The ‘When is the last trip not the last?’ Trip, Day 8

[Scruffette]

Day 8

Shopping, Epcot, Dinner at Rose and Crown


The plan was for a slightly more leisurely start. However, Ollie forgot to turn his alarm off! Oh well, lie ins aren’t meant to be in Disney!

The plan for this morning was to head to the Premium Outlets on Vineland for some shopping with Mum and Dad. All shopped out, Ollie decided to head to Typhoon Lagoon instead.

First stop was the food court for another Bounty platter. (No pics as it looked identical to last time).

We spent a few hours shopping and came back with several bags full. The taxi was less than $20 each was from POFQ, which split 3 ways was very reasonable!

We stopped for lunch at the food court and had our normal combination of chicken nuggets and burgers. For some reason, I only have a picture of my milkshake! This one was cookie dough flavoured. Between us, we tried pretty much every flavour by the end of the trip.




Ollie was back by this point. He had something to eat at Typhoon lagoon, but still managed a fair amount of my fries and Milkshake.
We headed back to the room for a change and to get organised for the afternoon. Today I had hit the momentous point in the holiday- the point when your clothes start feeling a bit snug after too much yummy food!

The plan was to head to Epcot, and meet with my folks at the Pick a Pearl place in Japan before having dinner together.

By the time the bus pulled in, it was pouring. I suspected this was my fault - every time I try to watch the illuminations, it starts raining.

Poncho-ed up, we got some photopass pictures outside spaceship earth. The photographers seemed pleased – not too many people wanted photos in this weather. It did make for some of the best photos of the trip!

Our plan for this afternoon was to have a go on Sum of all Thrills. (Naturally, I would be there for moral support but not riding). The queue was about an hour, but we were prepared for this and happy to wait as it’s something Ollie really wanted to try.
I queued with him and we designed the coaster together. It took a little while to get the hang of. We went for the ‘design the most intense coaster possible’ approach.





Ollie seemed to love the experience. He had been finding some of the Disney rides a bit tame, so this was much needed!

By the time we got outside it had stopped raining, and we headed over to Japan.



We paid and took a ticket. There was a 10 minute wait, but this gave us time to look at the settings and learn how to count to three in Japanese.

(In case anyone is interested, it’s san, ni, ichi. There were actions and everything.)

[Scruffette]

I read online to pick a small ugly looking oyster, as these produce the best pearls. They do make a whole show out of each oyster and make it feel special. They open the oyster, clean it, measure it, bang on a drum etc.





My pearl was 7mm (lucky number 7!). Apparently the average pearl size is 6.5mm. Every pearl that was picked while I was there was 7mm or bigger. Not sure where their ‘average’ figure came from…

I was very happy with my pearl and chose to have it made into a bracelet. Mum picked a necklace. They would be ready later that evening, so we planned to come back and get them after dinner.

I would highly recommend this experience, it made for a lovely souvenir of the trip. It’s something I plan to do again on a future trip.

We wandered round to the UK to the Rose and Crown to check in early as we hoped to get a good table. However, we were met by a very long queue. Their computer systems were down, so everyone had to be checked in manually. There were also no pagers.

The party behind us decided to complain in the hopes of jumping the queue and getting a better table. This didn’t work…

I know a lot of people don’t get why we choose to eat at the Rose and Crown. Before we did, I never really enjoyed the illuminations as we never had a good view. The view from the pub is second to none, and the food has always been ok. It’s not what I’d order in a pub back home anyway.







We finally checked in, past our ADR time, and requested a patio table. (Dad played the ‘anniversary card’ to try and help!)
We had to wait in the pub, which was really crowded and full of people waiting for tables. We got some drinks whilst waiting. Me and Ollie found our inner students and had shared a cider and black.

We were finally called for our table. Our ADR was 7.40pm. We were called about 8.15pm

The wait for the table was worth it. We had a patio table right on the water front. Probably the best table in the house. However, our server was nowhere to be seen. The whole menu/drinks/ordering process seemed to take forever.



The illuminations started at 9pm, and our mains arrived about two minutes into the show! I left my food until after the fireworks, so it had started to get cold.

Mum and I went for the steak



Normally a steak would come with some kind of potato accompaniment. This came with green beans. Definitely lacking something. My steak also had a big bit of gristle down the centre.


Ollie and Dad both went for the surf and turf – steak and fish. Their mains came with mashed potato, Dad swapped his out for chips.



On the plus side, the view was spectacular and the show was great.





Plates were cleared and we were given dessert menus. Dad said he would head back to Japan to pick up the pearls and should be back in time for dessert. By the time he got back, our order hadn’t even been taken! They were out of Jaffa tarts (tragic) so I went for the cheesecake.



I was a bit too cream-cheesey for me, I left quite a bit.
Ollie didn’t fancy anything on the menu, and the server said they could do a larger versions of the kid’s sundae. When it was bought out, we all started laughing. It was the tiniest dessert ever. But you can’t fault ice cream.




Would we eat here again? No. The view was amazing, that with ok food I would consider it. But this food was just not up to Disney standards.

By the time we settled up, it was 10.30 pm. Almost 3 hours passed our ADR time!

Not ideal when we had an early start tomorrow! Straight back to the hotel and pack up for an overnight stay at RPR the next day.

Day 9 - The day I finally got accepted into Hogwarts

[thewatsons]

Great pics

[abiknox]

I think this is the first time I have seen food pics from the Rose & Crown on a trippy!

Shame about all the bad weather

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by thewatsons

Great pics

See more...

Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by abiknox

I think this is the first time I have seen food pics from the Rose & Crown on a trippy!

Shame about all the bad weather

See more...

At least the bad weather stopped for illuminations!

[Redrach1903]

I love the pearl thing, def a great souvenir!

Lovely view of the fireworks, shame your meals weren't all that great though!

x

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

I love the pearl thing, def a great souvenir!

Lovely view of the fireworks, shame your meals weren't all that great though!

x

See more...

I love my pearl bracelet, I'm planning on getting another piece next time.

You really can't beat R and C for fireworks view, they just need to up their game on the food.

[mick]

Shame about the food in the evening but a fantastic view to watch The fireworks

Joan

[Guest]

great fireworks pics

[Guest]

Love the trip report. We did the pearl thing a few years ago and agree it's great so will do again this year.

Look forward to more and thanks