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Old 15 Dec 19, 09:16 PM  
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Fuellady
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/… Continued

Friday 8th November 2019 - Celebration (dining for today is HERE)

We started our day at Celebration, having breakfast at the Market Street Cafe. This was our first visit to the cafe since it’s re-vamp a couple of years ago and we were pleasantly surprised. We love Celebration, and spent a relaxing half hour after breakfast sitting in the rocking chairs by the lake.






We then had a really lovely morning strolling around the lakes, passing the gorgeous, fancy houses and picking the one we’ll buy when we win the lottery.. We saw a couple of little alligators sunbathing, but thankfully they didn’t seem interested in us!








It was one of those days when we just felt happy and grateful to be there, in a place that makes us so happy. It’s always a real high for us visiting Celebration, and today was no different.

The rest of the day was spent quietly, with a quick lunch at Taco Bell (which was definitely a low) and some time around the pool in the afternoon. We finished the day with dinner at Outback Steakhouse, which was the stand-out meal of the holiday for both of us.

Saturday 9th November 2019 - Shopping (dining for today is HERE)

This was a shopping day, and unfortunately I have no pictures of our haul - but I can guarantee purchases were made by both of us. We were back at the I-Drive outlets to finish of the shops that we didn’t get to last time and we ate breakfast at Denny’s on our way there. After our shopping, we had an afternoon snack at Perkins and a take-away dinner from the local Chinese restaurant, Bamboo Wok.

Sunday 10th November 2019 - Pool day (dining for today is HERE)

We were planning to spend the whole day relaxing by the villa pool today but decided to head out for breakfast at IHOP first. We then did as planned, and chilled out with a bit of swimming and spa time, as well as lounging around the pool. We loved watching all of the wildlife around the conservation area again. We had fun watching the turtles coming in and out of the water… some walked away up the grass after coming out, and others plopped back into the water. There were ducks swimming around as well, and we thought they were very brave after we had seen the alligator there the other day.





We ended our relaxing day by going out for dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse.

Monday 11th November 2019 - Rocket Launch (dining for today is HERE)

This whole day was a real holiday high! Last night while watching TV, Neil had an email about a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral that was happening at 10am today. Seeing a rocket launch has been a real bucket list item for him, so of course we planned to go. We did a quick bit of research, and because there would be no point trying to get near Canaveral, we decided to heat to Titusville to watch the launch from a distance.

We fuelled up the car first, grabbing breakfast from Wawa as we had done on our Clearwater Beach day. Except this time we had a little disaster, when Neil’s coffee spilled all over him and the car. I think I hadn’t put the lid properly on the cup. We mopped up with napkins as best we could, then headed off… no time to go home to change unfortunately. The day was not going well so far at all, as we ended up taking a very long, convoluted route to Titusville, because on another day we had set the SatNav settings to no toll roads, and no interstates and had forgotten to change them back. Once we realised that we couldn’t possibly be on the most direct road there, we changed the settings and started to make some progtess, arriving in Titusville just after 9.30am. We were very lucky to get a space along a grass verge directly opposite Cape Canaveral where lots of cars were parked up to watch the launch. While I popped across the road to the petrol filling station shop for some food and a restroom break, Neil got chatting to a man from Cincinnati who was in the car parked next to us - all the while trying to hide the coffee stain on his t-shirt with his arms.




When the rocket was launched, right on time at 10am, we first saw the fire and smoke from the bottom of the rocket and then the roar of the engines. We were able to watch it until it disappeared out of sight. It was a beautiful, clear day with blue skies so even though we were about 20 miles away, we could see it clearly. I feel like this short description doesn’t nearly do justice to the actual experience, but in reality it was over in minutes. It was actually quite emotional, and exciting too, just knowing that we were watching something quite rare. I was so happy for Neil, who was absolutely delighted to have seen the launch and was just buzzing all day!







As the cars started heading off, we too set off back towards Orlando taking a much more direct route this time. We stopped by the International Drive outlets to pick up a couple of things I had seen when we were here a couple of days ago but had been undecided on. This was a good day for me to ask to go back to get them, as Neil was so chuffed with himself after the launch! We weren’t long at the outlets, then went to Teak Neighborhood Grill for lunch as it isn’t far from here for another outstanding meal. What a nice area Teak is in, quite residential and very well kept. Much later on, dinner was had at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen followed by donuts from Krispy Kreme. All day we were chatting about our launch experience - what a great day.

