Diet's Done, Disney Dining Plan here we come! Sept 2015 (Onsite/Offsite) **COMPLETE**

[MissFortune]

Pre-Travel Day - Breakfast & snacks on way down to airport hotel

A light breakfast before setting off courtesy of Sainsbury's fresh bakery section.



An almond croissant for myself and a Chocolate twist for Andy.

Both were very nice - the almond Frangipane inside my croissant was quite strong though. As with most baked goods these didn't really keep us full for very long.

The traditional stop at Shardlow Gravel Service Station which we make for any long-ish trip yielded these snacks to eat in the car.



Not a great deal to be said about these but I enjoyed my cheese & onion crisps.

[MissFortune]

Pre-Travel Day - Thyme Premier Inn Runger Lane North

We'd pre-booked a table for 7.30 but were getting restless & hungry so we asked if we could swap our reservation for 5.45 instead which was not a problem.

To drink I had a soda which turned out to be free as it wasn't put on the bill - bonus Andy had a bottle of Magners.

Food wise for Andy - the same as last year Mixed Grill. It had 4oz rump steak, chicken breast, gammon steak, premium British sausage and a fried egg served with chips, mushrooms, grilled tomato & green beans



He enjoyed it but said that fries have no business being on a mixed grill. It should be served with proper chips.

I opted for the New Yorker Pizza. It is topped with Mozzarella & Cheddar cheeses, spicy pepperoni, chicken breast, back bacon, mixed peppers, red onion & jalapeņos.

Andy described this as "me on a pizza" as it has all my favourite things on it. I was torn between this and the chicken burger last year but went for the latter and was disappointed so it was an easy choice this time.



Now I must admit that I picked off the rocket as I detest it - but that aside it was fantastic! Even down to the tomato sauce which was so flavourful and the toppings were really generous (there was loads of pepperoni hiding beneath the cheese). It had a lovely spicy kick that I find is often lacking from pub food. The best pizza I've had in a long long time. I'm sad that we don't have any up-coming Premier Inn stays so I can have it again. Yum.

No dessert, instead we ate the Crunchy Rocks chocolate that we brought with us. So we paid the pretty reasonable bill and headed back to the room.

[MissFortune]

Travel Day - Manchester Airport T1 Aspire Lounge

As we had an early-ish flight (10.30am) and we had to be up early, breakfast at the Premier Inn wasn't really an option and we wouldn't have wanted to eat that early either. When I spotted I could book an airport lounge through Holiday Extras and then find it cheaper, thus getting it free, I jumped on it as it would give us a light (and free! ) breakfast.



It was pretty plush inside and was overlooking the runway.





The hot food on offer was bacon rolls. They turned out to be pretty tiny and there was a sign up asking you to only take one at a time so there was enough for everyone.



You can kind of see in Andy's hand how small it was.



There was one piece of bacon in each. It was nice though. The bacon fat was crispy which is a bonus, I hate stringy grizzly fat on bacon. There was a choice of ketchup & brown sauce sachets too.

There was a selection of pastries (croissants, cinnamon buns and a few others), tiny shortbread biscuits, fruit, cereals, yogurts, olives & nibbles. There was a coffee machine, selection of fruit juices (orange, pineapple, apple & cranberry) soft drinks (lemonade, pepsi, ginger le, soda water, milk).

Also included was alcoholic beverage but they do not display these so it's hard to know exactly what they had - you had to ask the lady serving on the rare time she was behind the counter and not faffing with the coffee machine. I think there was Tiger beer, Kronenbourg, Boddingtons, Spirits (probably bog standard Vodka, Gin etc) and champagne to purchase. They didn't have any kind of cider which made us sad.

So as well as the above bacon roll, croissant & biscuit I also had a cinnamon whirl.



Everything I sampled was ok and filled a gap. We left after eating to find a proper bar.

Overall, I would absolutely not pay for the lounge and in fact wouldn't bother trying to get it for free again. I would rather pay for breakfast/drinks somewhere in the main departure lounge with better atmosphere and choose what we actually want to eat/drink. It was fun to try though.

