Living In Jamerica - The Bud Light Years Day 12 Rest Day

[JoJo88]

“Living in Jamerica” – The Bud Light Years – October 2011

Pre-Trippy Part 1
Pre-Trippy Part 2
Day 0 - Twilight Check In
Day 1 - Travel Day
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Day 4 - Hollywood Studios
Day 5 - Typhoon Lagoon
Day 6 - Epcot
Day 7 - Magic Kingdom Take 2
Day 8 - Shopping
Day 9 - Blizzard Beach
Day 10 - Islands of Adventure/Hard Rock Hotel
Day 11 - IoA Early Entry/Universal Studios
MUSICAL INTERLUDE

Day 12 – Rest Day!

Wednesday 19th October 2011

The boys were begging for a day off today, and with this in mind, Simon made me an offer I simply couldn’t refuse. He would go with the boys to the onsite pool while I went shopping to Downtown Disney with my Mum & Dad. There might have been some ‘please let me win at cards’ bribery attached to that offer, but quite frankly I was out of the door and waiting in the car as soon as he said the word ‘shopping’ so I have no idea what the catch was

So, after breakfast we dropped the three Howard boys off at the Windsor Hills Clubhouse. I tried not to insult Simon’s intelligence by giving him a quick rundown of instructions (what can I say, I’m a Virgo, and he’s a man ) and at around 10am we were on our way to DTD. As I had prime position in the front of the car for this particular journey I took a few pictures of road signs along the way. I know, I know, it’s a bit sad and nerdy but you have to admit they are not your average road signs. Have a look at these beauties and tell me you don’t feel a little flutter of excitement

We parked up easily enough just outside World of Disney, which was perfect as it meant I wouldn’t be wasting too much valuable spendage time trekking back and forth to the car with full shopping bags

I already had an idea of what I wanted to buy from when we were in here earlier in the holiday, so in true Supermarket Sweep style I whizzed from one department to another, loading myself up with Disney goodness. Dale Winton would have been very proud Although I love Disney, and I’m a sucker for the merchandise, I don’t like it too ‘in yer face’, subtlety is the key, (and the only way Simon would allow me to set foot in this shop!) so that curtails my spending a little, as let’s be fair, some of the goodies on sale can be a little bit garish. Here’s some piccies of my haul

Dip Tray

Colander

Photo Frame

Glasses

Jim Shore Ornament

Bag Clips

I also bought some photo albums and other bits and pieces. I saw a gorgeous photo frame that was perfect for the portrait of the boys that had been drawn at the Hard Rock Hotel but at $60 I thought it was a bit pricey and decided to wait until I’d measured the drawing and had shown it to Simon. It was black with little Mickey Heads all around the edge (subtle Mickey Heads of course!) and looked about the right size. I should have bought it there and then because when I went back later in the holiday, it was nowhere to be seen

Continued in the next post...

[JoJo88]

Continued from above...

Since being home Simon has questioned why on earth I needed a Mickey colander, or glasses or whatever, and I told him, in all honesty, that every time I use those things it makes me smile, remembering where I got them from and then my mind always wanders back to October of this year and all the good times we had. He can’t really argue with that, can he?!

One thing I hadn’t considered when making all these purchases was how on earth I was going to get them home! So I did what we all must do, I hid the bags in the wardrobe and filed that particular worry away for another week

I also did some damage in Once Upon a Toy, getting the boys a few bits, and Mickey’s Pantry furnished me with a bottle stop & opener for the neighbours to say thank you for looking after Charlie, a couple of fridge magnets and some Mickey sprinkles for my cupcakes. I made some mini cupcakes yesterday for a Christmas party Daniel went to, I’m just wondering if the sprinkles might have been wasted on a gaggle of 6 year olds!

I also made a few purchases elsewhere, details of which I can’t put here, but let’s just say the Lego Store is superb value compared to the prices over here

We had a look in the Candy shop but didn’t buy anything, something which amazes me when I look at these pictures!

As we strolled around the shops there was a bit of excitement when I spotted a real-life Dibber! I knew this particular Dibber was there the same time as us, obviously with very similar countdowns on the Dibb, and I just had a feeling I would bump into her. She won’t mind me saying that it was very easy to spot her, with her gorgeous red hair, it was the lovely Libby, of Ben & Libby’s Adventure to Neverland! trippy fame and her equally lovely boyfriend Ben (the other star of the aforementioned trippy ) Now, being the shy & retiring type that I am (no, really!) I surprised myself by dashing over to them and introducing myself. It’s so strange to meet people that you only know from the internet, because having read Libby’s DLP trip report and her pre-trippy, not to mention other posts on the Dibb, on meeting her (and Ben) I felt that I actually knew them. Libby was just like she is on her posts, all bubbly. We had a little hug & a chat, the big news of course was that rainy Saturday that now seemed so long ago! They were both feeling sad that their holiday was almost over but were determined not to let it get them down and make the most of the time they had left. We eventually said our goodbyes and went on with our days. So Hi Ben & Libby it was delightful to meet you both

