First we eat, then we do everything else! 19 nights DDP/UNI -COMPLETE!

[disjunkie]

Hello Everyone.

We just got back from Florida on Tuesday and I thought I’d do a dining report for this trip after a 4 year absence from writing them.

On our last trip we went with my sister and her fiancé, but this time round she was pregnant (and gave birth while we were away to my beautiful nephew). Hopefully we’ll have the chance to go back to WDW with the three of them soon, but for now it was just the two of us, me Lisa and my husband Neil.

This trip was organised only around five months out so the plan was:

Fly into Miami - stay in South Beach and see the main Miami sights

Drive up to Orlando - staying in Celebration which we’ve never visited before

8 nights at Port Orleans Riverside on the DDP. We’ve stayed at French Quarter a couple of times but never Riverside and the last time we used the normal dining plan was 2008. I had totally forgotten how much food you get on the plan! We’re a big fan of signature dining so did pay for some TS meals OOP.

1 night in Tampa for Busch Gardens Howl o Scream

8 nights at Portofino Bay, including 3 visits to HHN and basically a slightly more relaxing week to end the trip on.

For a stressful week or so leading up to the trip I thought Irma was going to ruin it, as most models show Miami taking a direct hit. In the end all she spoilt was the time in Miami. We were able to fly in as planned but didn’t get to see South Beach due to the damage Irma caused.

[disjunkie]

We flew from Newcastle to Heathrow at 4:30pm, so arrived at the Premier Inn Bath Road in time for tea. It was a good value hotel considering how close it is to the airport and we got the meal deal.

The Thyme restaurant was really busy and the staff seemed to be working about 8 tables at once, our server was working hard but service was slow just because of how busy they were.

I had a Halloumi and Red Pepper burger, this was big chunks of grilled halloumi and pepper on a bun. It was really good, the chips didn’t taste right though.

Neil had Crab mac and cheese which he said was surprisingly good, there was plenty of crab in the dish and it tasted nice.

We were going to have dessert as it was included with the meal deal but it was so slow I figured it would be close to 10pm before we got out of there so gave it a miss.

Once back in the room the biggest crisis of the holiday happened, when we rang our Miami airport hotel and they informed us they were unlikely to be open. By this point almost every hotel in Miami which was up and running was fully booked and I really thought we might be spending the night in the airport. We finally found a Marriott which was open but it was far more than we wanted to spend and in the financial district which had suffered bad storm surges and flooding during Irma, figuring we were out of options we went ahead and booked.

Knowing we had somewhere to sleep in Miami we were finally able to call it a night.

Travel Day

I was very poor at photo taking this day. We had breakfast at the Premier inn which was good, there was plenty of choice and everything was nice and hot.

We flew Virgin Premium Economy. Food was fine, though they’d ran out of veggie PE food by the time they got to us so DH had an economy meal instead.

The couple in front of us were ‘entertaining’. They had a lot to drink, and near the end of the journey one of them managed to spill a glass of wine, a mug of coffee and a bottle of water over themselves in the space of 1 hour. I was surprised virgin kept serving them as they were starting to become disruptive, and I say that as someone who likes nothing better than a glass of wine!

When we finally got to Miami, it felt like we walked miles to immigration. There was quite a bit of visible Irma damage in the airport, but we were through immigration quickly and cases were already waiting. We took a taxi to the financial district and again saw a fair bit of hurricane damage i.e downed power lines, traffic lights not working, roof damage but our hotel had kept power throughout and only suffered damage to the pool and restaurant.

We were given a lovely room with a huge balcony but it wasn’t quite the view of South Beach we’d been looking forward to for the past few months!

Given the hotel cost we thought we’d grab a quick tea from CVS, but they’d only just reopened after Irma and had no usual sandwiches etc, so we ended up with a tea of pringles and twinkies, and the only bottle of water left in the whole shop! I spared you a photo of such a pathetic tea but get better with the photos tomorrow.

[disjunkie]

I thought we’d get breakfast at Starbucks which was just round the corner, however Irma caught us out again as although they were open they had no food in the whole store.

So we had our coffees and caught a taxi back to the airport to pick up our red coach transfer where we were able to grab a croissant quickly before the bus arrived. Originally we were going to drive to Orlando but I didn’t feel comfortable not knowing what the roads would be like and whether we’d be able to find gas. As it happens it would have been fine and the bus journey was very smooth.

Hertz then picked us up from the Orlando red coach terminal and we received our hire car for the next 9 days. We didn’t get to the Bohemian hotel in Celebration until nearly 4pm and we’d had no lunch, and a small breakfast so were starving. Happy hour was just starting in the hotel bar so decided to take advantage.

Cocktails were only $6 so I had a cosmopolitan and Neil had a beer which was in the two for $6 section.

To eat we split Morroccan Fries ($5) which had chopped bacon, tomatoes, onion and harissa aioli. These were amazing, it was a huge portion and tasted like the best curry and chips ever!

And a Spinach and Artichoke dip ($6) which was good but Neil was a bigger fan than I was, it was cream cheese based and tasted good but wasn’t the gooey, cheese dip I was expecting.

As Neil had 2 beers I thought it would be rude not to have another cocktail so had a Florida Sunrise. It was good but I’m not the biggest tequila fan so preferred the cosmo.

