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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:06 PM  
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It's Supposed to be the Budget Trip April 2015 - Day 7: Downtown Disney, Epcot and Spice Road Table

Day 7: Thursday 16th April 2015

Mat and I were up at 6 and he went to get the usual coffees from Starbucks. He also got bananas for the girls as breakfast for them would be a little later today and they're not great without food in the mornings. I finished putting the last few bits in the cases and we woke the girls about 7.15.

We checked out of Portofino Bay, and I had mixed feelings about saying goodbye to the hotel. I had been really pleased with our room (a couple of housekeeping issues aside) and I loved our big bathroom, but I hadn't fallen in love with the place like I had thought I would. The piazza and a lot of the Italian theming in the hotel was very impressive and I felt a bit sad that we hadn't had a lot of time to properly look around and take it all in. We didn't like the lobby area though, it seemed quite old fashioned and stuffy. We took some photos of the lobby area before we left. We liked this bit:



And this bit:



But not so much this bit:



And definitely not this bit:



This was also the sort of decoration and furnishing that continued on the way to the elevators and also over in the West Wing where our room was.

We really weren't impressed with the service from the lobby and front of house staff and that had really left a bit of a black mark as far as we were concerned. We came away thinking we would like to go back to Portofino Bay to have another pizza at Sal's Market Deli and take in the beautiful piazza for the evening, but that we wouldn't want to stay there again. I've said before that when we booked, it wasn't really very much more expensive than the Hard Rock which is why we went for the 'flagship' property, but next year we are staying at the Hard Rock and Cabana Bay where the theming suits us much better.

We loaded up the car and set off for Whole Foods which wasn't far. We love Whole Foods for healthy-ish breakfasts and dinners when we're in New York but we had never been to the one in Orlando. It was in the top five restaurants in Orlando on Trip Advisor when I had done a bit of research which I thought was a bit strange for a supermarket, but having eaten their salads and pizzas in New York, I'm not surprised. I wanted to include a breakfast here during our trip to up our fruit quota and today seemed the ideal day before we moved to the other end of the I-4 for the next 10 nights.

We love having a little mooch around Whole Foods in New York (we ended up visiting three different branches while we were in NYC in September. In my opinion the TriBeCa one is the best for anyone who might be planning a trip to the Big Apple anytime soon). As anyone who's read my new pre-trip report knows, we may be moving to the New York area in 18 months. I got quite excited about the idea of doing our shopping in the local Whole Foods when (if) we live there, until Mat reminded me that in the States they call it 'Whole Check' because it's so expensive people spend their entire pay check there.

Anyway, today I had a delicious apple Danish, Seren had a blueberry muffin that was warm and crumbly, Freya had a chocolate croissant that didn't feature much chocolate and Mat had a Cajun tofu breakfast sandwich with scrambled egg and spicy tofu from the hot food selection. I also got a pot of pineapple and a pot of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries for the girls and I to share. It was all delicious apart from the strawberries which were a bit hard and nasty. Also, the OJ was tasty but had ice in the bottle so must have come from the freezer and not defrosted properly.









Nom nom nom :





We sat in the cafe area (in Whole Foods you generally get your food from the store eg bakery section, salad section, hot food, then pay at the usual check-outs and then take it through to the cafe tables and chairs where there's no till.) The cafe area was freezing as they had the air conditioning up way too high. There were tables outside and we should have sat there but Mat didn't want to, I think he thought it would be too hot. We noticed while we were sat in the cafe that they had a little classroom behind us set up for cooking classes, and they also had massage chairs in the cafe area. You could get a 15 minute massage during peak hours. Cute.

2 x bottles of orange juice = $2.99 each
1 x bottle of apple juice = $1.99
2 x bottles of spring water = $0.59 each
Cajun tofu breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs and spicy tofu = $8.00
Muffin = $1.99
Chocolate croissant = $1.99
Apple Danish = $2.49
Pot of pineapple chunks = $5.15
Small pot of berries = $7.73
Total including tax = $35.13



All happy and satisfied after our breakfast, we thawed out on the walk through the car park and drove to Super Target. It felt like too long since we had last been there and I missed it (love that place). On the shopping list for today was some more colours of my beloved Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows, a suitcase for all our excessive purchases, cereal, milk, water, juice, Band Aids, sunscreen and some US teen magazines for Seren. I randomly got into a conversation with a young male employee about how The Notebook is one of the best films ever . He didn't look like the kind of guy you'd expect to come out with a comment like that, but it just goes to show you should never judge a book by its cover.

