Rolling in the upside downs - 9th July 22 - Day 6, Dockside and Orlando City v Miami

[Rescuer]

Rolling in the upside downs - July 22 - Day 6 - 9/7/22 - The longest time

Index is here


Plan
Chilled day✅
Pool✅
Debbie - parcels✅
Red lobster✅
Orlando city game✅

Steps 6k but no watch or phone at the pool.

No Upside Downs

Weather - roasting with a mental storm

We were definitely firmly in Florida time now and all slept till 8.30am. We had a very chilled day planned.

Started off with a few snacks in the room to tide us over and headed downstairs for a proper breakfast about 10.30am.

Breakfast at Dockside food court this morning.

Usual for me.

Ds had some variation and went for blueberry pancakes with bacon. I thought this was great value and could easily have been shared.

Dh varied as well and had the French toast with bacon. He was happy.

Annual pass discount again.

After that we headed to the pool. We managed to get a space with an umbrella so it was lovely and pleasant in the shade.

We dipped in and out of the pool. Ds started off saying he just wanted to play on bis phone but even he relented and had a swim.

Both Ds and Dh went upstairs before me to have showers and I sat quite happily reading my book while they tried to take pictures of me from the room.

We had arranged for the lovely Debbie (Angelbabe) to drop of our parcels that afternoon as we knew we’d not be up to too much. I love Debbie’s service. It’s great to be able to order things and have them sent to her. We never order masses but it’s great to order things like Bath & Body works when on offer, Dh likes to order wee unique football things that he’d never pay international shipping for and I got the cutest pair of hand made earrings from Etsy.

The plan for later was the Orlando city game against Miami. I was stressing over the heat, the bag policy and the food. In hindsight I should have just said at the start that I didn’t really want to go but the other 2 were so keen. I was feeling a bit off and decided I’d just give it a miss. I don’t think Dh was that bothered other than feeling bad for leaving me on my own, I wasn’t bothered at all. Ds offered to stay with me seeing an opportunity to just play on his phone but he’d have regretted not going. One of Dh’s football buddies was here as well and he and his son decided to go and they arranged to meet up at the fan zone before the game.

We headed round to Red Lobster though for an early tea.

We’d really fancied the menu here and it’s just round the corner from the resort so it was a great choice for this evening.

Cheddar bay biscuits. I tried a little, amazing. Ds was slightly tactful saying they were amazing and way way better than the low carb ones I make ( mine are pretty good if I say so myself) .

Really fancied the seafood stuffed mushrooms, they were great, I shared with Ds and Ds and Dh shared the calamari which was huge.

Ds wanted the shrimp and chicken curry, the server warned him it was a little spicy, it was but not any more than he’s used to. He loved this. Dish of the holiday he said.

Dh had the coconut shrimp, he thought it was pretty good and it totally defeated him.

I had the half portion salmon New Orleans, this was so good and way big enough. I had broccoli and made a bit of a mistake in ordering the crispy Brussels sprouts which were phenomenal by the way just higher in carbs than I’d anticipated. I shared them with Ds so I’m sure it wasn’t mental!

I used the eat and play card we’d got free with our discovery cove tickets to get an extra 10% off.

Ds and Dh walked me back round to the resort where the got theirselves an Uber to the stadium.

My evening

I grabbed a juice and headed upstairs to have a wee chill out with my book and do a little bit of a luggage reorganise for moving resorts in a couple of days.

I thought about heading to the pool and realised when I looked the pool was closed and the most mental storm started shortly after.

Dh messaged to say the game had a delayed kick off and they’d been evacuated from the stands into the concourse. I was definitely thinking I’d made the right choice not to go.

I watched the rain for a bit then took myself downstairs to the bar for a wee glass of wine and a listen to the live music.

A wee wine at the bar.

Followed by a Caesar salad in food court with the live music still going.

Every time there was lightening in the area they added another 30 minutes to the kick off. I was watching it all on tv upstairs and the game eventually started at 10.20pm rather than 8pm.

Ds and Dh - football report

I asked Dh to write a wee paragraph for the trip report. Surprisingly he agreed.

ORLANDO CITY v INTER MIAMI

This was our 3rd visit to an Orlando City match. We were at games in 2018 and 2019 and they won both so we considered ourselves lucky mascots. This time was a Florida derby against Inter Miami. Kick off was scheduled for 8pm so we decided to get there for around 6.15pm. The Orlando City stadium is around 9 miles from Universal and it cost around $16 in an uber.
The stadium wasn’t due to open until 7pm but we had decided to get there a little earlier so that we could visit the fanzone. On previous trips we had just gone to the Broken Strings bar on West Church Street (plenty football fans in there, including kids, and has a good selection of beers). The fanzone (on some spare land to the east of the stadium) had a stage with music, had food and drink for sale (at cheaper prices than applied in the stadium) and had a number of football-related things there that would entertain kids of all ages whether taking part or just watching. We particularly enjoyed the kids football match that was taking place on a 5-a-side pitch which must have been about 20-a-side with not many rules applying! Anyone could join in.

We were enjoying the fanzone but it started to rain so we headed into the stadium around 7.20pm.

