Day 1
We were up ridiculously early but that’s ok because it’s Black Friday and the shops are already open!
We’ve flown to Florida on Thanksgiving once before so had a rough plan of what we wanted to do. We do have a complimentary breakfast in our hotel rate but that didn’t start until 7, so we skipped breakfast in favour of being in the Florida mall by that time!
It was great and after 2.5 hours I got everything I’d had on my list at good discounts...oh and DH had a couple of things too! By then we were also a bit peckish so we stopped off at the food court. We’d considered Shake Shack as we love it, but I also love food court Asian dishes so...
We shared a two entree combo - bourbon chicken and orange chicken, with rice - and a large Diet Coke. This was just under $13 and was quickly demolished.
We went back to the hotel to drop off stuff and take a nap before heading out again. We knew by this time that both premium outlets would be packed, so instead we headed for the factory outlet at Lake Buena Vista (mostly for Old Navy and GAP). It was also busy but we luckily got a space quickly and shopped, then headed on to both Walmart and Target to get some Barbie stuff requested for my niece. We also picked up some in room snacks as well as bottled water.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Pointe branch of one of our faves - Outback! And I ordered one of my faves:
Holiday margaritas are the best, especially when it’s happy hour and only $5!
The bread turned up - I normally love bread but I’m not a huge fan of this kind, so I only had a small piece. We didn’t finish this because knowing what was to come, we didn’t want to fill up on bread.
We also ordered a blooming petals to share first.
Sometimes it can be greasy but this one wasn’t at all and we loved the spicy coating. It is best eaten hot though - we didn’t finish it as it wasn’t as nice as it cooled (still ate most of it LOL).
Mains next - I’d ordered the Victoria filet with loaded mash and grilled asparagus but they were out of mash so I changed to a baked potato. When the dish arrived:
Bonus fries! I was confused but the waiter assured me my baked potato was coming on the side, and it duly appeared:
The steak was cooked medium-rare as I’d requested and I ate all of it and the asparagus, plus most of the baked potato and a couple of bonus fries.
DH ordered the sirloin with coconut shrimp and seasonal veg:
He enjoyed all of this and especially the shrimp - he let me try one and they were indeed coconutty!
We were too full for dessert so asked for the check. The above came to just over $58 (from memory) and we left $70 to include a tip. We love Outback and had another great meal but it can be relatively expensive when compared to other chains.
We had a short walk to stretch our legs then back to the hotel where both the Pringles and M&Ms were later opened!