We also came across these pretty terrifying Anna and Elsa dolls :



Total spent here = $135.22.

From Target, we drove in the direction of Walt Disney World which was very exciting having been away from Disney for four days. Bonnet Creek is pretty much in Disney World without being part of Disney. There are four resorts at Bonnet Creek: the Hilton, the Waldorf Astoria, the Wyndham and the Wyndham Grand. First impressions as we turned onto Bonnet Creek Resort Lane were very good, it all felt very luxurious and peaceful. The resorts are a little bit apart from one another, and a couple of them have golf courses so it's all very green and pretty. Shame it looks pretty grey in the photos.





The Hilton isn't as pretty from the outside as the Waldorf Astoria or the Wyndham Grand but obviously it was quite a bit cheaper than those resorts. As my inner snob felt a little pang of disappointment, I told myself yet again that this was 'the budget trip'. However, it still all looked very welcoming and well-kept. We pulled up outside and were immediately welcomed by a very friendly front-of-house / parking attendant. So far, so much better service than Portofino Bay on arrival. He said we could leave our car outside the entrance while we checked in. We went inside the lobby and it all looked very nice. At this point I was very happy that we would be spending the last 10 nights of our holiday here.

We went over to check-in and the very efficient, not particularly warm lady at the desk offered us a room upgrade... for a price. She said something like 'so you've got the kids, you're here for Disney...' (Obviously we ticked the boxes for her room upgrade sales pitch). She went on to say that we had a standard view booked currently and that she could offer us an upgrade to 'Disney view' and that we'd 'be able to see the fireworks'. She said the upgrade would usually be $35 per night but she could do it for $25. I was all ready to say no thanks, this is a budget trip. A free upgrade would have been amazing but this, not so much. However, instead I was surprised to hear Mat say 'yes.' He was obviously in relaxed holiday mode and not really thinking about the extra $250 we'd have to fork out on check-out. Budget trip, remember?

Mat went off to hand over the luggage from the car and then park up in the parking garage while the girls and I took the elevator up to the 16th floor to check out our room. The room was fine, nice even, but it was a standard chain hotel room and I immediately missed the theming of a Disney or Universal hotel. I know some people don't like those touches but being at the Hilton reminded me that I'm an on-site kind of gal and it really felt like we weren't at Disney. It sounds silly but I think I need that immersion to feel like I'm on a Disney holiday when I'm not in the parks.



At that point I didn't realise that we would spend the next 10 days surrounded by convention attendees when we were at the hotel which made it worse . It made me realise that I don't like staying at convention hotels and I would definitely go out of my way to avoid them in future. We stayed at the Yacht Club in 2012 which is also a convention hotel, but we only came across one small convention group having a reception in the lobby during our fortnight there, and as we were at a Disney hotel it didn't affect me in the same way. Here, we would come home from a long day in the parks and walk into a packed lobby and bar area full of convention attendees who were very loud. It just irritated me. I know that probably sounds weird but I like to be surrounded by other people on holiday when I'm on holiday.

The view was pretty good. Immediately below was the very impressive looking swimming pool with lazy river, then the Waldorf Astoria golf course, the water, and then Disney World.







Right behind the golf course was Pop Century and Art of Animation, and we could see Everest and Tower of Terror too. However, Magic Kingdom and Epcot were so far to the right that you had to press your face up against the window to see Spaceship Earth and Cinderella's Castle. I couldn't see how we would be able to see the fireworks .

Mat came up and then the luggage arrived. The guy pointed out some of the attractions we could see from the window and we told him that the lady on reception had said we could see the fireworks from our room. He said 'oh no, you won't see fireworks from here'. We decided to go back to the desk on our way out and have a moan. We didn't unpack as the day was ticking on and we had plans, so we headed straight back down. Reception was busy so we planned to come back on the way up later on (which we didn't do either, we ended up not raising it until the following day).

