If you book it, they will come! August 2015 - Day 8 - DTD / Red Lobster / Sweet Tomatoes

[JoJo88]

If you book it, they will come August 2015

INDEX

Day 8 – Downtown Disney / Red Lobster / Sweet Tomatoes

Wednesday 12th August 2015

I was rudely awoken at 6.45am by Simon falling through the bedroom door into the front room, ending up in a heap at the foot of the boys’ pull out sofa! Seems he’d got up for a wee and tripped over a suitcase on his way back to bed. Well that was it, I got the giggles, and no matter how hard we both tried to nod back off for half an hour, we couldn’t. Me because of trying to stifle my giggles, and Simon because he could feel the bed wobbling as my shoulders shook from trying not to laugh.

Ah well, there’s worse ways to wake up I suppose!

Our plan for the morning was a bit of breakfast out, and then a wander around Downtown Disney Springs, or whatever it was called at this crossover period! There wasn’t a huge urgency other than wanting to get to DTD before the crowds arrived, so we took our time getting ready, me especially so as I was really suffering with my burnt shoulders. In fact, I had to ‘swing low, sweet chariot’ today as it was just far too painful to wear a bra, so I had to settle for a vest top with a t-shirt over the top covering my shoulders so that my handbag didn’t hurt me too much!

Hopefully I’ve learnt my lesson I was just glad it was me and not the boys, I’d have felt terribly guilty…..

We eventually piled into the car and arrived at Cracker Barrel on Hwy 192 (I think? It was a long time ago now! ) at around 9am.

I’m not sure where Simon is going in the picture on the left, perhaps he’d changed his mind?!

I've mentioned it before, I’m not very good at breakfast, and much prefer a buffet where I can pick and choose, and Daniel is pretty much the same, so after perusing the menu he announced he didn’t want anything at all. Adam & Simon are the complete opposite and usually wake up starving, so their only problem was knowing what to choose out of all the different options.

In the end we all made our choices and a variety of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and my healthy, fruity, yogurty thing arrived. Daniel had settled for some pancakes in the end and after a nibble on Adam’s bacon, he asked for some too.

The bill came to $54 excluding tip which wasn’t bad.

The food was okay, I know a lot of people rave about the Cracker Barrel breakfast but Simon’s eggs were quite greasy and my Dad didn’t like his breakfast at all (according to my notes). Apologies for the lack of photos, I’m going to blame my Mum. No reason, just felt like it

After leaving a tip on the table and settling the bill in the shop, we had a look around the quaint country store, the boys picking up a few candy sticks, both for themselves and to put in goody bags they were planning to make up and take home for their friends.

We were back in the car and heading to Disney just after 10am

I’ll admit I got that little butterfly feeling as the familiar roads and signs came into view, and I did have a yearning to go to the parks, but head ruled heart and DTD was near enough for this trip I guess!

We parked up in the multi storey car park. I like how there are lights above each parking space, green if it’s empty, red if it’s not, so that you can easily see if there’s a space as you drive around. As we were so early, space were aplenty.

See the lights?!

It was already a hot day, despite being so early, so it was handy to be somewhere with lots of air conditioned shops that we could dive into when we needed.

It had been a couple of years since we’d been to DTD and it was nice to see the changes, as well as the familiar sights.

There were still boards up to hide the ongoing construction works, and I can see how they could make it all seem a little claustrophobic when it’s busy, but they didn’t bother us that morning.

We had a slow wander round, popping into shops as and when we wanted to

Daniel bought himself the first of a few Minecraft Lego sets, but of course, true to form, within weeks of returning home, he’s no longer bothered about Minecraft anymore. At least he had the decency to build the sets before going off it!

I then headed towards World of Disney, and knowing that I’d be quite a while, we made a plan to meet up outside when we were all finished.

I surprised myself by not buying anything, feeling like I couldn’t buy Disney souvenirs if we weren’t actually ‘doing’ Disney!

Next up was Ghirardelli, which was definitely on our list of must dos, not least because they give away samples Daniel didn’t like the sound of the one they were offering so the CM went round the back and brought him out a plain milk chocolate square which I thought was really sweet of her.

