost, Earl of Sandwich, Gideon’s, The Mara
5/8 Magic Kingdom, Wilderness Lodge, Coronado: Gaston’s, Geyser Point, Maya Grill
5/9 Flamingo Crossing, Florida Mall, Animal Kingdom Lodge: Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ, Sanaa Lodge

With DS-26 and DS-28
5/10 Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Disney Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge: Polite Pig, Summerhouse, Boma
5/11 Universal IoA & Studios: Circus McGurkis, Leaky Cauldron, Toothsome
5/12 Animal Kingdom, Poly: Satu’li Canteen, Pongu Pongu, ‘Ohana
5/13 Epcot: Le Creperie, Kringla, San Angel
5/14 Hollywood Studios: Trolley Car Cafe, Ronto Rosters, Dinosaur Gerties, Chef Art Smith
5/15 Magic Kingdom: Gaston’s, Tony’s Town Square, Friar’s Nook, Captain Cooks, Boardwalk Deli
5/16 Kennedy Space Center: Java, Space Bowl, Milky Way Ice Cream, Sassagoula, Scat Cats, Disney Springs
5/17 Animal Kingdom, Skyliner, Celebration: Rainforest Cafe, Primo Piatto, Blue Ribbon Corn Dog, Boardwalk Deli, Java, Columbia Restaurant
5/18 AK Lodge, Poly, GF, Fort Wilderness, Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin: Boma, Trails End, Blue Ribbon Corn Dog, The Fountain

Just DH & Me Again
5/19 Swan, Epcot, Disney Springs, Pooler GA, Santee SC: Java, D-Luxe Burger, Gideon’s, Chick-Fil-A
5/20 Santee SC - Stafford, VA: Moe’s Southwest Grill, El Gran Charro
5/21 Stafford, VA to Home

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I am here! OMG That is a lot of restaurants! Can’t wait to hear all about your adventures.

 

[DLo]

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

 

[mickey916]

I am here! OMG That is a lot of restaurants! Can’t wait to hear all about your adventures.

Welcome! We tried to incorporate a lot of different places but we did have some must do's that we had to repeat!

Following along . Looking forward to reading more .

Welcome! There will be a lot to read!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m here! Excited to read all about it! I just got back from a 5 night solo trip! It was really hot and I didn’t eat at one sit down restaurant so it will be fun to read about all your restaurant reviews!

 

[mickey916]

I’m here! Excited to read all about it! I just got back from a 5 night solo trip! It was really hot and I didn’t eat at one sit down restaurant so it will be fun to read about all your restaurant reviews!

That heat started coming in at the end of our trip! I hope you're doing a trip report about your trip too!

 

[BellaBaby]

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Can’t wait to hear all about it!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Lots of places I’m tempted by - just coming up to my ADR date!

 

[mickey916]

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Welcome!

Can’t wait to hear all about it!

Thank you!

Lots of places I’m tempted by - just coming up to my ADR date!

Hopefully I get some of the reviews in time for you...we had only a couple we wouldn't do again. The rest were very good!

 

[mickey916]

4/21 Hitting the Road
​

After hosting Easter dinner for our sons and my parents, we cleaned up the house, packed the car and headed to bed early. Due to our eagerness to avoid traffic and make it all the way to South Carolina, we awoke at 2:00 and were on the road by 2:25 am. To minimize stopping, I baked a batch of low calorie muffins for breakfast and made leftover Easter ham sandwiches with carrot sticks for lunch. Because of our disdain for the George Washington Bridge, we always take the route over the Mario Cuomo Bridge instead. It may add a few minutes but it’s worth avoiding the chaos. We were very fortunate to not encounter any significant traffic. Stopping only for gas, a restroom break, and drinks at McDonald’s, we made it to our first stop in fourteen hours and checked into our hotel, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Santee SC. We were upgraded to a king suite which seems to happen every time we stay here.

If you’re ever traveling route 95 through South Carolina I highly recommend this hotel. It is always very clean and quiet and service is excellent. The price is also reasonable.

After checking in, we headed over to Clark’s Inn & Restaurant for dinner. We each ordered the Bleu Cheese Cranberry Salad: Greens with cranberries, pecans, tomatoes, and bleu cheese.

It was a good salad but nothing special, one of the least interesting salads we had on our trip.

We also shared the Low Country Stir-fry: Shrimp, chicken, and kielbasa sautéed with a blend of fresh vegetables in teriyaki and served over savory brown rice.

