Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 2 - Shopping and Cheesecake Factory

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 2

Index

Friday 31st August

Walmart - Premium Outlets - Mall at Millenia - Dinner at Cheesecake Factory

Waking up on the first morning of a holiday is always the best feeling, knowing that there is lots of fun ahead – in our case, 3 and a half weeks of fun!

I managed to sleep pretty well for the first night, only waking once. I eventually woke up around 6.45am – very good considering the time difference! Those who have read my previous reports will know that I am talented at sleeping and tend to fall asleep a lot.

Ollie didn’t fare so well – he woke up at 1.30am and struggled to get back to sleep for long. He was pleased when I finally woke up and he had someone to talk to!

Our plan for today was a bit of a chilled shopping day. We planned to fly out on Thursday for our cruise on Saturday, just in case there were any delays. With hurricane issues during this week last year, I was a bit paranoid about missing the boat.

So apologies that there will be no cruises or theme parks today. Normal service will resume tomorrow.

Our first planned stop was Walmart. We googled Walmart opening times, but obviously it is open 24 hours!

We headed off from the Avanti around 8am and headed to the Walmart on Turkey Lake Road. Again, we were both watching the roads carefully and looking closely for STOP signs.

There’s a McDonald’s just inside the door and we decided to get a quick snack for breakfast. We settled on two sausage burritos ($1 each ) and a chocolate milk to share ($1.29).



Perfectly decent for the price and better than it looked. I was pretty impressed that the bin spoke to you when you put your rubbish in!

How is it that you can lose hours in Walmart? We only went in for a few things (obviously we had a list) and ended up browsing for one and a half hours! Supermarket shopping at home is a dull experience, but put me in another country and it’s the best thing ever!

I was slightly heartbroken that the bakery department didn’t have any brookies. We did ask one of the bakery workers, but no luck. I’ve been dreaming about these since 2015… Oh well.

We settled instead on cinnamon buns ($3.98) and Krispy Kreme raspberry doughnuts ($4.48). Suitable breakfast options, right?






Ollie later declared the doughnuts the best he’s ever eaten.

I also thought these salted caramel non branded poptarts, which I thought were a bargain for $1. We wouldn’t have a toaster until we got to the Grand Floridian, but I was happy to cart these around.



Ollie spent a lot of time in this particular aisle….



An eventually settled on these goodies (98c, $2.78 and $1.88).



Seriously, I need to impose a time limit next time I let him loose in a sweetie aisle.

We also spent some time in this aisle…



Where we picked up 4 bottles of prosecco to take onto the cruise with us (as you’re allowed to take on 2 bottles of wine per person. We take good advantage of this!) They even had our wedding Prosecco here, not that we bought it as it was overpriced and we had a few bottles left at home still. (If anyone’s interested, it’s La Marca and can be bought in Tesco. It’s my favourite prosecco, and believe me I’ve sampled many!) (Two of the bottles were $8.96, one was $8.98 and one was $10.98)



We picked up some ghiradelli squares – one large bag each of sea salt caramel for us to take into work, a small bag of sea salt caramel for us at home and a mint bag for my Mum as part of her birthday present ($3.78 each for the small bags and $5.98 each for the large bags). However, I accidentally took the small bag into work instead of the large one (I blame the jet lag when we got home). We didn’t mind having a bigger bag at home. I generally find the ghiradelli bags in Walmart quite good value if you don’t want to buy a lot.



We forgot that these would spend long time in a hot car today. They looked a bit melted when we eventually opened them, but tasted fine!

I also picked up Oreos for work ($2.98 each). I assume they liked them as they disappeared very quickly.




The mint ones were my favourite and taste just like mint choc chip ice cream.

I like how these as the small size packets in America. Although, at least they come in a resalable packet.

We also picked up essentials of a 28 pack of water ($3.98) and some ponchos (97c each). I also picked up some dramamine less drowsy ($3.97) as I had heard good things about it and we had a few boat excursions on the cruise (however, I was absolutely fine and haven’t tried them yet).

I also picked up some Neutrogena sun cream for my Mum ($7.97), who swears by this for her face.

$104 dollars later…. We left Walmart to drive to the Idrive Premium outlets. I couldn’t resist all the tasty treats in the boot and had a cinnamon bun on the way.

We got a little confused about the parking options here, as only some of the car park is free. We eventually parked behind Nike, which had good availability at 10.30am but was rammed by midday.

We stopped by the guest services first to pick up the free coupon book, as I’d registered for the Premium Outlets VIP club. We also double checked the parking with her – we didn’t want to come back to a fine!

First stop was Aeropostale, which slightly confused me as they moved the door since last time we were here in 2015. Labour day sales were on, an apparently everything in Aeropostale was 70% off (although, I’m pretty sure they normally have a similar deal here).

Our first shop was a success. I bought two of the same dress in different patterns ($20.29 each).



Ollie did really well. Three tshirts for $20, two long sleeve tops ($10.99 each), two short sleeve shirts ($10.24 each), a polo shirt ($12.85) and a long sleeve shirt ($16.57)









We then got a further $10 off with the coupon booklet.

