COMPLETE: LIVE Triple Florida! November/December 2021

[OB1LukeLucas]

Your last breakfast at Fort Lauderdale looked fabulous. Wonderful to see the Hard Rock again, I’m so happy you went to Moes and Panda Express…what I would do for some cheesy nachos from there! The crepes looked fab, Green Eggs is never open when we are there it’s nice to see actual food😆 Voodoo Doughnuts and Cowfish too ooooh I wish I was there….

[Loobylou_82]

The food at Cowfish looks great, especially the tuna. The burgers looked massive. Yum.

[orlandoamber]

Today we had such a great day at Volcano Bay! It was really hot from late morning and the crowds were super low all day; we actually didn’t queue for a single ride and that included going on Krakatau 4 times.

We loved having the premium seating!

We paid $53 for it months ago which is partially offset by the fact you get a lockbox included and so don’t need to rent a locker. The seats are much comfier than the standard sunbeds there and it’s a nice perk to be able to eat your lunch easily on your sunbed facing the volcano.

We mobile ordered the following:

Vol’s Fire Punch and Haku-Puini were our cocktails, both rum-based, which came in souvenir glasses. I never think the prices are quite so bad when you get a nice glass to take home!

These were both good and it was so nice to sit in the sun with them looking at the volcano.

Both pizzas were great. The pork on the pork belly pizza was especially good and it also had plantain on it.

The fries were also nice and crispy, but expensive for the portion!

Some pics of the seating/views at the end of the day - we didn’t want to leave!

We were kings of the bus on the way back to Hard Rock (we were this morning too!)

This evening, we made our way to the Vineland Outlets. There were some huge deals to be had for Black Friday week and we are going to have to go back another time this trip because we didn’t even get half way round as there were so many good items… wish me luck sticking to 23kg for the return flight!

We then headed to the new Cheesecake Factory. It’s walkable from the outlets, not the nicest walk but only about 10/15 mins. We both liked this new Cheesecake Factory and thought it was much more relaxed than the other one at Mall at Millenia.

To drink, I went for the raspberry lemon drop (left) and W went for a strawberry infused margarita (right).

W’s margarita was good and even I thought it was nice when I don’t usually like margaritas very much, which must have meant it wasn’t that strong I think my cocktail was also actually one of the best of the trip so far, it was the perfect amount of sweet and just really lovely.

We were given bread but tried not to eat much as we knew how big the meal would be!

We then shared a couple of the small plates as appetisers (their usual appetisers are huge and much larger than these). We got the crispy sprouts and loaded baked potato tots.

If you read my last report, you’ll know these tots are one of our favourite food items in the USA. They were just as good as we remembered and I highly recommend getting them! The filling is so smooth and tasty.

The sprouts were also good but not as good as the ones we had in Fort Lauderdale at the Boathouse at Riverside.

For entree, W had the spicy crispy chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and fries.

W loves this - it’s his staple meal from the Cheesecake Factory. They gave him ketchup to dip rather than more chipotle mayo as usual though, so he said it wasn’t quite as good but still amazing.

I had the shrimp and chicken gumbo with white rice.

This was so good! I’ve not had gumbo before but fancied something different and I really liked it. A little spicy and just the right amount of shrimp and chicken, far too much rice though so a lot of that was left over.

A great meal!

Another brilliant day.

[spenners]

Originally Posted by orlandoamber

Today we had such a great day at Volcano Bay! It was really hot from late morning and the crowds were super low all day; we actually didn’t queue for a single ride and that included going on Krakatau 4 times.

We loved having the premium seating!

We paid $53 for it months ago which is partially offset by the fact you get a lockbox included and so don’t need to rent a locker. The seats are much comfier than the standard sunbeds there and it’s a nice perk to be able to eat your lunch easily on your sunbed facing the volcano.

We mobile ordered the following:

Vol’s Fire Punch and Haku-Puini were our cocktails, both rum-based, which came in souvenir glasses. I never think the prices are quite so bad when you get a nice glass to take home!

These were both good and it was so nice to sit in the sun with them looking at the volcano.

Both pizzas were great. The pork on the pork belly pizza was especially good and it also had plantain on it.

The fries were also nice and crispy, but expensive for the portion!

Some pics of the seating/views at the end of the day - we didn’t want to leave!

We were kings of the bus on the way back to Hard Rock (we were this morning too!)

This evening, we made our way to the Vineland Outlets. There were some huge deals to be had for Black Friday week and we are going to have to go back another time this trip because we didn’t even get half way round as there were so many good items… wish me luck sticking to 23kg for the return flight!

We then headed to the new Cheesecake Factory. It’s walkable from the outlets, not the nicest walk but only about 10/15 mins. We both liked this new Cheesecake Factory and thought it was much more relaxed than the other one at Mall at Millenia.

To drink, I went for the raspberry lemon drop (left) and W went for a strawberry infused margarita (right).

W’s margarita was good and even I thought it was nice when I don’t usually like margaritas very much, which must have meant it wasn’t that strong I think my cocktail was also actually one of the best of the trip so far, it was the perfect amount of sweet and just really lovely.

We were given bread but tried not to eat much as we knew how big the meal would be!

