The Mad Hatters in Florida May/June 2018 - Day 15 – IHOP, a sprinkle of Universal and Bahama Breeze

[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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Friday 1st June: Day 15 – IHOP, a sprinkle of Universal and Bahama Breeze

It was hard to believe we were now into our final week We did all agree though that time hadn’t flown by super-fast like it sometimes does, although it was still too quick for my liking

We were awoken quite early this morning by banging and noises that sounded like they were coming from a lorry or van reversing. Our room was next door to the housekeeping entrance for our floor, so it was likely that the noise was all coming from delivering there

When we checked in we were offered room 115 or 118. We were told that room 115 may be noisier as it’s next to the pool so we took 118. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake as both Grace and I are light sleepers.

Anyway, we managed to dose off and eventually got up at 7:25am. We let the boys have a lie in as they were still clearly tired and eventually they got up at 8:20am.

We all got ourselves sorted for the day and got ready to set off for breakfast. Instead of breakfast in the hotel, we were going to IHOP today. We grabbed my parents and set off walking just after 9am.

IHOP


It took us around a half hour to get to IHOP and we were sat down pretty quickly.

To drink, Grace and mum had diet Pepsi. My dad and I had coffee, mine decaf and the boys had apple juice.

For the food, we ordered:

Joshua had the Jr. Cupcake pancake combo (A completely sweet breakfast! You’ll get one buttermilk pancake filled with festive rainbow sprinkles and topped with cupcake icing and even more sprinkles! Plus it’s served with 1 piece of bacon, 1 sausage, and 1 scrambled egg).



Trayvon had the Create-A-Face pancake (Budding artists will love this big, fluffy buttermilk pancake with strawberry eyes, a whipped topping nose and a fresh banana smile - especially because it comes with a tube of low-fat strawberry GoGURT® to add their own special touch).


Dad ordered off the 55+ plus breakfast. He chose a Rise ‘N’ Shine.


Mum had Banana crepes with Nutella (Four delicate crepes topped with Nutella® The Original Hazelnut Spread® & freshly sliced bananas). She added extra strawberry to this.


Grace went for something different and chose the Home style corned beef hash (Shredded corned beef, caramelized onions & melted Swiss served on top of crispy hash browns. All drizzled with our signature mustard aioli & topped with 2 eggs). She got this without the egg but added hash brown. It doesn’t look particularly appetising, but it was so nice.


I went for the Build your pancake combo (Choose your favorite IHOP® pancake flavor and we’ll bring you two! You’ll also enjoy two eggs*, two bacon strips or pork sausage links, and our golden hash browns). For the pancakes, I went for Dulce de Leche



This was my parent’s first visit to IHOP and they really enjoyed it. Breakfast was really yummy and we had great service too. We left at 10:25am.

Reasonably priced


We were heading to Universal this morning and boy was it warming up today. We stopped off at the Walgreens on the corner to cool off.
Nearly there now…





We arrived at Universal security at just gone 11:30am. Not too bad really, and were in Universal Studios within 20 minutes.

The weather was looking good for a change


When we entered, the Despicable me parade was going on, so we watched that for a little bit. Our plan was for only a short visit today and to ride a couple of things that we hadn’t been on yet.






First up was ET. It was 12:09pm and the wait time was posted as 35 minutes. We were off by 12:25pm. It was pretty much a walk on. A good start This was Joshua’s favourite ride the first couple of times we came here. We still enjoy it now.

On the way into ET


Next was The Woody the Woodpecker coaster. The 4 of us got in line for this. Again, it was another short wait and we were off before we knew it.

We were pretty thirsty so Grace went and refilled our 2 minion’s cups. We just sat on the wall and chilled out for a little bit before heading for our next ride.



Our next ride was Transformers. We got into the queue at 1:06pm. This was posted as a 25 minute wait but took 35 minutes. Not too bad really.

The queue area is so cool…..



We really do love this ride. I know not everyone is into the simulators and Universal does have a lot of them, but we are glad that Transformers is there. It always makes me want to watch the movies when I’ve been on it

We saw this guy lurking in a door way. I used to love Beetlejuice when I was younger.


And we saw Homer, so had to grab some pictures. Me and the boys do really like the Simpsons.