Mat took us to the parking garage which was very busy and a bit dirty. It seemed to me that Hilton keeps the hotel interior and front entrance looking good but as you get onto the walkway down to the parking garage, it all gets a bit shabby and messy, with the odd bit of rubbish on the path. Anyway, I wasn't particularly bothered by it because we were on our way to Downtown Disney. It was now about 11 am and we had been planning a round of mini golf before DTD but we wanted to have lunch there before it got busy, so golf went out of the window for today.

We had spent hardly any time at Downtown Disney in 2014 because it has been such a boarded up building site but I had read that things were better now and we really fancied a mooch. The roads leading to DTD were all dug up with cones everywhere and it was a bit of a crazy mess, but we were directed to the new West Side parking garage which was fine with us. There were lots of CMs directing cars into the next available space in the garage. It was all done very efficiently like at the parks rather than your standard shopping centre multi-storey, and the spaces were nice and big too. We were parked at the end nearest to the walkway to DTD so that was good too. For some reason, the sign on the walkway said that Marketplace (where we were heading) was to the left and West Side to the right, but this was backwards. So we ended up at West Side but decided to just stroll round to the other side. We stopped in a shady area outside La Nouba to put sunscreen on. Freya was messing about so I had to pull her aside and have a word with her about her behaviour, which seemed to make a difference thank goodness.

We started the walk round to the Marketplace noticing the new things we hadn't seen before, such as the new Starbucks and the chunks of 'High Line' elevated walkway / garden which are a bit random since Disney decided not to make them actual elevated walkway / gardens in the end.









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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:10 PM  
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We also had a good look at the new food truck park which is a really good idea and looks impressive. Disney have gone for a truck representing each park with some of the park's speciality dishes. I can appreciate that idea, but personally I think I would have preferred to see new dishes rather than food you can get in the parks. And there was a real lack of vegetarian options too.



















The plan was to try out Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. I had read nothing but good reviews of the place and so far, we had never been able to fit it in. I know it's supposed to be excellent value as a counter service meal on the Dining Plan, so it was a shame we were visiting the restaurant for the first time on the first trip we didn't have Dining Plan. I had also read that the Marketplace one was better than the West Side one as it has a more extensive menu.





Luckily as it was still pretty early, it wasn't very busy. I was in the mood for pizza for so went for the cheese pizza and Mat chose the mushroom pizza with goat's cheese, arugula and garlic cream sauce. Seren had the kids' mac and cheese (again) and Freya had the kids' cheese pizza. The girls had a carton of milk each and we ordered Cherry Cokes. The guy told us we needed to get those from the fountain ourselves which we did. We took the drinks and sat down, and a very nice CM came over and brought our cutlery and tap water, checking we had everything we needed.

Unfortunately I wasn't that impressed with my pizza, it was too salty, cheesy and greasy. Looking at the menu now I don't know why I didn't go with the margherita instead as the tomatoes and basil would have been more up my street. Plus the online menu I just looked at says the cheese pizza has Parmesan on which it definitely didn't say on the menu above the counter or I wouldn't have ordered it since Parmesan isn't vegetarian . I gave up on my pizza quite quickly and Mat offered me some of his as he said it was really nice. I didn't pick the mushroom one because I don't generally like goat's cheese but this pizza was very good, much nicer than mine. In the end we swapped which was very kind of my lovely husband to do as his was so much tastier than mine. Seren didn't like her mac and cheese either which I think was also to do with the cheese not being very nice. Freya ate all of her pizza.

My pizza:









So it was a bit of a mixed experience. I liked the restaurant and looking at the menu now, there are lots of other yummy looking items that I should have gone for, so I think my disappointment in the food was because I made a poor menu choice. I'd definitely like to go back next year when we're on the dining plan. I see there's a salmon on there which is $20 so great value as a counter service credit. We left a decent tip because our server had been so nice, and looking at the receipt now, we weren't actually charged for the Cherry Cokes after all. Oops .