Next stop was skechers for shoes for Ollie, but they didn’t have anything he liked at all (he normally lives in skechers trainers)

The next stop was very much for me – the Disney Outlet! This was closed for refurb in 2015, so I was excited to see what was on offer.

I picked up a few baby items for friends - $12.99 for the cute thumper gift set, $4.99 for the bib and $7.99 for the onesie.



Ollie bought a rock’n’roller coaster ($9.99) and I bought a Star Wars tshirt for my Dad’s birthday ($9.99).



I bought a ‘my happy place’ tshirt for me for $9.99 (definitely true!) and some socks for my Mum ($4.99).



I thought there was a good selection, particularly for baby items and kids toys. The queues were not anyway near as bad as I was expecting, as I had heard of long lines at busy times. They even give you proper Disney carrier bags!

We’d accumulated quite a lot by now, so Ollie popped back to the car to drop off the bags and get some water.

I met him in Gap, where he picked up a shirt ($14.44) and I got a cardigan ($16.99). We then got a further 15% off as I signed up to their online club.



Our tummies were rumbling around 1.20pm, so our next stop was the food court. After trying a few free samples (obviously) we settled on Asian Chao. We got a two item combo to share ($8.99) with bourbon chicken and orange chicken (50c upgrade for orange chicken) with noodles. We also got a coke zero to share ($2.49).



It’s at this point I remembered how much ice they put in drinks over there. I was expecting half a drink to be left when it was actually just ice! This was tasty and filled a gap, although we were trying to save room for Cheesecake Factory tonight.

Yankee candle next. If I had unlimited luggage weight I could do some serious damage in here. I settled on a sugared pumpkin swirl candle ($8.25), maple pancake tealights ($5) and salted caramel tealights ($5).



I always like candles that smell like food 

Three years ago I bought a pumpkin cupcake candle, which is the nicest candle I have ever smelt. I still can’t bring myself to burn it, so I bought the pumpkin swirl to burn in its place. They didn’t have any of the votives in stock which was a shame, as I like the little samples (and they’re nice and light to take home!)

I went to Francesca’s next, while Ollie popped to North Face. I did a lot better than him, buying 3 dresses and a jumpsuit, plus an extra discount for singing up to their club at the checkout ($112 for all 4). Ollie wasn’t impressed with North Face.





Rack Room shoes was next, as Ollie wanted to cure his disappointment with skechers by buying shoes! He did well and bought two pairs in their buy one pair get 50% off deal (both pairs for $85). The vans here worked out cheaper than in the Vans store.



There was a woman serving in here, who was talking to her colleague about the Eat to the Beat concerts at Epcot. I struck up a conversation with her and she gave me her Food and Wine passport, which was sweet of her. She was a local with an annual pass, who doesn’t go for the food, but watches each performer and always goes early to be in the front row. She was very excited that the performer from the night before had touched her hand!

We also took a look in Famous Footwear, but there was less choice and it seemed more expensive.

I left Ollie in Tilly’s, where he refrained from any purchases (although had put in an order of 12 tshirts to be delivered while we were at Disney. Yes, 12!)

I had a quick look in forever 21 and bought two dresses on a buy one get one half off deal ($24.90 and $8.95)



The next stop on our shopping marathon was Mall at Millenia. The car park was surprisingly quiet when we arrived, compared to Premium Outlets which was rammed.

The first stop was to the Cheesecake Factory – not that we were quite ready for dinner, but wanted to see how long a wait we would be in for. We were pleasantly surprised that there was no wait for a party of 2.


Hollister was up first. Last time Ollie did amazingly in here, but despite trying on lots only managed a polo shirt ($29.95). I also picked up a tshirt for my brother in the sale ($15).



I had a look in Sephora next, leaving him in Urban Outfitters rather than dragging him around with me.

It was rammed in Sephora, so I didn’t want to browse too long and only picked up a charcoal eyeliner ($11.51 - it’s very hard to find this grey colour back home). I signed up for their club, and as my birthday already passed that year, I was able to pick up a birthday gift (despite being a month and a half after my actual birthday).




All shopped out, it was definitely food time! We checked in at the Cheesecake Factory and were seated immediately.



Seriously, why have they given me a skinnylicous menu? If I wanted something healthy, I wouldn’t have gone somewhere with the word ‘cheesecake’ in the title…

We ordered some waters and guzzled these pretty quickly. I also ordered a coke zero and Ollie had a doctor pepper ($3.50 each). Some friends of ours had given us money as a wedding gift for a meal here, so we proposed a toast to them!

We started with some bread, but tried hard not to eat too much!



Obviously, we had perused the menu back home before our trip, and were planning on going for the egg roll sampler (lots of different flavours of egg rolls).

However, the table next to us had just been served their entrees and it reminded us just how huge the portions were.

Instead, we ordered the cheeseburger spring rolls form the small plates menu ($6.95) - Certified Angus Ground Beef, Lots of Melted Cheese, and Grilled Onions Rolled in a Crispy Wrapper.