This too was fine. It had just two shrimp and a few pieces of chicken and kielbasa. It was decent but not particularly memorable.

As we ate each meal on our trip we ranked it in a spreadsheet. Our meal at Clark’s Inn got a C. It was a fine, average meal, but nothing we’d rush to get again and service was just okay.
The two salads and one entree with water to drink and tip cost us $62.82. We didn’t feel it was a good value for what we got. We don’t think we will eat here in the future. We’d have been just as happy with two salads from Chik-Fil-A at a third of the cost.

After dinner we turned in early after a long travel day.

Up next…back to our happy place and some much tastier meals!

 

[footballmouse]

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I remember seeing the billboards for Clark’s inn. Good for you for even going out for dinner after a 2 am wake up!! Too bad it wasn’t really worth it.

 

[summerlvr]

Love your trip reports! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[VAtink]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

“We should just book a whole month at Disney since that’s really what we like best.”

#retirementgoals!

We took the George Washington bridge once on our trips between MA and VA and said never again. Will always take the Tappan Zee bridge now (aka Mario Cuomo bridge....when did that name change?!?!)

 

[mickey916]

I remember seeing the billboards for Clark’s inn. Good for you for even going out for dinner after a 2 am wake up!! Too bad it wasn’t really worth it.

We saw them too and were surprised at how far away they started advertizing! We went last year too and had fried chicken. It too was okay but not a "must get".

Love your trip reports! Looking forward to reading more!

Thank you! Welcome aboard!

Joining in! Can't wait to read more!

#retirementgoals!

We took the George Washington bridge once on our trips between MA and VA and said never again. Will always take the Tappan Zee bridge now (aka Mario Cuomo bridge....when did that name change?!?!)

Welcome! They actually built a brand new bridge right next to the Tappan Zee a few years ago and then got rid of the Tappan Zee. The new bridge was named Mario Cuomo but we noticed some of the signage still said Tappan Zee....I wonder who Tappan Zee, was? lol..

 

[mickey916]

4/22 Arriving in Orlando and Sticking to Tradition​

We woke up pretty early and hit the road just after 7:30 am. We enjoyed our remaining low cal muffins along with coffee from the hotel as we headed down 95. Our drive was fairly uneventful and we soon were happy to see we were in Florida.

We timed our drive so that we would be in the St. Augustine area around lunchtime. We stopped at one of our new favorites, Ford’s Garage, for lunch. We were still in “healthy eating” mode so we each got our favorite salad, the Thai Chicken Salad: grilled chicken, mixed greens, mandarin oranges, sesame seeds, Asian slaw, and wonton strips, all tossed in a ginger-peanut dressing.

This salad is so filled with flavor! The chicken is well cooked and seasoned and the peanut sauce is delicious. The mandarin oranges add a unique flavor along with the Asian slaw and the wontons give it a nice textural crunch. I was very tempted to try the Berries with Gorgonzola and Shrimp but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the Thai Chicken Salad. So glad I did!

After our fabulous lunch, we continued on to Disney Springs. We walked around Disney Springs for a bit before stopping for a snack at the Cookie Bar at Summerhouse on the Lake. DH for some reason had been craving a rice krispy treat during the weeks leading up to our trip. Last time we tried the Brown Butter Crispy treat so this time we decided to try something different, the Cookies & Cream Crispy Rice treat.

This was a very simple but tasty treat. It tasted very fresh with nice added flavor from the crushed Oreos. We gave it a B.

We also spotted the peanut butter cookie and just had to get that too!

This was phenomenal! The cookie was perfectly cooked, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with a yummy peanut butter cup in the center. We both agreed we liked this better than Gideon's peanut butter cookie! We gave it an A+ and it is in our top 5 treats in our ranking.

After walking around a bit more, we took the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter for dinner. It has become something of a tradition for us to start our trip at the French Quarter. Initially we planned on only sharing the jambalaya, even though we also love the gumbo. But, on seeing the portions, the jambalaya looked much smaller than in the past. We decided we needed the gumbo too.

Jambalaya:

As you can see, this wasn’t a big portion for us to share for dinner. It was excellent tasting though as always, slightly spicy and full of flavor. The corn bread is also moist and flavorful.

