The BIG Florida Return - 24th August 2017 Day 9

[smithlane]

Day 9

No alarms were set for today. I woke up naturally at 9, bliss!
Jim and Bill were golfing at Championsgate and left about 7, I didn’t even hear him leave

The Leans had also got up early and gone to Volcano Bay for the day with their friends.

I pottered around for an hour then got dressed. The kids were flitting between going in the pool and being plugged into their various electrical devices quite happy doing their own thing.

Mum and Dad were going out for lunch with a very old friend who mum went to boarding school with in the 60's. They hadn't seen each other for over 40 years!
Judy and Kyle came to the villa at 11 to pick them up. It was a bit of an emotional reunion, lots of hugs and a few tears all round.
They came in and had a drink and a chat at the villa first.
They have lived in Florida for over 30 years, it was really interesting talking with them about their lives here.
Jim and Bill arrived back from golf at 11.30 which was earlier than I thought, apparently it was a very fast round. It was good timing as they could meet Judy and Kyle before they headed out to Outback Steakhouse at Formosa Boulevard for lunch.

Once they left Jim quickly got changed then we headed out to do some shopping. Sam wanted to chill out at the villa so stayed with Bill and Sylvia which was no problem. Sam would pretty much rather do anything else than shop, seriously he is not related to me

We took both cars as today we needed to do the swap with Avis at the Embassy Suites on I-Drive. If you didn't read my pre trippy, it was a lot cheaper to do two separate bookings with Avis because of their 7 days for price of 5 offer. It just meant you had to take it back mid way through your stay. I had called Avis that morning and asked if I could keep the Suburban as it was an upgraded car and knew I would be given a Tahoe (or similar) next. The agent said that it was no problem at all. I also asked if we could request a Chevy Camero for Jim as he fancied a change from the Mustang.

Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores was first up as Jim wanted to change a couple of tops from Nike that he had bought when we came the other day. I left him and Hope looking at various sporting goods while I popped into Dress Barn. Saw a lovely black Calvin Klein dress but they only had one left in a 16, gutted!
Calvin Klein next where I saw some more lovely dresses but for some reason I decided to wait a while before buying. I must be coming down with something . Hope did buy a lovely t-shirt for $16.99 though.

With her receipt we got given a $5 off voucher at Tommy Hilfiger so hey it would be rude not to use it!

I ended up buying this tennis dress

I’ve not ever worn something like this before but my god it’s a revelation. So so comfortable!
$35.67

We were done with LBV now so headed onto the Premium Outlets Vineland Avenue.
We started with the food court as by now we were starving. Subways all round with crisps and cookies. It definitely filled a hole.

I had a voucher to get the Destination Passport so I quickly exchanged that at Guest Services. We decided to split up as Jim and Hope wanted to go to various sports shops which as we all know I have zero interest in and I was on a mission to buy myself a handbag which Jim has zero interest in.

My first stop was the Disney Character Warehouse. I struck lucky in here as I was planning to get these tree decorations for a friend who has an obsession with animal print anyway. These were reduced to $9.99 from $29.99. Also picked up these Christmas cards. $6.99 instead of $19.99

Next, Kate Spade. The Mecca of handbags!
I was in here forever trying to find the perfect bag, I even had the assistants trying to help me . There was only one answer, I had to buy two

Just look at these beauties!
$156.42 for the beige
$137.39 for the blue

These were 60% off with a further 20% off.
From here I had a slow meander around the rest of the outlets. Had a look in Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Cosmetics Company, Nine West and Calvin Klein. I restrained myself and didn't buy myself anything else, I’d spent enough already!

I called Jim and met them outside Puma. He was after some more golf trainers but couldn't find any anywhere.
Our last stop was Nike.
He still couldn’t find any golf trainers but instead found some normal trainers that he wanted and Hope bought herself some Nike Pro shorts, a t-shirt and a slouchy vest. She was now happy that she had finally found something to buy.

It was now nearly 4pm so we needed to make our way to the Embassy Suites on I-Drive.
It took about 15 minutes and was very easy to find.
As I was keeping my car it was dead easy and quick to do. I just needed to tell them the current mileage and to show my credit card and licence again.
Unfortunately for Jim they only had Mustangs in so he decided he would just stick with the one he already had. Again it very easy like mine was.

Straight back to the villa now, we were home for 5.20.
Had an hour or so to get ready before we were leaving for Disney Springs for our ADR at Raglan Road.
We left at 6.30 and were parked in the Lime Garage by 6.45.

The Town Centre is all new to us since we were last here in 2015. I was very impressed with what they've done. It’s very pretty.

Checked into Raglan Road and got given a buzzer to hold until our table was ready. Dad and Jim got a Guinness from the pop up bar outside the front entrance.
Luckily we only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were called through.

As soon as we walked in I realised I had made a bit of a boo boo in making this booking.
Now we loved it when we came here 2 years ago and it’s Bill and Sylvia’s favourite restaurant over here but I stupidly hadn’t taken into account my Dads very sensitive hearing to any loud noise.
We were put in a back room which luckily was a bit quieter than the main one but Dad still found it too noisy and was grumbling a bit.