[MissFortune]

Travel Day - The Grain Loft Manchester Airport T1

We'd spotted The Grain Lounge upstairs in the Departure Lounge passing by to the outside smoking area and it looked really nice so we stopped by for a few drinks to kill some time .

I think we timed it wrong as the queue when we first got there was about 10 people long and there were only 2 serving points open so it was moving really slowly. Typically it died down after we'd been served though so it must have just been a random rush.

These are not my pictures, I borrowed them from Google. It was much more packed than that.





It was overlooking the main downstairs area which was great for people watching and you could also see out onto the very wet runway.



I had 2 halves of Strongbow Dark Fruit and Andy had a couple of pints of regular Strongbow. I think each round was about Ģ7 which I don't think is too bad for an airport.

[MissFortune]

Travel Day - Thomas Cook Economy in-flight meal

The choice of main meal in economy was Sausage & Mash or Chicken Curry.

I had the curry which was Malaysian chicken Rendang with steamed jasmine rice.





The curry was nice enough. It was a fragrant type curry (think coconut, lemongrass) and with the jasmine rice was just on the cusp of being too "perfumey". I don't think the broad beans really added anything either but they weren't offensive.

All meals were served with a bread roll which as usual was cold and hard and there was rock solid butter to go with it (if you put it right next to your meal and it will soften a bit). There was a "selection" of cheeses (Brie & Cheddar), crackers & a nice fig & date compote which reminded me of a sweeter Branston Pickle. I actually rather enjoyed this with my cheddar on a cracker.



For sweet there was a tiny Lily O'Brien chocolate square which turned out to be mint so was rather nice. However, the main dessert was a Millionaires shortbread mousse.



This was gorgeous. A rich chocolate mousse with shortbread pieces and pockets of gooey caramel sauce throughout. It wasn't massive but was so rich you didn't need much to hit the spot.



Andy on the other hand went for the Grilled pork sausage with bramley apple sauce, buttered spring onion mash, carrots, peas and gravy.



He mainly just ate the sausages and accompaniments and declared it OK.

Between the main meal and later afternoon tea we were given mini cornetto type ice creams.





Much nicer than the mini fab on Virgin flights

As mentioned above, a few hours before landing we were given afternoon tea. I never seem to be hungry again by this stage so just picked at the best bits.



Two small rolls - one with a slice of cheese and a small scrape of tomato chutney (I believe) and the other egg & cress.



I'm surprised egg was offered when in such an enclosed space. I only had a bite of each and both were all right, nothing to write home about. The cheese one was a bit dry though, as you can see.

The best bit was the sultana scone which came with a small pot of clotted cream & a blister pack of raspberry jam.



This was gorgeous. I'd been craving a bit fat clotted cream scone for ages whilst on my diet so I was really happy to see it. Thankfully I was restrained and didn't steal Andy's too (he doesn't like them). Right now I'm kicking myself about that as I'm firmly back on the wagon trying to lose the 5lb I gained whilst away

The only drinks that were offered free were tea/cofee, water and weak orange squash with the meal/afternoon tea. All other soft drinks and alcoholic drinks were available to buy. They were expensive, of course.



Cans of Pepsi were Ģ1.80 each and I think most alcoholic drinks were Ģ4 each or 2 for Ģ7-ish.

Overall the meals were fairly tasty and filled a hole - as to be expected in economy.

[MissFortune]

Travel Day - Lava Lounge

In new travel day tradition we got changed and headed to RFC Lava Lounge at Disney Springs, excited for a Pink Parrot Lemonade to give us that "We're here!" feeling. It was no longer on the cocktail menu though



Instead I went for something new - White Sangria.





It was just OK - certainly not as good as other white Sangrias I've tried in other places on previous trips. It wasn't fruity enough and pretty much like drinking watered down normal white wine.

I think Andy had an angry orchard, so no picture. It was just a quick visit as by now we were hungry and tired.

I've lost the receipt so not sure of price, sorry.

[Robin Sparkles]

Awesome! Subscribed.

[DisneyDreamer81]

Wooo, you've started! Can't wait to read the rest!

[EllieP]

Liking this so far yummy!

[pho3nix]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts!