Live ish food report - Eating our way across land and sea - September 2016 ***COMPLETE***

[4holibobs]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to (attempt) to make this an index page for our live ish September 2016 trip.

Hope you all enjoy reading along!

Thanks

[4holibobs]

Introductions and how this trip came about...

I've read so many food and trip reports and since our last trip in 2014 I have been obsessed with going back to Disney and log onto the Dibb pretty much every day. I did a bit of a live spends report when we went last time, but this time I want to have a go at doing a live (ish) food report with photos as well as details of price etc.

My DH is synical about exactly who can/will read this and therefore who will know we are away from home so I won't be posting any photos of ourselves on here (but that's ok as this is a food report, there will be plenty of photos of food!). As there are just two of us on this trip, I'll just be referring to myself and DH as I or my and DH.

We've been together for 10 fabulous years and are very fortunate in that we have a very happy life. We both have good jobs and don't have large outgoings so we are lucky enough to be able to travel lots, this will be our 4th holiday this year.

Last year we made a bucket list which included big things such as moving home, travelling to Disney again, buying my dream car, snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea as well as smaller things like spending more time gardening, taking more regular baths (I do shower every day I'll just say but sometimes it seems a luxury to make time for a bath!).

So on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in January this year I 'accidentally' found myself pricing up a DIY trip to Disney and tagging on a Caribbean cruise at the end - two items ticked off the bucket list... I found what I thought was a good price and when I ran through this with DH he said go for it... So I booked it!

Can't wait to get back to the magic...

And tick off snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea off our bucket list

Next up... Our itinerary

[JenD1]

I'll be reading!

[4holibobs]

Our itinerary

We will be travelling to Manchester Airport for an overnight stay at Clayton Hotel on Thursday 15th September. We have parking included in our stay at Clayton which has cost us £167.59

Not sure yet where we will eat that night, we may pick up an M&S picnic on the motorway on the way up, or maybe we will eat in or around the airport. If anyone has any recommendations, do let me know.

We are flying Thomas Cook from Manchester into Orlando around Midday on Friday 16th September.

We've flown Thomas Cook a couple of times already this year and previously and have found the service to be good. Will be interesting to see what they are like long haul.

We've pre-booked our seats on both legs of the journey - 2 seats together (I understand the configuration is 2/3/2). We have also booked an extra bag there and back so I can do some shopping whilst we are out there

Flights plus extras have cost us £1669.96.

We have booked an SUV via Alamo Brits with pick up at Orlando airport and drop off at the cruise terminal in Cape Canaveral. This leg of the car hire has cost us £254.99.

We're hoping for something like this...

We're staying 9 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter in a king room.

I wanted us to stay on site so that we could take advantage of the Disney buses to get around when we want to, for example eating and drinking our way around World Showcase for Food and Wine Festival (we will use the car during the day and Uber taxis at night too). POFQ seems like an intimate resort with an adult feel to it, so I'm hoping we will enjoy it.

We're only doing Disney parks this trip, we plan to do both water parks, some shopping and have tickets for MNSSHP which I'm super excited for. We have tickets and memory maker included with our Disney package which has cost us £1963.12.

We only have 3 ADR's booked, as we want to spend time at the F&W festival as well as trying some off site restaurants such as Cracker Barrell and Cheesecake Factory... More on food plans shortly.

After 9 nights in our Disney bubble, we will be driving to Cape Canaveral where we will board Royal Carribean's Freedom of the seas for 7 nights.

We have 4 ports of call during our trip, Labadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Mexico.

We're staying in a balcony stateroom... We love these rooms as we tend to leave the balcony door open and fall asleep to the sound of the sea. We tend to spend a lot of time on our balcony on sea days too.

We've pre booked a couple of trips, a catamaran snorkelling trip in Jamaica and a zip lining experience in Labadee.

We have booked anytime dining, we love the food experiences on cruises and enjoy getting dressed up and going into the dining room for our evening meal. We have also booked a table at Chops the ship's speciality steak restaurant on our last evening to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

Our cruise has cost us £1653.18 including the two trips we have booked.

I'm not sure I will have wifi during the cruise section of this trip report so may have to post the last week when I am home but I will try my best to keep this report 'live'

When we dock we are picking up another hire vehicle from Alamo to drive back up to Orlando airport. Hopefully we will have time to stop at the Mall to do some last minute shopping. This hire care has cost us £31.64 which as far as I understand is much cheaper than a taxi, even an Uber.