We started with drinks, a Diet Coke for me, Jim and Hope and a pink lemonade for Sam.
There was a bit of a cock up with mums wine, she got given 2 glasses as I don't think he understood what dad said. This just added to the stress as he was blaming the loud music for the server not understanding! Bill suggested that he and Dad get a table outside before a full on melt down occurred. Bit annoying but hey ho

I knew what I was having to eat before I had even sat down. Same as last time, the shepherds pie. Jim had lamb shank, Hope the kids chicken breast and Sam kids battered fish and mash.
Mum had the same as me, Bill and Sylvia fish and chips and Dad had a salad.
Thankfully it was a short wait for food, when it did it was lovely as usual.

Half eaten but you get the idea

Jim very kindly paid for the whole meal, not cheap at $310 inc tip

Sam took a nosedive again and said he felt sick. I did get a little angry with him by now as we were beginning to think he was putting it on to suit him as he was always absolutely fine back at the villa in his room . A few stern words from me about not coming all this flipping way to Florida to sit in a bedroom was over my dead body
He seemed to be a bit better after that, thank god.

We took a slow wander round to World of Disney to walk off our dinner.

On our way we stopped to listen to this guy playing 'How Far I'll Go' from Moana on the violin. He was brilliant.

In WoD I stumbled across Dug from ‘Up’ and just had to buy him. He really reminds me of our golden lab Boris. We were really starting to miss him

Christmas shop next where I miraculously somehow came away empty handed
I wanted the 'Up' Christmas decoration which I couldn’t find and a 2017 one for my tree but decided to sleep on it as let’s face it they're not cheap.
I really wanted the Disney train that goes around the tree though but wasn’t sure how I would get it home!

The parents got a coffee from Earl of Sandwich so I went into Mickeys Pantry where I bought a pancake mould, a Mickey head trivet, a spoon rest and a spatula.
$45 altogether

It was now 9.30 and everyone was flagging so we headed straight back to the villa.
The Leans still weren't back from Volcano Bay when we got in. A long day for them!
They got back at about 10 and told us all about their day. I must admit the park does sound very good, maybe next time
We sat around talking until about 11 then it was off to bed for us all

[Jaspercat10]

Good shopping haul :-)

[Goldia]

I have serious handbag envy! You cannot imagine how many beige and navy blue handbags I already own, but I absolutely NEED more, ha ha! Ok back to normal now...The shopping trip haul looked fab

That was such a nice story about your mum meeting up with a friend from boarding school, how amazing to meet up after such a long time.

Hmm, I've booked up Raglan Road and I'm thinking when we get there and check in I will ask for a table near the stage as this is the main reason we're going there. I know the food does count too, but as we're partial to a cocktail or 2 then having to wait in the bar before getting allocated a table isn't really a problem for me !

Another fab day, apart from the poorly teenager who is fine at home plugged in to the tech in his bedroom, ha ha, I would have done the same as you.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Jaspercat10

Good shopping haul :-)

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It really was, thank you for reading

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I have serious handbag envy! You cannot imagine how many beige and navy blue handbags I already own, but I absolutely NEED more, ha ha! Ok back to normal now...The shopping trip haul looked fab

That was such a nice story about your mum meeting up with a friend from boarding school, how amazing to meet up after such a long time.

Hmm, I've booked up Raglan Road and I'm thinking when we get there and check in I will ask for a table near the stage as this is the main reason we're going there. I know the food does count too, but as we're partial to a cocktail or 2 then having to wait in the bar before getting allocated a table isn't really a problem for me !

Another fab day, apart from the poorly teenager who is fine at home plugged in to the tech in his bedroom, ha ha, I would have done the same as you.

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I seriously could have done far more damage to my CC in Kate Spade. I also had my eye on a grey, a black and a tan one but thought 5 bags was probably a bit much

Definitely ask for a table up front to see the dancers, we would have done exactly the same had it not been for Dad. It's such a great atmosphere in there and we found all the servers and dancers were really friendly.
Plus who doesn't love a reason to have another cocktail before dinner

Teenagers are a breed of their own at times, I blame the parents . Thankfully that seemed to be the last episode for a while, you just need to remind them who's boss

Thank you as ever for reading

[yellowrose78]

Great day! Love your handbags, need to visit Kate Spade when I'm there!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by yellowrose78

Great day! Love your handbags, need to visit Kate Spade when I'm there!

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Oh you definitely need to, just make sure you allow at least an hour in there
Thank you for reading

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Kissedafrog

Loved reading this, thank you for posting x

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Ah thank you for reading, day 10 will be up soon

[Helen & LittleD]

Loving your report, I can't wait for the next installements 😊
Sounds like such an amazing holiday and nice to be able to do it at a leisurely pace too
Love the things you bought from mickeys pantry I'm definitely paying that shop a visit in October 😊
Thanks for sharing

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Helen & LittleD

Loving your report, I can't wait for the next installements 😊
Sounds like such an amazing holiday and nice to be able to do it at a leisurely pace too
Love the things you bought from mickeys pantry I'm definitely paying that shop a visit in October 😊
Thanks for sharing

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Thank you so much. It was definitely the key for us to pace ourselves on this holiday. It worked as it didn't feel like we needed another holiday once we were home
You must visit Mickeys Pantry, its like a treasure trove of all Disney kitchen related items