These were delicious and tasted a bit like a nicer McDonalds hamburger inside a spring roll. Highly recommended.

We then ordered two mains to share – Crispy pineapple chicken and shrimp ($14.50) - Crispy Chicken and Shrimp with Snow Peas, Mushrooms, Onions, Garlic, Peppers and Cilantro in a Sweet and Spicy Sauce. Served with White Rice and chicken parmesan “pizza style” ($14.95) - Chopped Chicken Breast Coated with Breadcrumbs, Covered with Marinara Sauce and Lots of Melted Cheese. Topped with Angel Hair Pasta in an Alfredo Cream Sauce.






We recently found a list of the top 10 unhealthiest meals in American chain restaurants, and the chicken parmesan pizza was on the list. I’m weirdly proud that I’ve eaten one of the dishes!

I enjoyed both dishes, but think I preferred the chicken and shrimp dish, as the chicken ‘pizza’ got a bit samey after a while, but sharing was ok. Ollie was generous and gave me more than half of the shrimp pieces.

One thing I wasn’t too keen on was the calorie information on the menu – I didn’t need to know that a piece of cheesecake is the same as my daily calorie allowance! Although, if it helps the obesity crisis in some way I suppose that I can cope with knowing my dinner isn’t the healthiest.

Our bill came to $46.23 including tax, which seemed very reasonable compared to last time (although last time we did have cocktails, a large appetiser, two of the most expensive mains and two slices of cheesecake!)

We decided to get a piece of cheesecake from the counter to go – how can you not after eating at the cheesecake factory? Despite saying we’d go for something different, we went for the oreo dream extreme cheesecake ($8.50) - OREO® Cookies baked in our creamy Cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and OREO® Cookie mousse. Topped with a milk chocolate icing.

Suitably stuffed, we headed back to the Avanti with a fair bit of traffic on Idrive.

We photographed our haul, had some drinks and packed our cases ready for check out tomorrow.



Just a few purchases..

I had a shower, and Ollie decided to see what would happen if he emptied all the shampoo into the Jacuzzi bath. As you can imagine, there were a lot of bubbles!

We were in bed by 10.30pm. I was so ready to get on that cruise!

Day 3 - Boarding the Disney Fantasy

[Cinderella]

Great shopping👍

[Palm trees]

Great day, you got some fab bargains!

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Great shopping👍

See more...

Thanks for reading. There was more than I remembered!

Originally Posted by Palm trees

Great day, you got some fab bargains!

See more...

Thanks for reading! Some good deals, even with the rubbish exchange rate!

[clochette]

That's a lot of shopping! You would get on well with DD (16).She is already planning her shopping list and we don't go until July.
Looking forward to reading more.

[collybird]

I love those sausage burritos at McDonalds. We always get one each on the side of our breakfast in the States, animals haha.

I love Mint Oreos, the Thins ones are out of this world.

Love the dresses you picked up in Aero, a very flattering cut. I’m a big Aero fan. Also love your My Happy Place t-shirt, I regret not picking that one up now.

I think Cheesecake Factory is absolutely top of my list of places to try.

Fabulous day, really loved seeing all your purchases, thank you!

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by clochette

That's a lot of shopping! You would get on well with DD (16).She is already planning her shopping list and we don't go until July.
Looking forward to reading more.

See more...

Well, you've got to go with a plan! Hope your daughter has a successful shopping trip. Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by collybird

I love those sausage burritos at McDonalds. We always get one each on the side of our breakfast in the States, animals haha.

I love Mint Oreos, the Thins ones are out of this world.

Love the dresses you picked up in Aero, a very flattering cut. I’m a big Aero fan. Also love your My Happy Place t-shirt, I regret not picking that one up now.

I think Cheesecake Factory is absolutely top of my list of places to try.

Fabulous day, really loved seeing all your purchases, thank you!

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I didn't know you could get mint oreo thins, that definitely goes on a future list!

I have a lot of dresses in that cut, but it was nice to get ones with long sleeves for a change.

Definitely try cheesecake factory. Also, left over cheesecake makes the best breakfast!

[soraia]

Great day! I absolutely live for the cheeseburger spring rolls at Cheesecake Factory and have also tried the Chicken Parmesan "pizza style" - the pictures don't do it justice do they? It's absolutely mammoth! I had no idea it was one of the top 10 unhealthiest dishes and I'm strangely proud I've tried it now too
Look forward to reading more!

[Scruffette]

Originally Posted by soraia

Great day! I absolutely live for the cheeseburger spring rolls at Cheesecake Factory and have also tried the Chicken Parmesan "pizza style" - the pictures don't do it justice do they? It's absolutely mammoth! I had no idea it was one of the top 10 unhealthiest dishes and I'm strangely proud I've tried it now too
Look forward to reading more!

See more...

I think pride is what I felt too about eating the chicken parmesan pizza! I do love a cheeseburger spring roll - I found a place in Manchester recently that does them and it brought back so many good memories. Thanks for reading

[margyloveswdw]

Great shopping day!