*Live* "Don't fall off your chair" Day 13 - Denny's, Disney Springs & Olive Garden - Wed 13th Nov

[Fuellady]

Index

Day 13 - Denny's, Disney Springs & Olive Garden

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Despite our late night, we were up before 8am today. It was my choice for breakfast and I chose Denny's. We were on our way just after 9, heading south on the US27 again towards Posner Park. The Denny's isn't as far down the road as the Bob Evans and Perkins are so we were there in no time.

We ordered soon after receiving a coffee each. Look how thick the mugs are, I reckon their non-breakage record is 100% intact! Neil declared this his best coffee so far, and ordered the All American Slam breakfast which came with sausage, bacon, scrambled egg, hash brown and toast. I had the Double Berry Pancake Breakfast which consisted of a cooked breakfast - eggs, sausages and hash brown - and 2 blueberry pancakes topped with bananas, strawberries and cream. I finished the lot, Neil left a bit of his, but it was all very good. Total $24.89.

We hadn't made a plan what to do next, so we discussed it in the car before driving off. I decided we should go back to the Walmart at the east end of the 192 to have another look at the Christmas decorations. Neil had misheard me and missed the turn so we ended up at the one at Cagan Crossings instead. It was fine, we went in for a wander anyway, and they had a lot more decorations available compared to last week. We didn't buy anything there and drove along to the one I had originally suggested for a look.

The Christmas decorations here were mainly the same as the Cagan Crossings Walmart, but they did have a few more things. We bought some bells to add to the front door garland we already have, to brighten it up a bit, and a small silver tree skirt for the skinny tree we put up in our sunroom. Also a couple of little Disney toys for our grandchildren . When we came out of the store, this car was parked next to us - how on earth do people here get away with driving with cars held together with tape?! The other side was the same!

As we were waiting for the lights to change at the junction after leaving the car park we noticed a couple of strange things. The first was a long Walmart truck which clearly wanted to turn down the road we were on towards the store, but instead he was crossing the junction really slowly, weaving about and eventually went straight along the road instead of turning in. The second thing we noticed was a woman standing at the side of the road filming the traffic. When the lights changed and it was our turn to go we saw that there was a man lying right in the middle of the road. This man did not look like a homeless person, he was clean and well dressed with one of his legs strapped up as if he had hurt it. He was awake, and had his head resting on a book as a pillow. It didn't seem as if he had fallen, rather that he had chosen to lie there. He wasn't there when we went into the store only about 20 minutes previously. It was very strange and hopefully some of the people watching had called the police. We had already seen a homeless couple fighting with another couple who had been walking along by the junction of the Cagan Crossings Walmart when we were leaving there earlier. What's wrong with people today?

Disney Springs was next on our agenda, so that we could do the Christmas Tree Trail. We were soon driving under this sign .

Does anyone know why the Hollywood Studios sign is missing? Is there a new entrance now?

The Lime car park was busy, but not as busy as it had been when we were here on Saturday and we got parked with no problems. The green light system they have there doesn't seem to be working at the moment, perhaps because of the roadworks just outside. I love coming down the escalator into Disney Springs!

We went straight to the Christmas Tree Trail which was really lovely. There were loads of trees, all beautifully decorated and a Santa Grotto in the middle. It was hot walking around today, 90 degrees. I was tempted to post photos of all of the trees, but you'd be scrolling forever! Here are just a few...

We didn't need to do any shopping here today but we were thirsty and a little bit hungry. We asked for a hot dog at the Marketplace Snacks hut but were told they didn't have any ready just now, to come back in 10 minutes. We got a cup of iced water there anyway and headed over to Earl of Sandwich for lunch instead. We ordered The Original 1762 without horseradish to share, and upgraded to a combo with drink and crisps. Total $12.23. Honestly, I didn't enjoy it. The roast beef was tough and gristly and it just didn't have much taste, which was a shame as we really enjoyed it here last time we came. We've had better sandwiches!

