theDIBB - Day 8 ~ Trattoria Al Forno, Steak 'n' Shake, Mickey's Backyard BBQ ~ 3rd November 2018

Day 8 ~ Trattoria Al Forno, Steak 'n' Shake, Mickey's Backyard BBQ ~ 3rd November 2018

Today was our last early morning alarm

Alarm went off at 7am and we dragged ourselves out of bed. I had woken up to a notification on the MDE app to allow extra time to travel this morning as it was the official 'RUN Disney'. We set off for The Boardwalk at just gone 7.40am, the roads were actually pretty quiet, we expected it to be so much busier. We didn't even have a problem parking!

We walked through the Lobby of The Boardwalk and the kid's traded some pins then we headed down to the lake ... I had no idea where we were going but I guessed and headed left and I was right. I think this restaurant is very hidden away and pretty easy to miss.

This is another character meal, it includes, Ariel and Eric, Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel. It is one of the cheaper character meals. This is a regular restaurant where you order from the menu, as opposed to a buffet. The price is $34 per adult and $20 per child.

Our reservation was 8.05am and guess what?

We were there at 8am! Only the second time we'd arrived early or on time :pgig: We were seated more or less immediately. Flynn was already on his way round the guests.

So first up a serving of pastries is brought to the table to share.

Caitlin went for the mini muffin

Chris had one of the raspberry and meringue pastries, he really enjoyed it this, he enjoyed it so much he's still raving about it now :pgig: I had the chocolate twist which was nice.

The boys didn't want anything. This is quite a dark restaurant and Noah didn't cope well in here again. Flynn visited then the server took our food order.

Me and Chris shared:

Royal Breakfast - Oak-grilled Steak, Cheesy-Egg Torte, and Fonduta with Breakfast Potatoes and crispy Onions

Tower of Pancakes - Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes and Seasonal Fruit Compote with Bacon or Sausage

We both really enjoyed the pancakes, but the portion was huge and would have easily been shared between the 2 of us.

I found it really strange eating steak for breakfast, I thought it was quite tough too. I really didn't enjoy the Royale Breakfast and neither did Chris sadly.

Caitlin, Thomas and Noah:

Character Waffle - with Bacon or Sausage and fresh Fruit served with choice of Small Lowfat Milk, Small Dasani® Water, or Small Minute Maid® Apple Juice

Flounder's Flapjack - with Bacon or Sausage and fresh Fruit served with choice of Small Lowfat Milk, Small Dasani® Water, or Small Minute Maid® Apple Juice

The kid's enjoyed these, although again there was too much.

It was a mixed meal for us, but for the price we would be willing to try it out again. I really can't remember what we had to drink here but it wasn't alcoholic :pgig: Our server was lovely and kept refilling our drinks. We even got the other raspberry and meringue pastry to takeaway as Chris couldn't bare leaving it there :pgig:

Whilst we were eating we were visited by Prince Eric, Rapunzel and Ariel.

I sent Chris and the kids ahead to the car whilst I settled the bill and left. I had a nice little stroll back to the car. We headed to the Orlando Premium Outlets after breakfast. When we arrived and were getting the pushchair out the car we realised Noah's Buzz backpack was missing and it had Caitlin's squishy in and Chris's prescription sunglasses!

I decided I would phone The Boardwalk once we got back this afternoon, luckily we had the pushchair for Noah. We had planned ahead this time and took the kid's tablets to play on whilst we (I mean I) were shopping. First up I wanted to go to Michael Kors, I was after a tan bag and a small black bag that I could use for going out. I managed to get the tan one relatively quickly but I struggled to find a black one I like. The sales assistant was lovely and very chatty, she went out the back to bring other bags out for me to look at ... I decided on the first one we looked at :d:

For some reason I don't have a picture of the black bag! I'll try and get one later. I got a tan purse, bag and handbag.

Total cost - $275.08

I can't seem to find my receipt from here but I think the RRP was around $800-$900. I was very pleased with this bargain.

I had a look in Dooney and Bourke but nothing appealed to me. We then headed to Kate Spade where Mr Grump got his mum a purse for Christmas. It was supposed to be $129 but he got it for just over $30 complete bargain!

I got myself a few handbags in here too :pgig: Now the owl bag was on a table that said 70% off plus an extra 20%. Now at the front of the store there was a similar bag but in grey (I assume this was the newer version) When I got to the till only 50% came off making it $165 ... I wasn't paying that :pgig: So I pointed out to the cashier where the bag was and that it should be 70% plus an extra 20%. She spoke to her manager and adjusted the price, bringing it from $329.99 to $78.96 :thumbs-up With all the kerfuffle of the wrong priced bag I forgot to use my Simons savings booklet for an extra 10% off :mad2: I got a 2 bags and a purse all had 70% off then an extra 20%.