We then shared a couple of the small plates as appetisers (their usual appetisers are huge and much larger than these). We got the crispy sprouts and loaded baked potato tots.

If you read my last report, you’ll know these tots are one of our favourite food items in the USA. They were just as good as we remembered and I highly recommend getting them! The filling is so smooth and tasty.

The sprouts were also good but not as good as the ones we had in Fort Lauderdale at the Boathouse at Riverside.

For entree, W had the spicy crispy chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and fries.

W loves this - it’s his staple meal from the Cheesecake Factory. They gave him ketchup to dip rather than more chipotle mayo as usual though, so he said it wasn’t quite as good but still amazing.

I had the shrimp and chicken gumbo with white rice.

This was so good! I’ve not had gumbo before but fancied something different and I really liked it. A little spicy and just the right amount of shrimp and chicken, far too much rice though so a lot of that was left over.

A great meal!

Another brilliant day.

See more...

What a great day and I wish you luck with the suitcase packing

[ClaireNJ]

Pizzas looked yummy, but I’m a bit upset no desserts at CF

[gjdjud]

Really enjoying this. I’ve never quite made it to cowfish but determined to do it next time as my eldest daughter loves sushi. And the new cheesecake factory is definitely on our list as we love the one at Millenia.

[orlandoamber]

Originally Posted by spenners

What a great day and I wish you luck with the suitcase packing

See more...

I am genuinely worried about the packing situation 😂 We were already close to 23kg each on the way out! I did however get a lovely new large bag as a Christmas present from W yesterday, so I’m sure I can stuff some of the new stuff in there as hand luggage

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

Pizzas looked yummy, but I’m a bit upset no desserts at CF

See more...

We had full intentions of getting a cheesecake but were defeated! We also had intentions of going to the Hard Rock Velvet Bar when we got back to the hotel but we were so stuffed that bed won

Originally Posted by gjdjud

Really enjoying this. I’ve never quite made it to cowfish but determined to do it next time as my eldest daughter loves sushi. And the new cheesecake factory is definitely on our list as we love the one at Millenia.

See more...

I’d definitely recommend Cowfish. We’re trying to work out a way of going again this trip to share more appetisers as the tuna nachos were fab, as were the fries which you can get as an appetiser portion, and we kept watching other things come out of the kitchen and saying ‘ooo I’d like to try that’

[orlandoamber]

This morning we went to Islands for early entry and got on the front row of Hagrids! It was AMAZING So much better than the other rows. I was on the bike and genuinely felt like I was riding it!

We then did Forbidden Journey, Kong and Spider-Man before stopping at Starbucks for a strawberry açai and reindeer cake pop. The cake pop was really nice! The cake was really moist and had a caramel flavour. Delicious!

We then hopped over to Studios and went on Rip Rocket. This ride usually really scares me as I’m really small and always feel like I’m going to fall out. W on the other hand is very tall and almost misses out on the ride for hitting the maximum height requirement! Today the ride was actually great though, I think they must have fixed something so it no longer rattles you as much, or maybe it’s because we got front row again we were having a lucky day!

We stopped to go in the Tribute Store and have a look at the Christmas Tree which is beautiful.

Our good luck then continued with a front row ride on Mummy before we headed out of the parks and to get changed for a trip to Disney Springs this afternoon! We have lunch at The Boathouse on the cards, plus trips to Gideon’s, Everglazed and hopefully a later trip to the Poly for Trader Sam’s

[Disney Planning]

What a great time you are having, so glad you are enjoying it

[orlandoamber]

This afternoon we got an Uber across to Disney Springs. It was so lovely to be back in the Disney magic!

We had a wander around and visited Everglazed which is a new donut shop.

I got the 50th anniversary special and W got the strawberry iced + sprinkles.

These were SO good, better than Voodoo. However, we totally could’ve shared one, they were HUGE! Mine was really sweet and the butter cream in the middle was absolutely amazing. W said his was also great - he didn’t even share 😮 so it must’ve been good!

We then had our reservation for lunch at The Boathouse.

We got a lovely table outside and I ordered the Duck Duck Razz (vodka, peach schnapps, blue curacao, lemon juice and simple syrup).

This was lovely! Really refreshing and who doesn’t want a duck in their cocktail?!

W ordered a Diet Coke to start with but then also ordered a Strawberry Gin Fizz.

He liked this but said it was really strong!

We also got bread which was beatiful, soft and came with whipped butter (which could’ve been a better temperature, it wasn’t that easy to spread).

To start, we shared the Duo of Dips and Chips (the dips were pimento cheese and a fresh salsa roja). The salsa was good however the pimento cheese dip was the best! It was creamy with a little kick.

For my entree, I got the lobster roll and upgraded my fries to their truffle ones.

This was excellent. The lobster was really good quality and the fries were also really crispy and tasty, although there were far too many! The lemon aioli dip was also really nice and went well with both the lobster roll and the fries.

W ordered the grilled Mahi tacos.

He said that these were nice however having seen my dish he had food envy. We did share my fries as there were far too many but I think he wishes he’d ordered the lobster roll or something similar for himself!

The total was $102.77 + tip.

We also went to Gideons and hopped over to the Poly, went to Trader Sam’s and then finished the night at the Grand Floridian. I’ll write this section up tomorrow.