Day 6 was Saturday and our first day with no FP+ or ADRs. I was desperate for DD1 to go swimming but was still struggling with my sinus infection and didn’t think that chlorinated water was the best place for DD2’s skin. We decided that DH would take her down and I would get DD2 to nap then try to watch from the balcony. We had a great view of the pool from our balcony so I got to practice my paparazzi shots of DH.
She was so excited to go swimming and we got some really sweet songs about her swimming costume “I got the... elephant!”.
We went for a stroll round Disney Springs afterwards but didn’t stay for long because it was mobbed. I did see some Duplo that I liked though and made a mental note to check the Sterling price when we got back.
Dinner at Gasparilla’s again. I was really starting to miss Landscape of Flavors from our trip to AoA in June.
Day 7 my fever finally broke and I suddenly felt alive again! We hastily made a lunch reservation at Hollywood and Vine, and some FP+ for the day. I had avoided lunch here because it was Halloween themed rather than Disney Jr. That was a mistake! The character interactions were great and the buffet was actually pretty good. The chef walked me through the buffet but there wasn’t much allergy friendly stuff that I liked, so he did me a big bowl of pasta. Littlest one had more veggies which was fine with her. Once again though we were charged a child for the 2 year old despite being very clear “2 infants, 2 highchairs” when we checked in. It was sorted easily enough but still frustrating.
The characters loved DD2 and again spent ages playing with her. At one point one of the handlers came up to play too because she had heard that she was friendly
. DD1 enjoyed it and this is actually the only meal I’ve booked so far for our next trip in April.
We managed to do Frozen and Voyage of the Little Mermaid with the girls. I thought she’d enjoy it more but DD1 was fairly quiet throughout both. She did really enjoy the bubble “snow” at the end of Frozen though. We also picked up an elusive RnR FP+ so did that with rider swap. So nice to finally do a grownup ride!
This was the day that I finally caved and bought a bubble wand. Oh my those things are annoying. She LOVED it. It had bubbles, noise, lights and a switch. What more does a 2 year old need?! I spent the entire rest of the holiday saying “out of the buggy please. Don’t point that at your sister. No, please don’t point it at the hood either!”.
It was getting rather chilly and I wanted to celebrate no longer feeling unnaturally warm by warming myself up with a hot chocolate. The access to Starbucks isn’t great with the buggy so I went in on my own. It was really busy but they only had one side open, so I had a bit of a wait. I ordered my coconut milk hot chocolate, no cream, then stood watching them make up drinks. I know from previous conversations that Starbucks syrups are dairy free but their drizzles aren’t. So I watched them rush through all of the drinks, topping them all with cream and drizzle. Mine will be fine though because I said no cream and who orders coconut milk if they can have dairy? I realised just as they were adding the drizzle that it was mine. Great. Re-do it please. I stood at the end of the counter watching again. One of the staff members decided to empty out a jug labelled “milk” from shoulder height just as mine was sitting waiting for the lid to go on, right in front of the sink. Thanks. That’ll be cows milk in my dairy free hot chocolate. My baby is allergic to cows milk so I can’t have it splashed in my drink.
They did it a third time and refunded me but I was really upset. It took ages too and my DH was stuck pushing the girls round shops waiting for me to come out. I was surprised because I thought they would be really hot on allergies and cross contaminated.
Back to the hotel for yet another dinner at Gasparilla’s. The staff there are great but the menu is very limited and the kids choices are terrible. I don’t understand why they have a totally hidden vegan menu too with two different types of burger! I couldn’t have either though because everything vegan contains soya
.