Total - $224.16 (could have been $189.48 if I'd used the 10% off!)
RRP - $880

Mr Grump had decided to phone his mum to ask which purse she'd prefer so whilst he and Caitlin went back into Kate Spade I sat with the boys near the fountain. 15 minutes later and he emerged! And he goes on about me shopping I didn't take that long in there myself for 3 bags :pgig:

Next up we headed round to Bath and Body Works. This was another place I was really looking forward to. I had already placed an order in the sales in summer and got it delivered to Fairytale Shopper who would bring it when she brought Caitlin's birthday cake and present the following Tuesday.

I bought a car freshener holder plus 4 fragrances, 5 hand sanitisers, 4 hand cream and 3 hand gel holders. I could have spent much longer looking properly in here but it was getting busier by the minute and I hate crowds so we paid up and left.

Total - $46.33

Next we headed to the Disney Outlet, now this was heaving. I stayed more towards the front of the store as there was no way I could get round there with the pushchair! I picked us up some Christmas tree decorations and also a Little Mermaid bubble wand for Noah which was a bargain price of $5.99 ... considering the buzz one he wanted was $27.99! He was over the moon with it. I'm not sure how much Chris spent in here and I didn't take pictures either. By now the pushchair was starting to buckle :pgig: so Caitlin and I took the bags back to the car and met back up with Chris and the boys.

We had a little wander around a few other shops. Caitlin wanted to spend the rest of her money and I still wanted to grab a few things for her birthday. She was desperate for some denim dungarees because 'everyone at drama has them' :d: We managed to find her some in Charlotte Russe and they had a buy one pair get another pair for $10 so we got her 2 pairs for her birthday and she used her money for a top and some body mist. I also got myself 2 pairs of jeans.

We had a little look in Justice but I didn't seem to see any decent offers in here, we were all pretty spent up by now so decided to skip it and head for lunch.

This was a meal I'd be looking forward to all holiday and for me it didn't disappoint (the food at least!)

Steak 'n' Shake

We arrived at SnS for 1.35pm. It wasn't overly busy inside but it took about 5 minutes to be seated. Our server seemed very ... scatty? I'm not sure that's the right word ... anyway she was all over the place. We were seated and given menus. The server returned in a minute or so ready to take our order, I said we weren't ready and off she went again.

I had a voucher for a free birthday cake shake so knew I was getting that.

Me:

Garlic Double Steak Burger and Fries - $3.99

I also had a Dr Pepper and birthday cake shake.

Chris:

Double Bacon and Cheese Burger and Fries - $3.99

He also had a birthday cake shake.

Thomas:

Chicken Fingers and Fries - $3.99

Thomas had a diet coke.

Noah:

Grilled Cheese and Fries - $3.99

Noah had an M&M milkshake.

With Caitlin not liking potato she opted for beans instead of fries.

Caitlin:

Caitlin had a birthday cake shake. As you can see her food came with fries and no beans. It took almost 10 minutes to get the beans. Our server just kept disappearing.

This was the best burger I had all holiday, it's all I ever spoke about :pgig: even now no burger can measure up, the combination of the garlic butter and salt with the burger and cheese was just immense! Chris enjoyed his too. Thomas complained he didn't like the fries and Noah didn't eat much of his grilled cheese :erm: Fussy kids man!

We were almost finished our meals and still didn't have our shakes, we asked for them again and were told they were being made. 5 minutes later we still didn't have them. Everyone was finished and time was getting on. It was 20 minutes since we'd been given our meals and 35 minutes since we'd ordered!

I was getting quite annoyed by now so I went and approached another member of staff and asked for the drinks to go. Chris took the kid's to the car and I went to pay.

When I'd ordered I'd mentioned the birthday shake and she said she'd sort it when we paid the bill. Our server was behind the counter so I approached her to pay the bill. The bill was $27 for everything which I thought was really good value.

I asked the server to take the voucher off, she tried scanning my phone but it wouldn't work, at the same time she was on the phone trying to give someone directions on how to get to the restaurant, even though she didn't know herself and her manager couldn't help either! It was so chaotic. She reprinted the bill and still hadn't taken the shake off! As it was only $2.99 I just left and paid the full amount of the bill. I paid with $40 and I was given $10 change.

Now I know it custom to tip in table service restaurants, however, I had decided that I wouldn't be tipping for several reasons;

1. The service had been appalling, we could never find the server, she was very scatty.
2. The shakes didn't arrive for almost 35 minutes and even then we had to prompt 3 or 4 times.
3. The free birthday shake STILL hadn't been taken off.

Had the service been better I probably would have left $5-$7 tip, but obviously we weren't happy. I questioned the server and she gave me the rest of the change.

I would go back again, although I'd hope the service would be much better as we really enjoyed the food here.

Total cost $27

We drove back to the resort and the kid's were in the pool near our room by 3pm. I had instructed them they only had about half an hour as we needed to be at Mickey's Backyard BBQ for 5.30pm. I had a shower whilst they were out and tided round a bit. Everyone was back by 4pm and we drove to Fort Wilderness. We arrived around 5pm and parked up. I started to panic as I didn't realise we had to get a bus to get to the BBQ! The queue was rather big but we managed to get on the first bus. We managed to get the right bus and off at the right stop :thumbs-up

Caitlin decided she needed the toilet so she went whilst I figured out where we needed to go.

