The Mad Hatters in Florida May/June 2018 - Day 12 – Mall at Millenia/Cheesecake Factory and B-dubs

[Mad Hatters]

Hello and welcome to my very first trip report

So we are the Hatfield’s: Adam (Me), Grace (Wife), Joshua (Oldest Son), Trayvon (Youngest Son), Mick (My Dad) and Sue (My Mum).

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Tuesday 29th May: Day 12 – Mall at Millenia/Cheesecake Factory and Buffalo Wild Wings

Today was a nice chilled out rest day, so we all had the chance to catch up on some sleep and have a lie in. Grace and I were the first ones up at 7:20am. Joshua was next up at 8:30 and finally Trayvon woke up at 8:50. My mum and dad were obviously still fast asleep haha.

Our plans for today, were to go to the Mall at Millenia, mostly for the Cheesecake factory. There were a couple of stores my Mum and Grace wanted to go in too. Then for a relaxing afternoon by the pool (weather dependant).

We had a light breakfast in the room this morning, knowing that we would be eating our lunch quite early on. Grace and the boys had some of the rice crispy treats that we had brought over from Disney. I had a banana.

Joshua spent a bit of time getting his holiday diary up to date and I also set him on with a little bit of maths work. Seen as we were away for a few weeks, I like him to do a little bit of school work, to keep it ticking over in his mind. Trayvon watched some TV whilst Joshua was doing this.

We then got ourselves ready at a very leisurely pace and collected my parents as we headed out towards the front of the hotel. I requested an Uber XL at 10am, which arrived 1 minute later. It’s only a short trip to Mall at Millenia and took about 15 minutes. It cost us $16.23 and I added a $3 tip using the app.

A couple of pictures of the mall. I really should have taken more



We had a little look around the mall and in a couple of the shops that the women wanted to visit and before we knew it, it was 11am, which meant the Cheesecake Factory was now open. We get there nice and early as it gets very, very busy.

We were taken straight to our table, whilst admiring the cheesecakes as we passed them by. This was my parents’ first visit here and they were really looking forward to it.

Drool….


We all ordered sodas to drink; Joshua a Dr Pepper, I had a sprite and everyone else went for coke zero. They brought out the yummy bread for the table too.


We then ordered our food.

I had the Cuban sandwich last time which was absolutely amazing. I really fancied a cheesesteak though this time so went for the California cheesesteak sandwich (Thinly Sliced Grilled Steak Covered with Sautéed Mushrooms, Onions, Peppers and Cheese on Our Toasted Sourdough Loaf. Served with French Fries or Green Salad). I had this with fries.


Grace went for the loaded baked potato tots (Crispy Potato Tots Filled with Cheese, Bacon and Green Onion. Served with Sour Cream and Sriracha Mayo) and cheeseburger spring rolls (Certified Angus Ground Beef, Lots of Melted Cheese, and Grilled Onions Rolled in a Crispy Wrapper). She fancied the egg rolls after seeing them on Tim Tracker


Grace tucking in


My Mum chose Samosa (Crispy Wrappers Filled with Spiced Chicken. Served with Cilantro Dipping Sauce) and the loaded baked potato tots as well.


My dad had the Dynamite shrimp (Crispy Tempura Shrimp with Our Spicy Dynamite Sauce). My parents shared the three dishes between them.


Joshua had a grilled cheese sandwich with fries.


Joshua looking like a ... I don’t know ...


Trayvon had the fried chicken strips with fries.



Trayvon ready to go with the look of this one.


All the food was absolutely delicious. Everybody enjoyed what they had. I helped grace out a bit with hers too haha. We couldn’t come here without ordering Cheesecake though, despite being quite full. I had intended to get an extra piece to take back, but knew we would have left overs so didn’t bother

Mum and dad got a cherry cheesecake to share.


Grace had eyes up the Celebration cheesecake months ago, so ordered that (Layers of Vanilla Cake, Cheesecake, Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla Mousse with Cream Cheese Frosting).



I was very torn between a few flavours, but eventually settled for the caramel pecan turtle (Pecan Brownie and Caramel-Fudge Swirl Cheesecake, Topped with Caramel Turtle Pecans and Chocolate).


And the total cost for the food.


All of the food was brilliant here and my parents were very impressed. We boxed up the leftover cheesecake and paid the bill.

My mum wanted to look in another couple of shops, so we sat on some of the seating and just waited it out. There aren’t too many shops here that interest us to be totally honest. We then organised our Uber back to the hotel. We ordered an XL at 12:40pm and were back at around 10 past 1.

Cheesecake Factory from outside the mall.


It was time for the pool now, so we got ourselves ready and headed on out. My Mum had decided that she hadn’t quite scratched the shopping itch, so headed off the Premium outlet at I drive south.
We spent a good couple of hours around the pool. The boys loved it as usual.