And that was it for our little Universal visit today. Probably seems a pointless visit to most, but we loved the chilled nature of the later part of the holiday with just short visits to the parks. It was really warm too and we actually had sun which was a rarity on this holiday.

Because of this, the thing that the boys wanted to do the most, was to get into the pool. So that was our plan.

{Continued in next post}

[Mad Hatters]

{Continued from previous post}

We had a little nosey through a few of the stores on our way out of Universal and took a few random snaps.






We do love our walking dead.


A random duck somewhere around Universal. I seem to like taking pictures of ducks


It was 2:12pm as we headed out of the park and onto City Walk. Breakfast seemed like a while ago and we wanted a little energy top up. Cold Stone Creamery was calling us as we hadn’t been on this holiday yet.

The magic happening….


Grace and I got our usual to share. Birthday cake remix (Cake Batter Ice Cream® with Cookie Dough and Brownie) in the ‘gotta have it’ size. We added sprinkles to this.



Joshua and Trayvon also shared. They went for the cookie doughn’t you want some (French Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips, Cookie Dough, Fudge and Caramel) in ‘love it’ size. We got it split into smaller cups, so that we could avoid any arguing between them. I realise that I didn’t get a good picture of the boys ice cream



These were so yummy. We do love Cold Stone.

The receipt


We ordered an Uber X to get us back to the hotel. This didn’t take long at all and we were back by 3pm. We all went back to our rooms to get ourselves ready for some pool time.


At 4pm Grace left us so that she could get ready for this evening. Mum went to her room shortly after too for the same thing. Me, dad and the boys enjoyed ourselves in and around the pool. Joshua managed to swim 2 widths of the pool without arm bands which I was super proud of Trayvon wanted to have a go when he saw his brother doing it but he couldn’t do it. At 4:40pm we headed back to the room, as this was the time that I had been told to return My Dad stayed around the pool for a little longer, trying to get the last of the sun.

We got our baths and showers and got ready for going out for our evening meal. We headed out at 6pm. Tonight’s restaurant of choice was Bahama Breeze.

All ready to go out for food selfie


At Bahama Breeze


We walked up to the desk to see what the wait time was looking like. It wasn’t super busy tonight. We asked if we could sit outside as this is something my dad always wants to do, but we never do it. They had a table available almost straight away. We sat down inside for a couple of minutes and then were taken out to our table.


First off we ordered some drinks. The cocktails are lovely here from previous experience, so I knew that I was going to have one. I have often fancied trying the Coronorita’s that I’ve seen people drinking many times, so I ordered the Ultimate Coronorita. Unfortunately they were all out of the correct glasses for these, so I went back to the menu and chose the ‘Mamas Hooch and Holler flight’. This had a Bahama Mama, One love and a Goombay smash cocktail.



Dad being his usual self, chose a Stella.


Mum got herself a Pina Colada and a diet coke. She said that the Pina Colada wasn’t as good as it usually is, which is a shame as I was going to get one next. Nice photobomb by Joshua too


Grace had a Strawberry Daiquiri and a diet coke too.


Both of the boys got a Raspberry Surfer slushy thing.


All sat and ready for ordering some yummy food.




Appetisers were ordered.

Mum and Dad got the Skillet-Simmered Jerk Shrimp (Large shrimp in garlic-thyme butter with warm Cuban bread for dunking) to share.



Grace, Joshua, Trayvon and I got 2 apps to share between us. We got Beef Empanadas (Handmade pastries filled with savory beef and potatoes) and Chicken Chimichurri Croquettes (A popular Caribbean snack with chicken, herbs and Monterey Jack cheese, battered and fried).

My portion dished up.


Joshua trying his first shrimp that he pinched off my parents. He loves them now.


This was all gorgeous and went down really well. It was just the right amount as we shared it, which saved us all room for our main courses.

Some more drinks were required. A Stella for my dad and a blue moon for me. Grace also fancied a change, so she got herself a strawberry margarita.




Now for mains.

Mum got a Seafood Paella (A Caribbean classic with sautéed scallops, shrimp, fish, mussels, chicken and chorizo sausage with yellow rice).


Dad had Lobster and Shrimp Linguine (Tender shrimp and lobster tossed with fresh mushrooms in a lobster brandy cream sauce).