1 x cheese pizza = $11.50
1 x mushroom pizza = $13.50
1 x kids cheese pizza = $8.00
1 x kids mac and cheese = $7.00
2 x kids milk = $2.00 each
Total including tax = $46.86

The menu outside:



Next up was a visit to the Christmas shop which I don't think we'd ever been in with the girls. Until now, we hadn't spent a lot of time in the Marketplace area with them. I always have a couple of stories I have to tell them when we do find ourselves there. Firstly, how Daddy surprised me with our personalised Minnie and Mickey Christmas bauble during our wedding trip in 2001. And then I roll out the story of how on my first trip in 1988, the Marketplace area pretty much was the whole of 'Disney Village' (the precursor to Downtown Disney). And how we used to always go there on our arrival night when I was young, and one year, our rental car broke down in the car park when we went to leave for the night. The rental company had to tow us back to our hotel but my sister and I missed all of this as we'd fallen asleep in the back pretty much as soon as we had got in the car.

















Anyway, we were in our element in the Christmas store... Disney and Christmas are two of our whole family's favourite things (and probably most Dibbers too. What's not to like?) We ooh-ed and aah-ed over everything for a while and then tried to narrow down everything we liked to a couple of things while Mat took some 'arty' photos. We all really liked the Princess shoe ornaments and the girls and I chose what we thought were the prettiest ones: Aurora, Belle and Anna.







(Shoe photos courtesy of Google.)

They were three for $45. We had to wait for a bit while we were at the till for a CM to notice we were there and come over to serve us, plus she wasn't exactly full of the Disney magic when she did.

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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:18 PM  
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When we got outside, Mat took a photo of the girls by the Frozen backdrop...



...and I got accosted by a friendly CM wielding an iPad who wanted me to take a survey about my experience in the shop. I said it was very good and he said 'what could make it excellent instead of very good?' I don't want to be using my brain to come up with ideas on holiday, thanks, but I did mention the slightly less than magical CM who served us.

One of the things on my 'must do' list was the Create-Your-Own-Treats at Goofy's Candy Co. They had some amazing looking treats on display :

















I had told the girls they could order a create-your-own caramel apple each before the holiday. I knew they probably wouldn't eat much of the caramel topping, as they'd proven in 2014 at Islands of Adventure when we'd ended up peeling most of the topping off so they could just eat the apples. Then, Mat ended up getting really cross with them for wasting it all. This year we all went into it knowing that they were unlikely to eat much of the topping, but they were keen on eating the apples. They wouldn't have eaten any of the other treats available, and we were all excited about them choosing their toppings and having the apples made especially for them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we were doing it more for the experience than to eat the apples.



It took quite a while to organise the apples as it wasn't clear exactly how to go about it, but eventually we were pointed in the right direction. The girls filled out an order form and then we handed them in at the correct till point and paid. ($9.99 plus tax each).





Seren chose for her apple to be dipped in white chocolate, decorated with rainbow sprinkles and then drizzled with milk chocolate, and Freya chose the same but with the milk and white chocolate dipping / drizzling reversed. Once we'd paid, the girls stood at the counter and watched the (English) CM make them, while we found a table and sat down. The girls were loving it. Within a couple of minutes, they were ready. The CM had offered to cut the apples up to make it easier for the girls to eat them.

























As expected, the girls didn't make much of a dent in the caramel but ate as much of the apple as was possible.



I got into a right mess scraping off the caramel. This is what was left of it. Yum:



I also got a milk chocolate covered strawberry ($3.99 plus tax) which was delicious.





I thought these Jelly Belly mixes (Disney Princess, Mickey Mouse etc) were so cute:





We couldn't resist popping into Art of Disney. There are just so many beautiful pictures in there. If I was rich and didn't have to worry about shipping stuff home, I would have bought half the shop. I guess the price and practicalities of buying things in this shop are a good deterrent.





In 2014, we had bought the girls a couple of sketches each from the Art of Disney shop at Hollywood Studios and they look fab framed on their bedroom walls, so we were keen to get them another one this year. We went over and watched the artists for a moment and then flicked through the sketches that were ready to buy.

Seren immediately chose a gorgeous picture of Lilo and Stitch (Stitch being her favourite Disney character). Seren is usually the indecisive one of the two girls but that picture was so cute. There was no way she was going to pick any other. So today it was Freya who couldn't decide. I helped her choose and in the end I suggested she go for a lovely sketch of Tinker Bell and Periwinkle as I thought it was better value to get a picture with two characters. Freya really liked that sketch, so Mat went to pay while I had another quick look at the expensive paintings.