We were finished at Disney Springs now, so it was back home for a couple of hours by the pool. Eilidh FaceTimed while we were sitting out, so we chatted with her for a while. I paddled in the shallow water of the step for a few minutes and wrote up yesterday's report. Neil was watching Sky News on his iPad. We had a little visitor on the netting around the pool. He had been playing in the trees for a while, then jumped onto our fence. We sat out until it was completely dark, and we realised we didn't have lights on in the house either. We managed to find our way in, and got ready to go out for dinner in a while. It was Neil's choice and he chose Olive Garden.

We left the villa about 6.45pm, and as we were driving along towards Rolling Oaks Neil said that he didn't remember seeing the Olive Garden there this trip. This made me think about it, and I realised that I couldn't confirm that I'd seen it either, even though we had travelled this road many times over the last few days! We remembered that there is a new restaurant there, with a guitar on the outside, but couldn't remember the name of it and wondered if it had taken Olive Gardens spot. Of course, when we arrived, Olive Garden was there where it's always been. Phew! We went in, and were given a pager for a 15 minute wait.

We ordered drinks first, Coke for Neil and strawberry-passion fruit lemonade for me. This was delicious. To eat, we both ate only one of the lovely bread sticks which had been brought to our table as we still didn't fully have our appetites back. Our server was very chatty, asking where we were from, how long we had been here for, what was the temperature in Scotland, and were we celebrating anything special? We ordered minestrone soup, and then Fettuccine Alfredo for Neil and the Tour of Italy for me. Neil enjoyed his, and was pleased to have finally managed to finish a meal. I didn't fare quite as well. My plate was made up of a small portion each of Fettuccine Alfredo, Chicken Parmigiana and Lasagne. I polished off the first two, but I just didn't like the lasagne. I remembered after I had started that I hadn't enjoyed the lasagne here last time either. Meanwhile, Neil was saying how much he had enjoyed the lasagne here when he had had it, and that he thought it was better than his (he does make a lovely lasagne), and that I should say so if I thought so too. However, in my humble opinion, it's not a patch on Neil's lasagne. Everything else was nice though. Total $41.04 plus tip. We were home just after 8pm, where we had a cider each, and Neil had some grapes and plums we had in the fridge. Star Trek was on the TV, I can't believe that on a TV with only about 5 channels available Neil still manages to find Star Trek!

[mick]

A good mix of shopping relaxing and eating

Joan

[WileyCoyote]

I could eat those pancakes right now !
Love all those trees around DS. Weird goings on around Walmart alert ... how very odd !
Shame the sandwich was meh but sounds like a nice afternoon and evening. Years since we’ve been to Olive Garden ... must go back !

[barryp1]

The reason you didn't like the lasagne probably is because the ingredients were completely wrong.

Firstly the meat sauce is factory made and none of the restaurant staff will be able to tell you what is in it. I doubt it includes beef , pork and pancetta.

Then they use a soft ricotta cheese rather than a hard cheese like parmesan. Obviously cost before quality.


It never ceases to amaze me how many people like this dreadful restaurant.

[margyloveswdw]

Another relaxing day! I still haven't managed to see the Christmas Tree trail!

Thanks for sharing your trip and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[JanetteP]

Great day again - you're doing great with the live trip report - I couldn't do it even when just the 2 of us go! Not sure I could manage with just 5 channels - don't think I've ever been in a villa with only 5 channels.

[DisneyDaffodil]

How quickly those trees go up at DS! They look beautiful, I am getting tempted for a Xmas trip 😀. You seemed to have had a lovely day, great mix of shopping, eating and relaxing. Our days always seem so hectic, maybe it’s because we have a teenager with us 😀

[Goldia]

On the trees at Disney Springs look lovely, I'm glad you made it back there. Breakfast at Denny's looks fab, I really fancy a fry up now!

That's a bit weird at Wal-Mart, I wonder what was going on?

[i love jack]

Glad Olive Garden was still there!
Another good day

[collybird]

RIP old Hollywood Studios entrance.

I'd love to do the Christmas tree trail, next year we are going in October, I want to do Flower and Garden in 2020, so that leaves 2021 for Christmas haha.

The last time we went to Olive Garden we had the fried lasagna to start, then I had the trio and regretted it, marinara overload!