Grace stuck with what she knows and had a half portion of the Jerk Chicken Pasta (Sliced jerk chicken breast, fresh asparagus and mushrooms tossed in a Parmesan cream sauce with bow-tie pasta). She had this without mushroom if I remember correctly.


I fancied tacos again so chose Coconut Shrimp Tacos (Flour tortillas filled with crispy coconut shrimp, tomato salsa, Sriracha aioli and cabbage-jicama slaw).


Joshua had Hamburger Sliders with cheese. He was very pleased with it.



Trayvon had Bowtie Mac ‘n’ Cheese. Got the thumbs up!



All of the food was absolutely gorgeous. We thoroughly enjoyed our evening here. There was also some music playing in the background and it just felt super chilled. Also, with being sat outside, I literally melted. I need the AC

Trayvon looking sweaty too.


Not the cheapest meal, but well worth it.


We set off back to our hotel once we had paid up and were back at 7:40pm.

My parents came to our room and we played a few games. Dad and I had a couple of beers too. Grace won at trumps and finally us boys managed to win at dominos

We called it a night at that and put the boys to bed. We watched a bit of the film 'blended' in bed and then went to sleep at 10:25pm.

Today was a really nice day and we had a lovely evening at Bahama Breeze. Definitely in the highlights of this trip for me.

Total steps for today: 18,988.

Thank you for reading.

[caitlinsmummy]

I've said it before but I'll say it again ... I love how chilled your days are! To be able to just go and do a couple of rides then leave is great.

The boys looked like they were loving the pool and I'm so happy you finally got some sun!

Bahama Breeze looks lovely, your review is definitely tempting me and those cocktails just look lovely! Another awesome day xx

[Zomax25]

What an awesome day! I dream of enough time in Florida to do everything and chill too. Thanks for sharing.

[dixonsontour]

Lovely day

[mouselover22]

Brilliant day, great blog

Ummm IHOP is our favourite breakfast choice, those hash browns... nomnom

It’s so nice to have a bit of park time followed by some chill out pool time, not always possible with the Florida climate

The food & cocktails at Bahama Breeze look amazing

[Mad Hatters]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

I've said it before but I'll say it again ... I love how chilled your days are! To be able to just go and do a couple of rides then leave is great.

The boys looked like they were loving the pool and I'm so happy you finally got some sun!

Bahama Breeze looks lovely, your review is definitely tempting me and those cocktails just look lovely! Another awesome day xx

See more...

The relaxed way was new to us but was very welcome. It really helps to slow the holiday down a bit too. What better place is there to take it nice and steady than Florida.

They were loving the pool finally getting some use of it.

Bahama Breeze comes highly recommended from us. Such a great atmosphere and awesome food and drink

Thanks once again for reading

Originally Posted by Zomax25

What an awesome day! I dream of enough time in Florida to do everything and chill too. Thanks for sharing.

See more...

Thank you for reading along, it was so nice to be able to relax and take it steady.

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Lovely day

See more...

Thank you for reading along

Originally Posted by mouselover22

Brilliant day, great blog

Ummm IHOP is our favourite breakfast choice, those hash browns... nomnom

It’s so nice to have a bit of park time followed by some chill out pool time, not always possible with the Florida climate

The food & cocktails at Bahama Breeze look amazing

See more...

Thank you very much

IHOP is so yummy isn't it? A must do for us now.

As i have said a few times, we were really loving the relaxed approach to the end of the holiday.

Bahama Breeze is a brilliant restaurant, definitely worth a visit.

Thanks for reading

[Goldia]

I think I could eat all the ihop breakfasts! I love corned beef hash, I'd have definitely got the egg with it though.

It sounds like a really fun day at universal, you must have all been shattered by the end of it.

[Mad Hatters]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I think I could eat all the ihop breakfasts! I love corned beef hash, I'd have definitely got the egg with it though.

It sounds like a really fun day at universal, you must have all been shattered by the end of it.

See more...

I agree, I would have got the egg with it too haha.

It was a brilliant day, thank you for reading 👍

[Floridafour]

Bahama breeze looks lovely, we have a reservation there for our second night. Really looking forward to it now, great day, glad you saw the ☀️