We headed back up to our room at 3:45pm, leaving my dad to soak up a bit more sun while we all got our baths and ready for the evening.

When my Mum eventually returned from her shopping trip at the outlet, she had bought us all a gift each


She also got herself 2 t shirts and a bangle and a Tommy Hilfiger t shirt for my dad.

We were all ready at 5:20pm and so headed down to the managers reception for a pre-dinner drink. Beer for dad and I and a wine for grace. Unfortunately Grace didn’t like the wine and I couldn’t bear to see it being wasted, so I selflessly finished it off for her

Once my Mum was ready, she joined us and then we set off for our tea at Buffalo Wild Wings. My parents have never eaten here before either. We first tried it in 2016 and absolutely loved it, so were dead excited to go back and hoped my parents would enjoy it just as much.

We arrived at the B-dubs at the Orlando eye at around 6pm. It was lovely and quiet inside which was perfect for us

First off, we ordered up some drinks. Dad and I both got a Coors light. Mum, Grace and Trayvon got a diet Pepsi and Joshua had a Mountain Dew.

We then ordered up the food. We had sort of pre-planned which flavour wings we were going to get. Obviously. 2 of them we had last time and they were so good, we had to get them again. We let my parents choose some flavours too.

Pictures in the restaurant.




Joshua had a cheese burger as he didn’t fancy having wings.


Trayvon had mac n cheese.


And for all of the adults to share we got a baskets of fries and onion rings.



And the wings in all their glory. The flavours we chose were: Salt n vinegar, Buffalo, Hot BBQ, Lemon pepper and Parmesan garlic. The salt n vinegar and parmesan garlic were our previous favourites. These came out with a few ranch and blue cheese dips.







They were just as good as we remembered them. My parents really enjoyed the food and we were relieved that they enjoyed it like we did. The hot BBQ were seriously hot haha. Would hate to know how hot the hottest ones are. In 2016 we saw 2 people do the hottest wings challenge and they looked like they were going to pass out from the first bite I can understand why.

We were all finished and settled the bill by 7:10pm, so we took a slow and steady walk back while looking through quite a few of the gift shops.

Pictures in one of the gift shops.



And a couple of random images from the walk back to the hotel.



Grace bought herself a t shirt. It’s a tradition that we always buy a t-shirt when we go to Florida.


Joshua also got a teddy out of his own money and Trayvon bought a helicopter thing with his money too. It didn’t last long before it was broken.


We were back at the hotel at 8:10pm, so we did our usual; play card games and have a few drinks in the room. We also had a few nibbles of crisps and then, as if we hadn’t eaten enough, Grace and I ate the left over cheesecake. Oink.

We called it a night after an hour or so of games and headed to bed. We were asleep by 22:11pm according to my Fitbit.

Today was a really great relaxed day with some lovely food.

Total steps for today: 13,324.

Thanks for reading

[Orlandoguy]

Sounds like a great day, love the Cheesecake Factory always head there when we’re in orlando

[Palm trees]

A great day. After I write my comment I'm going to check where the mall is on Google maps as I really want to try the Cheesecake factory now!

[mouselover22]

Definitely a foodie day, I’m drooling now

Nice to have a more chilled out day too

[Mad Hatters]

Originally Posted by Orlandoguy

Sounds like a great day, love the Cheesecake Factory always head there when we’re in orlando

See more...

It’s a must do for us too, absolutely love the place.

Thanks for reading 👍

[Mad Hatters]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

A great day. After I write my comment I'm going to check where the mall is on Google maps as I really want to try the Cheesecake factory now!

See more...

Please do give it a try, I guarantee you will love it 😀

Thanks for reading.

[Mad Hatters]

Originally Posted by mouselover22

Definitely a foodie day, I’m drooling now

Nice to have a more chilled out day too

See more...

Haha most days tend to be chocker with the food. It’s half of the attraction to Orlando for us.

Thanks for reading along 😀

[caitlinsmummy]

A nice leisurely morning

The food in The Cheesecake Factory looks lovely, we were going just for the cheesecake (for DH I don't like it) but I think we may consider food too now. Joshua looks like he's enjoying that grilled cheese haha.

Looks like your mum had a good shopping haul, that's what I like to see

What a good husband taking one for the team there, my husband would do the same, in fact he does it with the kid's food too ... is it a man thing?

Oh my word! How many onion rings?!

Sounds like a lovely day, I love how chilled your days are ... I'm not jealous at all xx

[Goldia]

We love the cheesecake factory. Such a lot of food though.

Do you know what? We've never actually been to the mall in Orlando! I know it must be a dibb sin or something. We're just no that big shoppers. It seems like you all had a good day though.

[i love jack]

A nice chilled day with lots of lovely food 😊