A moment later he called me over to the till because it turned out that the sketches with two characters were actually more expensive. They were $64.95 each and I think the one character ones were about $45. I understand why they were around double the price because obviously it takes quite a bit of time to draw each character. I was tempted to tell the girls they would have to choose a one character sketch instead, but the pictures they had chosen were so beautiful, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm pleased that we didn't change as I still love looking at the sketches now. (I'll add some photos of the sketches in soon.)

I've just looked at the receipt and the Tinker Bell one was an extra $5 because it contained a third colour. Total for both of them was $143.67 including tax.

Next up was Little Miss Matched where we got a sales pitch from a friendly CM as soon as we walked in the door. I wanted to get some socks for the girls (who took ages to choose) and then we got talked into buying some pretty flower and cupcake hair clips that were on promotion at the till. It was my first visit to Little Miss Matched and I liked it very much. Total spends = $41.16. We'll definitely be getting some more mis-matched socks from there on our next trip.

We popped into the pin trading shop and bought some Magic Bandits to clip onto our Magic Bands. The girls and I each got a set. I think Seren's were Stitch, Freya's were Cinderella's carriage / slipper type things and mine were cute little coloured Mickey heads that were more like little chunky plastic beads rather than the rubbery decorations the girls had chosen. Mine lasted better too as I came home with all of them, whereas a couple of the girls' had torn or fallen off. We did all exchange some so we had one of each, and Seren was generous enough to give one of her Stitches to Mat. We also got a pin each but I have no idea what we chose now. Must make more detailed notes in future.

Our last shop for today was the Co-op Marketplace which was brilliant, we thought this store was really well done. It has mostly slightly different and unique merchandise than what was in the other shops, and it was really interesting to look around. They also had a nice selection of art and we bought a few cute postcards of various artists' interpretations of the Princesses. Seren fell in love with a gorgeous painting of Stitch and we managed to find a tiny framed print of it which we secretly bought and put away for her birthday the following month. This is the print:



When Mat went to pay for it the CM was disappointed as she had wanted to buy it herself, and it was the last one ($26.58 including tax). We also spent an extra $46.49 on the postcards and a gift for my niece.

Once outside, we bought some water from a refreshment stand and sat down on a wall to have a drink. We saw this little fella:





It was really hot and we were all done at Downtown Disney for today. We'd all really enjoyed it though and said we should definitely make the time to come back as it's so nice to just wander around and have a mooch in the shops, which as I said, is not something we had done a lot of before. We had a couple of meals booked at DTD restaurants during the rest of our trips, so we knew we would be returning, but I made a mental note to make sure we allowed ourselves mooching time and didn't just visit the restaurants when we came.





We walked back round to the West Side parking garage...













...and came across another CM with an iPad who wanted us to take a quick survey. He wanted to know which shops we had visited and whether we'd been to any restaurants. I think it's a good sign that Disney are staying on top of what's popular and what's not.

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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:22 PM  
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From Downtown Disney we drove straight to Epcot, getting there about 3.45 pm. This was the first time we'd ever had to pay to park the car as a family, as it was the first time we'd ever been to a park when not staying onsite. The car park didn't seem very busy and once we got inside, the park seemed quiet too. You may have heard me banging on about the easywdw.com crowd calendar before as I'm a big fan of Josh and his brilliant website. I always follow his crowd calendar and today was a recommended day at Epcot. (Disclaimer: Simon told me in a forum post when I was banging on about easywdw.com's crowd calendar that the Dibb Busy Day Guide works on the same model as easywdw.com's crowd calendar so the two are pretty much the same and equally reliable.)

We took the tram from the car park which we don't often do...



...and headed straight to Test Track for our first Fastpass+ of the day (4.15 - 5.15 pm).

We had a quick stop to watch the Jamminators for a mo:





We had loved Universal, but it felt good to be back at Disney. As we approached the TT building, we could hear an announcement that inclement weather was in the area and the attraction could shut at any time, so we hurried in as quickly as we could. We walked straight through the empty FP+ queue to the area in front of the design studio where we were directed into a line. We waited about five minutes to get into the design studio.