We fly home on Sunday 2nd October landing early hours on Monday morning.

I'm so excited for this trip and can't wait to share some of it with you

[4holibobs]

Originally Posted by JenD1

I'll be reading!

See more...

Thank you!

[4holibobs]

Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

So it wouldn't be day one without a trip to the Magic Kingdom (imo).

Last time we rushed down Main Street to fit in as many rides as we could. This times going to be different, I've promised myself we're going to take a slow walk down Main Street and take in the sights and sounds this time...

For breakfast we will probably hop into the Main Street Bakery for a S'mores drink and something sweet

Well, we are on holiday after all!

A definite on my list is a dole whip float... This was probably one of the most memorable snack items from our last trip and something I am really excited to have again

Next up on my list is a LeFou's brew. From what I have read it's Apple flavoured (is that right?) with a marshmallowy top which sounds delicious..

Something I didn't try last time and I have only learnt about from reading these trip reports is a fruit and Nutella waffle... I can almost taste this already!

I'm a massive fan of sorbet, so the frozen Minute Maid was something I really enjoyed last time and is definitely on the list for this time...

And finally, taking me back to my youth, a caramel apple, just because they look so cute and I'm on holiday so why not?!

I realise this is probably over my days quota of calories and we haven't actually eaten a proper meal yet.

We did have a lunchtime ADR for be our guest, but after reading the menu and other peoples reviews of the lunch time offerings and experience we decided to cancel it. It seemed like an expensive lunch just to for the experience when there was nothing really on the menu that we got too excited about.

If there's anywhere you would recommend for a quick service lunch then do let us know!

Thanks for reading

[4holibobs]

Day 2 - MNSSHP

Day two will see us having a park free morning (with offsite eats, but more on that later) with us heading to the Magic Kingdom for an evening trick or treating at MNSSHP. I'm so excited for this evening, I love Halloween and usually dress the house for it. I'm super excited to see the parade and the Hallowishes too :

I've got no real wish list in terms of food items tonight unless I don't cover off everything on my list from yesterday?

However, I'm hoping we get a large haul of sweeties so we can try different varieties and maybe pick up some we really like from Walmart to take home. This sweeties haul will most likely form part of the sweets we take into work too

Are there any special snacks on offer during MNSSHP which you would recommend? If so, please let me know!

[4holibobs]

Day 3 - Hollywood studios wishlist

We have a lunchtime reservation at Sci fi diner today

I think my DH will enjoy this and it's an experience you don't see very often.

The menu looks like pretty much standard fare, we'll most likely have a burger or a turkey sandwich... What I'm looking forward to is the milkshakes.. I've read lots of trip reports which say they are amazing

We'll stay in Hollywood studios to watch the fireworks. Not sure we'll fit in much more snack wise, but may pick up some of the popcorn in a novelty tub, because let's face it who doesn't have enough novelty items in their kitchen cupboards?!

Looking forward to taking it easy and wondering around at a slow place in Hollywood studios.. So many posts about how there's hardly anything there any more so I'm hoping it will feel like a slower paced theme park day.

[4holibobs]

Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon

We're trying out the water parks this trip which I think my DH will particularly enjoy.

I'm looking forward to spending time cooling off floating along the lazy river

As for eats, the kid in me really wants one of the humongous ice creams in a bucket which comes with a spade.. One of these ones ...

Can you tell I have a sweet tooth?

No? Well, just as confirmation, something else on my wishlist for Typhoon Lagoon are the mini doughnuts

I will of course be sharing these with DH.

Does anyone have any recommendations for lunch at Typhoon Lagoon?

We won't want anything too big as this evening we will be eating around World Showcase at Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival

[4holibobs]

Day 4 - Evening - Food and Wine Festival

One thing we really enjoyed last trip was spending time around Epcot's food and wine festival, although we definetely didnt do it justice, so I've done a little pre-planning this time so I know which kiosks I definitely want to hit...

First up...

And Le Cellier steak.. mmmmm

Next up is

And here I want to try Boeuf bourguignon

And to wash it down a La Passion Martini Slush... Oh this looks so good!

Next will be

And here we will be eating gyros

That's all that's on my list at the moment... Any other must do's I have missed off my list?

Please let me know!