Another CM spotted Adam’s Argentina shirt and started chatting to him, pointing to her CM badge, which predictably said that she herself was from Argentina. They had a somewhat tricky, monosyllabic conversation about Lionel Messi (Argentinian Barcelona player) and then mutually decided to call it a day and get back to the important business of chocolate.

We love their chocolate squares, although it’s very annoying that our absolute favourite, Peppermint Bark is seasonal, only available in the run up to Christmas.

Instead we took them up on their offer of $20 off if you order 3 bags of 80. My Mum ordered a bag, and me & the boys ordered one each. We were given a little list of the flavours and you fill it in with the amount of each that you want, a bit like pick ‘n’ mix, and then go back and collect it later.

We popped into the Marketplace Co-op which was overflowing with all kinds of Disney souvenirs, but again I didn’t succumb.

Simon chose himself a baseball tshirt for $38 which I’ve just asked him about as I don’t recall ever seeing him wear one. He said he had forgotten about it, but funnily enough had just found it in his drawer a few days ago, hidden underneath all his other ‘navy’ t shirts…..

Next stop was Once Upon a Toy, more for yet another cool down rather than anything else

However, this stop turned out to be one of the best decisions of the morning, as after being in there for a few minutes I heard a little voice saying something that sounded a bit like ‘Jo! ’. I heard it again and the voice was definitely saying ‘Jo!’ so I turned around to see where it was coming from. I didn’t recognise the person at first, but she certainly recognised me, as it turned out to be someone who I’d been chatting to through my reports for a few years, Kitty Black Dog, hi Kitty! She had actually spotted the boys first, and then Simon and had finally found me! We had a little hug and a chat about what we had been up to – I always feel a little shy and overwhelmed if I’m recognised from my reports, (especially as the boys tease me that I’m famous ). However, what is really lovely for me now, is that through the Dibb, and trip reports specifically, there’s a little Whatsapp group of us, including Kitty, who chat pretty much on a daily basis about anything and everything (and I mean everything! ). Actually, make that EVERY day, it’s just me letting the side down as I just can’t keep up with them all!

We’ve even met on a couple of occasions, although Kitty wasn’t at the first meet, and I wasn’t at the second so the two of us haven’t actually seen each other again properly!

Here was the first gathering, you might recognise some of us!

In fact, there are a few other Dibbers that I keep in touch with away from the Dibb too, and I know we’re not unique in that respect, it’s happening all over the forum, isn’t that brilliant?!

Anyway, after Kitty advising me to get some Aloe Vera for my sunburn (which I did get), and offering to throw a carrot cake cookie over the fence to me at Royal Pacific in a few days (which I didn’t get), we said our farewells and went on our way. A photo would’ve been nice, but neither of us thought of it at the time!

We didn’t buy anything in there although we did have a fiddle around with R2D2’s bits and pieces

Next up was another must do, Goofy’s Candy Co, passing this place on the way – making a mental to note to maybe pop in later!

When we got to Goofy’s Candy Co, Daniel knew exactly what he was going to have, having been talking about them since he last had one, which was amazing really considering it was almost 2 years ago!

Chocolate covered strawberries! We also picked up a couple of other treats and sat outside for a bit of a rest

It was still lovely and quiet, definitely the best time to go if you want to have a gentle stroll, but I would imagine there’s a great party atmosphere in the evenings.

I had a little wander further on, calling in on the Christmas Shop & Mickey’s Pantry, and then rejoined the others. Once the chocolate treats were enjoyed we started to head on back to where we started. Unsurprisingly we passed Earl of Sandwich again, but I decided I was more thirsty than hungry. I did poke my head in the door to have a look though and was surprised at how busy it was…

Ha! Not at all! It was only 11.50am, but still….

It was starting to get a bit busier now so we decided to call it a day, not before popping back to Ghirardelli to pick up our goodies.

I spotted this little beauty on the milkshake menu. Now, I know how awful the brain freeze can be with a frozen butter beer, but this is on a whole new level…..

We settled our bill,

And gratefully accepted a few more samples on our way out. The nice Argentinian lady from earlier gave us a cool bag to keep our chocolates in, apparently they are usually $5 but because of Adam’s shirt she gave us it for free, or so she said.

As we walked back towards the car park, it was noticeable how much busier it now was, and we were glad to be swimming against the tide.

We were back in the car and on our way by 12.50pm

There was only one place we all wanted to be once we got back to the hotel, so we dropped our things off, grabbed a quick snack and made our way down to the pool.