The security at the gates is quite strict in terms of what you can and can’t bring in. For example, you can’t take a bag any bigger than around a purse size. If you’re going to a game, make sure you check out what’s allowed. We got a couple of drinks, these were quite expensive at around $13 for a beer and $8 for a soft drink. Having been before though. we weren’t really shocked at these prices. We wandered about the concourse looking at some of the merchandise on sale all the while a bit concerned at the weather.

When there’s a thunderstorm in Orlando, they don’t cancel the match, they just delay it. This isn’t uncommon in the summer, though we’d maybe just been lucky on our previous visits that there hadn’t been any delays. Anyway, an announcement was made around 7.30 or so that the game would be delayed because of the weather. When this happens, they don’t allow anyone to sit in their seats (even though most of the seats are covered), they tell everyone to take shelter in the concourse.

So the concourse was then busy but you could still move around ok. You can walk all the way around the ground in the concourse so we just did that a couple of times, occasionally stopping somewhere for a bit and picking up the odd refreshment. We didn’t really have much food as we’d had a decent meal before we left for the match. They must make a fortune out of delays as it just means more food and drink sales.

The atmosphere in the concourse was good, there was no sense of frustration, just folk enjoying themselves and looking forward to the game. The drums and chanting that goes on in the ground was going on in the concourse.

The thunderstorm and the delay dragged on for a while and the match finally kicked off at 10.24pm, almost 2.5 hours late. Pretty sure the latest kick off I’ve ever been at. The match itself was pretty poor. MLS is ok but isn’t at the same quality level as top leagues in the UK. I suspect the delay might also have had something to do with it. Hanging about for 2.5 hours can’t do any good for professional players with their set routines. Orlando City won the match 1-0 with a fairly spectacular injury time own goal, easily the highlight of the match. So a game that started on the Saturday eventually finished on the Sunday!

After the match, even though it was late, we headed to the aforementioned Broken Strings Brewery (which we didn’t think would be open but it was) thinking it would be a useful spot for getting an uber.

We knew ubers would be expensive right after the match so were really just killing time till uber cost reduced. It initially quoted $45 but after having a drink it came down to around $20 which we were happy to take as it was getting pretty late. We got back to hotel around 1.20am. Our match tickets were around $60 each. Prices vary quite a bit and you can pay much more or less than that. Our seats were quite good though. You could have got tickets as cheap as around $20. The stadium holds around 20,000 people though it has only felt around half full each time we’ve been. Enough for a good atmosphere though.

Finishing with Ds’s photo of the day another one he was proud of.

A full Rescuer family instalment for the trip report today - I’m as shocked as you are. 😂😂

[MickeyMoose]

Go Dh!

[FamilyDisney]

We were at the same game as your husband and son, he sums it up really well. I kept thinking they would cancel the game. Was also impressed by the patience of everyone on the concourse during the delay.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by MickeyMoose

Go Dh!

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I know. More football reporting to come from him 😂

Originally Posted by FamilyDisney

We were at the same game as your husband and son, he sums it up really well. I kept thinking they would cancel the game. Was also impressed by the patience of everyone on the concourse during the delay.

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Thanks. He was chuffed that you said he’d summed it up well. Could you imagine that at a game in this country especially with alcohol readily available.

[Goldia]

A nice lazy day at the pool, interesting to read about the football, even though it's not something we would do as my DH isn't into watching sports. Fab photo at the end I agree with your DS it is a good one.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Goldia

A nice lazy day at the pool, interesting to read about the football, even though it's not something we would do as my DH isn't into watching sports. Fab photo at the end I agree with your DS it is a good one.

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Dh and Ds are obsessed with football. They go all over the place together. They had a wee trip to the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago and are away to the football today. They do crazy things like the mega bus overnight to London to do a play off at Wembley. I’m sure they have a team in every league they like to go and see, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their actual team or Scotland games. 😂I’m happy to go to a few games but I’m not at their level. I’ve already said I won’t be going to any games next summer holiday with them. It’s their thing really and it’s lovely they enjoy something so much where they spend quality time together.

[OB1LukeLucas]

Wow that was a long match, pleased they had a great night. I would have stuck with the wine and book too!

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas

Wow that was a long match, pleased they had a great night. I would have stuck with the wine and book too!

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A wise decision from me, I’d have been totally cranky, moaning and starving if I’d been there 😂 They really enjoyed their night though.

[Fuellady]

Nice chilled out day at the pool, it's always good to have some downtime during a busy holiday.

Your evening alone sounds idyllic - peace & quiet, a nice glass of wine and a lovely meal, perfect!

Great report of the football by your DH, those waits would have caused a riot in the UK, I'm sure Shame it wasn't the most exciting game, but lovely that they had a good time together. Great photo at the end too.

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

Nice chilled out day at the pool, it's always good to have some downtime during a busy holiday.

Your evening alone sounds idyllic - peace & quiet, a nice glass of wine and a lovely meal, perfect!

Great report of the football by your DH, those waits would have caused a riot in the UK, I'm sure Shame it wasn't the most exciting game, but lovely that they had a good time together. Great photo at the end too.

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Thank you. I’d have been hugely cranky at that delay. I’m imagining a Scottish game with alcohol being sold freely with that kind of delay. There would have been no fans left awake at kick off!
Ds and Dh would go to see any game I think, it’s their thing which is lovely. We watched Fever Pitch last night and Ds loved it, think he sees a bit of himself and his dad in that football obsessed character.