Gumbo:

This portion was much better. I just love this gumbo. It is spicier than the jambalaya but not too hot with tender chunks of chicken and sausage. As I was eating the gumbo I thought, “I like this better” and then I would eat the jambalaya and think, “no this one is better”, and so on. I guess I just can’t pick one.

We gave this dinner an A. Sassagoula consistently ranks amongst our top favorite restaurants each trip.

For dessert, of course we had to get beignets from the Scat Cat Cafe! We did opt to get the order of 3, not 6, so some of our healthy habits were still in play.

Hot, fluffy goodness! I am a little disappointed that they no longer have specialty beignets. I do miss the cinnamon sugar one.

After a great first night meal, we took the boat up the Sassagoula back to Disney Springs. We wandered around a bit, stopping to hear some of the excellent musicians.

Eventually we headed to our hotel to check in. Since we were staying a whole month, I did a lot of research on where to stay. We couldn’t afford to stay on property the entire time so I looked into renting a condo in the Windsor Hills area. But, with both of us having aging parents, I didn’t dare book someplace that couldn’t be canceled at the last minute. We opted for our go-to offsite hotel, the Residence Inn, Flamingo Crossings. Typically we stay in a king studio but since we were staying for so long, I booked a two queen one bedroom suite. I booked so early that it was actually the same cost as the studio and afforded us a lot more space. Upon check in, we were happy to see that they accommodated our request for a room on the top floor facing Epcot. We just love the views from these rooms!

This was our home from April 22 until May 11 when we switched resorts for our “sons-portion” of the trip.

There is also a decent size kitchen area that I apparently didn’t take a picture of. I can’t say enough good things about the Residence Inn, Flamingo Crossings. It is clean, quiet, reasonably priced and an easy drive to and from the parks.

After a long travel day, we headed in early for the night to be up and ready for our next exciting day.

Up next..our first day in our favorite park.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We’ve never eaten at Ford’s Garage but my son said it was good. That salad does look yummy!
I didn’t know there was a cookie bar at Summerhouse. We will definitely need to check that out. PB & chocolate is my DH’s favorite, and it beat Gideon’s!!??
Is Sassagoula the QS at FQ? We both love jambalaya. I don’t think we have ever had gumbo, but we have an ADR at Cake Bake shop in July, and the signature dish is gumbo. I’ll let you know how it is. Can’t go wrong with beignets for dessert!!
I was recently telling a friend at work about staying at Flamingo Crossings to save some money on her trip. We take 429 down from our condo sometimes and get off there on Western Way- so convenient and close to parks.

 

[mickey916]

We’ve never eaten at Ford’s Garage but my son said it was good. That salad does look yummy!

There's a Ford's Garage in Orlando too. We plan to check that one out sometime. The burgers look very good as well.

I didn’t know there was a cookie bar at Summerhouse. We will definitely need to check that out. PB & chocolate is my DH’s favorite, and it beat Gideon’s!!??

The Cookie Bar at Summerhouse is right near the entrance. There's never any line to speak of, the cookies are slightly cheaper (but not so thick), they give a 10% AP discount and the cookies are very good. It beat Gideon's due to it's texture really. DH doesn't care for the unbaked feel of the peanut butter cookie at Gideon's. Once we leaned into our not-so-healthy habits we ended up doing a big cookie stroll, trying them in all sorts of places. We were a bit surprised at our final results...more on that later.

Is Sassagoula the QS at FQ? We both love jambalaya. I don’t think we have ever had gumbo, but we have an ADR at Cake Bake shop in July, and the signature dish is gumbo. I’ll let you know how it is. Can’t go wrong with beignets for dessert!!

Yes Sassagoula Floatworks is the QS at FQ. We love jambalaya too. The Sassagoula one isn't the best we've ever had but it is very tasty (no shrimp, though). Our favorite jamabalayas so far are from Cocoa Beach Fish Camp in Cocoa Beach and Owen's Fish Camp in Sarasota. We haven't tried Cake Bake shop yet for a meal. I didn't know they had gumbo. I'm curious what your thoughts are, let me know! Ever since our 2022 trip, we HAVE to get beignets on our first day.

I was recently telling a friend at work about staying at Flamingo Crossings to save some money on her trip. We take 429 down from our condo sometimes and get off there on Western Way- so convenient and close to parks.

We've stayed at both the Towneplace Suites and Residence Inn. We prefer the Residence Inn but Towneplace Suites was good too. Residence Inn is a little bit newer and seems to be quieter. You can't beat the location and price of either one for sure!