Once again we had the pool to ourselves, and floating around in the warm water was just what we needed after a morning of pounding the streets of DTD.

At one point I had to remove Daniel from the pool for being mean to Adam which bothered him less than I thought it would as he quite likes chilling out on a lounger anyway…..

We spent a couple of hours down by the pool until we called it a day and headed up to the room for baths/showers.

Since breakfast, we hadn’t had much to eat apart from a bit of snackage here and there, but we still weren’t overly hungry (I think it must be the heat that does it), and so we thought it would be a good opportunity to have a light meal that evening and revisit Sweet Tomatoes.

Now, my Dad is self-confessed salad dodger and so the thought of a salad buffet did nothing to whet his appetite, and instead him & my Mum opted for Red Lobster, which was perfect as the rest of us don’t like seafood.

Once we were all ready we had a quick look online to see where we should go (damn you Mapman’s Map at home in the drawer!) and headed off towards Vineland Road where there happened to be both restaurants.

We dropped the Grandparents off, figuring they would take longer than us and then headed round to Sweet Toms.

We each grabbed a tray and plate as we went in and made our assault on the extensive choice in front of us.

We also picked up a cup each, all of us opting for the soda fountains, and then settled the bill at the till which came to $50.

I’m sure I could’ve got it even cheaper than that by being more vigilant with my coupons, but even so, $50 wasn’t bad.

We found ourselves a table and then went to explore what else was on offer.

We really do enjoy Sweet Tomatoes, it’s lovely to have such a colourful plate rather than the beige & yellow of fries and chicken (with the odd piece of steak!).

We helped ourselves to soups and potatoes, pasta & bread, there was soooo much to choose from and we all had plenty to eat.

We all had a lovely meal, and the boys especially enjoyed the buffet. Daniel is going to love it even more this year now that he is quite the salad connoisseur having added lettuce to his list of foods he will eat!

Then of course there’s the desserts, that’s if you’ve got any room left, which is where I usually fail.

There’s muffins and mousse, ice cream and cobbler, fruit and various toppings for the ice cream, and I’m sure there’s other things too. If you’ve never tried Sweet Tomatoes and are struggling one night for something different, honestly, give it a go!

We left a few dollars tip on the table and headed out, filling up our cups with fizzy on the way.

Meanwhile, over at Red Lobster, this happened….

I don’t have the receipt, so I can’t tell you how much it all came to, but I do recall them saying that it was quite pricey and yet thoroughly enjoyed as a treat. My Mum had heard how good the cheesy rolls were and so brought some extra with her for us all to try. We were all still full though so didn’t have one straight away, and when we did eventually try them the next day they weren’t that great. I guess they need to be enjoyed while they are fresh and warm.

It wasn’t late and so we decided to pop over the road to the Outlets. We’re not great shoppers, but it’s nice to have a look. However, it was absolutely heaving which generally puts me off going into any shops as I can’t be bothered to struggle my way through people to rummage. I did want to try and pick up some tshirts though as I knew my shoulders wouldn’t be better any time soon and most of my tops were vest type ones with thin straps, and I really needed to keep them covered.

I managed to find a couple in Calvin Klein, but oh my God, the queue to pay was ridiculous. To be fair, there weren’t that many people in it, but the servers were soooooo sloooowwwwww. My two tshirts were $40 which wasn’t bad although I’ve a feeling I only wore one of them, and have still only worn one of them since being home!

Simon popped in the Nike shop to see if he could find some shades to replace the ones stolen by the sea in Clearwater, and as luck would have it, he found the exact same pair, a bargain at $60, or so I’m told

And the only other thing we picked up from the outlets that night was some trainers and football boots for Daniel, and some training bottoms for Simon. $40 for the trainers, $55 for the boots and $22.50 for the joggers. Not a huge bargain but still cheaper than in the UK, and it’s things we were looking for anyway, and didn’t just buy for the sake of it, which is something I used to fall foul of!

Daniel’s boots lasted all of 5 minutes as apparently they became too tight, but he practically lives in the trainers so that’s okay!

We’d done enough shopping for one night, which was perfect for me as it started raining, and I was feeling a little vulnerable in my linen top and vest (I'm not quite your typical 'wet t-shirt participant ).

