You Used a Snack Credit on a COKE? - WDW, Universal, Sanibel - **COMPLETE**

[Guest]

Universal Orlando Day 3


Only one "interesting" meal today...



After getting ready for the day we fetched Poot’s birthday cupcake out of the ice bucket and carried it down to the Club Lounge - where I let him eat it for breakfast. We both had some fruit - I also had a piece of toast and a glass of milk.

Lunch (such as it was) ...


We stopped near a (poorly-punctuated) Jurassic Park churro cart and had some of Poot’s “birthday snacks” and a couple of bottles of water.



Dinner, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen (Universal Citywalk)



We were celebrating today, so back at the room tonight, we got changed for Poot’s big birthday meal at Toothsome. This is NOT a good snap of me, but I wanted you to see that we dressed for the occasion!

I think I even put mascara on that night ( ). And I was wearing my tiny top hat - and carrying my seventh anniversary present from R.C., which I think suited the occasion:

Does anybody else out there still do the traditional wedding anniversary gifts? That has really been fun for us - for our “Iron Anniversary” - I got R.C. a Margaret Thatcher nutcracker!

But oh, how I LOVE my flag bag...I still keep it in its little Aspinal box - and occasionally take it out of said box just to stroke and admire it. Along with my Alice in Wonderland shoes -

- and (now) my crystal ears...

ANYWAY…



How great is it that we got THREE uses out of R.C.’s old Ascot hat on this holiday?!


Halloween Party:

Meeting another Hatter:

Steampunk Birthday:

Poot has chosen Toothsome for its theming. He loves inventing (I give you the half-size trebuchet that is currently blocking my driveway) and gadgets and gizmos of every sort. So this:

...drew him like a flame draws a moth.



We got to the restaurant around 7:00 PM - and after waiting about five minutes were taken through - to a table right next to the kitchen door.


But you will be proud of me...I said, “No, thank you. This is my son’s tenth birthday - I want it to be a special night. May we please have a better table?”


And...YES!


We were then taken upstairs and seated between one of the big screens…

...and the metal “fencing”. Much better. I know SOMEBODY has to get the table next to the kitchen door - but we had that table at Via Napoli - and once is enough for any holiday, right?


The menu at Toothsome is huge. I really fancied one of the freakshakes…

...but I thought that I would see what Poot wanted, since it WAS his fake birthday.


He couldn’t decide - so in the end we ordered the three savoury things he fancied, and had no sweet at all. Boo!


Next time, though...

We met our waitress and she was outstanding - so good with Poot and not at all pushy (Mohammed, take note!). She fetched me a Diet Coke and for the birthday boy it was - tap water.


Poot asked if we could have a starter. Of course!

Philly Cheesesteak Rolls – Cheese-steaks in a crispy wrapper, cherry pepper aioli ($11.95)


Oh, Heavens! - these were SO good. Even better than the cheeseburger spring rolls at Magic Kingdom (because they had STEAK and cheese inside them - rather than mince and cheese). YUM.


While we were waiting for our mains, we had a visitor…I wonder who it could have been!

Now, this is some of the “story” behind Toothsome:


From the Alps to the empire of the Aztecs, from Mongolia to Madagascar, Professor Doctor Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome learned new and fascinating methods of infusing chocolate into the most extraordinary recipes, making friends and receiving honors everywhere she went. Upon returning home to London, Penelope determined that she would share her love and knowledge of chocolate with the world. She set about building The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen, an enchanting 19th century themed, Steampunk inspired dining establishment with a façade of towering smokestacks and an interior adorned with intriguing gadgets and gizmos.


The unabridged version (of the above) appears in Toothsome’s menu:

When Penelope stopped by our table she brought her (robot) chum “Jacques” with her - and when Jacques found out today was Poot’s birthday he began to sing “Happy Birthday” - but in a weird, funny way - complete with “robot clapping”.

Poot was SO happy!

Jacques then got Penelope AND Poot to clap along...

But then - before our new robot friend could finish “Happy Birthday” - a woman from a nearby table walked up to him, turned him by his shoulder - and whined, “When are you going to come to OUR table (of all adults)? You’ve been with THEM for TOO LONG!”



I’ll spare you my soap-box lecture on the war on kids - but WHAT THE FRACK?!


Credit to Penelope, who in her (fake) English accent managed to say something mollifying to this *woman* - and at the same time reassure Poot that he hadn’t done anything wrong by having a birthday and getting sung to.


I couldn’t help but think of all the kids’ reactions today at Ollivander’s. When someone else was chosen for the wand, they all observed quietly and respectfully. Not ONE of them complained or whined. Even after we left the shop.


This woman, by contrast, was older than me - and yet couldn’t be gracious enough to allow a CHILD to hear the whole of “Happy Birthday”.


Not long after Penelope and Jacques were dragged off - the waitress brought our mains.


Toothsome doesn’t do snails ( ), so for a main Poot picked his second favourite food:

Wild Mushroom and Chicken Risotto – White truffle oil, parmesan crust ($14.95)


He loved this - but was unable to finish it. I didn’t help - I class risotto as wasted calories!