Tuesday 12th November 2019 - Disney Springs and Pool Time (dining for today is HERE)

Nearing the end of our time here now, I wanted to pop along to Disney Springs this morning to get a new charm for my Pandora bracelet. Again, this was just a lovely relaxing morning, wandering along in the sunshine with no pressure to do anything or be anywhere. On visiting the Pandora shop, I asked to see the Disney Parks exclusives, and chose the Epcot/Spaceship Earth charm. It has a tiny monorail train on it as well, such beautiful detail.


Sorry, not a great photo... you can't see the detail very clearly

After stopping by Sweet Tomatoes for lunch on our way home, the rest of the day was spent by the pool again, where we stayed out until sunset. There was a gorgeous sunset out over the conservation area this evening.






Dinner was at Texas Roadhouse tonight, another new place for us and one of our best meals this trip.

Wednesday 13th November 2019 - More resort hopping (Grand Floridian & Polynesian) (dining for today is HERE)

We weren’t sure what to do on our last full day today, and it was a lot cooler, so pool time wasn’t an option. I had seen on a post on the Dibb that the gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian was finished and I really wanted to see it. I suggested it to Neil and he was happy to go along, so again we parked up at Disney Springs after breakfast at Perkins, and got a bus to the Grand Floridian. We had no problems finding the bus stop this time! We did have a bit of trouble finding the correct entrance to the hotel when we got off of the bus though… why are the main entrances not signposted from the bus stops?

We eventually found the main reception area and the gingerbread house. There are so many beautiful details to enjoy - it really is stunning - and we spent a bit of time admiring it. It’s such a lovely hotel and we didn’t rush off but looked around to where Victoria & Alberts and Citrico’s restaurants are and around by the shops We saw some characters come out for a meet as well. I’ve long wanted to visit the Grand Floridian, so this morning was a definite high for me… I was so happy to be here.













After a while, we decided to get the monorail to the Polynesian for a look around there. It was so good to get a glimpse of the Magic Kingdom from the monorail but strangely, neither of us was regretting not having park tickets at all.







We travelled through the Contemporary then got off at the Polynesian. I have to say, this resort wasn’t to our taste at all. We’re not keen on the darker decor and much preferred the Grand Floridian and Coronado Springs.






We headed out to the bus stop to catch a bus back to Disney Springs, but we ended up having a really long wait of almost an hour. As I said earlier, it wasn’t the warmest of days and there were quite a few people complaining at the bus stop about the long wait. The time on the screen kept changing and buses for the parks came past several times before the Disney Springs one. If we were ever to stay on site, I think that relying on Disney transport would be the thing that would frustrate us the most.

We spent the afternoon packing our suitcases and getting the last of the washing done before heading out to Miller’s Ale House for dinner.

Thursday 14th November 2019 - Travelling Home (dining for today is HERE)

Really not much to say about today and as always, travelling home is a real low. Not only because it’s time to go home but again because of the incredibly long journey that we have. We were ready to leave the villa by 10am, and gave the hire car a wipe over before heading off as I had recently read of someone being charged an excessive cleaning fee by Avis.





We ate breakfast at Bob Evans on our way to the airport, which wasn’t one of our best breakfasts. Security was fairly quick for Orlando, although they weren’t using the dogs this time so it was everything out of bags to go through the scanner.

Our first flight was Orlando to Chicago. There was snow on the ground in Chicago but we landed safely. This was a strange transfer as after a very long walk through the terminal, we had to transfer by bus to another terminal. Not strange in itself, however when we got off of the bus at the other terminal we were taken in what looked like a back door, through a warehouse like building with metal tables along the walls and doorways covered with plastic hanging strips (think meat packing factory or similar!), up a long metal, rickety ramp which twisted and turned and had some steps as well (not fun with our carry on cases and bags) and finally into the terminal.




We didn’t have much time after all that and were straight onto our next plane, the overnight from Chicago to London Heathrow. The flight was fine although we were in a row of 3 so a little less roomy than on the way out. After a couple of hours in the lounge at Heathrow upon landing, we boarded our final flight to Aberdeen finally arriving back home around 6pm on the Friday.

And just like that, our trip was over. It was a great holiday, one of our best and we really enjoyed the relaxed pace and new things that we tried. There weren’t any real lows except the travel days and lunch at Taco Bell, and although we were a little irritated at the very long wait for a bus to Disney Springs from the Polynesian we wouldn’t count it as a low.

The moments making the top of the “high” list would definitely be the rocket launch, shooting range, Clearwater Beach and Celebration. All really lovely days out that we will remember for a long time. Also, the conservation area by the villa was a constant source of enjoyment for us. We haven’t stayed in a villa near a conservation area before, but we definitely would again… it was fab watching all of the wildlife and the beautiful sunsets.

Thank you very much for reading

Edited at 10:01 PM.
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