We called in at Walgreens on the way back for some Aloe Vera, and a few other bits and bobs.

When we got back to the hotel the boys asked if they could go in the main pool to try the slide, and as it was our last night at the Caribe, how could we possibly say no?!

It was approaching 9pm by the time we got there and so was quite dark, but there were still lots of people in and around the pool.

The boys enjoyed their night swim, although the difference between the two of them is most apparent with this kind of situation. Daniel is perfectly happy in his own company and likes to go off and explore by himself, whereas Adam prefers to have someone with him to share in new experiences. Which is a bit of a problem as obviously this doesn’t work when it’s just the two of them! Daniel is definitely like Simon is this respect, whereas Adam is more like me.

The slide was fun, but it didn’t take long before they’d had enough. They got dried off and then we went back into the hotel lobby to enjoy some more drinks (and use up the last of our credit!) before heading back to the room.

Cheers!

Check out my pink arms!

Back in the room I packed for a little bit in readiness for checking out the next day. Once again, the packing bags were proving to be brilliant, which reminds me, I’m just off to order a couple more sets for this year too

Eventually we settled down for our last night before the main event, the part of the holiday we’d all been waiting for. Well, not really, but we were all very excited about our move the next day, if felt like we were going home……..

[caj]

Recognised 4 of the 6 of you! Not saying which, I'm going to have to read more trippies to spot the other 2!

[Milner]

Great read.

[Deggs]

Chocolate strawberries are hevvvv-eeen! When I was 16 'going on 17' I worked in a place called The Chocolate Machine, and Baskin Robbins. We chucked everything in that chocolate machine, yes we actually had one! And the strawberries were to die for!

Funny you should say about slow servers, me and my daughter have just watched 'Zootropolis' today, 50% off all Odeon tix this weekend! And there's sloths that work behind counters!

I'm not in touch with anyone 😟 on here. What's the secret password? 😉

Deggs x

[Short legs]

Sweet tomatoes looks so good, hoping to give it a try along with 100 other places, there is too much food and not enough time to try it all!
Having been reading all your reports and really enjoy them

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by caj

Recognised 4 of the 6 of you! Not saying which, I'm going to have to read more trippies to spot the other 2!

See more...

4 out of 6 is good, the other 2 haven't written a report (yet! ). We're trying to convince them to have a go

Originally Posted by Milner

Great read.

See more...

Thank you

Originally Posted by Deggs

Chocolate strawberries are hevvvv-eeen! When I was 16 'going on 17' I worked in a place called The Chocolate Machine, and Baskin Robbins. We chucked everything in that chocolate machine, yes we actually had one! And the strawberries were to die for!

Funny you should say about slow servers, me and my daughter have just watched 'Zootropolis' today, 50% off all Odeon tix this weekend! And there's sloths that work behind counters!

I'm not in touch with anyone 😟 on here. What's the secret password? 😉

Deggs x

See more...

Mmmmmm, chocolate machine. I have no idea what else you've written, I can't get past 'chocolate machine' mmmmm x

Originally Posted by Short legs

Sweet tomatoes looks so good, hoping to give it a try along with 100 other places, there is too much food and not enough time to try it all!
Having been reading all your reports and really enjoy them

See more...

I know what you mean, 6 meals a day might just about cover it! We're not doing any parks this year so might be able to squeeze that many meals into our day

Thanks for reading, glad you're enjoying the reports x

[KittyBlackDog]

hi Jojo

It was so lovely to meet you and your family. It has to be said I was a little star struck

So glad we didn't think about a photo as I was dressed for comfort definitely not for style that's for sure :

Another lovely relaxing day. Sweet tomatoes looks delicious

TFS... love yooooooooooooo

[disneylover]

Ha! I'm famous at last! Great day Jo but your poor shoulders! I find Cracker Barrel a bit hit and miss too but who can't resist that shop attached? Did you end up drinking your way through your credit🍹🍹?

*for those who don't know me I'm the ugly one between debidee and Kate (Isabel) I promise to write a trippie once I've received lessons from these professionals!

[spenners]

How was R2D2 after you had fiddled with his bits

Great day enjoyed reading your trippy

[helenlovesdestr]

Yay another instalment! I've heard a few people say about the packing capsules - what do you like about them? Don't know if I need them or not!