Now had this not been Poot’s birthday - I would have gone for something green and leafy for my main to cut the richness of the cheesesteak rolls. But I wasn’t going to deny him on his big day. So I ordered his second choice from the menu:

Red Reuben – Boar’s Head corned beef, Alpine Lace Swiss cheese, braised red cabbage, grilled artisan rye, 1000 Island dressing ($11.95)


This was a really tasty sandwich - I was impressed with the food tonight. And it was all good value for money. I was worried that all the investment had gone into the theme - but no. Well done, Toothsome. Next time, though - I’ll balance the meal better. So I can have one of these:

A funny thing happened as we were waiting for the bill…


There had obviously been a shift change for the characters - and the “new” Penelope walked right up to Poot and introduced herself.

Poot says:

I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying that I’d already met her - so I just told her all the same things I said to the OTHER Lady Penelope. They were both very nice and pretty.


She was indeed “very nice and pretty”. Sadly though, like the first Penelope - her English accent was...grim.


Time to go. Total bill including 20% tip - around $50. Worth every penny. This one is definitely on the list for next time.


Toothsome has a good-sized shop attached to the restaurant…

...and we had a little nosy - I was very keen on the packaging of all the sweets!

And the chocolate “gears”:

We had a postprandial stroll around Citywalk and then back to Portofino. By the time we got there, Poot was feeling hungry enough for dessert, so we stopped in the Club Lounge. The staff was great about us making up little plates to take upstairs - so that’s what we did.

I am not the world’s biggest cannoli fan - but these mini ones were certainly cute. I don’t remember what the little “square” was (maybe flan?), but I always enjoy the giant American blackberries.



If you are interested in our non-food activities for today (Ollivander's, Gringotts, Grammar) then "Universal Orlando Part 3" in the main trippie is HERE.

[mrmoo123]

Originally Posted by GopherLass

Universal Orlando Day 3

Does anybody else out there still do the traditional wedding anniversary gifts? That has really been fun for us - for our “Iron Anniversary” - I got R.C. a Margaret Thatcher nutcracker!

See more...

I absolutely love the strategically placed cracked nut!

I'm cracking up! No pun intended!

Oh and the Toothsome review was pretty good too!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by mrmoo123

I absolutely love the strategically placed cracked nut!

I'm cracking up! No pun intended!

Oh and the Toothsome review was pretty good too!

See more...

Thank you. You know I couldn't resist that photograph, mrmoo.


And Margaret Thatcher and I share a birthday. There is a book out called "The Secret Language of Birthdays" - and our day is called:

When I think of it, I'm never sure whether to be proud or mortified...

[Goldia]

I love that Poot was too polite to tell Penelope that he'd already met her, what a shame other diners aren't as polite? Who on earth interrupts a child's birthday wishes? Shameful! :angry:

I'm off to read the full trippie now. It's my Friday evening luxury. I have poured myself an aperitif and I will not start making dinner until I have finished the drink and Poots official birthday.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I love that Poot was too polite to tell Penelope that he'd already met her, what a shame other diners aren't as polite? Who on earth interrupts a child's birthday wishes? Shameful! :angry:

I'm off to read the full trippie now. It's my Friday evening luxury. I have poured myself an aperitif and I will not start making dinner until I have finished the drink and Poots official birthday.

See more...

I kept waiting for him to say something that would give the game away, but he didn't. Phew!

And I know - I almost left the rude woman out of the trippie, but (unlike Poot) that REALLY bothered me. I could *almost* understand if she'd been drunk, but no. Stone cold sober.


I hope you enjoyed your drinkypoo - R.C.'s out tonight for his Old Boys' Dinner - so my plan is a large mug of tea, several biscuits and one of those "meet cute" TV movies.

[sha9]

The behaviour of some adults in theme parks is just astonishing. Imagine moaning about someone dressed up as a fictional character singing Happy Birthday to a child! I do admire these staff members for keeping in character and being polite. I can't imagine that was easy after the initial interaction!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by sha9

The behaviour of some adults in theme parks is just astonishing. Imagine moaning about someone dressed up as a fictional character singing Happy Birthday to a child! I do admire these staff members for keeping in character and being polite. I can't imagine that was easy after the initial interaction!

See more...

You and I are on the same page here, I think. It's OK to FEEL a bit hard done by, and it's OK to vent a little to your friends - but it's NOT OK to grab strangers and interrupt ANYBODY's "Happy Birthday".

Because it's human nature to want a "fair" experience - but by the time you get to our age/her age you should have twigged that life ain't fair. Sometimes somebody else gets the wand/song/seat in first class/free upgrade to AKL.


Thanks for hanging in there with us!

[Guest]

Universal Orlando - Day 4


Poot's going to tell about breakfast today...


Our breakfast in the Club Lounge was normal. The fruit and toast and things were good - but I wish that we could have had different HOT food - I don’t want Tater Tots for breakfast - especially when they’re misspelled “TATOR Tots”.

Next comes a cautionary lunch tale, fellow Dibbers!


Yonks ago, I stumbled on a Dibb thread in which people (Don’t worry, I won’t out you ) talked about the simulated earthquakes and “gorgeous burgers” at Richter’s Burger Co.

