Let's do something different this time -Day 7- Disney Springs, Olive Garden-Wednesday 8th June 2016

[Fuellady]

Let's do something different this time - Disney Springs & Olive Garden

Wednesday 8th June 2016

Today is listed on my plan as “Surprise Day”. This is because it’s Neil’s birthday on the day we arrive home so we were having a day when he would choose the activity. It started off as a surprise in my initial plans because I wasn’t going to tell him, I was just going to plan something that I thought he would like and spring it on him on the day. As the holiday got closer, I decided that this wasn’t the best idea as he’s not a great fan of surprises. I had thought about buying tickets for Kennedy Space Center for me and him, but when I asked him about this before we left he said he wasn’t bothered about going back there. After that, I decided just to leave it until the day and see what he wanted. So, this was the day…

Turns out he didn’t want to do much really. Birthdays aren’t really his thing and he was happy just to have a relaxing day dondering about.

Shannon and Eilidh were looking forward to having a “sisters” day out today, as they didn’t want to come to Kennedy Space Center when this had been the plan. After that plan was cancelled they still wanted to have a day, just the two of them. They have always been close, but they don’t get to spend as much time together as they used to, now that Shannon has moved to Edinburgh. So, we headed up to the Premium Outlets at the top of International Drive and dropped them off. I was a bit worried, but had to get a grip really, after all Shannon looks after herself in Edinburgh, and is off out with her friends and such like, so I was sure that she could manage a few hours at a shopping mall with her almost grown up sister well enough!

When we were heading back down the I4, that’s when Neil said that he would like to back to Disney Springs for a wander about. So that’s what we did! We sent this picture to the girls, asking them to guess where we were…

Needless to say, they guessed right away.

We wandered round for a while, just enjoying a relaxing day. It’s so lovely here now and the worst of Tropical Storm Colin seemed to have passed. Still a slight breeze, but other than that it was a hot sunny day, and less humid than it had been which was good for my hair!

We stopped at Ghirardellis for ice-cream. It was nice, but after reading amazing reports of it on the Dibb I felt a little bit let down. We have ice cream as nice as that here, although not the weather to enjoy it in! While we were eating our ice cream, we discussed what we would do next. We finished off having a look around, going into the Christmas shop and the art shop, but not buying anything. We had a look around World of Disney and saw a few things we wanted, but decided to come back another day nearer the end of our holiday to pick them up. The only thing I bought today were 2 new aerial toppers for my car. Can’t have enough Disney aerial toppers!

Neil decided that we should go and have a look around a Disney resort because we’ve never stayed on site before, but have discussed it. We followed signs until we found a boat dock which it turned out would take us to Port Orleans French Quarter or Riverside. I was so chuffed, as I had long wanted to visit here, after reading about it on so many trip reports.

We waited at the dock for about 20 minutes, just watching the world go by. There were Cadillac style car/boats going around the lake, and these little birds wandering about…

We had soon boarded the little boat, and set off towards the resort. I loved these flower displays on the way…

The buildings are so pretty…

The boat journey was longer than we expected it to be, and the captain was throwing out little fun facts along the way. The boat stopped at French Quarter first and we decided to stay on the boat. Next stop was Riverside where we got off and went to have a look around. We stopped first at a map of the resort and then headed into reception. Neil wanted to have a look at a room if possible, as he just isn’t convinced about staying on site even though I keep harping on about it. We asked if they would have an empty room that they could show us, just for a little peek but they said all the rooms were occupied. Whether they were or not we’ll never know, maybe it’s just their policy not to do that. It felt a bit cheeky asking, but if you don’t ask you don’t get right?

We went along to the Riverside Mill for lunch, where we both had chicken nuggets. We decided not to go for a wander around as we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get back and we had to pick up the girls soon. We had really enjoyed our short visit though, the resort seemed to have a lovely relaxed feel about it.

Back in the car, we headed to the outlets to collect the girls. They had both made several purchases which they were excited to show us when we got home later. For now though we were all looking forward to our very first visit to Olive Garden for our evening meal. We went to the one on the 192 at Rolling Oaks.

It was still fairly early, around 5pm so Olive Garden was quite quiet. Our server brought out the legendary breadsticks, which did indeed live up to our expectations. They were so good. Totally underestimating the amount of food which was about to head our way, we ordered 2 portions of Fried Mozzarella to start. We were already full by the time our mains arrived. I had Chicken Spaghetti Rosso, Neil had Stuffed Rigatoni with Sausage, Shannon had Lasagne, and Eilidh had Chicken Alfredo. It was all really good but Eilidh and I ended up barely touching ours as we were just too full. We got it boxed up to take away with us.

Then it was home for another relaxing evening, including a wee fashion show from the girls of the things they had bought today at the outlets.

[Redrach1903]

Aww sounds like a lovely day for Neil's "birthday".

I'm glad you liked the feel of POR. We loved it! Such a beautiful resort! Shame you didn't get to see a room though!

So glad you enjoyed Olive Garden! I am always almost full from just the bread and salad! Ridiculous portions!

Really enjoying your report xx

[mick]

A lovely day with the girls doing their thing and you doing yours
And a good tea too

Joan

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Aww sounds like a lovely day for Neil's "birthday".

I'm glad you liked the feel of POR. We loved it! Such a beautiful resort! Shame you didn't get to see a room though!

So glad you enjoyed Olive Garden! I am always almost full from just the bread and salad! Ridiculous portions!

Really enjoying your report xx

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Thanks for reading Rachael... it was such a good day, we really enjoyed it. POR was lovely, you never know, maybe one day...

That was our first visit to Olive Garden, and it won't be our last... so good

Originally Posted by mick

A lovely day with the girls doing their thing and you doing yours
And a good tea too

Joan

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It was nice for us all getting a bit of time to do our own thing. Olive Garden was great, we'll be back! Thanks for reading Joan.

[disneytrio]

Olive Garden is on our list for next all the times we've been never eaten there, wonderful day for Neil's birthday!

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by disneytrio

Olive Garden is on our list for next all the times we've been never eaten there, wonderful day for Neil's birthday!

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You should definitely go to Olive Garden, you won't regret it!

It was a really nice day, it was great to see a resort and just please ourselves for a while.

[i love jack]

another lovely day

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by i love jack

another lovely day

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It was! Thank you for reading

[RachelM]

I've never been to Olive Garden before, might try it on our next visit. I will remeber and not over order though.

[Col&Ali]

I seem to be following RachelM here ... don't know why I haven't read your trippie before Lynda ... I must have been away when you wrote it.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Neil 🎂 What a good man keeping his girls happy ... shopping for the young uns and Disney Springs and a Resort with you 😁

We haven't been back to Olive Garden since 2008! Had a pushy server who put us right off! Silly really ... might try again next time 😀