Once inside I worked with Freya and she somehow managed to set the text on our screen into German so we faffed about with that a bit before we finally got back on track and finished our design.

Mine and Freya's design:



Mat and Seren's design:



I'm not a fan of the next bit where the design studio doors open and it turns into a bit of a bunfight to get into the line. I remember seeing a video last summer of a fight that broke out between two women (one of them armed with an umbrella) at that point in the queue and it's not all that surprising because in our experience, people get very pushy there and don't seem very open to the idea of merging in turn.

I do like a bit of Test Track, especially the outdoor bit, but it did hurt my back today. The position you have to sit in in the car with it being so low really wasn't great for my piriformis syndrome (yes that is a real thing).

Next I wanted to pop to Starbucks to get my Epcot 'You Are Here' mug to go with my Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios ones (I can't remember if I had already bought the Studios one at this point but I definitely had the MK one already). I love these mugs so much, I do like a bucket of coffee or peppermint tea rather than a small, delicate mug or cup full so they are ideal for me . As I think I said before, the Animal Kingdom one hadn't been released at the time we went so that is on the list for next time to complete my set. The mug was $15.93 including tax.

We popped into Club Cool to test the complimentary beverages. Seren and Freya don't like any fizzy drinks and Freya won't even drink juice or squash (she's a purely water and milk kind of girl) so I was surprised that even they tried some of the drinks. We tricked Seren into trying the Beverly (bad parents) and she hated it. I had tricked Mat the same way last time, but this time he and I both agreed that the Beverly isn't actually that bad. I think it's because we don't generally like very sweet drinks, the bitterness meant that we quite liked it . I actually like all of them.





Beverly:



We had Spaceship Earth FP+ that were now good, so we headed over there. I think we pretty much walked on. Mat pulled a silly face for the photo which I was surprised to see on the big screen after the ride as he's not often silly . Seren and I had tried to pull funny faces too but had mis-timed when the photo was being taken so it didn't work out. Seren absolutely loves Spaceship Earth so she was in her element.









It was definitely threatening rain at this point so we decided to do the Great Piggy Bank Adventure as the girls loved this in 2014 and we knew it would be closing down for good about a month later. We turned up at the same time as a couple of other parties which seemed to confuse and surprise the CM at the entrance a little. It felt a bit like he couldn't really be bothered, and he wanted the girls to play together and us to watch, so as to only use one piggy bank and one set of games each time. The girls were keen to have a piggy bank each and each play the games with one of us as we had done last year. We thought that was fair enough and told the CM that which he was ok with. I think there were about four games to play in total.









It's a good, fun way to spend ten minutes or so. The girls really enjoyed it as you can see from the look on Seren's face.



It was now time for our final FP+ of the day; the Seas with Nemo and Friends. Thinking about it, we had FP+s for pretty much all of the rides we like doing at Epcot (Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Nemo). We don't like Mission: Space (at all), Ellen's Energy Adventure or Imagination (much), and Soarin' we can take or leave (spoiler: we didn't end up doing Soarin' at all this trip so for 2015 it was very much leave it). The only other ride we like is Living with the Land which we weren't planning to do today as we were heading over to World Showcase for a mooch and some dinner after Nemo.

We popped into the restrooms while in the Seas pavilion and Mat felt it necessary to take a photo of the hand-washing 'instructions'. Do people really need to be told how to wash their hands?



By the time we left the Seas pavilion, it was raining a little and felt a bit chilly too. We didn't have cardigans or ponchos with us for some reason, so we were hoping it wouldn't get any worse. The plan was to get the girls some dinner from Liberty Inn at the US pavilion. We had an ADR at Spice Road Table later on, but their children's' menu consists entirely of two non-vegetarian items so we decided to get them something beforehand and they could just have an ice-cream at Spice Road.

Liberty Inn was pretty busy. We got the girls both pasta with tomato sauce, with a side of carrots and grapes each. They both really enjoyed their dinner. Mat got a coffee and I had a little glass of Cabernet Sauvignon which helped a little to warm us up.