Eventually I was dragged away from DTD, but not before a pit stop at Earl of Sandwich. The Original is probably my absolute favourite sandwich and so it would have been rude not to pick one up while I was here. Roast Beef, cheese & horseradish. Mmmm Mmmmm. I also bought a Chinese Chicken salad and a sandwich for Simon but I forget which type I got him (no receipt). Mum got herself something too, and we also bought chocolate desserts – all to go. I had half my sandwich in the car on the way home and put the rest in the fridge.

It was around 1pm when we left DTD and joined the boys at the big pool. They were having a great time, and had made good use of all the facilities – table tennis, games room, snack bar etc. They had eaten lunch so full marks to Simon for managing to keep the boys alive while I was gone

I was pleased to see that Daniel was tall enough to use the slide

And that Adam was enjoying it too

The last time we had been here, Adam had been up & down the steps & the slide for about an hour non-stop, while we sat round the pool watching him ‘enjoying’ himself. When we were chatting about it afterwards it transpired that he hadn’t really liked it because it was a bit dark in the tube, and also hurt his back, but he thought he’d keep going because it was there!

Continued in the next post...

[JoJo88]

Continued from above...

Once the boys were shrivelled up like raisins, we headed back to the villa to get showered & changed for tea. I had booked an ADR at Teppan Edo for this evening for Simon & me, but had decided to cancel it earlier in the day because we were both enjoying our off-site eating and Simon isn’t all that keen on noodles anyway. Mum had been doing a bit of Dibbing and had seen that Miller’s Ale House had had a recent good review so we decided to go there tonight. The menu looked extensive, lots of choice and good value too.

We got there around 4.15 so nice & early, and it was unsurprisingly quiet.

We were seated straight away and began working our way through the menu, deciding what we wanted. I wasn’t all that hungry (Earl of Sandwich perhaps?!) so went for something different just for a change. Here’s what we all had:

1 x Rootbeer $2.29 (I have no idea why I ordered this, it tasted like TCP!)
1 x Thai Chicken $7.49
1 x Guiness $5.95
1 x Chicken Sandwich $7.99
1 x Guiness Refill $4.95
1 x Seafood Mac & Cheese $10.99
1 x Soda $2.35
1 x French Onion Soup $4.25
1 x Crab & Lobster Boil $16.99
1 x Soda $2.35
1 x Kid’s Pizza & Soda $3.99
1 x Chicken Fingers & Soda $3.99 (guess who?!)
1 x Kid’s Push Pop (included in price)
1 x Kid’s Ice Cream Sandwich (included in price)

Total Bill $78.74 incl tax but not tip

Now, the menu may have been extensive & inexpensive, but other than my Dad, we really didn’t rate it here at all. I had the Thai Chicken skewers and it was watery & bland and the rice it was served with was hard. Adam quite liked it though so he had most of my chicken. Simon’s chicken sandwich was the same, tasteless, and just in general the food was nothing special. The service wasn’t great either, my Dad was presented with this

But had to ask for the little tool kit to be able to eat it

And we had to wait ages for everything, cutlery, drinks top ups, the bill etc etc. So, for us, this will be one to avoid in the future. I’m sure it has a good atmosphere later on in the evening as it always looked busy whenever we drove past but with so many other nice places nearby to eat, Miller’s is definitely off our list.

That's Daniel with his push up pop, a creamy frozen lolly in colours which I'm sure would glow in the dark!

It was only around 5.30 by the time we were finished and so we decided to visit Disney’s Beach Club to check out Beaches & Cream, somewhere I heard a lot about in other people’s trippies.

We parked up at the Beach Club with no difficulty and made our way down to the beach area. However, we weren’t really sure where we were going and ended up turning right and walking along the lake. We saw the boat dock and so decided on the spur of the moment to go to Epcot.

What we didn’t realise, with this being a spontaneous visit was that it was extra evening hours at Epcot and therefore it was packed! Ooops! We had a little wander around but it was really busy and quite a chilly evening too. We went into Innoventions where Adam dragged Simon onto Sum of All Thrills. Unsurprisingly he designed their ride with as many twists & turns and upside downs as he possibly could. I’m not sure how Simon felt afterwards, but considering he’d not long had 2 pints of Guiness he can’t have been in tip top shape

From there we headed out of the park, taking the short walk back to the Beach Club.