So I was super excited to take Poot there - as he wants to be a volcanologist, but also loves studying earthquakes. That’s right - it’s all about disaster at our house...


Now, did I ASK if the restaurant was still “shaking” before we ordered our food?


Nope.


And is it?


Nope.



But at least we got to enjoy a “gorgeous burger”, right?

Nope. This was the worst meal we had in Florida, bar none. A dry burger on a drier bun. Greasy fries. The chocolate milkshake (Poot’s first EVER milkshake) was good, though.


So bad food and no no earthquake. Disappointing, to say the least. At least we’d only ordered one meal - but it was still $14 or so down the drain. I wish we’d waited a few more minutes and had lunch in Citywalk.


Ah, well - we know for next time.


I did a good job (well…) remembering to take some photos in the Lounge tonight.


Dinner was fajitas (yum!) and desserts were (the ubiquitous) chocolate chip cookies, lemon ricotta cheescake bites and chocolate tarts. Pretty good!

We stayed in the Lounge for a while to watch “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - Poot hadn’t yet seen this one all the way through - and he didn’t like it as much as the previous three. Since we got back, though - we’ve had it as an audiobook (CD) from the library and he’s listened to it several times. I won’t lie, I find the disembodied voice of Stephen Fry to be more than a little bit creepy.


I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Lounge staff - Heaven only knows how many times they’ve had to watch/listen to the HP films...

[Guest]

Universal Orlando Day 5


It was another Lounge breakfast of bagels and fruit this morning. Every morning so far I had wondered if the hot choices would be different, but by now I had twigged that oatmeal, scrambled eggs and tater tots (sorry, TATOR tots) would be the only things in the chafing dishes. That was a bit disappointing.



I had learned my Lunch Lesson yesterday - today’s lunch was in Citywalk, at Bread Box.

There was a Patty Melt ($11, served with fries) on the menu, so OBVIOUSLY we split that. Patty Melts…

This was SO GOOD. And not bad value for money. By contrast, the PM at Beaches and Cream is $16 - and you have to tip there, too.


We also ordered one of the Nutella milkshakes ($6).


The Patty Melt (and our tap waters) came out right away - but we sat and sat and sat - and still no milkshake. Other people were also waiting, so I’m not sure if it was a staffing issue - or something with the machine - but we finally walked up to the counter (after having been done with our meal for ten minutes) to ask for the shake money back. Just as the waitress presented me with the shake. Um…


The manager was standing nearby - and she signalled to the cashier to give us our money back. We got to keep the shake - the manager put a little hat on it for us and we took it away.

It was an OK milkshake - but I wouldn’t pay six bucks for one. It wasn’t thick enough. Now it wasn’t thin and disgusting like an ENGLISH milkshake (BLEURGH!) - but it wasn’t a proper American milkshake either. The chocolate shake at Richter’s yesterday had a nicer consistency (and was half the price).


Dinner in the Lounge tonight was Sweet and Sour Chicken - I didn’t take a photo, but it looked something like this:

This was Poot’s side plate - he had some kind of Lentil Salad and a green salad with ranch (?) dressing.

We shared a plate of cheese and crackers for afters.

Tonight was one of the nights that the Lounge staff opened up the doors to let in the “Musica della Notte”.

One of the downsides in staying at PB after Thanksgiving? The beautiful Italian music of MdN is sometimes replaced with Christmas songs.

Now if they’d been singing “O, Holy Night” - or something else SUITED to operatic performance, I’d have been happy. But “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”? No, grazie.

[Guest]

Universal Orlando - Day 6


It was another fruit, bagel and bacon breakfast in the Lounge this morning...


And we popped into Sal’s Market Deli (at Portofino) for lunch:

Because we still had money left on our dining credit (see Universal Part 1) - I ordered us two sandwiches and a cupcake. We ate one sandwich and one cupcake for lunch - and saved the other sandwich to take back to Universal Studios Park tonight - so we’d have something to eat while we waited for the Christmas concert.


Lunch sandwich:

Chicken Parmigiana Sandwich Crispy Chicken Breast, House Marinara, Mozzarella Cheese; With Home Made Potato Chips ($13)


Poot really enjoyed this; I gave him most of my half, too. The house-made chips here were nice - crunchy and not too greasy. They were much better than the ones at that Saratoga Springs QS.

Cupcake:

Red Velvet ($4.25)


The cupcake was OK, but nothing special.



We ate dinner on the grassy lawn while we waited for Mannheim Steamroller to begin. It was too dark for food photos to turn out, but our dinner looked something like this:

Sal's Classic Italian Sandwich Ham, Capicola. Aged Provolone, Tomato, Lettuce, Pepperoncini, Red Wine Vinaigrette, Kalamata Olives; With Home-Made Potato Chips ($13)


Yum. This was much nicer than the Chicken Parm we’d had for lunch.


We headed back to the hotel - but since we didn’t change before stopping in the Lounge for dessert, we were the victims of some good-natured ribbing about our ensembles:

Tonight’s dessert:

These were especially nice - and, look! More giant American blackberries!