I had debated cancelling this. Firstly I doubted the kid's would join in (I was right!), there wasn't much on the menu we'd eat and I just felt it was a waste of 2 TS credits. However, we found out that this was the last year we'd get chance to do it as it closes at the end of this month so decided to keep it.

This is a dinner show where the characters come out and dance with the kid's, other entertainment and meet and greets. Food is a buffet which is help yourself and drinks are the same. They also include ice creams and ice lolly's.

We were late again :pgig: checking my picture time stamps it was only by about 5 minutes.

The buffet consists of:

Chicken, ribs, hotdogs, jambalaya, honey-mustard baked chicken, veggies, salads, corn on the cob, cornbread, baked beans, watermelon, marble cake, warm fruit cobbler, strawberry shortcake (when in season), beer, wine, sangria, lemonade, and iced tea.

I only managed to get a photo of my food, however, the kid's barely ate anything.

The show was very loud and busy. If you have kid's that join in it's fab, ours point blank refused although Caitlin did manage to get Noah up for 5 minutes. For us this wasn't worth 2 dining credits at all, although I think if you got there on time, enjoyed the food and got involved it probably would be worth it.

We had already met Mickey and Minnie so we decided to queue for Chip N Dale (and Goofy) whilst in the queue we got talking to another lovely couple who were staying at one of the value resorts. None of us seemed to know exactly when the BBQ ended. Just before we got to the front of the queue they closed it for the characters to go join in the show. As the kid's weren't that interested in the show anyway we decided to stay there and wait anyway. It was nice for Noah to have a run around and get some of his energy out, after all he had been cooped up in the pushchair most of the day!

I went and got us some ice creams and ice lolly's and we had those whilst watching the show from afar.

About 20 minutes later the characters came out. As they were coming out a toddler of no more than 2 ran out in front of Chip or Dale (still can't remember which is which :pgig: ) and the child went flat out as they ran into each other. The parents weren't happy at all, they didn't kick up a fuss but we could hear them complaining behind us. Now I understand you can't watch kid's ALL the time, however, knowing the characters are on their way and can't see properly with the huge heads they have on I'd have made sure my child was stood with me! I felt so sorry for the person in the costume, they must have felt awful but it wasn't their fault.

Anyway I digress, this was a fun meet and the kid's really enjoyed this and we got lots of photos.

By now it was 6.40pm, we'd discovered the BBQ finished at 7pm (very short for a 2 credit experience I thought!) so we decided to head off anyway. We had FP's at Magic Kingdom for 7DMT at 7.25pm. I heard someone mention bout getting the boat from FW to MK but that it would take 1 1/2 hours ... I'm not sure how correct that was so we just decided to get the bus back to the car and drive to MK.

We arrived at MK at 7.45pm, on the drive there we realised that Noah had left his Magic Band in the room after his shower so I told Chris to take the other 2 through and go on 7DMT as Noah and I might miss it. Chris managed to take some photos on his leisurely walk to 7DMT :erm:

The queue to get a replacement card it was really busy! We managed to get through by 8.10pm and tried to hot foot it to 7DMT. Main street was absolutely heaving ... I'd completely forgot that they'd be getting spaces for HEA! We managed to battle our way up the side walk of mainstreet and got to 7DMT by 8.20pm a little hot and sweaty (me at least!) but we made it. I'd text Chris to let him know we had got there and we were in the queue and we'd meet them at the buggy park.

Once we got off we met back up with the others and headed to Space Mountain for our FP at 8.25pm. Thomas and I went on first. Thomas loved it, I remember going this with my dad when we came and I loved it. I think it's a fab ride, although I did feel that sometimes you could see the track which kind of ruins it a little. We came off and HEA had already started, Caitlin, Chris and Noah were watching them so Chris and I swapped over. Chris had used 2 snack credits to get some popcorn and a bottle of sprite.

When HEA had finished Caitlin, Noah and I headed to the restrooms then decided it heard out of the park. We did have a FP for BTM at 9.25pm, however, we were all tired and just wanted to get back. I messaged Chris and told him to head to the exit and we'd meet him there. The crowds were mad, we used the sidewalk at the back of mainstreet and managed to get some photos of the tree. We headed out of the park and sat on a bench waiting for Chris and Thomas to meet us. They eventually arrived and we used the boat to get back to the car, Chris wasn't keen as the queue was quite big but I told him we wouldn't have chance again as we didn't have the car from tomorrow.

We managed to catch a little of the electrical pageant and seen the castle all lit up which was lovely. We got the tram back to the car which was parked in Ursula (can't remember which).

We arrived back to POR by 10.30pm and Noah was fast asleep in the car like this :pgig:

STEPS: 15,237
Snacks: 2 USED – 116 LEFT
QS Credits: 0 USED- 34 LEFT
TS Credits: 15 USED - 35 LEFT