We found Beaches & Cream and I was so surprised by how small it was! We didn’t go into the main café bit, just ordered some ice creams from the till at the side, 3 singles cones $9.57 and one double cup $4.49.

We had a little look around the shop inside the hotel. I was hoping to take home a Halloween Mickey & Minnie for Chloe & Ben who live next door, to thank them for looking after Charlie, but so far hadn’t found anything. However, here I spotted Minnie who looked fabulous in her Halloween get-up, but no sign of Mickey. I asked at the till and was told that Halloween Mickey was a zombie which didn’t sound very Disney to me, and I didn’t think Ben would appreciate so I decided to leave it.

We headed back to the car, me pushing Daniel in his chariot. However, I took a corner a bit too sharply and ended up banging into the curb resulting in his blob of ice-cream falling off the cone and hitting the deck. He was less than impressed. As I was behind the action I had no idea what had caused Daniel to cry (and the others to laugh – rotten ######s), until I looked behind me and saw the fall-out. Oops! However, this is minor compared to what Simon did to him in his pushchair on the last holiday. Daniel had a habit of falling asleep on our way out for dinner, would sleep all the way through our meal (we always made sure he was fed afterwards!), and would remain that way for a good couple of hours. Well this particular night we went to Hollywood Studios after dinner. We parked up, got the pushchair out and put Daniel in it, still sleeping. Simon grabbed hold of the handles, and feeling a little, er, exuberant shall we say (it was my Dad’s turn to drive!), he ran along the car park with poor Daniel, still fast asleep, yelling turbo boost, only to stop suddenly, catapulting poor Daniel into the air and depositing him onto the ground (somewhere between Stage 36 & 37 )with a ‘splat’. Talk about rude awakening! I’m such a bad Mother though because it was really, really funny (once I’d made sure he was okay, which apart from the shock, he was), and we were all giggling about it for the rest of the night, Daniel included. Thankfully he has a great sense of humour and can take a joke. He did the ‘running into patio doors without realising they are closed’ trick on a recent cruise, which was really funny too (again, once I’d made sure he was okay). The thing this time was that there was a little step onto the balcony, so not only did he run into the doors, he took a little leap too, and in my mind’s eye I can just see him sliding down the doors in slow motion in a way that Tom would when chasing Jerry……

Anyway, back to the Beach Club car park….. We got loaded up into the car, and in a completely selfless act of kindness, I suggested that we go to Krispy Kreme on the way home and get Daniel a doughnut. He seemed happy with that, and it made up for the ice cream disaster. Of course, it seems a little extreme to go all that way just for one doughnut so I did what anyone would do, and bought a box of 12. Ahem…… Oh come on, they cost $8.49 and are the only doughnuts worth the calories…… It was pretty cool in the shop as you could see the doughnuts being made, which put Simon off actually eating any being something of a paragon of virtue when it comes to being able to abstain from treats. Still, that’s all the more for the rest of us, win/win!

Once home I chopped all the KKs in half so that we could all indulge in a little pick ‘n’ mix with our game of cards. Adam decided to play on his own this evening and despite a few dodgy calls he somehow managed to fluke it and win! Thoroughly disheartened, Simon took himself off to bed, no doubt mumbling something about it being a stupid game for stupid people……

Coming Soon……. Daniel doesn’t like the drop……

Day 13 - Hollywood Studios

[Guest]

Fantastic read Jo had me giggling throughout Poor Simon defeated by a child yet again :d Great story about the pushchair on the last holiday sooo funny looking forward to hearing more hope you all have a fab christmas

[clairemichelle]

Great read Jo, you make me laugh!

We bought a Mickey colander on our last trip - Mark thought it was to make Mickey mouse shaped mash (he was 16 at the time! ) I'm only allowed subtle Mickeys in my kitchen too, but no-one said I wasn't allowed lots of subtle Mickey's

[princess boo]

Loved the glasses and the colander more stuff to add to the to buy list.

[Milner]

Another great read Jo love your purchaeses.

[Bobsledwheels]

Another great instalment! loving your report xx

[DisneyRoobs]

Oh this has just made me laugh out loud! I just had to read the bit about Daniel & the buggy out loud..
Later on in our trip we invent a game called 'Yeah Buggy' in which Daniel would make a perfect contestant.. more of that to come!

Love KK.. so should have had one when we were there.. I like the ones with chocolate on and custard inside.. nomage.

Thanks for posting this day, I've been looking forward to it & great efforts on the DTD shopping!

L x

PS - How nice to bump into Libby & Ben, I've been really enjoying her trippy too!

[DisneyRoobs]

Oh and PPS why on earth was your Dads dinner served in a hair net?! LOL