2 x childrens' pasta = $5.99 each
1 x regular coffee = $2.29
1 x glass of Cabernet Sauvignon $4.25
Total including tax = $19.73





We had time to pop into the Mitsukoshi store in Japan (our favourite shop in World Showcase) before our ADR. We had a good look around and bought some chopsticks, chopstick rests and lucky cats and owls. We seem to buy a couple of those every time we come. Freya is obsessed with Japanese culture, she absolutely loves anything Japanese, so she was in heaven in the shop. Total spends = $26.39.



Once we were all done in Mitsukoshi, it was time to head to Morocco to check in at Spice Road Table. It was still raining and cold. We were given a table to the left of the entrance (the outdoor side) which is what I had been hoping for. The seating is covered so we were dry but it was still chilly. I hadn't exactly anticipated rubbish weather when I'd pictured us sitting there watching Illuminations. Still, I really liked the setting and theming. Unfortunately our table was as far away from the water as you could get, right by the main walkway around World Showcase. We knew we'd have to get up and move to be able to see any of the fireworks.

Our ADR time was 8.15 pm so I was hoping we could pretty much finish eating before the fireworks started and be ready to leave after Illuminations (along with everyone else). Spice Road Table offers a selection of 'small plates' as well as a few entrees, and Mat and I planned to share a selection of small plates. I must admit, the server didn't exactly seem thrilled when I told him the girls weren't eating meals, just ice-creams, and that we were sharing small plates rather than going all out with entrees, but that was possibly just because it was the end of the evening and he was a bit fed up.









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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:27 PM  
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...continued

I ordered a Tangiers cocktail and Mat had a watermelon non-alcoholic drink.



We had the hummus fries, olives and hummus, spicy shrimp, fried calamari and peppers, and grape leaves. All the food was very tasty but it was a little bit on the cold side by the time it was delivered to us. Because it was so late, and the fireworks would be starting soon, we didn't bother to mention it and ask for replacements. As it was 'nibble-y' kind of food, it didn't matter too much.

The food photos aren't great as it was pretty dark and I was taking them on my phone:



Grape leaves (stuffed with rice) :



Calamari:



These are the hummus fries as it's not all that clear from the photo:



The hummus and olive came with pitta bread:





The food on offer was right up my street (although a few more vegetarian options, especially for children, wouldn't go amiss) so I would go back, and it works well as an Illuminations viewing spot if you get a good table. Plus the restaurant is very pretty, and I like the fact that you can be a bit more relaxed and order a selection of small plates rather than your usual appetiser and entrée combination. That may not make it quite as good a proposition if you're on the Dining Plan.

While we ate, the girls did their menu colouring sheets (which also contained a handy game) so we could eat in peace. I also had a sangria when I'd finished my cocktail which went down very well.



When we were all done, we ordered the girls some vanilla ice cream and Mat ordered some baklava too. The desserts arrived just before the fireworks started.



Now I am quite embarrassed to admit that we have never as a family stood and watched Illuminations. One of my most vivid memories of my five Disney World holidays as child is sitting on the floor around the lagoon for ages, waiting for Illuminations to start. We did that a couple of times per trip as my Dad loved it and always wanted to get a good spot.

On my trips with Mat and the girls, we've caught little bits of it when we've been walking through World Showcase at the end of the evening, or when we've come out of a restaurant. In 2012, the girls were too scared of fireworks to watch it properly, and in 2014, we just didn't manage to fit it in. I knew we probably wouldn't get another opportunity to watch it in full during this trip, so I thought combining it with the meal was a good idea.

Because we were at the 'back' of the restaurant, we had to get up to watch, so the girls and I moved to the left edge of the seating area when it began. Obviously we couldn't move in front of anyone, and with the fairly low canopy covering the restaurant, we still didn't get a very good perspective on the entire show. We could just about see the globe, and fireworks behind it, but we couldn't see any of the pavilions, and I guess it wasn't really the way the show was designed to be watched. If you had front row seats at Spice Road Table, it might give a much better overall view of the show, but I guess you'd have to have an earlier reservation to bag one of those tables, as by the time we got there, every other table that was closer was already taken. In fact the whole place was full. I guess everyone has the same idea, and they just eke out their meal to stay seated for the fireworks.