Originally we were planning to eat dinner in one of the celebration restaurants but this filled us up. I really liked this hotel and we had a room with a lovely view of the lake.

Later we went for a wander around celebration, stopping at Woofgang Bakery to get some treats for our dogs Max and Holly.

Then finally to Kilwins. I’d heard loads about this ice cream so we got a scoop of mint choc-chip to share. It was pretty bad, most went in the bin! I think the ice cream must have been partially defrosted during the hurricane power outage as it was full of ice crystals, the flavour itself was fine but there was no creaminess too it and it was just a weird texture. I’ll assume it was a one off and give them another try next time we’re there.

We also got some fudge from there which was amazing, probably the best fudge I’ve ever tasted. We chose salted caramel and peanut butter flavours, it was so rich you could only have a little at a time but really good.

[debsym62]

Looks like This is going to be a good report. That fudge made my mouth water.

[Excited6910]

I love food reports!

[Tink 45]

Looking forwRd to more of this! Glad Irma hasn't made too much of an impact on your journey! I'm sure you'll love Kilwins, it's a must for us every trip and we've never been disappointed yet! X

[lolalolo86]

Great start looking forward to more

[firsttimedream]

Shame about south beach but at least u found somewhere to stay the night not much fun sleeping at the airport I would imagine 😪😴 looking forward to more 😎

[disjunkie]

Originally Posted by debsym62

Looks like This is going to be a good report. That fudge made my mouth water.

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Thanks, the fudge was amazing!

Originally Posted by Excited6910

I love food reports!

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Me too, I love to read food reports!

Originally Posted by Tink 45

Looking forwRd to more of this! Glad Irma hasn't made too much of an impact on your journey! I'm sure you'll love Kilwins, it's a must for us every trip and we've never been disappointed yet! X

See more...

We were super lucky. The previous days flights to Miami were all cancelled so I was sure ours would be too but we were one of the first flights out from the UK

Originally Posted by lolalolo86

Great start looking forward to more

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Thank you

Originally Posted by firsttimedream

Shame about south beach but at least u found somewhere to stay the night not much fun sleeping at the airport I would imagine 😪😴 looking forward to more 😎

See more...

I was super stressed about it! Under normal circumstances we would have just picked up a car and drove a couple of hours up that night, but car rental was in short supply too making that a risky option.

[disjunkie]

Before the trip I’d planned on having breakfast at Keke’s this morning, however we’d both fallen in love with the hotel and the breakfast menu looked good so decided to eat here.

The bar/restaurant is in the lobby and I really liked the decor. It was super quiet so figured it would be quick, I figured wrong!

It took over an hour for breakfast, at the start of our meal there were only 2 other guests dining but it was pretty full by the end. The two servers did their best to ignore all the guests, doing an amazing job of avoiding eye contact even when another guest went and stood at their podium to explain that one of their meals was missing. Saying that, i really enjoyed the food when it eventually came.

I had Eggs benedict which was really good and loads of food. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the little roasted potatoes were delicious.

Neil had French toast breakfast casserole which was a big portion and again very good. However I think someone wasn’t paying attention in the kitchen as a section of it had been sprinkled with what looked and tasted like finely chopped onion!

Once we’d finally finished breakfast we checked out and did a bit of halloween decoration shopping before making our way to Disney and Port Orleans. Our room was ready and we were given a lovely room in the area I requested. Although I’d told Neil it would be a princess themed room (all that was left were Royal rooms when I booked) he was a bit taken aback with the decor, saying he thought it would be more subtle! I on the other hand loved it.

We had no lunch as were still full from breakfast but had an early tea at Tiffins using the DDP for the Rivers of Light package. Although we weren’t planning on seeing the show we got an appetiser this way.
We were sat as soon as the restaurant opened, I loved the decor of the restaurant and had a great server who was from London.

To drink I had a Jenn's Tattoo - kettle one vodka, watermelon, hibiscus and lime juice. This was really good, strong watermelon flavour but not overly sweet.

Neil had a beer flight which he enjoyed.

We were given bread with pomegranate oil dip. I liked the bread itself and it’s mild curry flavour but the dip was way to sharp for me. DH liked it though

For appetisers I had Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with zhough yogurt and peppadew puree. This was good, it was like falafel, I preferred the green sauce as the red peppadew one had a slight kick to it.

Neil had Marinated Grilled Octopus with Salsify, Saffron Aïoli, Lemon-Caper Olive Oil. This was really good, the octopus had a meaty texture but wasn’t chewy at all, and the sauce had curry flavour from the saffron but was creamy.

For my main I had the Wagyu striploin and brisket. The brisket was amazing as were the rainbow carrots and purple potatoes, but the striploin was a bit tough and chewy. I assume I just got a bad cut and was full from the app and other elements so didn’t ask for a replacement.

Neil had Grilled Swordfish with Forbidden Rice, Tsukemono, Trumpet Royale, Carrot-Coconut Purée. He really liked it, fish was cooked well and although our server warned him it was spicy he said it had just right amount of heat

For dessert I had Calamansi Mousse, with Mango Lava and Swiss Meringue. This was good, light dessert a very thin shell to the mousse and a good amount of mango filling.

Neil had South American Chocolate Ganache with Caramelised Banana, Cocoa Nib Tuile
This was good but very rich, the caramelised banana and brittle lovely

Overall we had an excellent meal here, it’s a really good in park signature and would definitely visit again.