Over the Hill and Sailing Away March 2017 Day 14 Shopping, Cheesecake Factory, Epcot, Biergarten

[closeder]

14 days into the holiday and one trip to the shops, that had to be rectified so we left the villa at 10ish and headed to Mall at Millenia. We thought we would jump into McDonald's for breakfast but the roads were so busy Derek couldn't work his way over to the exit so we carried on. It's never a good idea to try heading North to the shops in a Saturday but this was the best day in our plans so we went. Every time I called out suggestions for stopping somewhere else for breakfast I would get a groan or a "no I don't like there" from the rest of the passengers so somehow we ended up at Mall at Milenia before we managed to get breakfast. It was just after 11 by now and we decided to head to the food court, but then the Cheesecake factory was calling so we decided on brunch instead!

So glad we missed McDonald's, we have never walked into Cheesecake Factory and been seated immediately. We also sat outside which is new for us and it was lovely. It wasn't that warm at this time and they had the patio heaters on, The valet parking is right outside and it was fun to people watch, plenty people were dressed up to the nines for their shopping trip and lots of special designer shopping bags were being loaded into the very posh cars.

I had a lovely Cafe latte to accompany my people watching, I could quite happily have sat here for the day. The food was great as usual, so much choice on the menu.

Derek and Murray had burgers, they were absolutely huge.

Katie had the kids sliders. Such a large portion for a kids meal.

I thought I would go for a lighter option and chose the soup and salad, the soup choice was Jacket Potato, doesn't sound too light but I thought I would go for it anyway. Wow what a plateful, bacon, cheese and potato with sour cream and spring onion, it was actually absolutely amazing and the salad was so fresh and tasty.

After "brunch" I had to order my favourite cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Pie, to go. It was never going to look like this at the end of the days shopping but it still tasted as delicious.

We headed to Tiffanys after this, I had some birthday money to spend from my Mum and Dad and I hoped to find something I liked.

Of course they do say if you are in a shop where you have to ask the price you can't afford to shop there but I'm not shy about telling them my budget and they were very helpful. I wasn't sure what I specifically wanted. I do have a few lovely Tiffany things already that I wear everyday, a necklace and ring that we bought in New York for my 30th and another bracelet that I wear occasionally. They cleaned my necklace and ring for me while I browsed, made me feel old realising they were 10yrs old! I looked at quite a few things but then Derek found a bracelet he knew I would like and after trying it on he was right.

Here is a library picture and I also bought the earrings to match.

It was a nice experience and Katie was chuffed to have been helping pick something out too, it will go to her eventually so she did have a vested interest!

After a browse round some of the lovely shops in the mall, we hit Macy's but there were no real bargains to be had and we came away from here empty handed apart from two Kipling bags for Katie's friends who had both had Birthdays while we were away. Little cross body bags reduced by 25% already then an offer for another 25% off the lowest marked price, we got them for $25 each.

We went to the top Premium outlets after this as they are only 2miles away. We had success for Murray in Ralph Lauren, 40% of everything we bought t shirts for him at $9 each. We bought converse for Katie, taking up the 75% off a second pair so each pair was $23. You can see one pair in the photo above. Derek and I weren't so successful. We headed home for 4pm. We had an hour at the pool before getting ready to go to Epcot. We had arranged to meet a friend from Derek's work and his wife and daughter and I had managed to book Biergarten for us all.

We took an Uber to Beach Club so we could enter the park from our "usual" entrance, it was lovely to manage back to the hotel, we all agreed it would have been nice to have just come back to the hotel after the cruise but that was not in the budget. Uber is a fabulous thing, our driver was lovely, we were texted when he arrived to pick us up, we knew what car he was in, it was a lovely clean modern Toyota and I think it cost $11.

A photo of the kids waking towards Epcot from beach club for the last time.

I was so delighted to finally get a Grey Goose slushie.

We had a lovely wander round to Germany, again taking it all in for one last time with no plans to come back any time soon.

We met up with Derek's friend and family and we had a great evening. It was their first time to Orlando and it was fair to say they had tried to fit loads in but had found it fairly overwhelming. This was their first visit to Epcot so we enjoyed showing them round a bit and they enjoyed illuminations. We went round the Boardwalk afterwards and ahead a few drinks in ESPN before heading our separate ways.

We had been so lucky to stay here. It brought it home to me, bringing someone who hadn't been before, and seeing them blown away by it. It was how I felt from the first time we visited The Boardwalk area, I said then in 2008 that we would stay here one day and we did and really appreciated it and loved it.

This was our latest night , I think we were home by 1.30am. Tomorrow we had a full day in the villa so won't make for too exciting a report I'm afraid but maybe it will help me get the report finished before I am back to work!

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New Photo Added by closeder - 15 Apr 17 1:56 PM.

[codym]

Excellent shopping day, love your Tiffany bracelet, that must be a relatively new design, it's fab. I love the Tiffany shop in MaM,we only have a Tiffany concession store in Brown Thomas (department store) here, the actual Tiffany store is a nicer experience, they really make a fuss of you.
Yummy Cheesecake Factory too
Nice evening, some lovely pictures

[mrsdjh]

Lovely brunch and I love your Tiffany purchase.

[Jake71]

A good shopping day, love the bracelet and lunch from the Cheesecake Factory looks delicious.

[Loopylooloo]

Your tiffany bracelet is beautiful! And that cheesecake looks good too!
Another fabulous day.

[closeder]

Originally Posted by codym

Excellent shopping day, love your Tiffany bracelet, that must be a relatively new design, it's fab. I love the Tiffany shop in MaM,we only have a Tiffany concession store in Brown Thomas (department store) here, the actual Tiffany store is a nicer experience, they really make a fuss of you.
Yummy Cheesecake Factory too
Nice evening, some lovely pictures

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Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Lovely brunch and I love your Tiffany purchase.

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Originally Posted by Jake71

A good shopping day, love the bracelet and lunch from the Cheesecake Factory looks delicious.

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Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Your tiffany bracelet is beautiful! And that cheesecake looks good too!
Another fabulous day.

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Thanks everyone I'm really enjoying wearing the bracelet, I love it.

[mick]

Good day and a lovely bracelet

Joan

[Jaspercat10]

Looks like you are having a fabulous time 😁

[closeder]

Originally Posted by mick

Good day and a lovely bracelet

Joan

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Thank you, I'm loving wearing it!

Originally Posted by Jaspercat10

Looks like you are having a fabulous time 😁

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Thanks!