As well as not having a great view, it was still a bit rainy and pretty cold, and remember we were just in t-shirts, shorts and light cardigans. I remember distinctly looking at people in hoodies and rain jackets and feeling distinctly envious. That's how chilly it was .

My Illuminations photos are pretty rubbish but I'm including them anyway:

















So Illuminations was underwhelming because of the poor view and weather, but we'd enjoyed the evening overall. I really must book in a proper go at watching Illuminations on our next trip to do it justice.

When the fireworks ended, we went back to the table and the girls' ice-cream had melted so much that they didn't want to finish it. Lots of people were leaving Spice Road at this point, and we just needed to settle our check. Unfortunately the credit card payment system had gone down and they weren't able to process our payment. As we weren't staying on property, we couldn't charge to the room, and we didn't have enough cash left on us at the end of the evening to settle up.

Fried calamari = $12.00
Grape leaves = $8.00
Hummus fries = $7.00
Hummus and olives = $10.00
Spicy shrimp = $10.00
Tangier Breeze = $10.99
Watermelon Delight = $6.99
Glass of red sangria = $10.99
Baklava = $7.00
2 x childrens' ice creams = $2.99 each
Total including tax = $94.74

The servers told us to take a seat and they'd let us know when it was working again. They weren't particularly apologetic, I have to say. I don't remember there being anyone else left waiting to pay with a credit card, it was just us. By this point, we just wanted to go home as we were feeling really cold. We had to wait about ten minutes and I must admit, part of me was thinking that maybe they would just let us off since it wasn't our fault we couldn't settle up . Yes I know that's cheeky but it wasn't really fair that we were having to sit there after park closing in the cold weather. It wasn't that I didn't think we should pay for our delicious meal, I just didn't want to have to hang around anymore.

Eventually, it was working again and we were able to pay up and leave. It was now about 9.20 and we were following all the slow stragglers out of World Showcase. We decided to power walk and weaved in and out of all the slowcoaches with the thought of our nice warm beds motivating us. I can remember clearly how cold and wet we felt, and my new New Balance flip flops that I had bought the night before were really hurting the soles of my feet.

We took the tram back to the car, look how happy Mat and the girls were:



The tram was quiet as it was now about 9.40 pm. We got back to the car and dried ourselves off with some beach towels we had in the trunk. We whacked the heating up in the car and had just about thawed out by the time we got back to the hotel about 10.10 pm. Mat and I put the girls to bed and then unpacked, since we had an early start at Magic Kingdom planned for the following day and so it needed to be done. We were really tired by the time we fell into bed at about midnight.

Day 8 is here.

Edited at 12:32 PM.
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Old 26 Jan 16, 09:59 PM  
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Milner
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Fantastic day.
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Old 27 Jan 16, 02:18 PM  
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Sparksy72
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What a great day, you managed to fit loads in. We also loved Whole Foods in New York and I was so pleased to stumble across one in Piccadilly Circus when we were in London at Christmas! Thank you for sharing, I have never been to Spice Road Table and the food looked lovely, it's nice to have lots of different small plates to try and the added bonus of Illuminations looked fab.
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Old 29 Jan 16, 07:11 PM  
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OB1LukeLucas
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All caught up on the trip. You have definitely packed a lot in so far!
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Old 30 Jan 16, 05:13 PM  
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collybird
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The pool at the Hilton looks awesome! Although I would feel tortured having Disney in my sites but not being there.

I really like the new parking at Disney Springs, so easy. It's the buses that are a shambles now!

I've been looking forward to your review of Spice Road Table, I've been desperate to eat there forever. I love to pick it things so small plates are a dream for me. Definitely this year! I suppose the restaurant is okay for Illuminations viewing if you've seen it a billion times before but not great for the girls' first time.
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Old 4 Feb 16, 10:14 AM  
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Redrach1903
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What a fab day (except for the weather at the end).

Disney Springs is so fab now I think and its not even finished yet!

I am so going to do one of those caramel apples, even better that they will cut it up for you!

Hmmm I am so wanting some hummus now! haha!

Thanks for sharing xx
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